237: ThirdLove Agility and Empowerment through Tough Times with co-founder Heidi Zak

On this 237th episode of "Marketing Today," host Alan Hart speaks with Heidi Zak, the co-founder and CEO of ThirdLove, the 3rd largest online bra and underwear company in the United States. Zak is passionate about making sure all women feel comfortable in their underwear, no matter their shape or size.Our conversation starts with a glimpse of Zak's past, growing up in a town of just 3,000 people and working at a farmers market. After college, Zak finally found her way to the Big Apple while working in an investment bank's retail division. Zak then talks about the cushy job with Google that pulled her out west, the same cushy job that she decided to leave to start ThirdLove. In a market dominated by men, Zak had a hard time finding investors for her women's bra and underwear company, that is until some men were able to see the "opportunity to do things differently in all aspects."We then dive into the challenges presented by COVID that forced ThirdLove to "cut back on marketing expenses to focus on efficiency." Zak then tackles the issue of creating content when the world is shut down, claiming, "as a marketer, you're constantly in the cycle of content creation, but sometimes you might not maximize the assets that you've already created." Lastly, Zak discusses ThridLove's support of entrepreneurs with its TL Effect program in an attempt to show everyone that "you can support causes through what you show to the world!" Highlights from this week's "Marketing Today": Heidi grew up in a 3,000-person town just outside of Niagara Falls and learned a lot from her time working at a farmers market. 1:41It wasn't until after college that Heidi found her way to the retail group at an investment bank in NYC. 3:01Like most college graduates, Heidi had no idea what she wanted to do after school. 4:09Banking served as an excellent entryway for Heidi to understand basic business skills that she used to build her own company. 4:32Heidi made the switch to the operations side out of a desire to learn more about operating a retail business. 5:12A job at Google brought Heidi out to the West Coast, where she got her first taste of entrepreneurship and the startup industry. 5:50Heidi quit her job at Google to start ThirdLove with her husband after seeing a need in the market. 6:40It was difficult to raise seed money for ThirdLove in a world dominated by men at the time. 7:31When COVID hit, ThirdLove hunkered down and prepared for the worst-case scenario. 8:49The market for bras has changed a little as more and more people have started working from home. 10:24ThirdLove had to cut back the most in the Television marketing sector while becoming more efficient in all other sectors. 11:38In the last month or two, ThirdLove has been able to reinvest in mid to upper-funnel marketing. 12:30Heidi is always testing out new markets to see where the potential lies for innovation. 13:00Creating content became trickier when COVID hit, forcing ThirdLove to do things differently with the same stuff. 14:25Leveraging content from customers and the team has allowed the brand to connect with its audience. 15:32With so many social movements going on in today's society, ThirdLove has put the elements of inclusivity and diversity at the company's forefront. 16:55TL Effect supports a new-business female founder of color by providing mentorship, a monetary grant, and promotion through ThirdLove. 17:55 Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.