1. Intro
Julep is a beautiful and very clever brand. It has this distinct feel to it, and it feels like the result of a lot of hard work.
Just as important, Julep has been working on this brand since before I came to the company. This is not me talking up the company; I have great respect for all the people who have worked on it.
But as a product manager, I recognize that for a brand to be successful, you need to build a story around it – you need to tell a coherent, connected visual story about what your product does and how it’s different from everything else out there.
So I think we can all agree that Julep has done that brilliantly. They’ve built their story in such a way that their customers are drawn into the narrative by seeing the world through their eyes (which is an important part of branding), and by feeling like they’re getting something special out of what they do (and so going out and buying things).
2. What’s the Problem?
I love sharing my thoughts on marketing with fellow entrepreneurs, so I’d like to share my julep primer with you.
I recently wrote a piece called “The marketing myth of sales” that talked about the importance of product feedback as it relates to sales. In the piece, I shared some of the stats and anecdotes I have gathered over time about what works for me as a marketer. Obviously, this is just my perspective and is not objective truth (I know — there are others out there who have similar stories and can attest to their work).
I do believe that you should always remember to ask for feedback from customers, but there is a difference between asking for customer feedback and soliciting feedback. There are many different ways (and forms) in which you can solicit feedback:
• Requests for your product in trade requests (e.g., “Give us your business so we can sell our product”);
• Posting on social media asking people to reply with their opinions;
• Talking to customers directly — either at conferences or in person;
• Writing in blog posts or saying something on Twitter;
• Driving traffic via engaging content on blog posts or content-sharing sites;
If you are seeking customer feedback, it is best if you ask for specifically about complaints/concerns. Many businesses feel uncomfortable asking people questions about their own finances or personal lives, especially when they are not related to the service being provided. If someone has an issue with your product or service (even if it’s funny), you don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable by asking them questions they might find uncomfortable (or even worse, don’t even ask!). If someone has an issue/complaint with your product or service, they will most likely be more willing to provide feedback if they feel comfortable doing so.
Most importantly: before asking someone for their opinion on your product or how your company is doing, make sure that there isn’t a similar complaint/concern already out there, especially one that you could have easily avoided by simply changing the way things were done!
I hope this gives you some insight into how I approach marketing from both ends: soliciting customer feedback from both ends of the funnel — whether from trade requests and from direct requests (either through blogs or direct communication). You should also consider gathering direct customer support complaints as well since companies often do not know
3. What’s the Solution?
Julep was founded in 2009 to solve a problem: the lack of quality, user-friendly julep products.
We started with the goal of creating a product that could solve this problem — and we did so by adding a ton of features and making it easier to use. While we have gradually shifted some of our focus to building up the company, we still believe in solving problems with products first and anything else second.
The best way to describe julep’s story is simply this: Julep has always been about doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do — and because doing the right thing is fun!
4. How Does Your Solution Work?
By this point, you should have a pretty accurate idea of how your solution works — at least from the business point of view. It is time now to start laying out the details and showing what it does, how it does it and why people should care about it. If you want to sell your product to others, you will need to do a lot of work.
The first step is usually setting up a presentation. A good presentation should be as simple as possible and should include a short introduction, some clear goals that are explained in a way that people can understand, and then some actual examples of what the business is doing with your product. A really great presentation will also show a few real-world use cases and make sure that we get a sense of who this product is being used for (a useful exercise for marketing).
Now here’s where things get tricky: After all the work you put into developing your solution, your customer wants something much more than just an explanation of how it works. They want actionable information on how they can use it in their everyday lives — they want advice on how to solve their problems with ease and they want actionable advice on how they can do anything else with their lives (and if I have time, I’ll explain why this is important). This article may help: How To Sell Your Product For Businesses
A good answer to this question should be something like: “Here is what we build our solution around:
1) We create products that allow our customers to do something better than they could do alone (e.g., 2) We provide support for our customers in order for them to solve those problems (e.g., 3) Our application helps us give back to our communities through volunteer support (or 4) Our application helps us develop better products for our customers themselves through open source collaboration (or 5) We work hard over the course of years to help people create better products for themselves.”
I know, I know: why would anyone actually listen? But remember that these are not questions from an investment banking audience; these are questions from users who are looking for answers to real-world use cases which may or may not have any connection whatsoever with your competition’s solutions.
Also keep in mind that most users don’t care about the technical details; they care about the benefits —
5. How and Why will it Benefit your Customer?
Julep’s primer is written by our founder and CEO, Jon Vandeveer, with the help of his team. It is also a framework for thinking about the value of Jolep’s products and services.
The primer can be broken down into 3 parts:
• A brief introduction to how we got where we are today, our business, and the principles that inform it.
• A brief introduction to our product: Jolep, a curated box for beauty enthusiasts.
• A brief introduction to what customers want from us — so we can prioritize our efforts in the future.
There are a lot of different things you could do with this primer; you could use it as a guide for your own startup, or open it up to anyone who wants to download and read. If you’re interested in learning more about other recent posts in this series (and Jon) check out his Medium article How we built julep using Lean Startup principles . You can also see what he has been up to lately at Twitter or on Instagram . And if you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out via email or Twitter . I will always be here to answer them! –Jon
6. How do you know you are a good fit for this role and company?
A few years ago, I wrote a post called “How to tell if you are a good fit for this role and company”. In that post, I talked about my experience with julep, the startup behind the beauty-product brand Julep. As a post-college grad fresh out of college this was all new to me, so I decided to run with it and write a follow-up with my own experience.
If you take a look at the original post, you will see three basic things:
1) You need a strong emotional connection with your product/market or there is no reason to be in business (more on that below).
2) Your product/market needs an emotional connection with your company
3) You need an emotional connection with your company or your product is not going to work.
The original julep primer was written in 2013, long before focus groups and customer surveys were common practice for startups. It’s also quite specific: it only applies to Julep at that point. As such I will focus on what I think are some of the most important elements of being a good fit for either Julep or any startup and then move onto some advice on how to find out if you are a good fit for them (and why they should be looking at hiring someone like you). The first part of this guide is going to talk about “emotional connection” in general terms and build up over time until we get into details which can both be understood in context as well as used as guidelines. The second part will address what makes someone great at what they do (i.e., “what makes them great employees”) which has more direct relevance for Julep right now as they try to find their way in the market but also has direct relevance for anyone who wants to make their lives better by working somewhere where people are passionate about their work and their customers care about them too.
7. How does working at julep make
julep is a company that helps brands and organizations build, grow, scale and optimize their online presence. We do this by helping them find better ways to create a more personalized and engaging online footprint for their customers.
This article covers the basics of julep, what it does and why it matters. It is a great place for those just starting out to see some of the basics of how we work and how we do what we do.