Friday, August 18

#1 - 🥤 3 lessons from Olipop

📰 TL;DR - Olipop has been a beverage success story, with the better-for-you sodas, selling both in retail and via DTC. This piece takes a look at a few strategies that have made them so successful. First, they found a smart niche — sodas that aren’t just low in sugar but have a health promise. Despite sodas being such a crowded market, they were different enough to take off. Second, they don’t lean too heavily into health messaging, rather they went for a joyful, nostalgic branding scheme. Last, they diversified their distribution. They started in health food stores, but aggressively expanded to mainstream shops. As well, a healthy chunk (15-20%) of sales come from their own website.

💡 Insight - Olipop didn’t start DTC, but it’s now in a place that really represents where a lot of DTC is going — some direct sales on the website, and some wholesale. I also think Olipop’s branding is brilliant. Yes, the health messaging isn’t hidden or anything, but I like the tagline “a new kind of soda.” It suggests marrying innovation with classic favorites. It also doesn’t get preachy with the health info, letting the flavors speak for themselves. Lastly, I like that the founder has a personal connection to his mission.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#2 - 👇 Hiring influencers is hurting your brand — here's what to do instead 

Don't pay for fake UGC. Build a real community of interested creators instead.

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#3 - 💰 DTC brands are paying customers to shop

📰 TL;DR - Loyalty points are certainly still in play out there, but is there something better? Some brands are instead opting for paying people to shop. Catch, for example, is a startup that offers stores a way to give shoppers 5-10% back in-store credit for every purchase if they pay with their debit or bank account. The added bonus there is saving on credit card processing fees. And there’s this: “Catch says that on average, brands using the platform see customers repeat purchases 65% faster, with 55% reduced churn, and a 45% increase in lifetime customer value.” Add to that, Shopify now has Shop Cash, a rewards program that gives 1% back for purchases made with Shop Pay.

💡 Insight - Retention is the name of the game these days with acquisition costs getting so high, and what’s more enticing than straight up cash or store credit? Personally, I’ve found Torrid and Old Navy’s “cash” perks to be some of the most enticing loyalty perks that keep me coming back. Plus, you just know that shoppers will spend above whatever that credit is, which means more sales for you. I think this is a pretty smart approach to loyalty programs and worth investigating.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out

💸 AMAZON FEES - Uh oh — Amazon will start charging a free to sellers who ship their own products, likely to encourage using Amazon fulfillment. Read here.

📰 AMAZON ADS - In other Amazon news, there’s a new program to place third-party product ads on some partner publications, including BuzzFeed. Read here.

🤖 ROBLOX - Roblox is where the youth are and they’re working on improving their ad network. Read here.

✏️ CONTENT - Think deleting old content will boost your SEO? Think again.

👿 FRAUD - Here are some insights on preventing e-comm fraud.

#5 - 📈 Turn virality into sales

📰 TL;DR - Okay so you’ve had a YouTube video or TikTok or whatever go viral — now what? You might see a temporary boost in sales, but how do you hold on to that momentum? This podcast talks to the founders of furniture brand Transformer Table. They had a Facebook video go viral in 2016 and had to figure out what to do with that. Some of their tips include hopping on the viral train by immediately expanding influencer work. Also, you need to be ready to actually meet the demand virality creates. They also kept everything in-house in the interest of speed.

💡 Insight - The problem with virality is that it is, by its very nature, very fleeting. You can’t build a business based on a single viral moment, but it can be a starting point. A viral hit will draw in new viewers, so that’s the time to really hone in on a posting strategy to remain consistent and gives those followers something to see. I would also advise against milking anything too long. Sure, do a couple of riffs, but it’s cringey to then spend months chasing that one moment again. Rather, learn from the viral moment and study what worked so you can hopefully make it happen again.

➡️ You can read the article here...