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Mumbassador Interview: Leyla Preston

Posted on: May 23, 2017 9:19 am

For the first in our new series of interviews with a selection of Talk to Mums Mumbassadors, we speak to 35-year-old Mumbassador Leyla Preston to get her take on working with different brands to spread the word about new products.

Name: Leyla Preston
Age: 35
Location: Radlett, Hertfordshire
Children: Two Boys
Works: Self-employed – Founder of Motherhood Diaries and Five for a Fiver
Time with Talk to Mums: One year

Tell us about the projects you’ve worked on since you became part of the Talk to Mums network… I’ve worked on projects for Kettle Bites, Ecover and Knorr. The Kettle Bites campaign was all about introducing the very tasty BBQ flavour Kettle Bites, which were miles healthier at 94 calories per pack, than the normal Kettle Bites crisps. I distributed 1,000 samples, mostly at the school gates, and they were a huge hit. It was a great project to work on and very simple because mums are currently looking for healthy snack alternatives that they can just grab and eat at any time. Plus, these crisps are suitable for children too, so the mums I gave the samples out to really responded very well to these crisps. I was known as the crisp lady for a long time after that! The Ecover project was great because it was different. Some mums were quite tentative at first about accepting the products as they were worried that the product could affect their children’s allergies. But after talking to them I educated them about the product telling them that in fact Ecover was probably a lot safer to use than their current products. I distributed 1,500 samples of Ecover. Knorr Seasoning was another fun project to work on, I distributed 1,000 samples for them. Like Knorr and Ecover what I really enjoyed about this project was meeting new people and discussing the brand with them. I didn’t experience any negativity and had a great time handing out goodies. I felt like I was doing something good for the people.

What do you love most about being a member of the Talk to Mums network? Talk to Mums is such a positive and friendly community. Sally Durcan is extremely lovely and personable and takes the time to understand your issues, rather than negatively pressuring you to succeed in your role.

What benefits does it give you? Compared to other work? You are paid well for your time and efforts, not just with money, but with increasing skills and knowledge of the marketing and retail sector. The hours are super flexible, so the job suits mums to a ‘T’. I would thoroughly recommend signing up to at least give it a shot.

What do your friends think about what you do with Talk to Mums? My stay-at-home mummy friends have been very interested in learning more about how it all works and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them sign up to give it a try themselves.

What are the best things about working on a project with Talk to Mums?
1. You can sign up at any time. You don’t have to worry about time and any expenses because there aren’t any restrictions. The role is perfect for busy mums with little time to earn money.
2. You are paid well for your time handing out the samples, which helps towards any financial pressures you may be worrying about when signing up.
3. You are supported throughout the entire process. The Talk to Mums network is friendly and knowledgeable, so you should never be worried about reaching out and asking questions. Most of all, they’re mums too, so everyone knows how hard each other works.

Would you recommend becoming part of the Talk to Mums? Absolutely!

Can you tell us if you / your family have used the product or products from the brand you sampled from since? If not yet, would you be more likely to choose this product / brand than others in the future? We have all sampled the products before handing them out and my family and I are very impressed with the high quality of each of these products. We have since bought them to use at home.

Have you spoken to other mums about the products / brand since? I think the Kettle Bites left the biggest impression on my mum friends, so we mums regularly have a little laugh when we see each other eating those crisps.

Do you think you are now more aware of the brands you sampled from, have you engaged with them on social media? Yes, I am definitely more aware of the three products I have worked with and try to help where I can by retweeting and sharing content from each of them. I also try to tag the brands in any personal posts if they are relevant.

Can you tell us about any positive comments you received from your network when you recommended a product / shared a sample with them? People have messaged me to let me know that they have bought the product since they sampled it, used it and loved it, which is great.

Can you tell us why you think word of mouth product recommendations are so impactful, particularly in comparison to traditional forms of advertising? It is so much more personal to strike up a conversation with someone face-to-face and feed off their reactions rather than working from a script. I am a person who fails more when they plan too much and so a lot of the time it was much nicer to have a rapport with the person first before handing them a sample. This builds trust, and likeability, which are two of the most important factors when it comes to encouraging a purchase in the end.

To find out more about how Talk to Mums can help you get your brands into the right hands get in touch today…

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