The world’s largest source of transformational media.
Gaia answers life’s deeper questions and goes beyond the mainstream narrative. A member-supported media network of truth seekers and believers, Gaia empowers the evolution of consciousness. The platform streams over 8,000 ad-free titles that challenge modern paradigms and allow you to manifest the reality that defines your being.
Unlocking growth.
Fresh off a decade-plus leading Xbox marketing at Microsoft, Jaymi joined Gaia in 2014 as their Chief Marketing Officer.
Jaymi, on transforming Gaia:
Millions of people globally wanted a curated collection of exclusive videos that explored the edges of consciousness — from yoga to the cosmos. But the team had plateaued at 40,000 members. My job was to come on board, rebrand the entire business, and find growth.
Out of the gate, I invested my time in crafting the brand. Our story had been unfocused, our value unclear, even our audience insights were just good guesses. We qualified and quantified our target audiences (yes, we had two distinct primary targets, with a third emerging segment — a rarity in successful singular brands). We refined our value props, elevated our image, and crafted laser-focused, exquisite, hardworking creative and messaging.
Then we leaned hard into digital performance-based marketing and found the bend of the hockey stick. Facebook would call to dig into how we were doing what we were doing. Google called one day to share a robust report of our burgeoning social footprint, “you are officially one of our fastest growing social brands this year.”
We succeeded, however, not because of our science. We excelled because of our art of telling stories.
And it worked. 1,500% growth in five years.
Our endeavor at Gaia was to embrace the niche, but in a way that was really enticing to the next two adjacent circles. We weren’t looking at the outer ring, but also weren’t interested in just the bullseye. We wanted to stay faithful to the niche, but take it towards the mainstream. If you were interested in wellness, you’d be interested in Gaia.
And it was good growth. They stuck around. — JB
Lighting up community.
Anybody can tell stories but can you tell ones that inspire movements?
So many companies set out to create communities, but the truth is that nobody really creates community. Communities exist on their own — its members may simply not have found one another yet.
So for many companies, the order of operations needs to flip.
Your first order of business is to be crystal clear about who you are and what is yours to do. Tell stories, real stories, human stories, using the native language of your tribe so those who share your ethos know someone like you exists. Once you’re stunningly clear about why you do what you do, craft amazing experiences so your people can gather.
Then step aside and watch the real magic happen.
That’s the genius of truly special community companies: Facilitate and light up the moments people want to connect around, and let them run. — JB
BY THE NUMBERS
Now in 186 countries.
In five years, Gaia grew 1,500%.
85%
YOY Growth
(5 Years)
15X
Subscriber growth
(5 Years)
2.5X
Lifetime Value against Cost Per Acquisition.
8X
Six-month growth in social media followers
KEY TAKEAWAY
Disciplined growth.
Striving for big numbers, without the underpinnings of fiscal discipline, makes no sense to a business that is truly invested in serving the consumer for a long, long time.
So many companies serve their shareholders before any other constituency, and big growth numbers are the target. At Gaia, we believed that serving our most core customers was the most important thing we could do not only for our mission, but for the health of our long-term business.
For example, we never spent more than 50% of lifetime value (LTV) to acquire a new customer, no matter how many thousands we could get. Even though we grew our base over 1500% in about 5 years, our investors invested in us because of our discipline more than anything else. — JB
