Consider this our official love letter to coffee and Canva. 💗
In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 DTC’s secret to increasing Reels views 10x in two days
📦 The secrets to making ads that convert
📦 Sophisticated CX and loyalty programs to retain and delight with Apptile founder Rohit Modi (+ the chance to win a $20k enterprise plan!)
📦 Making the most of your customer retention era
📦 BUST OUT of your creative rut with these 5 tips
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe, so you never miss out.
In a recent All Killer, No Filler episode, the Pilothouse YouTube team mentioned ‘Sludge Content.’ We thought, why not give it a go? 🤷
First, what is sludge content? Sludge content is the inclusion of low-substance, high-interest videos used as a split screen along with the content you’re posting. Sludge content examples include showing video game footage, soap cutting, slime, baking, etc.
The goal of the ‘sludge’ is to keep viewers engaged and watching your videos for longer (hopefully showing the algorithm that your video should be pushed to other users!)
Want to see the video that 10x’d our views in just two days? Check it out here!
For more on Sludge Content, its history, and its uses, click here!
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, consistently creating high-performing ad creative is a never ending game.
That's why Motion is collaborating with paid marketing expert Dara Denney, and she’s spilling all of her secrets to make ads that convert across a four-part, virtual event series from May 30-July 11.
Get free, exclusive access into Dara's step-by-step process for creating top performing ads, including lessons on:
Get the advice that will take your ad creative to a whole new level in 2023. 🔥
🎧 Today on the DTC pod, we're obsessing over mobile apps with Rohit Modi, the Founder and CEO of Apptile!
With over $100M in annual sales from just one of his products, you can bet Rohit knows a thing or two about maximizing a brand’s growth. Apps provide personalized experiences, layers of engagement, and delightful flows that put a smile on any consumer’s face. Building these apps for the smallest businesses to the largest international icons is what Apptile is all about.
The takeaways 👇
🧳 Locals and tourists
All consumers fit into one of two categories. The category you focus on will affect your chances of success in the next three to five years. Brands focusing on tourist consumers, those who purchase once, will often find that they struggle to make consistent sales each month. Segmentation, loyalty programs, and referrals get pushed aside for expensive acquisition strategies that just aren’t practical anymore.
Rohit can’t emphasize the importance of local consumers enough in growing a DTC brand. These consumers will regularly invest in your brand and grow with you. These folks will be members of your loyalty program, opt for memberships, read your blog content, and will expect to be rewarded for all of it, so why not treat them like the kings and queens that they are?
⏳ Don’t get stuck in the past
Well-built apps work magically for consumers. They can not only host all of your content but track and compile key data as well! For example, brands like Uber and Nike can leverage purchase history data and take full advantage of wishlists, product views, and cart additions to make stellar recommendations their consumers will likely buy. Purchase history used to be enough, but it’s not the only piece of data you need to impress your audience with so many incredible mobile experiences out in the market to choose from.
When you consider an app, have these data points in mind to treat that loyal local consumer base to something truly special. Product recommendations, exclusive offers, and high levels of personalization can only be sustainably achieved through dedicated apps.
🤔 Now what?
"Building an app should be no more complicated than building an Instagram page.” Apptile is focused on getting your app in the hands of your customers in days. Not months.
We know you have what it takes so check out the full episode to learn when it’s the best time to build an app, rethink what you know about consumer segmentation, and how to build an app that’s a two-way street.
👉 Listen to the full episode with Rohit Modi here!
P.S. Three lucky brands have the chance to access Apptile's Enterprise Plan valued at over $20k! For a chance at this prize, schedule a demo today.
New shoppers are good–but returning customers are even better. The most successful brands make at least 50% of their sales from return shoppers.
Ready to bring those first-time shoppers back again–and retain them for the long run?
Yotpo has just announced over 60 new product features and updates at their latest product innovation event, Retain Forward, and the ecom brands using them are already seeing big results. Beauty brand Fat and the Moon has already increased their returning customer rate by almost 2X. 🤯
👉 Check out what you need to up your retention game here.
You’ve spent the last few weeks crushing it at work.
The creative juices are running faster than a cheetah on rollerskates, and you’re cranking out beautiful designs and ad copies in record time. 🔥
And then suddenly, it all stops.
Zilch. Nothing. Nada. Even writing your name down on the paper seems like an arduous task. Just like that, your creative well is tapped dry.
We’ve all been there.
Creative block is inevitable, but the real question is how do we move past it as quickly as possible?
Unfortunately, there’s no one size fits all solution. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.
But sometimes, even learning about what others do can give you the extra boost you need to get back in the saddle.
So, roll up your sleeves, grab a cup of coffee (or tea, if that's your thing), and get ready to dive in.
🚶 Take a walk
Despite DTC Twitter’s obsession with “touching grass,” getting offline and into the great outdoors does work.
Walking increases blood and oxygen flow to the brain, which can improve cognitive function and help you think more clearly. It can also expose you to new sensory input and ideas.
Science aside, walking is good for you in general. And in our ever-online world, unplugging from technology is often the first step in rewiring our creative minds. 🧠
🤖 Call in the robots
Surprise, surprise! Everyone’s favorite topic. Whether you’re a marketer, designer, writer, or generalist, there are countless AI-powered tools (here’s a list of over 100) to help rejuvenate your creative spark.
According to Marketing Advisor for SaaS & DTC Brands Deb Mukherjee, AI tools like ChatGPT and Jasper have become one of his more reliable methods of finding inspiration.
"If I'm writing an article and I'm stuck with the introduction, I head over to ChatGPT, write a detailed prompt and ask it to write me a text about it,” says Deb. “With those few points ChatGPT highlighted, coupled with my own research, I can easily start typing.”
👏 Facebook Ad Library
If you’re a digital marketer, you’ve likely spent a few long nights in Meta Ad Library.
For the uninitiated, Meta Ad Library is a handy tool that allows any Meta user to easily browse a vast collection of ads on the platform. Filter by ad type, country, keywords, and advertiser to find the ones relevant to your niche and save searches to refer back to for later.
🔥 TikTok Creative Center
Similar to Facebook Ad Library, the TikTok Creative Center is a goldmine of inspiration for creative formats, sounds, filters, and effects. From there, dedicate time to scrolling your FYP and browsing through TikTok trends, challenges, and hashtags to see what’s resonating with various target audiences.
Taking an already effective piece of content and adding a personalized spin to it is a great way to inch back into birthing new creative ideas of your own.
📚 Reading and podcasts
Creative outputs are largely a product of our creative inputs. 💡 From novels and blog posts to audiobooks and podcasts, consuming new content is one of the best ways to introduce new ideas and perspectives.
Pro tip: Try to find content that has nothing to do with your industry, product, or career. Taking a step back from the action can give you a much-needed 1000-foot view of whatever problem you’re trying to solve.
What are your favorite ways to get the creative juices flowing? Let us know.
👻 Are your first-time shoppers ghosting you? Don’t let them be the ones who got away. Yotpo just unveiled over 60 new features. Check out how they'll help optimize retention. *
🐤 NBCUniversal’s Linda Yaccarino is rumored to be the next CEO of Twitter. Yaccarino recently left her position as talks escalate around potential candidates for Twitter’s new CEO.
♾️ Meta tests new AI tools for facebook and Instagram ads. Meta’s AI Sandbox is only available to select advertisers and features text variation, background generation, and image cropping capabilities.
📛 Pinterest combines all of its creation features. This new update includes improved metrics and the ability to add links to all videos and images driving more traffic to creators’ sites and resources.
🎵 TikTok announces a new partnership with Smartly.io. Video Shopping Ad features are now available to use within TikTok to refine creative workflows and scale successful ad campaigns.
*Sponsored
🚗 The Road to 9-Figures with Cody Plofker from Jones Road Beauty (Plus Cody’s YouTube and Meta Ads Funnel Breakdown).
🤑 How Not to Grow an 8-Figure Business (Obvi Panel - C-Suite Preview).
🍫 Jess Cervellon from Feastables: What CPG Can Learn from SaaS about CX.
🍸 Ben Soffer - Spritz Society: Influencer Strategies for Alcohol Brands and Linear Commerce.
🕯️ 9-Year-Old Lily Harper from Lily Lou's Aromas homeschools us all.
💡 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, Randy Ginsburg, and Michael Venditti. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
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