DTC POD: How The Best Brands Are Built

Creating a better alternative to existing products (with Grace Lee, Founder of Birdy Grey)

Episode Summary

Grace Lee, founder & CEO of Birdy Grey, joins the POD to talk about how to leverage the customer feedback loop to streamline strategy and create a digitally native DTC business. Birdy Grey simplifies a bridal party’s search for bridesmaids dresses by offering curated dresses in a range of trendy colors at an affordable price point in a DTC channel. Enter Grace who, after being a bridesmaid six times, saw a need to reimagine how bridal parties were approaching the search for the perfect bridesmaid dress. Prior to creating Birdy Grey, Grace began her career focusing on social media and digital content for a few different fashion and cosmetics brands. You won’t want to miss how Grace leveraged social channels to craft Birdy Grey’s visually stunning and seamless website. In turn, making Birdy Grey a go-to brand for many bridal parties in an industry that is powered by word of mouth marketing. If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn. We Speak About: [01:10] Background on Birdy Grey and how Grace started her business [02:20] How Birdy Grey got its start and how DTC helped them get competitive pricing [03:30] How Birdy Grey has simplified the bridesmaid dress decision-making process [05:45] How the customer feedback loop informs Birdy Grey’s dress color selection [08:05] How Birdy Grey leverages IG polls and data to inform product development [09:20] Grace talks about how important color selections are in the bridal industry [10:45] How Birdy Grey has streamlined their website for better UX [11:35] How Birdy Grey creates an “in-store” experience in a digital space [13:35] How Birdy Grey creates fun, out of boutique experience for bridal parties [14:35] What Grace did to get her business started and raise capital [16:10] Grace talks about the importance of their virtual Bridal Studio [17:30] Grace breaks down Bridy Grey’s IG growth strategy [20:10] What channels are in Birdy Grey’s media mix and how they are leveraging them [21:35] Grace talks about how key a role “word of mouth” plays in the bridal industry [22:45] Grace explains the importance of investing in customer retention programs [24:40] Grace shares what things made the most positive impact for Birdy Grey early on [28:25] What Grace hopes the team at Birdy Grey and the bridal industry will see in 2021

Episode Notes

“The bridal industry is mostly set up for brick and mortar and wholesale. Because we don’t have a store, we're able to pass savings directly to the customer and keep healthy margins.” @graceleew #DTCPOD
“I love creative, I love visuals. I love copy. And so I think just being able to do all of that myself really helped. I didn't have to hire anyone in the early days.” @graceleew #DTCPOD
“In the early days, we only used Instagram and I did that very intentionally. I had a limited budget and I knew that our target customer is very comfortable buying off her phone.” @graceleew #DTCPOD
“Really understand who your customer is and understand how you believe she shops and then stay really targeted to that platform in the early days.” @graceleew #DTCPOD
“Word of mouth is so huge in bridal. It’s most people’s first time planning a wedding and they really turn within their network for advice on vendors.” @graceleew #DTCPOD

We Speak About:

[01:10] Background on Birdy Grey and how Grace started her business
[02:20] How Birdy Grey got its start and how DTC helped them get competitive pricing
[03:30] How Birdy Grey has simplified the bridesmaid dress decision-making process
[05:45] How the customer feedback loop informs Birdy Grey’s dress color selection
[08:05] How Birdy Grey leverages IG polls and data to inform product development
[09:20] Grace talks about how important color selections are in the bridal industry
[10:45] How Birdy Grey has streamlined their website for better UX
[11:35] How Birdy Grey creates an “in-store” experience in a digital space
[13:35] How Birdy Grey creates fun, out of boutique experience for bridal parties
[14:35] What Grace did to get her business started and raise capital
[16:10] Grace talks about the importance of their virtual Bridal Studio
[17:30] Grace breaks down Bridy Grey’s IG growth strategy
[20:10] What channels are in Birdy Grey’s media mix and how they are leveraging them
[21:35] Grace talks about how key a role “word of mouth” plays in the bridal industry
[22:45] Grace explains the importance of investing in customer retention programs
[24:40] Grace shares what things made the most positive impact for Birdy Grey early on
[28:25] What Grace hopes the team at Birdy Grey and the bridal industry will see in 2021

To disrupt an existing product category sometimes less is more

Grace Lee, founder & CEO of Birdy Grey, joins the POD to talk about how to leverage the customer feedback loop to streamline strategy and create a digitally native DTC business.

Birdy Grey simplifies a bridal party’s search for bridesmaids dresses by offering curated dresses in a range of trendy colors at an affordable price point in a DTC channel.

Enter Grace who, after being a bridesmaid six times, saw a need to reimagine how bridal parties were approaching the search for the perfect bridesmaid dress.

Prior to creating Birdy Grey, Grace began her career focusing on social media and digital content for a few different fashion and cosmetics brands.

Armed with an abundance of industry knowledge and the desire to learn more about the bridal industry, Grace bootstrapped Birdy Grey in 2017 and made $2 million in revenue within their first year.

After bringing on her co-founder and best friend, Monica Ashauer, and establishing a core team at Birdy Grey, the team built a social media machine that powered an endless customer feedback loop that informed important strategy and decisions for the business.

Building a better alternative in DTC also requires you to listen to intensely listen to your customers

Once establishing how important color selection and customer experience are, Grace and the team at Birdy Grey skyrocketed into popularity becoming a go-to choice for bridal parties everywhere.

With an affordable price point for a range of dress options exclusively being sold at $99, brides saw a quick and seamless solution for their bridal parties that also fit in with the color palette they envisioned for their big day.

While the bridal industry has encountered numerous struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic, Grace and the team at Birdy Grey have taken the time to dig deeper into what their target market is looking for.

With informed data points and customer feedback from social channels, the team has created an “in-store” experience for their customers at home.

You won’t want to miss how Grace leveraged social channels to craft Birdy Grey’s visually stunning and seamless website. In turn, making Birdy Grey a go-to brand for many bridal parties in an industry that is powered by word of mouth marketing.

If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Mentioned Links:

Birdy Grey’s website: https://www.birdygrey.com/

Birdy Grey’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birdygrey/

Grace’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graceleew/