About Holly

When Holly stumbled out of the first-time mum fog, she made it her mission to create a rad local community of Hood Mamas. Holly revolted against all of the resources that were “just for kids” and created Motherhood Melbourne that put the Mum front and centre. She’s created a welcoming platform for everyday Melbourne Mums to share their motherhood woes and proudly promotes Mama-friendly events so Mums can make good use of their dry shampoo. Holly loves her some #shoplocal goods and pimps out Melbourne owned products & services that make the Mama gig better n’ brighter.

Holly is now also the co-founder of facing motherhood which creates sassy self-care goodies for Mamas. With her friend Marie (that she met on the Gram), they help tired and sore Mums with their natural & vegan skincare.

If you ask Holly what she does in her spare time she’ll laugh and ask “what spare time?” However, you’ll often find her red-faced from long distance running or being climbed on by her two little boys and pug Mr Giuseppe who has a serious case of FOMO.

Practical steps, ideas and real-life examples, coming at cha –

 1.  Goal-getter

How do you know if your launch is successful if you haven’t defined ‘success’?

I highly recommend – listening to Brand Builders Lab Podcast – ep.43: BADASSERY GOAL SETTING & VISION BOARDING.

At facing motherhood, I set weekly measurable goals for website visits, email subscribers, social media follows, online sales, wholesale sales etc. Then I can see week-to-week progress, which areas are not growing, which ones deserve a pat on the back and then make a strategic plan on how to move forward.

2.  You’ve got mail

Drop what you’re doing and set up your email marketing NOW! Getting people on your email list is like going to third base. You’re one hit away from a home run (sale).

To get people to give up their deets, you’ve gotta have a helpful & enticing freebie. Whatever your biz is about, makes you an expert in that industry. Here’s some examples –

Women’s boots – 5 ways to style ankle boots with your winter wardrobe. Business Coach – A 1-page business plan to help you launch your dream biz.

And if you have your email marketing set-up, invest time in creating an automated welcome series where over the course of a month, your subscribers learn about you and your biz. Do not wait to launch until you send an email. Don’t be that friend that says “we should catch up”, but never does. Send consistent emails that offer VALUE.

At facing motherhood, we have a free guide – 7 DEADLY skincare SINS, which gives tips about breaking bad skincare habits. We have a welcome series that introduces Mamas to our story, brand values, provides value through skincare & self-care tips and shares the perks of our popular products. We then keep in touch via weekly emails.

3.  Be a social-ite

Social media is an easy way to spread the message about your launch. Start sharing now so that there are people to launch to. Too many businesses wait until they’re product is perfect or their event sales page is complete. Social media gives you the opportunity to share the process and get people excited.

EXAMPLE – If you’re running an event, tease out the details in numerous posts/stories about how you have the perfect venue with Instagram-able graffiti walls. Do an Insta poll about whether people would prefer to be greeted with a donut or bliss ball. Announce each speaker one at a time to build up hype. Then when the sales page is ready, you should have people excited to go (and buy a ticket).

At facing motherhood, we started our facebook and Instagram page 3 months before we launched. We didn’t even have our packaging or final products finished until a few weeks before launch.

However, we just smeared the skincare on our hands and took unflattering photos and started sharing the perks. When we launched, we had sales within 10 minutes of going LIVE.

4.  People power

Connections – People are nice. Truly. If you ask your friends, fam and biz buddies to help you spread the word about your launch, they will. If you don’t ask, they won’t. Simple yeah? Ask them to share a post on facebook, mention it to their friends, share an Insta story or tag their friends in your Insta post who might be your target market.

Collaborations – Join forces with businesses that have a similar target market. Example – giveaways, joint LIVE chats, guest blog posts or co-host an event.

Influencers – Work with people that are highly regarded in your industry or by your target market. Remember that big follower numbers don’t always equate to a big return. Suss out how they engage with their communities and work out how you can work together so that it’s a win/win situation for them, their community and your biz.

5.  Face-to-face

You know all-da-things about your area of expertise, but how do you show it? Or you have an amazing product, and you know that if people saw it in real-life or touched it, they’d fall in love with it. Get out from behind your computer and in front of people with events, activations, speaking gigs or markets. This will speed up the know, like & trust factor quicker than social media ever will.

At facing motherhood we’ve created our own event – a NAP PARTY for tired Mums. It’s invite-only where we’ve drawn out names of our customers to win 2 x tickets. This gives us an opportunity to extend the customer relationship, thank the people that support us and also meet their plus one and introduce them to our brand.

Connect with Holly

Facing Motherhood (Sassy self-care goodies for Mamas [only].)
facingmotherhood.com.au
facebook.com/facingmotherhood
instagram.com/facingmotherhood

Motherhood Melbourne (Rad community for Melbourne Mums to share their stories & discover Mama-friendly events, products & services.)
motherhoodmelbourne.com.au
facebook.com/motherhoodmelbourne
instagram.com/motherhoodmelbourne