How Rrhoid Rage is Using Humor in Advertising to Disrupt a Boring Market

 Entrepreneurs trying to disrupt a long-established market must be prepared to fight against larger competitors to win market share. Today's guests on the show did this by developing a unique selling point that addressed their customer's pain points - and infusing it into their product design, marketing and branding.

They are Trey Coleman and Trey Anderson of Rrhoid Rage, a startup that makes treatment and prevention products for hemorrhoids. Coleman had suffered with the condition for 15 years and was familiar with the accompanying discomfort, pain and feelings of shame. His experience partly informed his company's mission: to change the embarrassing nature of hemorrhoids and to normalize discussions around hemorrhoids while producing top-tier products to help relieve the pain hemorrhoids bring.

Today, they do this by using humor in their marketing and encouraging prospects to face the problem light-heartedly - something that no other competitor is doing. It is resonating with their market, bringing awareness in a competitive market and helping them stand out. Join us now as our guests share their unique experiences in entrepreneurship, product development and marketing.

In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we’ll cover:

●      The reality of competing against large established companies.

●      Finding untapped opportunities in saturated markets.

●      How a unique selling point (USP) can accelerate business growth and success.

●      How humor improves brand awareness and encourages your audience to engage.

●      And so much more!

Have you suffered from hemorrhoids before? Which Do-it-yourself (DIY) or funny methods did you design to help manage it? Please share your experience with us in the YouTube comments section.

If you're suffering from hemorrhoids or know someone who is, then visit www.rrhoidrage.com to learn more about how Rrhoid Rage's fast hemorrhoid treatments can help you. You’ll receive free shipping when you order ointments or gummies.

To be a guest on The Harvest Growth Podcast, contact us today!

Do you have a brand that you’d like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands totaling over $2 billion in revenues? Visit HarvestGrowth.com and set up a free consultation with us today!

Transcript

Jon LaClare [00:00:00]:

When I mention hemorrhoids, what brand comes to mind? This is a market that has been led by big, slow moving competitors that really haven't changed much in decades. It reminds me of my time with Oxiclean when we were going up against massive brands and we eventually won, ending up as the number one laundry stain remover. Today's guests are likewise successfully growing their business against a major competitor in the hemorrhoid space and are on a similar trajectory to the very early days of Oxiclean. Listen to this interview to learn how you can compete against entrenched brands.

Announcer [00:00:33]:

Are you looking for new ways to make your sales grow? You've tried other podcasts, but they don't seem to know. Harvest the growth potential of your product or service as we share stories and strategies that'll make your competitors nervous. Now here's the host of the Harvest Growth podcast, Jon LaClare.

Jon LaClare [00:00:53]:

Welcome back to the show. Today I'm really excited to have with me two founders that share a name and share passion for a really cool product. We're going to talk about exactly what that is, share their entire story, and they've got a lot of fun stories they're going to share today. So first, I want to introduce Trey Coleman. He's the founder and CEO, and his partner, Trey Anderson, who's the president of a company called Rrhoid Rage. Not Road Rage, not steroids, but hemorrhoids. So Rrhoid Rage, you gotta love the branding. Phenomenal.

Jon LaClare [00:01:22]:

I met these guys a few months ago, a few weeks ago at a trade show, and as soon as I heard it, I had to get their story. And they've done a phenomenal job of growing this already. It's a fairly new product, but their trajectory is really just starting. This is a massive home run in the waitings, and they've got, like I said, some great stories to share. But before we dive into those, I want to talk a little bit about the product, what it is, et cetera, and then we'll dive into the stories. But first of all, Trey and Trey, welcome to the show.

Trey Anderson [00:01:50]:

Thanks for having us. We appreciate it.

Jon LaClare [00:01:54]:

So, first question, what is roid rage? I mentioned it's for hemorrhoids, but can you talk about your products?

Trey Coleman [00:02:00]:

Yeah. So Rrhoid Rage is a hemorrhoid treatment and prevention company. And our whole focus is to make hemorrhoid treatment and prevention products. And so right now we have two products that you can buy online, Amazon, Walmart.com, and our website. And we have an ointment that's the treatment part, and we have fiber and magnesium gummies, and that's kind of the preventative maintenance part. I don't want to steal your thunder. The other Trey, you can just refer me as TC, and this is Ta, but I know it can get confusing. But as Trey likes to say, we like to help you on the front end or the back end, whichever you need, or both.

Trey Coleman [00:02:41]:

So that's kind of our thing. We've got a lot more to come as far as products.

Jon LaClare [00:02:47]:

So to my audience, you're going to hear some little sound bites here. You got to pay attention. So help on the front end or the back end. There's going to be a lot of puns today, and this product certainly fits that. You guys have done a great job of introducing humor into the market. Again, I want to talk about some specifics on that, but let's talk about the. You've got a competitive market, right? So there's not a lot of well known brands, but there's a couple of big ones that have been around for a long time and have not really changed in forever. First of all, how do you compete against somebody that's so entrenched in the market? Like a preparation H, for example?

Trey Coleman [00:03:19]:

Yeah, no, that's a great question. So preparation H, obviously, everybody, if people do know what hemorrhoids are, I know there's a lot of younger people that they don't even know what a hemorrhoid is. Lucky for them, but not so lucky when you get older because they'll probably find out the hard way. But preparation H is kind of synonymous with hemorrhoids. That's like you said, it's been around forever. They kind of went through their own journey, and they're actually owned by Pfizer now. So they're owned by a large pharmaceutical company, and they've been a player on the game since. Hemorrhoid treatment has been a thing and beyond home remedies.

Trey Coleman [00:03:57]:

And it's a difficult process because one of the biggest, hardest things to do as a new company is it's all about brand awareness. Right? Like we have the cool branding, we have the funny stuff and all that, but really getting your name out there. And as one of our experts, our online experts that we hired says, when you go in and disrupt an industry that's just kind of been unchanged for forever, right. They're not just going to roll over and let you just take market share right off the bat.

Trey Anderson [00:04:28]:

No.

Trey Coleman [00:04:28]:

They're going to fight you every step of the way, and they're going to counterbid your advertising and they're going to bid against your page and all this stuff. It's brutal. So I think the way we do it, though, is we continue to hit on being different and being fresh and changing up the dynamic and being different with product, our ingredients, the way we approach it. And the one thing that cuts through embarrassing topics, the one thing that always helps with that is humor. And that's where they've been lacking big time. It's going to continue to stay embarrassing and people won't want to talk about it if you keep just making a boring, medical looking brand. So we're using humor to cut through a lot of that.

Jon LaClare [00:05:18]:

I think that helps. In my mind, when you introduce humor, it helps people to talk about the product, talk about the brand, but also talk about the problem. Right. It is a pervasive problem. No one wants to talk about hemorrhoids, but if you can get some humor behind it, then maybe they'll open up a little bit or at least admit it to their friends and their friends can refer Roy raids to them, for example. Right. Be more open to talking and spreading the brand as opposed to being always embarrassed by it, for sure.

Trey Anderson [00:05:43]:

Yeah. It's a lot more common than people know. I mean, one in 20 people in America right now are suffering with hemorrhoids. Right. And I promise you they're not bringing it up, unlike my business partner, Mr. Coleman There, they're not bringing it up at the dinner table. So I'll let him tell you about that. But most people just don't talk about it.

Trey Anderson [00:06:01]:

It's one of those know, hush hush things. And we wanted to bring humor. And you asked about why we're different. We're veteran owned, made in the USA. We've got a lot of things in our corner to help us show that we're trying know do something different in this market. And using humor is a great way, like Trey said, to break the ice, right?

Jon LaClare [00:06:22]:

Absolutely. Let's talk about the formula. So how did you guys develop the original formulation? You got, I guess, two products, but how did you come up with the formulas for both of these?

Trey Coleman [00:06:32]:

Yeah, so my wife and I, we originally started the company together. And as Trey alluded to, I struggled with hemorrhoids for 15 years. And so I've tried the preparation H's and the other companies out there, and really there's only a handful of companies that actually offer decent treatment. So I kind of know what works well in a formula. Lidocaine is a must because if you have painful hemorrhoids, you're going to want some kind of numbing agent in there. Extrins, any kind of ingredient like witch Hazel and stuff like that, that really shrinks tissue because when you flare up, they get enlarged, they're hurting. So you want to shrink them. You want to numb the pain.

Trey Coleman [00:07:17]:

And there's ingredients in some of the top, I guess, ointments or creams have different types of, they have lidocaine, they have witch Hazel or phenyliferin. And so we decided to, okay, let's keep the stuff that works really well, and let's go hire a chemist to add some ingredients that we feel like are lacking in these ingredients. And one of those key ingredients is magnesium. Magnesium is not in any other ointment that we've seen, unless there's a new ointment out there that I haven't seen yet, but it wasn't really in any other ointment. And magnesium is a huge help because it provides a healing and soothing effect to really calm down the inflammation and all that pain. And another side note is the indirect benefits of magnesium is over 80% of Americans are deficient in magnesium. So we're also kind of helping indirectly this deficiency, this magnesium deficiency problem with Americans. And people even take magnesium supplements because they're so deficient.

Trey Coleman [00:08:20]:

So we're helping a lot of different fronts. And we have balsam fur in our ointment that also helps and has this little subtle scent. It's not like you're putting cologne up there. You don't want to do that. But it's a very subtle scent. Kind of masks some of that odor that you get from hemorrhoids. So we hired a chemist, and we had that professionally made, and we landed on what we have now, which we're very happy with.

Jon LaClare [00:08:50]:

Let's talk about the two separate products, too. I love how you talk about help on the front end and on the back end. So on the front end, it's about prevention. Right. So helping people that might be chronic sufferers of hemorrhoids or get it periodically. So how do you prevent that? And when you're preventing hemorrhoids, you guys can speak better to this, but I assume you're preventing a lot of other things as well. So talk about your product. I'll let you tell the product name.

Jon LaClare [00:09:13]:

I love it.

Trey Coleman [00:09:16]:

The prevention. Yeah. Okay. So we have our gummies. So we have the ointment. Then we have our gummies, which is the preventative or the maintenance. And it's fiber, magnesium gummies. But it's called fiber in the whole gummies, and it's got a grenade.

Trey Coleman [00:09:32]:

If you go to our website, you can see it. People love the marketing and branding on this one. But again, magnesium staple ingredient, and it's a combination. It's one of the only gummies on the market that has both fiber and magnesium. And the type of magnesium we're using in that one is an osmotic laxative. So hemorrhoids, one of the main causes of hemorrhoids is what you're doing on the toilet. Are you sitting on the toilet listening to a podcast for too long? I mean, it's good that you're listening to a podcast, but maybe don't sit on the toilet the entire time because you're going to get hemorrhoids. But how people poop, basically, is what's causing hemorrhoids.

Trey Coleman [00:10:14]:

And so if we can help their digestive system, it's also going to alleviate the hemorrhoid problem, make it better, or even prevent it altogether. And that's the whole focus behind the fiber and magnesium gummies. Fiber in the whole.

Jon LaClare [00:10:29]:

I love it. Go ahead.

Trey Anderson [00:10:32]:

Sorry, I was just going to say, just to piggyback on that. If you've ever dealt with hemorrhoids, you know how painful they are. But the reason we say we can either help you on the front end or the back end is because I would much rather help everybody on the front end with the gummies, which is why we tried to get that out as much as possible. If there's any way that I can prevent ever getting hemorrhoids again, I would do that every day because I don't want to deal with the back end. So I would very much rather deal with the front end, which is why we came out with the gummies and why Trey and Tori got the formulation and put those out there, because were just trying to help people not have to suffer with these things.

Jon LaClare [00:11:10]:

And are other benefits besides obviously preventing hemorrhoids is a big one. But other benefits of this fiber and magnesium product that will help everybody?

Trey Coleman [00:11:19]:

Yeah, I mean, honestly, if you're constipated a lot, like I said, the magnesium provides an osmotic laxative. So if you're kind of stopped up, it's going to help break up some of that stool and really help you pass the stool easier. So it's beyond just hemorrhoids with the gummies, if any kind of digestive health benefits you're going to get from that. So it goes beyond just hemorrhoids. For sure.

Trey Anderson [00:11:47]:

Yeah. And some of the comments that we get, John on our feedback know, hey, started going regularly feeling much better. It's the way that you feel when you're regular. Right. And people sometimes forget how good it feels just to not have to worry about that and be stopped up. And so it gives them that peace of mind just kind of, they're feeling better throughout their day. So yeah, there is a huge benefit of not just getting hemorrhoids, but also feeling better and being regular. That's a good thing too.

Jon LaClare [00:12:17]:

Awesome. Let's talk about creativity that you guys, one of the things I love about this brand and what you've done so far, obviously you've developed a great line of products that are very helpful. It's just something that a lot of people need. Right. But you also have to get the message out in a way that's going to remind them, get them excited, be aware of your product. And you guys have done some really creative things. Can you talk about some of your creative ads and videos and images you've done over the years?

Trey Coleman [00:12:41]:

Yeah, absolutely. And I have to give all the credit as far as a design standpoint to my wife. Like I said earlier, my wife and I really started the company and she basically turned my fever dreams into a reality. She's an artist and a graphic designer and I kind of have the vision and she makes it a reality. Thankfully, we make a good team as far as that's concerned, until it comes to the actual creative planning and then we want to kill each other half the time because we don't agree, but it all works out in the end. So we're still here, but we're a small company and we've been really trying to tackle mostly content. Pretty much all the content you see is homegrown. We got a shoestring budget and we're trying to make it happen and we're obviously hoping to change that as things progress and we have more funds to throw at our advertising and marketing efforts.

Trey Coleman [00:13:41]:

But we're really just silly. We'll just sit around. The puns never end with this company. There's so many different puns and jokes and opportunities we can make. We want to do like a hemorrhoids Anonymous meeting video where we're all sitting around in a room and people are like, thanks for joining. And one person's in there for the wrong reason. He thought it was a herpes Anonymous meeting, but it's Hemorrhoids Anonymous and just really having fun and being stupid, honestly, and trying to be as entertaining as we can with hemorrhoids. You would think it'd be a challenge, but it's pretty easy because it's just fun.

Trey Anderson [00:14:26]:

They do write themselves. One of my favorite ones that Trey came up with that you need to go check out on our TikTok or Instagram. The fart Cannon delivery system that Trey invented was pretty remarkable air delivery. We can't guarantee what it smells like when it gets there, but it was pretty comical to been and more to come, right? So we have so much fun. And John, one of my favorite things that happens is even in the comments when we do post on Linkedin or Facebook or whatever else, all of our friends and associates sometimes write original content. They don't even know. They come up with some joke or little comment and it becomes like another video or whatever else. It just builds on itself.

Trey Anderson [00:15:08]:

So we absolutely love the interaction from our fan base. And as it continues to grow, it just gets more and more fun.

Jon LaClare [00:15:15]:

And on that topic, I do recommend so listeners, whether you're listening or watching this on YouTube, I encourage you. So if you're listening, go to YouTube, check out this video. When you are done driving, get back to the office, home or whatever it might be, and we'd love to hear some comments. So think about maybe your most embarrassing hemorrhoid moment that you're willing to share. This can be sort of anonymous on YouTube to some extent, right? So what's your most embarrassing hemorrhoid moment? And that might include things where what have you done to get past the struggle with hemorrhoids in the past? TC, I think you mentioned something you've dealt with in the past on this.

Trey Coleman [00:15:52]:

Yeah. So only people that have had some pretty bad hemorrhoids will relate or understand this. So if you're out there and you've had prolapse, you've had the bad ones, right? They're out and they're bleeding and all that kind of stuff. And as a man, you get that and hemorrhoids bleed and they leak and it's gross. And you can't just have that happening in your underwear and stuff. And I know we're getting a little graphic here, but this is just the nature of the PG 13. Yeah, but I'd make these pads, right? I don't know if anybody else has done this in the audience, but I'd make these toilet paper pads and I'd fold it up, make a little pad and stick it in my underwear. That way I wouldn't just bleed all over the place and stuff and I was, like, at work one day and I had a huge flare up, and it was bad.

Trey Coleman [00:16:45]:

And somehow it's terrible. I'm talking to all these business people, there are female colleagues next to me and all this other stuff. And I just so happened to look down, and somehow that nasty pad that I just made made its way out of my underwear and down my pet leg. It fell out of my pant leg. So I see it and I panic and I step on it, and I'm just sitting there talking to people, and my foot's covering up this nasty thing, and I'm just sitting there and everybody's kind of talking. They start to leave and they're, like, looking at me and I'm just standing there because I'm not moving. I just kind of awkwardly stand there. I'm like, oh, yeah, I'll be right there.

Trey Coleman [00:17:36]:

And finally they kind of leave looking at me weird. And I just waited. I picked it up and threw it away. It was terrible. So that's kind of one of my big, embarrassing, funny stories for hemorrhoids. But I don't know if anybody else has some stories like that. Also, I want to know if anybody else has actually made makeshift paths like that. What have you done? I talked to one guy and he was like, oh, I used to put depends on these guys that were putting depends on that are not even old enough to do it.

Trey Coleman [00:18:06]:

I was like, man, why didn't I do that? I could have just put depends on. But what have you all done? I don't know. That struggle is real.

Jon LaClare [00:18:14]:

Yeah, no, it for sure is. And what I love is you've come up with a product that helps avoid that, right? So if you've had hemorrhoids, you've probably had an embarrassing moment in the past or done some makeshift thing to try to fix it. Now, there's a solution, right? Prevent it with fiber in the hole. Love it. And then if you've got those issues, using Rrhoid rage to solve it as well. Well, what's next for your business?

Trey Coleman [00:18:35]:

Yeah, great question. Right now, obviously, growth is the thing, and brand awareness is our big push right now because nobody's going to buy your product if they don't know you exist. But other than that, we're really trying to get into retail right now. We just recently were accepted to Walmart's open call. We went to that, and that was a great experience for us. And Walmart is interested in doing a trial run with us, maybe starting with about one to 200 other stores. We've got upcoming things with other retailers, maybe the vitamin Shop and some other retailers we're trying to get into. So we're really just trying to expand, one, the number of channels we're in, but two, we're also expanding our product catalog and our next product that's going to be hitting the market the beginning of 2024 is our female line.

Trey Coleman [00:19:31]:

So right now we kind of have like his line of things and we're launching a her line because one of the crazy things to me, and I don't know why, and there's a couple of brands that try to hit on this, but none of the major brands do, is nobody markets directly to females, especially like maternity related type stuff. Because we were doing the research, over 50% of women who deal with pregnancy get some type of hemorrhoid, whether it's internal, external, some form or fashion. And so they're struggling with that and it's been neglected. I feel like, like you said at the beginning of the podcast, these old and tired brands that have just been around forever, they don't feel the need to do all this direct marketing and targeted marketing to people. They're just there. So they've neglected that. And so we're coming in with our female line that has the same, it's a more feminine feel, but the same type of kind of funny, cool branding and stuff like that. So we're launching that 2024.

Trey Coleman [00:20:36]:

We've already got samples and we're spinning that up. So we're super excited about that. But then beyond that, we have all kinds of product ideas. I could see in about three to four years from now, we'll have over ten products in our catalogs, ten different SKUs, unique SKUs in our catalog that we're excited about. So we're really looking to make a name for ourselves and be a household name for this type of element. And we're just excited to help everybody as much as we can.

Jon LaClare [00:21:09]:

And I want to reiterate that for our audience, I think you're doing it the right way. When you innovate, launch a new product, you've got to have this pipeline of ideas that what's coming next, right, that's really going to fuel your growth. So you just mapped out, I think, the perfect plan for your business. And I'd love for our audience to contemplate, okay, what's good for their business, right. Don't just think about that initial product launch, but for you, it's moving from male to female, then line extensions from there. Because once you've got an audience that loves your product, it's so much easier to market to the same group, other products that fit in the same system. Right. Or the same need or whatever it might be.

Jon LaClare [00:21:45]:

So that's the right strategy. And you got to start early. You can't like, oh, hey, we're successful. Let's start planning for our next product because it's a long timeline if you wait too long.

Trey Coleman [00:21:54]:

Yeah, exactly.

Jon LaClare [00:21:55]:

Was there anything I didn't ask that you think could be helpful for our audience?

Trey Anderson [00:22:00]:

I think you forgot to ask me about expedited orders.

Jon LaClare [00:22:05]:

There you go. So perfect. What do you want to say about that?

Trey Anderson [00:22:09]:

So, listen, we're humbled and honored that we get to help so many people out with this horrible. I mean, in biblical times, it was one of the things that was a curse, right? Talking about hemorrhoids. Yeah, we're honored to be able to help people with that. But one of the things that always gets me is when we have orders come in and they pay extra to get it there the next day or whatever else, and you can just feel the pain coming through the line when you have these expedited orders because relatively, you're already getting it quick anyway within two or three days. And then there's some people who pay to have it there the next day or whatever else. And I'm glad that we have a product that helps so many people, but it's a privilege and it's an honor to be able to help people when they're suffering. And I feel like it's one of my favorite things about this company is being able to help people that are truly hurting and having a solution that truly works. So anytime I see an expedited order, I'm just, like, praying.

Trey Anderson [00:23:11]:

I'm just like, please help this person. Let's get it out there as soon as possible. Let me drive it up to the post office right now. Whatever we need to do to get it there as quickly as possible, because we know people are hurting out there and we want to help as many people as possible that are going through that.

Trey Coleman [00:23:26]:

Yeah. If you don't mind, I'll add on to that. As far as helping people, being a veteran owned company, we really do have a heart for the veteran community. Me being a veteran, it's funny because I actually get a small disability rating for hemorrhoids from the VA. And I was talking to my VA doctor, I'm like, hey, how many other veterans deal with this? And they're like, he's like, a lot. And I guess it makes sense, because one of the reasons I developed hemorrhoids in the first place was because we eat MREs in the military. And MRES, a lot of people don't realize MREs are made to stop you up because the military doesn't want you having to go take a dump while you're in a fight. If you're taking contact and then you're, like, pinching one off or, like turtle heading, that's not a good thing.

Trey Coleman [00:24:19]:

So you literally go a week without pooping, and it's terrible. And I guess that's one of the reasons military guys struggle with it. Beyond just helping other vets out with hemorrhoids and stuff. We want to give back to veterans as well, and that's super important to us. And we try to hire veterans and we want to give to certain charities like the Gary Sinise foundation and stuff like that, because it is important to us to help that community. So I just kind of wanted to throw that in there. And we just came off the hills of Veterans Day. So just want to throw it out there?

Jon LaClare [00:25:02]:

No, thank you. I think both of those are great points to bring up and really exemplify how you guys, as founders, care about your customers. And I think that's so important. Any business we have, it's maybe more obvious in the hemorrhoid space, right, that you're helping people with a dire and urgent need that they have. That's painful, embarrassing, and it's a big issue in people's lives. But really, every business is about helping people, is about making their lives better in some way. And if we can forget sometime about just the numbers, right, just the sales reports, et cetera. And remember, Trey, as you mentioned, getting these expedited orders, that's a reminder of behind every one of those, there's a suffering person, right, or every other product that might be the inventors that might be listening to this.

Jon LaClare [00:25:47]:

There's a need for your product, right? So everybody that places an order has a need for that, and it's about caring for them. So I love that you brought that up. I think it's exemplified in what you guys do in your day to day running of this business. And I think a reason for your success as well. So I really want to thank you both for your time. This has been a really fun interview. I encourage our audience. Check out their website@roydrage.com.

Jon LaClare [00:26:10]:

So the end of Hemorrhoids, which is two R's, so rrhoid rage.com. Rrhoidrage.com. It's in the show notes. If you're driving, don't worry about writing it down. Go to our show notes after this. Check out their website, follow their social channels. As both Trey's mentioned that they've got some great videos, great content on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook as well. So go check those out.

Jon LaClare [00:26:35]:

You can see what they've done in the past. Really fun stuff. So follow them. I encourage you. And if you've got this issue in your personal life, try it out. It's a wonderful product, both on the prevention side as well as on the treatment side afterwards. So Trey and Trey, thanks again for your time today.

Trey Coleman [00:26:49]:

Thank you.

Trey Anderson [00:26:50]:

Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Jon LaClare [00:26:51]:

John, did you know you can meet with a member of my team absolutely free for a 30 minutes strategy consultation? We've launched and grown hundreds of brands since 2007 and learned some of our strategies while growing Oxiclean back in the Billy Mays days. We're here to help, so please go to Harvestgrowth.com and set up a call if you'd like to discuss further.