What’s the best part of my job? Working with amazing entrepreneurs and business owners like Britta Wein. Britta launched Lunapads Germany in 2012 and runs the social mission-based business from Berlin. Lunapads helps women have healthier and more positive experiences with their menstrual cycles and their bodies by offering natural and sustainable hygienic products.
Britta works closely with Lunapads International, headquartered in Canada, when it comes to defining the mission and the value of the products offered. All Lunapads products are reusable and help reduce waste creating a healthier planet.
After a few rebel sessions (via Skype), I sat down with Britta and asked her to share some of her experiences and insights when it comes to promoting a young business that has such big goals as Lunapads.de. I hope you enjoy what Britta has to say! And rebel ladies, check out Lunapads when you have a chance – they’re doing amazing work and offer fun products to make you feel pampered and healthy every day of the month.
At Communications Rebel, a big part of our work is help clients communicate their “WHY”. So…WHY did you start Lunapads.de? What’s your mission?
My mission is foremost to help women have healthier periods and help them understand what they need during that time of the month, and also perhaps on a daily basis -> hello pantyliners! :). If women make the switch to reusable menstrual products, it has a direct affect on the environment: using a sustainable, washable product helps reduce waste, and it also helps save valuable resources.
I can’t think of a better niche product that offers such a creative and empowering way to honor our bodies and care for the planet. It does take a bit of work to get women to notice that what has been sold as hygienic products for decades has a negative effect on our environment and can compromise our health. We need to advocate for change – and that’s WHY I started Lunapads.de.
As the CEO of Lunapads.de you’re currently taking care of everything from website management to processing sales orders to marketing and customer service. At what point in your start-up journey did you decide to get help with your communications needs?
It was in a moment asking the universe for a sign and right then, Nina and her wonderful Communications Rebel business appeared on the scene! When you’re practically a one-woman-show, like I am, you acquire new skills almost every single day. After a while you realize what you’re super at and which areas of your business you need help with. One can only learn that much in life, right?!
When I contacted Nina, I was at a point where I had to reach out to bloggers and the media. And while my writing is good, I knew that I needed the best support and mentoring I could find to help me create outstanding public relations for my business. Without great PR, I wouldn’t be able to have an impact and make a difference in the world. I want my prospects find awesome and useful content. I also want Lunapads.de to be ranked higher in organic search, and I like to see journalists and bloggers write about Lunapads.de.
What was one thing that you immediately implemented or put into practice after your first few CR sessions?
Well, after our first rebel session Nina gave me some homework to do and made me change the copy on all of my pages. Mostly, it was tiny bits and pieces – like making sure that all links where in a specific color to enhance their visibility.
The biggest changes where: Integrating call-to-actions at the bottom of web pages like links to other related content on my website, and breaking lots of content into smaller paragraphs by including sub headers.
Not only is Nina a pro when it comes to marketing communications and a connoisseur of print and online media, her specialty is social media and digital marketing. I now understand that in the online world, all content is related and linked to one another – and success is only possible when you implement tactics in all of these disciplines.
To give an example: you can write the best article and know your audience, but when your website doesn’t show up in Google or Bing then what good does your presence really do. All content needs to be optimized on your website. Nina gave me really juicy tips and insights on how to optimize content for organic search.
A lot of businesses I’ve worked with find it hard to come up with topics and ideas for blog posts, videos and other content pieces that help spread the word. How are you finding things to talk about when it comes to your product?
Having a nice brand and a wonderful product or service, the creation of content goes hand in hand with the creation of value for your prospects. So how do you create value? You have to try to look behind the scenes: find out what your audience is thinking, what are they talking about and what might they be interested in.
In my case, I initially learned a lot from Lunapads.com – the North American sister company – which was very helpful. However, Germany is a totally different market, and when I started I had no idea what German women would think about Lunapads products. I sent out free samples in order to get as much feedback as possible: how did they find me, what brought them to me, what are they interested in, and a few demographics were very helpful as well.
In order to create value you have to know what your audience really cares about. What do they have to say about your product? How do they like it? I suggest creating an informational product, like an infographic or a white paper that you can share with your audience for free. It will help build your word-of-mouth communications. It’s a little more difficult to create viral momentum when you’re sharing a free sample of a physical product, but it’s possible.
Once you have gathered some information about your audience, you can then think of content and topics that your audience could be interested in. In my case, I’m sharing tips on how women can save money as well as information on other environmental and wellness related topics.
Nina and I discussed the creation of a newsroom on my website, and she encouraged me to write press releases. They are not only good to have on your website, but you can use press releases to reach out to reporters and bloggers and you can distribute them to online PR platforms too.
We also discussed video marketing in addition to the written content I already have. Here’s the nice thing about today’s online world: once you create multiple channel content, everything is shareable and really helps spread the word. Nina also mentioned online surveys to me, which are a very interesting way to get feedback from your audience. I will probably include a survey in my next newsletter.
Why do you think it’s important for businesses to work with an outside communications expert?
Most of the start-ups out there are driven by a great idea. It’s easy to afford an online presence these days, and you can also extent your reach with DIY marketing pretty far – but then there is a natural stopping point.
If you really want to create buzz around your mission and your product or service, I’d recommend any entrepreneur to reach out for an external professional or an agency that have the knowledge and the tools to do an effective PR job.
When I reached out to Nina at Communications Rebel, she helped me by adding the right kind of advice to my work. She spiced up what was already there. And because she knows the itches and glitches that small businesses often encounter when it comes to marketing communications, she made sure that I plan ahead to avoid any communications mishaps.
When I hired Nina I was impressed with her fireworks of great advice, ideas, hints and tips ranging from writing and editing to sharing content as well as social media and SEO best practices. She really helped me become clear on my message and create even better value. Now, I’m prepared to upscale my business and bring it to the next level!!
