Styled by Susie - anyone done it?

[Alanis41]

Hi all, I've been following the tribe group on Facebook for a while but just wondering if anyone here has tried it. I can't seem to get to the bottom of what they advise, seasons etc. Is there something similar closer to London. And she keeps advising chunky trainers, is this a thing now?

She's obviously very business minded and I bet there are people willing to buy all the services because some people on the group seem to absolutely buy into SBS hook, line and sinker. But to me it's just gone too far and takes away from the integrity of the overall business.

Online bra fitting for £25 Boob or bust do essentially the same thing for free

Some of the admins from Boob or Bust are in the SBS group. They must be a bit puzzled by this, as BoB is a huge group, about 10 times the size of Susie's. If I was them I'd carry on mentioning their own group when relevant, but they'll probably get banned.

She's clearly just modelling this on the Boob Or Bust method I should think. So basically just reinventing the wheel. She will pinch their way of doing it - because , virtually, there is no other way of measuring - and that'll be that.

@WowStarsWow

I run a group on Facebook - and I've name changed for this little post as I don't want to be outed. Anyway, we have a lot of members - many thousands- and I've had to remove lots of self promotion comments from the SBS lot. I kept seeing her services recommended and looked into it and yeah - let's just say she's keen to promote in huge groups to try and gain traction for her services. And that's understandable - but I couldn't allow it as I don't really understand the concept as it doesn't look much like styling to me!

Lostinaforest, if you are who I think you are, I'm in your group and I can see that Susie is too. That is so cheeky!

@WowStarsWow I'm not BOB who must be privately going WTF right now

@LostInAForest That is very interesting indeed, particularly considering how vocal Susie has been about other 'stylists' trying to join her FB group and subsequently attempting to steal her members / clients.

I see another stylist has been recruited now too.

To me, a lot of SBS moves over the past couple of months smack of a panic reaction to the pandemic. I wonder what the long term impact on her business will be.

I don’t think she’s got the business savvy to pull it off. It’s one thing to have a nice wee sideline in Instagram helping out your mates but turning it into a business and brand is far harder. I reckon she’ll come a cropper like that midwife who put her life all over Insta - and there was another beauty group on Facebook that went the same way with someone in charge who would only tolerate drones.

The website isn’t very professional either - the content is poorly written and badly edited with repeated lines all over the place. That said, if you’re targeting the mummy crowd who want to feel special after moving from supermarket leggings to the occasional piece of Hush tat*, the standards are not the same as if you’re trying to attract the S&B mavens

*Apologies if that comes across as bitchy. I find S&B at least as good as, and generally far superior to, any online style advice. But I can see how it might be intimidating with a high barrier to entry.

@LoeliaPonsonby Ah, yes. Mother of Daughters. Neither she nor her husband post any more; it all blew up in their faces.

I wonder how her recruits are paid? My gut feeling is that they earn commission off the services they do - so Susie makes money off them but technically they're self employed so she doesn't need to pay them? (I don't know anything about business so could well be wrong!!)

BoB is such a great FREE service

Also annoyed when they recruited the beauty woman. I think it's a good idea BUT beauty like lipstick colours etc used to be part of the gold package and there used to be lots of talk in the group of which lipsticks people were wearing / what suits your season. Now that's not allowed. I saw a post from Susie a while back saying something like - love my new lipstick but not naming shades

Like a franchise?? (I don't know how that works either!)

I won’t be going for a glasses analysis judging by the posts I’ve seen this week.

There is definitely more of a size range lately @Oopsadaisydoddle so they might have taken it on board. Shame to ban you though!

@LostInAForest I’m in the Facebook group MrsGlossandtheGoss and I saw what I felt were a few attempts at placement marketing. The OP in one post in particular quickly turned off comments after several SBS recommendations.

I can’t see how bra fitting is going to work online as a paid service. I see value in BOB as a free service but when you’re charging for it, you need to be present with your tape measure. I used to fit bras years ago and I’ve still got my training certificates somewhere.

I’d agree that some of the comments came across as patronising Oops. One of the photos I submitted I explained why I didn’t like what I was wearing but the analysis was dismissive of my opinion. It felt like they were blowing smoke up my arse.

I would guess the business model is definitely franchise; the recruited stylists probably have pay a percentage of their sales to Susie, and will be constrained in their services and marketing etc They’ll probably also be subject to a ‘restraint of trade’ if they want to leave.

If Susie is happy to promoted clothes made by slaves, I would not be surprised if she is happy to exploit her staff too. Another two awful glasses analyses today, one of those women looks 10 years older. In both cases their old glasses suit them better.

@MehMehMeow what’s placement marketing? Just so I can keep an eye out for it

Is it when someone joins a conversation with intent to advertise? Noticed there is a tattle thread for SBS now, god help her...

What's a tattle thread?

@Willow4987 placement marketing can be two forms - deliberate or disreputable

Deliberate - influencers Instagrams You know they’re promoting a product or service. They’ll not-so-casually pop their latest handbag in their ultra-carefully arranged flatlay They’re supposed to tag it / mark it as an ad (but lots of them are forgetful) You’ll also see it when products sponsor a tv programme (like coke cups on judging panels)

Disreputable- Marketing bombs, like if a beer brand sponsors a sports event, then a competitor sends a group of fans to a match in their own beer branding. I think Carlsberg did this to Heineken or reverse. Another example is when a brands marketing assistant pops into MN Style & Beauty and starts a thread “What do you think of XXXX brand?” Cue everyone (hopefully!) jumping on the thread saying how wonderful XXXX brand is... it prompts consumer to associate it positively instead of just ignoring an ad on the sidebar or a pop up. So the way I think SBS is deploying it as a friend or family member (or even a fake Facebook account set up for the purpose!) goes into a group like MrsGloss and puts up a post saying “I’m struggling with clothing, I’m a new mum, can anyone recommend an online stylist?” (Which is literally the post I saw!) Within an hour, 10 comments recommending SBS, just two suggesting following people on Instagram, and the OP closed comments.

You get placement marketing on here all the time - Snag tights being the canonical example.

I was a bit taken aback at a glasses analysis today. The glasses the woman owned before suited her so much better. I didn't dare comment, and that isn't good.

@MehMehMeow thanks so much! That makes total sense now you’ve written it like that. Makes me doubt every thing recommendation I read now