I know this post is WAY off the beaten path for my brand.

I’m a social media author and consultant, why in the world would I be posting about a vitamin? Two reasons.

1. The company, Garden of Life, ROCKS at developing a brand ambassador program.

Taking my vitamins is a vital part of my health regimen, but one day I was suddenly out. The husband and I stopped at the local health food store so I could pick some up, but they didn’t have my favorite brand – Garden of Life – so I decided to wait a few more days until we were in another city to try again. Remember, I live in the middle of NOWHERE Iowa most of the year. There are limited choices out here. The very next day there was a knock on the office door. I could see the truck leaving. A box, for me! What did I order?

When I opened the box I seriously squealed. I LOVE Garden of Life products and here was a BEAUTIFUL presentation of a new product.

The box contains a extremely good quality branded shopping bag, TWO boxes of their new vitamin line (more about that in a moment) and a cool sippy-type cup with a straw, a great magazine and info about the new product. Yay! Then I read the letter.

This message, from Brian Ray, the President of Garden of Life was straight to the point. He outlined why they created this new line called “Kind” made with simple, pure, organic, non-gmo ingredients. That, by itself, is truly wonderful, but this vitamin is also not cultured, or use any fermented yeast and soy. Wow.

Now, I understand good sales copy, so I was surprised at how I felt when I read this…

“We fully recognize that our success is because of you and your loyalty to Garden of Life, and our mission. I’m sending you this gift as a personal thank you for being one of our most important brand partners.”

Ah. I love being recognized for my work. But the only way they could possibly know how much I rave about their product is either they are following me around (spooky?), or they have a VERY good lead process from workshops. I attended a BlogHer conference last year and gushed to the Garden of Life table attendant about how much I love their products. That was enough to get me a bag full of samples and my name on a list.

MANY businesses fall apart at this point. They loose the momentum with the enthusiastic people (their future brand ambassadors) and let things slide away. Not these guys. I’m trying to use their process as a template in my own work in developing good affiliates and brand cheerleaders.

When a company says they will put me in the running to a vacation to Palm Beach, FL (one of my favorite places on the planet) and all I have to do is review their new line, well, I’m all over that. Way off the path of my branding or not. THAT is the 1st reason.

So here’s the Review.

I’m half-way through the bottle and I look forward to taking these every morning. The very interesting thing about these vitamins is I can either swallow them or CHEW them. If you hate to swallow vitamins, especially if they feel too big, this is a great thing! I love options.

I’m a label-reader. Yes. I’m one of those people. The people who run the booths at Costco hate me. 🙂 Even though I LOVE this company, I read the label. I really have to know what’s in something before I ingest it. This has been my habit for at least 3 or more decades. I’m impressed with everything in Kind Organics (this is not an affiliate link) especially the Vitamin D (1000IU), Vitamin K (80 mcg) and B12 (30 mcg). The source of these things are in alignment with what I feel is good. And just reading through the “Organic Food Blend” part makes me happy.

This is a high-level vitamin. I can completely (and even without the incentive of the beach vacation in FL) HIGHLY recommend this new line called Kind Organics.

2. Sometimes we need to pull back the curtain and share what we do

I think it’s important to share those day-to-day things you do to stay healthy and inspired. Most of the time it’s about the books, or the blogs, or the tools you use, but rarely do we share our health routines. I DO know that the mighty Chris Brogan does a fantastic job of pulling back the curtain and showing the world his exercise routine on Instagram. He is very open and honest about his own personal journey. I’m always inspired by him. But he is really quite the rare case. Andrea Vahl also comes to mind as someone in my industry who shares her morning run with us every day. She inspires me and makes me realize how much I need to get my butt up off this desk chair. And I know there are people who share their nutritional products from time to time – and I think that’s great.

If you find something that works for you – share it with the world. I DO know that you can’t expect people to do what you say is good. I’m a Mother to two grown kids who have their own kids – and let me tell you – I have learned THAT lesson! 🙂 Even though I continue to try, sometimes you can only sit in the satisfaction that you found something that works for you.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little departure from my regular type of posting. The Social Media Manager School launch was VERY successful and I’m looking forward to a new group of students! And TimeBliss.ME is gearing up for something BIG! So back to marketing and taking care of my clients and enjoying this beautiful Fall day. Cheers everyone.