Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
As you probably know, Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican army’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
But did you know that the holiday, widely celebrated in the states and scarcely observed in Mexico, owes its current popularity to 1980s marketing campaigns for Modelo and Corona?
Today, Americans drink more beer on Cinco de Mayo than Super Bowl Sunday or St. Patrick's Day.
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In this edition of the DTC Newsletter, you’ll find:
📦 An intro to dynamic retargeting campaigns – the Shopify x Pinterest integration you should be utilizing.
📦 Our conversation with Blume, and why education and personalization are key to your brand.
📦 Yotpo debunks the top five myths surrounding SMS.
📦 Quick UGC tips to ease communication with content creators.
Stick around till the end for our walk through of the Shopify x Pinterest integration you should be utilizing.
Pinterest
Shopify x Pinterest Dynamic Retargeting Campaigns
In late April Pinterest announced that it’s expanding its partnership with Shopify to 27 new countries.
The Shopify-Pinterest channel was already available in the U.S. and Canada, but is now live in new countries including Australia, Brazil, Spain, the UK, and 23 others.
After connecting your Shopify and Pinterest accounts, you’ll have access to a range of new Pin integration options that make it easy to turn product pages into shoppable Product Pins.
All Shopify merchants now have access to Dynamic Retargeting, which enables them to re-engage with Pinners who have already expressed interest in their products on Pinterest.
The Pilothouse team has utilized this feature for about a year, and media buyer Grayson Rudzski is a big fan:
"It’s a super powerful feature. Prospecting isn’t always the best on Pinterest, especially if it’s a high-price-point product. So having that dynamic retargeting really helps buffer up your funnel."
"Ultimately, what it does is sync your Shopify, pull all of your SKUs into Pinterest, and then based on whether people have pinned that specific item – or based off their interests and user activity on Pinterest – it will automatically feed them retargeting ads with items they’re likely to buy."
Once your campaign is set up, they’re low maintenance. The Pilothouse team has been running one campaign for close to 12 months, never having turned it off. It consistently performs with 3–6x ROAS.
Each feed can indicate a specific piece of local data. This includes things like language, currency, and product availability.
If you’re a merchant who sells your product across multiple markets, this is extremely helpful.
Is your brand on Pinterest? Let us know if you’re using dynamic retargeting and how it's working for you.
Sponsor
SMS marketing is a D2C brand’s secret weapon.
With SMS at the core of an eCommerce marketing strategy, brands can build connections with their customers and drive revenue fast.
Want proof?
We’re debunking the five myths we hear about SMS marketing.
And, for the real inside scoop on SMS, check out Yotpo’s eBook, The Complete Guide to Generating Fast ROI with SMS Marketing. You’ll like it, we promise.
Five myths about SMS marketing:
💬 SMS marketing is spammy
It’s a common misconception that SMS marketing is intrusive. Because consumers have to opt-in to receive texts from a brand, the messages aren’t unwelcome – they’re expected (and highly anticipated!).
Over 89% of consumers prefer to engage with brands via SMS.
💬 SMS marketing means one-too-many text blasts
One text does not fit all, so why send one generic text blast?
Segmentation and targeting make it easy to send the right message to the right customer at the right time, enabling brands to get personal and engage their customers in conversations.
💬 SMS marketing only works for younger demographics
From Gen X to Baby Boomers, all consumers are on their phones all the time.
Younger generations communicate via multiple channels all at once, including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Clubhouse, and more. Older generations use fewer channels, but they still rely on texting as a primary channel to connect.
"We were hesitant to get started with SMS marketing because we thought our demographic was older and the channel wouldn’t resonate, or they wouldn’t want to engage," says Loulou Mulligan, Customer Experience Coordinator from Evelyn & Bobbie, a Yotpo SMS customer. "But, in reality, SMS is for all ages – everyone texts. Our primary demographic loves texting with us, and now we’re also attracting a new, younger audience as well. It’s been a win-win."
By texting all your shoppers, you’re reaching them – all of them – where they already are, increasing your chances of conversion across your audience.
💬 SMS marketing costs too much
Brands can actually leverage SMS to combat high customer acquisition costs.
In fact, because of the direct nature of the channel, SMS is a rapid revenue driver. Brands with Yotpo SMS see, on average, over 25x ROI – making SMS one of the most cost-efficient channels to engage with mobile consumers today.
💬 SMS marketing just doesn’t work
The results are in, and SMS not only works – it’s a top revenue driver.
Brands with Yotpo SMS bring in a staggering 20% of their revenue from their SMS alone – making it the clear choice for brands looking to boost conversion and build relationships.
For the full picture, and a three-step SMS formula to Drive ROI, read Yotpo’s Complete Guide to Generating Fast ROI with SMS Marketing.
Podcast
In this episode we chat with Blume’s Co-Founder, Bunny Ghatrora.
Blume is a women’s skincare and self-care company eliminating the shame and embarrassment that stems from puberty and growing up.
Did you know that 60% of women felt their self-esteem plummet through puberty?
What used to make young girls feel ashamed is being normalized thanks to companies like Blume.
Let’s Jump in 🚀
📈 Zero to one
Before Bunny and her sister/co-founder Taran launched Blume, they tested the market and built their audience by running a third-party subscription box selling pads, tampons, and other related products.
This was a lower risk option that helped the sisters build an audience while honing their products and learning the product and fulfillment side of eCommerce.
📚Education
Bunny points out that sex education across North America is lacking, and totally up to school boards who are provided with minimal resources.
If you want to reframe your niche, education is an essential. Blume created sexual and health education resources called the State of Sex Ed which is availbale to everyone!
🙌 Product naming
Blume named their products to remind customers why they’re using them.
"We really wanted to bring that emotional connection and personification to the products."
For example, feel dreamy while using the Daydreamer Cleanser and hold your loved ones tight after applying your Hug Me Deodorant.
What do you want from your zit? Just Melt Down please!
🤳 Building a social community
Gifting to micro-influencers is another key part of their strategy.
"We really focus on creating that community of folks who resonate with the product beyond just what it does, but also the why behind why we started the brand, our values, and what we truly stand for."
As Blume has gotten older and gained popularity, they’re very specific about who they work with.
"We’re hand-picking influencers. We’re very careful about who we ship to and why, and what they represent for Blume."
Every influencer you work with represents your brand. It’s crucial they align with your mission and vision.
😎 The Importance of Personalization:
Bunny acknowledges that marketing can be a blanket approach, but specifies: "We want each customer to feel like an individual."
Here’s how Blume connects with their customers on a personal level:
What’s next for Blume?
🛍 Livestream shopping
Shop Lit, a livestream shopping platform, is huge in China and it’s picking up steam around the world.
Blume has been early adopters of this medium and they’ll continue testing out the platform as it evolves.
🔊 Listen to the entire podcast here!
iOS 14.5 Updates
Prompts are starting to roll out – check out these ones from Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram.
Miss our iOS 14.5 run down in Saturday’s send? You can catch up on our blog.
UGC
Here’s a few UGC quick tips on adding more value for content creators in cases where your budgets are limited, from Angela Meadows, Head of Pilothouse’s UGC Department.
1) When pitching your brand to creators, it’s important to explain how your product & brand aligns with the creator’s brand.
Working with creators who genuinely believe in your brand will have huge pay-offs.
Find creators who share the same values as your brand and they’ll be more willing to collaborate and less likely to charge for content. There’s also a better chance that they’ll become long-term partners, and possibly brand ambassadors.
2) Whitelisting & Dark-posting are great ways to add extra value for creators/influencers.
In whitelisting and dark-posting, you’re exposing a content creator to a
far larger audience than if they were to post organically to their social
following.
The content creator will gain added exposure and in most cases, they’ll be able to track the added benefit of gaining followers.
Dark-posting is when an influencer grants a brand permission to run branded content through that content creator’s handle, but the content isn’t shown on the content creators page/social profile.
Whitelisting is the same except the content lives on the content creators profile and looks like an organic post.
For an in-depth look at whitelisting and dark-posting, check out the Influencer Flywheel Challenge on DTC+.
3) Make it easy for creators, and you’ll get better content!
Take the guesswork out of content development for creators:
TIP: UGC content X double duty.
When you get a product demo or testimonials video, take a static image from the most-watched section of the video.
Run it as an ad in comparison with the video.
In some cases we see the screenshot of the content perform better!
Have more UGC related questions? Get in touch with Angela and the Pilothouse UGC team.
Email
Here’s a little email inspo for ya!
Here’s Pilothouse Head of Email, Julien Normand on why this works:
Quick Hits
👍🏻 Facebook plans full end-to-end encryption of its messaging tools.
🐦 Twitter expands its audio platform "Spaces" to anyone with 600+ followers.
👙 How bra brand Parade reached $10 million in revenue in two years.
🦍 Marketing Dive: How Godzilla vs. Kong is racking up monster views on TikTok.
🐦 Twitter launches national campaign to boost local news.
📦 Modern Retail: To engineer virality, brands are making their own mystery boxes.
📱 ByteDance CFO assumes role as new TikTok CEO.
💵 Instagram announces new features for creators to make money.
🤖 New York returns its police Robodog after public outcry.
🧶 Etsy promises to crack down on banned items available on marketplace.
🍎 The Epic Games v. Apple trial is off to a chaotic start.
🎁 How SnackMagic went from delivery lunch provider to gift box service.
🐦 Twitter acquires distraction-free reading service Scroll to beef up its subscription product.
👩🏻💻 Verizon’s ad tech exit puts spotlight on other telecom giants still in the game.
🏡 How Clubhouse is providing new social media marketing opportunities.
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