Rose Hamilton

We've helped ecom brands generate 14.02x ROAS because of this one thing: ✨ Effective Storyboarding ✨ Brands may have the perfect faces of their brand but the real question is... Can they create the best ads for your campaigns? Often, the skill of great storyboarding is what's missing. At Gumamela Studios, we specialize in Creative Strategy services to take your e-commerce campaigns to the next level through effective storyboarding. We'll dive deep into: 🌺 Brand research → to deeply understand your brand's essence 🌺 Competitor analysis → To identify unique positioning. 🌺 Market research → To grasp audience personas and preferences. All these equip your creators with briefs that pack a punch. Remember, great ads start with great storyboarding. PS. Whether you need a brand refresh or an entirely new creative direction, our team will set your e-commerce brand up for sustainable success. Message me "Storyboarding" ---- I’m Marie, the ambitious island voyager. Follow me Marie Tuason 🌺and ring that bell 🔔 for more Social Strategy, Wellness and Digital Nomad tips 🌱

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Should an unprofitable DTC brand take on debt? There's a ton of nuance to consider here but one thing you always need to remember is... All debt must eventually be paid back with profit. If you don't have profit available to pay back your debt, then you must pay it back with equity dollars. And if you're raising equity to pay back debt, then you're getting double-tagged with a hefty cost of capital... Once for the cost of debt (interest)... And once for the cost of raising equity (getting your ownership diluted)... Which makes me think - Should you have just raised equity (and not taken on debt) in the first place? -- Find this post helpful? Consider reposting or giving me a follow

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There isn't a "Select Quantity" dropdown to be found. I missed yesterday's post, but week I'm doing a daily tip to highlight what the top 10 highest-performing DTC brands on Buyist are doing. These are the brands with the highest volume of orders from June 1 through July 15 on Buyist. Today: none of these 10 brands show a product with a "Select Quantity" dropdown, hoping that alone will result in a higher AOV. Yet 9/10 still offer the visitor a choice. For example: "Buy 1" or "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" selection boxes "Buy 1", "Buy 5", "Buy 10" (each with increasing discounts, each a separate button) "Buy 1" or "Buy 1 Get 1 50% Off" selection boxes These DTC brands average 10.6% conversion rates and ALL have used our A/B testing features. I don't think it's a coincidence they ALL offer a choice beyond a Select Quantity dropdown box.

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The 22 Laws of Category Design is for a small percentage of business people. It's a different (kind of) book—for marketing leaders and entrepreneurs with (very) different minds. •It is about creating your own market •It is (not) about competing in existing markets •Flip through it to find inspiration for your category, company, and customers. •Choose the chapter that's relevant to you, today. •Work through exercises to immediately start applying what you learn. There is a reason this book, is a#1 bestseller in (both) Marketing and Startups. Available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook. Now on Amazon (link in comments 👇🏻)

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We’ve consistently helped our clients save 466-1553% on their annual marketing spend in more verticals than I can count. How? 🧐 Let’s run some quick numbers. If you build a full marketing team in-house here’s what you’re looking at… CMO - $131,030 ($10,919/mo) Copywriter - $66,554 ($5,546/mo) Project Manager - $78,356 ($6,530/mo) Graphic Designer - $50,265 ($4,189/mo) Creative Director - $100,813 ($8,401/mo) Paid Media Manager - $67,688 ($5,640/mo) Social Media Manager - $64,375 ($5,365/mo) That’s $559,081 per year - just over $46,500 per month Especially in small businesses, most marketing activities are sprints. After 3-6 months, there’s a new priority. But that cost is fixed. You’ve got no wiggle room when your objectives change. Sometimes, your biz will need all hands on deck. Other times, you can manage quite well with only a handful of these folks - especially if you roll out your marketing program in phases. In you’re under $5M in revenue, you probably only have room for 1 or 2 of these hires anyway.  You could hire an agency, but the best ones are positioned to solve 1-2 specific problems, which makes it difficult to scale or switch objectives. Many owners bring in multiple agencies, but that leaves you in a siloed production environment, which leads to a number of issues. This is what makes the fractional model so powerful We bring in who you need, when you need them. Our teams start out at as little as $36-120k per year ($3-9k/mo) That’s $439k-523k per year in savings ($37k-44k/mo) As they say…📚 The math is mathing! Interested in learning more? Shoot me a DM and let’s chat.

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Healthy profitability isn’t what makes a DTC brand valuable. Healthy positive cash flow is... Just because your brand is profitable doesn’t mean it’s creating positive cash flow. Unless you know how to manage your balance sheet efficiently, your profitable DTC brand’s cash flow may be locked up - 1. On warehouse shelves (inefficient inventory management) 2. Your customers’ bank accounts (inefficient receivables management) 3. Your vendors bank accounts’ (inefficient payables management) Need help managing your balance sheet so you can improve cash flow and increase your brand’s valuation on the open market? Shoot me a DM. My team of Ecommerce CFOs can help. — If you found this post helpful, consider resharing and follow me Jon Blair for more content like this.

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Most DTC brands think their marketing is data-driven, but it’s not. Here’s the difference ⤵️ If you have data, but you’re not data-driven: → Your team can share results…but it might take some digging → You don’t know what works…so your team’s running after shiny objects and hoping for the best → There’s a week left in the month and you’re just realizing you’re WAY behind forecast…and no one’s sure why Using data this way means you’re leaving a LOT of money on the table. Here’s what it looks like when your marketing is actually data-driven: → Your team doesn’t just share results - they identify trends, what’s driving them, and what to do based on that → You know what works and what doesn’t - you’re not just throwing spaghetti at the wall → You know if you’re on track to meet targets - and exactly what levers to pull if you’re not Data is more than just numbers on a page - it’s the difference between guessing and knowing. I’ve spent 15+ years helping DTC companies use data the RIGHT way to drive growth (including brands like Amazon and Nutrafol). If you’re ready to turn your data into actionable insights that drive revenue - DM me to start a conversation.

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Every DTC brand I have worked with thought they were operating at their maximum potential and bringing in the most revenue they could... UNTIL they met our team We were that extra push they needed to scale past the 7 & 8 fig range. Now, I think it's only fair that I share the 5 lessons I learned to help those DTC brands (This will help you break past the $1m/year mark): Lesson 1 - The Product-Market Fit Paradox When a brand starts its initial climb to a million dollars in sales, they’re very misunderstood. Many people think sophisticated marketing strategies will be the key to their early success, but the reality is much simpler. All you need is a product that deeply connects with the needs and desires of consumers. This connection (known as product-market fit) is the actual way to help a brand's initial growth. I've seen many brands eager to scale up, pouring resources into marketing, but they struggle to reach their desired sales targets. This struggle is a result of a product that doesn’t appeal to a broad audience. Before you do ANYTHING, you need to test that the product you’re trying to sell is the right fit for the market. It needs to fulfill a want or solve a problem that a large number of people care about. Once you have a product that resonates with a wide audience, amplifying your marketing efforts can take you to that million-dollar milestone with ease. But without that fit, even the most innovative marketing won't get the results you're hoping for. Lesson 2 - Financial Awareness and Marketing KPIs Another mistake I see a lot is a weak understanding of the financial side of the business. It's not enough to have a great product or a creative marketing campaign, you need to understand the economics of your operations. This means knowing various financial indicators and marketing KPIs, like the CPA etc. Many brands underestimate the importance of these numbers. But, they are the foundation for sustainable growth. When you know your financial metrics inside and out, you're ready to make decisions that align with your business goals. You can identify what's working and what's not, where you can save money and where you need to invest more. But without this knowledge, you're trying to move in the dark, and that’s what makes directing your brand toward profitability and scalability much harder. Lesson 3 - Investment Mindset for Growth Many brands hesitate to commit funds to marketing efforts or avoid partnering with agencies that specialize in scaling businesses. I feel like this hesitation usually comes from a desire to manage everything internally and a belief that seeking outside help or spending more on marketing may not be necessary. CONT. -> https://lnkd.in/gu3nbUJT

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If your DTC brand is running on tight cash flow and thin margins you’re probably not thinking strategically. Why? Because you’re just focused on survival. As humans our brains are wired to worry about survival if we feel threatened. So if your brand is just barely surviving, you’re unlikely to have the mental space to think about what strategic actions would move you towards thriving. The solution? Work with a CFO who can help you increase profit and cash flow so you can move your thinking from surviving to thriving. If you’re just surviving and you don’t have a CFO on your team, my firm Free to Grow CFO can help. Consider taking action to to solve this problem today.

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How do you increase your store revenue, AOV, and CR quickly? Find an offer that works. And don't stop testing new ones. Offer testing is an underrated DTC strategy. Most brands stuck with the same offer month after month, year after year. Same Black Friday deals, same Welcome offer, same Cart abandonment offer. Nor there's any logic to the process. Most copy their competition. Or reverse engineer their margin. With Q3 starting, you need to start testing offers for Q4. Without a tested offer, you are leaving a lot to chance. Here's how we offer testing - --> Create 4-5 unique offers - Percentage discounts: 10%, 20%, etc. - Dollar amount discounts: $5 off, $10 off - Tiered Offers: $10 Off $100, $15 Off 150, etc. - Value-added offers: Buy one, get one free; free gift with purchase - Shipping offers: Free shipping, discounted expedited shipping - Loyalty offers: Points, VIP early access to new products Create at least 4-5 offers to start with. --> Run email campaigns or on-site pop-ups to test offers You need quick data to test offers, so it's best to run it as a campaign or on-site pop-up. The goal is to collect data over 3-4 days for each offer. Run small targeted campaigns to test different offers. --> Monitor key metrics An offer will have an impact over - Direct metrics -  - Conversion rate - Average order value Indirect metrics -  - Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) - Store Revenue - Customer lifetime value Focus on direct metrics for testing the metrics. --> Dump non-performing one. For every good offer, you will have 2 bad offers. Keep on separating good from bad. Don't run bad offers again. Instead, try to find variations of good offers. The goal is to get 3-4 good offers, which you can rotate all through the year. Don't wait till Q4 to test your offer. #dtc #ecommerce

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I’ve been very vocal about Tik Tok Shop and Amazon. Here’s why: You NEED a very high margin product that acts as a funnel. If not, you’ll never survive. Issue is 90% of brands that sell on Tik Tok Shop and Amazon do NOT have that. They’re burning cash, giving away more nut every year and it’ll only keep getting worse. And ultimately they’re attacting the wrong customer. All the “experts” love to talk about the brand awareness and virality potential behind listing on these third parties, however at what cost? If you are a subscription focused business, are the cheap $15 products you’re giving away on Amazon and Tik Tok Shop really worth it when you’re subscriptions are $150-$250/mo? Are you attracting the right customer? My neighbor who I despise can sell products sub $30, put ad dollars behind it, and move top line needles. So when you see a brand do 10 million dollars on Amazon or Tik Tok Shop, just know that they’re most likely BARELY taking home 500k. A lot are losing money. Now, I’m not saying these channels are bad by any means. This all completely depends on your product, business model, customer base, and end game goals. There are so many things to take into consideration, however if you are a high value subscription brand for example, I highly doubt these are long term, viable sales and/or acquisition channels. Anyways, that is all. Enjoy your Tuesday!

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Meta is like the government — it will take as much of your money for free as you let it. Here's what I mean: Meta defaults to incentivize you to spend more money. How? Through the same mistake I see the majority of DTC brands make: "We have to spend more money to produce better results." Yet Meta promises no clear insights or direct correlation between budget spend and performance. Meta is like the government, asking you for tax money but not telling you how it's being spent. That is... without cost controls. In highest volume campaigns, Meta uses your spend (money) as a constant. Performance is then "dependent" on spend, though nothing is guaranteed. But cost controls flip the script, using performance as a constant and spend as the variation. It's like being able to tell the government, "I'll give you my money, if you promise you can fix the potholes on my route to work." I don't know how we're operating in 2024 and still trying to throw cash at every single problem. Dollars spent ≠ dollars made. Cost controls let you establish a target CPA (which you can set at a profitable cap). Then, Meta confines spend to the campaigns that perform. Creative volume is the way to unlock more of this spend — more creatives, more testing, more potential performers, more profitable spend. I'd much rather let Meta leverage my creatives than my wallet to find performance.

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Here are 105+ pages from Top 1% DTC Brands 📈 Categorized by niche. You’ll find pages in: 🔵 Wellness & Supplements; 🔵 Women’s Apparel; 🔵 Men’s Apparel; 🔵 Men’s Personal Care; 🔵 Unisex Personal Care; 🔵 Unisex Apparel; 🔵 Beauty; 🔵 Food; 🔵 Beverages; 🔵 Everyday Carry; 🔵 Jewelry; 🔵 Kids; From analyzing these pages, we’ve gathered hundreds of mind-blowing insights that you can steal and apply to your business. We always check what the top brands are doing to ensure that our clients are also benefiting from the best-performing trends. This is an internal Figma file with the brands we analyzed throughout June, and I’ll give FREE access to it in the next 72 hours. To access: Like this post Comment “DTC Brands” or “Insights” And I’ll DM them to you 👊🏻 (make sure we are connected!)

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Shein & Temu have entered the building... What does that mean for DTC brands? The Chinese-backed marketplaces are spending BIG on advertising, pushing up ad costs across social and Google. Their main competitive advantage... Price & Speed. 💵⏩ They use their massive manufacturing capabilities to react to trends FAST. They can do something that takes a normal retailer 6 weeks in 1. And for half the price. How can you compete with that? BRAND. Brand is your best defense for this type of threat. 🤜 Review your marketing funnel and ask yourself “Where can I elevate my brand experience?” ⚡Product ⚡Website ⚡Packaging ⚡Creative Identify how you can wow the consumer at every touch point. THAT'S how you can compete against powerhouses who control price and speed

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After years of no paid spend on social media, We’re back. Butt driving ZERO clicks to our website 😱 Instead we’ve chosen to pump traffic to key retailers Because we believe this is where our DUDES want to buy While the attribution isn’t an exact science like DTC You’d have a hard time convincing me the ROI isn’t better ✅Everyone prefers to buy at retailers - so conversion rate is higher 💰 ✅Customers can also stock their cart with other products - driving net new revenue to our retailers, they like that 😃 ✅ We’re pumping the flywheel at the largest marketplaces in the world. Where organic rank is worth much more than a customer’s “1st party data” 🚀 ✅ This strategy requires infinitely less costs than DTC - where you’re constantly draining cash flow into creative iteration, customer service, Ad specialists, web design, etc While this might not be for everyone, make you’re not blindly chasing a Shopify model Often times there is goldmine right under your nose. ✌️

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If I was a brand owner or operator doing less than $1 million in annual DTC revenue, here’s how I’d scale past 7-figures in revenue. Full guide by a former director of e-commerce at an 8-figure apparel brand.

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Listicle landing pages generate millions $$ for DTC brands. (if they nail the headline) If you're going for FOMO -> make it realistic If you're listing product features -> mention WHY they're useful If you're listing reasons to buy -> also tell customer's stories Here's how I would remake the headline for this pillowcase brand. What do you think?

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🔄 Drew's OG Ecommerce Turnaround Tips series 👉 Tip 24 of 31: Stop with the testing “We’re gonna need to AB test that.” “We need to figure out the incrementality.” These are statements I hear most often from the preexisting marketing and growth teams at a turnaround. Keep in mind that these are companies that have been in decline. $100M in revenue losing $10 kinda thing. And it’s no surprise: the marketing teams suffer from analysis paralysis. AutoAnything and Karmaloop had MASSIVE traffic. 50-100M visits annually. You know how many successful AB tests we were able to run for things like pricing, UI/UX, shipping thresholds? Zero. They always took much longer than we had available to achieve any certainty. Wanting to test something isn’t bad, of course. We are online after all and most things can be measured. But I’ve found that more times than not this “gotta test it” mentality slows down the innovation progress that’s needed at a turnaround bleeding cash. It’s a bit of a”rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” kinda thing when what is needed is a massive change of direction. What you’ll need instead are bold moves. Rethinking pricing. Replatforming. Leaning in on lifecycle marketing and cutting promotions. These are all things that defy testing—and if you try to test each they’ll never happen. (For NFL fans—Belichick didn’t call timeout when analysis said he should just before winning SuperBowl XLIX . . . a classic, correct gut call.) What about “incrementality”? The crazy focus on incrementality sounds great in theory, but most marketers don’t realize they are optimizing around a saddle point—a local maximum—when a much bigger win exists elsewhere if we ditched the incrementality and focused instead on offer / pricing / positioning. So sure—AB test that subject line for your next email. But don’t let that get in the way of making some bold moves, gut calls based on experience, and other things that move the company quickly to profitability. Want to save these tips for later? Download the all 30 tips from the series here: https://lnkd.in/ehZn75VJ #turnarounds #belichick

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Is your DTC brand stuck at 7 figures, but you are ready to scale to 8 figures? In our LIVE workshop next week we will share the 4 key shifts you need to make to become a $10M brand this year. Find out the exact strategies that scaled Addison Bay from $154k per month to $850k per month. Comment WORKSHOP below and I will get you all the details.

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