Success. Something that is hard to obtain and even harder to do it all over again. Yet, through the conflicts and failures, there are a few entrepreneurs in this world that are able to overcome the challenges and create successful businesses. One business that I have taken interest in their following and process is a brand called Cry Baby (@crybaby). Yes, that is actually the name of a clothing brand, a very successful clothing brand in fact. I interviewed the founder, Esma Ilyas, currently 24 years old, who described to me her journey and success in her brand.
Esma actually started on a popular company called Ivory Ella, which is a massive clothing brand that has a lot of success over the last couple of years. Yet, Esma wanted to start her own brand and discovered crybaby. Cry Baby was started in 2018, but the first year of business did not occur until 2019. Cry Baby was actually founded on the belief of emotion, basically saying that its ok to cry about things that happen in your life. When I asked Esma how she grew the brand in order to be successful, she came up with:
“Cry Baby’s marketing team is so simple, just Instagram marketing, we haven’t paid even a $1 for any influencer ads, all-natural growth and Cry Baby’s team just did their own Facebook ads and that’s it. We don’t use any agencies for Facebook, something that is really rare in the industry.”
By using this organic growth in her approach, Esma has been able to solidify her business as a premier clothing brand that helps tailor herself to the elites in terms of woman that have a lot of pride in themselves. This movement of empowered woman in the world is something that Esma likes to catch as she heads into more and more profitable years running her business.
This is rare in a clothing industry. Most of the time, massive marketing campaigns are needed in order to get brand off the ground versus an all organic approach like Cry Baby has done. This shows that Cry Baby is an authentic brand, something that people and consumers take advantage as most people just see fake brands being propped up by massive marketing campaigns.
This organic approach has actually caught the attention of a lot of celebrities. Ariana Grande, Chanel Jefferies, Alissa Violet, and more have all bought from Cry Baby. This organic growth, celebrity endorsements, and a strong community have allowed Cry Baby to grow to a multi-million-dollar business. This shows that sometimes, straying from the ‘norm’ or traditional way to grow will actually be more beneficial for your brand.
