DTC POD: How The Best Brands Are Built

“Know a couple or at least one brand that you want to check out and then look at some other brands related to it for competitive research.” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD“Tiktok can be a great discovery source for finding what products are working really well on their platform and popular hashtags.” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD“If you go into Twitter and type in the name of a product, you can search for other similar products as well.” @jadesai94 #DTCPODWe Speak About:[01:01] How to use Facebook for competitive research [02:05] Navigating instagram for landing pages and product research [02:51] A resource to identify new brands on the rise and brand research[03:24] Using TikTok as a discovery source[04:26] How to use Twitter for product comparison [05:16] Up and coming marketplaces How to get an undercover look at your DTC competitorsCreating a product that differentiates itself in the market is a key strategy that leads to brand growth, but this element is not as simple as it sounds.First you have to look at your competition to know what you're dealing with, but how do you go about this?  This can be done through competitor research, knowing what similar brands are doing and their strategies for growth and retention will help you learn about the market.There are numerous sources beneficial for finding competitors, and these sources can provide insight into what’s working for a brand, whether it's ads, their websites, trending products, or more. Stay tuned as we discuss media platforms useful for researching brands and how to navigate them. If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.Mentioned Links:Facebook ads library: https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/Nextbrand trending brands: https://www.nexttbrand.com/

“Being a good person, treating people like humans, and delivering experiences with empathy every day is number one for our brand.” @eliweisss #DTCPOD“Knowing you'll be taken care of makes you want to come back. It's not rocket science, so long as the product is great.” @eliweisss #DTCPOD“When it comes to building a team, it really matters to hire the really good people that deeply care. You can teach anyone how to use tools, but you can't teach people to give a shit.” @eliweisss #DTCPOD“Giving your team the allowance to create these experiences, empowering them to create these experiences for the customers, is important.” @eliweisss #DTCPOD“Do not take what you learned last year and use it this year, constantly learn and listen and engage with customers. @eliweisss #DTCPODWe Speak About:[02:28] Eli introduces himself and Olipop [03:45] What customer experience means to the brand[05:34] How to curate an intentional SMS [09:01] Implementing personalization into a marketing channel  [12:13] Elements of a subscription to create retention [15:01] Where to brand discovers inspiration for their subscription model [15:53] Factors that have led to brand growth  [20:31] important steps during customer acquisition  [22:13] How to scale the customer experience[24:16] The importance of empowerment [25:48] Allocating finances to the customer experience  [27:17] How to drive brand loyalty [29:43] Thinking like a customer [31:58] What’s next for Olipop and where to find Eli Weiss and the brand onlineHow OLIPOP scales customer experienceEli Weiss, director of customer experience at Olipop, joins the POD to give some insight on the  business’s growth, customer experience strategy, and retention.  Olipop is a beverage company, formulating a gut healthy soda with plant fiber, prebiotics, and botanicals.Eli recognized that when it comes to creating a good brand, having a good product is only half the formula to keep consumers happy and returning. Providing consumers with a positive, personalized, and interactive customer experience is an essential factor leading to brand loyalty. Eli points out that anyone can be taught the skills to perform in a work setting, but you can’t teach someone to care about your brand so it is important to hire the right people.In DTC, you have to think like the customer to winOlipop stands out as an eCommerce beverage company, not only for its modernized product, but also for the brand's exceptional customer service.The brand has experienced growth and customer retention by prioritizing the customer experience and developing a thoughtful subscription model. Eli takes a unique approach to achieving successful retention by developing an SMS channel that caters to the customers needs rather than a brand incentive to increase sales. Additional steps to improve the customer experience are taken by listening to the customer and responding to their needs. Eli recommends discovering ways to make your subscriptions exclusive without intruding on consumers' feed. Stay tuned as Eli discusses key components to heighten the customer experience and how empowering your team leads to success. If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.Mentioned Links:Olipop’s website: https://drinkolipop.com/Eli Weiss’s twitter: https://twitter.com/eliweisss

Marketing expert, Jade Sai, discusses converting non-buyers into buyers through a strategic email sequence. Topics include setting goals for subscriber engagement, crafting emails to promote customer conversion, and using frequency to influence purchase behavior.

“The idea has always been trying to crack the system of what makes brands work and what makes brands fail in some cases, and then reverse engineer it” @markpatchett  #DTCPOD“The first bit is to really understand the core fundamental numbers of your actual business” @markpatchett  #DTCPOD“Take care of the right people that are going to amplify my brand because it compounds and increases your conversion rate and allows you to spend more money.” @markpatchett  #DTCPOD“When you're starting out, go to where the audience is largest and the platform is most sophisticated.” @markpatchett  #DTCPOD“Brand is really about the continuity of a strong message across all of the different touch points when someone comes into contact with your company.” @markpatchett  #DTCPOD“As you start scaling your brand to new audiences, you may find that you need to tweak the way you communicate what your product does and what your brand is about to actually work for that large audience.” @markpatchett #DTCPOD We Speak About:[00:56] Mark introduces himself and Growth Shop  [02:11] Previous entrepreneurship that led to creating a successful brand [04:40] Advice to brands before scaling a business [07:31] Acquisition strategies for inventory  [09:47] The importance of paying more when it comes to contracts [11:01] Implementing personal relationships to maintain customer engagement    [13:17] Where to disperse spending when scaling a brand  [16:37] Major components of scalable growth  [18:37] What a brand really is [21:23] Breaking down marketing activities for retention and new customer acquisition[22:23] Why brands should evolve [23:33] Building an unfair advantage[25:21] The framework for product differentiation[28:52] Pivotal roles in brand growth[31:30] The importance of a collaborative customer service [33:17] Where to find Growth Shop and Mark Patchett onlineHow a past in entrepreneurship led to the future of Growth ShopMark Patchett, founder of Growth Shop, joins the POD to give some insight on the business’s strategy for helping brands scale their business without outside capital. Growth Shop is an eCommerce organization that advises, invests, and acquires direct to consumer brands and supporting technology platforms. Mark realized from his experienced past as an entrepreneur that he had gained important insight as to what makes a brand work and what doesn’t. He then founded Growth Shop as an embodiment of this knowledge with a goal in mind of helping other brands scale their business. A unique perspective on scaling a business is taken by an emphasis on evolving your brand. Mark views a brand as a product that continually changes as the consumer expands. Mark recognizes that brand is continuity, and maintaining a strong message across all touch points for your brand is crucial for growth. Sometimes in DTC, it’s all about building an unfair advantageGrowth Shop stands out as an eCommerce company that helps direct to consumer business grow exponentially and sustainably.The business enables brand growth by prioritizing key roles such as acquisition strategies, maintaining product excitement, and iterating the importance of customer service on all levels of operation.Mark takes a further approach to achieving successful growth emphasizing the importance of having an unfair advantage for your brand.  One simple strategy Mark has suggested for achieving this is through customer engagement. By asking why customers buy your product or what would make your product better, an unfair advantage can be curated. Mark recommends implementing personalization into your brand and keeping operational costs as low as possible.Stay tuned as Mark dissects the meaning of a brand and how a collaborative customer service can make or break your company. If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.Mentioned Links:Growth Shop’s website: https://growth.shop/Mark Pachett’s email: mark@growth.shop.comMark Patchett’s linkedin: linkedin.com/in/markpatchett

“The strategy that's been gaining more traction recently is engaging brand created content.” @jadesai94  #DTCPO“Accounts creating content around their domain of expertise creates views and followers that translates over into an owned audience” @jadesai94  #DTCPODWe Speak About:[00:42] Jay shares a resource on fastest growing brands on TikTok[01:45] Brand content strategies[03:05] Which strategies are gaining and losing traction[04:23] Brand categories leading the way on TikTok [05:50] Translating an analysis on TikTok brandsA behind the scenes look at the top eCommerce brands on TikTokOnline brand promotion offers the advantage of exposing your brand to a wide variety of demographics at a low cost, and TikTok is one of many media outlets that can provide this.Jay discusses an analysis of the top 50 brands growing on TikTok and their strategies used to achieve growth. Key takeaways include what strategies are gaining and losing traction, and what methods are gaining a high turnover rate for followers.Stay tuned as Jay dives into the different categories of brands and which ones are dominating the social media platform.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.Mentioned Links:Nextbrand Substack: https://nexttbrand.substack.com/Nextbrand website: https://www.nexttbrand.com/Spreadsheet with top 50 brands on TikTok: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nvdoNCOygpwIN4j5IB48qlIfKsCVsxZbGqpBdhuJQzM/edit#gid=422642932

“People are starting to get back to normal in some places, which means that habits are starting to change ” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD‘We're going to be expanding into customer experience leaders, product builders and more” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD“We’re so excited to share with you more stories of not only agency owners giving some great advice, but also brand vendors, marketers, customer experience leaders and more.” @jadesai94 #DTCPODWe Speak About:[00:36] Changes in consumer habits   [01:23] Previous guests on the DTC pod[02:05] Exciting news and what’s next for the DTC podWe’re celebrating half a year on the DTC POD by discussing some exciting new ideas to come!As retail begins to open back up and things start getting back to normal, consumer habits continue to change and evolve and we plan on providing insight to that experience.Jay discusses previous guests on the POD who persevered through COVID-19 as agency owners, brand founders and marketers. Stay tuned as Jay discusses new things to come for the DTC POD and an outline of what to expect for the second half of the year!If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.

“It's cool to see other ambassador programs that are empowering individuals to share and talk about a brand.” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD“Coldest Water is teaching people how to become better influencers and to sell better, and I think it's a big win for not only the brand but also the ambassadors.” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD“One aspect of the landing page that works really well is that they quickly jump into the benefits and what you can do with the brand.” @jadesai94 #DTCPODWe Speak About:[01:03] Coldest Water’s successful landing page  [02:58] A rare aspect of their Ambassador landing page[03:22] How they connect to their audience [04:38] A unique factor of Cold Water’s ambassador program[06:41] How the brand creates learning opportunities for their ambassadorsColdest Water’s ambassador program differentiates itself from the norm There are numerous strategies a business can use to promote their brand, and one common technique is through the use of brand ambassadors.This marketing strategy allows individuals to form a partnership with a company and personally promote their product(s).However, Coldest Water takes an uncommon approach to their ambassador program by using it as an educational opportunity for their promoters and creating a unique incentive to sell.Stay tuned as we discuss how Coldest Water’s stays transparent with their ambassadors and additional factors of their landing page.  If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn. Mentioned Links:Coldest Water ambassador landing page: https://thecoldestwater.lpages.co/coldestsponsorship/Coldest Water ambassador program pricing: https://thecoldestwater.com/join-us/Coldest Water on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecoldestwaterColdest Water brand hashtag: https://www.tiktok.com/tag/thecoldestwater

“We found a product, created it, brought it to market, rapidly scaled multiple brands, and eventually sold our brands. That's how we were able to grow our agency so fast.” @iamdansnow #DTCPOD“The best way to think about content, in terms of when it's time to launch a brand, is to put together various customer personas that you think might be in the market to buy your products” @iamdansnow #DTCPOD“There is a reason why when you grow a company you hire people because you can't do everything yourself. People give you more leverage than you trying to do things yourself.” @iamdansnow #DTCPOD“If you've got great engaging content that resonates with your target persona, your clickthrough rates are going to be higher quality scores.” @iamdansnow #DTCPOD“If you grow too fast, odds are your customer experience is going to take a hit, and products are going to be delayed” @iamdansnow #DTCPODWe Speak About:[00:55] Daniel introduces himself and The Snow Agency  [02:13] The motive behind building the brand[03:38] Tips for product launching [05:45] How to find your target audience[07:45] How to turn an idea into a business opportunity [09:48] When to keep content in-house and when to outsource  [11:51] When do do it yourself and when to seek an expert   [14:44] Key indicators for finding the perfect product market fit [16:54] The Snow Agency’s strategies for growing brands [17:53] When to use a subscription  [20:08] How to keep the brand in the customers’ mind [21:22] Daniel’s most impactful marketing projects [23:19] The importance of content [25:30] Biggest mistakes to avoid when growing a brand [26:39] What’s next for The Snow Agency and where to find Daniel Snow online How The Snow Agency helps to scale your business Daniel Snow, Co-founder of The Snow Agency, joins the POD to give some insight on the digital marketing service and how to scale and grow a brand. The Snow Agency is a full service digital marketing agency that offers unique digital strategies to help build your business. Daniel recognized that when it comes to brand growth, it is important to not try and do everything yourself. Creating a community and hiring people to help take the pressure off learning everything yourself creates an environment for success. Content for advertising is recognized by his business as one of the most important aspects of building a business, and The Snow Agency works diligently to deliver this.Sam recognizes that keeping the customer happy is a top priority, and incorporates this idea into his own brand. Sometimes In DTC, it’s okay to ask for helpThe Snow Agency stands out as a new but successful virtual marketing agency. It was founded two years ago, yet it’s a fast growing agency with an experienced team. The agency has experienced continuous sustained growth by using their previous knowledge in the industry and iterating the importance of developing creative content for advertising. Daniel’s approach to helping brands grow is analyzing potential subscription opportunities for customer retention creating strategies to keep the target audience focused on the brand.  The brand has fostered success for their clients by enabling marketing strategies to put the brand in a position of success.Stay tuned as Daniel discusses common mistakes to avoid when growing a brand and how to locate and grow your target audience. If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.Mentioned Links:The Snow Agency’s website: https://thesnowagency.com/Daniel Snow’s twitter: https://twitter.com/iamdansnowDaniel Snow’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dapper/Daniel Snow’s email: Dan@thesnowagency.com

“A market basket analysis helps you better understand purchasing patterns.” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD“Doing a basket analysis can show you combinations of products that are most frequently occurring together in your orders.” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD“A basket analysis can help you optimize your conversion rates, your average order value, and your customer lifetime value.” @jadesai94 #DTCPODWe Speak About:[00:56] What is a  basket analysis [01:26] How a basket analysis can help optimize your business[02:31] Ways to use a basket analysisA market basket analysis should be a standard analysis for any eCommerce brand with multiple SKUsBetter understanding customer purchasing patterns is a primary factor for increasing sales.So what strategies can a brand initiate to gain a greater understanding of their customers' relationships with their products?  A basket analysis is a data mining technique used to identify purchasing patterns and optimize conversion rates, average order value,  and the overall customer lifetime value. This strategy can help to give suggestions in terms of cross-selling and promotions to increase overall sales.Stay tuned as we discuss specific strategies to use when conducting a basket analysis.  If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.Mentioned Links:More on running a market basket analysis: https://gecdesigns.com/blog/how-can-market-basket-analysis-help-e-commerce-businessAn example of running a market basket analysis: https://smartbridge.com/market-basket-analysis-101/

“The Internet has created an easier way for brands to go to the public and sell their goods.” @edgar-blazona  #DTCPOD“There's pitfalls and things that you pick up along the way and I think being a hands-on founder helps.” @edgar-blazona #DTCPOD“As we were brand building, we had a good story to tell, and we were producing great products in a short timeline. So we went after a lot of press to help amplify our story.” @edgar-blazona #DTCPOD“Having those storylines and continuing being something a little different than everyone else has paid off and really helped us grow.” @edgar-blazona #DTCPOD“When building a business you're going to have to be able to roll with the punches and take those highs and lows, because sometimes the lows are so low you want to give up and other times the highs are so high that you think you're going to rule the world.” @edgar-blazona #DTCPODWe Speak About:[00:53] Edgar introduces himself and Benchmade Modern  [02:18] How Edgar got started in the industry [04:17] Changes in consumer behavior [07:59] How the internet has benefited the furniture industry  [09:42] Past experience that led to success in the industry[12:05] How one brand led to opportunities for another  [15:36] How supply chain efficiency was achieved   [17:53] Key factors that contributed to brand growth[20:30] Advice to other entrepreneurs[23:02] What’s next for Benchmade Modern and where to find Edgar Blazona onlineHow Benchmade Modern gained exponential growth through changes in consumer behavior  Edgar Blazona, founder of Benchmade Modern, joins the POD to discuss the  direct-to-consumer business’s growth, brand differentiation, and how the industry has flourished in a technological era. Benchmade Modern is a direct to consumer, custom upholstery business, focused on quality products and fast delivery.Edgar recognized that when it comes to furniture shopping, the timeline between ordering a product and receiving it can take weeks to months. To fill this gap, Edgar founded a furniture brand that creates and delivers high quality custom sofas without the extended wait.Edgar offers a unique approach to the industry by growing in a construction family and learning the ins and outs as a manufacturer which led to his success as an entrepreneur.He recognizes the importance the internet has on giving businesses like his a platform without relying on big furniture retail stores.Sometimes in DTC, quick and efficient paves the wayBenchmade Modern stands out as an eCommerce furniture company that delivers custom products in an efficient time manner.The brand has experienced exponential growth by developing from a consumer need and offering personalized products that would not be available in large retail furniture stores.Edgar took an approach to achieving successful growth by getting his brand in the press early on to attract an audience. The brand has also derived from previous entrepreneurship opportunities that have all centered around listening to the needs of his consumers.Edgar recommends seeking honest investors and pushing through the highs and lows of developing a startup.  Stay tuned as Edgar discusses unanticipated business experiences that helped to develop his brands and advice to the entrepreneurs. If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.Mentioned Links:Benchmade Modern’s Website: https://benchmademodern.com/Edgar Blazona’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edgar-blazona