Betsy Mikesell’s twin boys’ bunk beds were a source of continued irritation. Making the beds was a chore. The boys didn’t want to do it. She didn’t either. What if there were a way for beds to simply make themselves? As a hairdresser at the time, Betsy joked with clients about starting a company that produced zippered “self-making” bed coverings. It sounded like something they’d actually want to buy, Betsy’s clients told her. She shared this on one of her morning jogs with her neighbor Angie and asked if she would be interested in starting a business together, and before long, two friends found themselves leading one of Utah’s fastest-growing small companies. They powered the business with a suite of digital tools while remaining as characteristically upbeat as ever during one of the most challenging moments in recent memory.

The two friends didn’t have much experience starting a business, let alone running one. “Google was our best friend at the time,” Angie recalls. “And I’m talking about the Google Search bar.” Betsy and Angie quickly discovered that there was a market out there for their product, from parents tired of nagging kids to make the bed — and tired of lifting up heavy mattresses to make their own — to more specific audiences such as the RV community. Social media was key to reaching them all. “Educating people about the concept and function of zippered bedding was our primary challenge, so we had to be creative in our initial marketing approach,” says Betsy, who as CEO also handles Beddy’s marketing portfolio. “Our strategy was to turn to platforms like YouTube to share informative videos about our products and Facebook and Instagram to meet our audiences where they already were.”

Beddy’s also made use of other smart advertising opportunities, like maintaining a Business Profile on Google and using Google Ads to get in front of users who were searching for zippered bedding. Before long, customers started pouring on to their Shopify enabled e-commerce site. Betsy and Angie saw their business grow by triple digits and place in state and national rankings of fast-growing companies.

Then COVID-19 hit. For a moment, the world stood still — and Betsy and Angie wondered whether their business would survive. One look at Google Analytics for their digitally driven business was enough to put their minds at ease. “Our numbers started going crazy,” Betsy recalls. Angie adds, “All of our employees began working overtime.” The socially distant team kept in touch over Google Meet and Zoom, while digital tools like Gorgias — which integrates email, chat, and phone — ensured the company’s G Suite-enabled operations kept going. Other than halting a planned brick-and-mortar expansion, it was full steam ahead for Beddy’s, which began hiring more employees. The company also made sure to reach even more potential customers by targeting social media influencers in new and creative ways while simultaneously upping its spend on digital ads.

“We’re super grateful for these tools because they are what enabled us to build this business and employ other moms like us who often just want to work from home,” Angie adds. “I also know we’d be out of business right now without our digital tools — no question at all.”

“We didn’t learn how to run a business by going to business school — we learned how to do it by actually doing it,” Betsy says. “And what we found is that digital tools are the key to any small business. They’re easy, they’re cheap, and they’re scalable.”