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In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 Meta madness: inflated audience reach
📦 Revenue opportunities that wait beyond the second purchase with Bluecore
📦 How DTC brands are structuring their marketing teams
📦 Achieve your KPIs through TV ads with Tatari
📦 The how and why for segmenting your Amazon keywords
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
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Media buyers often wonder just how inflated Facebook Ads' reach is?
Their question may soon be answered…
A US court recently ruled to certify a class-action lawsuit alleging that Meta had sold ads based on a very inflated potential reach and then swept it directly under the rug 🧹
A case was filed back in 2018 by an eCommerce business that spent over $1 million on ads alongside a firearm accessory business that spent around $350, showing that the accusations impact both big and small businesses.
This type of case is not new for Meta.
Earlier, the Video Advertising Bureau filed a lawsuit against Meta and stated that Meta’s estimated audience reach was higher than its population in every U.S state.
The case brought forward now may include more than 2 million advertisers!
Meta had shown plaintiffs the inflated reach of over 200 million people before applying any targeting. Each case had shown a very similar percentage of inflation.
The plaintiffs stated they wouldn't have put the sizable budget on Meta if they knew the potential reach was inflated.
Stated in the court document, Meta claims that “updates” were put into place that stabilized its audience reach estimates.
Meta also fought class-action status as there was limited evidence showing that the class members had collectively used metrics to structure ad budgets.
Bruh… 🤦♂️
The first purchase is great …
but it’s not nearly as important as the second one ✌️
Any good retention strategy starts with the understanding that the customer journey never ends. It begins with the first purchase and continues through to the second, third, and beyond.
Discover the revenue opportunities that wait beyond the second purchase with Bluecore's eCommerce Retention Opportunity eBook, and elevate the shopper experience by:
👉 Learn how to make your customers want to stick around.
Hiring is tough, especially when you’re in the early stages of building your company.
Tons of questions come up when planning for the future growth of your marketing team, like:
So, we chatted with the marketing leaders at two companies early in their hiring stages, Suitshop (team of 1) and Huron (team of 5), to ask them these questions and more!
Keep reading to learn how Kristen Jones and Matt Mullenax are building their marketing teams internally, utilizing agencies, and what advice they have for DTC brands looking to grow. 👇
Here’s our convo:
💬 What does the structure of your Marketing Team currently look like?
🤵 Kristen Jones, Marketing Director @ SuitShop
“I am fortunate enough…to have the help of one of our customer support reps, that’s able to split her time between support and copywriting….Other than that, it's just me, the Marketing Director!”
🧼 Matt Mullenax, co-founder and CEO @ Huron:
“We're currently a team of 5. We recently hired a VP of Marketing, which took our team of 4 to 5 (25% growth!). In addition, we have a Director of Retention and CX, a rather unique and atypical role, but Jonny does a great job, and Annie is our Brand and Social Associate.”
💬 Who leads your Marketing Team, and what are they responsible for?
🤵 KJ
“Since I started with SuitShop, I've handled everything from paid social, organic social direction, photoshoot planning, partnerships and events, influencers, email marketing and automations, content strategy, budgets, and everything in between and beyond!”
🧼 MM
“Our VP of Marketing spearheads our marketing initiatives across brand and performance. Because we're a lean team, those responsibilities range from traditional paid channels (FB, Google), to owned media (email, SMS, web), to content direction.”
💬 Can you tell us about your experience working with external agencies?
🤵 KJ
“We currently have an SEO agency that [works on] CRO testing and SEO optimizations. We also have a publicist that helps with PR and the occasional influencer outreach.
We have an additional agency that handles paid search and social implementation and testing… that does full comprehensive breakdowns weekly and is always on top of everything.
We see a clear ROAS, get a rundown of all the data, and always know what they're doing. This form of communication is super important in building trust [with your agency]. “
🧼 MM
“We work with agencies for media buying purposes. When it comes to content and strategy, we're creating/determining in-house, which allows for greater control and consistency of voice and aesthetic across platform and channel.”
💬 What lessons have you learned about hiring?
🤵 KJ
“Finding the right agency partners has the potential to save a ton of money while initially scaling.
Some might argue that it's more valuable to have someone that knows the brand inside and out and is committed to its growth. However, a good agency should be able to fill that gap for you without needing salary, benefits, shares, etc.”
🧼 MM
“There's a stark contrast between filling seats and addressing needs. The former is relatively easy; the latter is more difficult with the same resources.
We spent months identifying and speaking with several candidates for our marketing role. But we wanted to find the right person for us. We weren't going to 'settle' on a key hire at this early growth stage.”
💬 What advice do you have for other DTC brands building their Marketing Teams this year?
🤵 KJ
“In my opinion, a generalist with an understanding of most channels is the best first-hire…someone that can optimize existing channels and implement what's missing. From there, they can help to assemble a team (of agencies and full-time hires) based on filling the gaps of their strengths and weaknesses.
If I were to hire anyone at this time, I would be looking into some form of a ‘community’ role that could help with engagement, social, and influencer management since we're always in need of content and enjoy building strong relationships amongst our customers.”
🧼 MM
“The classic boring example: it depends. Almost every business's needs are different. If wholesale is a critical component of your Revenue Mix, finding a well-versed marketer in TPR'ing and end caps is important… But if your focus is on DTC top-line growth, finding someone who understands paid channels and the full funnel (content creation, landing page, site mechanics/UI) is imperative.
At an early stage, it's best to map out underdeveloped business areas, identify holes in the org chart, and craft a [job description] around turning those areas of opportunity into strengths. But don't turn a blind eye to strong, generalist talent. “
Here’s a little recap of what we took away from these helpful insights! 👏
Anything we’ve missed? Reply to this email and let us know! 👍
TV has long been known as a reach machine.
A channel primed for building brand awareness.
Now, TV is a full-funnel marketing solution that can be measured just like digital.
It's time to rethink TV advertising.
Learn how six DTC disruptors use TV to achieve a range of KPIs (CPV, CAC, ROAS) across all marketing funnel stages:
Each case study uncovers tactics you can apply to your linear and streaming TV strategy.
Keyword research is the foundation of success on Amazon, so getting it right the first time pays dividends in the long term.
The Pilothouse Amazon team segments keywords in three main ways:
Keep reading for why you should be segmenting your keywords. 👇
1️⃣ By keyword search volume
Low volume keywords are typically less competitive, have lower bids, are easier to rank for, and can be profitable sooner, whereas high volume keywords are the opposite.
Your low-volume keyword campaigns will be dialed into efficiency. Your high-volume keywords will be targeted to build rank at the sacrifice of efficiency.
2️⃣ By sales angle
Segmenting by sales angle gives you insight into what is working for your products and what's not.
This can help inform your listing copy, images, A+, and store pages.
Within sponsored brand campaigns having angle segments lets you tailor your headlines to speak directly to the keyword you're targeting, rather than a general overarching benefit.
3️⃣ Branded
Branded keywords are your highest return campaigns. You should have low bids and a high ROAS on these campaigns.
Effectively segmenting them out means you have direct insight into how much of your sales are branded and the ability to dial in the bids on these to maximize efficiency.
You don't want to overspend on customers that would convert anyway.
You do want to own the search results and have an effective defense against competitors moving in because they will, and when a competitor is 'Amazon's Choice' for your branded term, that hurts :(
By having your keywords segmented into these categories, building campaigns becomes a straightforward process of copying your lists to their respective campaigns.
The outcome? Visibility into what's working (or not) and the control to jump in and scale or correct the course.
If you're looking to scale your Amazon listing through keyword research but don't know where to start, reach out to the Pilothouse Amazon team! 🚀
M&A
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🖥 An app developer platform, Docker, pulls in a $105M Series C on a $2B valuation.
🚀 Slingshot Aerospace earned $25M for a 39-month contract from the U.S. Space Force to build a space simulator.
🤖 Black Crow AI Raised $25M, bringing its total funding total to a whopping 30M.
✏️ Glean, a note-taking service, raises $7M; in hopes of democratizing data and insights.
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🔊 HAVE YOU HEARD OUR LATEST PODCASTS?
👀 If You Shelve It, Will They Come? With Fractional CMO Bryan Holladay.
🏋️♂️ Why Personalization Might be the Biggest Opportunity in DTC with Eric Ji Sun Wu, Cofounder of Gainful.
💄The Fast Road to 8 Figures with Jones Road Beauty's Cody Plofker.
❣️ Molly Garraway on Growing a CX Team to 100, and Then Starting from Scratch with LoveSeen.
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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