Reaching out to the LGBTQIA Community

It was three years ago that a TikTok video about me discussing the range of greetings cards available to the LGBTQIA community went viral.

https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenseal02/video/7143006533293477125?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7441621593741641248

After my husband patented a greetings card that did not require a separate envelope, and this concept began to get positive feedback from industry professionals and friends, greetings cards started being a big part of my life. 

Inclusivity on the other hand has always been a passion of mine. So, combining the two became inevitable. 

It was after a lovely pub meal to celebrate my daughter’s birthday that we were discussing LGBTQ greetings cards. I was explaining my ideas of creating greetings cards that would potentially fill a gap within the LGBTQ community. The cards that I had seen available to buy seemed largely based on rainbows and (following the few glasses of wine I had at dinner) I was questioning the options that gay people might have in purchasing cards if they weren't particularly keen on rainbows.  My daughter Lauren and her girlfriend Dayla were videoing and commenting on my ideas. 

Inevitably, I went off on a few tangents, but my intentions were always to support and include greetings cards for everyone. I was quite a new LGBT mum at the time, and it incensed me how anyone could disown or not support that child's decision on who they fell in love with and maybe this passion came through in the TikTok video because over the following days the video reached over 850,000 views. 

On the back of this, I decided to create the cards that I had been discussing, and a new range of Bare Cards was born. 

Our best-selling cards in the range are the ‘Son and Son-in-Law Anniversary’ and the ‘Transgender Birthday’ cards; both of which customers have said are difficult to source on the High Street. Our non-binary cards also sell well online, giving people the option of buying traditional greetings cards using gender neutral language, but also celebrating their love and pride for the recipient. 

As an ‘envelope free’ card, we have the unique selling point of being able to fully illustrate our posting pages and this is where I think Bare Cards steps up against other LGBTQIA greetings card companies. We can print the appropriate Pride Flags on our posting pages, giving people the opportunity to shout from the rooftops about how proud they are of their identity! 

However, I sometimes get frustrated at how difficult it is to market our cards. I think I’ve got the SEO correct, I post regularly on social media channels, and we sell into over 40 independent retailers in the UK. It’s tricky to advertise the uniqueness of the cards online and I still feel that there is a huge LGBTQIA market still to reach. 

Maybe this blog will help me out.......