Monday, January 30, 2023
Welp, we made it to the last newsie of Jan. How's everyone holding up?
In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 Capitalizing on TikTok trends for higher ROAS and lower CPAs
📦 How to get stellar creator content ASAP
📦 The era of layoffs and how to get through them
📦 Knowing what ads actually drive ROI with a first-party data analytics platform
📦 The benefits of pillar pages for SEO
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
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Capitalizing on the TikTok Capsule Wardrobe Trend 💅
TikTok trends move a mile a minute, but we think these few are sticking around: the capsule wardrobe, clean girl, vanilla girl, and that girl trend.
TikTok has reported that one in three on a beauty journey have purchased a product in the last year because they saw it on TikTok. 💰
In other words, TikTok is the platform to scale on in 2023. Plus, nearly half of Gen Z use TikTok and Instagram for search instead of Google. 🤯
The Pilothouse TikTok team has creative and scale strategy locked down for brands that fit the beauty niche. 👀
Don’t believe us? Check this out 👇👇👇
The team capitalized one of the most popular trends within the clean girl aesthetic, the Capsule Wardrobe, and scaled this angle to spend over half of the daily budget for a jewelry brand AND at a higher ROAS than the account average. 📈
🔥 CPA: $58.98 (14.08% lower than the account average)
🔥 ROAS: 1.62 (14.78% higher than the account average)
So, how’d they do it?
1️⃣ Calling out Capsule Wardrobe in the hook
2️⃣ Authentic UGC
3️⃣ Greenscreen creative
4️⃣ Using language directly from organic “clean girl Tiktok”
Plus accurate targeting within the product space, strategic media buying, and an optimized post-click experience. ✅
The Pilothouse TikTok team are strong believers that if you want to take your brand to the next level this year, you need to start testing, iterating and scaling today!
Stand Out in 2023 With Elevated Creator Content
Are you tired of creating content that's *just about* as exciting as watching paint dry? What if instead, your Creator Content looked a little LIKE THIS. 💥
Say hello to Pilothouse Studios – Creative wizards here to help you tell your brand's story and leave a lasting impression on your audience.
Book a call to get rapid creator content from professionals that drove over $100M in revenue for their clients in 2022.
P.S. Their lightning-fast turnaround of just 3 days after the product is received ensures your brand will always be ahead of the competition. ⚡️
Packages range from $3K to $15K for on-demand creator services that deliver sales, not excuses. 📈
👉 Harness the power of talented creators to tell your brand's story. Book a call with Pilothouse Studios now!
So, You’ve Been Laid Off — Now What?
🤕 Everyone is feeling it
Feeling the financial squeeze? You're not alone. These days, it seems like everyone's wallets are taking a hit, from grocery bills to our beloved recreational activities. And to make matters worse, some of the biggest companies have been handing out pink slips left and right.
You don't have to look far to find a person impacted by a layoff in one way or another, so don't let a layoff get you down.
We're here to tell you why layoffs happen, how to keep your mental health in check, and how to bounce back with a plan of action. So, let's take a deep breath and ride this wave together. 🏄
🤨 Why are layoffs even a thing?
Dan Wang, associate professor at the Columbia Business School, told Insider that labor and marketing costs are the first areas considered by companies for budget cuts.
This practice isn’t new, but it wasn’t nearly as common in the early 20th century. Job security was sort of…expected. It was one of the benefits that drew people to corporate jobs in the first place, and unless you made a huge mistake and got fired, you were pretty much set.
Layoffs became common practice in the late 20th century. According to Origins, Newsweek published “Corporate Killers,” announcing 131,000 total layoffs from 4 different companies. One interesting point is that executive salaries increased. Coverage at the time helped shift the perspective from the health of the workforce to the strength of the industry which didn’t help the average Jane and Joe.
Exponential growth is rarely sustainable. In certain cases, layoffs can be seen as a way to restructure a company and manufacture growth after lower than expected quarterly earnings. Downsizing frees up a company’s budget to support areas that are needed most.
🧩 How does the worker fit into all of this?
Layoffs are out of your control, straight up. It’s not your fault that a company chose to downsize your team. You deserve an opportunity to show the world what you can do. Here are some ways to stay resilient when times get tough:
✏️ Update your resume
Keeping an updated resume is very important. You don’t want to cope with the stress of a layoff and boasting about your skills at the same time.
Remembering all of your accomplishments is difficult at the best of times (because you’re awesome!) so take some time each month to update your current position and achievements in a cloud-based resume document before a layoff could happen.
⏱ Take your time
It’s easy to dwell on wondering what might have been, so accept it and take a few days to process your next step. These next couple of days are integral for adjusting your finances, reaching out to your professional connections, and taking care of yourself. 💗
🎓 Learn something new
Take this opportunity to switch your career path! Going back to school and learning new skills creates professional connections. Sometimes being laid off forces us to consider our current trajectory and determine if it’s where we want to be. If it’s not, take advantage of the time you now have to place yourself on the right path.
Keep scrolling for more on mental health, volunteering, scheduling, and asking for help. 👇
Join top marketers on a yellow brick road through the recession
Recession fears (lions), budget freezes (tigers), and expensive CPMs (bears). Oh my! 😱
Elite marketers see this as an OPPORTUNITY - and you can too if you have the right tools to seize it.
Using a first-party data analytics platform (like Northbeam), you can tell what ads actually drive ROI.
So you can justify Every 👏 Single 👏 Cent 👏
When you know what channels are effectively driving cash flow, you can increase your ad budget while the competition cuts theirs.
Meaning you won’t just survive a downturn: you’ll thrive. 🚀
👉 Tap your ruby red slippers and discover how Northbeam users are winning in 2023.
🙋♀️ Ask for help
Mental health is health. Never feel ashamed to seek the help that you need. Mental health professionals offer guidance, structure, and advice when you need it most. Some companies have the resources to extend your benefits package into the layoff period so this is your chance to use them!
If you have the chance to work with a career service, make the time to meet with them regularly and leverage the resources they have available. A quick resume review can do wonders.
🤝 Volunteer where you never could
Seek volunteer opportunities to pursue something you love. It’s a chance to explore a new hobby or learn a new skill. Keeping your mind occupied is the best way to get through a rough patch. Reach out to organizations and charities to see how you can make an impact in your community.
DTC’s editor, Claire Beveridge, says that “after a lay off from a tech startup in June 2021, I spent time volunteering to help seniors with groceries and meals. The experience was hugely rewarding and gave me a real sense of purpose after a career setback — not to mention that the seniors were funny and insightful AF, which helped lift my spirits!”
🗓 Schedule your day
Consider it your temporary job to work on your resume and develop professional connections. Dedicating 3-4 hours every day to building your resume or sending applications is the perfect place to start.
Remember to take breaks and take days off, just like any other job. Everyone gets a break, so you deserve one too.
💪Know when it’s time to ask for help
Intrusive thoughts are normal but not healthy to dwell on. Asking for help shows you’re confident enough to know when you need it. It builds trust and reflects positively on you.
Take this time to discover what makes you truly happy and leverage the resources you have to make the changes you need.
Feel free to follow up with these mental health resources in Canada or the US.
➡️ Follow through
If you’ve ever been laid off, feel free to share your story or offer advice to someone in need. As a business owner, ask yourself what you can do to support workers if you need to make a tough decision. We hope that no workers need to face a layoff, but if the time should come, preparation is the step you can take today.
The Pillar of Success
🦵A leg to stand on
When you think of a pillar, what comes to mind?
Usually, we’re referring to the foundations of a brand that consistently influences every decision made by its teams. However, we wouldn’t blame you for thinking of the Corinthian pillars on the Greek temple of Apollo. 🏛
Sure, they’re both technically pillars, but they likely won’t help your SEO as much as a pillar page.
Think of a pillar page as the quarterback of your website — focused on one thing and one thing only, whether a topic or a product. 🏈 And like a good quarterback, a pillar page helps organize content and guide consumers to the information they're searching for.
Check out this pillar page from muscleandstrength.com, where they’ve organized all of their workouts for clients to easily sort through and access. 💪
🔎 Focus in all the right places
The reason a pillar page has numerous benefits within SEO is because of that focus. 🧐 These pages are easily crawled and indexed by search engines to provide reliable search results for your potential customers.
If you could outline at least one product/service and vision statement for your brand, each of these could be its own pillar page.
SEOJournal compares a pillar page to a bicycle wheel. “If you visualize a wheel of a bicycle, at the center, you have the hub.” The hub is your pillar page from which numerous resources can be accessed to expand upon the central theme of the pillar page.
👥 Users-first
Ultimately, pillar pages allow your consumer to process and find information easily. With the organization required to set up these pillar pages, your SEO standing will undoubtedly be influenced by their implementation.
Don't be fooled by the fancy columns of ancient Greece, pillar pages are the real pillars of SEO success. ✅
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🎖 The Meta Certified Company program launches globally.
📉 What Microsoft’s growth means for the tech sector.
🎬 Netflix ends password sharing by March.
👩⚕️ Amazon launches RxPass from Prime members.
🎨 Kittl seeks to compete with Canva.
*Sponsored
🤑 The Oodie - Davie Fogarty: Lessons From a Fast $400M.
💸 Andrew Wilkinson at C-Suite in Victoria: Bootstrapping vs. VC vs. PE vs. Angel.
😎 Pretty Boy - Ben Feys and Kevin Niehoff: Nailing your Brand Identity and Balling on a Budget.
🥤 Sansorium - Fiona Hepher: Sipping Sober with a 30% Return Customer Rate.
❤️ Rootd - Ania Wysocka: Helping a Million Users in the Age of Anxiety.
💡 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 and Michael Venditti. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
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