Bootstrapping, Crowdfunding, And More With Katie Jasper

December 4, 2014

Are you an entrepreneur that’s interested in crowdfunding? Are you bootstrapping a startup? If so, take a page out of the playbook of a company that is doing it right.

This week on the Social Media Social Hour podcast, I’m talking with Katie Jasper, CEO and co-founder of Prescribe Nutrition. During this episode we discuss what Prescribe Nutrition has accomplished from their bootstrapping beginning up to their recent successful crowdfunding campaign. We also go into how social media has been a major part of their success. 

About the show:

The Social Media Social Hour is a podcast for marketers and entrepreneurs looking to get on the social media fast track. The podcast is an interview format, where each week I get up close and personal with top brands and influencers to talk social media, tech and online marketing. Each week I also share tools that I personally use to help me with social media management, sales, marketing, accounts management, and productivity. The Social Media Social Hour is presented by Scoreboard Social.

In this episode, here is what you’ll discover:

About Katie Jasper:

  • She and Tyler went to elementary school together!
  • CEO & co-founder of Prescribe Nutrition, an online nutrition education company that teaches people to listen to their bodies and figure out what works for them
    • To date – has ran 27 online programs with over 2,00 individuals in 14 countries
  • Katie has won an award from the National Association for Women Business Owners for Innovation in Technology
  • What sparked her interest in nutrition:
    • how food fuels us
    • how it works as medicine
    • how it can be a key player in how we feel

About Prescribe Nutrition:

  • January 2013, Katie and her business partners decided to take their expertise to a larger platform with a program on the internet.
    • Programs are typically two weeks long
      • “It’s like having a nutritionist pager for two weeks”
  • Growth:
    • About 4,500 subscribers to newsletter
    • Facebook: over 5,000
    • Twitter: just under 700 followers
    • Instagram: just over 2,000 followers
      • Content strategy: want the viewer to get to know them
    • Website traffic strategy:
      • Drive individuals to their programs through partnerships – reach out to like-minded bloggers, organizations, etc. that have bigger audiences and deliver content for them
        • Influencer marketing taken a step further
  • Strategies:
    • Relatability
    • Continuity
      • want to hold true to their voice
    • Presentation
      • shoot their own cookbook photos and Instagram photos
  • Use of crowd-funding for:
    • Surveys of program-users said they want more recipes
    • Idea: One-stop shop site for recipes specific to individual’s needs with a nutrition angle
      • aggregates a grocery list based on recipe ingredients
      • social sharing
      • left-over tool
    • They’ve raised $40,000!

Mentionable Quotes:

  • “…we’re handwriting e-mails to any person that we feel aligns well with us and fostering those relationships”
  • “Our voice is our voice.”

Items/people mentioned in the show:

Katie’s Social Media Six Pack:

  1. Have you ever been in a helicopter? No but I want to.
  2. Do you prefer digital or analog clocks? Analog.
  3. Favorite candy bar? 100 Grand.
  4. What was your favorite subject in school? Student council.
  5. What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten? Alligator.
  6. Are you related to a distant relative or anybody who’s famous? A famous poet – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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