The Growth Newsletter #157

Valentine's Day hooks. Repeatable themes. Reframe the boring.  ‌ ‌ ‌ [Demand Curve]( [Read on demandcurve.com]( The Growth Newsletter #157 Valentine's Day hooks. Repeatable themes. Reframe the boring. 2024 🟩⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 2025 We're officially one month through 2024.  Quick check-in: Are you still making progress towards your goals?  Topics for the day: Valentine's Day hooks. Repeatable themes. Reframe the boring.  Let's dive in 🪅 – Neal Thanks to our sponsors for keeping this newsletter free for all of you! Check them out :) Brought to you by [Insense](—the leaders for UGC production and influencer marketing.  If you want to save time managing your UGC ads and influencer campaigns this year then you need Insense’s managed service. Their in-house services includes; - a dedicated platform manager - post-production for monthly UGC ads - influencer scouting for your campaigns - unique creative concepts [Book a free strategy call]( and get 5% off their managed service plans until Feb 16   Brought to you by [Smart Recognition](. Turn anonymous traffic into revenue with a simple copy-paste  Capture every drop of shopper traffic that comes to your store.  With Smart Recognition, a quick copy-paste lets you - Unmask the email address of up to 40% of your previously anonymous visitors. - Retarget them directly with email or Meta audiences so they come back and finish their purchase. All without busting your ad budget and its CAN-SPAM Compliant  [Get their free guide]( on the Top 3 Strategies that will help you 10X your lead capture rate, reduce your CPL, and get your anonymous shoppers to buy. Want to be featured in front of 89,680 founders and marketers? [Learn more here](–booking into April.   1. Applying hooks to Valentine's Day ad copy Insight's data derived from [NRF](. Hook types from [Un-ignorable Hooks](.  Americans (mostly men) spent $26,000,000,000 for Valentine's Day last year, and only 52% was for their partner. The rest was for their family, friends, coworkers, and kids.  It's one of the biggest gift-giving days of the year and is a huge opportunity for DTC brands.  You should test some ads using copy and creative targeted to Valentine's Day. Here are some example ad openers using a few of our hook types:  #1. Credibility: 12,166 boyfriends have already bought X for their partner. - Leverages the social proof of how many have bought from you. - It also triggers an "Oh damn, I'm behind.” - Depending on the product, you can try variations other than boyfriend or partner. #2. Fear: There's only 2 more days until Valentine's Day.  #3 Counter-Narrative: Valentine's Day is BS. But your love isn't. Treat your partner anyway. - Gets attention with the opener. - Calls out the growing sentiment that people think Valentine's Day is overly consumeristic or fake but reframes the day as a positive. #4 Celebration + Curiosity: It's Jack and Jill's 25th anniversary! Here's what Jack got her for their special day. - Ad creative could show a couple with Jill looking excitedly down at the gift she's getting, but you can't see what it is. Piques the curiosity. Here's a quirky AI example: #5 Identity: Still looking for the perfect gift to show your love? - Speaks to the situation they're in using a [Barnum-style question](.  #6. Surprise:48% of Valentine's Day gifts aren't for partners. Treat your mom for Valentine's - Surprising fact gets their attention. - Make it seem socially normal to buy for someone other than a partner. - It reminds them of a [specific person]( they could buy for.  #7. Value: 10 Valentine's Day gifts that will WOW her (him/them). - The ad sends to a piece of content where your product is the first on the list.  As always, get creative with your Valentine's Day experiments. 2. Create repeatable themes and formats Insight from us, featuring [MrBeast](.  Look closely at most successful creators and you'll notice something. For example, let's take a look at [MrBeast's YouTube channel](: Just in his last 20 videos, you can see a few repeat formats: - $1 vs $XXXXXXXX [thing] - [something] vs [adjective] [something else] - I [verb] X [thing] - World's [superlative] [thing] - Somebody surviving something and winning money You'll also notice his thumbnails have recurring elements. And the videos themselves follow a certain structural pattern.  There are a few great reasons to find repeatable formats: - If you like $1 vs $1,000,000 Hotel, you'll probably like $1 vs $1,000,000,000 Yacht. Which in itself is smart because: - It's easy for the YouTube algorithm to know what to recommend next. - It's easy for your audience to decide what they should watch next. It's de-risked that they're going to like it. - If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Hence, the 5,000 Marvel movies. Every piece of content is an investment. You de-risk the investment by repeating what worked in the past. - It's less effort. This newsletter has a repeat format: Intro → sponsors → 3 growth tactics → news → something fun → outro. I'm not reinventing the wheel each time. I know what a "growth tactic" looks like. I like to say it's more like "filling in the blanks." Get creative and find your repeatable content formats. Then, you can be creative within those boundaries.  Note: This concept also applies to ads :). If you find something that works, keep experimenting with that idea. 3. Reframe and re-position an existing boring product Insight from [First The Trousers](.  1986: 6 pounds of carrots eaten per person per year 2002: 11 pounds per person The cause for the 80% increase? The invention of baby carrots. Baby carrots now account for 80% of all carrot consumption.  (For those who don't know, baby carrots are simply a sweeter variety of carrots that are chopped up into shorter pieces and have rounded edges.)  What can be learned from the humble baby carrot:  #1. Create a new experience for an existing product - A full-sized carrot: A vegetable you cook. - A baby carrot: A healthy snack food—at home or on the go.  This shift allowed for 4 interesting benefits: - Convenience as a value prop. Making carrots "grab and go." - Reframe from vegetable to snack. Are carrots the healthiest vegetable? Unlikely. Are they healthier than a chocolate bar? Absolutely. - New usage occasions. Instead of just in soups, now carrots can go in veggies trays, kid's lunches, and in the backpack for a snack in the park. - New distribution opportunities. As a grab-and-go snack, it makes sense for them to be in gas stations—a place that will never have a vegetable aisle.  #2. Push into the new category, don't fight it  Instead of leaning into the health value prop (carrots good—junk food bad), they found that treating baby carrots as a part of the junk food category, rather than in opposition to it, led to 10% more sales. People already know they're healthier than candy and chocolate.  People need to be convinced that they're delicious, addictive, and indulgent, and can satisfy their junk food craving.   Quick question: You are a...? [Founder]( [Freelancer]( [Full-time role]( Your response will help us personalize the content you receive from us :)   News and links News you can use: - Google reveals its first [AI-powered conversational advertising experience](. - Meta releases a [new version of Brand Rights Protection](, making it easier for businesses to protect their brands. - Meta is [expanding the availability of Advantage detailed targeting](, meaning Meta will use machine learning to determine who else to show your ad. - LinkedIn announces it is [discontinuing lookalike audiences](. - TikTok is [testing 30-minute long video uploads for select users](.   Software we recommend: [Attio](, the next-generation CRM.  Most CRMs do not work for startups.  They're rigid, slow, and overly complicated, or not powerful enough.  Attio is a radically new type of CRM built specifically for fast-growing startups.  It's incredibly powerful, and you can configure it exactly to your unique business & data.  It feels more like using Notion, not Oracle.  [Start using Attio today]( and get a 14-day free trial.  *Sponsored by Attio Want to be featured in front of 89,680 founders and marketers? [Learn more here](–booking into April.   Something fun From some random 90s nostalgia account on Instagram that probably didn't make this:   What did you think of this week's newsletter? 😍 Loved it: Forward to a friend, or send a reply—a simple 😍 will do! If really helps. 🤷‍♀️ Meh: You can unsubscribe [here](), or manage your subscription [here](. 🤔 I'm new here: You can join the party [here](. In case you're new: Who's [Demand Curve](?   We’re on a mission to help make it easier to start, build, and grow companies.  We share no-BS, vetted, and actionable startup growth advice as we learn it from the top 1% of founders and marketers. How we can help you grow - Read our free [playbooks](, [blog articles](, and [teardowns](—we break down the strategies and tactics that fast-growing startups use to grow. - Enroll in the [Growth Program](, our marketing course that has helped 1,000+ founders get traction and scale revenue.x - Need help running ads? We’ve built [the]([ ads agency]( for startups. - Want a growth freelancer/agency? [We’ll match you]( with one for free. - Get your product in front of startup founders by [sponsoring]( this newsletter.  Thanks everyone! See you next Tuesday with another fresh batch of tactics. PS: I will love you if you take 30 seconds to [write us a testimonial]( :)  [Neal]( [Neal O'Grady]( [Grace]( [Justin Setzer](   © 2024 Demand Curve, Inc. All rights reserved. 4460 Redwood Hwy, Suite 16-535, San Rafael, California, United States [Unsubscribe]() from all emails, including the newsletter, or [manage]( subscription preferences.