Ep 608: She Hit 100K Customers Without Running a Single Ad | Roo & You

About this episode

Helen Smith discusses how she grew Roo & You to over 100,000 customers without paid ads by leveraging community and strategic partnerships.

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Get your tickets to The Whalies: triplewhale.com/whalies?i=dtc&utm_source=dtc-newsletter&utm_medium=inf&utm_campaign=mkt-whaliesdtc-affiliate-426&utm_content=dtc Helen Smith built Roo & You from hand-sewn mask lanyards in 2020 into a 100,000+ customer brand, and didn't touch paid ads for the first 3.5 years. In this episode she walks through the Facebook community that became her growth engine, how she landed Warner Bros and Harry Potter as a licensing partner without a media buyer, and what scaling through a tariff war actually looks like behind the scenes. For DTC founders scaling from $1M to $10M who want to lower CAC and build a real retention moat. What we cover: The mask lanyard side hustle that funded her first container of play couches How a private Facebook group became Roo & You's primary growth engine The one-strike kindness rule that keeps the community alive Cold-DMing Warner Bros on LinkedIn (and getting a yes) Why licensing is a marketing channel, not a revenue play Adding tariffs as a line item instead of a stealth price hike Launching an affiliate program in November for existing…

People in this episode

Guest: Helen Smith

Topics covered

• customer growth
• community building
• licensing partnerships
• retention strategies
• scaling business

Keywords

• customer acquisition
• Facebook community
• licensing
• tariffs
• affiliate program

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Warner Bros, Harry Potter, Roo & You, DTC Newsletter, Facebook, LinkedIn

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