MaKayla is an Idaho native who was born to build brands. Her technical design background gives her a leg up bringing life to brands with flair and finesse. Her years of experience as a digital designer and marketer in the health and wellness industry has helped her better understand consumer behavior and what it takes to package all the pieces together. After discovering the common denominator of building brand after brand, she joined forces with four other women to start Tuuti, a local creative communications agency. With Tuuti, she was able to make the female powerhouse vision a reality and continues to help a wide variety of clients to reach brand success.
When MaKayla isn’t renovating something or changing a space in her house, you can find her traveling with her husband and one-year-old daughter. Her love language is a beautiful summer day on a patio, out drinking a good craft beer.
Okay. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for the warm welcome Tressa for putting on this great event. I hope you're all enjoying your lunches. My name is MaKayla. She was too afraid to say my last name. It's Beaudoin. It used to be Frickey, which is even better. But I'm just going to give you a little bit of background about who I am, where I come from. I was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho on the east side of the state. Came over here for college about 12 years ago. I got my BFA from Boise State Bachelor of Fine Arts. And I minored in Communications and Public Relations. Like Tressa said, I'm married to my best friend Skylar. We have a daughter named Ryah. She is a little spitfire, definitely doesn't take after me, you know, definitely her dad for that one.
And anything outdoors, love a good craft beer, patio, anything warm outside, I'm there. I met my husband right out of college.
My first big girl job. I don't know why my words look really close together. I promise I know how to design. But I got my first job right out of college at a little company, well little now, it used to be pretty big. Bodybuilding.com was started here in the Treasure Valley 1999 out of a guy named Ryan DeLuca's garage. And it got pretty big. At one point we were the world's largest online supplement retailer in the world, and we housed a bunch of different brands on our website. I was a part of the creative services and marketing team, and I helped build a lot of brands while we were there. A lot of private label in-house brands, one of those being the bodybuilding.com signature line.
We had over 15 different products in that line. Rebel, which was a female brand, as well as Nourish and Bloom, which was another female brand. Really cool part of working there, I got to work with a lot of different groups, worked with our video publishing team and I was a part of this fitness campaign. It was called Fire 2.0 and I gotta brand everything for that. We had over 50 different fitness trainers on our app and working with really cool badass chicks. Like that girl in the middle, Hannah Eden. She could probably outlift anyone. But while I was there, I really tried to soak it all in and understand what branding meant.
We had people who were even had tattoos of bodybuilding.com. And I knew a girl in college and her husband was playing hockey over in Sweden. And I helped design t-shirts, event promo for a fitness event we had here, here in Boise. And it was the Boise Fit Expo. And I saw her husband practicing hockey in Sweden wearing my t-shirt that I had designed for this event. And I was like, wow, marketing can go to all lengths.
One of the coolest things I got to work on@bodybuilding.com, it's just a testament to what they were doing, was really cool. But we had $250,000 of cause marketing dollars that we would spend every year. We would basically write a check to Susan G. Komen, you know, really good organizations, but they wanted the money to go back to something that that meant more. And I was a part of a team there, there was about five of us, and we would essentially just donate our time. We started the Lift Life Foundation. It was a nonprofit, and we would go into underfunded high schools across the United States and completely renovate their high school weight rooms for free.
We got everything donated, and that was one of the coolest things I got to be a part of. To be able to go into these schools and take their brand, their brand personality, and just elevate it in these weight rooms. I mean, these were world class fitness facilities.
This was one of my first projects, I think it was back in 2016. And this weight room was nominated by a football coach in Knoxville, Tennessee. This was Fulton High School. And he wanted this weight room done for a kid that got shot and killed, and this was in honor of him, Zaevion Dobson. And so they asked me to design a tribute wall, and I could not believe, I was like, this is my first project. Like, what, how am I supposed to take this school spirit and basically slap it all over this gym and make these kids feel like they're appreciated?
That was what we did. And it was just one of the best things about working there. I got to do a little bit of everything on the website and on our social and just go around and understand, you know, you can take these brands, little big, small, whatever it was, bodybuilding.com or these certain schools and just give them, give them everything you've got.
But after that, I felt like I'd kind of hit my cap. I didn't know where I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to keep building brands, but I wasn't sure where, where to do it. And then come full circle, you may or may not have seen my face on one of these billboards around the Treasure Valley, and it says, yay, I pooped today.
You can imagine how many texts I got saying, is that really you on a billboard? Caitlin, you're in the crowd. You took a picture, a little selfie by it. And yeah, that was me. And actually, funny enough, now I'm at a local agency and it was started by one of my partners there, me and Jessie, shout out Jessie. And this was a brainchild by Shawnda Huffman, who's now our CEO at Tuuti. Microbe Formulas was again, another supplement company. And we wanted to be known locally and also globally if we could.
And this billboard campaign, the full marketing campaign really put us on the map. We took a risk. We understood that, you know, our brand was about detoxing from heavy metals, mold toxicity, that kind of thing. And that all starts with healthy drainage. So we drove people to this landing page to have them understand and be educated on what that healthy drainage was.
Well, it definitely worked <laugh>. We got a lot of traffic from this campaign and I was just really privileged to be a part of it. And see, you know, Shonda's background is in traditional media and she knows the space inside and out, and it does still work.
But coming full circle now, where I'm at today we started a local agency. It's in right downtown Boise, literally right across the street. And it's in a beautiful office. And I felt like for the first time ever, I was building a brand that I really, really cared about. We did all the branding together, but I was the one who put the logo together, took our tagline and said, okay girls, what do we want to be representative of? Who do we want to be known as? What do we want to be known for?
And you know, we picked this bright, bold orange color because we're a little bold. And the word Tuuti actually is a play on an Italian word. It means the pieces of an instrument coming together to create harmony. And our tagline is your voice, our megaphone. And that's kind of where I got the idea for these little dots in the, in the corner there that we're shouting out. We're just helping brands amplify what they're already doing. But just like the five of us, these things don't work without the other, these five letters and the word Tuuti represent the five of us. And if one of them's missing, it doesn't work the same, it doesn't look the same.
So I've been on both sides. I've been on the brand positioning, I did a lot of that at bodybuilding.com, where we did countless hours of market research and understand, you know, who our target audiences, who do we want to be approaching? We did a lot of competitor analysis figuring out the ladies already talked earlier, but finding your brand positioning, doing that avatar analysis and understanding who you're going to target, what do you want to say to them?
And I've been on the other side. My degree is in graphic design. I know how to build a good brand. I know how to build a good logo, I can't explain to you color theory and all the fun stuff I've, I've learned in college. But you need both of these things to start somewhere. You need a good brand foundation to build a passion.
The definition of a passion brand is, it's not a brand that consumers purchase purely out of habit. It's a brand they have an emotional connection with and want to be identified with by their peers. That emotional connection that you're creating, essentially it's brand loyalty. Brand loyalty with a company and or its products turns your customers into advocates. And when you create that emotional connection between a brand and a consumer, they become personally invested into your brand.
Well, it's not easy. Marketing's changed a lot in the last decade. The ability to discover brands has changed. The ability to connect with your audience has definitely changed thanks to social media. The landscape of competition has definitely changed. But in marketing, retaining customers is about five times cheaper than recruiting new customers.
So just shout out some brands that you interact with every day that you consider a passion brand. Instacart. I love it. Some brands that I thought of, of course, when, when thinking about this presentation was Apple, Nike, Starbucks, Sephora, Google. I'm a big Spotify fan. I was got thinking, why am I a Spotify fan versus a Pandora or Apple Music fan?
Every industry is different as to why consumers choose one over the other. Is it the consistency? Is it every time you go to Starbucks you get a white chocolate mocha? It tastes the same everywhere you go. It's accessible in every city you go in, you can order on the app.
Is it the quality? This is a true story. Lululemon. I own a lot of Lululemon leggings. I worked at bodybuilding.com, it may not look like it now but I did some lifting back in my day. But I bought Lululemon leggings and they're expensive, $118 leggings now. And I had a rip in them. But their customer promise, they promised that their pants are going to be good quality.
So I took them back to the store. Not one but two pairs. One had a rip, and the other one, the seams were coming out and I said, you know, do you guys fix these? Can you fix these for me? Do you have a seamstress or something? She said, oh yeah, just go pick out two new pairs. I could not believe it. I was shook <laugh>, I, that is good quality to me. They believe so much in their product, they will give you new pants.
Now don't go to Lululemon and tell 'em that MaKayla, that girl sent you. Cause I might be in big trouble now. But to me that's the ultimate quality. They believe so much in their product, customer service.
Chick-Fil-A is a great example. When I go through the drive-through and they tell me, you know, every time I say thank you, they say my pleasure. They get me in and out of that drive-through so quick. That to me is great customer service. I will go back to them not only because the food's great, but they give me great customer service every time.
Is it the rewards program? We have a credit card, the Visa Capital One Venture I think it is. And we wrap up so many points I feel like I am stealing from them. We use it in the right way, but I go back to them for the rewards. I understand what I'm getting with them.
So here's a little exercise. Pick a passion brand that you're loyal to and start brainstorming a list of all the reasons you're loyal to that brand. You can do it now, take it home, but then reverse engineer it and think about your own brand, your own business, and see how you're leveling up to those things that you care about. The things that you pay attention to, the reasons that you pick brands or businesses to shop with. Why do you shop with them? Think about that and then apply it to your own.
You've got to think about, who do you want to attract and what do they care about? When you stand behind what you offer, you'll start to attract the right people and then those people will become your brand loyalists.
The cool thing about brand loyalty is the same reason that somebody loves Starbucks is the exact same reason why somebody else hates it. You have to understand that there's some people who are going to love these certain qualities of Starbucks. You have to think about your own brand. What do you want people to know that you care about? So here's a few ideas, things that I've seen, things that I think are really cool or they're doing really well. These are big brands. You've got to show your brand personality. Who are you and what do you stand for?
This campaign was by Oatly, which is an oat milk brand. And this was in Times Square. And it says, what would be weirder than buying a giant billboard to promote a free newsletter about oat milk? The one behind it says Buying two. And I think it's just really clever. The call to action is sign up at oatley.com/spam. This is totally showing their brand personality, their brand voice. It's really quirky. I was reading an article about this, and Kevin is the creative director for this campaign and he said, don't fear being criticized. Fear being ignored. I thought that was really powerful. This campaign wasn't aiming for newsletter signups. That's really not the goal. They wanted conversations, they wanted people talking about their brand. They were aiming to be different in a category that is very, very much the same.
Hone in on those core values. This was a campaign in 2011, so a long time ago for Patagonia. And it says, don't buy this jacket. And I thought that was so clever. And it still stands the test of time now to what their brand stands for. This campaign challenge customers to think before buying and encourages businesses to make fewer things, but of higher quality. So it wasn't to drive sales. This campaign, the goal of it was to take people to an article, to read the article and then make a pledge to the Common Threads initiative pledge that they have. Some of their core values are understanding consumerism. They're big on sustainability. So they want you to consider maybe thinking twice before buying three jackets that are less expensive of poorer quality to maybe buying one and making a bigger investment. That's going to last you longer.
This is a necessary evil these days. I think one of you said it, Chryssa or Jen, you have to, you have to be on social media. It's just the nature of the beast. But being consistent on there is key. Consistently showing up, consistently posting whatever that platform is. Pick one. So, or Facebook, Instagram, whatever it is. But one in three people use social media to learn about or discover new products, services, or brands. I am one of these and yes, I'm a millennial, I know that. But I just went to Walla Walla a couple weeks ago and I went to Instagram. I used it as a search engine. I'm looking for new businesses, new places. I was trying to find good wineries there and I want to see what it looks like. I want to see what the people there are doing. What does it, you know, what do they care about? What does the food look like?
Stanley, which I am one of the cult followers of Stanley they were basically brought back to life from Instagram or from blogs and influencers on Instagram. They were originally promoting to men and camping, camping men, outdoors men. They were a camping product.
Well, it got rediscovered by an influencer and now their sales are up 300% year over year. They were basically reborn on social media. You have to find your followers and then market to them.
I think Jen said this one as well. Listen to the good and the bad. 93% of users say the online reviews had an impact on their buying decisions. 81% of consumers use Google to evaluate local businesses. This is a free way of advertising. Ask people to give your review if they had a good experience. But sometimes you can listen to the bad and make tweaks to your business and say, okay, maybe that that needs improvement as well.
But consumers want to learn from other people's experiences before trusting you enough to do the same. You can have testimonials on your website, but 80% of the time I'd say they're probably made up from the people who work there saying all these good things about themselves. People want to hear from other individuals who aren't associated with your business.
You wanna keep them coming back for more. I was talking about my Capital One Venture card. I'm a big Kohl's cash fan. 80% of consumers say that loyalty programs make them continue business with the same company. If you give them something unique, they're going to come back to your business because you're the only one. They can only go to Kohl's to use Kohl's cash up there, right?
There's really unique ways though, like referral programs or loyalty programs. We go across the street all the time to the warehouse. We go to Wok and Roll, shout out, Wok and Roll. And we get rewards points for going there. It's sometimes only a couple points, you know, but then it, we get a free drink or $5 off our meal, whatever it may be. But there's little things you can do. As a real estate agent, you can give referrals. If somebody sends business your way, give them a kickback or send them a thank you.
This is the last one. And I think one of the most important. The times have changed, especially post COVID. Doordash has 20 million monthly active users. Doordash didn't even exist five, six years ago. Now more than ever, post-pandemic, people love convenience. You've got to update your payroll systems, you've got to update how people can chat with you. One of the girls said it earlier, someone wants to DM you, now you've got to have a channel where you can answer them back. That's how people want to communicate nowadays. You know, 20 years ago you wouldn't think that it would be normal for a girl to be able to go to Europe, get in a stranger's car and then go to a stranger's house and stay in their bed in their house. Now that's normal. Uber. Airbnb. Things have changed.
The times are changing and you've got to keep up, somebody will go to a different business where it's more convenient to do business with them because it's quick and accessible. How can you save your customer's time?
So at the end of the day, building a brand, it's a big, it's a big task. You have to think about all these things and am I doing all these things right? I spent a lot of time at bodybuilding.com. We had a lot of wins, there were so many losses as well. When you think about your brand and building a brand, you've got to have a good foundation. You've got to start with that good logo, you know, the good brand guide, but you also have to figure out who you're targeting. You have to just take it step by step one day at a time and just be kind to yourself and your business.
What you're doing right now is better than what you were doing yesterday and it'll be better than you were five years ago. You just have it one step, take it one step at a time and really just try to implement one new thing. Try to be better, reevaluate, always be reevaluating your business and come back and be better the next day. Thanks. That's it.
Yeah. maybe because of budget or other things, right? I think there's still a way to offer to go above and beyond, right? To give them something. I think customer service is the easiest free way to give away what you're offering. Maybe you don't have, you know, a big budget to do something like that, but I think it's a follow up, a follow up text, email, a thank you card, even if it's something unique to you. Maybe you give them something around the holidays or whatever it may be. Just go above and beyond, I think to create that extra why are they doing business with you and just always be thinking about that. Yeah.
A hit how, Hmm. Sure. I think focus on what you're doing, right? I think there's a lot of ways PR wise to combat some of that negative energy that's, always be putting out good. Like Chryssa was saying, press releases. That's a pretty easy way to up, you know, your business and be recognized in local news and things like that. But I think, you know, take the losses and understand what you're doing and try to focus on, okay, what are we doing right? And amplify, maybe it's just one thing and really try to focus on, okay, how can we make that even better? But try to mitigate, you know, what people are hearing about the bad. Anything else? Yeah. Hmm.
I think when I was at bodybuilding.com and at Microbe Formulas they were both e-commerce and so we had a way different strategy, a lot more intense digital marketing strategy. And I've had to shift my thinking going to an agency now and where the client is right, the customer is right, and you have to tailor to their needs and every single one of them are going to have different standards and different ways of communicating with you. And it's really frustrating I think. But as soon as you start to understand where they're coming from and not be projecting what you expect from them, meet them at the same level and say, okay, how can we come to an agreement? And I think just over communicating what the expectations are and then you won't find that, that disconnect anymore.
Yeah, I think go back and like the exercise, I said go back and think about your brand, whether that be a personal brand or a business, and compare it to a big brand and say, you know, you personally, what do you invest in? Why do you shop with the same people or the same brand over and over again? And then look at your own self in your own business and say, how do I compare? Do I have, am I consistent? Am I showing up every day? Am I giving good customer experience? Do I have some sort of loyalty program or am I adaptable? I think you can just take, take those things and compare 'em to the big dogs and then understand where you, where you maybe can build.