Francisco Cornejo
Co-founder and marketing director at Sailor Bear
Where to hear and read about Francisco Cornejo1 episode or test
Francisco Cornejo is co-founder and marketing director of Sailor Bear, a paid parenting app for bedtime that he runs marketing for from Ecuador. The lesson most worth taking from him is that a founder story told by a real person, about a problem the audience shares, can sell a paid app at scale.
I think people want to hear people talking about stuff, not brands talking about stuff.
Storytelling with Facebook Ads
Francisco Cornejo: the story and the lessons
1Francisco Cornejo and the Sailor Bear app
Cornejo co-founded Sailor Bear and leads its marketing from Ecuador. Sailor Bear bundles bedtime stories, relaxing music and infant massage in one guide for parents. The App Store page shows thousands of reviews.
The company was founded in Australia, so the ad figures he shows are in Australian dollars. He ties the review count to how strong the app's effects are.
The app grew out of the founders' own struggle with their kids' sleep. The family had moved to Australia with a one-year-old and a three-year-old. They found infant massage, combined the elements, and it changed the family's dynamic and relationships.
That story later became the marketing. Sailor Bear has won over 30,000 paying customers, not just downloads.
2How Sailor Bear's founder story sold a paid app
Cornejo's team posted the story from a person's page, not the brand's. Co-founder Daniela, who is Francisco's wife, wrote the story herself and posted it on Facebook and Instagram from her personal page.
The reasoning was simple: "I think people want to hear people talking about stuff, not brands talking about stuff."
They chose a story that a huge share of parents live. About 80% of parents struggle with children's sleep between ages 0 and 12. The founders had lived the same problem, so the story was easy to pick.
Cornejo's advice for others is to study who the target is and what matters to them. He notes the personal tone suits parents, while a business audience or other B2C products probably need another approach.
The story went viral with only a small ad push. It reached 30,000 shares, 11,000 comments and hundreds of thousands of reactions. Most of the reach came from sharing, not ad spend.
"We pushed it a small amount with social media ads. But the virality was amazing."
The Spanish version beat the English one. Sailor Bear published the story in both languages. The Spanish version worked better and Mexico was among the top countries.
Cornejo says it worked better mainly because the team knew how to talk to that audience.
3How Cornejo turned a story into an audience
A new page for Daniela grew to 140,000 followers in eight months. The page was built from scratch with nothing on it before the story. The followers were people reading how the app was created.
Cornejo calls this a collateral effect that the team did not expect.
Daniela keeps showing up as herself after the story. She makes videos on how to get more from the app and writes stories from other moments of her motherhood. The extra stories are meant to help other parents, not only promote the app.
Cornejo says using a separate person-led page is a preference, not a requirement.
The audience buys new in-app content because it trusts Daniela. Followers are keen to buy new in-app content releases because they feel a connection with her.
4How Cornejo tests and measures story campaigns
He puts the Facebook SDK in the app before running campaigns. Cornejo says it is the only way to measure whether a particular campaign is working.
His team tested the story, picture, audiences and call to action separately. They tried a couple of pictures and chose a casual coffee photo taken around Mother's Day 2014 or 2015. It was meant to look like a regular person, not a brand.
Cornejo never imagined that picture would reach about 10 million devices.
They extended the call to action to ask for shares and feedback. It started as "if you like this story please try the app". They added "please share it", then asked people to report back after trying.
The added asks grew virality and put user comments under the post.
Parent comments gave new readers the confidence to pay. The app has a price, so downloads are harder. Comments like "you made me cry" and "my kid was sleeping from day one" supplied social validation.
"A lot of people seek this social validation."
Storytelling with Facebook Ads
A founder story post on Facebook and Instagram, told by a real person instead of a brand, drove viral reach and a loyal audience for a paid parenting app. It led to over 30,000 paying customers, not just downloads.
Cornejo co-founded Sailor Bear and leads its marketing from Ecuador. Sailor Bear bundles bedtime stories, relaxing music and infant massage in one guide for parents. The App Store page shows thousands of reviews.
The company was founded in Australia, so the ad figures he shows are in Australian dollars. He ties the review count to how strong the app's effects are.
The app grew out of the founders' own struggle with their kids' sleep. The family had moved to Australia with a one-year-old and a three-year-old. They found infant massage, combined the elements, and it changed the family's dynamic and relationships.
That story later became the marketing. Sailor Bear has won over 30,000 paying customers, not just downloads.
Cornejo's team posted the story from a person's page, not the brand's. Co-founder Daniela, who is Francisco's wife, wrote the story herself and posted it on Facebook and Instagram from her personal page.
The reasoning was simple: "I think people want to hear people talking about stuff, not brands talking about stuff."
They chose a story that a huge share of parents live. About 80% of parents struggle with children's sleep between ages 0 and 12. The founders had lived the same problem, so the story was easy to pick.
Cornejo's advice for others is to study who the target is and what matters to them. He notes the personal tone suits parents, while a business audience or other B2C products probably need another approach.
The story went viral with only a small ad push. It reached 30,000 shares, 11,000 comments and hundreds of thousands of reactions. Most of the reach came from sharing, not ad spend.
"We pushed it a small amount with social media ads. But the virality was amazing."
The Spanish version beat the English one. Sailor Bear published the story in both languages. The Spanish version worked better and Mexico was among the top countries.
Cornejo says it worked better mainly because the team knew how to talk to that audience.
A new page for Daniela grew to 140,000 followers in eight months. The page was built from scratch with nothing on it before the story. The followers were people reading how the app was created.
Cornejo calls this a collateral effect that the team did not expect.
Daniela keeps showing up as herself after the story. She makes videos on how to get more from the app and writes stories from other moments of her motherhood. The extra stories are meant to help other parents, not only promote the app.
Cornejo says using a separate person-led page is a preference, not a requirement.
The audience buys new in-app content because it trusts Daniela. Followers are keen to buy new in-app content releases because they feel a connection with her.
He puts the Facebook SDK in the app before running campaigns. Cornejo says it is the only way to measure whether a particular campaign is working.
His team tested the story, picture, audiences and call to action separately. They tried a couple of pictures and chose a casual coffee photo taken around Mother's Day 2014 or 2015. It was meant to look like a regular person, not a brand.
Cornejo never imagined that picture would reach about 10 million devices.
They extended the call to action to ask for shares and feedback. It started as "if you like this story please try the app". They added "please share it", then asked people to report back after trying.
The added asks grew virality and put user comments under the post.
Parent comments gave new readers the confidence to pay. The app has a price, so downloads are harder. Comments like "you made me cry" and "my kid was sleeping from day one" supplied social validation.
"A lot of people seek this social validation."