📦 - Amazon’s New Discount Store

DTC 596 - GA4 Five New Updates, Q4 Creatives in Q3, and Positive Mindset Monday, July 8, 2024 Good morning, DHL’s latest global report surveyed 12,000 shoppers on their preferred online marketplace and the results are interesting. 👀 51% of customers said Amazon, but other marketplaces are quickly gaining traction. Shein came in second (24%), and Temu was third (18%). With all this increased competition, Amazon recently announced it will create a discount section on its site with direct shipping from China to compete with Shein and Temu. Read the full story in our News section. 📰 Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: 💰 We share three winning creatives for Q4 and why you need to publish them earlier than usual this year to save on costs. 🎧 How DTC brands are scaling word of mouth marketing and manufacturing virality with Social Snowball's Noah Tucker. ⭐ ICYMI Google just announced these four new updates are coming to GA4 to help improve cross-channel campaign visibility and optimize ad spend. 💡 And…how to set the tone for an awesome and productive day! You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Savannah Pet Food, Overstood Clothing, and Deezy. 👋 Q4 PLANNING 📝 Why You Need To Think About Q4 Creatives Right Now The biggest thing to understand is that in Q4, the costs of ads will significantly increase with the influx of competitors, increasing spending and purchasing intent. With this year being an election year in the United States, presidential campaigns will also be spending in the space. This means it's even more crucial to introduce Q4 creatives into the account during the lower-cost window of Q3. [The Pilothouse Meta team]( shares that by doing this, you can rev up the learnings behind the creatives, and increase social proof at a cheaper cost. ✅ Add higher budgets behind the pre-running creatives in Q4 and scale at a lower cost and great return. The top 3 Creatives to introduce into the ad account during Q3 (to achieve greater scale in Q4) 1️⃣ The Box Shot: a simple image of a ton of products in a box. Emulating the experience of an organic unboxing. The more product in the shot, the better. 2️⃣ The Hand Holding Shot: Another simple image of holding the product against a plain background. It doesn’t need to be perfect; in fact, in most cases, dim lighting wins. 3️⃣ Broad Sale Messaging: Take a top-performing image and/or warehouse shot and add a big, urgent sale message in bold font that doesn't mention a specific discount. Most of the time, these creatives yielded the greatest return during Q4, overtaking specific BFCM creatives because we got them into the account early. NICHE INFLUENCERS 💸 This Influencer Mistake Might Be Draining Your Budget If you’re tired of seeing the same faces selling EVERYTHING, your customers are too… 😕 Smart brands like Obvi, Tabs Chocolate, and Legends are building teams of smaller, niche influencers who align with their brand. These micro-voices are way more effective, but finding them isn’t easy. [That’s where SARAL steps in](. It's not just another influencer marketplace with a limited reach. It’s a search engine for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to find profiles that fit your needs. - Need someone who loves vegan cooking in Seattle? Find them on [SARAL](. ✅ - Want someone into sustainable fashion in Miami? They’re just a search away. ✅ With AI-powered lookalike suggestions, your pool of potential partners will NEVER run dry. Ready to try it out? [Start your free SARAL trial today]( and see how niche influencers can work for your brand. Want to learn more? [Find some time with their team](. *Sponsored PLATFORM UPDATE ⭐ Four New GA4 Updates You Need to Know Google announced four major updates are coming to Google Analytics. From integrating more third-party data sources to tracking ad budgets, there will be some interesting new features to test. ICYMI Here’s what’s new: 👇 1️⃣ More third-party data points to work with: Users will now be able to import ad data from Pinterest, Reddit, and Snap directly into GA4 properties. For brands that use those platforms, this can give them more visibility into their cross-channel campaigns across the entire marketing funnel. 2️⃣ Cross-channel budgeting feature: Google plans to release a budgeting feature in the coming months. This update will include a projections report to track media pacing and projected performance against a target objective like revenue across channels. 💡 This can help optimize spend and allocate budgets more effectively across different channels. 3️⃣ AI-Powered Insights: Google is finally incorporating AI into GA4 to enhance data insights. Please think of this as your analytical AI assistant which can crawl through your data and explain data trends and summarize findings so it’s easier to outline next steps for your team. 4️⃣ Cookieless measurement: Google plans to end third-party cookies in 2025 and will start supporting some Chrome Privacy Sandbox APIs later this year so advertisers can continue to reach audiences and measure campaign performance. These GA4 updates are expected to arrive in the upcoming months. PODCAST * 👄 How DTC Brands are Scaling Word of Mouth Marketing and Manufacturing Virality with Social Snowball's Noah Tucker This week on the [DTC Podcast]( we went all in on affiliates. Not the old affiliate tactics you may know from your marketing come-up, the new wave. The wave that involves your customers, influencers, and focuses on the secret giant in purchasing decisions — word of mouth. We’re joined by [Social Snowball Founder Noah Tucker]( to chat through the how and why of building affiliate programs for DTC brands. 📚 In this episode, you’ll learn: - How Social Snowball is the new-age affiliate platform for DTC brands looking to build modern affiliate programs - Why every brand should have a customer affiliate program - How The Pod Company has scaled to $150K+ monthly with their customer affiliate program - The Tabs Chocolate method to manufacturing virality: consistently, not by luck - How affiliates drive attributable revenue and how big they can get for DTC brands - The next big unlock Social Snowball has on their roadmap Whether you’re pre-launch, building your very first tech stack, or years in, wondering if affiliate could have a place in your toolkit, this episode is a great place to start. [Book a demo with Social Snowball]( or you can: 👇 [Continue reading here](. 📖 OR [Listen to the full episode here](. 🎧 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE Good vibes only. Starting off the day with a healthy dose of positivity can do wonders. Can't view the image? [Click here]( ⚡ QUICK HITS 🐳 If you like the feeling of FOMO, you can skip this. DTC’s C-Suite Mastermind is fast approaching. Join 50 of your DTC peers in beautiful Victoria BC, September 18th-19th. [Get your ticket now](! 📰 NEWS - DHL’s 2024 Online Shopper Trends Report [reveals which online marketplaces customers are using the most](. - Amazon [plans to launch a discount store to compete with Temu and Shein](. - Apple [will get an observer role in OpenAI’s advisory board](. - Jordan’s Skinny Mixes [refreshes their branding for their 15th anniversary](. SPONSOR DTC 📥 Got a B2B Biz? Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 160k brand leaders and founders this year. [Talk to our team to learn more](. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 🦙 Paka Founder Kris Cody on [His Peruvian Retail Journey]( - 🤖 [AKNF 417:]( Learn How To Build Your Own Brand GPT - 🦁 Sarah Carusona [Tames the Omnichannel Beast for Alpha Lion]( - 💡[AKNF 415:]( The Gucci and Ralph Lauren of Effective Email Design - 🎤 Ex-Googler Ben Kruger on [New Side Hustle Selling Microphones]( - ⚡[AKNF 413:]( How Over-Automation Limits Your Scale on Amazon - 🍬 Michael Fisher on [Rotten’s Go To Market Strategy]( Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight]( and [Frances Du](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. [Direct To Consumer]( Pilothouse, 1011 Government St., Victoria, BC V8W 1X6, Canada [Advertise with DTC]( | [Work With Pilothouse]( [Unsubscribe](