115: How to Build a Millennial Brand with 10M Monthly Visitors with Derek Flanzraich from greatist.com

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

There's a common thread in a lot of entrepreneurs' stories: They were facing a problem, couldn't find the solution they were looking for, so went ahead and built it themselves.

That's exactly what Derek Flanzraich did when he started Greatist, a digital media startup that's all about health and fitness, without all the fluff and in-your-face marketing. As someone who has struggled with his weight his entire life, Flanzraich wanted to find a brand that would talk to him on a personal level and not as another client.

Frustrated by the fact that the world was becoming more health conscious, yet at the time seemed to be more interested in shaming those who wanted to get in shape, Flanzraich set out to stake his own claim in an oversaturated market. The key difference, though, was that instead of making his audience feel bad, he would make them feel welcome.

"It wasn't actually about the quality of what we're doing, which we felt that was gonna be best in class or whatever. It was actually the voice that really stuck out," Flanzraich says.

It was a simple change in language, but its message connected with an underserved audience that would eventually translate into 10 million unique visitors every month.

In an era where it seems like every media company is striving for page views above all else, and pumping out nothing but clickbait articles with little substance in order to attract them, Greatist takes a different approach.

"We don't think quantity is a metric that matters. Just like I don't think, increasingly, uniques and page views is a metric that matters. All of these things can be gained and aren't inherently valuable on their own," he says.

Greatist is now one of the world's most trusted brands when it comes to anything about health, fitness, and happiness. It's commitment to keeping a friendly and personal tone in all of its content has resonated with millennials throughout the world. With such a commitment to quality over quantity over everything else, Flanzraich has built from the ground up the kind of branding and engagement that most companies would kill for.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why you'll never be ready to be an entrepreneur, and why that's okay
• How to find a voice and tone that resonates with your audience
• How to calculate your long-term brand value
• Flanzraich's unique approach to content and how it holds up against the SEO-focused practices of others
• What it means to build a powerhouse brand and how to do it
• & much more!