Episode description

1. “You have to find a way to have scalable growth and be profitable while growing.” @DMTintner #DTCPOD
2. “Using a subscription offering can help you achieve your return on ad spend a lot faster if your product needs to be replenished frequently.” @DMTintner #DTCPOD
3. “If you pick the right creators to work with, they will naturally keep mentioning your product even if they aren’t being compensated for everything.” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD
4. “Consumers always want to lean into great user experience and great UX, getting the smallest details right, can help fuel brand growth.” @jadesai94 #DTCPOD
5. “More brands are turning to content that is native to the ad platform and fits in with their target audience.” @DMTintner #DTCPOD

We Speak About:

• [01:20] About ThoughtLeaders  
• [03:00] Why the old DTC playbook is broken
• [05:05] New trends that we’re seeing in DTC
• [07:15] Innovative strategies that brands are using to grow
• [13:20] How user-experience can help you win
• [17:10] How to stay closer to the ground with your customers  
• [20:20] Exciting and upcoming trends in DTC
• [27:50] The importance of creating experiences for consumers

David Tintner, CEO of ThoughtLeaders, joins the POD to talk about some of the struggles DTC brands face and what the future of DTC looks like. ThoughtLeaders is a sponsorship intelligence company.

When direct-to-consumer exploded, a lot of growth was based on performance marketing. The traditional DTC playbook has been to spend money on ads.

Traditionally, even if you weren’t profitable on the first purchase, you would still use ads to grow. The hope for many brands is that customers would repurchase and business would be profitable on lifetime value.

Now, brands need to be profitable on the first purchase.

A subscription-based offering is a great way to improve lifetime value and be closer to profitability on the first purchase.

Creating a strong community is also a great way to grow your brand. When consumers see a community, there is a want to fit in.

Being profitable on the first purchase is great. But you need more to build a brand.

Once you get customers, you need to listen to feedback. Feedback can help drive your product to new heights.

The Harrys, Quips, and Bonobos of the world have become successful by leaning into customers and user-experience.

Creating a unique user-experience can help create customer loyalty. Listening to feedback can also help drive customer retention.

Your customers can tell you what’s great and what isn’t great about your product. This information can be used to guide the improvement of current products or guide future products.

Create experiences for your customers too.

Brand recognition and brand recall are incredibly important. Strong user-experience and positive experiences can help drive those parts.

Not all experiences need to be directly attributable though. Attribution is great, but sometimes organic experiences where there is no attribution can also drive brand recall.

Stay tuned as David and Jay talk about examples of things great brands are doing. We will also dive into what the new DTC playbook should include.

If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for influencers and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Mentioned Links:

ThoughtLeaders website: https://www.thoughtleaders.io/

TUSHY website: https://hellotushy.com/

Gymshark ambassadors: https://www.gymshark.com/blogs/athletes

David’s Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/dmtintner