Authentic Storytelling in Ecommerce: Lessons From recteq’s Marketing Playbook With Judd Pratt-Heaney

Judd Pratt-Heaney is the VP of Marketing and Ecommerce at recteq, a leading pellet grill and barbecue lifestyle brand known for its innovative, durable wood pellet grills and strong community focus. With over two decades of experience in marketing leadership, Judd held senior roles at Reckitt Benckiser, HARMAN International, and WWE, working across brand management, global communications, sponsorship strategy, and integrated marketing. At recteq, Judd directs both content and performance marketing, using storytelling to build community and drive ecommerce across the grill and outdoor lifestyle space.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [2:47] Judd Pratt-Heaney shares how recteq grew from a backyard startup to a community-driven brand
• [4:24] Defining authentic storytelling in the messy, hands-on world of barbecue
• [6:50] How to create a strategic content mix of live videos, education, and “stunt food”
• [9:37] Leveraging in-house production and customer service insights to drive content ideas
• [11:21] Three-pronged approach to content: community listening, trend-hopping, and innovation
• [14:04] Managing fan-created communities and balancing authenticity with brand strategy

In this episode…

Many brands aim to build community and authenticity, but end up relying on buzzwords and performative content that fail to resonate. In the crowded ecommerce space, how can companies foster a genuine connection with their audience — one that scales, drives loyalty, and still sells products?

Judd Pratt-Heaney, a marketing and ecommerce leader, breaks down how brands can build real communities through content that feels personal, messy, and true to the customer experience. Judd emphasizes the importance of user-generated content, live video, and direct engagement with fans as key drivers of trust and growth. He advises marketers to favor function over polish, listen to their community for content cues, and embrace a three-pronged approach: reflecting the customer’s voice, jumping on trending moments, and creating unique ideas that push the brand forward.

In this episode of the Minds of Ecommerce podcast, Raphael Paulin-Daigle interviews Judd Pratt-Heaney, VP of Marketing and Ecommerce at recteq, about scaling community through authentic storytelling. Judd shares how messy, unslick content builds stronger engagement, how to balance product and promotion, and why direct feedback loops with customers create lasting brand value.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Raphael Paulin-Daigle: LinkedIn | X
• SplitBase
• Judd Pratt-Heaney on LinkedIn
• recteq: Website | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube
• “How MUD/WTR Created Emotional Resonance in a Saturated Market With Shane Heath” on Minds of Ecommerce

Quotable Moments:

• “We work very hard to make it look like we're not working very hard, right?”
• “We go live on TikTok quite a bit, or Facebook, where we have a large community.”
• “We watch those boards constantly for how people are reacting or thinking about this product or experience.”
• "Barbecue is messy; to wipe away some of that dirtiness would be inauthentic to that product experience."  
• "We have to listen to that audience, and then we just have to let them be fans and understand there's going to be good and bad with that."

Action Steps:

1. Leverage user-generated content in marketing: Authentic customer experiences build trust and resonate more than polished brand campaigns.
2. Engage with fan communities on social media: Active listening and participation strengthen loyalty and provide real-time product insights.
3. Balance educational and promotional content: Mixing tips, recipes, and subtle product mentions keeps audiences interested without feeling oversold.
4. Capitalize on social media trends: Riding relevant trends boosts visibility and keeps the brand culturally connected and discoverable.
5. Maintain authenticity in storytelling: Showing the “messy” reality of the product experience fosters relatability and long-term community engagement.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by SplitBase.

At SplitBase, we design, test, and manage high-converting landing pages and on-site experiences for fashion, luxury, and lifestyle ecommerce brands. Our optimization program pinpoints exactly where your store is losing money most, and then we help you fix that.

The result? Increased conversions and profits for our clients.

With our team of conversion optimization specialists, performance marketers, and conversion-focused designers, we've got your back when it comes to testing and optimization.

Request a proposal on SplitBase.com today, and learn how we can help you get the most out of your marketing spend.

You can find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Don’t miss out on our exclusive podcasts at Minds of Ecommerce.

Episode Transcript

Intro: 00:06  

Welcome to the Minds of Ecommerce podcast, where you'll learn one key strategy that made leading ecommerce companies grow exponentially. We cut the bullshit and keep the meat in a 15-minute episode. Founders and executives take us through a deep dive of a strategy, so you get to learn and grow your online sales. In the last episode, you heard from Shane Heath, who's the co-founder and CEO of MUD/WTR, who discussed branding and positioning. Now, today on episode number 61, get ready.

Judd Pratt-Heaney, VP of marketing and ecommerce at recteq, a pellet grill and barbecue lifestyle brand. We'll be talking about how to scale a community through authentic storytelling. And now, if that sounds a bit like a buzzword to you. Well, stay tuned because we're going to explain exactly what we mean by authentic storytelling and how it differs from other brands. I'm your host, Raphael Paulin-Daigle, and I'm the founder of SplitBase.

This is Minds of Ecommerce. Now this episode is brought to you by SplitBase. And at SplitBase, we help leading eight and nine-figure brands such as Dr Squatch, Hyperice, Amika, and Once Upon a Farm, go through customer-focused conversion optimization programs. A program pinpoint exactly where your website is losing money most and then, well, we help you fix it. The result you get increased conversions, higher AOV, and of course more money, which in turn allows you to scale advertising profitably.

And guess what? We've been at it for over a decade, and we can help you manage that entire optimization process from A to Z, so bandwidth won't be an excuse from customer research conversion design strategy, running the AB test, doing the copywriting and the development, we focus on growing your ecommerce performance while you get to focus on what you do best. So if you're ready to scale, go splitbase.com to request your free proposal today and learn how we can help you get the most out of your marketing spend. All right, Judd, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here.

Judd Pratt-Heaney 02:08

Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 02:09  

Yeah. So now, as you know, this podcast is all about going deep in one growth marketing strategy. And you guys sell something that's very social, which is, you know, barbecues, grills. And, you know, it's also, as you told me, one of the main drivers of growth, it's that community. It's that storytelling aspect.

And really remaining authentic has been key to you guys. So maybe just for context, before we actually dive into how you guys do this, it could be helpful if you could just give us a context about what's recteq.

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 02:47  

Yeah, absolutely. So as you said, recteq is a wood pellet lifestyle barbecue grill grant brand. And really the story of recteq is kind of a rags to riches story where two founders wanted a better mousetrap, and they came up with this new wood pellet option with more sturdy stainless steel, better control, and these iconic bull handle horns on the grill. And they really just started selling it, you know, out of the back of a truck, essentially. And over the period of a decade, they went from, you know, selling ten grills to sending 100 to 10,000, to where we are today.

And really, that was based on word of mouth, where one person would buy a grill, they would love it. They would tell their neighbors, they would see the horn handles be like, what the heck is that? And now that neighbor would have it, and then that neighbor would have it, and so on and so forth. And so really, it has become a community-based brand around this barbecue lifestyle. And the fact that the grill has delicious results, it's easier to use.

It lasts longer. We talk about it being built like a tank. So that's really where the brand is today and really become a massive challenger brand in this wood pellet grilling space, and we've now gone from DTC to omnichannel. Based on the strength of that community and the product benefits.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 04:04  

Awesome. So let's talk about that authentic storytelling, you know, building that community, right. I feel like those are words we hear all the time. But ultimately, what does it mean to you and how would you define authentic storytelling and what you've been doing, and how does it differ from what we see, maybe from a lot of other brands out there?

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 04:24  

Yeah, I think really it starts with the consumer, right? Is what is the consumer experience with your product and really how do they interact with it. And you know what does that look like. And then how do you reflect that true product experience and present it in as real a way as possible. And I think, you know, I've been on the side of it where you want to present things in a really polished and, you know, high tech or really, you know, just really nice looking way.

Right. That looks good on the screen or good looks in a board meeting or in a PowerPoint deck. The reality is that as people, you know scroll through social media, it's not always the most slick things that get viewed. It's sometimes the things that are the most unslick or most unpolished, right. And especially for us, thinking about the product experience and the category, barbecue is messy, right?

It is smoky. It you know, your hands get covered in barbecue sauce. It is not clean, you know, it's an aspirational thing in the sense of the food that you eat is aspirational. But the experience itself, you're wearing a smock, right? Like you're wearing gloves.

Like it is. It is messy, but that's part of the fun. So to sort of wipe away some of that dirtiness would be kind of being inauthentic to that product experience. And what we love to see, and we see it every day on our social channels is, you know, user-generated content of people open up those horn handles and you see that beautiful barbecue inside and they're psyched about it. But, you know, the grill itself is greasy.

It's dirty. But like, it doesn't matter because the food coming off of it is amazing. Yeah. And that's really what people aspire to. So that's really what authentic storytelling looks like for us.

And I think a lot of other brands, again, can kind of get stuck into that. Well, I want it to look good or look a certain way. And sometimes you have to be humble enough and also just realize that how you feel about how something looks is not necessarily how the consumer is going to take it. Right. And you go back to what's that consumer experience and making sure you're being really honest there.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 06:18  

I think that that's perfect context. I'm also wondering, you know, and I want to make sure people don't understand that, okay. Authentic storytelling. It's messy and everything. So that means there's no strategy.

And we just, you know, do anything. So obviously in your case right. We're favoring UGC. We're favoring, you know, customer stories. But what does an authentic strategy like that look like?

What type of content are we favoring. How do we decide what to feature. Which channels are we attacking first?

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 06:50  

Yeah, it's a great question. Yeah, we work very hard to make it look like we're not working very hard. Right? So there's there's a lot of planning and process that goes into it because. Yeah, look, there's one version of this where you just show up in the morning and be like, what are we cooking today?

Right? But especially as the business grows, there's enough demands that you can't just sort of figure it out on the day of, but you want it to look like that, right? So a couple of different things that we do. One of them is just live content, right. So we go live on TikTok quite a bit, or Facebook where we have a large community.

You know, we have over 200,000 people in fan-created groups on Facebook, right? So that's a major platform for us. And we watch those boards constantly for how people are reacting or thinking about this product or this experience. Right. So it's about live content.

It's it's finding the mix between sort of educational and promotional. Right. So a lot of it is like, hey, here's how to do this three ways or here, you know, here are grill cleaning tips. Because again, people engaging in the lifestyle want to be inspired for what that new thing is. Or how do I do this better or get that best possible result.

And then, you know, there's the mix of kind of what we'll call stunt food, right? Which is like it's not necessarily something you would create, but it just unlocks the possibilities and it just makes it fun. Right? So we've done, you know, nerd cluster ribs. We've done all sorts of things like that where, you know, again, that may not be what you're putting on the dinner table for your family, but it's fun to watch and it's not inauthentic because again, like this is something you could do.

And part of it is just like, let's push the boundaries as far as possible just to see what happens. And we do that not only with kind of candy and things like that, but sometimes is, you know, we'll cook a whole hog and we'll, you know, do things like that. Again, that may not be for the novice like myself, still a novice, something that I'm going to do at home. But knowing the possibility of it, knowing that the grill couldn't can do that speaks really highly to what's, you know, the versatility. And, you know, when people actually go do and try it, they'll inevitably come back to us and go, I did that.

It was amazing. That was crazy. And again, it just kind of creates this cycle of positivity in UTC.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 08:54  

So I'm curious, let's say, you know, you guys you know, you're moderate. I think one takeaway here, actually, I want to note for our audience is to listen to the audience. Right. It sounds like a lot of the ideas that you get also are generated by the community, right? It's not just something that you're brainstorming on your own.

It comes from what customers are saying in those different fan groups. You're monitoring those. And it helps, you know, I'm sure more than with just marketing. But I'm also curious. So let's say you want to put some educational content out there.

What is usually kind of the first reflex. Is it to give it to influencers that will make that content? Do you do it in-house? How do we manufacture messiness or authenticity?

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 09:37  

Yeah. So we have an in-house production team and culinary folks that are based in our HQ who are there every day to create that content, generate recipes, interact with consumers, answer their questions. And one of the things that also kind of made Regtech what it is today is we have a 100% US-based customer service team that's also based in our HQ here in Georgia. So, you know, there's a real-time feedback with like, hey, what are they hearing? What are people calling about?

Hey, can we address that directly in the content as well as what we see in the forms and the boards, which is, hey, people love that recipe, or hey, they're having this issue or, you know, people are asking the forums like, hey, I'm not getting this or my brisket is stalling. And whether they ask us that directly or not, we know, hey, that's something that we can revisit, and it'll answer somebody's question. That's always going to be a positive. So really it's it's having that in-house team that is able to really generate and react in real time and create that content. And we have, you know, influencers and ambassadors that we tap into all the time.

But really when it comes to the educational piece, it's usually generated internally. And then, you know, the other beauty of food is that recipes and food are art in the ethos all the time. Right. So a lot of the, you know, what we're doing is listening, not just to our fans, but just in general, what's going out there, right? And there are, you know, recipes that sort of trend, you know, barbecue, like a Smashburger taco, for example, or something like that comes up, you know, all right, we want to do our rec tech version of that and create content on it and, and jump on that trend.

And then we're going to try to create trends ourselves again, whether it's, you know, this funky thing or pumpkin spice or whatever it is that just try to jump into the conversation. But in a way that really makes sense for us.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 11:21  

Yeah, it sounds like there's very much a three-prong approach here where the first one is really listening to the community and creating things that are directly suggested, right. Then there's second, you know, hopping on trends to make sure that, you know, you can get those views and that attention that is already getting generated organically. And the third one is more on the innovation standpoint, which is can we create something unique? So what are the ones creating the trends? Yeah.

So it sounds like it's very strategic, but I'm wondering as well. Right. When it comes to like growing these communities and doing all that content. What has been some of the biggest challenges you guys have faced doing that? Because obviously there's a lot of that that goes into it as well.

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 12:02  

Yeah, I think one of the big challenges is just how do we make sure what's that balance of product and promotion? Right. You know, when you think about like a liquid death or something like that, right. It's like, you know, they'll tell you it has nothing to do with product. You're never trying to sell anything.

You're just trying to be entertaining. Well, these products are, you know, $1,000 plus grills. Like you're doing some research, right? The cycle of purchase is, you know, up to a month or more. Right, on.

A lot of, you know, consumers. So we have to make sure that we're integrating the product in the right way. That doesn't suck away from that authenticity and making it feel really real, right. So that's always one of the things that we wrestle with is like, and you see that in a lot of DTC brands, honestly, where their entire social feed is just here's the promotion, here's the sale, here's where our product is. Great.

Well, I don't I don't want to follow that as a consumer. Right. Once I've purchased a product or and I'm not necessarily going to you and your social channels for that information. Right. So how do we find that sort of balance.

And we do that a lot in lives, right, where we can talk through the product a little bit more authentically, but we're cooking at the same time. So we've got some downtime where we can talk about this or hey, what we're cooking on right now is, you know, x percent off or you can get a deal, whatever it is, right? And so that's been one of the big challenges. And the other is just the churn of doing that. Right.

When you've got an extensive influencer network or things like that, right. You've got more brains or you know, hey, you can have that person work on something for a couple of weeks and then come in. We're doing this every day. So it's just what is the trend, what makes sense? And can can we speak to that authentically for us?

Right. It's quesadilla day. It's like do we have something that makes sense. And does anybody care? You know, those are questions that we always kind of have to wrestle with.

It's not always that easy to figure out, well, what are we going to cook today or next week or next month? Because what performs its brisket, its park, its steak, you know, the barbecue spectrum that really people like is not that broad. So how do you continue to come up with new ways to skin that cat? No pun intended.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 14:04  

You mentioned fan-created communities, and I think that's super interesting because that's not something you can fully control. How what's the strategy for dealing with that? Because I can imagine it can be scary for some brands because you have no control over it, but it can also be a huge and massive advantage. Right. What's the strategy behind that?

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 14:25  

Yeah. Well, look I mean they're like we're we're certainly not. Yeah. To your point, in control and and nor do we want to be, and nor do we think that that's kind of our role is to tell people what to do with our product once they have it right. I think what we really try to do.

So one of our company founders is regularly in there, kind of commenting, and he'll interject at times, which I think has just been part of the authenticity. Again, going back to the brand and that sort of story is, you know, he has been front and center throughout the entire process. Yeah, in making people feel like the brand.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 14:56  

The company cares and wants to be involved as well.

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 14:59  

Yeah. And one of the legends. Right. Is that he used to give his personal phone number to everyone who bought a grill, so you could literally call him up if something went wrong. Right.

So that's not a normal thing. And that speaks to the customer service. Like that's where all of that comes from. And that's why that community exists. Right.

So now none we're not commenting on every single thing and nor is that the point of the group. But I think really the challenge is that you don't want to overreact to that. Right? Or you don't want to, you know, it's just like you don't want to look at your, you know, the Twitter post reactions on everything you post because it'll just drive you insane, right? So it's a little bit of understanding that these folk, guys and gals are really focused, really committed.

So their opinion is really important. But we have to just balance that with what we see as the overall strategy. And if there's a consistent drumbeat against something, either we've made a mistake or we have that we have to fix, or we have to realize that this is the reality of what this brand is evolving into, and we have to be comfortable with that. And if we're not, then it's the wrong decision. And again, we have to kind of go back and think about it.

And I'll give you an example. When we started moving into the retail channel, right, there was an initial reaction of, oh, well, is the product quality going to go down and all that stuff? And we had to create communication to our current fan base. Who why would they care where the grill is sold. Right.

They already have one to say, hey, don't worry. Like these are the exact you know, the product is the exact same. We're just putting it in, you know, this brick and mortar and we have a company store. It's not like it's the product has never been on the floor before. And, you know, now we're in a really great place with that.

And it's just part of what people expect from us. And that's been a huge growth opportunity for us. So that's where we have to really cater to that audience when we when it makes sense and we have to listen to that audience, and then we just have to let them be fans and understand that there's going to be good and bad with that.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 16:45  

Amazing. We've been talking with Judd Pratt-Heaney, who's the VP of marketing at recteq. Judd, thank you so much for being here. Now, if people want to hear more about recteq or about you, where should they go?

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 16:58  

recteq.com or you can follow us @regteqofficial on all major social media platforms. We've got YouTube channel, TikTok, all of it. I really encourage people to check it out.

It will change the way you eat. That is what we hear all the time. Shameless plug for recteq wood fire grills. But I know that I was not a griller before I started working here. And now I'm on that thing three, three, four times a week.

My kids never had pulled pork or ribs that we made at home until I started working here. And now that's one of their favorite things. And they asked me for that all the time, which is awesome. So I am sure awesome.

Raphael Paulin-Daigle: 17:35  

Thank you so much, Judd.

Judd Pratt-Heaney: 17:36  

Thank you. Really appreciate being here.

Outro: 17:42  

All right. Well, that's it for today's episode. And thank you so much for tuning in. Now, if you like what you've heard, and you don't want to miss any of the new episodes that are about to come out, make sure you subscribe to the podcast and well, bonus points if you also leave a review in the iTunes store or wherever you're listening to this. Now, if you're working on an ecommerce store that does over $1 million in revenue and you need help with conversion optimization or landing pages, well, I've got some good news because there's a pretty good chance we can help with that.

Go to splitbase.com to learn more or even to request a proposal. If you have any guest requests, questions or comments, tweet me @rpaulindaigle, and I'll be super happy to hear from you. And again, thanks again for listening. This is Minds of Ecommerce.

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