For businesses in niche yet booming markets like pet accessories, standing out is key to survival. In an industry projected to hit $40 billion by 2031, with 66% of U.S. households owning a pet, competition is fierce. However, the strategies that work for one brand can offer valuable lessons for many.
Take Made By Cleo, a premium cat collar brand, for example. The company has mastered the art of using styled photography to build strong emotional connections with pet owners, helping them stand out successfully in a crowded market.
The branding insights and strategies from Made By Cleo aren’t just applicable to pet accessories — they’re relevant to any business trying to carve out a space in a competitive niche.
In this interview, Made By Cleo Founder and CEO Leslie Gray Harmon discusses:
- The major challenges the brand faced after launching
- The key strategies that helped it scale
- How it stands out from its competition
Who Is Leslie Gray Harmon?
Leslie owns the world’s leading manufacturer and online retailer of premium cat collars and accessories. With over 20 years of experience as a creative director and online marketing specialist, her previous work in software and manufacturing industries has brought a unique and hybrid perspective to how she has approached growing Made By Cleo since its founding in 2012.
Every business faces different sets of challenges, especially when it comes to niche markets like cat accessories. What really makes a difference is how it tackles them, turning these obstacles into opportunities for growth.
Made By Cleo came out of the frustration of not finding durable collars for Leslie’s own cat.
She had no prior experience in production, aside from sewing, so she engaged in research and development, testing materials, and learning through experimentation.
On top of creating an overall look and quality that passes her standards, she faced several challenges specific to the niche product; like how the breakaway buckle clasps are supposed to be less flimsy and safe.
Key Strategies Behind Made By Cleo’s Success
Leslie began Made By Cleo by leveraging the organic traffic boost from Etsy's holiday season in 2012. Recognizing the need for a more controlled, scalable platform, she transitioned to Shopify, where she could track real metrics and take control of search traffic.
This shift empowered the brand to strategically invest in paid search, allowing them to drive sustained traffic and conversions.
By focusing on data-driven decisions, Made By Cleo was able to grow beyond just being a seasonal hit, positioning itself for long-term success.
This is when Leslie started to strategically leverage visual tools like Instagram to build a loyal community of cat lovers through direct engagement and user-generated content.
On top of that, she also rolled out paid social campaigns to attract new customers, while leveraging email and SMS marketing to drive retention and fuel ongoing growth.
“Other things I attribute sustained growth to are constantly putting out NEW seasonally relevant designs on a quarterly basis and providing new innovative solutions that provide reasons for our existing customers to come back and re-order!
The easiest person to sell to is someone who already bought from you,” she adds.
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According to Leslie, another key strategy that keeps people coming back to her store is its focus on styled photoshoots.
“Our focus and investment in photography make a big difference in terms of sustaining growth. We always show multiple shots of our products to help with the buying decision-making process.
We also invest heavily in styled photoshoots with cat models that help emotionalize our customer base and tell a story about our designs in a fun and engaging way,” she concludes.
According to a February 2024 study about Instagram follower engagement, photo posts had the highest level of engagement with an interaction rate of 2.69%. Video posts follow closely with 2.21%.
Hence, I agree with Leslie that photography matters a lot, especially in driving engagement, which then leads to brand awareness and ultimately, higher conversion rates.
Differentiating Itself from Competitors
I was curious to hear from Leslie how competitive the pet accessories market is and how Made By Cleo successfully differentiates itself from competitors.
“The pet accessories market has a lot of players and it’s definitely a competitive space. Some are big companies that have been around a while, and there are also many smaller sole proprietor shops making fun, creative items you might find at a craft fair or on Etsy,” she says.
According to Leslie, the strategies and unique qualities that help the brand maintain a competitive edge are:
- Narrow focus on the cat market
- Upholding high production standards
- Offering quick customization options
- Fast shipping
In a previous podcast, DesignRush spoke to Entice President Adam O'Leary on how to navigate your brand in an overcrowded marketplace. Watch the video to learn more:
Leslie shares that social media has played a huge role in her brand’s success with the top platforms being Instagram and Facebook.
“Social media has given us both a way to promote our products in a visually and emotionally engaging way that goes above and beyond anything our website can do on its own.
Often, a website can be very slick and professional, but it’s hard to get a feel for the humanistic aspects of the company, or what the company’s philosophy, values, and personality are about.” she says.
Video, especially, has offered her some unique benefits in terms of being able to show how her products work in a way that excites and educates customers.
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“I love that we can be more personal on social media and that there is a whole conversational component to it. It’s hugely important. We get feedback from those conversations.
We’ve also built friendships and business relationships through social media,” she adds.
If you find it challenging to drive social media success, you can always partner with a reliable social media marketing agency to help increase your brand’s visibility, drive engagement, and increase sales.
Ensuring Consistent Quality and Customer Satisfaction Across Online and Offline Stores
Made By Cleo’s goal is to bring joy to its customers by creating products that are not only functional but also fun and meaningful.
Leslie says that they understand the desire to give their clients’ pets the very best, just like family.
“We know that when they purchase our products they could’ve gone somewhere much cheaper and just settled for a utilitarian choice that does the basic function they needed the thing to do.
But they chose us, and it’s because there was often some emotional, subjective motivator behind their decision,” she says.
To reflect its commitment to pet wellbeing, Leslie explains that Made By Cleo follows several safety standards:
- Extensive research and testing: They invest significant time in sourcing cat collar buckles that are both tug-resistant and safe.
- Customization safety measures: For unusual or potentially unsafe configurations (like a cat collar with a non-breakaway buckle), they have safeguards on their website to confirm customer intent and proactively reach out to ensure safe use.
When the mission and vision are clear and a business works towards achieving them, success comes easily.
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Made By Cleo sells its products online and through brick-and-mortar pet boutiques and veterinary locations worldwide.
With so many diverse sales channels, it’s important to ensure consistency. This is how the team manages to do so:
- Maintaining communication with wholesale partners: They encourage partners to share feedback or complaints, allowing them to address issues and prevent recurrence.
- Direct customer communication: Regardless of where customers purchased the product, they can contact Made By Cleo directly for assistance via email and social media.
- Centralized manufacturing and quality control: They make all products in-house and ship them from a single location, enabling close oversight of quality.
Having a well-defined brand strategy is key for all businesses, ensuring clarity in mission, the creation of a strong brand identity, and consistency across sales channels.
Brands hoping to penetrate a niche market need to be proactive in developing a strategy that best suits them.
