What It Actually Takes to Be Seen as a Small Brand
There's a version of the small business story that gets told a lot — the overnight success, the viral moment, the product that just took off. And there's the real version, which is quieter, messier, and honestly far more interesting.
Next week, Janni Bars is going to be featured on Nationwide. Wednesday, 7pm, RTÉ One. And while I'm genuinely proud of that — more than I'll probably admit out loud — what I keep thinking about is everything that came before it. Because features like this don't come from nowhere. They come from years of showing up when nobody's watching.
The market nobody warned you about
A few weeks ago I was listening to Chris from Green Angel — a brilliant Irish skincare brand that has been in the market for years. He said something that stuck with me. He was generous about it, warm even — great to see so many strong Irish brands now, he said — but he also admitted he wouldn't want to be starting over today. When Green Angel began, there were only a handful of natural skincare brands in Ireland. Barely any competition. You could build a following because there simply weren't that many options.
That world is gone.
The natural hair and body care space is now full. Beautifully, maddeningly full. There are big brands with massive budgets, small indie brands with huge social followings, and everything in between. Every week there's a new launch, a new face, a new product claiming to be the one. And on top of that — the way people consume content has fundamentally changed. Attention spans have collapsed. You're competing not just with other brands, but with every reel, every meme, every notification on someone's phone. People scroll past in seconds. Literally seconds. If you don't catch them immediately, they're gone.
When Janni Bars started, the question wasn't just can we make something good — it was how does anyone find us at all?
The honest answer
Slowly. Gradually. One customer at a time.
There's no shortcut that works long-term. No algorithm trick that substitutes for a product that genuinely delivers. What builds a real brand is consistency — showing up in stockists, at markets, in inboxes, on social media, in the quiet Tuesday afternoon when no one seems to be paying attention.
But the thing that has built Janni Bars more than anything else? Word of mouth.
It's slower than going viral. It doesn't spike your analytics overnight or give you a screenshot-worthy moment. But it works — deeply, durably, in a way that a viral moment often doesn't. When someone finds Janni Bars through a friend's recommendation, they don't come for a phase. They don't try one bar out of curiosity and move on to the next trending thing. They come back. And again. They become long-term customers — some of them for years now — who trust the products, who gift them to people they care about, who mention us without being asked.
That kind of loyalty isn't bought. It's built.
And honestly? All the marketing, all the content, all the strategy — what I'm really trying to do is take that word-of-mouth momentum and amplify it. Get more people into the funnel so that more of them can have that experience, tell a friend, come back again. The core of it has always been the product and the trust. Everything else is just trying to make sure more people get the chance to discover it.
What growth actually looks like
I've been clearing space lately — physically and metaphorically. Some products are moving to a Last Chance section on the website to make room for new launches that are coming very soon. It's a strange thing, retiring a product. Most of them were doing the right things, building their audience, getting lovely feedback — just on a slower timeline than the next chapter of Janni Bars allows for.
That's growth, though. Not everything makes it to the next stage. And knowing when to move on — from a product, a strategy, a version of the business — is as important as knowing what to hold onto. The brands that last aren't the ones that never change. They're the ones that know when to evolve.
The Nationwide moment
Being featured on national television is the kind of milestone that makes you stop and look back at the road behind you. The early batches. The first wholesale order. The markets in the rain. The first time a stranger reordered without being nudged.
It's not the destination. It's a moment on the way. But it's a good one, and I'm letting myself feel it — because I think that matters too. Small business life has a way of moving so fast that you skip straight past the wins to the next problem. Not this week.
For anyone in the middle of it
If you're a small business owner reading this and you're in that invisible middle phase — still fighting to be found, still doing the work before the work pays off — I just want to say: the crowded space is real. It's harder than it's ever been to start, to stand out, to sustain attention. Chris wasn't wrong.
But the crowded space isn't a reason to give up. It's a reason to be specific, be consistent, and be genuinely good at what you do. It's a reason to build real relationships with your customers rather than chasing numbers. It's a reason to play the long game — because most people won't, and that's exactly where your opportunity lives.
Someone will notice. And then they'll tell a friend.
That's how this works.
Janni Bars is featured on Nationwide, RTÉ One, this Wednesday at 7pm. Shop the full range — including the Last Chance section — at www.jannibars.com/collections/sale