Canadian Retailer - Winter 2015 - 19

Silk Road Tea is a one-stop wellness destination for many of its customers.

"In our consumer culture, there's so much going on right now that
it's the things that are really unique and different that penetrate
the noise. Partnerships create a real sense of community among
your staff, your fellow businesses and your customers. It's some
of the best marketing you can possibly do for your store."
and taste. Being online has allowed
her to get this message out to more
people than she could have through
brick and mortar alone. and, what's
more, Silk Road also has a social
media presence to help it connect
with its customer through yet another channel. and it leverages the
medium with the tea-lover in mind.
"You have to constantly rethink
how you're engaging with your customer to remain relevant," she says.
"and it's perhaps most important
with respect to social media. What
we put out through that channel
needs to be something that makes
our customer laugh, or catches their
attention or educates them. i like
to refer to it as news you can use.
Things like ways to use tea to combat colds and flu, and entertaining
pieces like recipes for seasonal gatherings. Those messages resonate
because there isn't a heavy focus on
sales. it has to be a value add, not a
sales pitch. it has to be organic."
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What makes a great leader?
"it's about passion and vision. A great
leader is able to impart these things on
their staff and customers. And it can
be infectious."

a strong community message

"organic" could be the way to
describe just about everything that
Silk Road does, including its marketing, which has consisted primarily of positive word-of-mouth and
a commitment to the community,
which seem to comfortably go handin-hand for the company.
"our reputation, and building the
brand through it, is the way we've
grown," Cubelic explains. "We didn't
originally have the budget to market
like other retailers might be able to.
But we developed a lot of ambassadors for our store through excellent
service and knowledgeable staff.
and we support the community in
significant ways as well, which we've
become very well known for."
Some of this support is recog-

nized through partnerships with
local chefs and restaurants and
sponsorship and support of the art
Gallery of Greater Victoria, The
Royal B.C. Museum, the Victoria
Hospital Foundation, the BC Cancer Foundation, and the list goes on.
The store has also developed a partnership with Coastal First Nations
in the Great Bear Rainforest to distil
conifer essential oils from tree species there to use in the store's teainspired spa. and what's amazing
about this project is that it's working toward creating meaningful,
sustainable employment for First
Nations communities where it's difficult to find employment that's not
related to timber forest product. and
it's environmentally-friendly.
"Traditional and contemporary
marketing can all work," she says.
"But, partnerships are very important. For me as a creative person,
they're really inspiring and interesting. i love to do these things because
that's what gets me excited. it's fun.
in our consumer culture, there's so
much going on right now that it's
the things that are really unique and
different that penetrate the noise.
Partnerships create a real sense of
community among your staff, your
fellow businesses and your custom-

Winter 2015 | caNadIaN RETaIlER

| 19

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Canadian Retailer - Winter 2015

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