Dani Vodak’s Guide to Automating Communication

Dani Vodak helps busy people clean in half the time, with half the products. She started making cleaning videos during the pandemic. She was out of work, stuck at home; and spending a lot of time cleaning, organizing, and on social media where she kept seeing video after video of people intentionally mixing toxic cleaning products and calling it a hack.

Tell me about yourself and your business….I felt called to start educating people about eco-friendly cleaning alternatives. As a mom to four daughters, I always pay attention to emerging news about endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which are in everything from flame retardants, electronics, clothing, sofas, and mattresses, to the lining of your canned peas and plastic takeout containers. It’s been exhilarating to watch the space grow and to realize there are so many other moms who want to detox their homes, too.

Walk me through the step-by-step process that you went through to get to where you are today in business? I started with a Facebook group, only posting graphics focused on the features of my products, but quickly realized I needed to focus on the benefits of changing my cleaning routine. The best way for me to do that was by video. The opportunity to tell a story and show a cleaning transformation is very powerful, so I developed a weekly series called WTF Wednesday, where I bring you a mess from my home and offer an eco-friendlier version to clean up.

As my Facebook group grew, I learned a lot about social media algorithms and realized I needed a way to quickly notify my customers of Flash Sales, without relying on the algorithm to deliver the information. I learned about Project Broadcast and started focusing on building my subscriber list.

I also knew I could reach a broader audience if I cross-posted my videos to other social media platforms, so I joined TikTok and Instagram. I knew people needed to be able to test out the products in their own home, so I started offering sample kits.

As I collected their information using a Google form, I created a series of emails and Project Broadcast drip campaigns (depending on their communication preferences) to give them more information until they received their samples.

When I had a video go viral on TikTok, I received over 200 sample kit requests and quickly became overwhelmed by the demand. I recognized that I needed to automate a lot of my manual tasks in order to keep up so I created my own WIX website and transferred my sample request from Google Forms to WIX. I then automated the task of creating a new Project Broadcast contact using Zapier, if they checked the box on the sample kit form to subscribe to my text service. My Project Broadcast contact list tripled with the viral video.

While I did see a rise in my sales, I knew I could do better if I focused on building a community. While the TikTok algorithm is great for growth, their tools don’t really support this since it’s limited to just video. That’s when I started focusing my efforts on Instagram. With the ability to post more than just videos, I understood that if someone really liked my content, they would follow me on Instagram to see what other information/education I could provide. And if they really liked what I was doing on Instagram, it wasn’t too much of an ask to get them to join my Facebook group.

How long were you running the business before you started seeing a profit? – I created video content for a little over a year before I started to see a profit. I have a full-time, shift work career and 4 daughters. There were only so many hours in the day that I could devote to my content. I also recognized that I was in a rut, with one viral TikTok video followed by small growth spurts here and there. I joined a creator community called Social Boom, with classes taught by two Instagram marketing experts; Dan Thomas (@imdanthomas) and Travis Brown (@travisbrown). They helped me revamp my Instagram profile to make it clear to users what it is I have to offer. They also helped me focus my content style on cleaning transformations, which is inspirational. Within a few months of joining their program, I had a viral Reel on Instagram in October of 2022, grew by 110k followers, and had $10,000 a month in sales. My Project Broadcast list grew from 250 contacts in September to 545 contacts by the end of November.

My Project Broadcast list grew from 250 contacts in September to 545 contacts by the end of November…

I wanted to host a giveaway to give back to my supporters and used the contest feature in Project Broadcast to do it. I’ve done two giveaways. One on Instagram for reaching 100k followers and another on Facebook for reaching 25k followers. This allowed me to grow my Project Broadcast subscriber list by an additional 100 contacts.

I created a Project Broadcast Landing Page for both specials, which saw an average view increase of almost 300%.

What was the first time you saw a profit using Project Broadcast?- Normally, I only use Project Broadcast to notify subscribers of Norwex Flash Sales. Since these happen on a bi-monthly basis, I personally feel that anything more than that would be too intrusive. However, I was inspired to run a Black Friday and Cyber Monday special after viewing a post in the Project Broadcast Facebook Group that said text marketing has a 98% open rate vs email with only a 21% open rate. I created a Project Broadcast Landing Page for both specials, which saw an average view increase of almost 300% from my previous October Flash Sale Landing Page.

How has Project Broadcast impacted your business – Project Broadcast has allowed me to broaden my engagement strategy, filling in the gaps that email and social media marketing simply cannot cover. Everyone has different communication preferences and being able to use a simple, yet powerful tool to instantly notify my customers of an offer and encourage action, through a device that nearly everyone in the United States has (a mobile phone), rounds out my business presence.

I can be reached through Project Broadcast at (443) 616-3478, email: info@thedirtwithdani.com or check me out at http://www.thedirtwithdani.com