Shownotes
This week my guest is Nadine Maggi, managing director of Sweet Freedom—a brand known for creating healthier food products. Sweet Freedom began in 2009 with two women on a mission to tackle the harms of refined sugar. Their first product, an innovative fruit syrup made with apples and carob, kickstarted the brand's success and led to a range of healthier products now found in major supermarkets.
If you're working on your own product, this episode is packed with practical advice. Nadine breaks down the long but rewarding journey of getting products into stores, how to highlight what makes your product stand out, and why accelerator programs can be game-changers. She also dives into how to connect with consumers by telling a compelling story and showcasing health benefits in ways that resonate with today’s shoppers.
There are also some great tips on building resilience, creating a strong team culture, and spotting trends to design products that meet real needs.
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Transcripts
Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea To Life podcast. This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.
I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert. Every week I share friendly, practical advice as well as inspirational stories from small businesses. Let's get started. Hi.
So today on the podcast, I'm speaking with Nadine Maggi. Nadine is the managing director of Sweet Freedom, a healthier syrups, breads and drinks business.
I had a really great conversation with Nadine about how she has moved from the FMCG, sort of more corporate sector to being the managing director of a small business. We spoke a lot about the similarities and the differences and some of the things she's taken from her other roles into her role at Sweet Freedom.
Nadine also had some really useful advice for anyone looking to get their products stocked into retailers, particularly supermarkets. So if that's you listen out for that advice towards the end, I think you'll find it really useful.
And I would also say that this is another episode that would be great to watch on YouTube because as we were speaking, Nadine was showing us her products and some of this is visual. So if you're able to get onto YouTube and watch the episode, I think you'll really enjoy it there as well.
So I would love now to introduce you to Nadine. So, hi, Nadine, thank you so much for being here now.
Nadine Maggi:Hi, Vicky, thanks for having me. It's. It's good to come and chat to, to you about myself and the company. I work for Sweet Freedom.
So my name's Nadine Maggi and I'm currently the managing director of Sweet Freedom, which is, you can probably see some products which are surrounded by, which is a. We like to call ourselves a healthier indulgence product.
So we are a healthier product which people like a bit of treats and indulgence and sweetness in their lives and we help people to do that in a healthier way. And that's why the company was founded.
Vicki Weinberg:Amazing. Thank you. So tell us a little bit more about when and how Sweet Freedom was founded.
Nadine Maggi: rs, Tina and Deborah, back in:And the reason why they started it is they, they'd written a couple of books on what was called GL or gi, which is about sugar crashes and sugar spikes and, and diabetes and all of that.
And they wrote a couple of books with a nutritionalist and then they kept getting requested to say, well, why don't you develop a product which helps people to, to manage that and to manage their sugar spikes.
So they created, in fact, I've got it here, the first product they created was this, which was the fruit syrup and it's basically made out of apples and carob. So this was the original wonky fruit product.
It was the off cuts of apples and carob which creates a syrup which allows people to sweeten products naturally and it's 100% natural. So there's no refined sugar, there's no artificial sweeteners and it tastes great because importantly it's got to taste good.
There's no point in bringing a product out which is healthier if it doesn't taste very nice. So they found that they wanted a more natural, really versatile product, which is what our products are all about is it's not just one use.
So you can sweeten your coffee, you can sweeten porridge, you can bake with it, you can spread it on your toast.
It's got a multitude of applications but it's all about making sure it's got slow release sugars which don't give you the sugar spike nor the sugar the sugar crash course.
Vicki Weinberg: And I'm just thinking back to:This must have been one of the first, if not the first products of its kind because I know now we see lot, we see no added sugar and sweeteners. That's something you see quite often.
But back then I, from memory, because obviously we are going back a bit, it was all sort of artificial sweeteners or the alternatives.
Nadine Maggi:Yes, it was all sucralose and saccharin and urethral and that was how you cut down your calories and sugar intake. But they were all artificial.
And I would say yes, these were the sort of founders in the market now in you could probably go to the Mediterranean, east and Eastern Europe and you had date syrups and agaves and things like that. But in the uk this was definitely the first fruit syrup in the market.
And a natural sweetener which didn't contain artificial sweeteners or high sugar. Fructose.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you. And so that was the first product. But there's a bit of a range now, isn't there?
Nadine Maggi:Yes.
So basically since then they, we expanded into what we call the chalk shot, which is again a first to market, the first to market liquid hot chocolate. So you basically just put it into milk and it. And it makes a hot chocolate, but you can also drizzle it.
They were then the first to market with the Choc Pot, which was the first chocolate spread, which basically didn't contain sugar, didn't contain palm oil, didn't contain artificial sweeteners. And basically we give 10% of profits of this to the Orangutan project. So it's again given something back.
But I won't name the product competitor, but everyone knows a famous chocolate spread, but we are 74% less fat and half the calories. So that's another first to market.
And then we're just about to launch another first to market, which is the drink which is, believe it or not, after watching Bake off the Professionals, we saw an ingredient called cocoa juice and it's a waste product of the cocoa bean. So we take the cocoa bean and put it into our chocolate products and we found out this cocoa juice has a natural sweetener.
So again it fits with the whole, using fruit as a sweetener.
So we've, we then, we've then been working in the, the past sort of year to develop a drink which is a sparkling water, so again, fits all of our low calories, sweetened naturally, no artificial sweeteners, using wonky fruit, etc. So, yeah, that's our latest one.
So we have a trend of making sure it's natural, making sure it's a natural sweetener, ideally from fruit and it's lower calorie than the mainstream ones out there.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you.
And so how do you, or someone in your team, how are you coming up with these, first of all, the, the concepts and the ideas of how to naturally sweeten food. So where do those ideas come from and how is that then developed into a product?
Nadine Maggi:Yeah, I'll, I'll talk about the drink because that's a prime example. Yeah, I, it was, I was watching Bake off the Professionals, because I am a bit of a foodie and I love Bake Off. I love to bake off the professionals.
And I saw that ingredient, the cocoa juice, and they were using it to bake with and I was like, that's a really intriguing ingredient.
So then I went back to the F, one of the founders who still works with me and she sort of looks after mpd and I said, I don't know if there's anything in this, but I saw this on Bake Off. Can we get our hands on it? So she was brilliant.
She then went out and tried and found it, found this ingredient and then found, got some samples and we tasted it and by itself, I've got to say, it didn't taste that great. So we were like, right, well, it's not just a simple case of adding it to something.
And we've always wanted to do a drink, but the apple syrup that we use and the carob syrup is too heavy for a drink. It would just sink to the bottom. So we said, oh, we wanted to do a drink. Would this be perfect for a drink?
We then found a partner who said, okay, we want to create a drink, we want to use natural flavors. And we then did a bit of research. So we then went out and said, okay, what's popular? What's popular at the moment? What are the Gen Z's drinking?
And we found that more Gen Z's were going down the sort of mocktail, non alcoholic, healthier sparkling water range. We said, right, well, that's the area we need to go into.
So we just did a bit of research on what's the most popular cocktail, what's the most popular mocktail, what's the most popular flavor. And we ended up coming up with a combination. But we also found that consumers wanted more functional things.
So over the last few years, we've seen the increase of cbd, we've seen the increase of protein, we've seen the increase of additional benefits that people want from their food. So we decided that that's what we were going to do.
So we worked really hard with our suppliers to say, okay, we want a natural wonky ingredient which gives you immunity, which gives you your 100% of your vitamin C, which is what this does. So it's, it's really strange. It's a case of we found the ingredients and thought this would make a fantastic drink.
And then it's a case of, okay, so how will the drink look feel? What would be the benefits? What would make us different? And that's the process we went to, to end up with a drink.
Vicki Weinberg:That's a really interesting process.
Nadine Maggi:Yeah, it was, it's, it's, it's a great one because it involves all the team. It involves speaking to our Sweet Freedom customers about what did they like. We did a bit of research on, okay, so what's popular in the moment?
And it was, well, people want good health. So we've got another drink which is the pineapple one. So pineapple and coconut, which is gut health.
So that has dandelion leaf and baobab to help natural gut health. And the enzymes. We have a energy drink, but not a high energy drink. It's got a slight energy to give you a little bit of a pickup.
And again, we use Garana and kola nut to give you a natural energy. And then the final one is around mental health.
So we found a product called Shoshandra Berry, which helps the mind, helps the focus, and so we put that into our mango and Mandarin drinks. So our range of drinks has a variety of different health benefits that our people are wanting at the moment in the marketplace.
So it's about, again, what do people want? How can we help them? It's about that. What's missing in people's lives? Okay, how can we help to fit that? But naturally, I mean, it's fascinating.
Vicki Weinberg:It sounds like a huge project. Which leads me on nicely to the other thing I'd like to ask you about, which is. So you mentioned how Sweet Freedom was founded.
So, Nadine, can you tell us a little bit about what your role is and how you got involved?
Nadine Maggi:Yeah, sure. So, yeah, I'm the managing director of the company, so I was brought in to run the company on behalf of the founders.
I work alongside the founder, but pretty much I'm the one responsible for setting the strategy, the direction of the business and then bringing the team together to help them to do that. My career is a really what we. What you would call a squiggly one, and it's not a very natural career trajectory. So I.
I started my career in the armed forces, so I served for six years in the armed forces, which gave me probably some really great foundations of leadership strategy, project management, bringing teams together, and happened to, I would say, fall into hr. I took a temporary job as a filing clerk in hr and I just loved it. I loved the psychology of people, I loved about the welfare of people.
But also, how do you get the best out of people?
So did my degree in HR whilst I was working at Hallmark and worked my way up from the filing clock to be the international HR director for Hallmark Cards and Saw. And that was. That was a very, very big company. It's like three and a half thousand employees in the uk.
And yes, I worked my way up doing lots of different roles in people and did things like NLP and psychology and all of that type of stuff, and then moved to Hain, what was Hayne Daniels, and as the international HR director. And then that company went through a series of mergers and acquisitions. I think there was 12 in total which I was involved in.
And then had a chat with the CEO because we got a new CEO and he said, look, I'm looking to move away from functions, I'm looking to move into more divisions and there's a managing director role. And I said, well, I think I could do that. And he said, well yeah, I think you could do that as well.
And I have a little bit of a laughing joke about him because I was the one in the boardroom always going, so why are we doing that? And what's the thought process behind that? And is this the right decision?
And we always laugh and joke saying, did you give me the MD role just to shut me up, to make me more responsible? Or was it that you saw something? And we always laugh about that.
But I think it was because I had that combination of the armed forces, which is structured, discipline, resilience, strategy and the people side, which is how do you get the best out of people, how do you achieve the most with what you've got and how do you empathize and pull people together as a team? So I think those two roles helped me naturally to move into a managing director role.
I then had a bit of an epiphany during COVID I was writing an email to employees every day, basically trying to keep spirits up, trying to keep morale up, trying to keep motivation up. But I was asking questions like, do what makes you happy, find what your purpose is in life, what are you here to do?
All of that type, a bit of philosophical type of thing. And I got to it myself and thought, well, what's my, what makes me happy? What's my purpose in life?
And had a bit of an epiphany in my daughter's autistic and my best friend was diagnosed with MND and suddenly thought, I work away all the time, I don't get to spend much time with family and friends.
I'm going to take a conscious time out, I'm going to take a conscious year out to just give something back, try to raise awareness of motor neurone disease, try to raise money, but also spend time with my daughter because I was working to give her a future but not spending time in the present. So had a bit of epiphany, decided I was going to take a year out.
Six months into that I was approached by Sweet Freedom who said, we really like your cv, we really like your style. You might be too big for this job, but we'd like to chat to you anyway.
And as soon as I spoke to the owners and heard about the ethics and what, why the company was formed and what the products do, it was a no brainer. It just felt.
And I've always wanted to try an SME because I've always worked for big FMCG companies and Then yes, I joined Sweet Freedom and absolutely love it. Absolute shock to the system, I'm not gonna lie. But I've absolutely loved my time here at Sweet Freedom. So yeah, very squiggly career.
Vicki Weinberg:Oh, thank you, that's great story. I have so many follow up questions where to begin? I guess one thing I'd like to know is at what stage were you brought in?
So was there already a team you were brought in to lead or were you brought in and then you built up the team? Or was it a bit of both?
Nadine Maggi:It was a bit of both. So when I joined, there was myself, the founder and a supply chain manager.
Since then we've expanded the team and brought in sales marketing to supplement that.
We're still only a very small team, so again I've gone from being a managing director of two and a half thousand to six of us, so it's all hands to the pump. So.
But I've brought in roles that I felt that the company needed to help us to move to that next level of becoming bigger in the uk, but also internationally because we'd love to take our products to the US and Australia and the Middle east because we think there's a real need for healthier products in those. In those regions.
Vicki Weinberg:Absolutely. And so there must be, I'm sure, lots of differences between an FMCG and an SME. I'm sure there are, but I'm thinking what, what are the.
Or are there any similarities? Are there things you've been able to take from the earlier part of your career and then apply leading a smaller team?
Nadine Maggi:Yeah, I think, I think ultimately if you think about the purpose of business and the purpose of MCG and an SME, they're pretty much the same, aren't they? Is that the core principles are the same.
It's about having a deep understanding of consumer and delivering a high quality, consistent product to meet their needs. So the end goal of FMCG and SME is exactly the same. You just go about it in a very different way, but it becomes the same as leading the team.
If you think about it again, even when I had two and a half thousand employees, is it's all about creating a culture of trust and collaboration. Because if people don't trust you, if people are not willing to work with you, you're not going to get things achieved.
So one of the mantras I've always had is being as authentic as you can be, be as open as you can be and be as honest as you can be, because that's how you build that trust.
And once you've built that trust with either two and a half thousand employees or six employees, is people are willing to listen to you, people are willing to work with you, collaborate with you to get to that end goal of ultimately everybody wants to be successful. You want to work for a successful company, because working for a successful company means that you feel secure.
It means that you can provide for your family. So it's that end goal again of wanting to work for a business which makes you feel comfortable in your own life.
And it just so helps if you've got a great product and you give something back. It hits those ethics as well. That's, that's a perfect company, isn't it?
Vicki Weinberg:Oh, definitely. So I came from before I did what I do well many years ago I worked in corporate communications. So yeah, I'm really flexible, familiar with sort of.
And I guess the same applies in. And I work for a huge, huge oil company.
And a big part of my role was sort of explaining sort of vision and where we were going and what people's parts were in it.
And I expect as well that also translates to a much smaller company and that everyone needs to know who we are, what we're about and what we're aiming to do.
Nadine Maggi:Ultimately it's the same thing as everybody needs to know what's the purpose of the company, what are we trying to achieve and how can you help to achieve it. It's a lot easier to do that with six people because you can get everybody together and discuss that. There's no sort of Chinese whispers.
But one of the things that I did in the FMCG is every six months I used to do a town hall to every employee. So I would go and speak personally to every employee in every location on every shift to make sure that that message wasn't lost.
And gave them the opportunity to ask me questions as well. Because again, that open honesty, transparent nature meant that people could trust me.
And they then believed that the message I was sending, that these are the reasons why we do what we do, here's how you contribute towards that. Really helped to. And certainly at Hain, we had a massive business turnaround.
We went from a loss making business to being one of the most profitable divisions in the business.
And that was, I truly believe, because we had good communication, people were clear about the end goal, people were clear about the vision and how they contributed towards that and felt proud. So communication is absolutely critical if you want to be successful as a business.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you. And how about creating the Culture of the business.
Because I know I have listeners who are starting to build out their own teams and there will also be listeners who are maybe at the stage where they're just thinking about making that first hire and starting to.
Nadine Maggi:Yeah.
Vicki Weinberg:To grow their business. Do you have any advice for how to create the culture that you want in your company?
Nadine Maggi:Yeah, I think. I think you start with the business itself, don't you start with what's your purpose as a business? Are you an.
Are you somebody who's really into sustainability? Are you somebody who's into healthier living? What's the purpose of your company? Because I think that helps them to drive what the culture should be.
Because you should replicate that culture of what your product is. Because if you want people to behave sustainably, then you have to make.
Make sure that people who are brought into the organization act and behave sustainably. Because what you don't want to do is be pushing water uphill.
If you, as a business wants to be sustainable, don't bring people into your business who are naturally curious about how you can be more environmentally friendly, for example. But I think you have to know what you're passionate about as well, because if you're passionate, it comes back to that authenticity.
If you're passionate about and being your natural self, then that's. That's a great way of creating a culture. If you try to be somebody you're not, people will see that. So understand what your own values are.
Understand how you contribute, because that's your natural self. And be your natural self, because if you try to be somebody else, it becomes incongruent and people won't believe in the culture.
And I think certainly from my HR days, as people used to say, it's okay putting things up on the wall, but it's. They watch people and how they behave every day.
So just be careful about how you act and behave is what people look for, not for what's written on a wall.
Vicki Weinberg:That's such good advice because you're right. We often look to our. Our leaders, our bosses, however you want to get a view of how we should be acting and what we should be doing.
So, yeah, that's really. That's really good advice.
And I guess also when you're hiring, I suppose it makes sense to know what are the values you're looking for in someone as well. And I guess being clear on your own is a really good starting point.
Nadine Maggi:It is being clear on what's important to you and what type of people you want to bring into the organization. Because yes, there's lots of people who've got marketing qualifications, there's lots of people who've got financial qualifications.
Will they fit with what the company is trying to do, but also how you want the company to behave? And competency based interviews have been around for years.
They're great, but really understand the behaviors, the ethics and the personality of the person and whether they're going to fit or not. Because fit is so key. If you get a wrong team member, it can really derail a business.
Vicki Weinberg:And I guess that's particularly. Yeah, I mean that makes sense.
I guess that's particularly obvious in a small team because you know, in a company of thousands, of course you can have people who might be don't quite fit, but it's diluted a little bit.
Nadine Maggi:But in a team, when it comes to the obvious as a startup, the values of a person and the behaviors and personality of a person are even more important than the qualifications they bring on a piece of paper.
Vicki Weinberg:That totally makes sense.
And I guess because I'm going to move on in a moment, but I guess another final question I have when we're talking about building a team is, and I guess from your experience, how would someone listening, thinking, okay, I need to start expanding, maybe I need to start growing my business. How would someone know what's the best first hire to make?
So whether it's someone's help with marketing, whether it's logistics, how would you go about working that out?
Nadine Maggi:I think again it comes down to you and looking at your own strengths and weaknesses and understanding what you're good at and what you may be not so good at. So are you a good salesperson? Can you build relationships with customers? Do you know what your customers want?
Or a marketing, do you know about social, especially in a small company?
Because as I've learned, you have to know pretty much about everything in marketing from category management to social media to PR to SEO optimization of your website. There's a whole gamma.
So I think you've got to be honest with yourself and say not what you enjoy, but what are you good at and what's your skills and qualities and then go, okay, so maybe where can you bring in that experience? So are you struggling with your social media connections? Are you struggling to get your brand out there in the media?
Well then look at marketing, social media. Are you struggling to break through with a retailer or are you struggling to get listed?
Well, maybe you need to then bring in a salesperson who's got that experience. I think the other key thing is as well is again, understanding the difference between FMCG and SME is that SME is very much hands to the pump.
If you bring in a salesperson from an FMCG role, they'll bring vast experience of getting listings with retailers. However, they've probably got a team behind them. They've probably got lots of category management data which has an SME you can't afford.
So you need to think about that context as well as what's. Where have they come from? Because somebody coming from an FMCG might find it very frustrating of how hands on it it is.
Vicki Weinberg:That's really good advice. Thank you. And it also leads me on beautifully to the next thing I want to talk about, which is being stocked in, in retailers.
Because ever since I spoke to you and became aware of Sweet Freedom, I've seen you on the shelves. You know, every time I go to the supermarket, it feels like you're in a lot of places.
And I know that probably has taken time to get there, but I would love to talk about how Sweet Freedom have got stocked in so many places and maybe a little bit of advice for others looking, looking to do the same because I know, as I say, it won't have been overnight, but it'd be great to talk a little bit about, about how you've got there.
Nadine Maggi: , the business was founded in:But know what your unique selling point is, because with a retailer, their space is very much about rate of sale and how much money will be generated from that space in my store. So you've got to try and show why you're bringing something different.
So are you going to bring in a different type of consumer or are you bringing in a product which your consumer is missing, so will help bring them down the aisle, or are you bringing something different and new which is just currently doesn't exist? So find out what, why your products is different to what's currently out there, what makes your product different.
I think the one thing that's probably in existence now that wasn't in existence back when Sweet Freedom founded and that was just down to pure resilience, tenacity and knowing that they had a different product today. I think the retailers have done a great job in helping to look at SMEs with their sort of accelerator apiary program.
So they all have these innovation programs and if you're a person who's trying to get your product listed, I think they could be A great entry point for some people because what, what these accelerator innovation programs do is give you a listing, guarantee you stores, but they also put some marketing behind it. So for those of you who, who know about retail, the rate cards for getting marketing in store can be pretty expensive.
So what these accelerator programs do is help people to get onto that ladder. So if I was starting out today trying to get my product listed, that would be my first protocol if I wasn't already listed in these, in these stores.
Vicki Weinberg:Oh, that's really good to know. And I'm assuming that's something people can just go onto Google and have a look for if.
Nadine Maggi:Yeah, and LinkedIn's very good for watching about when the next cohort's about.
So for example, Ocado have root, Tesco have their accelerator program, health foods, if you visit them, they've got one co op has the apiary, Sainsbury's has the innovation program. So they all have a different slant on it.
But yeah, if you go on the Internet, look on their websites, if you look at the business section, so go beyond the shop and look at the corporate section, you tend to find a lot of information there. But LinkedIn is very good for getting insider knowledge of when these programs are coming up.
Vicki Weinberg:That's really helpful, thank you.
Nadine Maggi:And then probably the final one is some of these Bread and Jams or product Gurus where you sort of do a bit of speed dating. So you basically get to meet buyers and pitch your product to them. Some of them do like Dragon's Den style things.
So again, look out for those types of organizations like Bread and Jam and Product Guru who do these Meet the buyer speed date. And again, it can be another quick way to get in front of people with your product. Or you can appear on Oldie's Next Big Thing.
And as you know, you could be the next Aldi Fake Bake, the flaky bakey Jamaican patty which has just flown. So there's all of those types of things as well which are popping up.
Vicki Weinberg:Oh, that's really useful to know. Thank you. And how about so now? So obviously you are stocked in lots of places when you're launching a new product.
Say obviously you've got your drinks coming.
Does it make it easier to get your drinks into supermarkets because you have other products there or because it's a different, you know, a different part of the store, a different product line? Is it the same as if you were starting from scratch? I'm just curious, I hope you don't mind me asking, but I Am curious.
Nadine Maggi:It's basically start all over again because it's a totally different category is you have to go through the whole process again of finding out who your buyer is, introducing yourself to the buyer, saying why they should stock your product, sending samples to them, being tenacious, not giving up, finding the opportunities at Bread and Jam or Product Guru. So even though we're currently listed in the supermarkets, we still try to find opportunities.
We're still applying for these innovation programs with our drink because it's a whole new category. So it's. It's basically like starting from scratch again.
So that's the reason why I can talk so passionately about it, because we're going through the process right now and knowing that the majority of people who try to launch a product, it doesn't happen overnight. You can be lucky, but, and this might sound bad news, but it can take two to three years to get your product listed.
Two to three years of knocking on doors, being resilient, going to these events, reiterating why you're different. And that's why certainly for an SME, resilience is, is just paramount.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you. And do you literally. So if you were trying to get stocked in a car, though, do you literally just keep.
Just keep going back and keep going back to them? Is it.
When I say simple as that, I know it's not simple, but is it just a case of every time you get an opportunity, trying again and hoping you've got the right time? Because I guess a lot of it must be timing.
Nadine Maggi:It is timing when the range reviews happen and where else is around what's, what's trending. But yeah, we always try and find opportunities to reopen the conversation as, oh, did you know this? So, for example, our drinks have won awards.
So every time we win an award, we go back and go, by the way, we've won another award with our drink. We've won a great taste award or we've won a health and beauty award, we've won a wellness award or a sustainability award.
So always looking for opportunities to just keep going back. Because buyers must be inundated. They are so, so busy. So you've got to grab their attention.
And you don't just want to keep saying the same message, which is, we've got a great drink, we've got a great drink, because you'll just ignore them. So what's new, what's different? And how are you going to help them?
Because ultimately that's what you're there to do is how can you help the buyer to do their job. What is it that's going to make a difference with your product?
So, yeah, but you do have to be resilient and you do have to just keep knocking on doors.
And if you can go into the IGD conferences, go into Bread and Jam and finding them and just speaking to them and say, even just saying hello sometimes can just be a. Putting a face to a name makes it a bit more personable than just an email.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you. I think that's really good advice and I don't think it's disheartening at all.
I actually think it's really positive to know that actually you might not get a yes on the first time or the second time because it can be hard, can't it? And I think you can get to the point where you think, well, I've asked twice and they've said no, so I'll just give up now.
But to know that actually it's okay to keep trying, keep coming back. I think it's going really good to know.
Nadine Maggi:Yeah. If you truly believe in your product and your product, give something different and it can make a difference to people. Don't give up, Keep going.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you. I think that's great advice.
Which leads me on very nicely to the last question I ask every guest who comes on, which is, what would your number one piece of advice be for other product creators?
Nadine Maggi:Oh, I think it would certainly be understand what the gap in the market is first and foremost. If we're just creating a new me too, it's going to be even more difficult.
So find the gap in the market and then build a story, because storytelling is critical. So why is that product you're creating so important? But stick to your values as well.
So find the gap, stick to your values and create the story around it. And as I said, be resilient, keep going.
I think that's ultimately for anybody who wants to bring a product to life is again, find out where the gap is and then find evidence to support why people need this in their lives. Why do, why do people need a drink sweetened with cocoa juice in their life? Well, that's not. I, I didn't wake up thinking, do you know what I need?
A drink with cocoa juice? No. What I did think is I want a healthier drink which is ethical, sustainable and tastes great. So that's how I sell it.
Not, I've got a sparkling water sweeten with cocoa juice and wonky fruit. It's. It's knowing why people need that. If people wake up missing something. What is it that they're missing?
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you. That's a really, that's really great advice. And thank you for that example as well, because I think that's.
You've really shown us how to speak about our products in a way that, as you say, is much more engaging than saying this has got cocoa juice in it, which to a lot of people doesn't mean anything, let's face it, because I haven't seen that episode of Bake Offs. Well, I don't know what that is. When you start talking about the benefits, all of a sudden I'm getting, I'm getting intrigued now because.
Nadine Maggi:Yeah, because it's. Again, when you say cocoa juice, people think it tastes a chocolate. Tastes nothing like chocolate. It tastes like lychee.
But there's only so much space on a can that you can explain it. So how do you explain what you're doing quickly and simply to people? It's that elevator pitch, isn't it? Is. Is. Yeah.
I don't want to, I don't want to sparkly more to drink sweetener cocoa juice. I want a healthy drink, which gives me something additional. That's. That's what it is.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you. Thank you for all of that and also thank you for explaining because I was going to ask you if it tasted chocolate. So thank you.
Nadine Maggi:Yeah, it's like a natural lychee honey back note.
Vicki Weinberg:Well, that's, that's really interesting in itself, isn't it? Because you just, you wouldn't know that.
Nadine Maggi:No, you wouldn't know. And what's even better is how we collect it. So we send solar powered trucks to the farmers to go and get it.
So not only are they making extra money from something they would usually throw into the bin, but it's also being collected sustainably as well. So it's that sustainability ethical piece that's something extraordinary. But it's not the selling point of the drink.
It's just something, a natural hygiene benefit that you get knowing that you're drinking an ethical drink.
Vicki Weinberg:And as you said earlier, that also ties into your values of the brand and what sweet, sweet freedom is about. So, yeah, thank you. Because that really, I think is really illustrates the sorts of things we've been talking about.
Yeah, I think these are really good examples. Well, thank you so much for your time and everything you shared.
Nadine Maggi:Thank you for inviting me onto your podcast. It's a great podcast and it really helps people to know what do I do? How do I do it? Because it's just, it's a maze, it's a myriad. It's.
You can't just turn up and go tada. Here we go. It doesn't work like that.
Vicki Weinberg:Oh thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode.
Do remember that you can get the full back catalogue and lots of free resources on my website, vickiweinberg.com Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it, and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful. Thank you again and see you next week.
