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#65 The Least Boring Weekly Newsletter
Good Morning readers!🌞
Hope your week is going great!🥳
Snapchat 👻 introduces live location sharing. Sharing your location with a friend just once can make it easier to find each other and meet up, and Snapchat has done so for a few years.📍 (Ukraine and Russia can probably use this as well to track each other down😂)
However, being able to broadcast your whereabouts in real-time means having a second set of eyes 👀 on you if you're out late at night at a strange party or in any other perilous circumstance away from home. (Nothing comes with just Pro's🤷♀️)
The "live location" feature is turned off by default, however, it can be turned on for a specified amount of time, ranging from fifteen minutes to several hours. ⌛ Users will only be allowed to share their location with friends on the platform, and both friends must opt into the live location sharing feature to take advantage of it.👫
Almund's newsletter will let you in on all kinds of tips for D2C brands and much much more.
Alright, so let's get right to it!
This newsletter is going to dive into :
🌏 Cultural Trends That Will Shape 2022 And Beyond
👌 How To Win Back Lost Leads
🙎 BRAND of the week - Barcode
📜 Top reads for this week
👩🏻💼 Plenty of jobs awaiting you!
So, scroll down already to THE VERY END & read up on what's yet to come your way!
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WHAT’S COOKING, HUH?
In the year 2020, the pandemic was a huge surprise. It still serves as a backdrop to everyday life after more than two years. Hundreds of millions of people all around the world have changed their daily schedules to accommodate this new reality(Yes, true). The human capacity for adaptation is simply amazing. The coming decade will be shaped by these cultural trends.
🔙 Getting back to the basics
Uncertainty has sparked a renewed desire to be rooted in tradition and a profound longing for the good old days. As seen by Generation Z's interest in Y2K fashion, 90s comedies, and even wired headphones.🎧
For multinational brands, the return to local customs and values is a huge problem. Since the pandemic has made us shift to everything online. They must figure out how to stay culturally relevant in a variety of markets, each with its own set of requirements and values while preserving global consistency.🌎
💻 Jurisdiction over the metaverse
Our relationship with the physical environment has shifted as a result of the pandemic. People have been forced to spend more time online as a result of the lockdown limitations. ( we're probably talking to our friends over video calls and voice calls) 📞 There is currently no social compact that governs the metaverse.
Brands and people are no longer bound by physical constraints, giving D2C brands the creative flexibility to create whatever narrative or identity they want. And a better space for people on the internet. 💻
Even though Web 3.0 is being heralded as a new era of decentralization, huge IT firms are competing for dominance.🕸
The virtual world is being fought over by major players such as Meta (previously known as Facebook), Microsoft, Epic Games, and Apple. If they succeed, they will not only control market share, but also the market itself. Will the old laws govern the metaverse? Or will big tech make its own set of rules? 📄 💭
➗ Diversity's divisions
Gen-Z has grown to be the world's largest generation and the most racially and ethnically diverse in American history. This generation, according to Pew, is not only varied but also inclusive. It isn't about being labeled or categorized. It's all about self-love, self-expression, and self-identity. 🤗
Baby Boomers 👶 and Generation X control the majority of wealth and hold leadership positions in the majority of businesses.
The generational split puts businesses on a dangerous tightrope. Brands must take a stand; they can no longer be neutral. Young people want to know how brands feel about the issues that are important to them. ( Feeling a connect with the brands) 🔁
💰 Investing with integrity
Young people have been consuming based on ideals for the past decade. They are now making investments based on values. This new generation of investors is investing in socially responsible businesses and selling equities when they believe a company is not acting in the best interests of people and the environment.
🔞 Young customers are now exerting pressure on businesses to reform and become part of the solution by utilizing their voices and dollars.💵 For legacy brands that must self-disrupt and make short-term sacrifices for long-term rewards, this is a challenging step. Consumers, on the other hand, will just choose their competitors if they don't.✋ Circularity and sustainability will become a corporate need.
This is the time for D2C to take this opportunity and create the best of it. 💯
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How You Can Win Back Lost Leads
What hurts more than heartbreak for a DTC brand? Losing leads.
Nothing hurts more than losing a lead when you can feel them right at the end of your sales funnel right when they're about to hit that CTA to take a step closer to being an active customer. While at times, losing leads isn't due to any problems with your strategy, most of the time, you can chalk it up to your plan.
With a few tweaks in your lead generation strategy, you can ensure you don't miss out on any potential loyal customers! But to do so, you gotta find out the root of all problems. Perhaps, this list of common bad practices by DTC brands can help you figure it out.
😰 Asking For Too Much Info
Imagine getting to a landing page that requests your information, but a little too much of your information. That’s such a turnoff!
If your lead capture forms aren’t optimized you’re going to lose your leads even before they convert into your first-time customers. Don’t create an unnecessarily long form asking for details you know you’ll never use. Keep the form short and simple that requires very little time to be invested, consisting of only a few fields. To make things easier for your customers, add in drop-down lists, auto-fill fields, etc. to help your customers get through the form faster.
❌ Making False Promises
If your third-party banner and offer on the landing page don’t match, you’re going to be in some serious trouble.
When your visitor clicks on an online banner or ad, they intend to learn more about your business, what it has to offer, and the lead magnet you highlighted. If you reel in website visitors with false promises, it may lead to them being suspicious of the brand’s products and services and having an overall bad experience, leading to a tarnished reputation for your business.
To side-step these problems, avoid overselling your offerings and ensure what you put forth on the landing page is the same as what’s offered on the ads you’re running across platforms. Make no mistake in giving the visitors a uniform experience across the website.
🤔 Giving Confusing Offers
Lead generation campaigns always bring the leads to a landing page. These are designed to pique the visitors’ interest in your DTC business with a lead magnet, brand expertise, and mission and vision of the products/services you have to offer.
All this has to be a comprehensive experience for a website visitor, after all, they’re visiting your website for the first time! So you must ensure that your landing page is hyper-focused to just one lead magnet—it could be a free trial, a voucher, a free course, etc. With just one clear CTA, you must encourage your visitors to take action to avoid any confusion.
🤷🏻♀️ No Lead Nurturing Strategy
Often people forget that a lead generation sales funnel isn’t simply a 3-step process. It requires time and effort into nurturing a lead to convert it into a loyal customer. If your DTC brand’s marketing and sales team is giving up on hot leads before they make up their minds to buy from you, you’re losing on some serious revenue.
It takes several rounds of reaching out to the leads until they decide to give in and buy from your DTC business. After all, not every lead has the freedom to make purchase decisions on their own; often people consult, research, and/or seek permission. So, giving up after the first mail or targeted ad wouldn’t be appropriate.
To avoid this, set a limit to the number of touchpoints per prospect to set a system in place. Create personalized emails for each lead and target ads to convert them into loyal customers over the spam of the lead nurturing campaign.
😒 Going Overboard
On the flip side, often brands send across too many emails and push notifications causing the lead to get frustrated even before they try out your products or services.
Once a DTC brand’s marketing and sales team receive a lead’s email address, they should avoid spamming them with emails loaded with offers and information about the brand to ensure they don’t overwhelm the lead into unsubscribing.
Limit the frequency of emails you send to the lead and share an appropriate amount of information with each mail to avoid oversharing.
It's these tiny (but important) details that often lead to a fallout with your leads, causing you to lose on potential customers for your DTC business.
So now that you know of the practices that lead to losing leads, we’ve got some good news and bad news for you. Bad news first—you’ve probably lost some leads. But the good news is that we can help you win them back!
Here’s a list of our favorite re-engagement strategies that you can integrate into your customer acquisition cycle to practice starting today!
Strategy #1: Survey Those Who You’ve Lost
Leads you lost, were lost forever. No team sits down to evaluate why they lost a certain number of ‘almost-customers’. But surveying them can indeed give you a lot of answers. Understanding visitor behavior and learning more about why they didn’t convert can help you strengthen your engagement process to provide the users with a better overall brand experience when they first visit.
To do an effective survey, make sure to not overwhelm or frustrate your users. Request for short and simple embedded surveys to know if they’re still interested and the reason if they aren’t. You could perhaps retarget them through a hyper-focused lead nurturing campaign based on their reply.
Strategy #2: Hit Them Up Again
What do you do if you’ve lost touch with a close friend and wish to rekindle the friendship? You hit them up! The same goes for your customers.
If they haven’t unsubscribed to your emails or push notifications, try reaching out to them again in a different way. If your usual mode of communication are push notifications through your app, consider sending them an email or a newsletter with recent brand-related updates. Reconnecting in a different mode would be a great fresh start and would prompt your customers to be more reciprocating.
Strategy #3: Share Content That Would Interest Them
In the time you’ve lost contact with the lead, their needs and requirements might’ve changed. Sharing relevant content can thus, help pique their interest in your DTC business which can prompt them to take actionable decisions. By sharing content related to their pain points, you could perhaps solve their issues and benefit them in the process of re-engagement. This can be a great trigger event, causing them to convert into a loyal customer.
Bonus Tip: Offer long-form services to help solve your leads’ problems such as free webinars, focus groups on open-source platforms, or an invitation to a relevant community on social media channels.
Strategy #4: Offer New Lead Magnets
By now, you must have understood that your leads have moved on (but not all is lost!). The old lead magnets would definitely not work on them.
Try offering them alternate incentives that can help them look at your brand in a new light. You could curate a lead magnet to target their problems to get their attention.
Strategy #5: Just Announce Something
In case of a recent press release, a new ebook, a new campaign, or perhaps, a new product/service, you can reach out to your leads with an update. Announcing something can be a great icebreaker and might help catch their attention.
Strategy #6: Be Honest And Open
Sometimes, it’s best to just be honest. Address the loss of contact with your lead as the opening statement and reel them in with an incentive. Consider being open about wanting to know more about them to help begin their user journey with your DTC business, this time, a little better.
Being open and honest about wanting to make it about them can be a great way to capture attention and make them feel important enough to your business.
Patching together a messy relationship is difficult, we get it. But it isn’t impossible. With a mindful approach, you can rekindle the spark you had with your long-lost lead to convert it into a relationship that lasts forever.
Good luck re-engaging!
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BRAND OF THE WEEK is…
Erewhon Market Backed Barcode Raises $2.2 Million As Deal Flow In Functional Beverages Picks Up Steam💲
Barcode, founded by Mubarak Malik, believes that outstanding performances are achieved through day-day actions and true health means being both body and mind sounds. 🔊
They're establishing a dynamic community of game-changers, culture-makers, and everyday performers who are collaborating to define the future of whole-body wellness. ( it's all about fitness💪 )
Their functional beverages for everyday performances were developed with the philosophy in mind. Barcode works with your natural system to keep your entire self at full potential. It is completely plant-based and powered by adaptogens.🌱
According to Mubarak Malik, founder, and CEO of Barcode, the investment will assist the firm to accelerate its existing double-digit yearly growth momentum through product innovation and marketing, as well as further extend its position in the US natural channel💪
Barcode's current round of funding comes as investor interest in the fast-growing functional drinks category grows, as Gatorade retains the market leader with over 70% market dominance.👭
You're mistaken if you believe you won't be able to enjoy this. Barcodes are made by specialists, tested by professionals, and designed to be enjoyed by everyone daily. ( Enjoy yourself a drink🍻 )
But Barcode promises to remain in the ready-to-drink arena. “I want Barcode to be an iconic brand,” said Malik, “one that was born in NBA with athletes, and takes over the natural channel, where a hybrid of sports drink and premium hydration was never available.”🏃
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TOP READS FOR THIS WEEK
➖ Walmart to carry new Gen Z-focused Bonobos line
👤 Blueland raises $20M as it pushes into personal care
🏠 Havenly acquires home furnishing company The Inside
🥦 Sanzo Raises $10M Series A Financing Round to Catapult Cultural Representation in Grocery
👟Allbirds launches resale program for used footwear.
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In need of a job? We’ve got plenty awaiting you!
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CHOOSE SUCCESS below and have a great week! ‘Get that D2C business runnin’.
