Marketing for cruelty-free businesses

Join me and author Sandra Nomoto, CEO of The Content Doctor.

Jon Dwoskin is a business coach, mentor, executive coach, author, speaker, and podcast host. He works with successful C-level execs, Managers and Salespeople who are solopreneurs and/or part of Fortune 500 companies and everything in between to get them UNSTUCK so they can grow their businesses, people, culture, bottom line, mindset, confidence, trust—and most importantly, GET UNSTUCK!

Jon Dwoskin: Hey everybody. Welcome to this episode of THINK Business LIVE. Looking forward to talking with Sandra Nomoto. Sandra, it’s great to connect with you. You’re the CEO of The Content Doctor. You write content. You’re a marketing consultant. You’re an author of your new book, which is Vegan Marketing Success Stories. But you don’t just work with vegans. You are‌ a content writer that works with businesses that have—that are cruelty-free. 

And so let’s start there, because, you know, vegans only make up, I think you were saying, less than 5% of the population, or about 5% of the population. And so, you know, I always love talking to business owners who create a business, incorporate their purpose, incorporate their mission, and have their values, and then really message themselves out there to get the type of clients they want, and the type of clients that you’re looking for are people who run businesses that are cruelty free. So, kind of define that from a couple different lenses.

Sandra Nomoto: Yes, so I say cruelty free because it’s a bit of a friendlier term than the word vegan for those folks listening who are not familiar with the word vegan, it essentially means a lifestyle and a way of living that is free of animals, animal cruelty, animal exploitation, and to a larger extent, you know, I don’t believe in supporting businesses that also bring cruelty to people or the environment. And so, yeah, I like saying cruelty free, because that sort of lends itself to everything else that, you know brings harm to us, into the planet. And that’s been though, yeah, been how I’ve operating both this business and my previous business. So values are important to me, and I feel very fortunate to have run and continue running a business that reflects those values. And thank you for having me on as well.

JD: Yeah, of course. No thanks for being on. So I have a question for you. So, you know, with such a kind of a mission, you know, I think every company, no matter what, whether you’re in sales, whether you’re a manager, whether you’re a leader, you’re always looking to qualify things right? So qualify to see if a client is the right client for you. Qualify, etc, etc. So in here, what are your qualifying questions and or, you know, feeling you’re looking at when you’re determining if a client is a fit for you?

SN: Yeah, great question. I mean, a lot of the clients coming to me naturally are vegan businesses, because, you know, they I share a lot of this content online, so by the time they’re, you know, maybe ready to hire me, or consider that we’re already, we’ve already got that connection. You know, they’re running, let’s say it’s a food business. For example, one of the clients I’ve worked with is BReD. It’s a plant-based bakery in Whistler, which is two hours north of Vancouver. It’s the only plant-based bakery in that town. And I met one of the co-founders, Natasha, online. 

So yeah, we already sort of connected on LinkedIn, and have met each other in various networking events. So when she or when her content person was leaving, naturally, she came to me. And so we already had that. And she’s also vegan herself, and so we already had that connection. It was just a matter of, okay, what ‌kind of content do you need,‌ and what’s sort of the scope of work and the workflow? 

So, yeah. So if the business, or even the founders are vegan themselves, usually we have that instant connection already. If it’s not a vegan-owned business, yeah, I look at what are the products or services that you’re offering? Do they bring, you know, do they involve animals? If, if that, if it does, then that’s sort of a deal breaker right away. And then, yeah, maybe looking a bit deeper into their supply chain, you know, how do they treat their workers? Do they do any damage to the environment? If all of that’s good, then, ‌yeah, then we can work together. Let’s go. 

JD: That’s great. Let me ask you this. So, ‌you are looking for a specific niche of a client. Like many, like many companies are right. Everybody’s trying to reach their ‌audience and their message and make sure that their message is clear. Talk a little bit about ‌how you built your company. You’ve referenced kind of meeting this person online, etc. Talk about how you have built your presence and your message on all the social platforms, including your website, to attract the audience that you’re looking for?

SN: Yeah, I would kind of say it probably all happened organically. So I closed my first business. It was a PR agency in 2018, and that was the same year I went vegan personally. And also about a year after I launched my personal site, SandraNomoto.com. It was just, you know, a personal blog, a way to share ‌what was happening in my life. And I spent a good year and a half kind of figuring out what my next career move was. I didn’t think I wanted to stay in the marketing world, but I sat down to meditate at the end of 2019, and, yeah, just kind of that booming, intuitive voice came to me, and it said, “You’re going to be a writer your whole life, and you’re a vegan now, so help out this industry.” 

And I had been paying attention, you know, for this year and a half to what was happening in the vegan industry. There’s a lot of exciting things happening with innovations in plant-based meat alternatives and fashion alternatives that don’t involve animals. The industry has really boomed in the last decade. And yeah, so I said, “All right, let’s give this a try.”

So start of 2020, I threw up a service page on my site. Told everybody I knew. Luckily, I had, you know, a network from my previous business. And I said, “Who do you know who runs a cruelty-free business that needs some content written for them?” And that’s how I really started. I was really fortunate to land my first few clients. This was even before the pandemic hit, and 2020 was, oddly, my most successful financial year ever. And so that told me I’m on the right track here, you know, even‌ though I am niching down. 

And then about two years later, so the start of 2022 I really made that commitment to, you know, I’m really going to only work with cruelty-free businesses because I’ve had the success in the first two years, yeah. And then I came up with the idea for my second book, Vegan Marketing Success Stories, because I Googled to see if anybody had done, had written or published a marketing book about the vegan industry. And there was only one vegan business book that existed, Katrina Fox’s Vegan Ventures. 

And I thought, well, there’s only one business book in the world dedicated to the vegan industry. I’m going to make the second and so that was the inspiration for my second book, and I released that in fall 2022 so again, with the goal of bringing attention to the vegan industry, also helping vegan businesses, you know, market themselves and grow so that we can bring about a more cruelty free world. And then, of course, hopefully getting ‌a few more clients, when people see that I can write an entire book or help them write a book, if that’s something they’re interested in.

JD: Yeah, I love it. Tell us. So tell us what the reader is going to get out of your book.

SN: Well, it’s two things. Number one, it’s a guide to marketing. So if you’re new to business, if you’re a small to medium-sized business and you just want some more ideas. I really threw everything I knew or I could find out about marketing in here. So from your old school tactics like advertising, traditional advertising, all the way up to, you know, digital marketing. PR and digital marketing are the two biggest chapters. So that just tells you, those are the tactics that a lot of vegan businesses are using today. And yeah, ‌the only difference with this marketing book and any others that you might pick up with a similar format is all of the case studies and the stories in this are vegan businesses. 

So I had 47 contributors, and then I threw in another few dozen examples that I pulled from online and got permission to use. So yeah, roughly there’s about 80 to 100 additional vegan businesses there. And it’s not just for vegans. It’s for anyone who’s curious about what’s going on in this industry and who some of the players are. So that’s, yeah, that’s what you’ll get from my book.

JD: Yeah, I love it. So talk a little bit about some of the one or the two key digital marketing things people need to be thinking about today, and one or two of the key PR pieces that people need to be thinking about today.

SN: Okay, I’ll start with PR. Yeah, there still seems to be a mystery around how to get publicity. And because my previous business was over 10 years, you know, doing this for clients, it’s not that hard. It’s not rocket science. The difference is, you know, influencer marketing does play a big part in PR now, or as it didn’t before. So you may want to consider having a bit of a budget for influencers, especially if you’re ‌selling a product, because, yeah, traditional media is all about news, right? 

And so if you don’t really have that news angle with your business, really consider investing in working with some influencers to get your product out there. And I give a couple of examples of, okay, one that comes to mind is dr.plantbased out in Toronto. His name is Muzammil, and he’s‌ a fresh out of medical school influencer. So he’s plant-based himself. Really shares a lot of content online about the health benefits of a plant based diet, and he shares a lot of tips about how he got started as an influencer. 

He was, you know, he didn’t set out to become one, but all of a sudden, the information he was sharing was getting picked up quite a bit by some other big players. And yeah, he found himself with quite a big Instagram following, and because of that, he launched a couple of ebooks, again, furthering that education and so, yeah, so books, whether they’re ebooks or hard copy, even audio, that’s another public relations tactic that a few of the contributors mention they use to raise their authority. 

And then, in terms of digital marketing, yeah, there’s, I mean, you name it, they’re using the tactic, right? Because that’s‌ a really big way of how we market ourselves. 

Now, in terms of business, I’ll say that the documenting style is very popular, both in solopreneurs, you know, like me and then growing businesses. Mid-Day Squares is one example out in Montreal, Quebec. They really started from day one with this strategy. They hired a videographer before they even hired their first salesperson. And they did that because they knew that documenting their story and really including their ‌online community, yeah, as part of their content was going to be a huge part of their strategy. And it’s proved to pay off. They’re‌ on their way to, you know, they’ve just celebrated 10 million in sales. They’re looking to go $100 million in sales now. And they’re actually out to, they’re out to win. They’re, they want, they say very boldly, we want to be one of the top five chocolate companies in the world and‌ they share both their wins and their failures, or, yeah, like they’re big losses. They share that online. They put it all out there. You know, Eminem 8 Mile style so, so nobody can come after them for that, right? 

And so, documenting, you know, heavily, they’re on all platforms, but they, I would say they’re big on Instagram, Instagram Stories. And then another, you know, big thing not a lot of people like to talk about it, but blogs. Blogs are not only a way that you can share your news, share, you know, more education in terms of what’s going on in your company or why people should buy your products, but it helps naturally with SEO. And so really, don’t, you know, don’t neglect the blog on your website. 

And Immaculate Vegan in the UK is one company that really uses this strategy to educate their consumers. They’re a vegan e commerce site, and so they know that education is a big part of their strategy, because why should I buy a plant-based leather purse instead of a cow’s leather purse, right? And so they’ll go into some of the benefits of that. And so, yeah, I really appreciate that they talked a lot about blogging.

JD: Good, you know, the blogging, the doc, you know, the docuseries, the video, the PR, all those things are so important no matter what type of‌ business you have. But I love that you’ve niched into your world. Let’s do a quick speed round. Minus your book. What’s a book that’s had the biggest impact on you?

SN: Gotta go with the classic, The Alchemist. Paulo Coelho.

JD: Yeah, it’s one of my all-time favorites. I love it, yeah. Best piece of wisdom you’ve ever received?

SN: Seek help. Seek help when you need it. Yeah, nobody goes it alone in business, yeah.

JD: And I always find as a business coach, you know, sometimes people have a hard time asking for help, but once they do, it’s great, and the floodgates really, really open up. Sandra, tell people how they can connect with you, where they can buy your book, and who your ideal clients are, which I think everyone gets a feel for now, but tell them again.

SN: So cruelty free businesses, if you struggle with written content, you just need an outside look at what you’re doing in terms of marketing. Or you’re interested in publishing a book to raise your own profile, both vegans or just folks who run cruelty-free businesses. And the easiest way to get in touch with me or find out about my book is through my website, SandraNomoto.com. 

JD: Great. Well, I appreciate Sandra, you sharing your story and sharing your book and‌ sharing about how you niche your clients. At THINK Community, as you know, I’m a business coach. I work with successful people who are stuck. I get them on track, from solopreneur to Fortune companies, everything in between. And I love this podcast because I have guests like Sandra on to give us all information and nuggets on how we can continue to get unstuck. And I just want to kind of, you know, extract one thing, which is, everything is marketing. And so, you know, there’s always good marketing ideas that you can get from every marketing book.

So I encourage you, even maybe, if you’re not a vegan, check out Sandra’s book, because if you can get one great idea from it, it makes a huge impact to your business, Sandra, thanks so much. Tell them one more time where they can connect with you.

SN: Through my name, same thing on social media. Sandra Nomoto.

JD: Alright, and you can get me at jondwoskin.com. THINK Community. If you know somebody who would benefit from this, please send it to them and please give us a rating on iTunes. Appreciate it, everybody. Sandra, thanks so much. This was great.

SN: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for having me on, Jon.

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