Performance Marketing: The Key to D2C Success

A performance-driven marketing agency with 30 years of experience transforming companies, such as Bare Minerals, Shark/Ninja, Gwynnie Bee, and Nutrisystem, into best-selling brands. 

While many big, legacy brands tend to stick with traditional advertising, other newer and less traditional ones have turned to digital performance marketing and Response Driven ads.

Brands such as Keurig, Shark, Wahl, Phillips, Hoover and even Amazon have added this D2C approach to their marketing mix.  Another factor to consider: you don’t need to break your budget to execute your branding with this strategy. When done effectively, performance marketing ads allow businesses and brands to launch products, drive sales, and create new customer acquisition channels while owning the data – enabling companies to go deeper in a relationship with their customers.  

Here are tips designed to take ownership of the consumer/brand relationship from third-party distributors and implement a direct-to-consumer strategy that will lead your business into a more profitable future:

Create a compelling story that motivates consumers to take action.

Do not underestimate the power of education.  An effective selling message has to tell a compelling story about your product or brand, leading your potential consumer step-by-step to an obvious conclusion: the sale. 

A compelling story starts with the problem – stated clearly, using language and imagery that resonates with your consumer. Show them you understand their need for the product or service.  

Through your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), communicate how your product is a faster/better/more effective at resolving their issue. 

Support your value proposition with proof and substantiation (left brain) and validate it with emotion-invoking testimonials (right brain).

Create urgency by building incentive upon incentive that leads to a powerful call to action that doesn’t shy away from asking for the sale or order.

This is most effectively done through response-driven commercials, of one or varying lengths: :60, :120, [3:00] and [5:00].  For many brands with a big story to tell, long form, [28:30], may be the most effective length to best convey how your product or service will solve the prospects’ problem.

Build a sales funnel that zeroes in on your sale.

Some brands produce a commercial that effectively drives potential customers to the site but are unable to provide a clear path to purchase.  The website experience is so confusing to consumers that they lose the sale. Make the experience on the website as streamlined as possible, and keep prospects focused on purchasing what they came for. This means placing the offer front and center, with nothing distracting from the action you wish them to take.  This seems basic but this is where many campaigns fail.  

Cater the shopping experience to each prospective customer.

Nearly three quarters of consumers say they get frustrated when website content isn’t personalized to their interest, according to recent industry research.  The successful D2C marketer aims to provide each customer with a better experience by creating a website that makes additional product suggestions based on each person’s order and even past history.  This increases engagement and overall average order values.

Suggest other product and value-based selling videos.

Once the purchase is made, introduce compatible products to your customer by creating short videos to enhance your consumers’ experience with your brand.

Use the same story-telling principles for the initial sales, and shoot all videos at the same time to encourage compatible messaging and calls to action.

Consider subscription premium club offerings.

From 2004 to 2014, the time spent shopping for consumer goods dropped 12%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The trend is continuing downward, as on-demand services, such as Uber, Postmates and Amazon Prime are on the rise.  Advertisers can reclaim their place in the market by offering subscription premium club offerings that provide discounts and delivery to repeat, valued consumers. The clever marketer will make it easy for these customers to select preferred delivery timelines of your consumable products, and make your service as seamless as Amazon, offering valued products they can only get through you.  This gives your brand an edge in the marketplace.  

When you combine a response-driven commercial that allows you to tell your product story in a compelling way with a unique value proposition, you have created a personalized customer experience that will inspire loyalty.  Such a model is necessary for your company to enjoy maximum profits and to ensure much needed longevity in the marketplace. 

Consider your loyal customers.

Utilize your existing “happy and satisfied” customer base to effectively promote and “sell” your product. There is nothing like the testimony of happy customer to help move someone else from prospect to consumer. Testimonials are the ultimate 5 star review in living, breathing color.  They give third party validation to the features, benefits and effectiveness of your product. Take the time to develop a relationship with your customer, engage them in your community and let them share how your product or service has helped them.