📦 - How To Create A Winning Ad Creative 🏆

Discover Lightning-Fast Web Pages, Biosteel's Exciting Return, Secrets of Successful Ad Creatives, and Overcoming SKU Overwhelm Friday, December 22, 2023 Good morning. Now that you’ve ‘sleighed’ your Q4 campaigns, we hope you get some time to enjoy the holidays with loved ones. And if you’re sick of hearing Mariah Carey’s #1 hit, Ryan Gosling just dropped the Christmas remix of ‘I’m Just Ken’ from the summer blockbuster movie Barbie which we feel is already going to be a classic. A lil’ reminder that you can put a seasonal spin on anything. Anyways, here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: - Breaking down the elements of a winning ad creative you can use for EOY campaigns - How Biosteel’s new CEO builds brand affinity with customer feedback - Why you should reevaluate your hefty product catalog (because decision fatigue is real 😅) You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Bounty Painting, Buff Motor Sports, Voyager Milk, and Amazon. 👋 This newsletter is brought to you… IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PILOTHOUSE 💬 These Two Facts Are True For Almost All DTC Brands… 1️⃣ Your Shopify store is likely SLOW and hurting your conversion rate. 2️⃣ You’re not doing the RIGHT CRO/optimization testing. If this is you, it’s [time to get serious about CRO with Pilothouse’s Shopify tool, appropriately dubbed "Warpdrive"](. 📈 The hands-off, easy to test tool allows your brand to split test and implement a better, more performant version of your existing Shopify store. Warpdrive’s in-house Shopify technology removes the restrictions of your current Shopify themes, plug-ins, and extensions. 🤝 You get: - Faster page speeds to increase conversions. - Pre-optimized pages for optimal performance — including must-haves like cart sliders, upsells, bundling, and above the fold. - Real results by split testing against your current (and unaffected) Shopify store. 🚨 You should know: Warpdrive pages, on average, convert 35% better than their Shopify counterparts. The Warpdrive team of experts can turn around a store, PDP collection, or landing page for you in as little as 48 hours. [Affordably Increase Your Conversion Rates Today]( 📰 NEWS - Meta’s Ray Ban smart glasses are getting [AI-powered visual search features](. - Study reveals longer-form [Instagram Reels outperform other video content]( including TikTok clips. - Ecommerce app Shopee [expands its presence in Latin America](with its acquisition of local credit arm Blu. AD BEST PRACTICES ⭐ 3 things you need to create a winning ad creative Here’s a winning formula you can apply to your next round of Meta ads. 🏆 As we head into the New Year, you want to put all of your Boxing Day promotions and EOY offers front and center to attract more conversions. Our [Pilothouse ad experts]( have performed numerous tests all year, and through their calculations have discovered a winning formula to attract sales. Put your product front and center: Make customers want the product through excellent use of visuals and multimedia formats. This should be at the forefront of every ad. In the headline…Place your max offer and make sure the font is clear and easy to read on all devices including mobile and tablet. Supporting copy: Add additional sales details, a timeline to add urgency, specify whether its site wide or limited to a certain product category and don’t be afraid to hype it up. “These styles never go on sale.” Apply these key elements to your next round of ads to get those conversions going. 🔥 BRAND AFFINITY 💬 Biosteel’s new CEO builds brand affinity with customer feedback It looks like Biosteel is hoping to make a comeback. After experiencing financial troubles over the past few years, the sports drink company now has a new CEO at the helm who’s looking to turn things around and build brand affinity by asking for customer feedback on social media. The Biosteel backstory: After getting acquired by cannabis company Canopy Growth in 2019, sales for the sports drink company stalled and they failed to remain profitable, [burning through 15 million in cash every month.]( Luckily, Biosteel has found a new owner: Canadian entrepreneur and founder of Coachwood Capital, Dan Crosby. And he has a clear vision of how he wants to move forward. Rather than making decisions behind the scenes, he took to TikTok and outlined his next steps for the company: Here’s how Biosteel plans to pivot: - Follow the 80/20 rule: Focusing on 20% of the SKUs that are responsible for 80% of the revenue. - Cut the fat: Eradicate unnecessary expenses. - Return to being a grassroots brand: Activate TOFU with strategic partnerships. - NHL and other sports league partnerships. - Be transparent: Crosby asks for the public's feedback on what they think about the brand and asks for suggestions and ideas. By being open about Biosteel’s struggles and performance, he’s able to increase brand affinity and make righting the ship a group effort. The result? Customer suggestions are already pouring in on social media with users praising his approach and providing some great UGC content about Biosteel’s products. Why this customer-centric approach works so well: Listening and interacting with customers on social media is a great way to build brand affinity. By taking a more customer-focused approach, followers feel more engaged and emotionally invested in your brand. Next time you’re online, think about how to build a dialogue with your customers to strengthen your brand affinity. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE If you're feeling overwhelmed by how many SKUs you carry, chances are so are your customers. Figure out which ones are your top-performing products and trim down your lineup so you can focus on increasing your revenue. 🧰 THE TOOLKIT 👀 Are you looking for ways to turn more browsers into buyers? Here’s [5 things]( you should have above the fold on your homepage. * 🤑 It's the most profitable time of year to advertise on Meta, are you taking advantage? Learn the same strategies Pilothouse uses to [generate profits for their partners](… 🤖 Did you know that you can use AI to make a song for you with a single text prompt? [Check out Suno AI here](. SPONSOR DTC 📥 Promote your product to 160,000 digital marketing professionals DTC Newsletter + Podcast reaches a highly qualified audience of Shopify merchants, eCommerce founders, and digital marketers. [Talk to our team to learn more](. 👀 BANTER When you were trying to save your coins but those end-of-year sales were just too good… Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 😆 [AKNF 362:]( Is CPC for Clowns? Meta Ads BFCM Recap - 🤯 [Shocking the Gatekeepers]( – Auto Aftermarket Goes DTC with Sean Reyes from Shock Surplus - 🤫 [AKNF 360](: The Power of the Double Tap + The Secret Tool For Instant Email Scale (And How to Use it Safely) - 👏 [Breaking Barriers in Menstrual Health]( with Nadia Ladak CEO of Marlow - 💰 [AKNF 358:]( BFCM Results Breakdown with Pilothouse - 🌊 [Santevia Revolutionizes Water and Conquers Amazon]( with Matthew Gohl Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) Got an awesome DTC brand story to tell? Calling all brand-side founders and team leaders! Fancy joining us on the DTC Podcast as a guest? [Tap the link to toss in your application](. DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight](, [Frances Du](, and [Michael Venditti](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. NEED MORE DTC? 🚀 [Advertise]( in DTC Newsletter. Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. 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