Tuesday, June 18

🗣 Running a B2B and want to reach 39,184 DTC Brands? Start here

Ask Ibrahim: If you need advice for your business, ask our DTC expert here

WHAT’S HOT ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Pet Lab Co. is one of the fastest growing brands we know, and you should definitely check out this thread.

Read the full thread here

SARAL

Your ‘UGC’ is a Lie 🤥 – Here’s How to Fix It

Most eCommerce brands get User-Generated Content (UGC) wrong. Instead of real content, they hire actors from marketplaces. That’s not UGC. That’s Actor-Generated Content(AGC). It looks fake and fails to connect with consumers.

SARAL’s ebook shows why ‘AGC’ is bad for your brand and how to get real, authentic UGC with influencers.

With a simple 5-step playbook, you’ll learn how to save $5k/month by ditching actors and getting genuine influencer content that converts.

Check out the free ebook to get practical tips and insights on:

🔎 Finding influencers in your niche and city

📧 Mass personalised outreach

🤝 Curating an offer influencers can’t refuse

📊 Onboarding and managing everything without losing sanity

Bonus ✨ : How you can semi-automate the entire process.

LANDING PAGES

Success with Meta ads is only 20% inside the ads manager, the remaining 80% is outside it.

Success with Facebook ads is only 20% of what you do inside an ads manager.

The remaining 80% is how you strategize your offer, creatives & funnel.

Success is more about what you do outside of ads manager than inside it.

This is a great thread by Zach, in which he shares how he lowered the nCPA of his brand from $80 to $18 in two months.

Check out this amazing thread, in which Zach shares about creative, landing page testing, and a holistic approach to growing the brand.

IBRAHIM’S NUGGETS

How to stop wearing all the hats as a Founder

Being a Founder is like riding a rollercoaster while juggling flaming torches—exciting, terrifying, and absolutely exhilarating! From dealing with endless to do lists to facing market surprises, it’s a wild ride. But hey, that’s what makes this journey worth it I guess? Today I’ll try to cover some challenges you might bump into as a DTC founder and my take on how to go about it..

1. Wearing too many hats

   You know the drill: one minute you’re the CEO, the next you’re the marketing guru, and somehow, you end up as the janitor too. It’s exhausting and can spread you thinner than a pancake, and this has to be one of the most common things with the Founders.

   • Stick to what you’re good at and hand off the rest. Platforms like Fiverr can be helpful in the early days. If you have design requirements, definitely check out Delesign. I also had answered a Q&A question regarding hiring folks on UpWork/Fiverr, you can read my response here.

   • Try hiring folks who complement your skills and share your passion. There’s nothing like a solid team, and I had also written who your first 3 hires should be. You can read that here.

   • Know when to log off and chill. Your business needs you in top shape, and that means taking care of yourself too

2. Try standing out in a crowded market

   The DTC arena is buzzing, and it’s a fight for eyeballs and wallets. Finding your unique groove has never been so important.

   • Dive deep into what makes your target market tick. Tools like Typeform can be great for getting those customer insights

   • People love a good story. Share your story, brand’s journey, quirks, and all of it. Be real and relatable, and most importantly—authentic. Customers are smart and they’ll see right through if it doesn’t feel authentic!

   • Keep your products fresh and exciting. Listen to your customers.

3. Marketing

   Marketing can feel like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube in the dark for most of you, and I get it—SEO, social media, email campaigns, landing pages—it’s a lot!

   Most of the posts I write are on Marketing, so I won’t dive into this one much, but you should definitely start with the fundamentals—basic SEO, a few social media posts, setting up basic email flows, etc. and hire freelancers to begin with if you need some help and hire full-time employees as your brand grows

4. Managing cash flow

   Money matters can be the trickiest part of running a DTC gig. Unexpected costs and slow sales can make a dent in your plans.

   • Make a cash flow forecast and keep it updated. If you’re not doing this already, you’re running in blind!

   • See if you can get better payment terms with your suppliers. It’s all about keeping that cash flowing smoothly, and even if you can reduce a few cents, that can matter a lot to the bottom line

   • Regularly review your expenses and trim the fat where you can. Only keep what directly helps you grow

   • If you need a tool to generate invoices, you can check out Invoice Falcon

   • I had also written a post on unit economics here, and you can use this calculator I built to see a breakdown of your unit economics and calculate your COGS, etc.

5. Maintaining customer trust and loyalty

   In the DTC world, I believe your relationship with your customers is everything. Building trust and keeping it is crucial, but not easy. Definitely recommend reading the book Delivering Happiness to dive deeper into this.

   • Go above and beyond with your customer service. Quick responses, fair resolutions, and making your customers feel special go a long way..

   • Be open about your processes, pricing, and policies. It builds trust!

   • Keep your customers engaged with regular updates and reward their loyalty with perks, discounts, or exclusive offers

6. Dealing with uncertainty

   The market is like a roller coaster, and consumer behavior can change. Staying flexible is probably the best way to survive. For Instance, AI is here, and if you don’t adapt it, it’ll be quite challenging to run a business in the future because it is THE future.

   • Keep an eye on industry trends and market shifts. Tools like Feedly, Google Trends, etc. can help you stay in the loop. I personally use Twitter for this!

   • Have a backup plan when things go haywire, especially when you’re taking bigger risks such as launching your first retail store

   • Not everything will work out, and that’s okay

Being a DTC founder is no cakewalk, but it can be incredibly rewarding. And these are some of the challenges I can think of for now. Is there anything you’d like to share? Reply and let me know.

Have questions? You can ask here.

PIXII

Pixii AI creates compelling ads and social posts in 1 minute. Unlike other tools, its designs are editable and on-brand

IN THE NEWS

Accelerating Online Grocery Sales Point to a New Normal for the Hot Ecommerce Category

AI-powered e-commerce accounting startup Finaloop raises $35M

Alternative payment tools lead e-commerce payments in Asia-Pacific, reveals GlobalData

Have any questions that you need help with?

Ask here - and look out for Fridays Issue where Ibrahim will answer them.