DTC1008: Customer Persona Tips, Amazon Marketing Cloud, and Specificity on PDPs

Good morning,

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

• ⛹️ Speak Effectively to Your Target Customer Persona
• ☁️ How Amazon Marketing Cloud Can Scale Sponsored Ads
• 💡 Easy Way To Build Credibility on Your PDPs

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Rare Kids Company, Dazy Dog, and Fulton & Roark. 👋

‍💰 Four Tips To Consider When Building Creative for Customer Personas  

If your Meta performance has felt harder to scale lately, it’s not random.

With algorithm shifts like Andromeda, creative isn’t just the message anymore. It’s the targeting.

The platform is doing more of the audience work for you.

That means your ads have to clearly signal who they’re for.

If your creative speaks to everyone, it effectively reaches no one.

So how do you actually build persona-driven creative that performs?

Pilothouse shares four things to consider.

Let’s use Solawave as an example. We’ll create a hypothetical persona called “The Working New Mom.”

1️⃣ Start with Core Attributes

Before you write a headline, understand how this persona thinks.

Ask:

• What defines this stage of life?
• What pressures or priorities shape their decisions?
• What emotional state are they in most days?

Example:

A working new mom is likely juggling career demands, childcare, and limited sleep. Stress and time scarcity are core attributes.

Instead of positioning Solawave as a luxury skincare device, position it as:

• A 3-minute reset at the end of the day
• A small ritual that feels like self-care without requiring a full routine

The messaging shifts from “Get glowing skin” to “Your 3-minute moment of calm.”

That nuance matters.

2️⃣ Speak Directly to Pain Points

If you don’t understand your persona’s real frustrations, your creative will feel generic.

Pain-point-driven ads convert because they reflect the customer’s internal dialogue.

For a working new mom, common pain points might include:

• No time for lengthy skincare routines
• Feeling tired or burnt out
• Wanting to look put together without effort

So the creative should lead with:

• “3 minutes. That’s it.”
• “Skincare for busy mornings.”
• “No downtime. No complicated routine.”

💡 Put the solution front and center. Don’t bury it in the third frame.

3️⃣ Match Their Shopping Behavior

Great messaging on the wrong platform still underperforms.

You need to understand:

• Where this persona spends time
• How they consume content
• What format feels native to them

A working new mom might:

• Scroll Instagram Reels for parenting hacks
• Save Pinterest boards for meal planning
• Watch quick TikTok reviews during downtime

That means:

• Vertical, fast-paced content
• Relatable UGC-style storytelling
• Hooks that feel like real-life moments

Creative strategy isn’t just what you say. It’s where and how you say it.

4️⃣ Reflect Their Identity Back to Them

The most effective persona-driven ads make the viewer think, “This is literally me!”

Subtle cues matter:

• Visuals that mirror their lifestyle (messy kitchen counter, baby monitor in the background)
• Language that acknowledges their reality
• Use cases that feel specific, not staged

For Solawave, that could look like:

• A mom doing her skincare while folding laundry
• A “get ready in 5 minutes” video before daycare drop-off
• Copy that reads: “For the mom who doesn’t have an hour. Just 3 minutes.”

When someone feels seen, they stop scrolling.

The takeaway?

If creative is now your primary targeting tool, persona clarity is non-negotiable.

Here’s what you can do next:

• Build at least 3–5 distinct personas with real attributes and pain points.
• Develop dedicated creative angles for each (don’t just swap headlines).
• Allocate budget intentionally across persona-specific ads.
• Review performance by angle, not just by format.

If most of your spend is still going to one generic message, you’re likely capping scale.

The brands winning in 2026 won’t be the ones trying to “hack” the algorithm.

They’ll be the ones who understand their customer deeply and build creative that proves it.

‍🎧 Amazon Marketing Cloud: Lower Cost on Competitive Keywords

Tyler Masur, Head of Amazon at Pilothouse, breaks down what Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) actually does, how to use the no-code templates without being a SQL wizard, and the audience overlays that make broad keywords work harder.

In this episode, we cover:

• How AMC helps with audience building and deeper measurement layered on top of your existing campaign manager
• How beginners can get started with no-code analytics templates
• Why you should test AMC audiences in net-new campaigns
• How to get scale from a broad keyword without paying for random intent

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube.

🎧 Or listen here on Spotify.

‍It pays to be specific.

Alex shares how he made these tweaks on this PDP page for a supplement brand so they stand out from competitors.

Rather than using generic copy touting a “breakthrough formula” and “miracle cures,” he focused more on patented ingredients and research data.

The result? More customers were willing to purchase and refund rates went down.

If you can explain how and why your product works, it’ll build trust.

• 🍃 Lentil Telepathy: Crunchy toasted lentil snacks and salad toppers 
• 💗 Cupids Fragrance: Pheromone infused cologne designed to increase attraction 
• 🧧 Ruyi Club: AAPI-owned business crafting modern Chinese jewelry

‍📥 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 41: The Value Beyond What You Sell
• 🔢 TWBERP 72: How To Attribute Your Post-Click Ecosystem Part 1
• 🚀 Inspect Bushbalm’s 70% YoY Growth via Retail and Pro Channel
• 📧 AKNF 583: Counter Intuitive Ways To Max Net Present Value
• 💡 Ad-venturous 40: How To Write Creator Briefs That Perform
• 🔮 TWBERP 71: Predict Your 2026 Email Revenue

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.