SPONSORED BY:
Good morning,
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:
🇺🇲 Plan With Intention
Refine your BFCM playbook with Memorial Day.
🫖 Luxury That Lasts
How Art of Tea builds customer loyalty.
📦 Tariff Tracker
Today’s must-know trade updates.
🎯 Fix Boring Headlines
Quick tips to supercharge your landing page.
You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Direct Supply, Liquid Caterers, and Okushal Drinks. 👋
🫨 Tariff Whiplash Is Here—And It’s Hitting Hard. Don’t Let It Throw You Off.
With the de minimis exemption gone for China-made goods, and tariffs changing daily, brands relying on cross-border fulfillment alone are feeling the pain. 😓
🌎 The global playbook just changed, and if your strategy hasn’t, it’s time to pivot.
Passport is your partner through the volatility. 👏
From in-country enablement to duty drawbacks and tariff-smart logistics, Passport helps you adapt fast and grow smarter. 📈
They handle the complexity behind the scenes to help you protect profits and stay compliant as trade wars escalate.
➡️ Avoid surprise duties, minimize delays, and navigate de minimis changes with confidence.
Don’t let shifting trade rules derail your global strategy. 🌐
* sponsored
🇺🇸 Make It A Memorable Memorial Day
Memorial Day is more than a sale. It's your first big opportunity to test for Q4!
Aves, Lead Content Manager at Pilothouse and podcast host of Ad-venturous shares how you can create an effective Memorial Day sale to set yourself up for Q4 success.
Here’s a tactical breakdown from Aves 👇
1️⃣ Set a goal
Ask yourself these 3 questions:
2️⃣ Test out these offer structures:
👉 Lead with urgency (e.g. on sale now) and then follow with secondary messaging like brand values, summer use-cases, etc.
3️⃣ Try different ad formats, angles, and hooks
Short-form videos are essential, but text-only ads still convert if done well. Use big, bold hooks and cheeky brand copy.
Here are some great text-based ad examples:
This format on the left has been blowing up on IG Stories.
Brands are pretending they are ‘shutting down’ to stop viewers in their tracks.
The ‘We Hate Saying Goodbye’ headline hooks the audience and keeps them reading until the end.
You can also turn your text-only ad into a text-focused ad (like the image on the right), which sneaks in actual products for brands but still takes advantage of negative space to look very clean and draw your attention to the image and text.
4️⃣ Create sale-specific visual language:
Using red text is overused.
Stand out with unique sales colors that differ from your competitors.
👉 Honing in on visual language trains your audience to recognize sale content fast!
The takeaway?
Memorial Day isn’t just a revenue moment—it’s a strategic dress rehearsal for Q4.
By setting clear goals, testing compelling offer structures, and experimenting with ad formats and visuals, you’ll gather insights that fuel bigger wins later in the year.
Confidently head into Black Friday with a tested playbook.
Want more Memorial Day insights?
Give episode 2 of Ad-venturous a listen for more expert tips and tactics.
💸 Tariffs Rising? Customers Expecting Faster Delivery? Here’s The Solution.
Fast-growing brands diversify their strategies. 👈
HexClad and Ridge are just two of the many working with Passport to build hybrid strategies that blend the efficiency of in-country enablement with the flexibility of cross-border shipping. 📦
🌎 With Passport Global, you can localize operations in key markets like the U.S., Canada, UK, EU, Australia, and Mexico—no local entity required.
Passport handles freight, fulfillment, returns, and compliance, so you can reduce shipping costs, improve delivery times, and unlock access to new marketplaces. 🔐
🗺️ In-country where it matters. Cross-border where it works. Find out how in-country enablement fits into your global strategy.
* sponsored
📦 Your Daily Tariff Check-In
Whether it’s a minor tweak or a major shift, we’ll keep you posted on the latest tariff changes—so you’re always in the know.
May 20, 2025 update:
🎧 Tea Time at the White House: How Art of Tea Scaled Through Story and Quality
In this episode of the DTC Podcast, we’re joined by Steve Schwartz, founder of Art of Tea.
From starting with a backpack and a phone bill to serving Google HQ and the White House, Steve’s journey is rooted in deep product integrity and radical education.
Listen in to discover how blending Ayurvedic principles with luxury sourcing has positioned Art of Tea as a quiet giant in the wellness beverage space.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
👉 Listen to the full episode with Steve here.
🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE
Are you using heatmaps on your landing pages?
This is a great way to see if visitors are scrolling past your headlines or actually staying to learn more.
If your headlines aren’t resonating, it’s time for a change.
⚡ QUICK HITS
🌍 Are you one of the 91% of ecommerce brands considering international expansion? Learn from 100 senior ecommerce leaders about navigating tariffs, shifting to in-country fulfillment, and investing MORE in global advertising in this guide. Get your free copy here.*
📅 EVENTS
Marketing Analytics Summit - Where marketing analytics practitioners, experts, and leaders come together to explore techniques, data platforms, and real-time strategies.
📅 June 2-5, 📍 Phoenix, AZ 💰 $1,200
Email Innovations Summit - The event offers a comprehensive exploration of cutting-edge email marketing strategies, technologies, and designs.
📅 June 3-4, 📍 Phoenix, AZ 💰 $2,325
🎉 CELEBRATE THIS!
🍷 May 25: Towel Day, Thyroid Day, Wine Day
🧛 May 26: World Dracula Day, World Redhead Day
☀️ May 27: National Sunscreen Day, World Marketing Day, Decoration Day
🧼 May 28: Menstrual Hygiene Day, National Hamburger Day, National Brisket Day
🐊 May 29: World Otter Day, National Alligator Day, National Biscuit Day
🎨 May 30: National E-Bike Day, National Creativity Day, International Day of the Potato
😃 May 31: Web Designer Day, National Macaroon Day, National Smile Day
📰 NEWS
📥 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?
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.
Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
