When it comes to  beauty and wellness brands, standing out on a shelf is no longer enough. You have to stand out on a screen – specifically, the smartphone screen. Harley Sutton, the Founder and CEO of RangeMe Premium subscriber Thanks! Naturals, understands this better than most.

Sutton is active on all social media platforms, but really shines on TikTok, which has not only been instrumental on driving sales on the platform’s TikTok Shop, but also drives traffic to the retail stores where you can find her products. 

"We are all in on TikTok," Sutton says. "I fully believe in it. I see the power in it, and I think TikTok has structured itself in a way that's very beneficial to brands. I think they're accelerating to become the next Amazon.”

She is especially keen on doing TikTok Live events, and eventually wants to get to the point where Thanks! Naturals hosts TikTok Live streams 24/7/365. In fact, one of her recent Live events drew 325,000 views!

During ECRM’s Everyday and Holiday Cosmetics, Skin, Fragrance & Bath Session in Dallas, where Sutton was meeting with buyers from regional and national retail chains, I had the opportunity to interview Sutton about how Thanks! Naturals isn't just using social media; it’s living on it.

What’s more, she streamed our interview on TikTok Live, and I had the chance to step in her shoes and engage her audience before and after our interview – and we sold a few products during the interview, too!

A Third-Generation Wellness Legacy

While Thanks! Naturals may feel like a modern, digitally-native brand, its roots are deep. Sutton is a third-generation wellness entrepreneur. Her grandmother was a Chinese acupuncturist and herbalist in Beverly Hills, and her mother has been manufacturing wellness products for decades.

Despite earning a law degree and an MBA, Sutton felt the pull of the family trade. "I really felt that wellness is in my blood,” she says. “This is what I know, this is what I love, and this is what I do.”

Today, she and her mother are co-founders, blending manufacturing expertise with Sutton’s eye for modern branding and legal savvy.

The Mission: Spreading Gratitude

Thanks Naturals is an all-natural, vegan, and dermatologist-approved beauty and wellness company. But beyond the ingredients, the brand is built on a specific emotional pillar. Its product line-up reflects this holistic approach, featuring bestsellers like the Muscle Freeze roll-on, sleep gummies, lavender magnesium massage oil, and collagen-packed Glow Gummies supplements.

"Thanks! Naturals is all about spreading gratitude,” she says. “That is our bread and butter, and that is our mission to spread gratitude to each and every one of our customers.”

Designing for the Counter, Not the Drawer

One of the most striking aspects of Thanks Naturals is its vibrant packaging. Sutton noticed a gap in the market: wellness products often looked clinical or boring compared to the high-energy hauls seen at retailers like Sephora.

"I truly just wanted to bring fun back to wellness," Sutton says. "I also wanted to make products that I was proud to have out on my counter. Not things I bought online and shoved in a drawer and forgot about. I wanted stuff that you wanted out and visible.”

By using bright, approachable colors, Sutton also aims to demystify wellness. "A lot of people think wellness is kind of scary or don't understand all the ingredients,” she says. “So we really wanted to take an approachable setup.”

TikTok’s Affiliate Program Offers a Low-Risk Opportunity

While many brands dump their entire marketing budget into a few high-priced influencers, Sutton has taken a different path: the TikTok Affiliate Program. 

She noted that traditional influencer marketing, where a creator might charge $5,000 for a single video, often feels like "smoke and mirrors" because creators might be using the product for the first time on camera. Instead, Thanks! Naturals sends out roughly 200 samples to affiliates every day. The beauty of TikTok’s affiliate program is that it’s pay-for-performance; creators only get paid on the items that sell from their content, minimizing the risk for the brand. Plus, it expands a brand’s reach. 

The Gorilla Marketing Math

Sutton’s strategy is based on volume and authenticity:

• The Creator Incentive: Affiliates request a sample for free, make a video, and earn a commission only if people buy through their link .
• Organic Reach: Instead of paying one influencer to make one video that 100,000 people might see, TikTok creators are making thousands of videos that could reach millions of people.
• Diverse Markets: This approach has revealed that 80% of their TikTok affiliates are moms – a market they didn't originally target with their "young" branding.

TikTok Live All Day Every Day

The most ambitious part of Sutton’s strategy is her commitment to TikTok Live. She currently goes live for at least three hours every day, with a goal to have the brand live 24/7 by the end of 2026 .

Why Live Streaming Works

Sutton compares the experience to the beauty counter interactions at high-end department stores or the classic appeal of QVC. It allows for real-time relationship building. "I have regular customers that hang out in my live now that we just hang out," she says. "And we literally get to talk and make a connection. How often can you actually connect with the founder on a conversational level?"

The Technical Setup (and the Cowbell)

Going live doesn't require a Hollywood studio. Sutton often props her iPhone up with a bottle or a simple tripod, even streaming while waiting for flights at airport gates. To scale this, she has created what she refers to as "uniform walls" – small, branded backdrops – that she sends to staff members' homes so they can go live from anywhere while maintaining a consistent brand look.

And then, there’s the cowbell. To create a more engaging and rewarding experience for viewers, Sutton rings a cowbell every time an order comes in during a live session. "Someone ordered and said, 'Where's the cowbell?' because it's like Pavlov's dog," she says.

Moving from URL to IRL: Sutton's ECRM Experience

While TikTok is the engine for digital growth, Sutton recognizes that retail partnerships are the backbone of a lasting brand. The Dallas Session was her first experience of ECRM’s private, pre-scheduled meetings between brands and retail buyers.

The results were staggering. Sutton had dozens of meetings in 72 hours, and described the experience as "white-glove service," noting that the pre-scheduled nature of the meetings saved her the stress typical of traditional trade shows.

“That just goes to echo the beauty of ECRM,” says Sutton. “Trade shows in general are a lot of stress, a lot of pre-work. You want to get your products right, you want to get the display right. And the biggest part of it all, the biggest time consuming part is always trying to set up those meetings, getting in faces, because that's why you do trade shows at the end of the day. The fact that here I just came in automatically, no effort besides onboarding. As a founder, anytime saved is money earned. So I absolutely loved my experience. I will be a familiar face.”

Sutton even brought her competitive spirit to the networking events, winning first place in ECRM’s Retail Rodeo Scavenger Hunt, hosted by Start to Sold’s Emily Page, in which participants broke up into teams and hunted for specific products or merchandising themes in local retail stores. These themes were listed on bingo cards, and in order to mark off one of them, the team needed to submit a selfie in front of the product or concept. Sutton’s team, "Beauty and the Brisket,” took first place.

"I feel like I've truly made friends at this event,” says Sutton. “We're a big team, almost like a big family.”

Founder Wisdom: Embrace 'Done' vs. 'Perfect'

For aspiring entrepreneurs, Sutton offers a refreshing take on productivity. In a category where perfectionism is rampant, she advocates for momentum. "Embracing the done, not perfect is key,” she says. “Our thing is if it's 80% done, it is perfect. That's kind of our mentality because a lot of founders are perfectionists and that's just unsustainable.”

She also stresses the importance of “gaslighting yourself” into staying positive by focusing on small daily wins. "If I can teach one person about Thanks! Naturals, today was a win," she shares. "It fires you up and it gets you back out there.”

At a Glance: Key Takeaways for Brands

• The Power of TikTok Live: Consistency is king; Thanks Naturals aims for 24/7 live streaming to build community and trust.
• Affiliate Marketing over "Mega" Influencers: Sending 200 samples a day to organic creators creates "gorilla marketing" that feels more trustworthy than paid placements.
• The 80% Rule: For entrepreneurs, "done is better than perfect." If it is 80% there, it is ready to launch .
• Retail Synergy: Use digital platforms to drive foot traffic to physical retailers through live pop-ups and location-based streams .

Sutton went into a lot of detail on TikTok best practices during our full video interview, which you can watch on YouTube below or listen to our podcast, Winning Pitches with RangeMe & ECRM (Episode 31).