E209: Stacey Priestley

Richard Hill [00:00:00]:
Hi there. I'm Richard Hill, the host of Economic one, and welcome to episode 209. Today, we're joined by Stacy Priestley, the senior digital growth and social commerce manager at Lansin Oak, an innovative mother and baby brang founded on the mission of supporting moms through every stage of their pregnancy journey. Stacey brings over seventeen years of ecommerce experience and a genuine passion for helping parents tackle everything from pregnancy essentials to postpartum challenges. In this episode, Stacey reveals how Lancelot built a thriving community of loyal customers and why word-of-mouth is everything in the motherhood space. Their approach to TikTok shop and affiliate marketing and why harnessing user generated content is a must for brands looking to stay ahead. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow or subscribe wherever you're listening so you'll never miss a show. Now let's dive into this fantastic conversation with Stacy.

Richard Hill [00:00:51]:
Enjoy. Well, Stacy, thank you for joining us at the studio here at Ecom one

Stacy Priestley [00:00:59]:
Thank you for calling.

Richard Hill [00:01:00]:
At one podcast.

Stacy Priestley [00:01:01]:
Yep.

Richard Hill [00:01:01]:
Great to have you.

Stacy Priestley [00:01:02]:
Thank you. So I

Richard Hill [00:01:03]:
think, before we get into the questions, it'd be great for you to introduce yourself and how you got

Stacy Priestley [00:01:08]:
into the world of ecommerce. Yeah. So I'm Stacy Priestley. I am currently the senior digital growth and social commerce manager at Lansinho, which is a mother and baby brand. I got into the world of ecommerce probably about seventeen years ago, which sounds absolutely wild because I didn't even realize that the Internet had been around that long, but it has.

Richard Hill [00:01:31]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:01:32]:
And I started in the world of digital content, so product descriptions, content manager, and soon evolved into wanting to manage websites and look after the commerce of that website. So traditionally, ecommerce manager is where I've always been. Yeah. And it's kind of my passion as well, because I feel like I've grown up with it. You know, it's basically my first ever job, and I've continued in that same space.

Richard Hill [00:01:57]:
That is quite a while, isn't it? Seventeen years?

Stacy Priestley [00:01:59]:
It's quite a while. Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:02:00]:
It's funny when you say at the beginning there, you know, I started writing product descriptions and so forth. It is very much I think it's almost like a rite of passage, I think, where in ecommerce, as if you're starting, it used to be when somebody start with our agencies, people are right. Product descriptions, meta, etcetera, etcetera. It's a bit like wax all wax off. You gotta do 10,000 of that before you can move on to your next,

Stacy Priestley [00:02:21]:
Yep.

Richard Hill [00:02:22]:
So seventeen years, obviously, seen a lot of different things and a lot of change in that time.

Stacy Priestley [00:02:25]:
Lot of change. Yeah. But I've always tried to stay to, to my roots of being in ecommerce and, obviously, with the rise of different platforms that we've seen over the last few years, social commerce, obviously, growth channels as well. Yeah. It's been really exciting to be involved in such an evolving space, but also such an interesting space.

Richard Hill [00:02:44]:
Mhmm.

Stacy Priestley [00:02:45]:
I mean, family and friends probably still think that I sit on social media and make posts, but, I mean, a bit far from that now, but it's also really exciting to still be excited by your job.

Richard Hill [00:02:56]:
But now they see you on TikTok, I believe. And now

Stacy Priestley [00:02:58]:
they see me on TikTok. And, yeah, even that's a bit wild. Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:03:03]:
So seventeen years, and obviously, for the last, I think, seven plus years, you've been at Lansinoh. It would be good for you to tell our listeners about the mission behind Lansinoh.

Stacy Priestley [00:03:10]:
Yeah. So for those who are not aware of who Lansinoh are, Lansinoh was, founded in 1984 by a lady called Rashida Hagen. She was a mom. She was married to a doctor, and, she just had a baby. She had really sore cracked nipples when she was breastfeeding as it happens, and the only product she could find on the market was this awful gloopy. Horrible products that you couldn't even use on that area of your body.

Richard Hill [00:03:37]:
Mhmm.

Stacy Priestley [00:03:38]:
So she made it her mission to make a product that was suitable for all moms, breastfeeding mothers in particular, and that was suitable for moms and babies. And here we are forty one years later. The product has expanded the product range has expanded massively, but the core values are to support mom, in her breastfeeding journey. And in the last maybe five or six years, we've expanded into, you know, looking after, outside of breastfeeding, so in postnatal recovery and pregnancy as well. So looking after women as they become mothers

Richard Hill [00:04:16]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:04:17]:
Is really important

Richard Hill [00:04:18]:
for us. Yeah. I mean, forty one years as a brand and and and obviously supporting and helping women with their journey as a as a

Stacy Priestley [00:04:26]:
Into parent.

Richard Hill [00:04:27]:
As a sort of they're not they're not a mom yet. They're about to potentially become a mom Yeah. Then they become a mom. Then after being the post, birth of their job. Yeah. And I know, obviously, when some of the team met you at an event we did a few months ago, they were like, oh, we use those products. We use those products. Still, they're so good.

Richard Hill [00:04:45]:
They're so good. They were like, oh my god. I can't believe that lady's from that from from Lansano. Yeah. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:04:49]:
The, the biggest compliment that I always feel, and I'm not Rashida, but I do feel every comment, and I feel the love when I tell people where I'm from. Most people say, your product saved my nipples, or you literally saved my breastfeeding journey Yeah. To the point where we actually went to the baby show a few weeks ago. And on the back of our T shirts, we had saving littles since 1984, because we are so proud of it. You know, we even in the marketing team now, we are advocates for moms and for parents. Mhmm. Many of his mothers ourselves. And so, yeah, we live and breathe the product probably before we were even here at the brand as well.

Richard Hill [00:05:30]:
That is brilliant. So, obviously, you've got a great you've got a great set of products, a brilliant niche. You're obviously helping helping moms and ladies with their, nipples.

Stacy Priestley [00:05:39]:
Yep. With their nipples.

Richard Hill [00:05:40]:
I think he's got some good he's got some good footage so far.

Stacy Priestley [00:05:43]:
In all fairness, like, this is just normal speak for me every single day. For some people, it's a bit new.

Richard Hill [00:05:49]:
Yes. It's pretty new to me, to be fair. Yeah. We got a couple of episodes, to be fair, around a few different products that, you yeah. But, so, obviously, you've got seventeen years experience in ecom. Yeah. And then, obviously, working for Lansdowne now, working with Lansdowne now for sort of seven plus years. Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:06:05]:
I think you've been championing the ecom side of the business. Yeah. But, also, I know, sort of speaking to you off camera, that you're a very very busy mum as well. So how do you manage to sort of champion that and really grow that, but also balance being a mom as well?

Stacy Priestley [00:06:19]:
I think the beauty of joining Lantana after I became a parent has really allowed me to know exactly everything that mom's going through. And that obviously helps my side of being a mom and being an advocate for, you know, parenting. But also just balancing life in the you know, I will always say this, and I'm not ashamed to say this. I am a mom first before I am anything else. I am a mom first before my wife and before I'm an employee, before I'm a colleague, a friend, and that really is important to me. So I think making sure that the kids are dropped off where they need to be, just being balanced. I'm really, really organized. And as you know, I've always said this.

Stacy Priestley [00:07:01]:
I think in my interview at, I said they said, how do you manage your time? And I was like, a list. And I'm still to this day a book list person. I'm a pen and paper person. I only do have my digital list as we need to maneuver into some of those spaces, don't we? But, yeah, you know, if you've got a plan and you're organized, you're always gonna get there.

Richard Hill [00:07:20]:
So super organized.

Stacy Priestley [00:07:21]:
Super organized. Big on my list. No choice on that. Yeah. But you always find a solution as well. That's the other thing. Yeah. Like, even just, you know, pick ups, drop offs, things like that as a parent, and then get into the office.

Stacy Priestley [00:07:34]:
Or, like, here this morning, you know, I've done one thing, and then I've had a a bit of a commute to Yeah. To join you guys. But it's all within scope, and, you know, if you want to do something, you're gonna find a solution to doing it.

Richard Hill [00:07:45]:
Organized. I guess that's, that's a lot of moms. A lot of Yeah. Busy Yeah. Busy moms juggling, you know, motherhood, children, career, and everything else that it comes with running a home and family and so forth. Yeah. Yeah. It's, a very, busy life for sure.

Richard Hill [00:08:04]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my my my boys are a little bit more grown up, but I remember the, I guess, challenges, but also, obviously, brilliant times of Yeah. Of when my my my boys were younger. Yeah. Me and my wife and my wife particularly sort of juggling everything with a, you know, a career, home.

Stacy Priestley [00:08:19]:
Yeah. The

Richard Hill [00:08:20]:
boys going through different, you know, as their their babies is one thing, but then they start start school and so forth. Yeah. And now it's like right. From my I'm almost at the other side where they're almost leaving home.

Stacy Priestley [00:08:33]:
Where they're about to put in their career.

Richard Hill [00:08:35]:
Yes. Exactly that. You know, what they're gonna do, what's the, you know, universities or not, and different things like that. But Yeah. Okay. So very organized person Yeah. Which, I'd imagine to be seventeen years in the trenches, seeing different things and working very successfully with different brands. Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:08:52]:
Now what I'm what I'm intrigued about, you mentioned at the beginning around this sort of community aspect, obviously, of of parents, of moms particularly, that are sort of big followers, as I said. You know, some of the team here, big Yeah. Big brand advocates. You know? So talk to me about this community that you build built from building and why it's so been so important for the success of the brand.

Stacy Priestley [00:09:13]:
Yeah. So as Rashida's mission was to support moms, and, you know, bring a product to the market that no one else had, it was it's kind of been ingrained in us as a business. You know? We build our audience. We don't even build our audience. I'm gonna rephrase that. We know that our audience is already in a space where she's researching in pregnancy. She's looking for the best products, and she's also trying to find the ones that are not advertised to her, the ones that are recommended to her. Word-of-mouth in this mom and baby community is is, like, the best, the best type of, advertising that you can have.

Stacy Priestley [00:09:54]:
So if we like you said before, some of the team mentioned about using the products and, like, it was the only thing that worked for me. Like, we get that all the time, and that person then becomes an advocate. So it makes our job as being, you know, a mass help

Richard Hill [00:10:08]:
net.

Stacy Priestley [00:10:09]:
Easier to

Richard Hill [00:10:09]:
get Use this. Oh, okay. And then

Stacy Priestley [00:10:12]:
Yeah. Yeah. We've got a product. That's amazing. The next thing is to make sure it's available in every high street store that we need it to be in. Yeah. That it's at the touch of a button online and that it comes with all of the information that you need and the education, especially in a space where people are not familiar with what's gonna happen. And everybody wants to learn about pregnancy as well and postpartum and breastfeeding.

Stacy Priestley [00:10:36]:
So, like, they're really important areas, and you don't know what you know until you start looking. It's so true, isn't

Richard Hill [00:10:42]:
it? You know? The Yeah. You you find out as a young lady or a lady that you're you're pregnant, it's like, oh, you know, obviously, you've not been pregnant before. It's like starting a whole new Yeah. Thing. You know? And it's, oh, you start looking. Oh, there's there's What's your question around?

Stacy Priestley [00:10:57]:
You ask your mom.

Richard Hill [00:10:58]:
Yeah. You

Stacy Priestley [00:10:59]:
ask your family members. For me, I was I'm the oldest, child. And for me and my partner, I'm the old we are the oldest on both sides. So it's like we were the ones who Yeah. Had to go find, yeah, find Now you're

Richard Hill [00:11:14]:
getting asked, what what would you

Stacy Priestley [00:11:16]:
What do you use now? Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:11:18]:
So for those that are listening then, so, obviously, you're very community focused, but it starts really with a very solid, product that does the job. Mhmm. You know, and it's very well. You know? Firstly, we've got a really good product, and then you've got a founder there that's very focused on that community from the core. Yep. But for those that are listening in that maybe, you know, a step further, what are maybe some of the other things that you're doing around building community? Do do you do events and things like that? Do you go to events?

Stacy Priestley [00:11:45]:
So we have,

Richard Hill [00:11:47]:
Now you might be looking for an SEO boost, a down to earth digital PR campaign to share your story, or maybe just some straightforward technical help to amp up your performance. Now that's where Ecom Now comes in, a partner that's all about making things easier for your online store. Our services cover everything from creating professional content for your ecommerce categories to refining your product descriptions. Now whether you're just starting out or been in it for a while, we're here to deliver real impactful results that add to your bottom line without unnecessary commitments. You can order one off or multiple projects with a quick turnaround. Simply choose what you need.

Stacy Priestley [00:12:27]:
So with the product being so focused on maternal, health and wellness, we obviously have health care professionals who are advocates for the product, may have used the product themselves, and they also recommend the products to, to parents. We do do a lot of product sampling, which is great. So we work with, some media, partners. Yeah. We're in sample packs and things like that. And Yeah. You know, that first pack that you get when you go to the doctors to tell them that you're pregnant, and then then they give you, like, this little pack, hand it over to you.

Richard Hill [00:13:00]:
You're in that.

Stacy Priestley [00:13:00]:
We're in there. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. And we really are. So we can build those relationships up right from the beginning when they're when they're really in a position where they need to learn.

Richard Hill [00:13:10]:
And that yeah. That sort of yeah. They're like, what products do I need? They don't even know what product or what They don't know what they need products for. Oh, didn't they didn't know you need a nipple cream. You you could've you could've know you are seeing. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:13:21]:
That is the biggest thing. Like, the nipple cream And

Richard Hill [00:13:23]:
that's their favorite product after twelve months or whatever.

Stacy Priestley [00:13:26]:
Definitely. And it's the one that they'll recommend over and over again.

Richard Hill [00:13:29]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:13:30]:
Because that, you know, it's the most pure product in the in the world.

Richard Hill [00:13:33]:
So that's a brilliant sort of I would say strategy sounds like the wrong word, but ultimately, young mothers are going to the doctors. They're getting their pack or at the hospital getting a pack.

Stacy Priestley [00:13:42]:
Yep.

Richard Hill [00:13:42]:
And then that pack is your products, a sample of your products.

Stacy Priestley [00:13:45]:
Yeah. So we have, a few different product samples that will pop into those packs, at different times in the pregnancy. I think this year, the strategy is to include them from week 27. So it's a little bit further on in the pregnancy, but, actually, it's about the time when you're gonna start purchasing those products. Yeah. We've actually expanded that sampling, like, journey out a little bit. So instead of it just being a sample, we're now gonna include a QR code, and then we're gonna let them come to the website and give them an additional offer. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:14:14]:
Because then we're recruiting their data as well, without them and it's active, it's active input Yeah. Rather than, you know, they're coming to us.

Richard Hill [00:14:22]:
You're you're not pushing for it.

Stacy Priestley [00:14:23]:
You're not pushing for it, and we're not purchasing it either Yeah. Which you don't want to do these days. You want those authentic relationships because of the space that we're in.

Richard Hill [00:14:31]:
So I think we've segued perfectly there Yeah. Into the digital Yeah. Strategy. So one may I think this that's just we'll back it up for the listeners because I think that that's just it's brilliant. It's simple Mhmm. Straight to the point, but, ultimately, you know, a mother has has got a problem, maybe a problem she doesn't know about potentially or a a scenario that's coming up. You're putting a sample in front of her, and then that sample is a QR code that's got a landing page that then you know, that landing page is specific to young moms at at potentially 27 or thereabouts. Obviously, there'll be various ones for various times or weeks.

Richard Hill [00:15:03]:
And then there's a specific offer to them that, you know, it started them on their journey with your brand. And what a key moment as their first touch point with your brand. They're, you know, they're in this, where they are, what, six months plus pregnant, and then obviously all these questions, and if life's about to change, and you're you're you've got an opportunity now as a brand to look like, oh, it's okay. This is this is

Stacy Priestley [00:15:27]:
We can look after.

Richard Hill [00:15:28]:
Yeah. Yeah. So maybe step me through or give the list of some ideas around was you said you scan the QR. They scan the QR. Yeah. It takes into a specific landing page or anything you're doing there that's just, like, pretty cool stuff in terms of marketing.

Stacy Priestley [00:15:43]:
So I guess it is really simple stuff. You know? You can scan a QR code anywhere these days, can't you? We took it to the baby show, and we had just over a thousand people sign up because they wanted a free bottle. So, you know Yeah. That extra, you know, you provide your information, and we'll give you a free feeding bottle. And that was, like, the the hook and the trigger for people. So, again, data recruitment can be simple when you when you look at it, on a on a base level. Yeah. But, actually, the value of that data, they're actively inputting their details because they want something in return.

Stacy Priestley [00:16:19]:
But, actually, you you create that relationship, and then we can talk to them for the next six, twelve months, and we can help them when they really need it as well.

Richard Hill [00:16:27]:
Yeah. So I think that's brilliant. It's very simple. Yeah. But in a very sort of clever way. This sort of We

Stacy Priestley [00:16:35]:
were simple in a very personalized way as well because, you know, people might come to that page, and they might be in week twelve. They might be in week twenty seven. They might be in week thirty six.

Richard Hill [00:16:44]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:16:45]:
That email that goes back out to them will be personalized to their week in pregnancy as well based on their due date.

Richard Hill [00:16:50]:
So when they the information you're asking for, one of the fields is, where are you in the pregnancy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:16:56]:
Just to make sure that that personalized journey is truly personalized and also to educate people in the right way because Yeah. You know, when you become pregnant, there are a million things that you need to buy and you think you have to buy, but you don't need to buy furniture yet. Babies don't usually go into nurseries until they're six months old. Yeah. But you don't need to be buying that at twenty four weeks pregnant. And we really don't do that hard sell of you need to be buying this right now. Because we want people to buy it when they need it and also be prepared with the information. So educate and be there when they need us.

Stacy Priestley [00:17:33]:
And that could then create so much more of a a a bond Yeah. In some respects, I guess.

Richard Hill [00:17:38]:
I think that's genius. I mean, it's, you know, you step through it beautifully there. That sort of, and I I love, we talk about it quite a lot about how the QR code's had that the biggest biggest comeback in the last five years, hasn't it? It was like QR codes five year. Oof. No. It was it can go rock disappear. They come back, have they? Yes. They have.

Richard Hill [00:17:56]:
So, obviously, you look after, you know, the the myriad of, digital channels. You know, what channels are you getting the best results with, that are actually driving sales, would you say? Obviously, we've talked about sort

Stacy Priestley [00:18:07]:
of Yes.

Richard Hill [00:18:07]:
QR code in the email piece. Mhmm. What are the things you are doing well with at the moment? For a

Stacy Priestley [00:18:12]:
proper ROI Yeah. I think we're gonna split down in two areas. So the first would be, PPC. As you would expect, your shopping feeds, your PMax strategy is definitely gonna be your biggest conversion.

Richard Hill [00:18:23]:
To my ears.

Stacy Priestley [00:18:24]:
Yeah. As you don't. Yeah. As you don't want to hear as well. You know, it's an area where you are actively investing a lot of money in, and or at least you should be.

Richard Hill [00:18:33]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:18:34]:
And for a brand to invest in those areas and then be able to convert on their site is really you know? Yeah. It's, it's in tune with what that customer wants as well. It provides the authenticity. It provides, you know, you don't get counterfeit products like you can do on some, you know, of the marketplaces and things like that. So, yeah, the return on investment from PPC point of view is very good.

Richard Hill [00:18:58]:
The Google Shopping, Pmax, etcetera, is this sort of the main driver of the of the paid ads?

Stacy Priestley [00:19:03]:
Yes. Definitely. Yeah. And that's purely down to product mix and product split and how we want to split that strategy into categories as well.

Richard Hill [00:19:11]:
Yeah. Yeah. So you've got the QR code piece and the email and then the different follow ups and segmentation. We've got, PPC with the Google Shopping. Is there is there a third thing that you sort of, doing quite well with at the moment?

Stacy Priestley [00:19:23]:
Yeah. So this might be a new area to chat about, but Yeah. TikTok shop has, like, emerged for us over the last twelve months. A little bit of a passion project and a little bit of a Yeah. Yeah. I think we should be in here, for me, mainly because, you know, our audience as we look at our audience, the age of a a a mother is around 27 to 35, and, you know, that's our core audience. If we look at how they are consuming media, we need to be in those right places at the right time. So that might not be on Facebook anymore.

Richard Hill [00:19:58]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:19:59]:
So why would we invest in Facebook as much? Yeah. It might not be in TikTok. It might be in Snapchat. Yeah. You know, we need to be in those places. So for me, getting into TikTok and getting our products onto TikTok shop has been, yeah, hugely, rewarding for us.

Richard Hill [00:20:18]:
Makes sense, isn't it? Exactly. Where are where are those peep where are those customers? Yeah. How are we gonna get in front of them? Yeah. Right. Okay. They're on TikTok or majority or x amount are on TikTok. So you said affiliates on TikTok shop. So talk to me more about that.

Stacy Priestley [00:20:32]:
So with affiliates, it's just, you know, your standard affiliate scheme. The pluses to having TikTok shop affiliates is that you are inside the app. You are able to purchase that instantly without leaving Yeah. Your app.

Richard Hill [00:20:45]:
So via their

Stacy Priestley [00:20:46]:
Via their

Richard Hill [00:20:47]:
their product link. Etcetera. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:20:49]:
So you might be engaging with Jenny who's just had a baby. Yeah. And you're four weeks away from having your baby. Yeah. And you actually think, right, actually, she's got those three things, and I haven't got them. Oh, I can click that link, and I can order them, and they'll be here in twenty four hours. It's those easy

Richard Hill [00:21:06]:
And Jenny gets her

Stacy Priestley [00:21:07]:
Jenny gets her percent. Little bit of commission. That's brilliant.

Richard Hill [00:21:10]:
Yeah. It's just I mean, it's I guess,

Stacy Priestley [00:21:11]:
so simple. Simple. Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:21:13]:
But moms are sitting there very passionate about their pregnancy and or they've had their baby, and they go, oh, I've got this I've got this cream, and it did this, this, and this. And there's a a link. And, obviously, there are hundreds of friends and, you know, people that just see them. Yeah. You know, that trust Yeah. And that real connection potentially. Yeah. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:21:31]:
Seeing someone in front of you on your phone, you know, we know that the algorithms on TikTok are beyond any other platform, and seeing someone who looks like you, not in terms of visually, but who represents where you are in your pregnancy, your postpartum, your life, your interests. Those are the really important things. And I think as soon as you start tapping into where your audience is and how they're taking in their media Yeah. You start to win.

Richard Hill [00:22:00]:
Yeah. No. I love that. I love that. So I think some of the listeners will be, you know, really intrigued about the TikTok, you know, affiliate side of things. For those that are maybe on the start of the journey of starting with TikTok, you know, oh, actually, yeah, we could, we know we sell products for females, whether that's Obvious one

Stacy Priestley [00:22:22]:
It could be car

Richard Hill [00:22:23]:
Clothing, make the end. Car we we car parts.

Stacy Priestley [00:22:25]:
It could be absolutely I'd

Richard Hill [00:22:26]:
say that. We'll talk about car parts for a

Stacy Priestley [00:22:28]:
little bit.

Richard Hill [00:22:29]:
For it. We have a lot of clients that sell car parts, so I'm actually interested myself. So if we if I was a car part Yep. Company selling car parts Yep. And I wanted to start my journey or they want to start their journey selling car parts via TikTok affiliates Mhmm. What would your sort of strategy be? What would you do exactly? Right? Starting from

Stacy Priestley [00:22:52]:
Do they have products on there already, or are we just about to put a product catalog there?

Richard Hill [00:22:56]:
Put the products on. We haven't got them on yet. We're just starting on the journey. Because I think this will really be relatable to the listeners that are thinking about, right, we're not doing a lot on there. John in marketing or Sophie in marketing put a a video on a couple of times, and then we sort of about you know, that's quite a long 200

Stacy Priestley [00:23:11]:
video.

Richard Hill [00:23:11]:
Yeah. We got 200. We did a few, and then we thought, oh, 200 views not worth. We'll stop. But we start talking about TikTok shot, which we'll talk about a lot on the podcast now. Mhmm. TikTok shot. Obviously, we did an event with TikTok.

Richard Hill [00:23:21]:
We we met you at we Yeah. Met you at in January. But getting started on this journey and sort of but with a commercial insight sort of hat on because ultimately Yeah. Someone's gotta sign off some budget, some time.

Stacy Priestley [00:23:35]:
Yeah. Yeah. Where would I start? Right. I'd be looking at putting my 10 best sellers on that 10. Or at least 10 products. Yep. With a focus on one being the hero product. Yep.

Stacy Priestley [00:23:47]:
That hero product is going to drive your awareness. So that could be a hero product. It could be the product that you've sold thousands of in one retailer, or it's the one that people most know you well for. Yeah. You know and most well for. Yeah. And that product is then gonna be seeded out to people who are in the industry Yeah. Or who have an interest in you know, they've got an active TikTok shop profile.

Richard Hill [00:24:13]:
Yep.

Stacy Priestley [00:24:14]:
They are an affiliate for maybe like minded brands. And they have their keen interest in their audience niche there. You're gonna speak to them, and you're gonna make sure that they know exactly who you are, what your brand is about, and what your product does. Yeah. So your commissions, and then I mean, you can loosely set them a brief of what you want that content to do. I mean, you know, occasionally, we will send out, like, a a a very loose brief because bearing in mind, we could be talking to 30 different affiliate creators at any one time. They're not all due their baby on the same day. They've not had you know, we don't have one who's

Richard Hill [00:24:54]:
They can't just do it today.

Stacy Priestley [00:24:55]:
Exactly. You know? And it's, it's making sure that you allow their creativity to shine through as long as you've got your key selling points, USPs in that content, and then just allow that content to to go out there. If you really wanted to push it and if you wanted to kind of rock it that start, I would put ad spend behind their content, to boost that.

Richard Hill [00:25:17]:
Any tips around sort of finding these initial maybe 10 or so, creators, on TikTok too? And then and then what to say to reach out to them initially? Mhmm. It's all word for word. But

Stacy Priestley [00:25:32]:
what would I do? Yeah. Look for the people who are most well known in your industry, who are an active affiliate creator. They don't need to have 1,000,000 followers. They might have 3,000 followers, but their audience is engaged with them because it's John down the road who's been selling on his TikTok videos for ages. Yeah. And he's been getting people

Richard Hill [00:25:53]:
to go

Stacy Priestley [00:25:54]:
into his shop and to his showroom. Engage with the people who have their most engagement, and the way that you can find these is through the TikTok shop affiliate platform. Yeah. So there's some amazing tools that TikTok have already taken, you know, from all of the different affiliate network platforms and put it into one space where you can really dig down into your category. You can find Yeah. The people who are most interactive, who are selling the most Yeah. Products, and who have, the highest return rates. Or, you know, if you gift a product, to them, they've got a % completion rate.

Richard Hill [00:26:31]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:26:31]:
You know, they're gonna produce a column for you. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Richard Hill [00:26:35]:
Well, hopefully, that's inspired at least a a good handful of our listeners to

Stacy Priestley [00:26:40]:
Maybe.

Richard Hill [00:26:40]:
Look at the, excuse me, look at TikTok affiliates. We've covered that sort of QR codes, email, Google Shopping specifically, and affiliate. Now is there anything else you could share around your sort of tech stack for your ecom side of the business, that sort of maybe the the the handful of tools you can't live without or the handful of tech that you've got integrated into your platform that you get that sort of Yeah. Drives the business.

Stacy Priestley [00:27:07]:
We're on Shopify. Yep. Shopify, as we all know, is

Richard Hill [00:27:09]:
a Yep.

Stacy Priestley [00:27:10]:
Pretty good ecommerce site. Not great if you want to do blog content, but Yeah. We've all found a way around it. In terms of tech that I use, you know, the TikTok shop functionalities all pull into our Shopify.

Richard Hill [00:27:24]:
Yep. So Dashboard. For interact.

Stacy Priestley [00:27:26]:
Yeah. It's a really, really, really simple integration. So that'd be another recommendation. If you're planning to Yeah. Branch out your ecommerce, but into other Mhmm. Marketplaces, look at the functions that are available because they are super simple to integrate and, usually free.

Richard Hill [00:27:44]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:27:45]:
Another one of my actual favorites, in terms of not necessarily ones that are I use every single day, but ones that really do help the customer and build that basket value is the rebuy app. Mhmm. That's for Shopify, and that is all about basket building, AI driven Yeah. Basket building. Really does help, if you allow it to do its thing. If you place too many restrictions and you don't let AI do what it's meant to do, it's never gonna give you the right, answers in your but we do see a really good conversion rate.

Richard Hill [00:28:17]:
So improving the, custom the basket value

Stacy Priestley [00:28:21]:
Value.

Richard Hill [00:28:21]:
Yeah. Retention, rebuy. Yeah. Yeah. And you've got subscription in your business? Or

Stacy Priestley [00:28:26]:
No. We don't have subscription. Mainly because we, we tend to see the only products that would be replenishment products would be nipple cream Yeah. Pads or milk storage bags. All the products are usually one single purchase, and especially if you're buying, feeding bottles, you might buy the the smaller bottle with the slow flow and then move on to the next size teat. So it's not really a journey. You go through different products then.

Richard Hill [00:28:51]:
Yeah. So, obviously, we've covered quite a lot of ground around user generated content, TikTok using it on some of the different areas of the marketing stack. But how influential has the user generated content been for the business?

Stacy Priestley [00:29:05]:
I would say it's one of the biggest, production areas that we have, especially for this year. We've got an amazing team. Our content manager and our social exec do an amazing job at finding those UGC creators who look and actively live a lifestyle like our audience. And I think the one thing that it is probably not it's not apparent until I actually say it out loud. You know? Our audience, you know, you're not gonna be a, a pregnant creator all of the time. So the niche and the audience and the time frame that we have the opportunity to work with the UGC Theatre is so so finite that we have to have a really good product in order for them what to want to work with us and for them to come back and say, oh, actually, I've used your products after I've recorded that, you know, the content, and they are amazing. And then it just becomes really organic. But word-of-mouth in a in a in a female environment, in a, you know, this women's health space is really important.

Stacy Priestley [00:30:10]:
And, you know, we have the opportunity to hit so many people with the education and products when they need it. UGC is just another area that we can produce really good quality content and have that affinity with the consumer.

Richard Hill [00:30:27]:
So if you got full time, creators in the business and the full time for you. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:30:33]:
Yeah. So we've got our PR and content manager Yeah. And also our social media exec. Yeah. Both of them are fully on content creation, whether that's written word. Yeah. Website campaigns, actual in person campaigns that we did for the baby show

Richard Hill [00:30:48]:
Video.

Stacy Priestley [00:30:48]:
Or UGC Yeah. Video. Yeah. We're actively gonna be doing way more video content this this next twelve months as we know. Video hit is, you know, where we need to be. And if it's not us recording the videos ourselves, I think on TikTok right now, there's a video of me and a couple of the, of the team talking about, you know, the reviews that moms have put on the bottles and, you know

Richard Hill [00:31:11]:
I looked at that first thing this morning. You're passing the throwing the thing.

Stacy Priestley [00:31:14]:
The bottles. Yeah. I mean, it's a great one handed catch. But it's, yeah, it's important for us to, you know, represent represent the audience, but also have a a good representation of the people behind the brand as well. Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:31:28]:
I would say if you're with us now, go and have a look at what Lance and I are doing because there's some very, very clever stuff going on. So

Stacy Priestley [00:31:35]:
Yeah. They seem a pretty awesome

Richard Hill [00:31:36]:
We're gonna change direction a little bit. So, obviously, listening to you, you're you're managing, you know, a very progressive, very forward thinking marketing team within a very sort of community driven business. A lot going on. Obviously, you're exploring a lot of new channels. You know, you're doing a lot of things that a lot of brands aren't doing, I would say, or, you know, and you're testing and trying new new platforms and so forth. You know? I'm just curious now how you manage all that. You know? You must be very, very busy as a as a mom. Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:32:07]:
You know? And and then but also, I can start with listening to you how passionate and genuinely, you know, driven you are to make sure the brand is doing really, really well.

Stacy Priestley [00:32:16]:
Mhmm.

Richard Hill [00:32:17]:
You know? I think you must have faced some tough times over the last few years. You know, how do you push through during these sort of more challenging times when you're managing life Mhmm. As a mom and also, obviously, as a senior, you know, leader within the business?

Stacy Priestley [00:32:31]:
Yeah. It's do you know what? I've got a really good track record of, being allowed to test and learn. I've been very fortunate throughout my whole career that the test and learn has actually been really positive. If you don't test anything, you're never gonna learn. You and if you fail, you move on. Yeah. And I work alongside some amazing women in particular. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:32:55]:
But there are, you know, men within the business, but I'm fortunate to have, like, a team of women who are alongside me who are really are rooting for, for us all to do well together.

Richard Hill [00:33:08]:
I think that's so important is to have that environment where it's encouraged to to learn, to test, to try, to fail, maybe. Really. You know? And it's it's just part of the process, and then we go again, but we learn. We learn. We go again. If there's been a challenge or something, let's be fair. Not everything works, does it? You know?

Stacy Priestley [00:33:25]:
Yeah. No. It doesn't. I mean, twelve months ago, we around this time, we launched our first ever Mother's Day TikTok bundle. I thought we'd sell 40. We sold 400 in the space of twenty four hours, and, you know, I had a lot of people who were, you know, amazed by it, but then they didn't believe it. And then it was just like, well, what do we do? We've got you know, we've got we need to double the amount of Yeah. Staff with a lot of cows.

Richard Hill [00:33:50]:
We have no production challenge. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:33:52]:
Yeah. So, it's you know, these little positives

Richard Hill [00:33:55]:
target for this year's mother's day there.

Stacy Priestley [00:33:57]:
Well, seeing as we're already in it and it's on Sunday, we've scaled it back slightly. So we're not focusing on it too heavily. Yeah. We've got some big plans for TikTok this year. So we are we are steadying ourselves across the board rather than doing one hit wonders, shall we say?

Richard Hill [00:34:14]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:34:15]:
But yeah. Just be yeah. Challenging, yeah, being brave.

Richard Hill [00:34:19]:
Yeah. Oh, Great answer. So, yeah, sort of leaning into it. And, Don't

Stacy Priestley [00:34:25]:
be scared to fail.

Richard Hill [00:34:26]:
Yeah. If

Stacy Priestley [00:34:26]:
you're scared to fail, you're never gonna grow. Yeah. And that's both personally and it also for the business. And if you don't take a punt on something, if I hadn't have stopped my account and said, I really think we should do TikTok twelve months ago, we wouldn't be sat here now with more than a thousand affiliate creators working with last year. Like, you know, if I hadn't have done that, we wouldn't have done

Richard Hill [00:34:48]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:34:48]:
This. So

Richard Hill [00:34:49]:
Brilliant. Brilliant. I think I'm And I

Stacy Priestley [00:34:51]:
think that's probably where my passion comes from as well because sometimes I've then got to, like, think, I'll back myself as well because, you know, we need to be in those positions sometimes.

Richard Hill [00:34:59]:
That that sort of attitude and, obviously, trickles down to the team that would report to you. They know that they can come up with ideas. They know that they'll be championed or the ideas will be potentially tried and Yeah. Tested and, you know, speak up and Yeah. Can try things. Well, it's been a pleasure having you on the show.

Stacy Priestley [00:35:17]:
Thank you very much.

Richard Hill [00:35:18]:
I've got a couple of last questions. So, obviously, you're doing some great stuff, but what I'm interested to to try and get out of you, you know, what's maybe on the road map for the next sort of twelve months or so that you could share with the listeners that you're you're gonna be working on with, Lansdowne?

Stacy Priestley [00:35:34]:
So personalization. So although we do quite a bit through our email activity, there's gonna be more. Affiliate activity, I already kinda mentioned. We worked with a thousand creators last year. Who knows what that number's gonna be this year? One. Yeah. But, yeah, Liv and I are working hard at that one. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:35:55]:
And then anything else? Slight shift in direction for our overall strategy as well. So meeting mom where she needs us, not the other way around. Not doing our one hit wonder product adverts and things like that. Yeah. You know, really being in that personalized journey, along side her.

Richard Hill [00:36:16]:
Mhmm.

Stacy Priestley [00:36:17]:
We're gonna create some good bonds with our consumers this year.

Richard Hill [00:36:21]:
Brilliant. So a lot more per I guess, personalization covers quite a bit of that, which I'm curious. It's brilliant, isn't it?

Stacy Priestley [00:36:26]:
In all those different areas, isn't it? Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:36:28]:
Well, it's been a pleasure, Stacey, having you on the show. I like to end every episode with a book recommendation. Do you have a book to recommend to our listeners?

Stacy Priestley [00:36:34]:
No. No? No. I'm too busy.

Richard Hill [00:36:37]:
No. No time.

Stacy Priestley [00:36:37]:
Gently.

Richard Hill [00:36:38]:
Audiobook on your fourteen hour drive to our office. Do you ever?

Stacy Priestley [00:36:42]:
No. I actually listened to your podcast.

Richard Hill [00:36:44]:
Did you, Mary? You

Stacy Priestley [00:36:45]:
did. Yeah.

Richard Hill [00:36:45]:
Wow. That's very kind.

Stacy Priestley [00:36:47]:
So

Richard Hill [00:36:47]:
how was it?

Stacy Priestley [00:36:48]:
It was a good it was about AI, so I absolutely loved it.

Richard Hill [00:36:52]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:36:52]:
Another area of the business that everybody should be stepping into and not away from.

Richard Hill [00:36:57]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, so no book then?

Stacy Priestley [00:37:00]:
No book. No. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie to you. I was talking about this with my colleague, and Anna said, yeah. Definitely. You know, if you you you don't need loads to you.

Richard Hill [00:37:09]:
You know, it's an interesting one, isn't it? Because it's, you know, it's just, you know, you're still you're learning. You're doing this. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's, you know, I'd if you'd asked me that question fifteen years ago, I probably hadn't read a book. Yeah. Shot cock shock horror, but now I am a big I am a big reader.

Stacy Priestley [00:37:25]:
I've got two books at the side of my bed, of which I've started, but one of them being manifest, which Yes. You know, is a is an amazing book. But I'm pretty sure I've read or tried to read that maybe seven or eight times in the last twelve months. That's not a lot.

Richard Hill [00:37:42]:
Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:37:42]:
So I can't say that I'm an active reader. I'm a listener. I'm a learner. I'm a TikToker.

Richard Hill [00:37:46]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Stacy Priestley [00:37:47]:
And, I learn from people rather than from words in books.

Richard Hill [00:37:50]:
Brilliant. Brilliant. Well, thanks for coming on the show.

Stacy Priestley [00:37:52]:
Yes.

Richard Hill [00:37:55]:
Thank you. For those that wanna find out more about yourself, more about Lansinoh, what's the best way to do that?

Stacy Priestley [00:37:58]:
Find me on LinkedIn. Stacy Priestley, and, yeah, you'll find me there.

Richard Hill [00:38:03]:
Yep. And it's Lansinoh dot

Stacy Priestley [00:38:04]:
Lansinoh dot co dot UK.

Richard Hill [00:38:06]:
Dot co UK. Yep. Lovely. Well, thanks for coming on the show. Yeah. And I look forward to continuing to follow the journey and see where, these TikTok.

Stacy Priestley [00:38:13]:
Follow us there.

Richard Hill [00:38:14]:
Yep. Oh, yeah. Do that. We'll we'll link it all up in the show notes, but thank you so much for coming on the show.

Stacy Priestley [00:38:18]:
Lovely. Thank you so much for having me.

Richard Hill [00:38:19]:
Thank you. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe or follow button wherever you are listening to this podcast. You're always the first to know when a new episode is released. Have a fantastic day, and I'll see you on the next one.