339: Put This Up Your Nose: Selling an Unconventional Product from DTC to Big Box

How do you sell a product that no one understands until they try it? With smart marketing, positioning, packaging, and a solid mix of DTC to big box sales. 

John Pinto founder of BoomBoom Naturals (all-natural nasal sticks) and he's been a friend of mine for over 10 years, we met and got our start together working at our first job out of college. 

In this episode, we talk about John’s journey with BoomBoom, what he’s learned in DTC and acquiring over 500,000 customers through Facebook and online marketing, and his recent (and very successful) shift from DTC to big box stores.

We also talked about life balance, being an entrepreneur with kids and what that looks like. John's one of the most balanced people that I know and he shares some of his ideas and hacks around how he's been able to keep that going while building a large and fast-growing company.

Episode Highlights:

• 5:47 How John and Austin met 
• 7:05 Johns eCommerce venture 
• 11:52 When Jordan Belfort endorses your product 
• 13:33 Selling a product that’s in a new category 
• 17:25 Shifting from DTC to big box stores and why
• 21:12 What goes into pursuing a relationship with big box stores 
• 27:09 In-store marketing strategy 
• 33:36 Going deep in one geographic area and then replicating what works elsewhere
• 34:27 How John prioritizes things that matter outside of work 
• 45:40 Personal growth leading to business success
• 57:01 What the Shark Tank experience is like 

Resources:

• BoomBoom Naturals 
• BoomBoom on Shark Tank
• Book: The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
• Book: Breath by James Nestor
• The Brand Growth Accelerator (apply today: next cohort starts Feb 15, 2022)
• The Brand Growth Membership
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes