From Fashion to Founder
Kyla Muratore Shares The Birth of Babe Creative.
The Come Up highlights successful business owners’ & operators ‘come-up’ stories in an easy-to-read, written interview format. All content is transcribed from live interviews.
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For this issue: Kyla Muratore, Founder of Babe Creative!
Babe Creative Quick Stats:
👥 Headcount: 5
🧑💼 Number of Clients: 10
⏳ Average Client/Project length: 1.5-2.5 years
📈 Best Growth Channel: Instagram and word of mouth
🚫 Businesses started prior: None
🙅♀️ Times she almost quit: Zero
🎉 Biggest Milestones: Every year they stay in business
🌟 Goals: Work with more celebrity clients!
What Babe Does…
Babe is a digital agency…
When anyone ever asks us what that means, I just say that if you look at your phone and see a brand that you really admire, we are the people that have a hand in creating that.
A lot of what we do is social media focused. Brands will hit us up when they’re just starting out, or if they’re looking for help in their day-to-day. We step in, and work to create great content that resonates with their target audience but also aligns with their identity and vision.
To be a bit more granular — we do art direction, shoot execution, and tons of video. We run ads, we do back end website work, we do branding, influencer partnerships and management, social media management, and of course, graphic design…
Before Babe…
Back when I was in university, The Hills and Laguna Beach were big shows.
I remember watching Lauren Conrad working in the fashion closet at Vogue, and I was like, how can I make that my career?
University wasn’t really for me, so I switched into Humber College’s fashion arts program. While I was there, I started interning at Flare magazine, working in their fashion closet — so I was living my Hills dream. But when my contract was up, my boss was like, Unless you love journalism, get into blogging, because print is going to die. And I did. I started my own blog not long after.
While I was still at Humber, I got a full time position running social and marketing for Trade Secrets — it’s this haircare retailer that’s across Canada.
After I got that job, I dropped out of college…
I was creating all of the social content for Trade Secrets, and because I had my blog, I could take products home and do beauty reviews. I used that as an opportunity to build out my portfolio so other brands could see what I could do on my own.
Then, I started working for ACI brands, which is a Canadian distributor for beauty products, running socials for brands like Stila Cosmetics and Christian Louboutin beauty and Saint Tropez Tan. I was doing a lot of the same stuff we do at Babe — creating content, executing social strategies, and community management.
And it’s worth mentioning that this is around the time where beauty bloggers became a really big deal…
The beauty space in Canada was almost an untapped market on Instagram up to that point, so it was very lucrative. Not long after, I heard about this social media role at Estee Lauder’s Canadian Affiliate in Toronto. I applied there and I gave them my resume, but also submitted my blog as a portfolio. I don't know why, I don't know how, but I got very, very fucking lucky and they hired me.
I look back at that experience so fondly — but as you can imagine, working for a big company means that at some point, red tape comes into play.
I feel like they gave me a lot of free reign because I was the first social media person there, and I was an out-of-the-box thinker. But then eventually they were like, We really don’t know what to do with you.
I always had bigger goals than what I was doing at the time, then one day, when a girlfriend of mine was like, ‘Hey, can you help my family business with social media?’
It was just such a light bulb moment. So that’s how Babe started, back in 2018.
Navigating the admin side of the business…
It took me a minute.
I’m an ideas person. That side of things has always come natural to me, but having a creative passion for something doesn’t necessarily mean it translates to logistics.
I think my time at Esteé was really helpful when it comes to the administrative side, because there were so many agencies that we worked with that oversaw the P&L. I had a ton of opportunities to learn. That being said, it wasn't enough when it came to applying it into what I was doing for Babe.
I definitely credit my husband for getting me there, especially at the beginning. He really helped me when it came to the back end of the business — accounting stuff, specifically. By far though, the most expensive lesson I learned is to hire an accountant if that stuff it's not your strong suit.
Over the years, I've also learned that if there's something that hurts my head, I know I'm not providing the most value to the business by being stuck on something that I know I can't do. If that’s the case, I outsource it to an expert so that I know that it's in good hands, and while I'm doing that, I also taking the time to learn what I can, because I want to make sure that I understand every aspect of the business — no matter how boring or difficult it is for me.
Future plans for the agency…
(and navigating big life changes ahead!)
I don't know if it's since Covid, but my perspective has changed in regards to having a bigger plan, because who fucking knows, right?
Things can change so quickly…
I really enjoy what I do. I feel like what I'm doing is really rewarding. I don't have an exit strategy. I don't have a plan to sell the business eventually when it gets to a certain size. It's not even something that I've considered only because I love it so much.
A lot of the clients that we work with are female founders or are small businesses, and I just love having our team act as fairy godmothers that guide them toward success. It feels really good. There's something about that has always resonated with me.
To be completely honest, I don’t know what the future holds, but if I can continue to help build brands, then I'm happy.
I'm six months pregnant, too, so there’s going to be a very specific time where I should be unplugging from work coming up very soon — so the future is going to be interesting.
I think that there’s always been this low simmering anxiety around my role — and the idea of me stepping away for a long period of time — but I try to keep in mind that nothing is life or death in my line of work. That's what I've been doing since this year started.
When you run your own thing, there's a huge sacrifice in terms of your personal time and just having boundaries, so when we decided to start a family, we just had a conversation about how to make sure I could unplug from work.
Like, really unplug...
I'm not going to take the blessing that is Canadian maternity leave, even though it is such a privilege. I’ve just always known that when I decided to have a family, I wouldn’t take a year off, just because the stakes are too high.
What things look like from a maternity leave standpoint is TBD, but I know it's going to be okay. If anything, my pregnancy has taught me that nothing is set in stone. Right now, I’m just trying to be more discerning with training — making sure that my team is fully equipped to handle anything and everything when I’m away.
On growth & customer acquisition…
Word of mouth has always been our biggest growth channel, which is lovely.
I don't take it for granted. I think it's so incredible when people tell someone else that Babe is great. At the same time, I'm a marketer, so I'm always wondering what else we can do, specifically because our client relationships are so tightly knit.
What I do that I suck at though is cold pitching.
The relationship building, the networking — making those connections in general is really helpful, but there are so many other amazing agencies out there that are doing really great work that others can consider, so it's a challenge to stand out. But I think that's just showbiz. It’s part of the game that we’re in.
I do cold pitching, but it never works. It's a grind because I don't like sending, copy-and-paste emails to brands. I want our outreach to be personable and human, but it also needs to shine a light on the amazing work we do — so it’s tough to find the right balance.
I'm really proud of the content that we put out, and the projects that we've worked on. We showcase that on our website. We showcase that on our Instagram, of course. And then I put ad dollars behind those projects, and I'm targeting other business owners in North America to drive them to our website so they can learn more. I find that's been quite helpful.
On investing in ads for the agency…
We're putting our dollars behind Meta, but if we're doing any Meta ads in general, I won't touch Facebook because I don't think that our clients are on Facebook as much as they are on Instagram.
We also put some dollars behind Pinterest because it’s underutilized in my opinion. You can spend less and get more on Pinterest, so we try to take advantage of that leverage.
Our CTAs depend on the mood, but typically, we like to drive traffic to the website so that visitors can learn about Babe and all the amazing work that we've done.
It’s not like we have a clear rule where we put 5% of our budget towards marketing or something. I've never looked at it that way. I probably should, but I don’t.
I think that brand awareness is so key. And again, we're in a very competitive space, but I know that the value of being top of mind is really helpful. I know it takes a few times for someone to go into your website before they even pull the trigger, so we want to be at the forefront of people's minds, and we do what we can to occupy that space.
On customer experience…
I am really close to our clients, and I guess that has a lot to do with why I have a hard time stepping fully away from work — because I take their work personally, too.
I think that when you're starting a business, or you're in the middle of running a business, or you're changing what you're doing and you're outsourcing stuff: that's an investment. It's a very personal choice, even though it's a financial choice.
In terms of specifics, our customer experience situation is very high-touch. And I think I learned that from my time at Estee Lauder — just to be really intentional, thoughtful and to celebrate the wins of your clients.
I love sending flowers. I love writing personal notes. I love recognizing when good things are happening for our clients, because I take it personally. It's a very rewarding feeling.
We have a pretty straightforward and easy onboarding process, too. When we sign a client, we try to make it as simple as possible, which (ideally) starts us on the right foot. We understand what the boundaries are when it comes to the work, but we try to develop as close a relationship as possible within those boundaries.
I don’t know — I just love that experience of going into a bodega and having a beautiful box wrapped for you, because it feels special. And even though we’re a digital company, we try to emulate that type of experience as much as possible, because who doesn’t like feeling special?
On navigating the changing trends…
I think that Covid was a good boot camp for us in terms of how to be agile, and how to adapt and become virtual best friends with our clients and our team, because everyone we have works remotely. That’s actually crazy for the line of work that we're doing.
Of course, there are challenges outside our control — like the whole TikTok thing. A lot of people are freaking out about that, but I see that as a huge opportunity for Canadians.
I just try to think of every roadblock as an opportunity.
We're always considering what the next best thing is, learning whatever we can to make sure that we're early adopters to what is coming up. For example: Threads.
Threads came and went in terms of relevance very quickly, but we also know that if you're frequently using Threads and talking about the subject matter that's aligned with the category of your brand, it helps you. Instagram rewards you for that. So we know to still be in the weeds and not give up on something just because it had a hot flash.
There's always something new, but we're also seeing there's proof of concept behind a lot of these things, and it's a great way to create a new revenue stream for a lot of the businesses that we're working with.
There's so much value to it. I literally tell everyone that they should start a Substack, because I think that it's just such a valuable thing.
Either way, we're always online. We don't have a choice. It's the line of work that we're in, right?
We're always keeping an eye on what’s coming up, what other brands are doing, and making sure that everything we’re doing is unique to the clients that we're working with.
On pricing model…
Ever since day one, Babe hasn’t done fixed price packages, because every business that we've worked with is so different.
They each have their own internal strengths and weaknesses — meaning some of them have their own graphic designers, so they don't need us to do that. Or they have their own in-house intern that they want to work with that is going to be creating the videos for their TikTok.
We always knew from day one to be really flexible, because not every business is built the same.
I think if you standardize those things and it gets very particular and specific, then you're losing money, because it's costing you more hours. To be super frank: we value our work and we price accordingly, but also we fold in the hours on each respective project when we build out our retainers.
It's all retainer based. Sometimes we do projects — but we love a long term relationship with our clients. That's what's always been the sweet spot, especially in social media, when it takes a minute to really see the success. If we work for a month with someone, it's just simply not enough time to gauge what's working and what's not. We need a good amount of time to really make an impact.
On managing client expectations…
Honestly, I think it comes down to being picky about our clients.
We really do value a collaborative relationship with them, but we also value trust. I want our clients to know that we're the best at what we do and their business is in good hands.
I think that you can always sniff out when there's a frantic, desperate energy behind a business. At the end of the day, the line of work that we're in is to help brands make money and convert as many people to purchasing whatever their product is. We understand that and that's always our goal.
But if I sense — and it took me years to develop the sense — that a client doesn't trust us and think they can just throw money at it, that the problem is going to be fixed overnight, I don't take it on.
Those kinds of expectations can’t be met.
I think it’s just a matter of being a little more discerning about the people that we're working with — making sure that they have a good grasp of social media, how it works and how it is, and that it’s usually a slow burn.
Biggest mistakes to date…
My Biggest “oh, shit” moment was not realizing I had to put a lot of money aside from my personal income tax after the first year that we really got busy, which was a really expensive lesson to learn.
But at the same time, it made me realize that you need to talk to your accountants constantly.
I've been a Monday Girl mentor for a while now, and any woman that I'm speaking to who asks what advice I’d give them, the first thing I say is to hire an accountant. Even if you are a whiz at that stuff, it’s essential.
I think the other “Oh, shit” moment that I had was saying yes to everything in the beginning. When you’re at that point, you just want to grow your business, so you're taking on any opportunity.
But you don't realize that sometimes that means that you're forfeiting certain boundaries.
If you say yes to everything, all of the sudden, you sign on a client who's calling you at 10:00 p.m. freaking out about an Instagram story. It’s a very easy way to get into a toxic relationship with clients.
I think that we say ‘no’ a lot now, especially when it comes to stuff that doesn't feel aligned with our identity.
I've been really intentional about the values of our business and what it is that makes us feel good about signing clients. If it doesn't feel aligned, then we’re happy to send them over to our competitors, because why not?
On growing slow…
There have been so many times where sometimes you get three clients in a month — which is huge — but then I have no time to execute any of the work because then I’m on calls all week long. I don't have time to get the work unless I forfeit my personal time.
It's taken me years to carve out and be really picky about that. I know some people would say that I’m turning away money, but it’s not worth it to me.
Of course, we can always hire new people to help us out, but what I've learned over the last two years is that, when you need to hire someone on, it’s best to have a list of people in your back pocket that you’re ready to hire.
There needs to be an element of trust. I need to understand and know them and their work before a random applicant. Not to say that you can't randomly apply today because, of course, I’ve also learned that sometimes you don’t have the luxury of time or choice.
Often, though, when you do that, you don't really know what their work ethic is, then that onboarding process is a nightmare, and they don't understand what they're doing. Then I'm too busy to manage everyone.
I know that if I work more strategically on how we operate internally, we'll be able to have the space to take more projects on, so I’ve never strived to grow quickly, but instead want to keep steadily improving at a rate we can maintain.
Present day challenges…
A challenge that I've always been faced with is trying to figure out how to push Babe’s social presence.
As you can imagine, if we're spending all of our time and resources helping elevate other brands, Babe’s socials are at the bottom of the totem pole. I'm also running those accounts directly, and I won't let anyone else touch them because it’s so personal to me.
It's hard because you have to manage your time, right? You have to focus on your clients first, but it's hard to have the time and space to execute beyond that.
Regardless, I've been working to carve out that time for Babe, because I know it's valuable.
On mistakes brands make on social media…
They look at their competitors and then they change the font and color to make it theirs.
Directly copying something that you think is going to do well is such a mistake because it breeds imposter syndrome — because, let’s face it, you’re being an imposter. You're not doing the work yourself.
I also think that brands that are dancing in front of the camera, doing TikToks because they think that's going to go viral are doing it wrong. I think that there’s a formula to success when it comes to how to win on social media. I'm not sharing it — at least not for free — but I think there is one, and that isn’t it.
A lot of people get it wrong because they think that because a certain video for someone else did well, that means it has to do well for them. Everything is so recycled right now when it comes to whatever you see online.
I think the brands that are doing a really great job are not doing social media like anybody else.
That’s it for issue this issue!
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Interview by: Alex Tribe
Edited by: Angus Merry