Selective AI and influencer growth at Burlap and Bling Decor
Stacey Ingram is CEO of Burlap and Bling Decor, which supplies materials and finished decorative pieces for wreaths and seasonal home décor to hobbyists and more serious designers. The conversation is worth reading because it shows a practical, selective use of AI for brand voice and reporting while the business continues to rely on ambassadors and influencers for growth.
Use AI selectively where it adds consistency and efficiency, for example to maintain brand voice in mailers and to support backend reporting, while keeping most day-to-day work with trusted human workflows and tested software.
What’s the quick origin story of your business, and what makes what you do genuinely different from the other options your customers are looking at?
Our brand is focused on sparking fresh ideas with designs and our carefully selected products. We believe in a healthy mix of value and extravagant products that can really bring your home decor to life.
Where does most of your new business come from today, and where do you wish it came from?
Our business thrives on referrals from ambassadors and influencers. I believe these are the ideal channels for us.
What’s one thing you’ve actually handed over to AI in the last year, and one thing you tried it on and went back to doing the human way?
We use it to help keep our “voice” in our branding the same consistency for our mailers. We use it a bit on our backend as well for internal reporting as well. At this moment, for most of our day-to-day, we do things the human way with software we know is tried and true.
Have you noticed a change in how customers find you or what they already know before they reach out? Is anyone arriving through AI assistants like ChatGPT yet?
We haven’t noticed too much of a change besides an increase in viewers and a higher click-through rate using SEO.
If you were advising someone in your industry on all of this for the next 12 months, what would you tell them to actually do, and what would you tell them to ignore?
Focus on the bigger picture. It is good to try new things, and you can always start small on new ideas to see what takes off.
Thank you to Stacey Ingram and the team at Burlap and Bling Decor for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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