We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vicki Sanders a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Vicki, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
The Hug Box was created for many reasons. Of course the first reason was to send a hug! The Hug Box tagline is “A gift from the heart”, which was the vision for this gift box delivery service. Each Hug Box is filled with handmade love. Our curated products are sourced from local artisans and small businesses (some from other states other than Georgia). Back in 2013 when I first began developing the concept of the Hug Box there were not many artisan made products available. I would attend local markets and art shows to scout for products that fit the Hug Box brand – local, natural, non-toxic, professional (official business and branding) and high quality. A bonus would be if their packaging was sustainable and they gave back to the community. I also work with many non-profits, locally and from other states.
The Hug Box gift boxes are not for sale on Amazon or any other sales industry platform other than using the Shopify website format for thehugbox.com. I’ve been asked many times over the years why I am not selling on Amazon or Etsy or even in Walmart – which I thought was really interesting being that it’s a gift box and not a product. (There is a profile on Etsy but only to clarify the Hug Box brand). I was also asked a lot if I had applied for “Shark Tank”, but these choices may not be great for helping to expand the Hug Box. The small scale of the Hug Box gifting keeps it intimate and personable. If the Hug Box is meant to be something larger. and that is a plan of God’s, I have not yet encountered that path. If more growth is in the future, it would mean the values and missions of the Hug Box brand would remain the same. As a testament to not wanting to use corporate methods, I have received calls from people that have received a gift box using words like hug in a box, box of hugs, etc., NOT from the Hug Box™. They call to ask me to help them figure out who sent their gift box or what the ingredients are in a product that was in their gift box. These are questions I would never get from an actual Hug Box receiver. Each Hug Box gift box is professionally curated according to our special themes – get well, sympathy, thinking of you, birthday, thank you etc. Then packed with care with a personalized notecard from the sender and a card listing the products and who made them and all ingredients are on the bath and body products. If you receive a Hug Box, you will know because the logo and contact information is included. After the Hug Box is packaged, it is personally dropped off to the local UPS or USPS for shipping.
In 2018, I opened a brick and mortar gift shop to support and showcase all of the local artisan products and to open it up for customers to build their own Hug Box in person at the shop. It has been a lovely way to share this gifting experience. The connections and relationships that I have made with the artisans, customers, and visitors from other states has been a joy. Meeting those that have received Hug Boxes and customers that have ordered online has been so special and confirming that the Hug Box mission is indeed a success.
All of these attributes are what sets this small gift business apart from the corporate gift world.
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?
It has always been joyful to me searching for and giving meaningful gifts. Back in 2005, at a turning point in my graphic design career, I had some thoughts of starting a gift basket business or to create something associated with hugs, since I always believed that hugs were the best medicine. I thought of hug-o-grams or a hug mug. But these ideas and dreams were left in journals and sketchbooks. Then in 2014, it all started happening again. You know that saying ‘it was a blessing in disguise’. That’s what happened. I unexpectedly lost my job one day. I believe it was a nudge from God. Coincidentally, I had been thinking of my gift business again and now I had the time to focus on it. As I continued to work as a designer on a freelance basis, I also worked diligently on the gift business name and brand. My gift business had to have the word ‘hug’ in the name because that was the main reason for the gift…to ‘send a hug’. And of course instead of a basket it would be a sustainable ‘box’. With an endless list of names, I kept coming back to my original, the Hug Box, in which I trademarked in the US. After much time researching for natural, non-toxic and local artisan products that fit the Hug Box brand and contacting each artisan, learning about all of the administrative legwork to get a retail business up and running, designing the logo, packaging, notecards, etc., and creating an e-commerce website, I finally launched the Hug Box. You can read more about my story at thehugbox.com
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
As of May this year the Hug Box will be celebrating 10 years since launching online and 6 years since opening a brick and mortar. But bittersweetly, it is also the closing of the brick and mortar – for personal reasons, to fulfill other purposes that I am being called to with family, friends and my creative gifts. This decision was thought over for some time. It’s not easy to let go of something you love of course and that may be upsetting for some, but there comes a time when all things must come to an end. And that doesn’t mean that if you close a business or pivot in some other way that it’s a failure – it’s a success because you brought it to life! My many prayers and conversations with God and listening and journaling have led me to this change in my business and so it is clear that it is a wise decision.
The Hug Box gift delivery service will continue as it has from the beginning and will be keeping all of the same values and missions. And I am honored to be working still with many of my lovely local artisans to fill up Hug Boxes with their amazing products. I will miss the face to face and the sweet conversations and hugs from everyone on a daily basis! But excited to see what God’s plans will unfold with this new path and purpose, and with the Hug Box business.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
As a solopreneur, social media is definitely hard to keep up with and can be overwhelming. You have to figure out which platforms are best suited for your business and focus on two to three. Trying to do them all is not in your best interest. I would however claim your name on the platforms. And learn how to track and understand the analytics, which I am not good at doing or taking the time. You can hire an agency or social media manager of course, if it’s in your budget. But be sure to have a results driven plan since money is being spent. Interview a few to determine if they will be worth the investment. Social media is constantly changing and you never know who won’t see your posts anymore, so if the social media manager truly understands the backend analytics and knows how to keep the engagement, that is what you would need. Content is not the difficult part – it’s the fun part, but still time consuming – so there’s that too! There are some systems out there to help you with content and schedules. I have used Asana. And if you have a Shopify site, that connects easily to your social media and offers many apps that could assist in your system. Google is a grand way and often forgotten platform to get exposure, but again you have to stay on a schedule with posts. From my experience, it is not social media that gets you customers. Reviews, testimonials, networking, customer relations, and word of mouth are the best ways to keep and grow your business in a more meaningful way and for the long term. And if you manage your own social media, it can take you down a rabbit hole of wasting time better spent, feeling inadequate or like an imposter, comparing yourself to others and on and on – so be cautious and limit your time. Stay in your lane – your niche – and do you. God created you, a unique person with your own gifts to offer. And don’t fret over the likes. It’s not about the quantity of likes. It’s about the quality of followers. You want true followers – the bots and some others won’t support you with their hearts like a true follower. I only have 2k followers. I admit it may bother me at times since I’ve been around for a while, but I don’t let it overcome my joy with what I offer. Also I don’t post and engage or track as much as I should. It is important to give more than receive, so be a supporter to those other small businesses that you adore. Everyone is special and has something to offer, big or small. If you use social media keep that in mind to connect genuinely in the digital world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thehugbox.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehugbox/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehugbox
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehugbox
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thehugbox
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K_31c5u6D4
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-hug-box-newnan
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/thehugbox/