Intro (00:00):

Welcome to the Taylor Ten. A fast-paced, 10 minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

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SAHARA (00:18):

Hi everyone, I'm Sahara Price, and welcome to the Taylor Ten. I'm here today with Jenna Mitchell from the Clorox Company to learn as much as I can about how brands can navigate building a TikTok Shop playbook in only 10 minutes. So Jenna, welcome and thank you so much for joining us today.

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JENNA (00:35):

Thank you for having me, Sahara. It's so good to talk to you. Excited to dig in with you today.

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SAHARA (00:41):

So the first question I have for you is, TikTok Shop can be such a game changer for so many brands. So how do you as a brand decide that it is the right time for you to get on the platform?

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JENNA (00:55):

That's a great question. I think there's a lot of hype around TikTok Shop and social shop overall. And so I think making sure the brand that you're working on isn't just jumping onto a trend, but it makes sense for them is super important. And that first starts with is your consumer there? If the answer is yes, I mean that's your first green light to really explore. But I think you also need to look at can my brand profitably sell direct to consumer (DTC)? TikTok shop specifically provides a lot of fulfillment options, but you also need to think about whether this is going to work from a consumer standpoint because you're not just jumping on a marketing trend, this is a retail channel that has the distribution and operation needs as well. And then I would definitely say if your consumer is there, you are also investing in the platform, just turning on shop is not going to be a miracle marketing worker for you. You do need to make sure that you're also looking kind of at your overall marketing strategy. Is this a place you're investing in, paid for a place that you're open to really partnering with creators, specifically affiliates? And again, if all those answers are yes, I think it's a great opportunity for brands to pursue.

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SAHARA (02:21):

So much of TikTok Shop is driven by those affiliate links and creators who are leveraging and able to link to the product directly. I guess, are you learning anything from those creators and consumers who are creating that content? And if so, how is that reshaping how you think about e-comm?

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JENNA (02:42):

Social media platforms are really moving to more of an algorithm based platform as opposed to community. So your For You Page is really just pulling in strangers, but content that they've deemed fit for you relevant to you. And so as we look at how brands can partner with influencers, I think the traditional partnership of you're paying for their content, you're paying for their community will still exist. It's not going away, but I think what we're going to see more investment in and more growth in is more of this model where you're paying influencers for performance.

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SAHARA (03:25):

That makes perfect sense. And it's so funny how scary accurate the TikTok algorithm really is – that FYP page, it can really just get you sometimes. It's like, wow, this, it knew me with this post.

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JENNA (03:40):

Oh yeah. And I mean, I think TikTok had a great breakthrough and that's why they're so successful. And then we've clearly seen Meta follow YouTube, et cetera. So yeah, and I think with the improvements in AI, it's not going anywhere. It's just going to get even closer to knowing you and continue to feed the right information.

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SAHARA (04:07):

When there are so many different factors on the platform. You have attention, influence, obviously conversion and sales. How are you defining success as a brand within TikTok shop?

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JENNA (04:20):

So this is my point of view. What I got excited about TikTok shop was a KPI that was not different than Sahara when we worked together, which is social share of voice, paid media, working with more of that traditional pay to play, pay for content model with influencers. It just continues to get more and more expensive. And so to me, when I started digging in and really learning about opportunities within TikTok shop, social shops overall was really this idea that based on your assortment, your product, your pricing promotion based on how you're reaching out and engaging creators, there's likely a pretty efficient model of how you can influence the algorithm to get your brand more exposed, but then also just have your brand and the products more readily available for creators to talk about. I think there are categories such as beauty and wellness now that it's going to be hard for you to be successful with Next Gen if you are not active on TikTok shop because of how influential that piece is to the overall TikTok pie and how important TikTok is to that consumer. And so I just think how TikTok Shop enables more prominence and more of an ability to compete for that share of voice is a huge KPI to me of am I being successful on TikTok.

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SAHARA (06:07):

Do you have any advice for brands who are starting to get into the TikTok shop space and maybe they're not, especially TikTok native, if you will?

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JENNA (06:18):

Yeah, I think it goes back to what we first said is you need to know your consumer and is that consumer on TikTok shop? And if so, that is your green light, then really moving into, okay, so what is my marketing strategy? And again, I've worked more so with larger CPG brands, and so that's where I've really pushed. And TikTok’s come around to this too – is for big established brands, brands that are sold at retail shelves predominantly – where we're really seeing TikTok shop as a marketing first, sales second opportunity. And so it really is, how does this fit into your marketing strategy, the consumer journeys that you're investing in. And then lastly, don't forget about the operations and the investment internally that takes to make sure that if a consumer does convert, they're having a great engagement with your brand and a positive experience.

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SAHARA (07:23):

Do you see TikTok shop as a long-term sales channel? Or right now, is it more of a test and learn frontier?

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JENNA (07:32):

Long-term, for sure. I think consumer expectations have changed. They want to go from discovery. They want to have the option I should say, of going from discovery to purchase immediately. I've done that within TikTok shop. It's two clicks and that product is coming to my door. But I'd also say I see content and I add it to my cart and I'm going to noodle on that for a while and maybe see if the brand's going to DM me a coupon or maybe see after the fourth creator I see using that product. And now I'm convinced. But at the end of the day, the consumer expectation to be able to go from content to conversion is not going anywhere. As we've all seen social media platforms, they're all going to evolve. We're going to start to see new players. But I think what we've seen is it's not just millennials that are purchasing and social.

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(08:32):

This has spanned global. Other countries are way ahead of us still, but even in my experience monitoring sales and TikTok shop, this is crossing multiple generations. So I don't think it's going anywhere. I think if we focus on the consumer behavior, not any political impact to a platform or what's next, that's what I would encourage brands to focus on is what we need to test and learn is how brands can best build capabilities internally and marketing strategies to enable that type of a very convenient experience for our consumers. And then monitor what is all around you of what platforms are emerging or at risk and just focus on that consumer behavior.

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SAHARA (09:31):

Jenna, again, thank you so much for joining us. I feel like I've learned a lot about TikTok Shop and really appreciate your time. 

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JENNA:

Oh, thank you so much for having me.

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