Cutting Ad Spend on December 2nd Is the Most Expensive Mistake of Q4 | AKNF

Should DTC brands cut ad spend after Cyber Monday? Jacob says no. Black Friday customers often come back to buy gifts, the big retailers pull back so CPMs tend to dip, and the first two weeks of December can outperform the end of November.

On the third DTC Rundown, Eric Dyck is joined by Jacob and Abby from the social team at Pilothouse. Each topic runs on a timer. They start with rising Meta CPMs and the product browsing default Meta switched on this week, then get into whether the offer or the creative matters more on Black Friday, what a late Thanksgiving means for your sale, why December still pays, and whether a founder should fire their agency two weeks before Black Friday.

Get an audit from Pilothouse: https://pilothouse.co

WHAT YOU WILL SOLVE

Your Meta costs keep climbing. Meta CPMs are running higher than last year, with Q4 and the US midterms both pushing prices up. Brands that fed the pixel with cold traffic earlier in the year are the ones seeing it pay off now.

Meta just put a shopping page between your ad and your site. Jacob explains why Pilothouse will test product browsing before opting out, including what opting out could do to your opportunity score.

You can't decide between the offer and the creative. Abby keeps the offer front and center in every Black Friday ad and wins on how she says it. One cookware brand in her portfolio saw CPMs go down this year after a flood of new video content.

You run the same ads to everyone. Jacob hammers the offer to retargeting audiences and leads with variety and messaging for cold traffic, then narrows to what works three or four days into the sale.

Thanksgiving is late and your window is short. Launch early to mid November, then stack an extra 5% or add countdown timers if the promo starts to fizzle.

Your ads say 20% off and the sale is pacing behind. Abby leaves the creative alone and lets shoppers find 25% on the site, a happy surprise that helps them pull the trigger.

Your discount isn't deep enough. A jewellery brand moved from 30% off sitewide to "up to 50%" by adding more products to its clearance section.

You plan to pull back on December 2nd. Keep your Black Friday ads running through Cyber Week, have gifting ready to go, and push until your shipping cutoff.

Your gifting ads launch with no learnings. Abby launches evergreen gifting ads during Black Friday so they already have data when the sale ends.

Your shipping cutoff has passed. Gift cards, discounted gift cards and expedited shipping keep the last days of December selling.

Your brand doesn't fit gifting. Use a self-gifting angle: you did your holiday shopping, now it's your turn.

You're not planning Q5. Health brands can ride new year resolutions, and jewelry brands should build their Valentine's Day creative before January ends.

You skipped top of funnel in October. Abby explains how she fills the funnel in October with brand-building video, then drains it in November with heavy Black Friday messaging.

Your founder wants to fire the agency on November 15th. Jacob would ride it out unless the agency has checked out, and Abby lists the red flags that make switching worth the risk.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Jacob and Abby work on the social team at Pilothouse, a performance marketing agency for DTC brands. https://pilothouse.co

STAY CONNECTED

DTC Newsletter, daily ecommerce marketing and ecommerce growth tactics: https://directtoconsumer.co

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@dtcnewsletter

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/directtoconsumer

Want to be on the Rundown? Email eric@directtoconsumer.co

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Black Friday creative strategy

03:00 Rising Meta CPMs

07:00 BFCM offers vs. creative

18:00 Why you should keep spending after Cyber Monday

30:00 When to fire your marketing agency