#327 - How Good Girl Snacks Captured Gen Z’s Heart (and Stomach) with Hot Girl Pickles
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Leah Marcus and Yasaman Bakhtiar are the co-founders of Good Girl Snacks, a company that has made a name for itself in the snack industry with a focus on creating modern, female-oriented branding, particularly with their product "Hot Girl Pickles." 

Leah and Yasaman launched their brand by leveraging social media, especially TikTok, identifying a gap in the pickle market for their niche audience. Despite their lack of experience in the food and beverage industry, they were able to carve out a unique space and build a dedicated community around their brand through their knowledge of social media marketing and content creation.

In this episode of DTC Pod, Leah and Yasaman pull back the curtain on their content and marketing strategy. We gain insights into organic brand-building, how it contributes to maintaining authenticity and connection with an ad-averse Gen Z audience, and how they use it to get real-time engagement and feedback to refine and enhance their product line. We also learn the unique challenges and learning curves Leah and Yasaman faced in the CPG industry as they built Good Girl Snacks from the ground up.

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**On this episode of DTC Pod, we cover:**1. Content Creation and Marketing Strategies2. Overcoming Production and Operation Challenges3. Engaging Gen Z through Authenticity4. Branding and Niche Market Targeting5. Learning From Industry with Consultancy Support6. Building Community via Organic Social Content7. Flexibility and Patience in Business Growth

Timestamps02:00 Viral TikTok trends and how Good Girl Snacks started04:21 From doing corporate work to launching a brand07:21 Initial fears of starting a business09:34 The white space in the pickle market10:59 Picking a niche, catering to Gen Z consumers13:28 Content strategy, leveraging brand stories and SEO17:07 Good Girl Snacks’ content creation workflow then vs now22:45 Balancing planned and spontaneous content 24:39 Content distribution; reels, stories, and grid strategy27:59 Product development, hiring R&D consultants, the importance of community31:34 Gathering customer feedback for iterative product development34:21 Challenges and advantages of bootstrapping36:21 Adapting marketing strategy to Gen Z consumer attitudes and behavior38:53 Retaining authenticity while scaling, continuing to create low-lift content41:22 Hiring consultants vs full-time employees44:28 How to get the most out of startup advisors47:33 Advice to future founders: be adaptable and patient

Show notes powered by Castmagic)

Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.  

Additional episodes you might like:

• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth

• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content

• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views

• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands

• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook

• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands

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Leah Marcus) and Yasaman Bakhtiar) - Co-Founders of Good Girl Snacks)Blaine Bolus) - Co-Founder of Castmagic)Ramon Berrios) - Co-Founder of Castmagic)