[00:00:05] Melissa Traverse: Hello, and thank you for joining. I am Melissa Traverse, Director of Community here at BevNET & Nosh, and I am excited to welcome you to the Nombase podcast, a podcast built to help CPG owners and operators navigate growth challenges and grow more profitable businesses. Be sure to check out Nombase.com, BevNET's platform made for the CPG community, where you can find this episode and so much more. Today we are talking about a question that a lot of founders are trying to answer. And that's how do I show up on social in a way that feels authentic, engaging, and useful for the business without copying somebody else's playbook and spending money that I don't have. And once you find that rhythm, how do you make social part of a broader PR strategy? So it's not just content for the sake of pumping out content, but a way to build awareness, create credibility and get the right people curious about your brand. That's where Nick Elliott is. He is the founder of Espritio. Nick is building a premium beverage brand with a strong sense of taste, but he's also trying to figure out how to make social work in a way that feels real and not forced. He is a creative director and has spent much of his career building other people's brands, and now he is working on Espritio. Nick, welcome to the Non-Based Podcast. It's so great to have you here. We actually met at Expo West where I tried the product. I think I actually tried the tangerine chocolate and the blood orange. They were absolutely fantastic. And I'm so glad to have you here.
[00:01:42] Nick Elliott: Thank you, Melissa. Yeah, it was great meeting you at Expo. And Sarah, it's great to be on with you today. So Espritzio is a sparkling espresso spritz in an 8.4 ounce can. It's inspired by Italy and made here in California. We are organic, non-alcoholic and made with real citrus. So kind of think about an espresso tonic, but with a little bit of a Mediterranean twist.
[00:02:06] Melissa Traverse: Fantastic. And can you talk a little bit about where the brand is now in terms of social media and PR strategy?
[00:02:14] Nick Elliott: Sure, we launched not long ago, probably right around two months ago. So this is a brand new emerging brand. It is kind of a one man show and the sort of the brand strategy and, you know, brand identity and how we show up in the world is kind of, you know, mostly has come out of my brain. And in terms of social, we're really trying to kind of find our footing as a brand that communicates as premium, something desirable, but doing so, you know, on a relatively shoestring budget. And in terms of PR, it's really been it's really been organic and word of mouth. People are slowly but surely finding out about the brand and giving the taste and a lot of people are excited about it, which is encouraging.
[00:03:03] Melissa Traverse: And to help Nick work through some of these questions, we have Sara Brooks, co-founder of the Goldilocks Brand Strategy Consultancy. She is a creative strategist who has helped shape brands, including Graza, Carbone, Magic Spoon, and pretty much any other successful brand that you can think of. Today is a working session about where to begin, how to find the right social angle, and how to build a PR strategy that can actually get cans in hands. Sarah, I've had you on the podcast before, and it's always such an incredible pleasure. You have so much experience, so much to share. Thank you so much for joining us again.
[00:03:43] Sara Brooks: Thank you. It's so nice to be here. And I'm so excited to chat about this topic. I think it's one that like, you know, if I had a penny for every time at a founder called me to say, how do I do PR in 2026? Or what should I have my social strategy be? I'd be a very rich woman. And I have a lot of empathy for founders right now because in some ways, you know, marketing has been more democratized than ever. There's a lot less gatekeeping around it, but there's also so much saturation in this space. And there's so many brands that seem to just be like these viral overnight successes. And it's not always that way. And sometimes the easiest things are actually the hardest things behind the scenes to accomplish what looks easy. So super thrilled to be here and hopefully provide some value.
[00:04:28] Melissa Traverse: And Sarah, it makes perfect sense, but are you also working on a special project of your own in the way of a CPG brand? It sounds crazy, but is it true? It's true.
[00:04:40] Sara Brooks: It's true. After, gosh, 20 plus years of building consumer brands for other people, my two partners and I at Goldilocks are just crazy enough or passionate enough or optimistic enough to do it ourselves. And so we just recently launched Plain Speak. which is really a wellness brand for women that reinvents how we talk about wellness. And so not only am I talking the talk today, I'm actually walking the walk, and we're taking a very different approach on social, I think, than almost any other brand I know. And it's a risk and it's a bet, but it's one that we think is gonna work. And I guess time will tell, but certainly happy to share kind of any insights from how we're approaching this topic, because it's a little counter-cultural to the typical CPG playbook.
[00:05:24] Melissa Traverse: Excellent and perfect timing again. Well, again, thank you so much for joining, Sarah. Nick, the question that you're bringing to this conversation is super relatable. You want the brand to feel thoughtful, premium, distinct. I am going to hand it over to you, Nick, to get some insight from Sarah. I know you've got a bunch of questions that you're working through.
[00:05:47] Nick Elliott: Maybe before we dive into the nitty gritty, it makes sense to give you, Sarah, a little bit more context about where I'm coming from in terms of personal experience. It sounds like you've spent many years building other people's brands. I spent a lot of time in creative agencies. working on all sorts of different brands in different sectors. And then more recently, left the agency scene and went in-house and ran creative for brands like Olipop and Synergy. So super fun, learned a lot. But obviously, you're talking about building comms and marketing around brands that are already well known with somewhat sizable budgets, which is, of course, a very different proposition from building something on your own from scratch. So I think part of the challenge is like, I see where this can go when the resources and the budgets are there, but there's this delta between then and where we are now, which is essentially, one man founder, trying to get this thing off the ground in every respect, right, not just social, not just marketing, but everything else that comes along with building a business, which has been a huge, huge learning curve. Yeah. So, so that's kind of like what's going on in the background here. There's how do you do it? effectively, with sort of very little resources, that's one challenge. Of course, you know, I have, my brain is full of ideas in terms of like, how we can come to life on social. But, you know, I think it's, it can be hard just to focus those ideas in a singular direction. It's kind of just like, you got to start somewhere.
[00:07:23] Sara Brooks: To back up a little bit, I spent my first 20 years as a CPG publicist, and so I was laser-focused on traditional PR. I say traditional, and I put it in quotes now because so much has changed in the last five years. Back in the day, PR was something that was super gatekept. You needed to know the editors and the tastemakers, and you had to call in favors. Yeah, social media has changed that right like social media has kind of democratize the ability to connect to your consumers to key opinion leaders and so it feels kind of like this interchangeable thing PR and social and. What we do at Goldilocks now and kind of how I shifted my career from being a publicist is now more of a brand strategist. And I mention that because brand strategy, as you know, is really the core of kind of all your external communications. And so the simplest way to think about brand strategy is what do you offer the consumer that you're uniquely positioned to do that your competitors don't or can't? And what is that kind of, you know, what is that special circle in the middle? And that's kind of the brand world you build around. So you have a little moat there in terms of your unique ability to do it. You know, the, you know, the competition can, and you know that the market wants it. And when you really figure that out, um, that really can be the blueprint for, you know, if you want to call it content pillars, if you want to call it external communications. And so I think having a true North star when you're a net new brand is so, so important. because it gives you a real framework. And so I think with Espritzio, you know, you have this incredible story where you spent the summers in Florence with your friend Luca, and there's something about the Italian lifestyle and obviously being exposed to a very different culture that, you know, really prioritized food and community and good drinks. And so what you've done is kind of inspired and lean made here, that to me is kind of a real emotional pillar of the brand. And then you obviously have functional benefits of the product. And so I think that the most important thing to do from day one is to get really, really clear on that strategy and to get really, really clear on the consumer experience that you're offering. And once you do, that helps to kind of set the tone and set the external marketing of what you're going to do, even if you have not a huge budget. And so I guess I'll start there with that. And do you feel like you have that pretty clearly down?
[00:09:49] Nick Elliott: I think I definitely do. in my head, but maybe what we should do is let's extract some of that stuff and get your reaction as a baseline, maybe.
[00:10:01] Sara Brooks: Yeah. So the way that we do it at Goldilocks and a lot of strategy firms do it is you build a house, right? And so at the bottom of the house, you have who is your target consumer and you get very specific. And this is less on You can talk about demographics and where they are geographically, but it's really kind of like, what does this consumer seek? And so let's start there. Who do you believe your target consumer to be?
[00:10:26] Nick Elliott: I think it's folks who are out in the world seeking new experiences, are open-minded about discovering new food and beverage products that might kind of like give them a fresh perspective on things, because obviously sparkling coffee is still a pretty niche thing, even though there's kind of this big trend of espresso tonic, and this is clearly like, you know, playing in that zone a little bit. So I think, you know, people who are seeking out and discovering interesting new food and beverage experiences. I think there's also, use occasion plays into this as well. We like to think about asparagus as perfectly positioned for late mornings and long afternoons, when you really don't want another heavy or creamy cup of coffee, and you'd really rather just have something refreshing, which is exactly what we built with the product. And then, you know, there is kind of this theory I have, And it maybe it's like a little bit like the white lotus effect, like for whatever reason, I don't know, maybe it's because life in the USA is just kind of like overwrought with complications. And, you know, capitalism and X, Y, Z, it's like we're sort of somewhere deep down just learning yearning for like a simpler time and place. And so I think some of those themes are maybe covertly coming through with the brand identity a little bit, which does skew kind of classic and European versus American Gen Z trendy, if that makes sense.
[00:11:57] Sara Brooks: Totally. So to repeat back, you know, your target consumer is someone that is seeking refreshing energy that is kind of tolerable, easy to enjoy, like no crashes, no jitters, no artificial energy taste. But beyond that, it's kind of like buying into a lifestyle like, you know, you know, nostalgia, European, European culture. So there's kind of a cultural cachet withholding it. But then there's also these kind of functional benefits that replace maybe your, Celsius or your like 10th cup of Starbucks. Did I get that right?
[00:12:32] Nick Elliott: I think you got that spot on and you added another layer to it, which is, at the end of the day, it's just a new vehicle to enjoy coffee. It's a very simple idea. So if you already love coffee, this is a way to enjoy more of it. If maybe you don't like coffee because it's too bitter or too boring, well, maybe this is a new gateway into the OG functional ingredient, if you will.
[00:12:55] Sara Brooks: Perfect, perfect. So it's like, okay, so we have an idea of kind of our consumer behavior, like what they shop for what they want, and their routine. And so then we then we kind of we go up and then we say, Okay, you know, what is the category you're in? Would you say you're in the energy category? Would you say you're in the coffee category? How would you kind of define what category you sit in?
[00:13:16] Nick Elliott: I would say right now today, coffee is the main lane that we're swimming in. I think that's where we have perhaps the most disruptive story to tell. Having said that, I do think there's an interesting sub layer here that plays a little bit in the NA space because we're positioned as a spritz. And I believe, Melissa, when you first tasted it, you wondered, was this maybe an alcoholic drink? And then it probably took until you turned the can around where you saw, you know, no, no alcohol called out. So apart from the potential, you know, product confusion that like, you know, we could talk about if we want to, it actually, I think, might be a little bit of a positive as well, because we're, we are in a couple and a bottle shops right now, and people are really sparking to the product. Because it's bringing a little bit of that, I don't know, je ne sais quoi that like that category has in terms of, you know, the emotional draw that people are feeling to those type of brands, which I don't think people really are feeling toward coffee. Coffee is just very functional and utilitarian most of the time.
[00:14:19] Sara Brooks: Also, I'm curious, how much do you think the kind of ongoing craze of espresso martinis for people who are, you know, searching for non-alcohol options is benefiting Espritzio? I know it's a different, it's sparkling. I understand kind of the different ingredients, but do you think there's any benefit you're getting from the espresso martini craze?
[00:14:38] Nick Elliott: particularly in those type of environments where people maybe are thinking about what type of an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage does this remind me of? I think that creating a little familiarity there is helpful and it helps people wrap their head around what this thing is. And one of our accounts is up in San Francisco, which is the is the oldest tennis club west of the Mississippi, where I actually learned to play tennis as a kid. And they're stocking it not only in the pro shop cooler, but right now the bar manager is experimenting with different mixers. And who knows, we might end up with an asparagus martini on the menu there. So I think it's fun to think about, and I think there is potentially a lot of opportunity there.
[00:15:21] Sara Brooks: Amazing. Okay. So the category we'll just, we'll call it coffee, knowing that like you, you have the ability to play an energy for some folks or even N.A. And then we kind of go up and we think about what we call the reasons to believe. And this is really kind of like the facts about Aspritzio, the brand and the product that will allow you to deliver on your positioning and your promise, which we can talk about. Typically, the way we think about it is there has to be functional benefits and there has to be emotional benefits. I think we have some good ideas around what those are. It's the ability to caffeinate and still feel good. It's leaning into the Italian culture. It is you know, caffeine without jitters. It's a new way to coffee. So there's, there's a lot you would kind of play with there, you know, TBD, what are the right ones, but knowing kind of emotionally what you're giving the consumer and knowing what functionally you're giving the consumer. These, these are probably of kind of the whole brand strategy work really helps to inform like the tactical outputs of marketing. Right. And the things that even for innovation. So like you look and you're like, if I'm going to go into this category or launch this SKU, you kind of go back to these functional, emotional benefits and be like, okay, am I still delivering on them. But a layer up from that is really the brand promise or the brand positioning, which is the story you're telling now to drive consumers to purchase. And so I'm curious, there's a lot of stories here, right? And there's a lot of you have this amazing career as a brand marketer, You have this authentic story of spending your summers in Italy. You are someone who probably searched for a product like this and couldn't find it. But if you were to summarize the brand positioning or the brand promise that you give your consumers, what are some ideas you have around that?
[00:17:07] Nick Elliott: A couple ideas around that are, so one mission statement that I kind of like is, or purpose statement, maybe you could explain the difference between those things at some point, is we are on a mission to infuse life and coffee with a bit more sparkle. And so I think that, to me, gets at a couple of things. Obviously, it's that sparkling, but I want this to come across as a brand that is not just classic, not just sort of vaguely European, but also an excuse to loosen up.
[00:17:51] Sara Brooks: I can jump in with that. I think so on a mission to infuse life and coffee with a bit more sparkle, I would almost say that could be our vision, which is like the lawfully like big hairy audacious goal, like why you guys get up to do what you do, or I would say almost the positioning is more so kind of tied more to the product. And so I'm just throwing this out. This is definitely not it. But is it reimagining caffeine consumption, right? Like, like bringing more joy back into something. And so typically, you know, we try to tie it more to who the product is today, where when you click up, it's this really big rallying cry. You hire employees and you're like, why do I get out? Why did I leave a stable job at Olipop and Synergy to go do this on my own? And it's like, I'm truly on this mission to infuse life and coffee with a bit more sparkle. And you touch on sparkle as an active ingredient, but really it's about this mission statement. And so if you think about it, we've very haphazardly on this call kind of built this pyramid. And I say all this because I think one of the first things that you and I spoke about was, you're like, gosh, I'm a founder. I don't have a big budget. Do I need to become an influencer? I don't think those were your words. Knowing that you're managing social, knowing that you're the person doing all of it, I think that was the question. Talk to me a little bit about that. I think it's helpful for the audience too in terms of what are your thoughts on that? What are your assumptions that you think you have to do? What are your trepidations?
[00:19:17] Nick Elliott: it's such a funny thing because all of us are on social media all day, every day. And so we all have opinions, a million opinions. Um, and the more people I ask what I should be doing on social, the more opinions about that I will, I will usually receive, which can be helpful. And then it can be, you know, a little overwhelming as well. So, so, um, uh, one thing that keeps coming up in terms of, um, other folks recommendations to me. And I also see this all over my feet as well, which is the whole building in public slash founder as influencer model, content pillar or some some people it's like that becomes your whole expression of your brand on social media. Now, I'm not knocking that as an approach. I think it works amazingly for some founders of some brands. I question it a little bit as a blanket approach for those who are either I wouldn't say I'm not comfortable with it. I just am not convinced that this mug all over social media talking about the struggles of, you know, setting up a Z Corp is going to be the thing that's going to create that magnetism to this brand that I want to come across a certain way. I, I feel like it could, it could, it could in fact do the opposite. So that's one sort of, I guess, piece of advice I've been given that I'm interested in, but I'm also questioning a little bit.
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[00:21:37] Sara Brooks: I think one of the worst things that a brand can do is think that they have to become the face of the brand. And you can you can always tell like who these folks are, where they, you know, it's, I mean, it can be cringey sometimes, because it's like, they're not natural in front of the camera, it feels a little forced. And so I think, one, being honest with, are you someone who likes to be in front of a camera? And you don't have to have an illustrious career in Hollywood, but are you someone who is comfortable? I think that's really, really important. I think the best examples of brands that do it right are when the founders really understand what their audience wants, right? And so what are they curious about, and what are you well-positioned to inform them about? then how does it really reinforce the brand world? But it's things that are very kind of natural and authentic to you. And so it's not following this, like, on Monday, I'm going to post, like, here's me and the manufacturer, like, filling bottles. And on Tuesday, I think it's like, what is the what is the kind of the brand vision you're selling? Which, you know, you talked, we talked a little bit about, what do you offer that no one else can? And then how do you kind of build back into building content like that, that you're really uniquely positioned to do. And so something that comes to mind, like when I think about this brand, and when I think about you, and there's a good analogy a little bit with Brahmi, which is a protein pasta brand. And the founder, Aaron Gotti, spent his summers in Italy. and he started to eat this bean, a lupini bean, which we kind of eat like edamame here in America and people really eat it there. And it was, you know, used to fuel Roman warriors a long time ago and it has this kind of great history. And, but he's, he's American, but he, he grew up a lot. I spent a lot of his summers in Italian. And if you look at Italy. And if you look at the Brahmi brand today, it sits in the pasta aisle. It's actually beating Kraft Mac and Cheese right now, Costco, which is crazy. But there's these hints of kind of Italian culture in it. So the kind of Italian flag on the packaging and kind of the handwritten or hand-drawn noodles. And if you look at their social Erin isn't necessarily popping up all over social talking about building Brahmi or being a creator, but the spirit of the Italian culture is what's popping up and the partnerships they do. They did a great dinner series where they took over local Italian spots in key cities that were tied to retailers they were in in those same cities. and they invited people. And there's ways I think you can kind of take the background of a spritzio and on social, in partnerships or whatever, and kind of bring that out that doesn't necessarily make you front and center, but take the kind of spirit of your friendship with Luca and your summers in Florence. And I think to everything we've talked about, that probably feels a little more natural and authentic to you. And I'll pause there. I know I said a lot.
[00:24:35] Nick Elliott: No, that's great. I am familiar with Brahmi. I think it's a it's a beautiful brand. And I was just while you were talking, I was just sort of scrolling through their social and I yeah, I mean, it, it's, it's, it's beautiful visually, which is important to me. That's a whole consideration that we could probably get into later. to be very real about the whole Italian-ness and like, how much is too much when it comes to this project. I'm not an Italian-American. I was lucky enough to have a connection to Tuscany and go there a lot growing up. So there's that little sort of caveat. In addition to, and sort of like, if you were to go to drinkispritzio.com, there's a little story about me and my best friend Luca on the about page. When I told Luca I was working on this, we've drank a lot of espressos together over our lives, and we've drank a lot of spritzes. He wasn't really even familiar with the whole idea of an espresso spritz. So we have to be a little bit careful because it's not like everybody in Tuscany is going around drinking this drink. Interestingly, it did originate in Calabria in a different form, the sparkling coffee thing.
[00:25:44] Sara Brooks: it's a balance of culture misappropriation or we come across like something or not, I understand.
[00:25:51] Nick Elliott: So I like to bring visually and in terms of a lifestyle that we're portraying, maybe we're not portraying it yet, but I'd like to get to a point where we are, where we are bringing a little bit of that sort of carefree Dulce Vida vibe, but not necessarily tagging it to a specific you know, place of origin or what have you. So it gets a little tricky, but I think the idea of a sparkling European vacation for your coffee is interesting.
[00:26:27] Melissa Traverse: You know, Nick, in our intro call that we did for this podcast, you mentioned what I thought was a really great idea. And it almost sort of templatizes the approach to social media in a way that, to me, makes it feel pretty approachable and not so overwhelming to think about every time you want to post something. And it was something like, you know, you go, you talk to people in different coffee shops, ask them what their coffee order is, it ties in the coffee aspect, but it's not you behind the scenes building in public in a way that you don't think is really going to further your goals. Tell us a little bit about that.
[00:27:07] Nick Elliott: I was having a chat with my friend Amanda Huang she was like, we were kind of trying to like, like, just brainstorm different ways that like, either I or the brand or both could could start to, to build an authoritative voice in the world of coffee somehow. And me never having like being a barista or anything like that. It's like, it's like, like, I don't have those type of bona fides. But what if it was just like, there's something very, like, personal and intimate about like, the way that you Melissa order your coffee, and how it differs from the way that I order mine. And the way you order yours, it's just this kind of, you know, very personal thing. And so what if, what if as like a repeatable construct? I don't know if it's a podcast, I don't know if it's an Instagram series, what have you, where it's like, I'm just like inviting people I know on or just talking to strangers on the street or in a coffee shop and say, tell me about your coffee order. Oh, why do you like it like that? And just kind of like get into those personal details with people. Could be, I don't know, mildly entertaining.
[00:28:17] Sara Brooks: First of all, to take a step back on social and what even works on social these days, and then I'll give my opinion on that, is the biggest change I think everyone knows about social is the algorithm. You're being fed content based on who pays to get in front of you and whoever pays the most, where years ago, it obviously wasn't like that. It was a way to kind of build community and share photos, but everything is now favored by this algorithm. And so what I tell brands is like, if you're if you don't have a huge, you know, paid media budget, like just put out content that is super organic and authentic, because that will slowly build community. And that is like the OG way to do it. And the best way to do it is like finding your crew, finding your tribe of people who, you not only like the brand, but like want to come to your grid, your feed to kind of see what you're doing. And I think this is a really endearing idea and I like it. And I think it brings back kind of the habitual nature of coffee, the ritualistic nature of coffee. I think it ties into kind of the culture. I think everything in Italy, it slows down a little bit more. There's, you know, siestas where people are drinking coffee. And so I love this idea and I think you can do it. And in a low-fi, low-budget way, which actually will work even better. And so even if it's just your iPhone, and even if it's like putting a little mic on someone, and you said you lived in LA, and so maybe part of it is finding these really either like super iconic LA coffee places that have been around forever, or maybe it's finding these like going to Italian neighborhoods or going to kind of pockets of LA and finding these undercover gems and maybe talking to the owner who's been there for 60 years and getting his story. What I love about this idea is that for social to work, you have to build true community, and this is a great way to build true community. I think the caveat of that, and I tell founders this all the time, is you have to be patient. Gone are the days where you could buy bots and you can do that. And now I think it's way better to have 2,000 followers that you have a really high save rate of posts. You have a really high engagement rate of posts. And it's not anymore about quality. It truly is about quantity. And so I love this idea. And I think knowing you the little I do and also knowing your background, I think you could very well creatively execute this.
[00:30:36] Melissa Traverse: Sarah, I would love to hear what you think about how folks can, you know, like templatize their social media strategy. So every time they go to put up a post, it's not starting from scratch. You sort of have an idea of what's going to work. You have sort of a series, you've built an audience up around that and it feels natural.
[00:30:57] Sara Brooks: I think a few things. I think one, posting cadence, there's a lot of rules of thumb about what time a day to post, how many times a day to post in feed versus story versus broadcast versus repost. I maybe have a different perspective on this, which is that when you're a founder getting started, I think You post somewhat consistently, but I don't think it needs to be this rigid every Tuesday, every Thursday. I think if I were doing this idea, I would try to start and have the first coffee destinations be ones where there's some sort of cultural cache. What I mean by that is that you can tag them, and then there's the visibility. of that also popping up. You could maybe even do co-authored posts and so it pops up in their feed as well. And the reason I say this is it is nice to have a little kind of to seal a little brand equity when you're the David and the Goliath, so you can get some more eyeballs on it. And so I think planning out like, okay, in the next three months, if I want to do this, you know, twice a month to begin and kind of learn from the audience what they like, what they don't, and then maybe make it a weekly thing, you'll figure out from your audience to kind of what they like. And is it, is it, you know, longer form? Is it asking the same five questions to every person and just getting wildly different answers? Is it asking just one question? Is it every week having a different question? I think kind of figuring that out. But I think, Melissa, to your point, and I'll say my background is much more in PR and brand building and organic social. But I think as a consumer who consumes social and as someone who helps brands with their overall marketing strategy, to me, it's about consistency. And that doesn't necessarily mean rapid posting, it just means being consistent. And so if that's once a week, if that's three stories a week, I think just that to me works better than having this kind of rigid, consistent or rigid posting schedule.
[00:32:53] Melissa Traverse: And Sarah, because I think so often the devil is in the details with stuff like this, can you help us understand how to lay out a social media plan like this? How many posts a week? Is there a certain format that works? What things should we be considering when we're thinking about rolling something like this out?
[00:33:16] Sara Brooks: I think one channel that I see a lot more brands using, and again, just speaking about Instagram, is the broadcast channel, because it's basically a one-to-one kind of messaging feed inside DMs. And so it lets founders send updates directly to followers, but in a very kind of intimate way. It almost feels like a group chat or like a text thread or like a behind the scenes. So only the channel owner can post messages, which keeps it from becoming like this massive kind of chaotic thing. But it feels more authentic. It feels more like you're really bringing them in. And I think it's a little more intimate and I think a little more vulnerable as a Brown founder. When you talked about the strategy, you see all these people building in public, like come build with me. I think you could use the broadcast feature. as a way to maybe that's not where this this isn't where the coffee series lives but that's a way where even if it's four or five people to start don't let that like fool you. I always tell people in college I did my campus news and I think I had two people watch in the history of four years but it did not get me down. I was like I just got to keep doing it and eventually they'll come. They didn't but they came later in life. I think that When you don't have a lot of money and you don't have a lot of assets and you have someone like you who's authentically building, I think it's figuring out the cadence and making sure you don't feel like a phony. And I think broadcast channel is a cool way to do it. And again, it just kind of grows slowly over time.
[00:34:48] Nick Elliott: What if I told you that I don't want to build in public? I don't actually, I don't, that's not something that I'm interested in doing. What other strategies?
[00:34:56] Sara Brooks: I totally get it. And that's where I think there's this democratization of building community, where before it felt so like you had to do these huge in real life activations, or you had to have hundreds of thousands of dollars to seed influencers. And that's kind of where I love going back to your content idea, which is like, You're involved, but you're not the vehicle. You're not the linchpin for this to be successful. It's the people you're talking to. When you have a Nespresso, every time you're doing it in your hand, you leave them with the Nespresso. Hopefully, you don't piss off the coffee shop owners that don't sell it. That's part of it too. Maybe every end of every clip could be you leaving a few on the counter and crossing your fingers that they stay there. There's ways to bring humor into that. And so I don't think you need to build in public if it's not authentic to you, but I do think like bringing in your credibility and the brand building space, bringing in your point of view and the design space, bringing in your love for Italian culture, that can all come through in super organic ways that aren't like, hey everybody, it's Nick, you know, coming to you this Wednesday morning. You don't have to do that. And you probably shouldn't do that.
[00:36:09] Nick Elliott: Looking ahead, maybe perhaps over the next 30 days, talking about social, but also maybe zooming out a little bit and talking about maybe a greater PR strategy. Obviously, this is early days. The main goal is to get cans in hands and to get people trying this product. Given everything that we've kind of touched on so far, if you had to recommend kind of like a, you know, what does the next month look like for Espritio? And Nick, what would you say?
[00:36:37] Sara Brooks: Sure. I have such joy in answering this question because there's so much you can do on your own now with chat GPT and just being very savvy online and finding people's information. I think when founders come to me and they're like, do I need PR, oftentimes it's way too early for PR. Unless you have a budget and unless you're doing affiliate marketing and unless you truly are doing things along with the kind of marketing firewall that's not just PR, It's just not a good ROI. There's now so many new, maybe not even new, but sub-stacks, for instance. There's so many great CPG industry sub-stacks where you can literally subscribe. You can email the editor or the writer directly and say, I'm a big fan. I'd love to send you some asparagus. And again, going back to niche audience, but really high intent audience, maybe it's a newsletter of 5,000 or 10,000 or 15,000, but it's like retailers are reading that newsletter, consumers are reading that newsletter. So that's a great place. Obviously, trades, you've done it here with Nosh and BevNET. But there's a handful of great trades where you can easily, again, find the editor's email and say, like, hey, I think there's something so endearing when the founder reaches out and it's actually not a PR team, where it's just like, you're doing the work, you're saying, hey, I poured my blood, my life and sweat and tears into this, and I'd love to send you some. And then you could come up with what are your 10 to 20 target outlets, if you will. And it can be your OG legacy outlets, like the men's health of the world. And you can find those people on Instagram and DM them and say, hey, big fan. You can also easily find the email format, like first.last at conanast.com. And so it's just so much more democratized now than it was when I was running a PR business. It's like you had to know someone who knew someone. But there are so many ways to go about it now. I also think Reddit is an amazing tool. It takes a lot longer to build community. But you just starting to go into Reddit groups that are where your target consumer is and just starting to engage. And so I don't know. I'm making this up. women 30 to 40. There's this great Reddit, Bitches With Taste, and it's in these different cities. But part of it is like, what products do I want? And you're not going there to hawk your brand. You're going in there to build community and also to listen. There's WhatsApp groups now that brands are starting. So there's just so many ways now that you can do PR that aren't your traditional ways of before. And I agree. I think hands-in-hands is the best thing. Um, I also think, you know, reaching out to brands that have a similar ethos and say like, Hey, if you ever want to do partnerships and again, talking about sealing some like bigger brand or brand equity, there's a whole, like there's a whole behemoth of like Italian inspired brands that would make such sense for you to do something with. Um, and oftentimes they have PR teams because they have a bigger budget and you can kind of ride the coattails of that.
[00:39:59] Speaker 3: Cool. Mark your calendar. Nosh Live is back December 3rd and 4th in Los Angeles. Join packaged food founders, buyers, investors, and operators for two days of product discovery and conversations focused on what's next. Early registration pricing is available now. Head to noshlive.com to register.
[00:40:16] Nick Elliott: Do you have any advice for the tone of the right type of outreach email to, let's say, trade publication?
[00:40:26] Sara Brooks: Yeah, I'm Nick. I spent my whole career helping build brands, and then kind of say what you've done at Olipop or at Synergy. After doing it for others, I saw a real white space that was inspired by my time in Italy as a busy entrepreneur, always reaching for caffeine, and I wanted to blend the best of Italian culture was something that didn't make me crash and burn. This is what I launch and then give very specific benefits like X amount of calories, X amount of sugar available here. I'd love to send you some product to try. You never ask for coverage on the first time. You're really just trying to build the relationship. I also think a really good rule of thumb is being super familiar with these outlets and with these editors before you even ask for something. And I think it's, I mean, editors are like people and they want to be flattered and being like, I just heard your podcast. I loved it. I got, I had three things that I took away. And then two months later being like, Hey, not sure if you remember me. It's really just like the basics of building relationships.
[00:41:32] Melissa Traverse: Can you help us understand how to lay out a social media plan like this? What things should we be considering when we're thinking about rolling something like this out?
[00:41:44] Sara Brooks: I mean, this is going to be like the most expected answer, but it's so true. I think I don't think it's finding your voice. I think it's being authentic with the voice you have and then and then learning through your consumers. Right. And so, you know, I think there's a there's a true reason why Nick started this. And I think just showing up and being authentic about it and choosing partnerships and content and UGC that that that are on brand and you also have an amazing eye. So like from a visual identity, like clearly your background, you know, your reputation precedes you. And I think pairing a voice that feels authentic, what your visual identity is, but more than that is like who you are as a founder. And then as the Brandt Gehrs outside of the founder, then that can be a little harder sometimes because then it's like, okay, you know, how do I live apart from this brand if it's not, you know, the Nick Elliott show, but it's the Aspritzio show. And so I think finding that balance. But the great thing about social these days is people will tell you in real time what they love, what they hate, what they want to see more of. It's never been harder and it's never been easier to build a brand in public.
[00:42:57] Nick Elliott: It seems like based on the performance of the posts that I put out there that people want to see more of my mug. And that's what I'm worried about.
[00:43:07] Sara Brooks: So but take that and that can be such a funny way to kick off your content series. It's like, I'm here, but I'm not, you know, I'm not all the way here. And then every once in a while, you can do a selfie to be like, I'm giving the audience. I mean, there's ways to do it in jest that I think still would feel super authentic to who you are as a founder, for sure.
[00:43:27] Nick Elliott: If only there were a sparkling espresso drink that could give me the energy to take on social media.
[00:43:35] Sara Brooks: Available now.
[00:43:38] Melissa Traverse: Well, Nick Elliott, founder of Espritio. I am so glad that I met you at Expo West. It's been such a pleasure getting to know you and the Espritio brand. And I certainly will be looking for great things to happen. for you and the brand as you continue to build this. And Sara Brooks, of course, thank you so much for joining us from Goldilocks. We are always so grateful to have you on. You share such great, useful, tactical information and definitely can't wait to see you roll out your own CPG brand. So thank you so much for joining us on the Non-Based Podcast. For everybody out there in the audience, thank you for tuning in and we will see you next time. That concludes another episode of the Nambase podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a review and follow us on your listening platform of choice. You can also watch and listen to past episodes on nambase.com and don't forget to join our Nambase Slack at slack.BevNET.com for company updates, industry networking and community discussions. See you next time.
