黑料门

The 黑料门 E-Commerce Show hosts Jesse and Rich talk with Jill Bartlett, the founder and seamstress of , a custom dog coat and accessories store.

Of course, you will get to hear about the namesake rescue pup — Scout. But beyond the cute puppy stories, you will learn about:

• Creating a product from scratch
• WordPress themes and 黑料门
• Instagram marketing ideas
• User-generated content
• Contests and gamification
• Future plans — videos and patterns
• Gratisfaction App
• Bonus from Jill: use the JOINSCOUTERWEARCLUB coupon code to get a 30% discount on anything in her .

Transcript

Jesse: Happy Friday!

Richard: It is that time, one more time, podcast day.

Jesse: I love it. Podcast day, and we get a merchant online today. We haven鈥檛 had a merchant a little bit. I think we鈥檙e jonesing. Talk to a merchant and get their view of the world and offer our two cents when requested.

Richard: It鈥檚 our favorite thing to do. We hear each other talk enough. Plenty. (laughing)

Jesse: Yeah. I鈥檓 tired of you; I heard your voice plenty.

Richard: Even when we鈥檙e just doing our own show, and we don鈥檛 have a merchant, we鈥檙e always trying to help the merchants. But we get extra excited because there鈥檚 just so many different ways to make it be a successful business. And, you know, 黑料门 makes that pretty easy. We talked a couple of weeks ago about what you should sell. Part of what we love about talking to the merchants is just about the time you think you鈥檝e seen all the things you can sell; you find another one. And we found another one.

Jesse: Yeah. By the way, on the Internet, there鈥檚 a couple of things that always win. Cats, dogs. So I think we鈥檙e playing favorites here. Our guest today makes custom fit dog coats and accessories. Let鈥檚 hear from the owner, Jill Bartlett, ScouterWear.com. How are you?

Jill: I鈥檓 doing great. Thanks. How are you guys doing?

Jesse: Awesome. Great to have you on the show, Joe.

Jill: Thanks.

Jesse: Jill, we鈥檇 love to hear all about how you got going with ScouterWear and coming here, your full story. But with the name ScouterWear being dog coats and accessories? I have to imagine there鈥檚 a scout somewhere.

Jill: There is. Yeah. Scout is a lovely little Porti-Doodle. She鈥檚 lying peacefully beside me right now. Let鈥檚 hope she stays that way. She is a rescue dog from the B.C. chapter of the SPCA. She came from a puppy mill, which was shut down here in Vancouver, Lower Mainland. Puppy mills, just in case anybody doesn鈥檛 know what they are there. They鈥檙e places that have really, really bad, bad breeding practices. And they just literally pump out the puppies, and they don鈥檛 care how they get raised. So that鈥檚 a short background. But anyways, the SPCA shut down the puppy mill, and I was lucky enough to get Scout. So, yes, she鈥檚 a lovely little Porti-Doodle, which is a Portuguese Water dog and a Poodle mix. I tried to get dog coats for her. They typically don鈥檛 fit her body shape. She鈥檚 very tall and lanky. She鈥檚 got the long legs of a poodle, but she鈥檚 skinny, and she鈥檚 long. Nothing really fit, or plus, I just found that the stuff that I was finding in the local big box stores here were just real crap. And so I started making dog coats for her. I live in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. And it is torrentially rainy. It is just horrible out there today. And this is typical for our winters. We just get rain, and it doesn鈥檛 stop for about two months. I needed some raincoats for Scout. So I started making them. In the neighborhood, I walked by; people kept asking me: “Where did you get that coat? Where do you get that coat?” So I decided to go out and get myself some labels to sew into my coats and started the website. And the rest is history. It鈥檚 just gone really well.

Richard: So were you already as a seamstress or was this something that because of the dog you do start arm-in-arm, try to make a dog coat?

Jill: I鈥檓 not a professional seamstress. When I was a little kid, I used to make clothing for my dolls and for my teddy bears. And so I started sewing when I was really young. I took sewing in high school, and I鈥檝e just always sewed. But I鈥檓 not a professional sewer. I just started selling these things, and I鈥檓 a perfectionist, and that鈥檚 why I think the quality of the coats stands up, because I can鈥檛 stand things that aren鈥檛 well-made, so I make them really, really well.

Richard: Yeah, I would hate to see that the standard you would put on me if I tried to make one of these because they鈥檇 look like a professional seamstress. This does not look like anything I would put out. This is a very, very good looking product.

Jesse: Yeah. Jill, I鈥檇 say you鈥檙e a professional now. I mean, you鈥檙e essentially sewing, and you鈥檙e getting paid. So that鈥檚 professional, I would say. And from looking at the quality on the website, I can tell these are very well-made. You know, the lucky dogs out there.

Richard: You had your dog. You started to solve a need. You have cold winters, and the dog needed some clothes. You took your skillset. People started asking you. You put a label in. You said: “I think I鈥檓 going to start a business.” And so, what was it? Was it at a certain number, you know, the 12th person and the hundredth person, what number made you all of a sudden realize: “I think I can actually turn this into a business.”

Jill: Good question, I think. Well, what happened, as soon as I decided to kind of hang my shingle out there, I went to a market, and I was doing the market actually because I was doing jewelry as well. I thought I鈥檒l just put a few dog coats on the side. And it was a market in my local neighborhood here. And I got ten orders right then and there. So I thought, I need to make this into a business. That was the starting point. And I come from a background of doing websites and doing e-learning. And I felt that you have to have a website to be a professional company. So, you know, business cards, a website that just seemed to me you had to have it. I started the website almost immediately after I got my first ten orders. And. Yeah, and the e-commerce just came. That was part and parcel of it. I needed to have e-commerce. I wanted to be able to have the ability for people to buy online.

Richard: So we鈥檙e when you first went to this market, did you already have these coats made or did you just have a few on Scout? And they saw that, and you said: “I will make them for you to order.” Or were they just picking: “I want that one.”?

Jill: I just had a couple of coats, examples of what I make and then pre-measure people, not people. (laughing) Pre-measure their dogs for the coat to make sure that they custom fit the dog. And that鈥檚 become my little mission, the custom fitting and fitting dogs that just have a really hard time fitting into normal everyday coats that you can buy at the store.

Richard: Oe of the things I want to point out real quick to listeners right now. If you can hear one common theme that Jill has, regardless of whether it was the sewing or the making websites, is she鈥檚 taken action. She has an idea, and she seems to take action right after that idea. And it鈥檚 really cool because it鈥檚 not that often that you run into a perfectionist that also is taking actions in so many different areas without that being perfected yet. So you really seem like you have a good mix of understanding and noticing when people are noticing. I.e., people talking to you say: “Hey, where鈥檇 you get that?” Taking action on making the actual gear, taking action on getting your website together because you鈥檙e saying: “Hey, I want to do this professionally, I want to look professional, so I got to get a website going.” And you also foreshadowed: “Hey, I can see, or I can get this in front of more people if I also take this online.” I really want people to start thinking about that. It wasn鈥檛 like you were sitting there watching Shark Tank and said: “I鈥檓 going to start making these.” You just started solving problems in the world, and it started with your dog, and now you鈥檝e got a business. It鈥檚 fantastic.

Jill: I am a perfectionist, but I tend to just jump in two feet. It doesn鈥檛 always work well for me. But this is done well. So far, so well.

Richard: The good news is there鈥檚 as you probably already noticed, there鈥檚 always something you can do.

Jill: Yeah. Oh, exactly.

Jesse: To amplify Rich鈥檚 point there. A couple of things is you had the product and a lot of times people will think about a product for months, years, but you made it, and you went to the market and turns out it sold. So there鈥檚 your proof of concept like, “Yeah, I made a couple of them.” You didn鈥檛 spend tens of thousands of dollars. 袧ou spent time and effort. I know there are costs involved, but you made it. People were buying it. And then you immediately said: “I鈥檓 going to get a website.” You know, it wasn鈥檛 like you鈥檇 sold five hundred pieces. You sold 10. Maybe a few more. And it was ready to build websites. Awesome. I hope people are listening, thinking, yeah, just take action. Get started on this. I want to dive a little bit more on this. Go ahead.

Jill: I was just saying, and it鈥檚 easy to do. There are just so many simple processes. Yeah. 黑料门 and everything. It鈥檚 just easy to do. That鈥檚 my suggestion. Definitely. Just jump in and do it.

Jesse: Yeah. I love it. Get out there and do it. I always try to close with make it happen. You just went and made it happen. And so I want to dive a little bit more on to the website because it鈥檚 the 黑料门 E-commerce Show here. So you said you started with the site. Is it the same site you have now?

Jill: Yes, it is. It started off doing the site with the 黑料门 software and the plugin, and I use WordPress as the backbone of it. Like the actual place that I built the site.

Jesse: Got it. Yeah. I saw it鈥檚 WordPress; I was remarking to Rich earlier that it鈥檚 like it鈥檚 a very nice clean site. So for people that are if you鈥檙e driving and you can鈥檛 pull up ScoutWear.com, it鈥檚 mostly like a white background which looks very nice and clean. And then if you have a white background, if you have a white background on the photos, it also blends together very nicely. You have a lot of sections in there. It looks like there was a theme as well. You had to plug in a theme and then plug in 黑料门. Is that what you did?

Jill: Yeah, it actually is a software called Thrive Themes, which they provide a bunch of different things and you can go in and alter them, and it鈥檚 an awesome program for just drag and drop. You don鈥檛 have to be technically savvy. So it works really well to create the theme. It鈥檚 a great software to start from fresh.

Jesse: Awesome. So, yeah, for people listening, if you鈥檙e thinking, how do I make my site a little bit better? I think this is a very good example of a good looking site that probably didn鈥檛 take that long either. Jill, you mentioned you did it yourself. You mentioned you build websites before. You know, how many websites had you built prior to this?

Jill: Probably 70 or so, 60, 70. Hard to say. I come from a corporate background. I had an e-learning company for several years, and so did a lot of e-learning, development, and training. And in that process, we did a lot of websites as well, just in order to host the e-learning and such. So I鈥檝e done a lot of websites and a lot of in the technical realm of things, too.

Jesse: Got it. Well, it shows then. Definitely shows. And I think that can be helpful for other people; you can see where you can take something. And since you鈥檙e from the e-learning process as well, you know that if you have a question, you can probably Google it and find the answer for it.

Jill: Yeah. Everything鈥檚 out there.

Jesse: Yep. Go watch a little YouTube video on it, and you鈥檒l probably figure out how to do it in a few minutes. Let鈥檚 talk about it. You got the site set up. Looks great. Now how did you go about finding customers? What did you know? How did you market this product?

Jill: Primarily, what I鈥檓 doing is on Instagram and Facebook. That is definitely where I am not as strong and need to put much more of my energies into social media. As I say, I鈥檝e got a good local following. And because I get I鈥檝e got it in stores, retail stores, I get a lot of customer orders out of that markets I do as well. And just the local neighborhood and word of mouth that鈥檚 gone really well in Vancouver. But I鈥檓 trying to really build the company outside of my local area. And that鈥檚 something I really need to need to brush upon.

Richard: Well, even though you are fantastic at doing the seamstress and you know how to build Web sites, now that you鈥檙e taking on this new adventure of the world of social media and getting out there and actually marketing. You don鈥檛 have to share. Don鈥檛 share. But are you going to try to take on all this yourself or you plan out do you plan on outsourcing some of the seamstress work? Because there are only 24 hours in a day and I鈥檓 already blown away at what you鈥檙e doing and the more you sell, the more you鈥檙e gonna have to sell.

Jill: Yeah, well, I鈥檝e got a couple of plans for that. I do have some local seamstresses that I鈥檓 starting to train and show how to do things, do my products. And what I started doing before that was creating PDFs patterns. And then, I started developing some actual tutorial videos. And what I decided out of that, playing on my e-learning background, too, is that I鈥檓 going actually to start selling the how to make my stuff. So it鈥檚 a whole new, this is an area that鈥檚 gonna be launching probably by the end of February. I鈥檓 hoping that I plan for that is also to find some people that are really good seamstresses that want to make products and actually sell them on the site. So that鈥檚 another avenue I鈥檓 moving into.

Richard: So that鈥檚 fantastic. By the way, I love hearing that for two reasons. One, again, we鈥檙e here in this common theme of you鈥檙e bringing in your skill sets from your past and applying them to your current endeavor. That鈥檚 one. But in addition to that, not more important, but in addition to that, I love this idea of bringing in the e-learning and showing people how to do it for two reasons. One, when you start to get into this marketing world a little bit more, you鈥檙e going to start to see one of the things that work best is just going on the social and adding value right out of the gate. So here I am. I鈥檓 documenting the process. You may or may not have the whole thing. You might just go live and start showing one. And people who are watching that video or had have watched that video in the past, you can actually remarket. Two, now, we鈥檒l go into a little bit more depth on that. But these people, they might be interested. But here鈥檚 the good news. If they are interested and they want to make it. What happens? Sometimes they realize, oh, man, this takes a lot of work. And now you still have a list of people who probably still want that coat that they can come back and buy the coat off of you. So it鈥檚 like a great just all around. You got content to put out in front of people. You鈥檝e got a business that you can sell this product if they actually are as go-getter as you are. And at the worst-case scenario, there鈥檚 obviously somewhat interested, and they probably have a dog, or they wouldn鈥檛 have paid attention to that video in the first place. And so, “By the way, I have these, if you had a hard time.” (laughing)

Jill: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I got of my thinking too, because there are certain people for sure that that have the crafty mind. And then they sit down to as you say, they start looking to the video and go: “Oh my gosh, this too much.” But they will also from that, I think, get a whole appreciation of what goes into making that coat. There are umpteen layers and piping and reflective and Velcro, and like there鈥檚 just so many things that you go into it. There are only certain personalities that are gonna be keen on doing that. People like me, that just love doing those kinds of things that are really crafty and like to do things for themselves. But yeah, there鈥檚 gonna be a whole other world that鈥檚 going to say: “No, quite happy to pay for someone to do that.”

Jesse: But yeah, I could see that as well. I personally might look at some how-to videos on how-to-do stuff and then say at the end like: “Boy, I think I鈥檇 rather just pay somebody to do it.” Like electric work on a house, you know. I could figure this up at play. I could just hire an electrician too, even though I sort of know how to do it. Let鈥檚 just get the expert in here. I think you鈥檝e got a lot of people that will watch that content on how to do it. And maybe they鈥檒l just like your personality or the fact that you are putting so many layers into this and say: “All right, this is the person I want to buy my dog coats and accessories from.” So, yeah, I think it鈥檚 a great idea. And you鈥檙e gonna get a lot of YouTube content from that, too. So I saw, YouTube is very good for how to stuff. You have a Facebook; you have it. You have Instagram. A lot of times, people won鈥檛 watch videos for more than five minutes on YouTube, and they will watch it on Facebook. That tends to be shorter videos, but just kind of heads up there. You might want to start the YouTube channel to put the more how-to stuff on anywhere.

Jill: So, yeah, exactly. That鈥檚 what I鈥檓 thinking.

Richard: Are you using any content from your customers? Basically, user-generated content. Are you asking for pictures?

Jill: Yeah, I do ask for pictures from people. People aren鈥檛 always really great at giving any. You have to ask them a few times. Also, they鈥檙e not always the best pictures, but yeah, I do try to get that as much as I can. I could improve on that for sure. They are getting more people to send me their pictures of their animals and their dogs and their coats and having fun.

Richard: Yeah. It鈥檚 definitely one of the underutilized but most effective forms of marketing. It鈥檚 still a form of word of mouth because someone鈥檚 talking about it, but it鈥檚 almost like it鈥檚 morphed together with a testimonial. And you don鈥檛 have to go find a model or a dog in this case model. You have different dogs, different breeds, and different styles, different personalities of dogs. And now maybe they have that dog, that little Yorkie that鈥檚 in that picture. And it just really is great. But again, to your point. It鈥檚 not always easy because sometimes it鈥檚 just the way we ask. Sometimes it鈥檚 a little comment maybe on social. Wow, we love it when people are sending in pictures, and we鈥檙e so thankful. We were thankful for your sharing because it makes us aware that we鈥檙e actually solving a problem. Please, send it, we鈥檙e so thankful. We鈥檇 like to give you this 5 percent, 6 percent, 7 percent, whatever, some sort of coupon. And thank you. And, you know, I thank you out to them. Sometimes that may be messaging them into doing a little bit more than, “Hey, can you give me a picture of your dog?” So keep playing with that.

Jill: Would you suggest that your Instagram like through social media and ask people directly messaging you or directly contacting the clients themselves?

Richard: Well, no matter what. OK. So to be a higher level thought process here and then we鈥檒l bring it back to super-specific. Everybody鈥檚 on social media and different people like different platforms. More so to Jessie鈥檚 point, like the how-tos are great for YouTube. Instagram is kind of like what鈥檚 happening now. Look at my cool life, and I鈥檓 overexaggerating on some of this stuff. But you鈥檒l get the general point. Pinterest is “I aspire for this.” You know, maybe great for where your patterns and showing the different textures and high quality of the merchandise and stuff. But on each platform, you would possibly communicate this a little more. But no matter what, you definitely want to be gathering an email list, because even though all the people are on these platforms, it鈥檚 kind of rented playground for us, right? Like you can spend a lot of time building up a fan page on Facebook and you should, but that doesn鈥檛 guarantee you when you post something, everyone on that page, they鈥檝e really made this cool creative process where you can build a page and then build an audience, but you have to pay actually to get in front of that audience sometimes. So it鈥檚 a little mix of everything, right. So some of it is just content that鈥檚 gonna go out there. But to specifically go back to your question of where and how should I do it. I would play around in different spots. Some of it can be an email that just goes out to people who are bored. And you鈥檙e basically saying, you鈥檙e almost now driving a customer that definitely has it back to your social, which is great because in all these platforms, I鈥檓 not claiming to know the exact algorithms, but I do know this. They really like it if you bring someone from off their platform to their platform. Right. It鈥檚 their playground. And you just brought someone from your email list to Facebook or to Instagram. And now they鈥檙e putting up a picture, and they鈥檙e tagging you and saying, thank you, our dog loves their new coat. Like, you鈥檙e gonna get some serious love from that platform, whichever that platform is. And so I would recommend, and I鈥檓 sure Jesse would somewhat agree, and we鈥檒l hear what else he has to offer this. But start with current customers on your email list. So then you don鈥檛 have to worry too much about what that looks like. Am I saying it right? Feel out them there. And then it鈥檚 because it鈥檚 also a great way to offer a coupon code or something to come back to your site and then you鈥檒l be pleasantly surprised when maybe in that email you鈥檙e saying post a picture of your dog and use this hashtag, and we鈥檒l send you this coupon code or something like that. I鈥檓 just pointing something out of a hat, but definitely utilize your email list and try to drive them back to the social, but then just offer them that as a thank you. And because I鈥檓 sure once someone gets one of these things I think you probably have a good chance for repeat customers as you get more and more excuses.

Jill: Yeah. That鈥檚 great. I love that. Good.

Jesse: Yeah, I think that鈥檚 really good. I think I would add that a little bit more in that. Yes, an initial e-mail blast is great, but I would show examples of other content you already have. Like hey, here鈥檚 a video of, I don鈥檛 know what a good dog name is? What is your dog鈥檚 name?

Richard: Lulu.

Jesse: Lulu. Here鈥檚 Lulu playing with this new coat. And then that鈥檚 on Instagram. And then here鈥檚 a picture of another dog on this platform to give people examples of what you want them to send in because you probably want, short little snippets of video of the dog jumping around, playing and barking and having a good time in this new, piece of clothing that they have. I think that鈥檚 great. And I think I would also go one step further. I would automate that process. I would probably do this as like a 14 or 21 day follow up. So maybe even a little bit longer. This might be more in the 30 days follow up where 30 days after shipping or 30 days after purchase, whatever鈥檚 easier to set up, you send this email with; I think a coupon code for another article is like, yeah, dogs don鈥檛 need just one coat. Like you have to have. I need a leather jacket for a night on the town. I mean you can suggest other things that they might want to buy because people love their pets. They love to spend money on their pets and but seven days might be too soon. Like if I just spent a decent amount of money on some pet clothing, I鈥檓 going to need to let that be paid off on the credit card first before I think about buying another one. But maybe in 30 days, I鈥檓 feeling good about that, and I might be ready to make another purchase. And if I see other examples of other dogs wearing this, it鈥檚 great. It鈥檚 dogs. It鈥檚 pets. People love that stuff. So anyway, yes, social media is fine, but I think like email, you can control that so much more, that might be a good step for you.

Jill: Right. That鈥檚 great. Good.

Jesse: And we should ask, are you collecting your e-mails right now? Do you have any e-mail service provider?

Jill: I do have them. Yes, I do. And I am collecting e-mails.

Jesse: Good. That鈥檚 an easy tip for us. Then that鈥檚 a checkmark right there. We got gathering e-mails. And I think it鈥檚 easy for you to send e-mails. Here鈥檚 a bunch of pictures and videos of dogs to people that have dogs that they already have treated. So it won鈥檛 be treated as spam so much that other customers. If you鈥檙e listening out there and you don鈥檛 sell dog food, dog stuff, you鈥檙e probably gonna get a few more spam warnings. But pet stuff I think gets through those filters a lot, lot better.

Richard: Yeah. And I noticed that 5 percent of sales go back to the B.C. SPCA. I definitely would amplify that, too. I would take advantage of that. Almost potentially create a message where you鈥檙e you helping your dog is helping other dogs. I think that鈥檚 interesting. You could even play with that a little bit as in like your dogs are helping out. So there鈥檚 even a potential of tying that into how you share. The ideas are just coming to me. Think it out a little bit and get in contact with them more. But almost more like the social media side of it. “If Lulu鈥檚 post gets to a certain number, we鈥檙e gonna donate five jackets to shelter” or whatever. You know, some something where you鈥檙e just really amplifying the giving back. Having value and giving back to the world right now is definitely especially for some of the younger generation. Actually, it鈥檚 really big. The percentage is back to help out.

Jesse: Yeah, you鈥檙e giving me some other ideas, Rich.

Richard: That鈥檚 the way this podcast runs.

Jesse: I鈥檓 thinking you can almost gamify this a little bit more where each one of these contacts means extra points. What鈥檚 the app I鈥檓 trying to look it up here.

Richard: Kingsumo?

Jesse: No, the one that鈥檚 already integrated here. So we have an app that is already been on the podcast, so I鈥檓 trying to think of what the pod it is, what it is right now. I will find it.

Richard: I鈥檒l get it.

Jesse: The basic idea is this: Hey, if you like us on Instagram, you get five points. And follow us on Facebook, you get five points. If you send in a video of your dog, you get 25 points and then kind of go down the list of all these various online things that you can do, and they all result in points. And maybe then once a month or once a quarter, you can have a winner. And that winner gets a free jacket or maybe a little lower cost. Let鈥檚 not break the bank here, but maybe something a little easier to handle. I think that might be a way for you to stay in front of your customers with fresh content that they probably enjoy. We鈥檙e helping pets here. You could also maybe at a certain point, at the end of the year or something. It鈥檚 a little tough to do cause you鈥檙e going to feel a little rough with it. But like, you give the check to the shelter. Hey, here鈥檚 the check. It鈥檚 $1,000. Thanks to our customers for their help. And this is, this is what this thousand dollars will do. Like it鈥檚 a legitimate email to send, and that鈥檚 one of the reasons you鈥檙e doing this.

Jill: Awesome. I like these ideas.

Jesse: I wish I had them better. You know, social good that I could send these emails out. I鈥檓 happy for you.

Richard: Was it the Gratisfaction?

Richard: Gratisfaction, I think yes. Jill, check out the app Gratisfaction in the app market and see if that fits your needs. I think that鈥檚 the one we鈥檙e talking about here.

Jill: That鈥檚 a plug for 黑料门?

Jesse: It鈥檚 a plugin for 黑料门, and I think it allows you to plug in all these different social platforms that you can get various points for doing all these activities that we mentioned.

Richard: Oh yeah. And there鈥檚 way more than we even mentioned. You can do it for Pinterest. There are sweepstakes, and there鈥檚 a contest, there are loyalty points.

Jesse: I can see a lot of contests. And Jill, you mentioned, you鈥檙e asking for the pictures. You鈥檙e getting some, not that many. Let鈥檚 see. You鈥檙e getting like 5% of the people are sending a photo or something. If you make it into a contest or sweepstakes with some freebies, you might get like 30-50% of the people sending in pictures. All they have to do is a snap, a picture, or a video of their dog. So it鈥檚 not that hard. And they鈥檙e probably at the dog park looking at their phone anyway.

Jill: There鈥檚 something about gamifying it.

Jesse: Yeah.

Jill: People just love it.

Jesse: Absolutely. It鈥檚 gamifying, and it鈥檚 dogs, and usually, when people go to the park and let their dog run around, they usually pick up their phones to read their email. So it鈥檚 a good time to look at social. All they have to do is use their thumb and take that video and enter the sweepstakes. Yeah. Awesome. I like that one. You mentioned on Facebook and Instagram that you have, did you sync the product catalog so you can do the Shoppable posts inside of Facebook and Instagram?

Jill: I did, yeah. Yeah. Which was so easy. I loved it. I say I鈥檓 technical, but I鈥檓 really not that technical. I really come from the design side of things. So when things are like a one-button push, and it happens, it鈥檚 phenomenal. Love it.

Richard: Yeah. And actually, that鈥檚 a great point because you are both inspirational for people and say aspirational too because they say, this is how good yours can look, but you鈥檙e also pointing out. And thank you, we always appreciate that you don鈥檛 have to be a designer to do this. A lot of these functions in 黑料门 are literally one, two, three clicks in this particular case. I think the longest part of the process is just waiting for the approval from Instagram saying or Facebook saying, yeah, you can sell now. So that鈥檚, that鈥檚 nice and thanks for pointing that out. That is really easy for people to do. Create those Shoppable posts just to get your product feed in there, a few clicks, and just wait a day or two. And you鈥檙e selling online with Shoppable posts.

Jill: Yeah. And it鈥檚 everywhere it seems. I can鈥檛 remember, I think I actually had to do it manually, do you have a plugin for Google? I think I manually put it up on Google.

Jesse: Yeah. With Google, you have to do a little more. To get a product feed inside of 黑料门 and then you upload it there, and that can be scheduled. There鈥檚 a couple of steps to get it done the first time, but once you get that done, that鈥檚 pretty automatic. So and by the way, it鈥檚 a little harder on the YouTube site, but it鈥檚 very doable. I know you can get through this, but if you do YouTube videos, it鈥檚 called TrueView for shopping. I believe that where you can sync your product catalog into that video. So if you鈥檙e talking about a very specific coat that you鈥檙e making, that you can sync that product into your YouTube video. I鈥檓 missing a word or two there. There are a few more steps, but it is very doable. The Facebook one鈥檚 a little bit easier, I鈥檒l admit. But, but anyway, it鈥檚 also available.

Jill: Is that an 黑料门 plugin?

Jesse: It鈥檚 not a plugin, but yeah, go ahead.

Jill: Is it part of YouTube itself?

Jesse: Yeah, actually, you definitely need 黑料门 for the product feed. So in 黑料门, the same area you鈥檒l find where you can create a product feed for Google, and then that in Google, you鈥檒l go to Google Merchant Center, and that鈥檚 where they want all the product feeds to go. And then, that will feed both Google ads if you want to do Google Shopping ads. And it鈥檒l also feed the TrueView for shopping on YouTube, which is not a very widely used feature, by the way. So it鈥檚, that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 a little harder. It鈥檚 a little more; we鈥檒l call that a little more 301 level. But I think you can handle it. So that鈥檚 why I mentioned it. If you鈥檙e listening and you鈥檙e like, I don鈥檛 know, that sounds like too much. Okay. Maybe save that for later. But Jill, I have faith in you. All right, perfect. Couple other ideas. Richard mentioned Pinterest. If you鈥檙e already taking pictures, especially on the how-to set, I think Pinterest would be good for you. They also have shoppable posts there as well. Again, you gotta get the feed going in and upload it. It鈥檚 not that hard, but there is an extra step there. But I think that might be good for you. And then in the pet world, there鈥檚 a lot of, in the influencers side here, if the right person buys you know, the coat for their dog and posted on Instagram and they have a million followers and whatnot like there鈥檚 a potential that could blow up. I don鈥檛 know who the right person would be for you to be honest with you. But actually, there are dogs that are influencers now.

Jill: Probably Ellen. Yeah. It would be awesome.

Richard: That鈥檚 a perfect example that it鈥檚 like we talked this out on what we鈥檙e going to talk about next. But giving this to a celebrity and like, Oh my gosh, your dog is so cute. Almost going out of your way in those scenarios to not ask for something back actually seems to work better. I鈥檓 sure there are always exceptions to the rule, and someone asked to, but if you just were giving for giving sake, especially the fact that you鈥檙e actually giving the percentage of this money to help other dogs too. I鈥檓 just hey Ellen, here鈥檚 a coat. I tried hardest to guess the exact dimensions of your dog cause I can only see it in these, I鈥檝e looked at a few pictures you鈥檝e posted online. If this doesn鈥檛 fit, let me know the exact size, and I鈥檒l get you another one. Like that literally would be priceless, you know better than I do. Could you imagine Ellen going on her show and saying, look at this cute little coat that this lady sent me and you don鈥檛 even have to ask. Of course, she understands this, giving first and making people feel good and how that works. Her whole show is based on that. I would definitely try something like that with some form of celebrity that you literally just give it to them and then you just in the narrative of, Hey, these are all custom made, so if it doesn鈥檛 fit, and how much time does that take you and what is it maybe taking away $200 total in sales. If you give them to, and you鈥檒l potentially get something back, that鈥檚 priceless. But no matter what, there鈥檚 no way, in my opinion, and I think you could actually hold me to this. I鈥檒l pay the difference. You won鈥檛 be able to give this to a celebrity and not somewhere down the road quadruple or potentially just like not even be able to measure how much return you would get.

Jill: Right. Yeah.

Jesse: High risk, high reward on that one. I think if you鈥檙e low risk, what鈥檚 the high risk of a couple of products, right? Yeah. That鈥檚 the risk. I mean, that鈥檚 low risk. High reward. Agree to disagree. Rich, I鈥檒l give you that one. (laughing)

Richard: I鈥檒l pay the difference. I guess it is low risk, a couple of hundred dollars potential sales.

Jesse: Jill, we鈥檙e going to make some bets on your business over here, so if you don鈥檛 mind, I鈥檒l let you guys know how it goes. If you鈥檙e on Ellen, maybe you get to invite one of us. Invite Rich. (laughing)

Jill: I鈥檒l play it back to you guys and say this is where it all came from.

Jesse: Awesome. Yeah, that鈥檇 be great. So yeah, I hope we are able to give you a couple of ideas that you could try in your business next. I can tell you鈥檙e already on the right path here. Like you鈥檝e already done the right things to get going. But is there anything we should have asked about what we didn鈥檛?

Jill: I don鈥檛 think so. I think you guys touched on most of this stuff.

Jesse: All right. And where can people go to find out more about you in the store?
Jill: ScouterWear.com, which is a play on my dog鈥檚 name Scout and also the word out as outerwear. So ScouterWear.com. Also, as I said, by the end of February, we鈥檙e going to have ScouterWearClub.com, which is where people can get discounts. Planning on doing that kind of gamifying thing, which I鈥檇 love to use your plugin cause that鈥檒l just make it that much easier. But thinking of adding ScouterWear pup points is what I was going to call them and have people being able to build up, the more they buy them where they get kind of thing, but also discounts on products, sending out product packaging. I鈥檓 also going to package up all the supplies needed in order to make a coat. All of that will be coming. ScouterWear.com is the main site. And I鈥檇 love to offer a coupon for any of the listeners that are interested in signing up.

Jesse: Do you have the code ready that we can make sure it makes it?

Jill: I do. It鈥檚 a JOINSCOUTERWEARCLUB, all one word. So if they put that in when they sign up, I haven鈥檛 got the sign up yet on the ScouterWear page, but I will have that avenue once I鈥檓 ready to go. And they can find with sign up with the Join ScouterWear Club.

Richard: Well, you鈥檒l have a week or two before this airs.

Jill: Perfect.

Jesse: Little podcast secret. This won鈥檛 be live for about another week or so. You have time. But for people listening to you can, we can check it out and see if that鈥檚 ready. So ScouterWearClub.com.

Jill: Yeah, we鈥檒l have it done. I鈥檒l have it done by the end of the day anyways.

Jesse: And if you watch Ellen, you鈥檙e eventually going to see Jill there. So just look for Jill on Ellen, and then if you really put in Gratisfaction, maybe we can do around two in like six months of here鈥檚 what Gratisfaction did for your business. So I don鈥檛 know, just a little teaser of round two. So Rich, any last thoughts here before we sign off?

Richard: No, this is great. Again, always happy to get merchants on right now. To come up for this podcast. Jill, actually, I missed my daughter鈥檚 little publishing party. Luckily my wife filmed it, but it was a book that she wrote all about dogs, and she loves her dog, so I鈥檒l be sure to get her to that coupon code, and she鈥檒l definitely make a video for you; hopefully, she can.

Jesse: Awesome.

Jill: Sounds good.

Jesse: Well, perfect. Well, Jill, I really appreciate you being on the show. I hope for all the listeners out there, you鈥檙e able to gather some knowledge here, and you know, doggy clothes, doggy coats, ScouterWear.com.