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If you’re new to DTC, welcome! You’re in good company with fellow newcomers from WUFF, Wave Case, Oddbox, Two Mountain Winery, and Dr. Squatch. 🧼
In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 How General Mills is going direct to consumer with Carter Jensen, Global Lead for DTC
📦 Shortening your cash conversion cycle with Plastiq
📦 How to be authentic in front of the camera – founders edition
📦 Optimizing your creatives to increase conversion rates with Cohley
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe , so you never miss out.
🎧 On this episode of the DTC pod, we’re taking a trip down the cereal aisle with General Mills’ Global Lead for DTC Carter Jensen.
Building out the direct-to-consumer business framework for an $18 billion, 100-year-old company is no easy feat, but that is exactly what Carter was tasked with when starting at General Mills in 2020.
In this week’s episode, we’ll break down how the company’s DTC strategy has opened doors for new and exciting opportunities as well as how Carter and his team prioritize a “connected commerce journey” for General Mills' consumers to build brand equity.
The Takeaways 👇
🆕 The new (strategy) on the block
General Mills has been a supply chain powerhouse for more than a century with some of the most recognizable brands – Cheerios, Yoplait, Pillsbury, and so many more still dominating grocery store aisles everywhere. With decades of success in mass distribution sales, how does a DTC strategy fit in?
“What DTC enables is that it allows us to get products in consumers‘ hands quickly… It allows us to ship right to people’s homes. And now, not only do we have products in their hands, but we have all the first-party data around who they are so we can follow up with questions… Or get feedback on how they like the product.”
Using a more direct way to get products to consumers and receive feedback, Carter and his team can provide data that could inform company strategy with what consumers are liking or even wanting to see! (Have you seen their Stranger Things x Cinnamon Toast Crunch collab ? 👀 Talk about listening to the fans!)
🔑 Consumer connection is key
For the new General Mills keto brand, Ratio, an experience that provided added value to the consumer was prioritized for the website.
“We knew the keto consumer was looking for solutions [for the new diet they were taking on]… And so we wanted to build a system that could meet them where they are, online and looking for those solutions, and create a connected commerce experience [there].”
Consumers landing on the site are greeted with not only information on all of the Ratio products, but also learn more about the keto diet, keto “hacks”, and product locations – whether it's directly through the site or their favorite retailers.
However, what differentiates the General Mills DTC strategy from competitors, is that at the end of the day, achieving this connected commerce journey for the consumer is their largest driver.
“We don’t see DTC as being the next big sales channel. We see it as being a vital part of this [connected commerce] journey. The consumers of today are expecting that we deliver personalized value at every touch point and sometimes that requires you to own the rails for a few transactions.”
💰 What Carter would do with an extra $50K:
Carter is thinking BIG. 🚀
“I would use it to try to figure out like ‘What’s a new, kind of, crazy idea that we could take DTC without necessarily worrying too much about how profitable it’ll be, but just to deliver a new experience on behalf of one of [our] iconic brands.”
👉 Listen to the full episode with Carter Jensen here!
Getting the funding for your DTC brand's big expenses has never been this easy.
Those expenditures are vital for your brand's ability to scale confidently. But that confidence now fits in your pocket with Plastiq's credit card in your wallet. 👝
Plastiq helps DTC brands shorten the cash conversion cycle by enabling later payment of large expenses such as inventory, advertising, and shipping costs via credit cards.
With Plastiq, you can float expenses for up to 60 days! 🗓
"Plastiq can help you extend the time to pay off expenses so you can keep your burn rate down and delay payment until after you've already made the sale." -Ronak Shah, CEO, Obvi
👉 Click here and never worry about paying for inventory or funding your ads.
There are a few things more powerful for a brand than getting the founder in front of the camera. The power of the founder’s voice is directly linked to their ability to sell.
The passion they have for their product or cause is natural and authentic – everything that modern content requires.
Before you discount your ability as a founder to talk on camera, remember that you don't have to be a Hollywood elite to have a compelling voice. 🎥⭐️
Not sure how to take the first steps? These creative professionals are giving away three tips for getting your message out clean and effectively, all while feeling comfortable on camera.
1️⃣ Talk to the camera like you're having a conversation with a friend
Look into the lens like it's one of your closest friends as if you're sharing a story or important information! Think being on a FaceTime call with your bff.
The more conversational your message comes across, the more authentic it seems to viewers. Talking conversationally also helps you easily break down your topic. Don’t be intimidated, there's no one there to judge you.
2️⃣ Gather as much information on your topic as you can
The more you know, the more confident you'll sound on camera. As if you’re presenting at work, you want to be prepared to best share the topic with your audience.
Be confident but not scripted.
3️⃣ Remember that you can do more than one take
If you mess up, you can do it again – that's the beauty of working on camera! If you don't like something, just re-film it. Know that you can always make adjustments in editing.
Try to be conscious of unnecessary added words like "uhm" and "but" in your sentences too, just so the editor doesn't have too much to cut around. Just remember, you can always start again. No need to be nervous!
Do you have any tips for readers to help them get comfortable in front of the camera? Reply to this email and let us know! 📸
eCommerce brands lose $18 billion a year on abandoned carts 🤯
On the other hand, Luggage brand Biaggi drives more than 70% of their email revenue through their browse and cart abandonment emails by optimizing their creatives to increase conversion rates and revenue from their email flows.
But up until now, image testing within automated abandonment emails has been impossible. That’s why Cohley partnered with Klaviyo to build an integration that…
Biaggi uncovered winning assets across their catalogue with this data, driving a 75% increase in conversions.
👉 Click here to start reclaiming your revenue before it’s lost forever.
👀 Twitter shares new research into the roles that social media engagement has on purchase activity.
📈 How to work with zero search volume keywords: a process for finding and leveraging low to no-volume SEO keywords.
💡 Instagram launches initial test of new ‘Creator Marketplace’ influencer discovery platform.
💰 Amazon says more than 300M items sold during ‘biggest’ Prime Day event.
🤝 Instagram’s new payments feature lets users buy products via DMs.
🔊 HAVE YOU HEARD OUR LATEST PODCASTS?
🥣 How General Mills is Going Direct To Consumer with Carter Jensen, Global Lead for DTC.
🍫 Tabs Sex Chocolate: Engineering Virality from Day One.
💸 Ridge Wallet CEO Sean Frank's Hot Takes After $100 Million+ in Sales.
☕️ Death Wish Coffee's Will Critcher Spills the Beans.
🕯 Making Memories of NYC Into Candles (and Killing It on TikTok) with Erica Werber from Literie Candle.
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight, Kate Gullett, and Jordan Gillis. Edited by Eric Dyck.
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📥 Work for The DTC Newsletter: Send an email to Rebecca, rebecca@directtoconsumer.co, if you’re interested in writing for us!
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