At just 25 years of age, tbh Skincare co-founder and head of marketing, Rachael Tyers, has kicked some serious business goals over the past few years. In fact, her scientifically-backed acne care brand has turned over almost $800,000 in less than 18 months since its launch – a huge accomplishment for any business, let alone a new one.
But did you know Tyers also hosts a podcast that isn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill podcast you’ve come to know? tea with tbh, which is also hosted by tbh Skincare's brand specialist, Taylor Bradford, is all about working through tricky mid-twenties issues – from losing friendships, to surviving breakups, to attending your first therapy session, to moving out of home, to starting your first full-time job, and everything in between.
To find out more about the podcast, BD recently spoke with Tyers, who told us everything we need to know.
Can you please tell us what tea with tbh is all about and the team behind the mic?
tea with tbh is a space where we chat about all of the common challenges, life experiences and fun things that happen in our 20s really. Our biggest customer group is between the ages of 18-35 so we just talk about the topics that they want to hear about most. Things like dealing with ‘flaky’ friends, love languages, mental health disorders, setting boundaries, how to harness your ambition in the early stages of your career, what contraception choice is best for you etc… the list goes on!
The team on mic every week is myself and our Brand Specialist at tbh, Taylor Bradford. We also get on guests every now and then who are experts in certain areas that we are wanting to discuss. We brought on board a doctor for our contraception chat, and we also chatted to Kate Wasley about all things body positivity.
What can listeners expect from the show?
I would hope they can expect a laugh, but look, I am not sure we are as funny as we like to think we are. I think they can expect to hear about some pretty relatable topics. We want to share our own experiences and hear from others as well to make people feel like they aren’t so alone when dealing with the certain challenges they might be facing in their day to day life. Really it would be the types of things that you talk about amongst your closest friends, or the scary things in your brain that maybe you keep to yourself. We get it all out on the table.
Who is the typical tea with tbh listener?
I would say it is predominantly females aged in their mid twenties, which is no surprise, this is our biggest customer group at tbh. I think our listeners are people who take a great interest in their own general wellness and they’re probably the first person to pick up a self-help book …me included haha.
Why do you think there has been a rise of B2C podcasts, particularly in the beauty industry?
Who doesn’t have a podcast these days right? I think podcasting is a super valuable channel brands can be using to connect with customers in a way that goes beyond the product features and benefits or the service they are offering. Yes, you might have a great product, but what’s keeping your customers from changing over to the next best thing? Let’s face it, in the beauty industry there is SO much out there. So how do you keep customers around? I think that all comes down to the relationship you can establish with them.
A 2019 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey of over 16,000 young people across 42 countries showed that Millenials and Gen Zs start and stop relationships with companies for very personal reasons, often related to a company’s positive or negative impact on society.
Today’s customers aren’t just shopping based on product features and benefits. They are choosing the company they shop with based on its values. I think that brand personas are so important, now more than ever. You need to know what your brand stands for, and then it is up to the customer whether that brand persona is one that they really like.
It is almost like choosing a friend! What you’ll find though is that when your brand is truly authentic, the people who buy into that and align with that will become super loyal customers over the long term. I think brands would be crazy not to see the opportunity podcasting offers them in terms of allowing them to build meaningful relationships with their customers.
How does tea with tbh differ from other B2C podcasts on the market?
I think that what we have done with tea with tbh is really think less about our brand and what the podcast can offer us, and instead focused on how we can add value to the end customer. I think that’s the beauty of being a small business, is that we have the flexibility to do this.
I think some other B2C podcasts on the market worry about staying ‘on brand’ not saying ‘too much’, and sticking sort of within their industry niche and in the end when you strip out all that meaningful stuff, you aren’t left with any juicy content that the end listener can really get passionate about or sink their teeth into. We are less concerned with aligning the product offering, and more concerned about offering our customers content that is relevant to them.
You’ve had a busy few years with the launch and success of tbh Skincare. What made you decide to launch a podcast as well?
I ask myself this too some days! The podcast for me is really just a creative outlet. It is definitely one of the parts of the job that I enjoy the most. To be honest, we don’t overcook it too much… it is super low budget, and we don’t get so caught up in perfecting it every time. I think this has been the only way we have been able to fit it in with such a small team behind the scenes. We did recently have a break and relaunch with episodes fortnightly instead of weekly as the workload did become a little heavy for the two of us to manage!
Does tbh Skincare tie into the podcast in any way?
I would say it does, not because it speaks directly to the product, or even skincare, but because it is quite literally speaking from the heart of the brand and what the brand stands for. If the customer wants to know who they’re buying from, they only have to listen to the podcast to get a good idea of what kind of people we are and what we stand for overall as a company. In addition to this, at tbh we have always stood by the fact that we want to address a customer’s overall wellbeing, beyond just the physical breakouts on their skin.
63% of people diagnosed with acne suffer from depression within their first year of symptoms. Because we know acne ties in massively to mental health, as a brand we wanted to provide people not only with the products to help them through this, but also the wellness tools they need.
The podcast centres a lot around mental health and in general a person’s overall wellbeing. I know when I was suffering through acne as a teenager, I would have loved a brand that spoke to the heart of what I was dealing with… whether that may have been confidence issues, friendship conflict, family conflict, anxiety etc.
Who has been one of your favourite guests on the show so far?
We haven’t done many guests so far but my favourite would be Kate Wasley for sure. She was just such a pleasure to interview, so much fun and so passionate about the topics we were speaking about. Absolutely adore her.
What has been one of your favourite episodes?
This is SUCH a hard one. I think I would have to say the episode on anxiety. I had so many people reach out to me after that episode sharing how much it had helped them and how much they loved hearing my take on living with anxiety… this is the reason why I wanted to start the podcast in the first place and I think we really helped so many people with this episode which was actually so amazing to hear back in the feedback.
As a young businesswoman who has achieved so much in such a short time, what advice would you give to others wanting to follow a similar path?
Ahhh, I internally cringe at this question, which I definitely shouldn’t… there’s probably a podcast episode in that!
But I would just say back yourself. My favourite saying is ‘embrace your naivety’. I think so many young people are successful because they commit to things and go in all guns blazing with a strong sense of self belief and optimism. I really think this is the perfect recipe to succeeding. If you don’t think you’ll get there, you never will. You have to be your number one biggest believer…it’s going to be what gets you through the challenging times, because trust me, there will be quite a few!
In saying that, I think you must always remember as well that you have something to learn from everyone you meet and that it is ok to not be the smartest person in the room. I often find that by acknowledging I don’t know everything, and asking questions, I uncover a lot more about a certain topic or issue than some of the other people in the room because I am brave enough to publicly admit I don’t know it all (and this actually comes from a place of believing in myself in the first place).
How often does the podcast run and where can we find it?
It runs fortnightly and you can find it on both Apple and Spotify podcasts! We love feedback as well, so jump into our DMs @tbhskincare_ and tell us what you want to hear more/less of!
