Business owners and startups are often looking for ways to increase visibility, stand out, and get known. Social media marketing can level the playing field for small businesses working to get known online—even on a tight budget. However, gaining recognition and visibility is still a steep hill to climb for many small businesses.
Here’s a from-the-trenches success story of how a small, startup organic skin care company named Four Truffles won an award for its “Do Good” work. Four Truffles and its founder, Ana Soriano, were recognized along with three others with the “Do Good” award from Ladies Home Journal.
Full disclosure, I’ve been working with Ana Soriano and Four Truffles for several months.
Small is the New Big
Take note small business owners! Size is not a barrier when it comes to winning recognition for your products and good works.
In addition to Four Truffles, three other companies received the LHJ Do Good Award: Lands End, Avon Products, Inc., and HERSHEY’S. Three established companies with large staffs. FourTruffles is a young startup with a tiny staff, but a big vision for giving back to the community and the LHJ editors recognized their work!
Small Company, Big Commitment
Ana Soriano founded Four Truffles a year ago with two key goals as her mission:
1) Expand her philanthropic work of empowering women
2) Develop eco-friendly skin care products that meet high performance targets
Before launching Four Truffles, Ana traveled to several countries researching eco-friendly ingredient sources. Four Truffles makes organic skin care products using sustainable ingredients that also give back to the communities where they originate.
Giving Back from Day One
From the beginning Four Truffles has donated 10 percent of all profits to its charities. Also the company sources all ingredients and most packaging from global communities where women are the primary workers.
Extending the volunteer work she does in her Southern California home community, Ana made it her mission to develop Four Truffles in way that helps to empower women globally. She found the Women Cooperatives in Morocco to source the Ecocert certified Argan Oil used in the company’s body butters, body smoothers, body wash, and other luscious products.
The Women Cooperatives are the caretakers of the endangered Moroccan forests where the Argan trees grow. The Cooperatives provide a structure for the local women to support their families in a sustainable way. You can read more about Four Truffles’ sustainable sourcing here.
Get Social to Get Known
The Four Truffles team makes the time to participate in social media. Not always an easy task for a small team growing a new brand. They post as often as they can on the Four Truffles Blog. They are active on Facebook, Twitter and ImagineThis TV.
They collaborate with their online partners like, BeautyFix to create fun giveaways.
In fact, the ImagineThis website is where Four Truffles learned about the Do Good Awards opportunity! They took the time to prepare the application, reach out to the charities they support to request recommendations, and prepared a thoughtful post-interview follow up to the LHJ editors. The process was a big investment of time. But it certainly paid off!
Branding Opportunities
As a winner of the LHJ Do Good Award, Four Truffles can use the Do Good Award logo for two years on their website and packaging. They will be featured along with Avon, HERSHEY’S and Lands End, in the July 2010 issue of Ladies Home Journal.
Self Nominate!
What can your small company do? Keep your eyes open for recognition opportunities such as the LHJ Do Good Award. When you find them, invest the time to apply. If giving back to the community is part of your mission, make sure others know about it.
Have your own Big Image/Giving Back success story? Post it in the comments below.
These are the nonprofits that FourTruffles supports:
[…] Trevino has been our advisor these past several months and in her blog Small Company, Big Image, she wrote a blog about how we’re building our brand and our commitment to empowering […]