Mojave Bloom Studio

BRANDING | SOCIAL MEDIA | MARKETING | ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 

Mojave Bloom Studio is an indie earring brand I owned and ran during COVID lockdown. I created a brand identity focused towards young women with a unique, indie fashion style and marketed exclusively through viral content on TikTok.

The Brand Story

 

I was freelancing full time when the Covid lockdowns started. I was craving a new experience - I had always wanted to run a handmade business. I thought it would be a perfect distraction to keep me busy and focused while the world was shut down. I noticed there was a surging trend on social media of polymer clay earrings. I felt like it was an of-the-moment thing - a fashion moment that wouldn’t last forever. I thought I could successfully create a company around these earrings that targeted young, indie fashion focused women between ages 25 and 40. I decided to give it a shot.

I created a simple visual identity based on my love of the Mojave Desert - soft shades of tan, brown and teal. These colors were trending in brand design, and I figured that for a short-term brand, a trendy style would resonate.

 

Marketing

 

I intended to bootstrap this business - keep expenses low and my marketing strategy focused. After some research, I decided to do business with an Etsy storefront and market exclusively on Tiktok.

I chose Etsy rather than a Shopify storefront for a few reasons:

  • Internal traffic - I wouldn’t have to rely exclusively on my marketing efforts to get views.

  • Ease - because my product offering was small and easy to ship, I didn’t need a more robust shipping solution than Etsy’s internal tools.

  • Fees - after crunching the numbers, I realized I could price my items + shipping in the sweet spot that gave me low enough fees to turn a good profit.

  • Quick - setting up an Etsy storefront was as simple as creating some quick graphics, taking phone pictures, and doing a little keyword research. I was up and running in one day.

Marketing on Tiktok was a no-brainer.

Tiktok was at it’s peak in early 2020 - virality was a given if you were consistent and knew how the culture of Tiktok worked.

I am a keep social media observer and noticed that lovely, handmade art share-and-tell videos did extremely well on the platform.

The key was posting multiple times a day. I decided to not do any paid marketing and market exclusively on TikTok.

Packaging

 

I created a simple packaging experience consisting of a sturdy white mailer box, branded packaging tape, stickers, care instruction/marketing cards and earring back cards.

I wanted my care instruction cards to double as a piece of attractive artwork that someone would keep as a piece of decor. That way, they would be reminded of my company every time they looked at it - and it was less wasteful, because they wouldn’t just end up in the trash. The instruction cards also had marketing copy, encouraging customers to follow me on social and give me a good review.

My earring packaging cards were printed on a postcard size as well, making them cost effective. I created a simple line illustration of a face. The earrings would hang from the “ears” of the illustration. I punched the holes for them myself with a small hole punch.

 

Photography

 

Each earring was crafted by me out of polymer clay. I leaned into the “handmade” nature of my business for the brand styling and photography. “Showing my work” was essential to keep the marketing message authentic for this customer. I created earring designs based on popular colors and seasonal themes, often following Tiktok fashion trends for inspiration. Keeping the batches small and exclusive promoted sales and allowed me to move on when a trend was over.

 

Product Design

 

Crafting the intricate elements of the design was just one part of the process for creating earrings. I kept the designs consistent by using plastic cutters in unique shapes. They are basically small cookie cutters. I created the shape designs in Adobe Illustrator.

Next, I used a CAD program to convert the simple shapes into 3D printer files. I used my 3D printer to create unique shape cutters. This way, I was able to keep all production in-house and create designs that no one else was making.

 

Results

 

I ran this business for a period of 6 months. I had an amazing time doing every part of it - however, It was not my long term plan. I felt very satisfied with what I had accomplished and made the decision to shut it down and move on to the Google UX Design Certificate program.

During my 6 months running my business, I did every part of it from branding, creating the product, packing, shipping, marketing, and sourcing materials. I made $11,579 in revenue crafting earrings in my home. I drove most of the traffic myself through Tiktok marketing, with several videos going viral. I had perfect 5 star reviews on Etsy and many repeat customers. I learned a lot! I am very proud of this little business, and it is always in my back pocket if I ever want to start it up again.