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How a babywear brand is reshaping postnatal care
Anna and Joey Turcottes’ story started the day they gave birth to their first child. What happened in that delivery room became the catalyst for an eCommerce brand whose mission would be to facilitate and promote the practice of skin-to-skin bonding.
Immediately after giving birth, “the doctors, the nurses and lactation consultants were really pushing both of us to hold the baby bare chest to bare chest,” recalls Anna. This was her first introduction to skin-to-skin bonding, also known as (more adorably) kangaroo care.
Prior to co-founding babywear brand Bonsie, Anna was a clinical social worker in Maine specializing in the area of attachment. Her experience and training highlighted the impact that a close parental figure has on a child’s early years and on subsequent emotional development. This perspective, in combination with her postpartum experience, would evolve into the goal behind the product: “to make skin-to-skin practice more well known and easier for moms and dads and anybody who’s taking care of a baby.”
While experiencing a new form of attachment to their newborn, they discovered a greater purpose
In between endless feedings, diaper changes and naps, Anna and Joey’s imagination and entrepreneurial spirit stirred. What if there was babywear that would allow easier access to skin-to-skin bonding? Something that was functional enough to encourage frequent bonding and cute enough to wear to the grocery store.
A brand strategy that coincides with a greater mission
Combining experience from prior entrepreneurship and now parenthood, the Turcottes knew that if this business were to succeed, it would need to accomplish three things:
- Offer a well-made, uniquely designed, and recognizable product
- Invest in consumer education and be a champion for skin-to-skin bonding
- Continuously connect with new parents
After two years of prototyping and sourcing, the Turcottes had a garment that “if someone saw a baby wearing…they’d immediately know it was a Bonsie.” Now, they were ready to present Bonsie to the world. Using Wix for eCommerce, the couple built their first website and set up the eCommerce business—all while having two kids under the age of five running around the house.
A few months later, the pandemic skidded their original launch plans to a halt and the duo shifted their attention to online and social media marketing. They leaned on Wix’s built-in Facebook Ads manager to launch targeted ad campaigns, while minimizing the amount of manual setup required.
The true root of their success, however, lies in having a deep understanding of their target audience: new parents.
When it comes to content strategy for ads, Anna explains, “Because we focus on infancy and early motherhood, we generally don’t keep a customer for more than six months. We’re always having to find new customers but luckily they’re always out there because people are always having babies. But we have to keep educating and keep exposing them to our brand.”
The power of expert content and data-driven marketing
To further their mission, Anna and Joey have invested heavily in creating quality content for their blog on Wix. Bonsie’s Bonding Blog features content created in collaboration with medical professionals, experts in childcare, and influencers.
“The blog is designed to cover the umbrella of early motherhood and attachment,” Anna explains.
On the business side, Joey says, “this also adds validity and expert opinions to our website… and that helps with Google Search rankings.”
By working with an expert alongside Wix’s SEO tools, Bonsie was able to land the top search position for “skin-to-skin babywear.”
Beyond promoting the benefits of skin-to-skin and providing information on postpartum and early infancy, the blog is also a space where personal stories are shared. In a dedicated section called ‘Real Moms. Real Interviews.’ Anna invites moms to share their story so that other women reading the blog don’t have to feel so alone as they adapt to motherhood.
At the end of the day, “we’re just finding ways we can all fit together”—and that in a nutshell, is the secret behind Bonsie’s success.
It all started with a feeling
When the nurse first laid the newborn child on Anna’s bare chest, Anna was overcome with a feeling of calm and elation. After what felt like an eternity, mother and child finally were able to touch, skin-to-skin. The small family shared the first magical hours of the newborn’s life holding each other in the delivery room.
Five years later, the Turcottes have created an eCommerce business that is powered by the love they felt that day in the delivery room. Bonsie’s onesies can now be found in Nordstrom and high-end internet boutiques such as the Maisonette.
As the business continues to grow, Anna and Joey remain at the helm, overseeing day-to-day operations and expanding their team to meet production demands. They have turned away outside investors so that they can maintain control over their mission—that is, to make Bonsie synonymous with skin-to-skin bonding.
Anna and Joey’s advice for other merchants
- Find your niche – Stay in your lane and invest in carving out an area of specialty in an otherwise saturated marketplace.
- Educate and stick to your mission – Consider investing in a blog and creating content that demonstrates your expertise in a given field. This helps to promote your brand, spread your mission, and increase your site’s visibility in search results.
- Use tools and resources to make data-driven decisions – Don’t simply rely on gut feelings. Experiment with different types of ads, product variations, and content and pivot based on the results. You might be surprised by what works and what doesn’t. Don’t let your personal biases and assumptions blind you.
- Scale strategically (know when to invest and pull back) – Know the purpose and value of every channel you sell or advertise on. “The amount we spent on online ads is baffling, but in the end it definitely paid off,” says Joey. “In terms of moving to retail, we are selective about who and where we partner with, but the idea is that the website will always be number one.”
- Keep up with trends and adjust to the media atmosphere – Be present on the channels that are most relevant to your target buyers without biting off more than you can chew. Find creative ways to broaden your reach. For example, Bonsie is working with influencers across mediums to make its mission and products known.
