DTC Podcast

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Our pod guest this week is Neville Medhora, the brain behind copywriting agency and training business Copywriting Course. He’s also the author of three books, and an advisor to AppSumo, The Hustle, and swipefile.com. His training videos have been viewed by thousands and he currently advises numerous companies on how to make their copy awesome and increase conversion rates across all the materials they produce. We know we have some big-time copy nerds in our audience - this one’s for you. 🤓 Take a listen for: ✏️Why you should write exactly as you talk  ✏️The not so secret sauce for building your audience ✏️Creating content that pops  Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup As promised, we sat down with a full panel of heavy hitters from Pilothouse to break down their Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2020 experience. Listen to the pod for quick hits on:    💥 2020’s record-breaking Black Friday   💥 Starting sales early & extending to Cyber Week   💥 Our inventory strategy & plans for next year  💥 Balancing prospecting & retargeting over BFCM  💥 Our two-pronged creative strategy   💥 How to approach “gifters” by building a 🔥🔥🔥  Amazon storefront    Save and share with your team so you can activate these strategies next year 💪 Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Today on the pod, we have Ryan McKenzie, co-founder of eco-friendly laundry strip brand Tru Earth -  Canada’s 2nd fastest growing startup. Tru Earth has seen a two-year revenue growth of 8408% from $0 to a current run rate of over $30 million. Listen to this pod for insight on: 📦 Mission Marketing 📦 Starting Strategically Small   📦 Thinking of Retail as a Partner 📦 Influencer Strategies  Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup The Pilothouse team is slammed hustling for Black Friday - they’ll be back next week to debrief on highlights from the big day, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we’re checking in with Eric and Kyle on how things are going in the DTC world and what they’ve learned while building a content creation business. If you’re looking to enhance your content - this one is for you. Take a listen for: 📦 How to develop a content machine 📦 Building a quality audience 📦 The power of 3rd party brands *** Note: We had some technical difficulties on this one. Apologies for the less than ideal sound quality! We have AirPods on order so it won't be an issue next round. Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup We’re going head to head into our latest DTC podcast debating agencies vs. in house media buying teams. Our guest this week is powerhouse Molly Pittman. Molly is the CEO of Smart Marketer and Train My Traffic Person, a training program for in-house media buyers. She’s the author of Click Happy, and she recently launched a new podcast, Smart Marketer. I’ll have what she’s having. Here are some highlights from the pod: So what’s the deal? Agency or In-house? We may have lured you here with a clickbait-y title; it’s less about in house or agency, more about relationship building. There is no one size fits all response; different businesses have different needs. The wheels fall off agency partnerships when business owners pass the buck; it’s naïve to hire an agency, hand over ads, and expect to be hands-off from that point onwards. Joint accountability, collaboration, and hyper-communication are essential. With minimal information or insight into your business, an agency partnership is unlikely to thrive. It is the agency’s responsibility to insist on visibility into the business, and it is the responsibility of the business owner to maintain open lines of communication with the agency. When it comes down to brass tacks house vs. agency, Molly will pick in-house as that’s her background. Her take is that there is something special about having a team in touch with the day to day, who intimately knows the company’s voice. Again, there is no one size fits all response. If you’re just starting, you'll need agency support before you start buying ads. Some folks know they aren’t good at marketing - get yourself an agency! Maybe you need scale support or to delegate a specific element of your strategy? Time for an agency. Molly’s 6 Steps for  Effective Campaigns The Offer Who Ad Copy Creative Campaign Structure Everything Else Listen to the full pod for predictions on the future of agencies’, why you should hire candidates with service industry experience, and a reminder to monitor your screen time. Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Today we dove in with Pilothouse's Comment Moderation team, where we handle clients' ad comments with wit, style, and grace to improve ads, audiences, sales pitches and ultimately, your bottom line (up to 20%). 📦 How to use comment moderation during the onboarding process to improve early results 📦 How to arm your comment moderators with the tools and resources they need when taking on a new account. 📦  The nuances behind when negative comments should be hidden, deleted, or even left in plain sight for everyone to see. Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Next up on the pod, we’re talking 3PL with Fraser Kinsley, CEO of Hook Logistics and Jacob Sussman, Head of Marketing.  Hook knows that logistics and fulfilment can be a full-on nightmarescape, and they are here to help with DTC-friendly solutions. We talk about their origin story, building brand voice, and the future of fulfillment on this logistics-focused pod. Here are key takeaways: Meet your customers where they’re at Separate your brand from the pack The key to good copy DTC is here to stay The future of DTC It’s time to think about how you will compete and stand out. Are you more interesting? Are you fostering a deep connection with your community? Do you have innovative distribution? Find your thing, and lean in. Take a listen to the full pod for a behind the scenes peek at how the Hook team is re-imagining 3PL for the DTC market. Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Looking for growth support? Building a brand? Need an ops overhaul? Talk to Brenda Mendez, former COO of Snow Teeth Whitening and Branding and Marketing Specialist. This force to be reckoned with problem solver and ops mastermind is ready to roll up her sleeves and help. She specializes in building ops to alleviate pain points utilizing her lived experience and no-nonsense analytical approach to streamline your business. She’s basically business Mary Poppins. She wants to set up your business for success - so much so that you don’t need her anymore. Maybe a business Ghostbuster? 👻🚫 (...we’ll work on our analogy.) Here are the key strategy takeaways from our podcast you can try on your own ops stack. Approachable Ops 3 Pillars for Growth Whether you’re growing a product, persona or service, Brenda uses this three-pillar framework to develop and elevate brands. Brand Equity Community Associations Bypass Burnout Creating and scaling a DTC business is a major undertaking that requires serious mental stamina. Prioritizing your mental health is a must. Here are some tools Brenda employs (based on personal experience with burnout after a significant push when taking Snow to retail) Self Audit 5 Non-Negotiables Communication Waterfall Listen to the full pod for more, including how not to be a bottleneck, how to best activate different influencer tiers, and why rebrands aren’t as scary as they sound. Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup This week we return with the Pilothouse founder team to discuss the agency's wild growth and how we've stayed aligned and in-sync while growing from 16 employees 74 during eight months.  📦  How to hire entrepreneurs and GROW equity  📦  Aligning incentives with all staff AND clients 📦  The next opportunities for Digital Agencies 📦  Instilling team vision and values 📦  Over-communication as a rule 📦  Making sure you have everyone on the right seats 📦  Becoming a DEEP integration partner and what that means for our funnel 📦  Business development via content (DTC newsletter anyone?) Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup As an agency partner to ❄️ Snow, we’ve enjoyed a front row seat to their journey of both category dominance, and category creation. We caught up with Josh on a podcast to discuss growth in all its dimensions.  Elizetxe’s (pronounced el-is-et-chay) superpower is his commitment to challenging the status quo. His trailblazing attitude inspires others to think differently.  When it comes to growth, Josh is always willing to explore and experiment in many dimensions at once, both through ad-driven DTC, retail, billboards and more. What follows is an unpacking of Josh’s central ideas about growth that he’s learned throughout the process of scaling his company beyond $100M. Prepare to grow your operation 🔵 Head & the heart: It is essential to have clarifying conversations to determine what success means to you, and what end goal you’re looking to achieve. Is your goal to provide for 5 to 10 people? Are you looking to create a generational company you can pass down to your children? Dig deep to unpack what making an impact means for you and your business. As Elizetxe puts it, thinking about scale starts in your brain and your heart.  🔵 Brace yourself: Be proactive as you prepare to scale. Take what you’re doing and multiply it by 100. What systems and how many people will you need to accommodate that growth? Start to take the next best affordable steps to work towards that goal, putting in place the building blocks for that growth moment.  🔵 Macro management: Elizetxe advocates a high-expectation, low-pressure managerial style. Give your hiree’s full control. Be sure to brace yourself for growing pains in delegation and relinquishing control when scaling to a bigger team. A lot of stress can be reduced by due diligence in the hiring process - hire someone you trust to sit in the driver’s seat.  🔵 Swim with sharks: As you scale, hire those that share your risk appetite. You want your team filled with scrappy folks who are operating on your level. Only egotistical leaders are intimidated by hiring entrepreneurial forces to be reckoned with.  Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video