Hey Outliers ☀️
How’s your week been?
Seeing as summer has finally shown its face again (if you’re in the UK), it felt like a good time to chat about how a small, Aussie bikini brand got Kendall Jenner to promote them — FOR FREE!
Influencer marketing can look pretty easy but in reality, it can be time-consuming, expensive and ineffective, if you don’t get it right.
This bikini brand knew that but they just couldn’t afford to do it the traditional way and pay the big bucks, so they got creative and tapped into FOMO, but not in the way you might think…
Here’s what they did 👇
Here’s what to expect today:
📰 Story: How a small swimwear brand got Kendall Jenner to promote them
🧠 Insight: An understanding of psychology can beat big budgets
💪🏼 DIY: 3 Psychology principles you could apply to your brand
🔗 Good links: FOMO psychology, Why We buy and 7 ideas you can try today
📰 Story: How Triangl got Kendall Jenner to promote them
Australian swimwear brand Triangl, was launched in 2012 by Erin Deering and Craig Ellis after they realised there was a gap in the market for a high-quality yet affordable bikini.
As the brand grew, they started to strategise how they’d get themselves known overseas.
They realised that if they really wanted to skyrocket growth, they needed to get into America. And that meant getting a big American name to promote them.
That meant… Kendall Jenner 💁♀️
But Kendall charges THOUSANDS for a single brand post and Triangl didn’t have that kind of budget.
So they got creative 💡
They tapped into the FOMO effect, gifting products to all of her friends but not her.
Not long after, they got an email from Kendall asking if she could get one too.
Their plan worked 🍾
Naturally, they said yes and sent over a selection of products for Kendall to try.
She shared a thank you message on her social media and fans went wild! 👙
And that was that. Triangl had launched in the US 🇺🇸
“They never tagged us, but the Daily Mail picked it up, other publications picked it up, and they would talk about us. And so it was happening, anyway. We didn’t need them to tag us in the end because then we would use the photo [from the media] on our page [and] tag them.” — Erin, founder
The $25 million in sales from 2014 was eclipsed by their 2015 sales: $60 million.
🧠 Insight: An understanding of psychology can beat big budgets
For bootstrapped brands, competing on budgets with the big guys just isn’t an option. Things like expensive influencers, high-end video production and big out-of-home campaigns are simply out of the question. But that’s where a good understanding of psychology, and your customers, comes in handy.
From creating a sense of FOMO amongst big-name influencers to using negatives about your brand to attract the right people. An understanding of human psychology can set you apart and supercharge growth.
💪🏼 DIY: How to use psychology to grow your brand
Different psychological principles are better suited to certain types of brands and there are lots of ideas you can tap into that the big brands just can’t. For example…
👉 Launch in batches and use the scarcity principle. Brands like Supreme have grown massively using this method — they have people queuing around the block for their latest drop.
👉 Veblen pricing. If you’re a luxury brand, this can work well. A Veblen good is a good for which demand increases as the price increases due to its exclusive nature and appeal as a status symbol. Putting your prices up might actually help you sell more.
👉 Use negatives as positives to stand out and gain the attention of the right people. For example…
🔗 Good links
🔗 7 FOMO marketing ideas you can try today
💌 Tell us what you’d like help with…
We started this newsletter for entrepreneurs just like you, and we want it to be as helpful as it possibly can. So tell us what you’d like help with and we’ll dig into it.
Or if there’s a brand you’d like to know more about, let us know and we’ll reach out to them.
Until next week…
Keep being an Outlier,
J + K