Marketing Happy Hour - Rewind: How to Build Your Brand Marketing Strategy | Deven Machette of Betty Buzz

Starting point is 00:00:00 you're listening to the marketing happy hour podcast where we discuss career and industry insights with our peers in marketing we're here to talk about it all like the ups and downs of working in social media how to build authentic relationships in the influencer and pr space managing a nine-to-five and a side hustle at the same time, how to be productive in your life and career without losing your sanity, and more. Ultimately, we're here to build a community with you because we're all trying to navigate the world of marketing together. Are you ready? Grab your favorite drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode. This week, we're throwing it back to one of our favorite episodes featuring Devin Machette,

Starting point is 00:00:57 senior brand strategist at Betty Buzz. Devin brings invaluable insights on brand marketing for startups and dives deep into the multi-channel strategies that make a launch truly successful. She shares the inside scoop on positioning, product buzz, and unique challenges of working with a celebrity-owned brand. Whether you're strategizing your own product launch or simply looking to elevate your brand, this Rewind episode is packed with helpful info. Grab your favorite drink and let's tune in. Hey, Devin, how are you? I'm good. How are you guys? Well, I know Cassie is out for the count today. Yeah, doing so well. Cassie is down for the count. She does not have a voice, but she is still listening in with us today. But we're just going to have an awesome conversation about all things Betty Buzz and we love that brand. So,

Starting point is 00:01:43 so very excited that you're here. But before we get started, I do have an important question for you that we ask all of our guests and that is, what is in your glass this morning? It is marketing happy hour after all, even though we're recording at like noon almost. Yeah, I've got it. I've got it all. I have like a really sad, almost finished Starbucks, but I also have, obviously like I have Betty buzz and controversial opinion. No one in the office agrees with me, but ginger beer, I think is the best. They'll all tell you it's Meyer lemon club soda, but I am, I am the lemon one. I'm like that girly, but it is like, I think most people are that girly. Cause it feels not appropriate to have like a few ginger beers during the day, but it does feel like, I don't know, like a little like Friday treat.

Starting point is 00:02:29 So yeah, I put it in like a cute little glass and we're good to go. That's awesome. That's awesome. I am pretty boring this morning. I just have water. I am planning on though. I got a new bottle of wine yesterday and I'm super excited to try it. So I will be digging into that later. But anyway, like I said, huge fans of Betty Buzz and everything that you're doing. I follow you on LinkedIn and have like seen all the amazing things that you're posting always. So I'd love to just hear a little bit about your background, how you found yourself working with the team at Betty Buzz. Sure. Yeah. The Betty Buzz journey, I think almost has is more of a testament to the things that I do like outside of work, obviously, like my, my resume helps, but yeah, I started in really

Starting point is 00:03:20 traditional, like a really traditional marketing environment, kind of like an in-house like agency type feel where there's like 38 marketers, all women, like working for very little money from like, I swear the two years I worked there, it was like 8am to 11pm, like every night traveling to Vegas for trade shows. Like it was, it was like as classic agency feel as you can get. And also I would say like pretty toxic. I think a lot of marketers have really toxic first jobs. Like I feel like that's just a pretty common thing across the board. Like, yeah, just, it was, it was good because you learn every so much about so many different

Starting point is 00:04:06 areas of marketing all at one time. Um, and you really figure out what you like and don't like, but it was just a lot. Um, so I left because I was dying to do something more creative. I was dying to have more impact. Um, and that led to like a series of kind of odd jobs working more in not really startups, but I was working for like restaurants, gyms. I worked in e-sports, but I was dying to get back into something a little bit more traditional and sought out sort of a classic digital marketing job in California when I was 24. I lost my lost sounds aggressive. I was broken up with, and I was laid off all in the same week. And I was like, feels like a fun time for me to move across the country as one does. So I did, and I applied for jobs. And in that time, I also was like pulling together income by branding, like logo, creative design, like full graphic design, branding startups and small businesses.

Starting point is 00:05:14 And I just like fell in love with that universe and that environment. I think there's nothing really like the startup environment. It's not for everyone. It is. I've learned that it's not for me in terms of starting my own thing. In the pandemic, I left all that, the classic marketing background and I launched my own agency working for startups and a few bigger clients. And all of those clients were from Twitter. Like during the pandemic, I just leaned into Twitter and LinkedIn. And I talked a lot about what I did and all of my ideas that honestly, I think I was too

Starting point is 00:05:50 afraid to voice in rooms full of people I felt were smarter than me, but I was comfortable doing that on the internet. Yeah. Which like, I think is probably a pretty common experience. Like I have a lot of friends who find the imposter syndrome in person in their jobs is really, really high, but on the internet, they can just talk and feel comfortable. And so that's what I did. And I got a lot of client traffic from that. But I hated working for myself. I, I think that there was a lot of ego involved because when you

Starting point is 00:06:22 launch your own thing and you're so public about it on social media, you want to be like, I'm crushing it. And I was doing well, but my mental health was like all time terrible. Yeah. And I started to drop the ball for a few clients and that was really hard. So I panic left. And at the same time, I started to like kind of dial back my workload. And at the same time, someone who I had been networking with on Twitter had reached out and was like, Blake Lively is starting her own company, much like Ryan did. He was the brand director at Aviation.

Starting point is 00:06:57 So he was like, I think you'd be a good fit, but you'd have to only do this. You'd have to stop doing your agency. And I was like, oh, shoot. So I immediately stopped and interviews were quick. It went really well. And I just ended up at Betty Button. So that's the very long winded answer to how I am here now. Oh my gosh. I love that story. And it's so funny. How did you, did you, you know, blatantly look for clients on Twitter and LinkedIn, or was it more of just like you posting what's going on, your thoughts and things like that. And it was very organic,

Starting point is 00:07:29 like intake. Yeah, it was honestly, I am really, really lucky. I'd like to say that there was times where I was like, like, Oh no, like where's my next paycheck coming from? But it was never like that from the minute I started. Um, I had a lot of people in my corner. I had a lot of like professional advocates who were big wigs and like other companies who were very helpful. But I also think, you know, I was talking about what I was doing and I talked about launching my agency and I had a specific at that time, a specific success rate in the TikTok realm. And that was when everyone was trying to figure out TikTok. So I had all these big companies being like, help us with this. And I can't say no to anything. So I was like, sure. And I was just kind of taking them on. And really what I should have done is hired, but the idea of hiring someone, like I didn't want someone's paycheck to be reliant on what I was doing. So yeah. So it was sort of like catch 22,

Starting point is 00:08:31 but no, I always had really organic traffic from Twitter, honestly, in a way that I was like, never, ever afraid that I wasn't going to have clientele. I was more afraid that I wasn't going to cater to the current clients I had. Got you. Yeah. That's so cool. That's so interesting to hear. I'm always like curious about how people land their clients because it can be tough, you know, if you don't have an experience, you know, starting your own agency or whatever, you have to really rely on connections. I know we had someone on here who was talking about make a list of literally every single person that you've ever met and just reach out to them and see what's going on and just

Starting point is 00:09:10 kind of put out there what you're doing currently. And things just seem to fall into place, but that's super interesting to me. But now that you're back on the brand side, what is your day-to-day like as a senior brand strategist? Yeah, so day-to-day, it's interesting because you would imagine like a celebrity-owned brand is a little bit, not bigger, but I think that everyone thinks that your job is a little bit more specialized. And while I am a senior brand strategist, like my day-to-day varies quite a bit because I also run social. Um, and do you have a team or is it just you? Uh, so we have a team. Um, we just newly onboarded a CMO. Okay. We have a CMO. We have a VP of trade marketing. We have myself on the brand side and then we have an associate. So like true marketing. Oh, I guess. Yeah. True marketing is like four to five. There's an out right now. But, but four to five, I would say. But it's the associate is on, or she, I think

Starting point is 00:10:24 she's now a brand manager. There's been a lot of shuffle in the last year, but, but it's a small team. It's a small team. And realistically, we all kind of have our projects or our like areas of expertise. And, um, um, I sort of do copy social PR, anything consumer facing, um, media content, all of those things, um, creative. So I'm, I'm, I sort of sit on the axle of all of those different, um, wheels and functions, but I would say like this week we had a photo shoot for a new product. And for two days, like I'm doing that and I'm really, really bad at like, if I'm doing that, I have to also pull myself out and make sure like social and community management is happening.

Starting point is 00:11:17 And now we're at a point where all of those things functioning are feeling like a lot, but in a good way. But I just, I just want to, the point of emphasis really is the team is small. We all do a lot. And I think that in startups, like you find, like even with a celebrity founder, like you push your resources as much as you can. So yeah, that's the day to day. It's, it is a healthy, crazy mix of strategy and execution. Yeah. Yeah. I had a similar experience at a hair care brand. It was a pretty large national distribution for this hair care brand, but the marketing team was so slim and like no one would have ever known that, you know, the, the brand managers were also doing social and also doing PR and also doing influencer,

Starting point is 00:12:07 but you think about it and you think there's like all of these different people fulfilling these specialized roles. And, and it really isn't even anyone I talked to that as even at like a larger brand, same story. It's crazy. Well, it's like, you know, when you're in restaurants and like, someone's like, can I talk to the manager? And you're like, I'm like, that's how people on social would be like, be like, who do I reach out to for, for this? And I'm like, Devin at Betty buzz. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So funny. Definitely have had that experience. That's funny. What is your strategy? You mentioned that you were at a photo shoot this week for a new product launch. What is the strategy behind launching a new product and how do you kind of maintain buzz around that while also lifting up your existing

Starting point is 00:12:55 products? Yeah, I think it's interesting, especially given, I'm trying to think just because our products like if it's a new flavor it's it's sort of it's not like it's no problem um but I think you do kind of like healthy teasers you ramp up like you use social you can use influencers um we happen to have a very large influencer as our owner and founder so um the strategy is like a little bit different, I think for us. I think what's really important is to not cannibalize your current products with new products, but to just continue using the halo effect that that like buzzy new product gets to sort of translate into the rest of the line. We are early enough, like I think in year one, we, in year one for us to have a few new products that we're launching. I mean,

Starting point is 00:13:54 we're just out of year one, like the buzz hasn't really faded. Like we hardly have even, I would, I would honestly say, and I'm probably a harsh critic, but like we haven't even gotten the level of buzz for Betty Buzz as the line of five that we launched that I want. So I think right now, and I can probably say this, but like a year in revamping, to your point earlier where you talked about like distribution, but a really slim marketing set, the first year was all distribution focused for us so that once we told people we had a product, they could find it places. So now we're focusing heavily on brand awareness in a way that we haven't before. So introducing new products is just an interesting topic because it feels like, honestly, the strategy that I've got in my brain is really reintroducing Betty buzz as a whole.

Starting point is 00:14:47 We'll have new products that will like help bolster that message, but like realistically, it's an exercise for us in, in branding and positioning our product. Now that we've done about a year and a half of research and we see the response originally, we were hardcore a mixer um because that's what our products were and it made sense because aviation existed but actually consumer data shows that people drink it on its own um more and are drinking it on its own more than they're using it as a mixer so um sort of halting on like how we launch a new product and actually like re-looking at how we talk about our product find in general. I know that doesn't really answer the question, but I think it's, it's just a good point of note that even like a year in, like if you're looking at data and data is telling you

Starting point is 00:15:36 something to listen, like it's never too late to sort of rebrand and reposition, you know? Oh, totally. And it does make sense for it to be a mixer with Ryan's brand. And I love aviation too. It's my favorite brand of gin. So if anyone's out there, go get that. But it also makes sense with the huge boom of non-alc and just that being so popular rise now. And there was even like a non-alc booth at Coachella, I'm pretty sure. So like that is, what did you say? We were there. Oh my goodness. Can you talk about that? Can we talk about it? Yeah. You know what? It's interesting because I think it was, it was a, it was Pooch sponsored. Right. But Poisson, which is a non-alcoholic retailer, they were just New York and now they're California and they they

Starting point is 00:16:27 peddle a lot of our products for lack of a better term yeah they were heavily involved and they got us involved and you know it's interesting because as a brand do we think Coachella necessarily is in line with like our brand ethos no I, I would say that it's probably not. We try to avoid anything that feels flash in the pan trendy. And while Coachella is a big influencer moment, like is the boom we get from those influencers talking about us, like where we're trying to go as a brand. I don't know. However, it's really hard to say no to an opportunity like Coachella when you are new. Um, so we were at Coachella. Um, there is a high demand for non-alcoholic everywhere, right? Um, it almost feels like if you walk into a restaurant and you can't order something

Starting point is 00:17:19 non-alcoholic, it feels like you're just not with the times. Yeah. So we, we managed to have a product that is really fitting nicely into culture at this juncture in time. But, but yeah, Coachella was sort of something that we aligned on as a team. Like we'll have our products at Coachella, but are we going to talk a ton about being at Coachella? Not really, even though that might get eyeballs on the product, Coachella does still feel like a bit off brand. So it's one of those weird places where I'm like dying to talk about it because you know, it moves the needle a bit, but does it move the needle the right way? Not really. So we stay a little bit more silent, you know? Yeah. And it can be more of a play too, of like,

Starting point is 00:18:00 you know, all of the people who are at Coachella trying it and saying, oh my gosh, I tried this amazing brand and like then going off and getting it on their own, like just brand awareness wise, I would say that's, that's a great opportunity to be a part of, but I can see what you're saying about like, maybe it's not totally aligned with the brand moving forward. Yeah. And no hate to Coachella people. I'm like, I like, if I could have gone to Coachella, like I certainly would have, I don't know if my fashion would have held up, but I certainly would have. I just, I think one thing that we can look at though, is instead of talking about Coachella and making Coachella the moment, we take the influencers that posted about us while they're there and send a follow-up package, just like a gift thanking them for like trying our product.

Starting point is 00:18:42 And we see more movement that way. Yep. Just reposting Coachella content, you know, totally, totally. And I work with some clients on my own and we talk a lot about brand partnerships and experiential marketing and being a part of those big moments as well. And I think that is a really good point of just like, even if it's not a hundred percent where you want to be, the people who are there will, you know, continue to love you and continue to support you. I just think that's really cool. Cause I was talking with a brand the other day about New York fashion week and they were like, well, I don't know if our products really align with that. Or could we like partner

Starting point is 00:19:22 with a different brand that kind of like white labels our product to then whatever. I was like, honestly, just if you have the opportunity to go be a part of it, be a part of the moment and people will be talking about you, buzzing about you all that. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. You want to be in the space, but like, but like, we don't want to be Coachella sponsors. And I think that's a fine place to be, you know, like you can, you can like straddle that line. Totally. Totally. Um, what would you say is the difference between this celebrity owned brand versus like maybe some other brands that you've worked with in the past? Like, is there a difference because it's celebrity owned or is it just kind of the same? Yeah, I think it's, I think there's a lot more to consider um like there's like the startup world

Starting point is 00:20:07 can be really cowboy like you can kind of get away with doing whatever you want um the difference here is is all experimentation whether it's tonal creative um the influencers you use they like ladder up to an actual person so I think like there's a level of tact and consideration and everything that we do. Um, Blake is fantastic. She is like no joke, a founder that actually tries every product has worked on like the Pantone colors for the label. Like she's involved in a really fun way, but like, she's not just a celebrity figurehead, but at the same time, she is a celebrity. So it's just like, you have to, there's, there's, I think the permission structure that you see typically in startups is really fast. Like you can pretty much move and you can kind of break shit as you go. Like move fast and break shit has been my motto forever, but like not here. Like now it's

Starting point is 00:21:10 like move fast, but like, make sure you don't touch anything. And like, yeah. So it's just like a little bit of a different dynamic at the same time you, you walk into something that already has some level of clout to it. So I would say like, and don't get me wrong, it's a really fun challenge. So I don't want to say it's more challenging than a startup because I know some startup founder with very little money out there in obscurity is going to be like, it is not harder than what I'm trying to do right now. But I think what's harder is you have a brand that feels very much like celebrity merch until you give it a greater purpose. Yeah. So like Betty buzz, people just buy Betty buzz. Cause

Starting point is 00:21:50 they like want to tag Blake in their story and be like, you can find your product and maybe they get a retweet. Like it's very much fan behavior, but it's not fan of the brand behavior. So we have to find a way to take all of that excitement around the product and have people buy in, in a way that creates longevity more than just the, the moment of almost interaction between them and Blake. Yeah. Oh, that's a good point. And I think it's interesting to how you mentioned, like, you kind of have to be mindful of the reputation of the, the leader of the brand, knowing that anything that you do and anything that your team does is a reflection of them because they are that figure. I think that's interesting. Well, and JLo just came out with that, that alcohol, like the JLo doesn't drink Ben. And she's like sipping from the, the drink, the whole commercial and like, people are just in the comments, like what is happening here? Like, yeah. So like, yeah. Doesn't feel authentic, like at all. That's, that's tough.

Starting point is 00:22:52 Okay. We noticed on LinkedIn that you wrote that you quote unquote get startups. And we've been talking about that, you know, back and forth here. Could you share maybe your top two or three marketing brand strategy tips for startup marketing teams who might be listening? I know that's like really hard to just narrow down two or three, but let us know what you're thinking. I have a few, cause you want to go like sort of the largest, like, like you want to say something like positioning your brand is so important, but I actually think this is like, this is something that people on Twitter always yell at me about, but

Starting point is 00:23:30 I think that things are lower stakes than you think. So like when you launch a product and obviously you have investors, like there's so much pressure on a founder because if they didn't fund it themselves, they've got a whole host of people who have opinions that actually do need to be heard because they can't just be like, but I think that things are lower stakes than you think. So like when you start, and I'll talk specifically about social and content, like your audience is pretty small. Your brand awareness is pretty low, unless you're someone like a Blake, you know, like then it's like everyone knows and they're kind of waiting for you to do something cool. But like, if you're just, if you're just launching

Starting point is 00:24:16 on social, like try everything, try everything, but measure it. Don't just try everything and, and, and shoot from the hip constantly. But like, if you fail, no one's really watching you on the grand scheme of things like liquid death five years ago could have tried anything. Now, obviously people like expect something from them, but I think trying everything is important. Um, specifically as it relates to social, whether that's format tone, like walk into it with a strategy, do your data research, your due diligence, keep your target market in mind, but don't be afraid to try a trend. Don't be afraid.

Starting point is 00:24:53 Don't do just trends. That drives me fricking nuts, but try a trend, like try serious content, try something educational, like walk the person through your product, like just have the product and use it the way it's supposed to be used. Like, like I think the, there's this fear of format, this fear of channel. Um, and I think like, it's really low stakes, just post something it's fine. Um, so I, and I know that that feels like not probably the most are like thoughtful advice, but I think that everyone really is fearful. Like the amount of people that wait forever to get on TikTok, like Betty Buzz's TikTok, I'm really proud of. That's fine. When I have the time, that will be a much more

Starting point is 00:25:38 fleshed out platform. But I think having it is important because people know you exist somewhere. Like people are using your product and they're using TikTok. So to go on TikTok and have you not be there is just like a weird hole in the abyss. So I think that's important. The other thing is, is when you're creating content, I would say like, it always depends on your goal. I think growing slowly and growing intentionally is important, but I also think that no one's going to buy your product if they don't know it exists. So for Quinn, um, Quinn was an audio erotica app that I worked on probably a year ago now, um, which is one of my more interesting clients. And they are absolutely killing it now. Yeah. I've seen their PR package. I think they sent people like headphones, right?

Starting point is 00:26:31 Yeah. Yeah. They have like great headphones. I think Talia Lichtenstein or whatever always wears them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But originally, you know, we were like, okay, so the goal is we need to get eyeballs and people using the product. Like we needed to drive trial in some way. So we needed to leverage social with very little funding to get as many eyeballs as possible. So we did that by casting the net content wide as wide as possible content wise as wide as possible. So if you think about the product, it's audio erotica for females. But if you just talk about that on the internet, you are talking to a very small group of people who aren't even

Starting point is 00:27:11 sure they're bought in. But if you ladder up to the greatest common denominator, what we're really talking about is like sex. So like you talk about sex and not like a weird, creepy male gazey way, but you talk in a, a, an idea sort of way. And then you can sort of niche down and sure you'll have a period where your followers plateau or the eyeballs sort of like decrease as people figure out whether or not the platforms for you, but they know you exist. So I think for founders and startups, a lot of times, like we try to say the most meaningful shit up front and that's important. You can put that stuff on a website. You can put that stuff intermittently, like a healthy mix on your social platforms. But, and this is why I get yelled at a lot, but I'm like, you might as well cast the net as big as possible and then niche down to that effect. I would say

Starting point is 00:28:07 like series and consistent content is your best friend. Like while you're, while you're experimenting, while you're casting your net as wide as possible, when it comes to content for me, it always feels like post consistently, like keep that consistent, measure everything and like do, do little shit and do it with intent and just do it over and over. Um, so yeah, like the goal is not just virality for virality sake, but I am a big fan of putting your biggest foot forward to see what moves the needle and what doesn't. And you can only do that with data and eyeballs. And if you don't have data and eyeballs, you can't actually adjust the strategy to anything. So, yep. I totally agree with that. I love that so much.

Starting point is 00:28:55 And I think it's something that seems simple, you know, but everyone, I don't know, like every startup founder that I've worked with and I've worked with several, they just have no idea where to start and they think that they need to get perfect first. And I love what you're saying about just kind of like figuring it out along the way, doing these series, doing these, you know, consistent things, but then also, you know, talking to people that maybe won't ever use your product, but we'll know who you are. And maybe we'll tell someone the next time they hear somebody looking for that kind of product. Um, it makes me think to a vacation, the, uh, sun screen brand, they are also the same way. Like they're, they can do

Starting point is 00:29:38 anything with their brand too, because of that, because they just like focus on the big picture. And then these little sunscreens sell out so fast because they have a huge brand fan following um just don't as long as you don't get married to your original idea I think like it's important to have vision like Caroline who's the founder of Quinn always had a vision and I I didn't agree with it a lot of the time but and she's now in a place where like, they basically feel like the Spotify podcast, um, Instagram, like they play to their creators, they play to their fans, they do a fantastic job. And she always wanted to go there, but I wanted to go somewhere else first in order to get to that moment. And I think like for founders, like a trust your,

Starting point is 00:30:22 trust your people. Caroline always let me do my thing and be, um, I would say, uh, like, don't be afraid to pivot. Like if, if you're seeing traction elsewhere, just like, I'm like, again, I'll always say it, but like data, like check the data and adjust. It's fine. No one cares. No one's like watching and it's like, Hmm, that's a weird pivot for them. Like really no one's. Yeah, totally. Totally. I love it. Um, question you are talking about, you know, trying all these different things. How do you feel about Lemon Eight? It's that new social media platform that like, I think, I don't even know if brands can be on it. So with Lemon Eight, like blue sky with all of these things, I think that if you're in the social and marketing world, it's good to be a part of them. Um, there is, I know, and I,

Starting point is 00:31:14 if I eat my words fine, but I think that, um, if those startups work great, um, I think, you know, you see something like be real which was like kind of crazy had its moment I had it for about four weeks and then um and then bailed out just because it wasn't really that special and it was really just me and my computer doing stuff um but I think I think it's good to be a part of, I just don't see, there is so much funding and like, like the payment structures that Twitter has put in place that the advertising payment structures, like the business end that, that meta has put in place. It, it feels hard to Trump with anything new. Granted, TikTok didn't exist really up until like a few years ago. So fine. But none of them really excite me yet. Like I don't see the value

Starting point is 00:32:14 yet over anything that we have currently. Yeah. I'm always curious just to hear from other people who are, you know, in the day-to-day of social media of like new emerging platforms. And I haven't even been on Lemonade yet. I downloaded it to my phone thinking, Oh, look at it. I'll explore it. I just like, it overwhelms me because I'm not really in, you know, I'm not really on my own personal social every day either. So I'm just curious to hear from people. So thanks so much for sharing that. Yeah. Okay. So what are some of your favorite projects that you've been able to work on in your career, whether that's with Buddy Buzz or elsewhere? I think the, there's probably a few Quinn by far, like is one of my

Starting point is 00:33:00 favorite of all time. I think, um, a, we had a lot of success there, but B, um, it was the first time that I feel like I was able to trust my brain and see like my actual strategy come to life and work and gave me a lot of confidence in what I do now. Um, but it also is really fun to work. One thing that Quinn provided that I think a lot of other jobs haven't is we were doing something bigger than it was an audio erotica app. And I understand that, but we were, we were providing a platform for a conversation that women felt like they didn't have, like the amount of women who in the community man, community discourse were just like, I feel seen. I feel like I never had anything. I thought

Starting point is 00:33:53 something was wrong with me. Like eventually I think that working exclusively in a like purpose driven. And I don't want to say that Betty Buzz isn't purpose driven because we do a lot of wonderful things and we do a lot of giving back, but that felt like we were revolutionizing a conversation that needed to be had. Um, so love that project also just loved, like that was the time that was the most cowboy like talking about sex on the internet we were getting taken down we were constantly on TikTok um TikTok was telling us to like stitch Trojan if we didn't want to get taken down and like there was just this constant tension between what women were allowed to say and what Trojan was allowed to say so it was really like it was just like it felt like all the things I give a shit about in one little capsule. Um, and then with Betty buzz, I would say right now we are currently

Starting point is 00:34:53 in the midst of a massive repositioning rebranding project, which will probably hit in about a month. Um, and like start to be slowly rolled out. There won't be obviously like any great like relaunch, but it's just like, we thought we were one thing and data overwhelmingly told us something else. And it's hard because we do have eyes on us and people are paying attention. And so you do feel like you can't totally move the way that you want to, but you actually can. Like I said, stakes are pretty low everywhere. No one cares that much. So I think that this has been really fun because it's been really challenging to drive a narrative for a year and a half that you kind of believed in. You were like, this is the right narrative. And then once the brand positioning changes,

Starting point is 00:35:44 everything has to change. Content strategy, the types of content you're producing, this is the right narrative. Like this is, and then once the brand positioning changes, everything has to change. Content strategy, the types of content you're producing, what you're saying on social, like our whole website has to change. So it's been really interesting to watch the domino effect of strategy. Like all of it's important and all of it works together. But this feels like the greatest exercise for me

Starting point is 00:36:03 in brand strategy that I've ever done. So it's very fun. That's awesome. That's so cool to hear. I love people who are like passionate about the things that they do every day. And it sounds like you totally are. So congrats because also not a lot of people get there.

Starting point is 00:36:18 So they can't, I'm like, listen, I talk about marketing. Um, I don't drink anymore, but when I used to drink, like I'd have like a few drinks at a bar and someone would be like, Oh, like I'm, I'm thinking about being a content creator. I'm like, so what are you thinking? Like I look down your launch, but like, I love to talk about this stuff. And I think that over time, you know, you start to question like how important is it actually, because you're like, I'm just a marketer and we're just selling bubbles essentially. But I think everyone has sort of their thing that they geek out about and this just happens to be mine. So fine. And it seems kind of like yours too. So yeah, I was just going to say that's, that's pretty much why we have this podcast. Cause

Starting point is 00:37:00 Cassie and I would literally just talk about marketing with our friends all the time. And we were like, well, why don't we just like talk about it on some sort of platform? We started on Clubhouse when that was big and now we're here. So super fun. Are you guys launching and without giving anything away? Cause I'm sure you can't, you're probably under wraps. Are you going into new categories beyond the mixer with this new rebrand or is it just kind of that or can you say anything like that I'm like it's it's interesting because I kind of can and I can't um I think that even not kind of says something but I think um uh what we're looking to do with Betty Buzz is create a place where people who love flavor um more than like food like this like our brand is realistically a brand for foodies

Starting point is 00:37:58 like Blake is a foodie um it she is a flavor. It's not really about like, if you look at the beverage category, it is all divided by occasion. So like, if you're celebrating, you drink this, if you're at a baseball game, you drink this. And then like, if it's breakfast time, you drink this. And we are trying to transcend those occasions a little bit by just being like, this is just fucking delicious and you can have it whenever you want, however you want. So I think anything new that we come out with is going to cater to this idea that some people are drinkers as much as some people are foodies. We're going to have a product that you can have no matter how you drink, what you drink or where you drink it. I think new flavors are on the horizon for sure. How they look, what their functionality is,

Starting point is 00:38:49 is TBD, but definitely have some exciting things coming up. That's awesome. I always love hearing behind the scenes and then like the new vision for everything moving forward. So thank you for sharing that. Okay. We're getting to the end of the interview here, which this has been awesome. And I'm just like thrilled for everyone to hear it. But we love to ask this question on the show. What do you know now that you wish you knew early on in your career? I think that careers are nonlinear. I think I had a really hard time figuring out, especially like once we started dabbling into the Twitterverse where everyone had like some cool brand they worked with. And I felt like I was kind of toiling in obscurity a little bit because my career has been really nonlinear. I've been

Starting point is 00:39:45 in a bunch of different industries. I've moved a ton, um, classic millennial in the way that I literally would have a job for a year and I would move on, but I didn't feel like I found these right fits and I am aggressively dedicated to not settling professionally. Um, it, you spend so much of your time working the idea of working in a place where someone makes you feel uncomfortable or you're not fired up about it feels like a silly waste of time. Um, so I think that had I known that, like I had such trouble once I launched my agency coming back into a nine to five type set like it it was something I thought about literally since I jumped into having my own company and I was miserable about it um like worst mental health episodes ever and for no reason like no one cares really what you do and I don't mean to make it seem like

Starting point is 00:40:45 no one cares and nothing matters. Like we're floating on a blue pebble or whatever, like, but, but it's okay to take a step back. Like if you knew all of the suffering is in the not knowing. So if you knew that you took a step back or didn't work for two months or move back in with your parents or whatever that looked like. If you knew that that would only last for 12 weeks before you got your dream job or a year before you were launched in a completely different direction, you would never worry about that step back. If it like even calling it a step back seems silly. So I would just say like life and your career is non-linear. Go where the energy goes. And if it feels like the right move for you, if you feel more peace doing something than not,

Starting point is 00:41:32 just do it. We live in a world where everything has to be packaged and everything is so forward-facing, but we used to not. People could change careers and no one would know until you told them. Right. So I just think like,

Starting point is 00:41:46 give yourself grace and try as much as possible because just like everyone's like, do everything you can personally, do as much as you can professionally. And if being in the same place for 10 years feels right for you, do that. The only person whose life effects is you. So yeah, no, I couldn't agree more I love that you said that I literally earlier this week had a conversation very similar um with the um ex head of experiential at Magnolia down in Waco Texas and she said the exact same thing and she's like like so far up in her career and And she said the exact same thing. She's no longer there.

Starting point is 00:42:27 And she did that on her own. Like that is just a number one lesson that even I would share with people is don't worry about it. It's going to all work out the way that it's supposed to, even if that doesn't look like in your mind, how you think it should. Um, that's so important for people. It sounds so corny. Cause everyone likes to be like, everything works out and you're exactly where you're supposed to be. But like, like, I think one thing I would just add is like,

Starting point is 00:42:56 I stress a lot. Like I have high anxiety. I'm constantly stressed. Um, so I want to make it seem like that journey, like just knowing that you ended up in a good place, like that journey was incredibly painful, a lot of stress, a lot of tears, um, and a lot of feeling like I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't, but even all of the like feelings aren't facts and you can feel all of those things and still be just fine. You know? Yeah. A hundred percent. Couldn't agree more. Okay. Well, where can everyone follow you find what you're doing? Follow along with Betty buzz and all the goodies there. Where are you guys online? Sure. Betty buzz is easy. It's just Betty buzz spelled exactly like you think, um, on all platforms. Um, all of our updates are there.

Starting point is 00:43:49 LinkedIn is really where we talk like more businessy. You'll see a lot of us interacting with maximum effort, which is Ryan's creative agency over there on LinkedIn. Um, so that feels like business wise where you'll see a lot, um, for more of the fun stuff, Twitter and Instagram, Tik TOK, you can go hang out over there. I'd love to be followed, but not a ton going on at the present moment. And then for me personally, I'm dev machete, machete with two Ts everywhere except for Twitter. And then I'm underscore because for some reason, someone has dev machete, which feels insane, but. That's funny. Okay. We'll link everything out in the show notes too. So people don't have to like

Starting point is 00:44:27 remember that. They'll just click it in the show notes. Honestly, bypass that whole moment and just love it. Well, thanks again for joining us. This is awesome. I'm really excited for people to hear this conversation, especially that last piece about, you know, the just relaxing and everything's going to be okay. Because I think that's a lot of place or that's a place that a lot of people are in right now trying to figure that out. And yeah, so thanks again for joining us. Super excited. You guys are so awesome. Cassie, I'm sure you're fantastic too. But yeah, this was so great. So easy. So chill. So thank you guys so much. Thanks for joining us, Devin. What a fantastic conversation. If you love this episode just as much as I did, don't forget to rate and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform. We really appreciate your feedback. Thanks for listening in with us today. We'll see you next

Starting point is 00:45:25 week for another episode of Marketing Happy Hour. We are so excited to share that our first ever free Marketing Happy Hour digital resource is now available. Download the Dream Career Game Plan today at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie. That's marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie. This five-step workbook will guide you through defining your goals, building your network, diversifying your skills, influencing where you're at, and investing in your growth. Cassie and I created this resource with marketing careers in mind, but the framework can be applied to any industry. Our hope is that this workbook will help you truly elevate your career, whether

Starting point is 00:46:15 you're in the market for a new position or just looking to make your mark in your current organization. No matter where this resource finds you, we are cheering you on every step of the way. So go check it out at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie to download and make your career dreams come true.

Marketing Happy Hour - Rewind: How to Build Your Brand Marketing Strategy | Deven Machette of Betty Buzz

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