We often look to the iconic leaders of our time for motivation and wisdom, but for many of us, this is purely inspirational and not as applicable to our everyday lives. We truly believe there is more benefit in looking to your left and seeking out a peer-to-peer mentorship with a colleague or friend you admire. Why? Firstly, they will likely have the time to be your mentor, and secondly, their advice will be relatable and allow you to see your path clearly while keeping your mind open to new ideas, identifying new opportunities, and helping you self-advocate. We call them everyday superheroes. In this new series, we talk to the people who are paying it forward, lifting others up and paving a smoother path for the next generation to come. Next up, Sarah McDonald, Head of Brand at Byte.

Everyone’s talking about them. In fact, we’d go as far as saying they’re one of the most buzzed-about products of 2020 and it’s easy to see why. Most of us have a few things we wish we could change about our smile. That’s where Byte comes in, they offer at-home invisible braces (aligners) that both straighten and whiten your teeth without ever having to step foot outside of your home. Pretty slick!

Byte is at the forefront of innovation fusing cutting-edge technology with design and convenience all rolled into one (very) stylish product. But what makes these at-home aligners so much better than their predecessors and how did they grow the company to surpass $100 million in revenue on a bootstrapped budget? Not to mention a devoted following of celebrity fans like Nina Dobrev, Jada Pinkett Smith, and more!

Put simply, Byte makes it easy. Now, you can get the smile you love without ever going anywhere, and for less than half the cost of getting the metal kind of braces. Once you create your own impressions at home (it takes just 15 minutes), a licensed orthodontist uses them to design your personalized treatment plan. Custom clear aligners ship directly to your door, and the treatment time is cut in half with HyperByte. We were really surprised at how affordable it all is, considering the fact that your smile is guaranteed for life. Yup, that’s right. So if at any time after going through your Byte treatment process, your smile moves out of alignment, they’ll help get it back at no additional cost. Now, we understand the hype!

So who’s the rockstar brand marketer behind this game-changing brand that’s breaking the mold for at-home dental care? Introducing, Sarah McDonald. She’s part of the OG team at Byte who built the brand from the ground up (literally!) and helped grow the brand to surpass $100 million in revenue on a bootstrapped marketing budget. Woah!

Want to know how? Ahead, we take a closer look at McDonald’s creative marketing approach, the strategy behind the startup’s incredible organic growth, how the amazing partnership with Byte’s creative advisor, Kerry Washington came to life, and so much more!

Grab a pen, you’ll want to take notes!

On what she wanted to be when she grew up…

Is it weird that I didn’t have a dream career? I went to Business School at Howard University and picked marketing as my focus because it aligned with the type of career I could envision for myself—being social, creative, and trend-forward. I mean, accounting is cool and all, but probably not a good fit for someone who prefers working with people over numbers.

After business school, I went the traditional route of finding a “good” job and worked at big corporations. My first job was actually in medical sales. Great experience, I got my feet wet, but like any good rom-com, I was the girl who felt like something was missing, haha. Remember, back then brand marketing was a very different beast, the world of blogs, influencers, and social media marketing were all just emerging channels. Nobody knew what it would turn into!

So, I decided to try working at startups, wearing many hats, and learning what parts of marketing that I was really passionate about. I had to keep pushing to evolve my career until things finally started to click. It wasn’t always a straightforward process, but I kept honing my craft with each new role.

On why she joined the Byte startup…

A couple of years ago at my mom’s retirement party, I saw firsthand how many people’s lives she affected after a lifetime of being a teacher. It was then, that I really started to question the “why” behind my career and the work I was doing. When co-founder, Scott Cohen pitched the idea of Byte to me, my initial reaction was mixed. Dentistry isn’t sexy! It’s not trendy. Would this really be a smart move for my career?

Scott explained that this startup had a lot more potential, a bigger opportunity at hand. Byte has built a network of over 200 licensed dentists and orthodontists across the country to support our customer’s smile. We utilize the latest technologies to connect with people for safe virtual treatment. At first, it seems like just a great convenient service, but as the co-founders dug deeper, it’s actually a revolutionary approach that can help under-served, or remote communities across the country who never had access to great dental care. The technology we are putting into place can have a much larger impact on people’s health and wellbeing.

A healthy, confident smile is one of those things that mean so much more than a lot of us ever realize. It’s not something we should take for granted, and having the ability to positively impact so many lives is game-changing. The magnitude of it all really hit me and I realized this really could be the opportunity I was craving to build a brand with so much potential for good.

On the challenges of building Byte from the ground up…

Yes, launching this brand had some major challenges, I think a lot of small businesses or startups can relate. Byte was not the first brand to enter the space, there were already well-established companies like Smile Direct Club and Invisalign. Knowing that the competition was stiff, I wanted to create an authentic brand that was bold, relatable, and a fresh take on dentistry (and somehow launching on a bootstrapped budget).

From day one, we really embraced the idea of being bold—owning a URL like byteme.com isn’t exactly tip-toeing into the space. Our technology is also bold. We have an exclusive device, HyperByte, which cuts treatment time in half, with an average treatment time of just three months. That is nothing to take lightly in an industry where most of us think in terms of the words “braces’ and “years”—it’s crazy to know we can now speak in terms of just “months.” Our product was a clear winner, now I just needed to figure out how to best connect with our future customers.

I focused right away on how we would speak as a brand. Building a tone, voice, and personality that was genuine, empowering, and embraced our customer and corporate diversity. You know, the cool friend that’s engaging but not afraid to have a little byte. We’d support you at all times and would never give canned responses. This approach helped us achieve a rating of #1 customer service experience. The positive reviews started flowing in, so clearly we were onto something.

Another big win was transforming the perception of orthodontics. I decided we would not just be selling straight teeth but rather the confidence and empowerment Byte brings people. This would allow us to tell meaningful stories and intentionally lean into areas like beauty and self-care, all while celebrating our customers’ smile journeys.

Keeping these brand strategies top of mind from day zero has really allowed Byte to stand out from the competition, all in the most authentic ways.

On partnering with Kerry Washington as the Byte creative advisor…

As Byte grew, we continued towards our goal of making the inaccessible, accessible, especially in underserved communities. We launched ByteCares with the mission to improve 10,000 smiles by 2022. The work we were doing started catching on and garnering us some attention- for all the right reasons. Kerry heard about our mission and actually asked to invest in us, which we were totally not expecting. She really understood the bigger “why’s” behind Byte and was eager to get involved. She summarized what it meant in such a perfect way, that we knew this would be more than just a simple collaboration, and we decided to bring her on as an Investor and Creative Advisor.

Finding those deeper connections with Kerry, and with our customers is what it’s all about. We are very excited to work with her more over the next year to expand our ByteCares program; the possibilities really do seem limitless.

On getting the most bang for your marketing buck…

For us, marketing is all about the customer. Speaking their language, being a supportive resource, and most importantly knowing when to listen. I never really had big budgets for photoshoots or creative, so we had to figure out what would help us tell the story on the cheap. The photos we get of smile transformations every day are what work to best sell the product. Byte has embraced diversity from day one, so we actually love the wide range of photos our customers send us. Real people, not photoshopped, and true to their individual style.

It can actually be emotional to see a before photo where someone is almost too uncomfortable to even smile or has told us how they were bullied growing up for the way their teeth look. Then, in only six weeks or so, we get a totally new photo, not just of their improved teeth and smile, but you can feel their joy and confidence that has finally returned.

Whether it’s an influencer or our thousands of customers, these stories, photos, and journeys are what we use for effective marketing. It’s much easier to trust a brand when real people are showing their love and experience instead of an over-produced ad campaign.

On building a $100M brand on a bootstrapped marketing budget…

Compared to a lot of venture-backed D2C companies, we really never had huge marketing budgets. I knew that was going to be a challenge for the significant growth goals we had. In the early days we invested in a few key things like an amazing packaging and unboxing experience, but most of our money needed to go towards other parts of the business outside of the brand.

I sacrificed some big marketing dreams and had to be super scrappy leaning into friends and micro-influencers to help generate content and spread the word. I strategically requested content that could work well on our digital advertising channels where the majority of our money was being spent.

Skip ahead to year two, we tried our first campaign called, “Don’t tell me to smile” it was all about female empowerment and embracing our real emotions. Facing the decision of putting big agency marketing behind it, or continuing to be scrappy, we felt like we needed to stay true to our roots. The result was an affordable, but really honest way to show our following that we were listening, and we understood them at a deeper level.

Finally this past year, with the challenges of growing a business during a pandemic and recession, we continued to use our brand for supporting, rather than just selling. From manufacturing face shields to opening our remote dentist network up to anyone who needed access, (not just our customers) our decisions were always made with Byte’s real purpose as the driving force.

So, where does the growth part come in? The more genuine we were, and intentional with our actions, the more people started to take notice. PR came naturally, brands and celebrities wanted to team up, and our customers continued to write raving reviews across all the popular review sites about choosing Byte, and advocate for us daily. The secret sauce was honestly doing good, not for marketing, but for a greater purpose.

On advice for aspiring brand marketers who want to achieve similar success…

Passion can come from the strangest places, keep an open mind! Who knew teledentistry would be such a unique intersection of empowerment, helping people build courage through confidence, providing access to underserved populations, and safety during a pandemic… all while getting to create a really fun authentic brand experience. If you are feeling lost in your career and looking to make a bigger impact, you just never know what that may look like.

Our team at Byte loves tapping into the Create and Cultivate community for great self-care tips. We know the value of a routine that’s all about little wins that keep us sane and feeling good.