📦 - This Wasn’t Written By a Robot

Unexpected top-performers, AI in marketing, and advertising on Twitch [DTC]( Banter Monday, December 19, 2022 Who else feels like they’re in the same boat? 💆 In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇 📦 Unexpected top-performing ads from Black Friday 📦 How to grow your business through text marketing 📦 Should you be using AI to fuel your creatives? 📦 Using first-party universal attribution to see the exact impact of your ad spend 📦 How to advertise on Twitch Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎 👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, [subscribe]( , so you never miss out. Creative Unexpected Top-Performing Ads from BFCM Still digging into your Black Friday/Cyber Monday data and want to know how other brands fared? Here are some winners created by Pilothouse Studios: 💅 CGC that nailed it This creator generated content (CGC) was created by Pilothouse for BFCM as a bonus piece of iterative content. The goal was to test the following combination: - Close-up angle where the creator takes up the entire frame - Straight-to-the-point content, no fluff - Hushed tone, teasing a secret piece of advice This video has been outperforming all other CGC videos on the account. 🍀 Evergreen that brings in the green Most brands focused on BF/CM-specific messaging and advertising this year. But that doesn’t mean that’s what works best for all brands! This Pilothouse clothing brand client found that strong, studio-shot evergreen content was what was moving the needle for them. Just goes to show that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! 🎬 A feature film that everyone watched No one expects long-form content to win on ad accounts in the age of short-form video supremacy. However, this 46-second ad showcased the entire process from need to purchase to demo is a top performer! ⏰ Fastest turnaround ad creative Remember when we said, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? The same goes for overcomplicating your ads. This ad creative was as simple as a screenshot of a text between two friends that included a call-to-action and a 20% discount offer. The image of the text was overlaid on a simple cellphone shot image of the product in its box. This ad is crushing on the brand’s ad account, so sometimes simple really is better. ✨ Conclusion Iterative testing for ads is critical! So don’t be afraid to try content you don’t think will be a top performer. What worked for you this BF/CM? Reply and let us know! Sponsor You know how you’ve been meaning to set up SMS? Don’t! (Let Recart do it for you) It’s been on your 2022 to-do list. Haunting you. Guilting you. And now, SMS is about to start dogging your entry into 2023. How do we know? Because among [Shopify’s 1,000 largest brands]( 📈 66.7% use SMS marketing. For the top 75k 📉 adoption plummets to a mere 13.5%. But don’t worry. We got you. More than a platform, [Recart]( is a fully-managed SMS service with one goal: [To grow your business through text marketing...]( so you don’t have to. How? 🤑 Acquire New Customers Weekly campaigns, multi-part welcome flow, and abandonment ♻️ Accelerate LTV & Reorders Automate post-purchase upsells, VIP invitations, and replenishment 🚀 Convert 2x More Subscribers Custom pop-ups for desktop & mobile with two-tap capture + Restore links ^^ [Book before Jan,]( and we’ll take care of all that during your free 21-day trial (including texts at no charge)! 📲 [Get done-for-you growth at done-by-yourself pricing.]( Artificial Intelligence 🤖 This Wasn’t Written By a Robot If you’ve been on the internet for any amount of time within the last couple of weeks, you’ll likely have come across an AI tool called [ChatGPT.]( This evolving technology has exploded in popularity akin to nothing we have previously seen in recent history. 💥 To put this whole situation into perspective, consider the growth of Facebook in the early 2000s. It took about 10 months for Facebook to reach 1 million users worldwide. All things considered, that’s pretty amazing for the time but… …ChatGPT has reached 1 million users in 5 days. 😱 🚨 What’s all the fuss about? ChatGPT is a machine learning program designed to create text-based content using prompts and information provided by the user. It can write stories, poems, code, articles, and even meta descriptions for search engines! Most language models do this by predicting what words come next in the sentence based on language models. ChatGPT uses a special model to form complex responses within a given set of constraints. It is nothing short of revolutionary. It’s also kinda fun for those who just want to explore the tool at home! 🎣 What’s the catch? ChatGPT is in a unique position where it can effortlessly replicate complex human answers to our prompts and questions. With that, we need to dig a little bit deeper into its limitations and restrictions to ensure that the program can be used ethically. Some built-in limitations are: - It cannot reference information after 2021 on its own - It needs highly detailed instructions - It is programmed to avoid certain phrases and content In many ways, these do not affect the tool’s ability to produce astounding work in such a short amount of time. The gray areas surface in being able to manufacture content that is being passed off as written by a human. In the world of content creation, this raises some very sensitive questions about plagiarism, falsification, and flat-out lying to audiences about what creators and brands can actually produce. 💔 How do robots make you feel? Would you feel differently about your favorite brands knowing that their blogs were written by ChatGPT to appease what they think you believe is interesting? If it entertains you, does it matter? As marketers, these are important questions to explore… ChatGPT may seem like a no-brainer to use, but we need to consider the long-term effects on reputation when using a tool like this. 👀 Google is already on top of it Google started researching the detection of AI-generated language within their search engine results a while ago. Google’s Search Advocate, John Mueller, [states]( that Google considers AI-generated content “spam.” Mueller also mentions that while it is difficult to identify AI-generated content automatically, he implies that Google is working on it. Using AI for content can lead to long-term consequences on your standing in Google’s search results. Advocates are proposing and developing a mandatory watermarking system for AI-generated content. This way, these programs can not officially deliver a message on behalf of a real person or brand with false information. Scott Aaronson, a professor at the University of Texas, [highlights that this watermarking should become a standardized practice,]( much like robots.txt can perform ethical crawling of websites within search engines to verify content. 🤨 So, what can ChatGPT be used for? To start, you can use it to generate summaries of web pages and meta descriptions. [Google says that it’s totally allowed too!]( The tool has certainly caught our interest, but after the honeymoon phase is over, we need to look at its uses ethically and objectively. The long-term consequences for brands generating content with AI is far too unpredictable to be considered a safe bet at this point. Though it’s highly efficient, the results are not worth losing the trust of your audience or diminishing your hard-earned rank on the SERPs. Have you explored ChatGPT yet? How do you see AI benefitting your workflow in the coming years? Let us know in a reply here; we promise you won’t get an automated response! 😉 Sponsor Northbeam: Breathe Life Into Your Attribution Efforts You’ve heard it said: attribution is dead. We’d like to argue the opposite. Attribution isn’t dead—it’s just hard to accomplish. Well, it’s hard to accomplish if you don’t have the right tools. Enter [Northbeam.]( Northbeam leaves “educated guesses” about how your marketing campaigns are performing at the door and instead uses [first-party universal attribution]( to show you the exact impact of your ad spend. With Northbeam, you’ll be able to: 🛰 Track all your cross-channel campaign performance in one platform in real-time 🦾 Analyze your ad data with automated machine learning models to identify winning ads 🚀 Identify the performance benchmarks and targets that will actually grow your business profitably Northbeam is built by marketers for marketers. It’s not too late to scale profitably this holiday season... 👉 [Request your free Northbeam demo now!]( Twitch W’s In The Chat 🔢 Millions, billions, and trillions A key part of successful advertising is a strong connection to the community or audience being advertised to. No creators understand this connection better than Twitch streamers. Live content creation requires a unique combination of technical skills, charisma, and organization. Needless to say, successful streamers really know their stuff and their community. The most successful streamers, known as partners, rack up thousands of viewers every day. As a marketer, you can tap into the streamers’ community by advertising before or during live streams. If you’re not already convinced of the value here, we’ll break it down: - 8 M streamers go live on Twitch every month - 1T minutes of content was watched in 2021 - 31M viewers tune in every day Numbers like that are compelling to any brand looking to expand their reach and explore new advertising opportunities. If that sounds like you, there are a couple of things to know about the ecosystem of Twitch. Most importantly, you’ll only be able to advertise with two types of streamers, known as Affiliates and Partners. 📸 Affiliates are smaller creators starting to find their audience on Twitch. They will have dedicated followers and retain an average of about 50 viewers per live stream. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Partners are more established creators with a large audience. Streaming is often their job! These streamers will attract the most attention and trust from their audience. These titles directly affect your advertising strategy. The more viewers that watch an ad, the more revenue a streamer will earn. This means larger streamers are likely hungry for advertisers and sponsors. If you have an affiliate or partner in mind, consider how you want to display your content. 🤑 Twitch offers several formats of advertising: - [Display Ads]( - [Homepage Headliner]( - [Medium Rectangle]( - [Super Leaderboard]( - [Video Ads]( 📞 Sponsorships can be initiated by the streamer reaching out to your brand or vice versa. This is a great way to communicate directly with a streamer to assess their platform and content against your brand and values. Requesting that a streamer post on-screen ads or mention your brand’s name repeatedly throughout streams is not uncommon. It's in everyone’s best interest for the streamer to disclose that the stream is sponsored, as it will influence the streamer’s content or opinion of your products. 📺 Regardless of the method you choose, rest assured that Twitch uses an advertising solution known as SureStream to navigate ad-blocking tools for desktop viewers. Your ads will be seen by a lot of people. Twitch has also outlined specific [ad creative guidelines]( that must be followed for advertising eligibility, so if you want to get started, check out that link for more information. The process begins by [contacting a Twitch representative]( to assess your brand’s goals and initiate your introduction to the Twitch ecosystem. How was your experience in your last partnership with a content creator? Have you thought about how your marketing strategy might be influenced by advertising in front of a live audience? On Twitch you can tune in to the streamer’s live chat to gauge viewers’ reception of your product. They don’t always give feedback, but it could be useful! Let us know your thoughts in a reply to us here. Quick Hits 🧑‍🔬 [How fusion energy works]( and what it means. 💰 [Kevin O’Leary]( speaks on FTX and crypto. 🍎 [Apple’s]( satellite plans. 🎵 [TikTok]( is looking to test horizontal video. 📸 [Meta’s ‘Candid]( [’]( to compete with BeReal. 🏆 [Google’s favorite Chrome extensions]( of 2022. SHARE DTC NEWSLETTER 🔥 NEW REFERRAL PROGRAM HAS OFFICIALLY DROPPED 🔥 👊 Want to level up the marketing skills of your teammates and employees? Just grab your referral link below and you'll earn points toward cool gear for every new subscriber you bring to the DTC fam. 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