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Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Old man Withers just so happens to be the next boost in your conversion rates…

If you’re new to DTC, welcome! You’re in good company with fellow newcomers from Asuwere, Vahdam Teas, MooGoo Skin Care, and France Luxe.

In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇

📦 The how and why of Amazon hero images

📦 Finding the right TikTok creator can be exhausting, make it easy on yourself with #paid

📦 Too hot to candle with Erica Werber from Literie Candles

📦 Tips and mindsets to consider when marketing through a recession

📦 Boosting repeat sales through conversational marketing with Loop

Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎

👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe , so you never miss out.

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AMAZON

Creating A Scroll Stopping Hero Image

They say a picture is worth a thousand words…but for the G.O.A.T marketing agency, a picture is worth doubling your click-through rate (CTR). 🤯

Images can make or break your Amazon selling experience. Your hero image has some heavy lifting to do. It should:

• Showcase your product
• Stand out in search results
• Drive enough interest to get the initial click

Simple enough? Your competitors think so too. Creating a hero image to fuel your Amazon growth, and stand out from the competition is no easy feat. So the question is how do you do this… and how do you measure the impact?

⚖️ Measuring the impact

Before you start optimizing or making decisions about what works on your hero image, develop a plan to measure the impact. Without a measurement plan, you’re just making assumptions. 🤷‍♀️

To measure the impact of your hero image you can do one of two things:

1️⃣ Use the Amazon A/B testing feature to setup a test.

2️⃣ Monitor CTR on your ads, sessions, and the conversion rate of your listings.

If Amazon A/B testing is available to you, use it! It creates a true split test with the data to make informed decisions. If the A/B feature isn’t an option, go down route 2!

🖼️ What makes a great hero image?

This part looks a bit different for every industry! You want to stand out in a sea of competition, so the grab your magnifying glass and get ready to spy.

To start sleuthing, search your top keywords and check out the results.

Specifically:

• Are all the products the same/similar color?
• Are they all in a particular orientation?
• Do they all include a certain accessory?
• Do they take up the entire square?
• Are they pure product shot or lifestyle?
• Is there packaging included?

At this point, you’ve probably noticed a few trends. Deviate, be different, and stand out!

The goal is to catch the consumers’ eye. Something as simple as the orientation or angle change of a product shot could be your winning metric. Adding pops of color is another great way to do this (if all the competition isn't already).

Does your hero image visually show scrollers your unique selling point i.e. product features, accessories, key active ingredients, size, etc.? If not, ask yourself how you can showcase more value to earn those clicks and show shoppers why your product is superior. 🔥

This exercise should bump up your CTR and conversion rate, but remember… test everything because data is king. 👑

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SPONSOR

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Finding the right TikTok creator can be exhausting – handling the endless back-and-forths, haggling, managing payments, and trying to gather performance data…

Even typing all that has us out of breath 🥵

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PODCAST

🎧 This episode of DTC was too hot to candle with Erica Werber, founder and CEO of Literie Candle .

Literie is a one-of-a-kind company that captures the olfactory essence of New York City in candle form, with scents like “Brunch in the West Village,” “Pizza from a Guy Named Joe” and “Hot Roasted Nut Cart.” 🕯️

In today’s pod (brought to you by notes of NYC) you’ll learn how the smell of hot trash became a business-changing PR hit, why Literie’s shifting from Google Ads to TikTok, and some LinkedIn life hacks for making collabs happen.

‍The Takeaways 👇

🔥🗑️ PR magic brought to you by “Hot Trash”

Literie’s 2021 April Fools’ Day campaign was nothing short of genius.

They created a limited edition “Hot Trash” scented candle. But they didn’t just try to sell a stinky candle to innocent shoppers…they made the campaign worth it for customers by donating a percentage of the profits to charity and sending them a surprise candle (y’know, one that didn’t smell like garbage).

The campaign got picked up by dozens of media outlets and turned into pure viral success for the company. 🚀

Moral of the story?

👉 The right campaign strategy can turn even the “trashiest” of products into a marketing treasure.

👋 Bye Google, hello TikTok

Recently, Literie decided to ditch Google Ads…

“I just wasn’t seeing any good traffic coming from [Google Ads]... Google was having me compete with the Yankee Candles of the world. I knew I was never gonna top that list so early in our business.”

Now, they’re focusing most of their advertising on paid social. And the clear winner? TikTok, of course.

“We’re spending the same amount of money on TikTok as we are on Instagram right now, and the traffic from TikTok is so much higher. I think you get more for your money from TikTok.”

For the most part, they’re keeping it real on the platform and not overthinking it.

“I quickly realized you can be as unprofessional and silly as you want on TikTok. No one’s looking for these perfectly edited videos. You find a sound that’s trending, you figure out how to throw some content together, and there you go.”

Another hack: Literie found the #candletalk community on TikTok and now uses it to find potential influencers. 💡 If you’re looking for TikTok creators, try searching the platform for a relevant hashtag for your product!

💰 What Erica would do with an extra $50K:

“100% content creation, and probably all for TikTok… [whether] it’s paying creators, or hiring people on our team to develop content.”

👉 Listen to the full episode with Erica Werber here!

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SPONSOR

Personalization: thrive where other brands fail

eCommerce marketing can sometimes feel like a yelling match for consumer's attention, leaving your vital post-purchase communication unopened and ineffective.

But by utilizing a conversational and personalized post-purchase experience, your brand can cut through all of that noise, drive recurring sales, and boost customer loyalty.

That's why Loop and their partners put together the guide for boosting repeat sales with conversational marketing. Grab your copy to learn:

• 🧐 Why conversational marketing matters
• 🚀 How to boost repeat sales with improved personalization
• 🛠 What tools are leading the pack in post-purchase excellence

Don’t get caught up in the competition for your customer's attention.

👉 Click here to improve your post-purchase experience.

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MARKETING

Market Through a Recession

We’re sure you’ve heard the news… a recession is approaching. Yes, it can be daunting at times, but it’s truly nothing marketers haven’t faced in the past.

Don’t forget, we’ve recently marketed our way through a pandemic that provided insights on long-term shifts in consumer values, attitudes, and consumption patterns.

Remember that there are heaps of data on consumer patterns from past recessions and economic downturns. This data, and their corresponding strategies, can help you shift according to consumer demands and prepare for economic recovery in the future.

With the uncertainty of the coming months, keep these three tactics in mind. 👇

🤝 Humility

As a marketer, you must understand that your consumer is not a number or a soulless entity. Your brand’s commitment to sustainability, social responsibility, and the push away from more cynical forms of marketing will impact the relationship between you and your consumer.

In a downturn, while your brand or business is studying your customers, your customers are examining you more closely than ever. Tread carefully. Don’t dismiss the frustrations of your audience.

That being said, there are still ways to market your brand throughout the recession that will keep your brand afloat in an economic environment that wants you to sink.

👀 Assess your opportunities

When faced with a recession, your brand has to differentiate what projects and ideas have a poor survival prospect and which projects can stabilize after suffering from a decline in sales.

The lower survival prospects and business opportunities that are unstable or a “risky investment” may have been appealing and worthwhile before the recession but now may be a liability.

Rather than risking your marketing resources on a liability, take aim at  maintaining that relevance to your loyal customers who will be vital in sustaining your brand. Ensure you maintain your connections through the recession and into the recovery.

To stay connected, consider improving affordability and updating your product portfolio to match your consumers' ever-changing needs.

✍️ Plan for the future

The brands that survive the recession focus their assets on their consumer’s needs. That being said, you need to position yourself for what's to come post-recession.

In some cases, our consumers’ wants, needs, and behaviors may return to “normal” within a year or two. Interestingly enough, post-pandemic, we’ve seen a return to brick-and-mortar locations, but generally, ecommerce still remains top dog.

The pandemic boosted consumers’ sense of economic vulnerability, and with a recession knocking at the door, growing consumer vulnerability knocks with it.

As a marketer, you should be preparing for a long-term shift in consumers’ values, attitudes towards spending, and vulnerability. That preparation starts and ends with knowing where to allocate your assets.

With digital ad spend projected to grow 11.5% in 2022 – a deceleration, yet still growth nonetheless – marketers will continue to reduce their spending on TV and make the transition over to digital channels. On the other hand, online video is outpacing social media and is looking to grow 15.4% a year making it the fastest-growing channel.

Marketing during a recession can be challenging to say the least. Make sure your brand is taking the proper steps and precautions to maintain relevance in the minds of consumers.

Reply to this email and let us know if you’ve taken any preliminary steps, or done any planning to mitigate the economic shift.

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QUICK HITS

🚨 Industry leaders Nik Sharma and Savannah Sanchez share their most valuable insights on the Creative Strategist–the highest-impact role in paid social that will BOOST your ad revenue.*

👕 How DTC menswear brand True Classic is built to grow.

📺 Walmart and Roku debut first-of-its-kind partnership to bring commerce to TV ads.

🎭 TikTok exec: We’re not a social network like Facebook, we’re an entertainment platform.

👻 Snapchat’s developing a new ‘Snapchat+’ subscription service, offering exclusive access to new features.

*Sponsored

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🔊 HAVE YOU HEARD OUR LATEST PODCASTS?‍

🕯️ Making memories of NYC into Candles (and killing it on TikTok) with Erica Werber from Literie Candle‍

🍪 AdRoll Bakes Up A Solution to the 3rd Party Cookie-pocalypse.

🧴 Growing 20-30% Month Over Month with Stem Cell Skincare Brand CLEARSTEM.

🤑 Aviator Nation Drives Over $10 Million in Apparel Sales with their Tapcart App with Curtis Ulrich and Eric Netsch.

🦴 Greasy Affiliate SEO with Connor Meakin from Bluebird Provisions Bone Broth.

🤖 Put Machine Learning and AI to work for your brand with Black Crow AI. ‍

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

DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight, Jordan Gillis, and Kelsey Hess. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.

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