Wednesday, April 12, 2023
When someone’s talking about a new Google Analytics 4 report 😂
If you’re new to DTC, welcome! You’re in good company with fellow newcomers from Singular Cycles, Wren, HoloToyz, Google, and Rhythm Jewellery.
In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 9-year-old Lily Harper from Lily Lou's Aromas homeschools us all
📦 Increasing your marketing efficiency
📦 How the dilution effect impacts ad performance
📦 How to get authentically written reviews
📦 Growing your business in 2023
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe, so you never miss out.
🎧 Today on the DTC pod, join us for an extraordinary DTC Minis episode featuring the young and inspiring 9-year-old Lily Harper from Lily Lou’s Aromas, along with her mom Chloe, and a special appearance by our very own 9-year-old co-host, Iris!
Discover how Lily's passion for clean and natural candles has transformed her life, embarking on an incredible journey from tackling bullying and traditional learning to running a bustling DTC candle business. 🕯️
Prepare to laugh and learn as we explore topics like kids and technology, the hidden superpowers of ADHD in business, and how a child's wild imagination can shake things up in the DTC world.
The takeaways 👇
🦸♀️ Harnessing a superpower
Lily has turned her ADHD into the secret sauce that fuels her entrepreneurial journey. The power of ADHD in business is often underestimated, but it can bring unique strengths and advantages to entrepreneurs like Lily. Here are a few ways ADHD can be a superpower in the business world:
👩💻 Kids in tech
In the fast-paced world of technology, Lily shines as an example that raising tech-savvy children is not only possible but beneficial. Guided by her mother, Lily has learned to create content instead of merely consuming it. By navigating the ups and downs of online feedback, she's building resilience and tech-literacy for the future.
To Lily’s parents, shielding kids from technology isn't always the answer. Instead, helping them manage both the good and bad aspects early on establishes healthy habits that last a lifetime. They emphasize open communication that fosters a supportive environment where Lily can learn to use technology mindfully, growing into a responsible digital citizen.
💰 What Lily would do with an extra $50K:
Oh, the possibilities!
Lily discusses how she could get even closer to securing her dream warehouse for her candles and expanding her product line. Plus, she'd have a chance to collaborate with big retailers as well as amp up her TikTok presence. Not even the sky's the limit for Lily!
👉 Listen to the full episode with Lily Harper here!
🛑 Do you manage digital advertising across multiple channels?
Like many of us, you may want to increase your marketing efficiency.
As part of a high-performance marketing team, your goal is to drive ROI and to make your business grow.
🤫 We are going to let you in on a little secret: AdRoll
Their all-in-one advertising platform makes your life so. much. easier. In just ONE browser tab, you can:
Advertising experts at AdRoll will work directly with you to launch and optimize campaigns across all your networks. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest, these experts can help you tackle it all. 💪
👉 Sign up at AdRoll.com today.
If you’re not all caught up on the latest in behavioral science, no worries. The Pilothouse team has you covered!
Recently, the team dove head-first into this study, which speaks about the Dilution Effect and its impacts on ad performance.
Sure, sometimes giving people more to read and take in in your ads is better, but sometimes less can be more.
The study outlines that listing your strongest unique selling point (USP) partnered with a secondary unique selling point actually dilutes the effectiveness of your ad.
⚡ TL;DR: if you know USP one works well with an audience, don’t serve them an ad that has both USP one and two.
Check this out: 👇
You may think you’re providing more arguments for why a scroller should stop and buy your product, but really you’re reducing the overall effectiveness of your ad!
Thanks to the Pilothouse creative team for this killer tip! Try it out on your ads, and let us know how it goes! #BehavioralScienceForTheWin 🧪
You know your products are great.
But the more authentic customer reviews you have, the higher your chances are of capturing new customers.
That's why brands like PetSmart, Lenny & Larry's, and Derma E sample their products to Cohley’s network of creators to receive authentically written reviews, alongside photos showcasing the product in use.
What makes product reviews from Cohley better?
For a limited time, when DTC subscribers purchase a package of reviews from Cohley, they’ll double it at no additional cost. That means if you purchase 250 product reviews, they’ll throw in another 250 on the house.
👉 Sign up for Cohley today to get more authentic reviews (and more customers).
📣 Breaking news!
It’s always a delight to hear from the biggest names in ecommerce. With a constant shift in viral trends and SEO strategies, we never know what new tips and tricks they have up their sleeve!
Fortunately, Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify, was recently interviewed by Entrepreneur and gave viewers some valuable and timeless advice on how to grow your business by outlining what advantages a small business has over larger corporations.
Some talking points have been floating around on social media for a while, but that doesn’t discount their importance! In fact, Harley’s conversation further justifies how effective these tactics are in growing your business from a bedroom to the production line.
🧑🍳 The recipe
“Historically, the most important ingredient for starting a business was capital — you needed money… And now, it's more about creativity."
It’s possible to start a business on any budget. Creativity and resourcefulness are arguably the most sought-after skills an entrepreneur can have. There are an infinite amount of resources and tools available online, but it’s how we use them that matters most.
Many resources that provide financial advice or organizational tools are relatively inexpensive or entirely free to use! Leverage these tools to establish healthy habits and make growing your business that much easier.
💲The cost of failure
"With the cost of failure being lower than it's ever been, I think we need to change our perception of what we view failure as.”
Don’t cherish your ideas. It’s important to get comfortable in being uncomfortable. Learn from your mistakes because you will make them and make them often. Success stories start with those who view failure as a learning experience rather than defeat. To put it simply: If you don’t suck, you won’t learn!
⚾ Home field advantage
“An advantage that small businesses have over large companies is they can be a lot more agile.”
Adaptability is key to learning from your mistakes. If you understand the problem but don’t act to resolve it, what good does that do?
Businesses with lower budgets can take small iterative steps to build a stronger brand. Going all in on a single strategy simply doesn’t work anymore, and larger companies usually don’t deal with small numbers. You may not have a lot of money, but that’s not always a bad thing in the world of ecommerce. Limitation breeds innovation.
🤝 More sums
“We have completely shifted from the zero-sum entrepreneurial model to a positive-sum model.”
Years ago, competition was baked into the entrepreneurial experience. Now, even so-called competitors can benefit from sharing ideas and discussing their strategies openly.
Consider online communities and social media platforms as valuable gateways into niche communities with so many valuable experiences to share. Being open about your business is no longer taboo, so don’t be the awkward person at the party and join the conversation!
🚀 3, 2, 1, engage!
“With existing customers, you want to increase your engagement with them. You want to increase your relationship and get to know them better. You want them to become frequent buyers of your products as opposed to one-time buyers.”
We’ve said it many times before, and we’ll say it again, engagement is the name of the game. As a small business, it’s difficult to overlook growing acquisition costs, so relationships are more important than ever. Identify your most engaged customer segments and communicate with them regularly.
Whether that’s sending referral codes and promotions or providing early access to your latest products, there are countless ways to keep returning customers happy before spending on growth. 🛍️
🔎 Micro matters
“There are micro-communities that no one else cares about. Get in touch with them and give them something to try. If they like it, this host, who is a center point of a community, will start talking about you and sharing more about your business and your products."
These micro-communities Harley mentions can often turn into that highly engaged audience we just spoke about. Using online resources like Reddit, YouTube, and Instagram are great ways to introduce your brand to small communities. Once you find a creator within that community, become a member of their community and start contributing!
🧑💼 Redefining business ownership
The last twenty years have completely changed the meaning of small business ownership. With the guidance of prominent voices like Harley Finkelstein and the accessibility of the resources on the internet, almost anyone can start a business with the right mindset and perspective.
You need to be social, adaptable, and creative. The positive-sum game is here to benefit small businesses of every kind, so in the spirit of sharing, look no further than the full interview with Harley for advice every small business owner should hear.
📷 YouTube adds more features to Premium. Subscribers will see higher quality video, co-watch through Apple’s SharePlay, and expanded video queue control.
🐥 Twitter restricts integrations with Substack. This comes after Substack released “Notes,” which emulates Twitter’s features in their own platform.
🌍 TikTok’s Earth Month initiative celebrates creators, advocates, and communities. TikTok intends to highlight contemporary sustainability practices throughout April.
🥤 Juice-jacking is on the rise at charging stations in airports, hotels, and malls, as reported by the FBI. Bad actors can install malicious code into charging hubs to read and download data from smartphones.
👻 Monster Energy takes on The Pokemon Company in a new legal battle. The latest developments are a part of the 234 global trademark objections made by Monster to protect their brand identity.
🌲 TAXA Outdoor, Garrett Finney: Digital meets dealership, NASA Architect goes out of home for real.
🐶 Pet Health Comes Home with MySimplePetLab's Jen Hagness.
☠️ Liquid Death Mountain Water: Hamid Saify - Death, Beverages, and the Attention Economy.
🟥 Mid-Day Squares: Jake Karls and Nick Saltarelli - Rainmaking, Fundraising and "One word: F&%^ng Crazy."
🧖♀️ Bushbalm's David Gaylord goes B2B, Enters US retail bigly, and rides the Vajacial wave on DTC.
💡 Listen to the Biggest Marketing News Stories Today.
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight, Kate Gullett, and Michael Venditti. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
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