Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tammy Nelson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tammy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
The idea for CONQUERing came from a personal experience and a desire to empower others. After the loss of my mom, I reflected on the many valuable gifts she gave me, including her unwavering belief that anything is possible. I realized that this confidence and belief is not common and many people feel restricted by their circumstances or lack the confidence to chase their dreams. That’s why we created CONQUERing – to help our customers keep their intentions at the forefront of their minds and empower them to conquer their day with purpose. The name ‘CONQUERing’ is a reflection of this goal, as we want our customers to feel empowered to conquer their day.
While there are many products with inspiring messages, like tote bags, t-shirts, posters, and mugs, they often go unnoticed because you don’t interact with them on a daily basis. Our interchangeable fidget jewelry is different. The wearer can change the message or crystal each day to reflect their needs and focus, so the empowering messages stay top of mind. This daily interaction helps them live with intention and guides their life in the direction they desire, making them feel empowered every day. Our jewelry is not only a fashionable accessory but also a tool to support their growth and well-being.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
About CONQUERing:
CONQUERing is a global jewelry brand on a mission to help people feel empowered with our interchangeable fidget jewelry. We’re driven to create products that help our customers feel calm, focused and inspired so they can live with intention to “conquer their day.” Featured in Fashion Magazine, on BuzzFeed and the fastest-growing jewelry brand in America (source: Inc. 5000), our products have been sold to customers in more than 60 countries.
CONQUERing is committed to inclusivity — we offer the largest size range of any major fashion jewelry brand, offer products for those with different abilities, bring awareness to sensitive topics and support marginalized groups. CONQUERing is a certified WBENC women-owned business based in Cincinnati, OH and we donate a portion of our profits to charitable organizations that share our passion for empowering others.
About me:
Tammy Nelson is the founder and CEO of CONQUERing, a global jewelry brand on a mission to help its customers feel empowered. Her company has grown into a multi-million dollar business in just a few short years and has been featured in BuzzFeed, Beauty News NYC & Fashion Magazine.
Nelson holds nine patents and three trademarks. She has been featured in Authority Magazine’s “Social Impact Heroes” Series. Through their CONQUERcares Program, her company donates a portion of its profits to organizations who share their passion for empowering others and, through its Make Waves Program, recognizes young changemakers who are creating waves of positive change in their communities.
Besides running her own business, she is currently the CMO of an insurance company and has served in similar roles at three Fortune 500 companies during her career. She was named Chief Marketing Officer of the Year and was selected for a Women in Insurance Leadership Award, which honors the most dynamic female leaders in the insurance industry.
She has a Master of Business Administration degree from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in advertising and economics from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.
In her free time, Tammy loves to spend time with her husband and three children. She especially enjoys boating, traveling and attending Broadway shows. She is even on the producing team for a Broadway-bound musical about – you guessed it – empowerment.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
In building our audience on social media, we recognized the importance of being present on all the major platforms where our potential customers are active. We have established a strong presence on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and TikTok, with the latter being the most valuable for us. TikTok’s growing popularity and its potential for brand growth made it a top priority for us. By consistently delivering relevant and engaging content on these platforms, we were able to attract and retain a loyal following and grow our brand awareness.
My three biggest pieces of advice for those working to build their social media presence are:
1) While a lot of content can be repurposed across channels, it’s essential to understand how each one is unique and tailor your content in a native way to each platform. You’ll stand out as out of touch if you don’t familiarize yourself with the norms of each platform before engaging.
2) People don’t like to be sold. You have to provide value or solve problems to draw people in. If you sound like an ad they will scroll right past you.
3) Humanize your brand. People want to buy from people and brand they trust and feel connected to. As much as you may be uncomfortable being on video, people crave the human connection and feeling that they’re on the “inside” and really know you. Most small business owners need to be the face (literally) of their brand.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
These are some of my favorite ways:
1) Going live on TikTok (you can do this on other platforms too) but this allows me to have direct conversations with customers and prospective customers.
2) Personally reply to social media comments and DMs. I can’t do them all myself but I do some every single day.
3) Personally reply to website chats. Again, I can’t do them all but do some every day.
4) Survey customers — you can do this for free in Google Forms!
5) Offer a loyalty program to reward your repeat customers
6) Request and respond to customer reviews.
All of the above actions give me a chance to hear customer complaints, get suggestions for new products, understand more about who our customers are, learn what they’re most excited about, etc. And, it gives our customers direct access to the CEO which they find really unique and valuable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://myconquering.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myconquering/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myCONQUERing/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/myconquering
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CONQUERing
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@myconquering Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/myCONQUERing/
Image Credits
Caitlin Chrisenee Photography