How To Start A Weighted Blankets Business

When it comes to starting a weighted blankets brand, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some big decisions.

You may be asking yourself:

• What's the first step in establishing my business?
• How much will it cost to start my weighted blankets brand?
• How do I price my weighted blankets brand?
• How do I market my weighted blankets brand?
• ... so much more!

We walk you through all of the steps; from idea → starting → launching → growing → running your business.

The purpose of this guide is to act as an outline for the steps you'll need to take to get your business running successfully!

💡 Introduction To Starting A Weighted Blankets Brand

Is The Weighted Blankets Brand For You?

Let's look at the pros and cons of starting your own weighted blankets brand

Pros:

• Flexibility: One of the biggest advantages of starting a weighted blankets brand is that you can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.
• Ability to start your business from home: It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning!
• Little startup costs required: The cost to start a weighted blankets brand costs significantly less money than most businesses, ranging anywhere from 12 to 27,209.
• Rewarding work: Starting a weighted blankets brand can be really rewarding and fun work. After all, you're bringing joy and excitement into peoples lives.

Cons:

• Crowded space: Competition is high when it comes to your weighted blankets brand, so it's important that you spend a good amount of time analyzing the market and understanding where the demand lies.
• Finding the right supplier: Most businesses in this space go the supplier/manufacturer route, which isn't a bad thing! However, finding the right supplier can take a lot of time, energy and trial/error. If done properly, this process can save you months (if not years) of time and energy. More on this below in the "finding a supplier" section.

Creating a successful weighted blankets brand means that you will have the ability to sell, provide stellar customer service, communicate with vendors and motivate your team (even if it's down the road)!

How To Name Your Weighted Blankets Brand

It's important to find a catchy name for your weighted blankets brand so that you can stand out in your space.

Here are some general tips to consider when naming your weighted blankets brand

• Avoid hard to spell names: you want something easy to remember and easy to spell for your customers
• Conduct a search to see if others in the space have the same name
• Try not to pick a name that limits growth opportunities for your business (ie. if you decide to expand into other product lines)
• As soon as you have an idea (or ideas) of a few names that you love, register the domain name(s) as soon as possible!

Why is naming your weighted blankets brand so important?

The name of your business will forever play a role in:

• Your customers first impression
• Your businesses identity
• The power behind the type of customer your brand attracts
• If you're memorable or not

It's important to verify that the domain name is available for your weighted blankets brand.

You can search domain availability here:

Although .com names are the most common and easiest to remember, there are other options if your .com domain name is not available. Depending on your audience, it may not matter as much as you think.

It's also important to thoroughly check if social media handles are available.

As soon as you resonate with a name (or names), secure the domain and SM handles as soon as possible to ensure they don't get taken.

Here's some inspiration for naming your weighted blankets brand:

• Blanket Mania check availability
• Blanket Guide check availability
• The Blanket Store check availability
• Get Warm check availability
• Get Comfy check availability
• My Blanket Station check availability
• The quirky Blankets check availability
• The Blanket Zone check availability
• My Blanket check availability
• Happy Blanketing check availability
• Winters & Blankets check availability
• The Blanket Hub check availability
• The Warm Blankets check availability
• The Bright Blanket Store check availability
• My Warm Blanket check availability
• The Blanket Generation check availability
• My Blanket Story check availability
• SOFT check availability
• Fall & Blankets check availability
• I'm Blanketing check availability
• Quick Blankets check availability
• The Blanket Company check availability
• Blankety Zone check availability
• Blanket in the City check availability
• Blanket and Blanketmaker check availability
• Blanket 'N Patch check availability
• Blankets in the Garden check availability
• Blanket by Jane check availability
• Blanket by the Sea check availability
• Bamboo Blanketing check availability
• Blanket Deluxe check availability
• Bundles by Betty check availability
• Blanket of a Lifetime check availability
• Basket of Love Blanket Co check availability
• Blanket for a New Home check availability
• My Garden and Blanket check availability
• Sweet Home Sew & So check availability
• Flourishing Blanket check availability
• Blanket by the Lake check availability
• Blanket Country Blanketing Center check availability
• A Blanketer's Touch check availability
• Blanket in a Minute check availability
• Blanket by Blanket check availability
• Tailor Made Blankets check availability
• Blanket to Life check availability
• Bag of Stars check availability
• A Blanket Story check availability
• Moozles check availability
• A Blanket of Happiness check availability
• Hollows Blankets check availability
• Hammock Dreams check availability
• Blanket Mosaics check availability
• Dreamcatcher Blanket check availability
• A Blanket Full of Love check availability
• Tinkers' Nest check availability
• Nanette's World check availability
• Merry Maidens check availability
• Stitched by Annie check availability
• Kissing Blankets check availability
• Striking Blanket check availability
• The Woolen World check availability
• Warm & Lovely check availability
• Little Bit Craft check availability
• Sew Crafts & Art check availability
• Eggshell Blanket check availability
• Dyeing In The Rain check availability
• Bells & Bobbins check availability
• Karen's Stitching & Sewing check availability
• Wet & Warm check availability
• Crafts, Knitted from Nature check availability
• Blocher & Co check availability
• The Blanket Lifestyle check availability
• The Stitch Story check availability
• Blanket Art check availability
• Crazy for Knits check availability
• DreamCatcher Bunnies check availability
• Artsy Blanket check availability
• The Blue check availability
• Homely Reassurance Co check availability
• Favorite All Inclusive Place check availability
• Bright Blanche check availability
• Enjoyment Spot check availability
• The Clean check availability
• Plumper Comfort check availability
• The Nice check availability
• Barbell Co check availability
• Beautiful Blanche check availability
• Colorful Encompassing Place check availability
• WornBlanket check availability
• Inert Cover Co check availability
• Enjoyment Place check availability
• Fluffy All Embracing check availability
• StrangeComfort check availability
• Console Place check availability
• Only Soothe Group check availability
• Ranking Blanket check availability
• Convenience Place check availability
• Little Comfortable Place check availability
• Considerable Comfortableness check availability
• Luxurious Reassurance Trading Co check availability
• LightweightBlanket check availability
• Electric Across The Board check availability
• Beautiful Mantle Collective check availability
• Great check availability
• Damp All Encompassing check availability
• The Sweet check availability
• Sweet Solace check availability
• Bowled Collective check availability
• The Apparent check availability

Read our full guide on naming your weighted blankets brand ➜

Players

Big Players

• Welcome to ShopRite! (22.1K Alexa Ranking)
• Pendleton (48.2K Alexa Ranking)
• The Oodie (72.8K Alexa Ranking)
• Bearaby (92.5K Alexa Ranking)
• Hush Blankets (212K Alexa Ranking)

Small Players

• Baloo Living - Revenue $416K/month
• Luna Wellness - Revenue $250K/month
• Remy Sleep - Revenue $50K/month
• Lotus - Revenue $21/month

Search Interest

Let's take a look at the search trends for blankets over the last year:

Learn more about starting a weighted blankets brand:

Where to start?

-> How much does it cost to start a weighted blankets brand?
-> Pros and cons of a weighted blankets brand

Need inspiration?

-> Other weighted blankets brand success stories
-> Examples of established weighted blankets brand
-> Marketing ideas for a weighted blankets brand
-> Weighted blankets brand slogans
-> Weighted blankets brand names
-> Weighted blankets brand Instagram bios

Other resources

-> Weighted blankets brand tips

🎬 How To Start A Weighted Blankets Brand

How Much Does It Cost To Start A Weighted Blankets Brand

If you are planning to start a weighted blankets brand, the costs are relatively low. This, of course, depends on if you decide to start the business with lean expenses or bringing in a large team and spending more money.

We’ve outlined two common scenarios for “pre-opening” costs of starting a weighted blankets brand and outline the costs you should expect for each:

• The estimated minimum starting cost = $12
• The estimated maximum starting cost = $27,209

Startup Expenses: Average expenses incurred when starting a weighted blankets brand.	Min Startup Costs: You plan to execute on your own. You’re able to work from home with minimal costs.	Max Startup Costs: You have started with 1+ other team members.
Office Space Expenses
Rent: This refers to the office space you use for your business and give money to the landlord. To minimize costs, you may want to consider starting your business from home or renting an office in a coworking space.	$0	$5,750
Utility Costs For Office Space: Utility costs are the expense for all the services you use in your office, including electricity, gas, fuels, telephone, water, sewerage, etc.	$0	$1,150
WiFi & Internet: Whether you work from home or in an office space, WiFi is essential. Although the cost is minimal in most cases, it should be appropriately budgeted for each month!	$0	$100
Total Office Space Expenses	$0 (min)	$7,000 (max)
Inventory Expenses
Upfront Costs For Inventory: This includes all upfront inventory you will need in order to launch. Be sure to compare prices of wholesalers to ensure you're getting the best deal and margins remain high.	$300	$5,000
Inventory Storage: If you decide to have a physical space for your weighted blankets brand, whether it be used for inventory or as a showroom, you may have monthly rent payment or a large down payment associated with renting/buying the space.	$0	$5,000
Package Design: Packaging refers to wrapping and protecting products during distribution, shipping, and sales.Your package design is your customer's first impression of your brand, so it's important you spend some time and energy to get this right from the start.Many businesses design their own packages using design software and tools. There is always the option to outsource this to a design expert, but that route tends to be much more expensive.	$50	$3,000
Shrinkage: Shrinkage refers to the loss of inventory at any point between the purchase from your supplier and the purchase by your customer. Although you will try to avoid this at all costs, this does happen sometimes (especially in the learning stages of your business), and it's important to plan ahead financially in case this happens. Fortune states that retail shrinkage costs U.S. retailers approximately 1.4 percent of their total sales.	$0	$1,000
Distribution costs: Depending on what distribution plan you choose, expenses such as renting vans, hiring delivery drivers and gas costs can add up. If you are looking to save money upfront, you may want to consider conducting distribution on your own.	$0	$750
Total Inventory Expenses	$350 (min)	$14,750 (max)
Software Expenses
Design Programs & Software: These programs might include the Adobe family of design tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and others. This is typically a monthly subscription ranging from $10-$50/mo.	$0	$50
Email marketing tool: If you plan to grow your email list and email marketing efforts, you may want to consider investing in an email marketing platform (ie. Klaviyo, MailChimp). We put together a detailed guide on all of the email marketing tools out there + the pricing models for each one here.	$0	$100
IT Support: IT support installs and configures hardware and software and solves any technical issues that may arise.IT support can be used internally or for your customers experiencing issues with your product/service.There are a variety of tools and software you can use to help with any technical issues you or your customers are experiencing. This is a great option for businesses that do not have the means to hire a team of professionals.	$150	$2,000
Accounting & Invoicing Software: It's important to have an accounting system and process in place to manage financials, reporting, planning and tax preparation. Here are the 30 best accounting tools for small businesses.	$0	$50
Project Management Software: You may want to consider using a project management and collaboration tool to organize your day-to-day. This can also be very beneficial if you have a larger team and want to keep track of everyones tasks and productivity. For a full list of project management tools, check out this full list here.	$0	$25
Internal Communication Tool: If you plan to have multiple members on your team, you may want to consider an instant message tool such as Slack or Telegram. The cost is usually billed per month (approx $5/user/month) or there are freemium versions available on many platforms.	$0	$20
Social Media Management Tools: If you plan to do social media marketing for your weighted blankets brand, you should consider investing in a social media automation or publishing tool. This will save you time and allow you to track performance and engagement for your posts. Here is a list of 28 best social media tools for your small business.	$0	$50
Payroll Software: The main purpose of payroll software is to help you pay your team and track each of those payments (so that you don't have to do it manually). If you do not have any employees or have a very small team, payroll software may not be necessary at this stage. Here are the 11 best payroll tools for small businesses!	$0	$200
File Hosting Service: It's important to make sure the information for your weighted blankets brand is stored and protected should something happen to your computer or hard drive. The cost for this is affordable and depends on how much data you need to store. To learn more about the different options and pricing on the market, check out this article.	$0	$299
Total Software Expenses	$150 (min)	$2,794 (max)
Website Costs
Domain Name: Your domain name is the URL and name of your website - this is how internet users find you and your website.Domain names are extremely important and should match your company name and brand. This makes it easier for customers to remember you and return to your website.	$12	$200
Business Email Hosting Service: An email hosting runs a dedicated email server. Once you have your domain name, you can set up email accounts for each user on your team. The most common email hosts are G Suite and Microsoft 365 Suite. The number of email accounts you set up will determine the monthly cost breakdown.	$1	$15
Total Website Costs	$13 (min)	$215 (max)
Advertising & Marketing Costs
Customer Research & Surveys: Many weighted blankets brand's conduct industry and consumer research prior to starting their business. Often times, you need to pay for this data or hire a market research firm to help you in this process.	$0	$300
Affiliate Marketing Commission & Fees: If you want to increase revenue for your weighted blankets brand, affiliate marketing is a great way to promote your product to a new audience. When determining affiliate commission rates you will offer, you will want to take into account the price and margin for your product to ensure affiliate marketing is worth it for your business. According to Monitor Backlinks, the average affiliate commission rate should be somewhere between 5% to 30%. To learn more about how to set commission rates, check out this article..	$0	$250
Influencer Marketing: Partnering with like-minded influencers is one of the most effective ways to grow your social media presence. Many small businesses simply gift a free item in exchange for an influencer post, or pay the influencer directly.	$0	$750
Press: If your business and story is unique enough, press and media attention may come to you, but odds are, you may need to do your own outreach and budget for this. We put together a guide here that discusses different press opportunities (both free and paid).	$0	$500
Google Ads: With Google Ads you have the ability to control how much you spend by simply setting a monthly budget cap. Additionally, with these ads you only pay for results, such as clicks to your website or phone calls! It's okay to start with a small budget at first and make changes accordingly if you see valuable returns.	$0	$300
Facebook & Instagram Ads: With Facebook and Instagram ads, you set your budget and pay for the actions you want (whether that be impressions, conversions, etc).You can learn more about pricing based on your impressions here.	$0	$350
Total Advertising & Marketing Costs	$0 (min)	$2,450 (max)
Total Starting Costs	$12 (min)	$27,209 (max)

Raising Money

Since the startup costs to start weighted blankets brand range between $12 - $27,209, there are ways you can raise money to cover these costs.

Here are a few ways you can secure additional funding:

• Launch your product on Kickstarter
• Raise capital by asking friends and family
• Apply for a loan
• Find an investor!

Setting Up Your Weighted Blankets Brand (Formation and Legal)

When it comes to setting up your business, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some financial and legal decisions.

The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether you want to be an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp.

These three options are found to be the most common when starting a small business, and all serve to protect your personal assets and also provide you with certain tax benefits.

• LLC: All income and expenses from the business are reported on the LLC personal income tax return.
• S corp: Owners pay themselves salaries + receive dividends from profits.
• C Corp: C Corps are separately taxable entities that file a corporate tax return (Form 1120). No income tax is paid at the corporate level and any tax due is paid at the owners individual expense.

Depending on where you're conducting business, you'll also want to consider securing the proper permits, licenses and liability insurance.

Learn more about securing the right permits and licenses ➜

Need to start an LLC? Create an LLC in minutes with ZenBusiness.

Determine Which Business Bank Account You Need

There are hundreds of banks out there, and it can be overwhelming to find one that's right for your business.

Here are some factors you may want to consider:

• Location - Is your bank close enough that you can easily make deposits or get cash?
• Low Fees - Make sure to understand any and all fees associated with setting up and maintaining your bank account. Ask for a list - banks usually try to keep this hidden and in the fine print.
• Online Banking Services - Make sure you can easily navigate through your online portal and you have easy access to everything you need.
• Line of Credit - What do your options look like (even if you don't need this now, you may need this down the road).
• Every bank has something that differentiates them from the rest, so make sure whatever that is applied to your needs and values.

Check out this list of the 13 Best Banks for Small Business in 2020 and what makes them so unique.

Write a Business Plan

Writing a business plan from the start is critical for the success of your weighted blankets brand.

Why?

Because this allows you to roadmap exactly what you do, what your overall structure will look like, and where you want to be in the future.

For many entrepreneurs, writing out the business plan helps validate their idea and decide whether or not they should move forward with starting the business.

You may want to consider expanding upon these sections in your business plan:

• Executive Summary: Brief outline of your product, the market, and growth opportunities
• Overviews and Objectives: Overview of your business, target customers, and what you need to run your business
• Products and Services: Specifics on the products and services your business will provide
• Market Opportunities: Analysis of customer demographics, buyer habits and if your product is in demand
• Marketing: Outline of your marketing plan and how you plan to differentiate yourself from other customers
• Competitive analysis: Analysis of your competition and the strengths and weaknesses therein
• Operations: Hierarchal structure of the company and what it will take to run the business on the day-to-day
• Leadership Team: Detailing roles and responsibilities of each manager based on their specific skill-set
• Financial Analysis Understanding of all expenses, operating budgets, and projections for the future.

Learn more about how to write a business plan here

How To Find A Supplier For Your Weighted Blankets Brand

Here are the steps to consider when finding a supplier/manufacturer:

Know your design

One very critical step to finding the right supplier is having an initial idea of what your design/product will look like.

Sketching is one of the most simple ways to get started in the design phase.

What's great about sketching is that you can practically do this anytime, anywhere - even on the back of a napkin.

To get started, all you need to do is pick up a pen and paper and start drawing - or if you are working on a virtual/software product this can be a diagram that outlines the user interface or experience.

Decide your supplier type

You'll want to identify the type of supplier you are looking for.

Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself prior to searching for a supplier

• Are you looking for a manufacturer to produce your product idea?
• Do you want to find a supplier that can simply purchase existing products for you?
• Do you want a drop-shipper to supply and fulfill orders?
• Do you want a domestic supplier or an overseas supplier? Read more about the pros and cons of each here

Where to start your search

Once you have an understanding of what type of manufacturer/supplier will be best to bring your idea to life, there are several areas you can start your search:

Domestic Suppliers

• Makers Row
• Kompass
• Thomas Net

Overseas Suppliers

• Alibaba
• IndiaMart
• Oberlo
• AliExpress

Design A Prototype

Turning your idea into a reality can feel like a daunting task - but it's critical that you have an idea of what your product will look like (even if it's just a sketch) prior to finding a manufacturer.

Here are some common ways you can design your prototype:

• Draw Your Initial Design on Paper
• Form pieces of fabric together
• Consider Taking A Generic Product And Putting Your Own Brand On It
• Try Making the Product Yourself
• Consider Building A Prototype With A 3D Printer

To learn more about how to design and prototype a product, check out our latest guide here.

Robin, founder of Luna Wellness dives deep into the process of designing and prototyping their product:

Purchasing Inventory For Your Weighted Blankets Brand

When first starting out, it's important to start small with your overhead to get a gauge for what people want.

Just remember - if you order a line of items that don't sell, it's nearly impossible to recoup the money lost.

Buying the right inventory takes research and planning in order to get it right.

1. Identify your target audience: Identify the age, gender, annual income that you will be selling to. This is a defining factor in ordering the right inventory that will sell.
2. Research your competition: Conduct market research and identify the different types of styles, price points, and materials being used. This will help you see what's trending and ways that you can improve/stay ahead of the competition.
3. Create an inventory wishlist: Identify what you need for the launch of your business and create a budget that you will stay within. Remember, it's okay to start small.
4. Find a supplier Make sure to first compare prices and analyze different options.
5. Delivery timing: Schedule the inventory delivery to match with seasonality and trending buying seasons

Pro-tip: It's easy to become biased based on your own fashion preferences on what types of shoes/apparel to purchase. This is where a lot of fashion businesses go wrong. It's important to base purchase decisions on current buyer behavior, trends in the market, and specific to your niche.

How To Price Your Blankets

One of the most challenging aspects to starting a weighted blankets brand is determining how much to charge for your blankets.

When businesses under-price their product, this can be extremely detrimental to their bottom line and reputation.

Often times, businesses under-price their products to drive demand and volume, but that last thing you want is for customers to view your product/service as "cheap." Additionally, this can have a big impact on the type of customer you attract, which can be difficult to recover from.

On the other hand, when businesses over-price, this tends to be just as damaging to the business.

When customers buy, it's likely that they will explore the internet and look at other competitors to ensure they're getting the best value + deal. This is why it's so important that you research your competition and understand where you land in the marketplace.

Here are some factors to consider when pricing your product:

Understand your customer

It's important that out of the gates, you identify the type of customer you want to attract and how much they're willing to pay for your service. One great way to do this is by surveying your customers. Here are some important items you'll want to takeaway:

• Customer demographic: Age, gender, location, etc.
• Buying habits of your customer: What they buy + when they buy
• Level of price sensitivity with your customer

All of these segments will help you identify the type of customer you're attracting and how to price your product accordingly.

Understand your costs

When pricing your blankets, it's critical that you first identify all of your costs and consequently mark up your blankets so you can factor in a profit.

The actual cost of your blankets may include things like:

• The actual cost to make the product (ie. raw materials, supplies, manufacturer).
• Shipping + overhead fees
• Rent
• Operating costs to run your business

You may want to consider creating a spreadsheet with every single expense involved in operating/owning your business. This will give you an idea as to what you need to generate in order to at the very least, break-even and will help you price your products to factor in a profit.

Create revenue goals

When determining the price of your blankets, you'll want to create goals for revenue + how much profit you want your weighted blankets brand to make.

This process is simpler than you may think:

1. Think about your breakeven cost (by completing the above step).
2. Create a revenue goal based on your break-even cost
3. Evaluate the # of items you plan to sell in a given period (make sure this is a realistic number)
4. Divide your revenue goal by the number of items you plan to sell

This figure will help determine your estimated price per product in order to meet your revenue goals.

Evaluate your competition

The last piece in determining how to price your blankets is by simply looking at your competition.

The best way to do this is by finding like-minded businesses that offer product(s) with similar perceived value. Then, you can compare prices of the different businesses and determine where your blankets fits best in the marketplace.

All of these factors play an equal part in pricing your blankets, so it's important you evaluate each one individually to come up with an accurate price that will help optimize your business from the start.

Revenue Expectations

We've interviewed several different founders in the weighted blankets brand and asked them how much $ they're making today.

Luna Wellness

• $3M/year in revenue
• Sells weighted blanket
• 2 founders
• 2 employees

Baloo Living

• $4.99M/year in revenue
• Sells luxury weighted blankets
• Solo founder
• 5 employees

Remy Sleep

• $600K/year in revenue
• Sells weighted blankets
• 2 founders
• 4 employees

Lotus

• $252/year in revenue
• Sells mac app for managing github notifications
• Solo founder
• 0 employees

🚀 How To Launch Your Weighted Blankets Brand

Marketplaces

There are various different marketplaces that you can effectively sell and promote your weighted blankets brand, whether that's local or online!

Here are some of the most common ones:

• Your own website! Shopify is known to be the best for e-commerce stores
• Local places! Gift shops, farmers markets, festivals, grocery stores etc
• Etsy - E-commerce website for craft supplies
• Craft is Art Marketplace to buy and sell handmade crafts & fine art
• Aftcra Online marketplace where you can buy and sell handmade products
• Storenvy Marketplace for authentic brands
• Amazon

Consider Selling On Amazon

In addition to selling your products directly on your site, you may want to consider selling on Amazon to reach a wider audience and attract new customers.

Here are some pros and cons of selling on amazon:

Pros

• Easy and seamless process to get your product listed on Amazon
• There are roughly 100 million thoroughly committed prime customers, so you're bound to tap into new business
• Can help grow your business exponentially and reach new audiences

Cons

• You may encounter some "copycats" and counterfeit products
• Amazon owns the relationship with the customer (you lose control over product reviews + customer service)
• If you already have a low-markup, amazon may not wrth your while and you could end up losing money
• Commissions and listing fees are high - it's easy to lose control of your offering

Follow these instructions to get your product listed on Amazon or check out the video below on how to get started:

Etsy Tips From Founders

Etsy is one of the most common marketplaces for this business type, however, there are some tips and tricks from other founders you'll want to consider prior to listing:

Launch Strategies For Your Weighted Blankets Brand

There are various different ways you can launch your weighted blankets brand successfully.

Here are a few different strategies to get customers excited about your weighted blankets brand.

• Build hype with a landing page: you can effectively do this through waiting lists, discounts, countdown timer etc
• Create a teaser video: even just a 30 second video is a great way to exposure for your weighted blankets brand, and possibly even go viral
• Reach out to influencers: The right influencer for your product has the ability to reach your audience with just one post, and because of their loyal following, this could lead to a big return for you.
• Get Press: Whether you plan a PR stunt or get exposure through a popular news outlet, this is a great way to attract initial customers
• Launch on popular sites: A great way to get buzz about your weighted blankets brand is to submit your launch to popular startup sites.

Here are a few popular sites to launch on:

• Reddit
• ProductHunt
• Quora
• Hacker News

Learn more about how to launch your business successfully ➜ here

Robin, founder of Luna Wellness dives deep into the process of launching the business:

Make Sure You Get The Package Design Right

The way you package your weighted blankets brand is often the first impression your customer has - so it's important to get it right.

You may want to ask yourself these questions:

If my product is on a shelf next to hundreds of other similar products:

• Will my weighted blankets brand stand out?
• Will the branding/packaging create a connection with my customer, and hence, lead them to buy?

There are hundreds of tools you can use to help with packaging and design:

• Canva - Allows non-designers to create beautiful Instagram/Pinterest posts, flyers, business cards, etc.
• Stickermule - High quality custom stickers you can include on or in your packaging.
• Noissue - Custom tissue paper and compostable mailers
• Rollo Label Printer - A great tool to print all shipping labels at home

Sheets & Giggles explains the motive behind their "Premium Unboxing Experience"

Build A Website

Building a website is imperative when launching your business, and with the right tools in place, this can be a simple task to check off the list (without having to hire someone).

1. Pick a domain name that's easy to remember and easy to type
2. Choose a Web Hosting Plan (ie. Shopify, Squarespace)
3. Make sure you choose the right theme and design
4. Implement the proper page structure (ie. about page, contact page, pricing etc)

To learn more about how to build a stellar website with little stress, we give you all the details on this step-by-step guide.

Web Design

Once you have chosen the domain, web hosting, and platform, it's time to get started with the design phase.

Themes are a great way to produce the fundamental style and identity of your website - this includes everything from your font design to your blog post styles.

One of the best ways to get started is to simply explore the various themes (free or paid depending on what you're looking for) and test them on your site.

If web-design really isn't in the cards for you, you may want to consider outsourcing a web designer to help bring your vision and brand to life.

🌱 How To Grow Your Weighted Blankets Brand

Grow Your Email List

The more engaged list of emails, the more engaged customers, which ultimately leads to more sales.

One of the best ways to start growing your list is by providing your customer with something free (or discounted) in return.

This could also be anything from:

• Ebook
• Fascinating case study
• Video series
• Free week of the product
• Discount on the product

Learn more about how to grow your email list and improve email marketing ➜ here.

Improve Your Email Marketing

Different types of emails

Here are the most common types of email campaigns you can send to your customers and their benefits:

• Welcome emails - the perfect way to provide information from the start with a clear CTA. Make sure to tell your customer everything they need to know about your product or service.
• Newsletters - a great way to give customers updates or send out your latest content
• Product launch emails - the quickest (and easiest) way to increase sales is by selling to current customers. Make sure they're the first on the list to know about your new product
• Promotional emails - promote discounts, deals coupons etc. Try and make this feel exclusive and for a limited time only
• Abandoned cart emails - give your customers a reason to complete their purchase!

Here's a great resource for finding curated email designs, for all types of email campaigns!

Social Media Advertising

Social Media Advertising is one of the leading ways to get the word out when it comes to weighted blankets brand.

There are various different Social Media platforms available to you. Some may be more critical for your marketing efforts than others, however, it's important to have an understanding of what's out there and available to you.

Let's talk about a few of the main platforms and what makes them unique:

• Facebook Advertising - more than 2 billion monthly users. Facebook is the best for lead generation + capturing email addresses for e-commerce businesses.
• Instagram Advertising - approximately 500 million monthly users and has a higher audience engagement rate than any other platform. Instagram ads are best for linking to a product page or landing page and reaches the 18-29 age group most effectively.
• Twitter Advertising- Small businesses typically use twitter ads to drive brand awareness, but the platform is meant more for organic engagement (and is not as heavily used for paid advertising)
• Pinterest Advertising - 175 million monthly users and most effectively reaches the female audience. Pinterest is great for promoting products without "promoted". The promoted pins have a way of blending right in.
• LinkedIn Advertising - 227 million monthly users and is geared towards the B2B market and generates the highest quality leads. Great platform for recruiters, high-end products and services that will help businesses

It's important to first define your goal/objective so that you don't waste time and money into the wrong platform:

Here are some different questions to ask yourself as it relates to your goals:

• Do I want to simply drive brand awareness?
• Do I want to drive users to my website to gather information?
• Do I want to increase sales and get my customer to take action?

From there, choose the platform that targets your audience best and start experimenting!

Learn more about social media advertising ➜ here.

Consider Working With Instagram Influencers

Partnering with like-minded influencers (within your industry) is one of the most effective ways to grow your social media organically.

Industry influencers already have an established and loyal following. With one post, your product immediately establishes a connection with a brand new audience. It's that powerful.

When finding influencers to promote your product, do your research and make sure that their following will actually be interested in your product.

It's easy to be blinded by any influencer with a huge following, but if those followers don't resonate with your product, there may not be any value there... so make sure you do your research!

Build A Blog

One of the most effective ways to build brand awareness and grow your business is through consistently blogging.

We've outlined some useful tips for you to consider when creating content:

Consistency and Quantity

Quality is important, but it should be the standard for any content you publish.

What’s more important is consistency and quantity.

Consistency is as simple as committing to publishing and sharing a certain number of posts per week. For me, that’s three per week right now.

This kind of commitment is key, because one day, a random post will blow up, and you will have never expected it.

Oversaturation

The easiest mind trap is to think "I’m posting too much", and “I need to give my readers/audience/this platform a break”.

This is nonsense.

There is no such thing as oversaturation. Well, there is, but it is just someone else’s opinion.

For every person that tells you you are posting too much, there is another person that wants even more of your content.

You should ignore people’s opinions on how much you post.

Patience & Persistence

Keep posting, keep trying, and keep putting out good content on the regular. Your time will come, and when it does, it will change everything.

The only thing you have control over is your content.

You can’t control how people will react to it. You can’t control pageviews, likes, or shares.

So the only metric you should focus on is how much content you can put out in a week, month, etc.

Where to share your blog content

Mailing List

I know it sounds obvious, but the best places to share your content is on your mailing list. It is guaranteed traffic and it is a great way to get rapid feedback from your most loyal readers.

Send newsletters often. I have done once a week since starting, and I’m moving to twice a week soon.

Work on increasing your mailing list as well. Look into ways to increase your conversion rate to your mailing list. I added a flyout popup thing to my site and now I’m collecting ~30 emails per day.

An email newsletter is one of the most powerful assets you can have and it is worth its weight in gold.

Reddit

Reddit is one of my favorite places to promote content.

It is a very scary place because you will often get banned or heckled, but it can really pay off.

Create social media accounts for your blog, the main ones I use:

Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Set up Buffer and share all of your blog posts to all of your accounts. All of these little shares really do add up.

Automate this as much as possible. I automated all of my social media for Starter Story.

Facebook Groups

When I started out, I put together a spreadsheet of relevant Facebook groups for my niche, and I would post to these groups whenever I had a big story I wanted to share.

Improve your SEO

SEO is not just about driving traffic to your site, it's about driving the RIGHT traffic to your site, and ultimately, converting leads into customers.

One of the most important aspects of SEO is understanding what your customers are searching for, otherwise known as "keyword research."

Here are some tools that can help you choose the right keywords for your weighted blankets brand.

• Google Ads Keyword Planner invaluable for discovering search trends.
• Google Search Console is very helpful once your website is up as it shows you what words/phrases are generating traffic.
• Ahrefs and SEMRush are paid tools that allow you to look at results of your competitor's website.

Publish Great Content

Finding keywords is an important piece of the puzzle, but Google also ranks your site based on the actual content you produce, as this is what your customers are reading and engaging with.

There are various different "forms" of content that you may want to consider diversifying on your sites, such as blog posts, articles, studies, and videos.

So let's discuss what google considers "good content:"

• Length - This will vary depending on the page, however, generally having a sufficient amount of content helps search engines recognize that your site is a good source for a specific topic
• Engagement - The longer people stay on your website to read your content, the higher Google will rank your website. It's important to have informative and "thick" content that keeps people reading
• Avoid Duplicating Content - Google will recognize this and may consider your content to have low value
• Ensure pages load quickly - This will also help with engagement and time spent on your website
• Shareability - Create content that people want to share, and is easy for them to share, especially to their social media accounts (ie. "click to tweet" is a great example of this).

Another element of creating good content is creating consistent content.

If (and hopefully you are) publishing content frequently, it's important to stick to a schedule - this helps build brand trust and easy user experience with your customers.

Planning out your content with a content calendar is key to staying consistent.

Here are a few great content calendar tools that can help you:

• Trello
• Airtable
• If you prefer to keep it simple, your average spreadsheet is just as useful!

Backlinks

Backlinks are an important piece to SEO, as they allow for other websites to link to your content.

Search engines recognize that other sites are essentially "verifying" your content and essentially rank you higher because of this.

Of course, some links are more valuable than others and can affect your site in different ways.

For example, if a highly valuable and credible site like the New York Times links to a page on your website, this could be remarkable from an SEO perspective.

Aside from organically getting mentioned from other sites, there are other ways that you can increase and earn backlinks:

• Create infographics with relevant data that people want to share
• Promote your content on different sites/look into "guest blogging"
• Contact influencers/journalists/bloggers and ask them to mention you!
• Write testimonials for other sites in exchange for a backlink
• Leverage existing business relationships

Learn more about the fundamentals of SEO ➜ here and check out Neil Patel's 3 Powerful SEO Tips below

🏃🏼‍♀️ How To Run Your Weighted Blankets Brand

How To Retain Customers For Your Weighted Blankets Brand

Retaining customers is one of the most effective ways to grow your weighted blankets brand.

Oftentimes, it's easy to find yourself focusing on generating new customers, vs retaining your current ones.

Look at it this way - you are 60-70% more likely to sell a new product to an existing customer than you are a new customer.

That's not to say that finding new customers and revenue streams is not important, however, the easiest (and most inexpensive) source of new revenue is right there in front of you.

Here are some ways you can retain customers for your weighted blankets brand:

• Responding to comments on social media
• Send discounts (or freebies) to loyal customers
• Provide valuable content, for free
• Write a hand written thank you note
• Provide awesome customer service and build relationships with customers

To find out more tips and tricks on retaining customers, check out this article ➜ here

Abeer Iqbal, founder of Remy Sleep dives deep into the process of attracting and retaining customers:

Word of Mouth

The most tried and true way to grow a weighted blankets brand is through word of mouth - some entrepreneurs would say it's more important than all social media.

Why you should focus on word of mouth:

• Consumers trust word of mouth above all other forms of marketing
• 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising
• 64% of marketing executives indicated that they believe it is the most effective form of marketing

Learn more about word of mouth in our guide: 30 Ways Founders Grow Their Business ➜

Authenticity

As a brand, you want to deliver an experience that authentic, honest and transparent.

Don't make the mistake of giving your audience less credit than they deserve.

Diversify Your Product Line

Adding new products to your business is a great way to expand into new markets and grow your business.

It's important to note that adding new products and diversifying may not be in the cards for you right this moment, and that's okay. You can always consider it down the road.

Here are some reasons you may want to considering adding/diversifying your product

• Meeting the needs of your customers
• Establish yourself as a top provider in your industry and stay ahead of the game with competition
• Resistance to downturns/trends fading
• Create new revenue streams

Resources

We put together the best resources on the internet to help you start your weighted blankets brand.

Tools

• Platform tools such as Shopify, Amazon, Custom Built, React or Node.js
• Email tools such as Klaviyo or Mailjet
• Social media tools such as Instagram or Twitter
• Productivity tools such as Slack or Airtable
• Payments tools such as Shopify Payments, TransferWise or Paddle
• Customer service tools such as Zendesk
• Reviews tools such as Trustpilot
• Shipping tools such as FedEx
• Freelance tools such as FreeeUp
• Sales tools such as Hermes BorderGuru
• Financing tools such as Brex
• Analytics tools such as Plausible Analytics

Books

• The Complete Weighted Blanket Handbook: Simple & Practical

• The Complete Weighted Blanket Handbook: Everything You Need To Know

• Shoe Dog

• Power vs. Force

• Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One

Web Resources

• The Best Weighted Blankets - Usa Today
• 5 Best Cooling Weighted Blankets For Hot Sleepers 2020

Videos

• Best Weighted Blankets 2020 - Our Top 5 Picks!
• How Many Weighted Blankets Until I Can't Get Up?

Case Studies

• How I Started A $100K/Month Business Selling Weighted Blankets From Bali
• How We Grew Our Weighted Blanket Product To $250K/Month
• How We Started A $50K/Month Weighted Blankets Business
• My journey developing a Mac app for managing GitHub notifications

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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
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• 8,628 business ideas
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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
• Live events, courses and recordings
• 8,628 business ideas
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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
• Live events, courses and recordings
• 8,628 business ideas
• $1M in software savings

Join Starter Story

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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
• Live events, courses and recordings
• 8,628 business ideas
• $1M in software savings

Join Starter Story

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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
• Live events, courses and recordings
• 8,628 business ideas
• $1M in software savings

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