DTC844: Fourth of July Tips, Revel Bikes, and AI Mode Data

Good morning,

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:

🎇 Fourth of July Campaigns 
Optimize your Meta ads for this crucial period. 

🚴 Bootstrapping a Brand?
Learn how to manage cash flow and inventory. 

📦 Daily Tariff Update
U.S. businesses stockpile on inventory. 

🔍 Google Search Console Update
AI mode traffic date now available. 

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Black Crow Apparel, Expedia Cruises, and Wicks Intimates. 👋

🍎 Discover How Plant People Dominated The Wellness Space With A Multi-Channel Approach

Marketing has never been easier... (as long as you partner with the right experts).

👉 Plant People leans on minisocial for community growth, UGC for socials, and micro-influencers who move the needle.

Their marketing director said it best: "We’ll always work with them, minisocial is very reasonably priced, saves us so much time and energy, and the team is incredibly responsive and just fantastic.” ✨

Since 2018, minisocial has partnered with over 1,000 brands to scale both content and community.

🌟 The best part? Minisocial lets you work 1:1 with their experts the entire duration of a project, from briefing with a pro to sharing their unique strategies for your specific content.

DTC readers get 15% off your first campaign. 💵

🎆 Optimizing Ad Campaigns For Fourth of July 

The Fourth of July is less than two weeks away...

Are your Meta campaigns ready? 

Don't let this opportunity go unoptimized. The Fourth of July has historically been one of the strongest micro-holidays throughout the year. 

And don't underestimate the day of spending! 

According to Meta, discussions around Independence Day tend to peak over the holiday weekend, with the highest volume occurring on the actual day itself. 

Here are some tips from Pilothouse on how to make the most of this Q3 opportunity: 

1️⃣ Maximize Flash Sale Performance

If your promotion applies to a broad audience, plan ahead by duplicating your always-on campaigns to launch at midnight with elevated budgets. 

Pause any overlapping campaigns to avoid internal competition. 

Build anticipation with early messaging to warm up your audience and help them hold off on spending until the sale. 

For the sale day, try using 1-day click optimization. Set generous cost caps to reduce the need for constant adjustments.

2️⃣ Prioritize Strong Creative

Stand out during busy sale periods by diversifying your creative mix — include static images, animated graphics, video, UGC, and branded collaborations. 

Offering a variety of formats gives Meta's algorithm more to work with, improving your reach and relevance.

‍

3️⃣ Use Micro-Holidays as a Test Run

Leverage events like July 4th to gain visibility among both loyal and new audiences. It's also a great time to test out promotional messaging and creative ahead of major shopping periods like Cyber 5. 

Focus on acquisition now, then re-engage those audiences later in the month.

4️⃣ Embrace Automation for Efficiency

Utilize Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns to efficiently scale your bottom-of-funnel efforts. 

These campaigns are designed to target both new prospects and returning customers in a streamlined, high-performance structure.

The Fourth of July isn’t just about fireworks and BBQs. It’s a powerful moment to spark growth. 

The Pilothouse Meta team suggests you plan now, test bold creatives, and lean into Meta’s automation tool to turn this holiday into a major win.

🏖️ For Walmart Marketplace, Summer Starts Now 

🌊 The first waves of millions of shoppers are flocking to Walmart.com to stock up on swimwear, outdoor gear and more. 

This creates a huge opportunity for ecommerce businesses. If you’re not selling on Walmart Marketplace yet, you still have time before summer demand heats up. ☀️ 

🏄 Now’s your chance to sign up, and as a new seller you’re eligible to save up to $75,000 in New-Seller Savings, Walmart’s incentive program going on now that includes: 

• Up to 75% off base referral fees*
• Up to 50% off storage fees and 25% off fulfillment fees** (a $2K value)  
• $1K in advertising credits with Walmart Connect***  

🚤 New Seller Savings runs through January 31, 2026, but the sooner you start, the more you can save. 

List your products now and make this your biggest summer yet. 😎 

*Conditions apply. 

📦 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. 

June 24, 2025 update:

• U.S. Ports Are Busy Again 
  
  • U.S. businesses are working hard to stockpile products before Trump threatens to increase global tariffs again.
    
  • 68 container ships were en route to the neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach this past weekend, the most since January. 
    

• Trump's Tariffs Trigger Layoffs in Auto Parts Industry
  
  
  • U.S. companies, such as SMT Automation, report that they must reduce headcount and postpone investments due to uncertainty surrounding the trade war.
    
  • Elena Morales, President of SMT Automation shares, "We had [originally] forecast to have a lot of work this year. Now, most companies are pushing back order times. The new building is empty, and we have been letting people go."

🎧 Bootstrapping Revel Bikes: From Carbon Suspension Innovation to Acquisition 

In this episode of DTC Podcast, Adam Miller, founder of Revel Bikes, shares how he bootstrapped a premium mountain bike brand — solving product complexity, managing cash constraints, and scaling to global distribution with only minimal paid marketing.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Early Bootstrapped Days: Adam shares how he used equity lines to fund high-cost inventory and improve cash flow. 
  
• Focus on authentic storytelling: Leveraging customer reviews and PR to fuel long buying cycles.
  
• Stellar customer service: The importance of finding commonality in product passion.

“We don’t have a sales department. We have a customer‑service department that lives what we sell and takes care of customers.”

• Protecting brand integrity: Why Revel Bikes said no to a $980K order from a retailer to keep customers happy. 

👉 Listen to the full episode with Adam here.

🛍️ AI is changing how customers shop. How do you keep up? People search ChatGPT for stuff, and it’s likely your brand isn’t showing up. CommerceGPT helps you take on AI shopping. Subscribe for free. *

There’s been a significant update in Search Console. 

Google’s AI Mode now counts towards the totals you see in your Performance reports. 

How these new metrics are calculated 👇

Clicking a link to an external page in AI Mode "counts as a click."

If your page appears in Google’s AI response, it counts as an impression. 

And if a user has a follow up question, this counts as a new query.

Can't view the image? Click here

🇨🇦 July 1: Canada Day, International Fruit Day, International Joke Day, Resolution Renewal Day, Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day

👽 July 2: I Forgot Day, World UFO Day, Raspberry Cheesecake Day, Disco Day

☀️ July 3: International Plastic Bag Free Day, Stay Out of The Sun Day 

🍳July 4: American Independence Day, Sidewalk Egg Frying Day, Caesar Salad Day, Jackfruit Day 

👙July 5: Workaholics Day, Bikini Day, and Comic Sans Day 

💏 July 6: World Kissing Day, Japanese Hand Roll Day, Fried Chicken Day

🎸 July 7: Tell The Truth Day, Day of Rock ‘n’ Roll, World Chocolate Day, Strawberry Sundae Day, Macaroni Day

📥 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?

• 🧓 Ad-venturous 6: All About Baby Boomers 
• 📧 TWBERP 38: Stop Double Tapping Unengaged Addresses 
• 🍘 How Back To Nature Repositioned Away From ‘Plant-Based’
• 🤖 AKNF 516: Steal These AI Workflows and 3x Creative Production
• 🤔 Ad-venturous 6: Did Gen X Pledge Allegiance to Value? 
• ⚡TWBERP 37: They Subscribed, Now What? Welcome Emails

Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

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.