Bob Verlaat's Guide to Building a Brand
Most e-commerce brands are boring. They copy each other, lead with product specs, and wonder why nothing sticks. Bob Verlaat, co-founder of Hears and Dore & Rose (OOAK Brands), has spent two years doing the opposite, building brands that people talk about without being paid to.
Everything from this episode, structured into a free playbook:
https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/bob-verlaat
In this episode:
- How to define your brand's reason for existence and use it as a filter for every event, partnership, and content decision you make
- Why Bob argues that 5K on an offline event returns faster than 5K on a Meta awareness campaign, and the logic behind it
- Why most brands are boring, and the specific mistake Bob says operators make when they try to stand out
- The one signal Bob looks for to know his brand is working, and why it has nothing to do with followers, ROAS, or engagement
Follow Elevator:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods
X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods
Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com
Follow Monish Sabnani (Host):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/
X: https://x.com/msabnani93
Follow Bob Verlaat:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobverlaat
X: https://x.com/bobverlaat
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:00 What brand actually means, and what it is not
06:00 Product first or vision first: how Bob thinks about launching
10:00 Why a worryless life became Hears' north star
14:00 Events vs. Meta ads: which one returns more
20:00 How to know when your brand is working
26:00 Most brands are boring. Here is why.
30:00 LTV, post-purchase surveys, and the retention play most operators ignore
34:00 Rebrands: when they are worth it, when they are not
38:00 Rapid fire: Pinterest, new project, micromanaging, and freedom
Mentioned in this episode:
- Hears - https://hears.com/
- Dore & Rose - https://doreandrose.com/
- OOAK Brands - https://ooakbrands.com/
#ecommerce #dtc #brandbuilding #dtcmarketing #elevatortalks #operatormindset #ecommercebrand
