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- ☕︎ Building a premium brand without advertising it: Jennifer Färber from Rho Kombucha
☕︎ Building a premium brand without advertising it: Jennifer Färber from Rho Kombucha
Jennifer Färber from Rho Kombucha is under D2CVille spotlight
Hey there, awesome folks of the D2C community, who are out there doing some really cool stuff! This is your host Berkay writing.
This week, we're reaching out to all of YOU! We're curious to learn more about what's keeping you busy these days. What projects are you diving into? What's got you scratching your head? We’d like to cover more of those issues in our newsletter!
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Sooooo, where were we?
🧉 Jennifer Färber, Founder of Rho Kombucha
So, podcasts… Yes, we do them and we do talk to great people from all around the world! 💃🏻🕺
In the fourth episode we did with successful D2C entrepreneurs, we talked to dear Jennifer Färber from Hamburg, Germany. She is the founder of Rho Kombucha.
🍔🍕 Jennifer is the ultimate food enthusiast! Her world revolves around everything delicious - from devouring articles about food to staying updated on the latest culinary innovations, and tasting and enjoying food! But here's the twist: she's equally attuned to her well-being.
Life threw Jennifer a curveball a few years back when she received an autoimmune diagnosis. Since then, taking care of her gut health has become a top priority. While she was looking for products to support her well-being, a true game-changer entered her life - Kombucha tea!
Jennifer is the face of her own brand! She is totally rocking it on her Instagram, where she talks a lot about gut health and Kombucha.
👩🔬 And she gets her hands dirty!
And here are some highlights from our chat!
🏌️ Start with your own problem. When Jennifer was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, she discovered that Kombucha worked wonders for improving her gut health. It got her thinking, what if there are others out there facing similar challenges?
🏭 The entire production process was a mass. Jennifer had a solid background in marketing, no doubt about it! When she embarked on her journey with Rho, however, she found herself in uncharted territory – brewing kombucha tea on a much larger scale and building a D2C brand from scratch.
“I was 26 when I first started Rho Kombucha as a female entrepreneur. And it was my first-ever experience in the D2C and manufacturing domains… Being afraid was a part of my daily routine”
So what did she do? Just giving up and doing something else? Absolutely not! She got down to work and teamed up with a technical co-founder to establish their very own kombucha tea manufacturing facility! 💪 Up until last year, their manufactory remained an essential component of their business. However, in order to channel more of their energy into other essential tasks like marketing, they ultimately made the decision to close down the manufacturing operation and entrust the production process to external partners. |
🫂 Choose the right co-founder. Jennifer initially had a technical co-founder who played a pivotal role in managing the manufacturing processes, but circumstances changed, and she found herself flying solo.
“I see some people starting a company with someone they met 2 weeks ago. To me, it’s really crazy!”
💰 Rho Kombucha is a premium product. You'd typically find a tasty beverage priced at €1.5 in Germany, while a bottle of Rho Kombucha tea costs €2.99. It’s a premium product. But Jennifer can't openly promote health benefits on the product packaging. Why? It’s EU Health Claims. |
🤘 Making the impossible possible. EU Health Claims regulations prevent Rho from plastering images or words on their bottles that boast about the gut-friendly attributes of their Kombucha.
Adding to the challenge, Rho's kombucha tea is a highly specialized gem, which makes breaking into the market an even steeper climb. As Jennifer puts it, “The higher the degree of innovation, the lower the chance of a product to survive in the market.”
📢 It’s all about storytelling. As Rho Kombucha is a premium product, it is all about storytelling. So Jennifer uses her social media, website, and all other platforms where she can talk to her potential customers as a means of telling the benefits of her tea and trying to create a community around her product.
AND THE RESULTS? They speak for themselves! 🌟
😎 Is it about health or lifestyle? Yes, kombucha tea is good for gut health and people seem to appreciate it! However, Jennifer had an enlightening moment when she realized that people perceive her brand more as a lifestyle choice rather than just a healthy option.
Ever since this moment of realization, she's been championing the lifestyle aspects of kombucha tea, like sharing mouthwatering alcohol-free cocktail recipes on Instagram.
Clearly, Rho Kombucha has evolved into a captivating tale of storytelling and engaging content! All of this has been made possible by an exceptional product, a spot-on fit for the market, and a team that's absolutely acing it!
“The idea, financing, and the right team… That’s what it takes!”
Finally, let’s talk about Rho Kombucha’ tool stack:
📩 Marketing automation: Klaviyo
🦾 Subscriptions: Recharge
🤝 Affiliate: Awin
📦 Fulfillment: Sendcloud
🆇 TWEETS OF THE WEEK
A hot take 🔥 What are your thoughts?
😂😂
🔥 Hot topic: founder celebrities and personal branding on social media
🌟 It's been some time since celebrities started using their fame and massive social media presence to create their own ventures. But, wow, things have really kicked into high gear lately!
Just take a look at the ever-expanding roster of new brands and products being launched by celebrities—it's mind-blowing!
🌐 In today's digital landscape, crafting a personal brand on the internet often seems to be the shortcut to success. I know it’s not easy to do that: You should be very knowledgeable in your field and master content creation. But it’s what it is!
I've noticed numerous D2C influencers starting their own brands or offering their own e-commerce solutions to the world, and these brands and tools often skyrocket in a matter of months!
It's almost made me empathize with founders who may not have a vast social media following – it can indeed seem a bit unfair. Take Jennifer, for example, the founder of Rho. She has a noticeable social media presence and frequently shares insights on gut health and healthy living. This surely played a significant role in giving her brand a boost right from the outset.
So, should we be considering to establish a social media presence even before starting a business?
What are your thoughts on this?
🤔 LET’S DISCUSS - DO MEMES WORK?
After Triple Whale made them popular, many D2C brands and tool providers started sharing funny memes. Here are some examples from the brands we’ve covered earlier!
Apfelband
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