147 | Expanding products enhanced her brand with Rebecca Townsend, Seaside Designs

Have you ever considered how building a strong brand can make you stand out and ultimately help your business stand the test of time? Today’s guest is Paper Camp alumni Rebecca Townsend. Rebecca is the owner and creative director of Seaside Designs. She literally built her whole business around her love for the beach and sea. Pretty fascinating, right?

The business didn’t always come easy and she’s had to overcome many ups and downs through her entrepreneurial journey. She rode the rocky tides of being a business owner and now she’s riding the waves of success. In this episode, she shares her story of navigating a huge rough patch that made her shut down her business and the story of her resurrecting it and bringing it back to life.

We talk about her experience of overcoming burnout and figuring out a way to work smarter, not harder. She shares her research and development process for products and how she balances the financial risks of expansion (you might be surprised to hear how she does it). Rebecca gives her advice for other business owners who want to expand into new product categories and shares what’s next for Seaside Designs including why she’s decided to focus on sustainable packaging.

ON TODAY’S EPISODE:

Why Rebecca has kept her brand identity the same throughout the years in her business
How she’s built her brand based on her vision
The evolution of her product mix
How she got into wholesale after being discovered by local retailers at craft shows
Going through a rough patch, being burnt out and closing her business
Making a plan to bring her business back in a more sustainable way
How Paper Camp helped her to streamline processes for inventory and production
Bringing more products back into the mix and designing her products to be a cohesive line
Her process for research and development of products
How she balances the financial risk of expansion
The benefits she’s seen with widening her product mix
Tactics she uses to leverage social media as a marketing tool
Using social media to connect with both retail and wholesale customers
Rebecca’s advice for business owners considering new product categories
What Rebecca has coming up for her business, Seaside Designs

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KEY TAKE AWAYS

“Right from the get-go, I was inspired by the sea. Growing up by the sea, it just was a natural evolution for me to start creating products that I love.” - Rebecca Townsend

“As hard as it was for you to take a break, I do think it gave you a refreshed, renewed perspective and gave you maybe prioritizing in a different way than you had seen before .” - Katie Hunt

“When I went to Paper Camp, everybody there was incredibly supportive, first of all. But it was so inspiring and I knew I was going in the right direction. It felt right. It felt all right.” - Rebecca Townsend

“I kind of, again, took that time to research and develop and work smarter, not harder .” - Rebecca Townsend

“I found buyers buying sort of a collection of things and making these beautiful displays and just because everything was really cohesive. I designed it that way. My color palette is cohesive between my cards and my soap packaging. I even use some of the same imagery on all the products so they do... That's how I designed it.” - Rebecca Townsend

“That's exactly the feeling I wanted my customers to have was that you smell it and it brings you back to the beach or brings you to that vacation or those happy times.” - Rebecca Townsend

“Instagram has become an amazing marketing tool, reaching all the corners of the country and all these customers and people all looking for that feeling.” - Rebecca Townsend

“Nothing can replace hard work. The research, the time, the energy. If you're passionate about your products and business, that's the fun part.” - Rebecca Townsend

“Nothing is cookie cutter. All the information you could possibly want is out there. It's just nothing can replace the education you get from good old research and taking a deep dive into everything you want to create and do with your business.” - Rebecca Townsend

MEET REBECCA:

As the owner and creative behind the beach lifestyle brand, Seaside Designs, I design and manufacture paper products, home goods, fragrance and soap, all inspired by the sea. I love to create products that invoke that summertime, beachy feeling of life by the sea, even if you have never seen the ocean or if you live far away from the coast. Seaside Designs products are inspired by and made with summer sun, salty air and east coast aloha out on the tip of Cape Cod. Our philosophy explains it all... We believe that sand, sun and saltwater can cure almost everything. That we all have an inner sparkly mermaid, and that the beach life is the best life.

CONNECT WITH REBECCA TOWNSEND

Website: seaside-designs.com | Facebook: @seasidedesigns | Instagram: @seasidedesigns

Connect with Katie Hunt

Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.

Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct