EP#33: Building a community around your e-commerce w. Eric Bandholz, founder of BeardBrand

You know doubt have heard about how important building a tight community is for your brand, right? If you want to grow a successful online business that influences your customers while creating a brand that’s sustainable, it’s imperative that you’re aware of what to do to build yourself from the ground up.

Having even one person who deeply cares about your product is easier said than done. If you’re looking for some resourceful tips that will encourage large groups of people to buy your product, this podcast will delve into how you can work on building a community following for your brand. I love to give baking analogies when speaking about community building as it simplifies things… firstly, you need to prepare by having the right ingredients. You then need to mix the exact amounts while not letting your delicious cake sit in the oven for too long.

In this podcast, I spoke with Eric Bandholz, the founder of Texas-based men’s grooming brand BeardBrand, and got to understand how he found his niche with launching beard care products for men.

It’s hard to believe that Eric actually started off in the finance field before he decided to carve his own path in the world of e-commerce. After becoming completely independent and growing facial hair that was competition-worthy, Eric entered himself into a beard growth competition in Portland, and while he was there he became very involved in the community side of things.

So how did he build a mere idea into a successful start-up then you may wonder? BeardBrand evolved as an e-commerce brand after Eric’s blog content started to gain lots of inbound traffic. After just a year, the idea for an online store was born and this took off overnight. Like-minded men who are interested in growing and maintaining their beards without conforming to the typical ‘hippie’ stereotype sparked Eric’s e-commerce niche, and so far the brand has enjoyed infinite success.

[Tweet “A holistic approach on your communication strategy will help grow your business @bandholz “]

Selling products like natural beard oil, mustache wax, soaps and combs to help fashion-conscious men feel confident about their facial hair is at the core of what BeardBrand is all about. With mainstream communities like #Movember becoming more popular each year, it’s safe to say that today there is a huge global online community for such a movement, and people continue to show interest in this type of lifestyle.

Social media and having a strong team of co-workers are some of the essentials if you want to work on maintaining a steady community for your e-commerce brand.

[Tweet “Platforms like Reddit and Tumblr are crucial for building your own communities @bandholz”]

 You will learn in this podcast:

• Hear about Eric’s story and how he took his preferred lifestyle to the next level.
• Tips on how to further your knowledge about turning your hobbies and interests into a solid e-commerce business.
• Learn how to build successful business relationships and entrepreneurial spirit.
• How to unlock your communities’ potential and further the success of your business along the way.
• How to build on your content strategy organically and internationally.

Resources:

http://www.beardbrand.com/

[buzzsprout episode=’235638′ player=’true’]

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