Good morning,
Hereâs what youâll find in todayâs DTC:
Youâre reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Next Gen Lighting, Terranean Herbs, and Aquafanatics. đ
ââď¸ Use The Message Box Framework To Sharpen Your Brandâs Core Story
If youâre struggling with inconsistent or forgettable messaging, try using this tool:
The Message Box Framework
Aves from Pilothouse shares that itâs one of the fastest ways to hone your brand identity and figure out why customers should care about your brand.
Whatâs a message box?
This exercise gives you a 360° view of how your brand speaks about itself and how your customers naturally talk about their needs, struggles, and outcomes.
You can use it broadly, like defining your entire brand narrative, or specifically (e.g. crafting messaging for a customer persona, product launch, or seasonal moment.)
The goal?
Distill everything you could say down to the one line your brand must communicate.
That single line becomes your throughline.
It keeps your messaging coherent through every creative variation, TikTok hook, email angle, and ad concept.
And in a world where brands publish more content than ever, a throughline protects your identity from being fragmented.
The Four Quadrants of the Message Box
The framework breaks messaging into four simple quadrants:
1. Us on Us
How you describe your brand.
đ Your beliefs, strengths, POV, and what you exist to solve.
2. Us on Them
How you describe your customer.
đ Their challenges, motivations, misconceptions, and what they need to hear.
3. Them on Them
How they describe themselves.
đ Their language, their lived experience, how they articulate problems in their own words.
4. Them on Us
How they currently see you.
đ Perceptions, objections, and assumptions.
âUsâ is your brand.
âThemâ is your customer.
By mapping your thoughts across these four angles, you reveal message gaps, contradictions, or blind spots.
This is often where the most powerful unlocks happen. đĄ
The story you believe youâre telling and the story your customers hear are usually not the same.
If your brand serves multiple personas, fill out a Message Box for each segment.
This ensures your messaging stays consistent without assuming every customer thinks the same way.
Once the box is complete, look for overlap and tension. Your throughline will typically emerge in one of three places:
Distill that into one clear line.
That line becomes your north star for content, ads, offers, and positioning.
Itâs the creative checksum that keeps every new piece of marketing aligned, even when style, angle, or format changes.
âđ§ The $200 AOV DTC Brand Built on Pockets, Partnerships, and Purpose
We sat down with Amy Hjorth, President of Wildfang, to discuss how she leveraged the inclusive apparel brandâs passionate customer base to cut CAC and increase AOV through strategic partnerships.
She explains how going vertical changed everything and how Pilothouse rebuilt their growth engine.
What youâll learn:
âśď¸ Watch the full episode on YouTube.
đ§ Or click here to listen on Spotify.
Competition surges in January, but strong positioning, compelling offers, and refreshed hooks let you break through.
Fraser Cottrell shares that the brands that win donât wait for things to cool off. They do this instead.
Prep Q1-specific angles, refresh your best performers, and keep testing consistently.
âđĽ Got a B2B Biz?
Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 150k brand leaders and founders this year. Talk to our team to learn more.
Have you heard our latest podcasts?
Donât forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (âď¸âď¸âď¸âď¸âď¸)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.
Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.
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