Building Brands That People Love With Demetri Karagas
Demetri Karagas, Co-Founder at Keeps, joined us for an insightful conversation on finding product/market fit, going direct-to-consumer, brand strategy, and scaling his startup.
Here are some of the most important insights that we were able to take away from our conversation with Demetri:
Create a brand strategy. In recent years, we’ve seen a burst of startups, especially in the direct-to-consumer space, that have used amazing branding to create successful companies. Warby Parker, Casper, Harry’s, just to name a few. But, behind these successful companies and their relatable brands, is a well-defined brand strategy. For Keeps, having a brand strategy, early on, was essential in creating a brand that would resonate and be approachable to the average guy. After all, hair loss isn’t the sexiest conversation for consumers. Demetri explained that brand strategy, in its simplest form, is the personality of your product. During the early days at Keeps, they found 4 adjectives that related to the personality of the brand that they wanted to create. They didn’t even have a brand name at this point. This foundation was important because they could always refer back to the 4 words to make key decisions on the colors, fonts, and photos, that would fit with their brand. In essence, your brand strategy is your first step towards creating a brand that people love.
Create an experience around your brand. On one hand, Keeps is selling a commodity—the hair loss drugs (Minoxidil and Finasteride) which can be found at your local pharmacy. But on the other hand, it’s also selling the Keeps experience, which can’t be found elsewhere. Keeps provides a full-service experience that focuses on solving many paint points for men who struggle with hair loss. They sell hair loss prevention medications direct-to-consumer through a subscription-based model, which makes the treatment more accessible, affordable, and simple for consumers. They also solve the issue of misinformation around hair loss, by offering digital access to a network of doctors who can actually help consumers with their diagnosis and treatment options. Keeps also provides top-notch customer service. These are all aspects of a value-proposition that go beyond the product or service that you are selling. As Demetri said, “Brand can help bring people in, and is something that people can rally around, but at the end of the day, brand alone won’t always create consumer retention.” However, an amazing brand + a great experience may do the trick.
Lesson Learned: TV is not dead. How is Keeps growing 50% month over month? TV ads. No, seriously, Keeps is one of the few direct-to-consumer startups to use TV ads as a marketing channel. (Check them out here). Demetri told us that “as your company scales, you always want channel diversification. You never want to be over-reliant on a particular channel, specifically Facebook ads, because Facebook is pretty volatile and you don’t have that much insight into why things are/aren’t working.” Interestingly enough, TV ads also have a halo effect. When people see your products on TV, they usually assume that your brand is bigger than it actually is, which can translate to a greater brand presence in other areas, such as Facebook.
Demetri Karagas is the Co-Founder of Keeps, a consumer-friendly brand focused exclusively on helping men keep their hair. The full-service healthcare company sells men’s hair loss prevention medications direct-to-consumer through a subscription-based model, while also providing digital access to a network of doctors. Founded in 2017, Keeps is the first brand from Thirty Madison, which is rebuilding the healthcare experience for modern consumers, and has raised a total $22.8M in funding (completed $15M Series A this past October). Besides being an ex-Google employee, Demetri previously founded Get Maid, which was acquired by Homejoy in 2014.