EPISODE 14: HOW TO PIVOT AND CURATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH ANNA BRAKEFIELD
Live Date: August 23, 2021
Show Description: In this episode of Make Me Known, Heather sits down with Anna Brakefield, co-founder of Red Land Cotton, the farm-to-home textile company that specializes in heirloom linens. The pair break down what it means to be a successful female entrepreneur, pivoting during a pandemic, and cultivating relationships with influencers. If you have a desire to live out your passion and want to learn from someone who has come before you, then today’s episode is for you. Plus, Anna shares a delicious peach sangria recipe that is not to be missed!
This Episode Will Teach You:
The value of communicating with your customers
The role of photography and videography in brand storytelling
How to utilize influencers to sell your product and create content
The importance of understanding how consumers use your product
How your brand can cultivate relationships with microinfluencers and how microinfluencers can make themselves attractive to brands
Biggest Takeaways:
Heather and Anna discuss diving into a family business, how to set boundaries, and shifting from selling a commodity to selling a product. As Red Land Farms expanded into partnership with Red Land Cotton, the family team learned the ins and outs of manufacturing, branding, brand marketing, and supply chain logistics and the importance of being able to pivot when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Anna and Heather delve into the value in quality photography and videography, whether produced by the brand or by partners. They discuss how Red Land Cotton leverages influencer content to tell the brand’s story from an outside perspective.
Heather and Anna discuss how to work with influencers and microinfluencers and the different strengths they bring to the table. They also talk about the strategy behind building those relationships and how to grow a mutually beneficial partnership.
About the Guest: Anna Brakefield is the co-founder of Red Land Cotton, a company that creates heirloom inspired bedding, bath and loungewear made from cotton grown on their family farm. The company’s luxury linens are made in the U.S. and made exclusively with cotton sourced directly from the family’s north Alabama farm. She graduated from Auburn University with a degree in graphic design, moved to New York to work in advertising before returning to the South. In 2016, she brought her skills and experience home and partnered with her father to create Red Land Cotton.
Quotables:
“In my opinion, it’s the story that you're somewhat purchasing behind it. Yes, our product needs to be good. It needs to be quality. It needs to be all those things. But if you're going to invest $50 in a bath towel or in a set of sheets, there has to be more value in that. And, and that's what we try to do with our videos. And with our images is taking you out in the field, taking you to the factories, giving you inspiration about how to use our product. To me, it's not enough to just sell the product.” -Anna Brakefield 28:20
“It's important to see how other people use your product. I think that inspires you about different products to make, how to market your product, how to talk differently about an existing product.” -Anna Brakefield 33:20
“They post and you can look at the people's comments on the post and see their questions about the brand or get feedback from the influencer about questions that they were asked about the product. All of that is very valuable and in a large company, you might pay a focus group or something, for that kind of data. And, that's easy to get visually with influencer marketing.” -Anna Brakefield 36:02
“When I look back on it, it’s a circular journey because I didn't at all intend to wind up here. But all of the things that I learned along the way, if I hadn't had those experiences, then I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing now. Honestly, I think it just does kind of work out like your goals and what you're interested in. I think you should pursue those and it will serve you down the road. You know, if I hadn't had the experiences with the bigger clients in New York and some in Nashville, would I have known how to put together a brand on a national scale? Probably not.” - Anna Brakefield 39:20
Related Links:
Red Land Cotton Basic Sheet Set (Use Code MAKEMEKNOWN for 20% off!)
Red Land Cotton Go Anywhere Loungewear (Use Code MAKEMEKNOWN for 20% off!)
Red Land Cotton All American Blanket (Use Code MAKEMEKNOWN for 20% off!)