Paul Lindley is the founder of Ella’s Kitchen. Though he has no traditional marketing experience, Ella’s Kitchen has an annual turnover of over 100 million pounds ($190M AUD) making it the UK’s best-selling baby food brand. Following the success of Ella’s Kicthen, Lindley is about to launch a toiletries brand for toddlers ‘Paddys Bathroom’.
Here are six marketing lessons from the growth of the Ella’s Kitchen brand.
1 .Build a brand on value
Values allow you to have a clear message and provide consistency in everything from recruitment to marketing.
2. Great brands grow from the inside out
“Your brand is the way you live as a business not just how you communicate,” says Lindley. The Ella’s Kitchen brand is built on the true story that Lindley’s daughter Ella was a fussy eater and the recipes were made for her.
3. Be consumer obsessed
Lindley explains the company did not have a budget for data so they had to learn to understand mums from a human perspective. He also notes the brand’s unconventional view of reaching its intended target audience; “Learn to think like a toddler, they are the most creative, they are honest and most of all they have fun.”
4. Actively find something to stand for
When it comes to consumers’ purchasing habits Lindley believes ethics are as much of a selling point as brand or price: “Good business makes for a better world but also makes better sense”
5. Never stand still
Lindley sold the Ella’s Kitchen brand in 2013 to US food company Hain Celestial and continues to expand the brand. With the launch of Paddy’s bathroom he seeks to break into the toddler toiletries market and take on market leaders Jonhson & Johnson and L’Oreal.
6. You are never too small to make a difference
It is easy for marketers to feel they cannot make a difference especially with tough competition, decreasing budgets etc. In response to this Lindley quotes the late Anita Roddick who professed; “If you think you are too small to have an impact try going to bed with a mosquito.”
As part of the Australian launch, Ella’s Kitchen also took part in the Kids Business Bloggers BBQTM in 2012
This article was originally published as “Kitchen table to £100m brand: six marketing lessons from Ella’s Kitchen”. Read the original here