The DTC Round Up – Makers, Armed Rebels, and Cults

by | Aug 14, 2020

Below are some of the best ecommerce marketing posts of the past week.

 

The TL;DR: 

 

1. “The Maker Movement Is Making a Comeback”

 

Bootstrapping an ecommerce business is an asset, not a liability. 

 Even though VC-backed companies may have the deep pockets to acquire customers through aggressive paid campaigns, the sustainability (and profitability) of such campaigns may be short-lived. 

 Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, writes a compelling piece on why the opportunity is right for passionate makers to sell online. 

 She writes: “an opportunity is clearing for a new wave of consumer businesses founded by makers—those producing products born from a mastery of skill, creativity, and the genuine passion of the founders behind the business. Uniquely, this class of founders is more naturally disposed to eschew VC funding in favor of more sustainable and future-proofed approaches to profitability, such as bootstrapping, debt, or revenue-based arrangements.”

The mantra of “Follow your passions” can be a controversial and misguided career advice. 

But passion can be a key ingredient to creating a product and brand that stands out in an increasingly competitive marketplace. 

  • Authenticity behind the core business and mission.
  • Iterating on customer feedback.

Schmidt has been-there-done-that…. Building and selling her personal care brand for nine figures to Unilever in 2017.

 

2. Shopify and the Hard Thing About Easy Things

 

Packy McCormick breaks down the state of ecommerce, and how Shopify (and its ecosystem of apps) has drastically reduced the barrier to entry.

What once required in-house talent across the whole value chain (R&D, Manufacturing, Distribution, Marketing etc) is not necessary today.

Instead, each part of the value chain is now a standalone module that can be handled by a third party.

Which means that in theory, one person can launch a thriving #ecommerce brand today.

 As barriers to entry are lowered, competition naturally increases. many more people want, and can have, a piece of the growth.

 This drives up acquisition costs, and drives down profits.

 UNLESS, your company has a defensible strategy amidst the growing competition.

 This means:

👉 a differentiated brand and #marketing

👉 a community

McCormick notes: “companies need to build a product, experience, community, messaging, and ethos that resonates strongly enough with certain customers that they aren’t tempted to buy the knockoff version.”

__

3. Customer Experience: A Large Opportunity Gap

So if it is easier to launch a product, how can you stand out from the crowd? 

Customer experience. 

Emily Singer dives into this in her post, Brand accountability and evolving consumer expectations 

“The 2019 Gartner Customer Experience in Marketing Survey found that 81% of companies said they expected to be competing mostly or entirely on the basis of customer experience by the end of the year. “

Everyone wants a better customer experience, but how do you actually act on that? 

“Customer experience encompasses any interaction between a brand and its customers over the course of their relationship together. This includes customer support conversations, website interactions, social media conversations, and so much more.”

Customer expect more, and if you can’t meet those expectations, they wont’ return. 

“Singer said she thinks there’s still room–especially for DTC brands in the skin and haircare space–to lean into this concept of the journey to retain customers. 

Whether that’s through ongoing education-focused email campaigns that help each individual shopper through their journey with the brand or finding creative ways to bring them further into the fold via increased transparency, this route is one that won’t be a passing fad.”

__

4. How DTC founders see their industries emerging changed from the coronavirus crisis  – by Gabriela Barkho 

The full impact of the coronavirus pandemic will not be known for years, but everyone has been impacted deeply, on many levels. 

 And in ecommerce, the impact has accelerated many existing trends. 

 A few interesting pivots highlighted by Modern Retail: “David Lester, co-founder of healthy soda brand Olipop: As an example of this, Olipop is launching a private texting hotline to interact with VIP e-commerce customers on a daily basis. It will allow our team to directly solicit feedback on potential new flavor launches, seek out new retail channels and give customers a behind-the-scenes look at how we operate day-to-day.”

__

5. Nat Eliason on Oatly’s Deceptive Marketing 

 A deep dive into the history of false advertising (think old school print ads that imply “smoking to keep you skinny”).

 Eliason outlines the three ways that creating false promises work: 

  1.  Obscure the Truth: play to the emotion of customers and shoppers with aspirational yet unverifiable claims. 
  2. Create Confusion: Create “research” and showcase studies that support your industry or product. 
  3. Strawman the Disagreements: Engage with critics and opponents by arguing against those points that can be dismissed. Distract and point fingers. Sounds eerily familiar to our political “leadership” today. 

 This deconstructed many campaigns and industries that have overlooked the harm done to its consumers–sugar, tobacco, and….Oatly? Check out the arguments, Oatly’s Deceptive Marketing 

__

 And speaking of misleading the gullible….

 How do you build a cult brand? 

 Cult Wars: The Making of a Cult Brand – 

We have seen some very successful brands rise–author Jordan Odinsky highlights DTC brands Glossier as an example. 

Odinsky notes three steps to cult-dom: 

  1. Creating the enemy
  2. Getting commitment
  3. Creating exclusivity

“the psychology that drives the most successful cults can be incredibly powerful in brand building. There has been a meteoric rise in cult brands that play at a higher level than their peers; brands that infuse their followers with a great sense of pride and purpose who then go beyond rationality to see their brand win.”

—

And last, (I promise), but not least: I spoke with a “cult” brand owner recently. Erica Easley of Gumball Poodle–some funky and fun socks. The convo is here. And the advice that she shares in building her brand is simple: do you. 

She’s going up against deep-pocketed competitors like Stance and Bombas, but remains true to her brand and her voice (literally, she creates products strictly on what she thinks is funny and entertaining). 

Whew, that’s it for the week. 

The takeaway: stay lean and agile, stay honest, and pay attention to your tribe!

Gen