Liz Miller

Too many DTC brands are zombies, dead companies walking, but not because "eComm is harder now" or "CPMs have increased so Meta doesn't work anymore"... It's because the underlying business economics weren't intentionally engineered in a way that allows for both hyper growth AND healthy profitability. As my DTC-focused finance and accounting firm Free to Grow CFO works with more and more DTC brands, it becomes increasingly clear that the ones who crush profitability and growth have several things in common. Here are a few: 1. They've built, and never stop building, a brand that creates true raving fans (even better - a cult following!) 2. They've engineered an AOV and/or repeat purchase frequency high enough to profitably sustain a new customer MER that is surprisingly low (like <2.0). 3. They have gross margins high enough (like 70-80%+) and fixed overhead costs low enough (like <10% of revenue) to turn a significant profit at a blended MER of +/-2.0. The intentionality behind building an incredible P&L is what Taylor Holiday was getting at when he interviewed our clients Doug Schneider and Dean Brennan from Heart & Soil alongside their Fractional CFO, my business partner, Jeff Lowenstein on the CTC Bridges Webinar last month. The point of the webinar, titled "The Beautiful P&L," is this: A beautiful P&L doesn't happen by accident. It comes from intentionally engineering your product development, marketing, staffing, operations, and finance strategies to CREATE a beautiful P&L, not hope one results as you scale ad spend. So can you still create a fast growing, highly profitable eComm business in 2024 and beyond? Absolutely! But in order to do so, you should consider my 3 points above. Of course there's a lot more to the story, but starting there will help more than you think. -- Hi, I'm Jon Blair founder of the DTC Finance and Accounting firm Free to Grow CFO. Want more tips on growing a profit-focused DTC brand? Give me a follow. Want to learn more about how Free to Grow's Accountants and CFO's can help you increase profit and cash flow as you scale? Shoot me a DM. Until next time, scale on!

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The second and, as of now, the final presidential debate is in the books. As we approach another critical election season, political campaigns must rethink how they reach voters. Thousands of voters will decide this race in 15 or so counties across a few battleground states. The key to victory? Aligning message with mindset. By aligning messages with relevant, real-time content, campaigns can engage voters in more personalized, meaningful ways—while ensuring brand suitability and maximizing reach. It was great talking with Chris Wood and MarTech, as we discuss how video-level contextual targeting in CTV empowers political campaigns to make smarter, data-driven decisions, delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time. Check out the article for more insights on how political strategies are evolving! #election2024 #adtech #programmatic #connectedtv #contextuladvertising https://lnkd.in/g8rBNnn3

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CTV ads + first-party data = your new marketing power couple 🤩 Want to learn how brands like Kroger and Nielsen are making the most of CTV? LiveRamp's CTV Activation Guide for Brands is here to help you turn viewers into buyers, one ad at a time. https://lnkd.in/gvkYGNV9

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Insane. Let’s talk about Rhode ❤️. I've never seen growth like this at this scale. ❤️ July, Rhode was #1 in skincare at $42M in US EMV. Rhode almost TRIPLED the second best brand. #2 brand = $17M EMV. ❤️ 2024, Rhode was #1 in GLOBAL skincare up 435% YoY (❗). $260M in total EMV. It is nuts 🥜. ---- Take a look at these numbers (2024 global): 📈 15.5k Creators, +188% YoY 📈 67.4k Posts, +262% 📈 176M Engagements, +462% 📈 2.8 BILLION Impressions, +356% HIGHLIGHTS ✅ FANTASTIC retention: 172% annualized retention. The same group of Influencers that talked about them last year, ~tripled their contribution this year from $67M->$181M in EMV. 35 of Rhode’s top 50 EMV-driving creators posted about the brand during the prior 12 months ✅ Rhode’s EMV breakdown during this time is evenly distributed across follower tiers: 31% by Micro, 22% Midtier, 25% Established, 22% Powerhouse **We love to see this! Brands with top-heavy EMV breakdowns don’t typically see sustained growth. ✅ ORGANIC love: Notably, only 1% of Rhode’s EMV total during this time was sponsored. It’s clear that people genuinely love this brand’s products—and love to organically post about them. --- 🔢 Top 3 Creators 2024 1️⃣ Mary Chau: $3M EMV, +59%, 123 posts 2️⃣ Caroline Granger: $1.9M EMV, +1.2k%, 148 posts 3️⃣ Matilda Djerf: $1.8M EMV, +9%, 33 posts 📸 Top Channels: 📸 Instagram: $167.6M EMV, +352% YoY 📸 TikTok: $86.4M EMV, +815%❗❗❗ 📸 YouTube: $5.1M EMV, +255% Those Tiktok numbers are insane. Both the growth and volume. --- 🏆 Notable Activation: While the brand’s Peptide Lip Treatment is a fan favorite, Rhode launched its Pocket Blush line in June, which quickly caused a frenzy online, and in the streets of NYC—where the brand hosted a “pocket-sized pop-up.” Creators and consumers rushed to get their hands on these mini blushes to do color swatches, first impressions, and wear tests. #RhodeBlush ranked among the brand’s top 10 hashtags in both June and July, driving a total $8.4M EMV across 1.7k posts from 872 creators. ---- The LA-based skincare brand founded by Hailey Bieber in 2022 is certainly on the Rhode* to world domination 😉. Nice work to everyone involved!!

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If you are an exec focused on understanding customers, this paper by Alexander Chernev and Ryan Hamilton is a great read. Most execs do not consider the role consumption plays in our own identity formation. Some choice quotes below. It is all worth a read. The commonly held belief is that consumers look to brands as tools of self expression. Either the brand tells the world something about them or reinforces something they believe about themselves. I carry an Alo tote to let people know I am athletic or use a Nalgene to show I care about the environment. The Author's research suggests that individuals have a finite desire for self expression and that consumption is only one way to satisfy that need. There are others. It is an important conversation to have, both when considering brand expression but also when designing experiences. "This unprecedented access to personally relevant self-expressive offerings and information raises the question of how this increase in the means of self-expression—both in terms of number and access—sways consumer preferences." "Brands create value for customers on two dimensions: by serving to signal the quality of the underlying offerings and creating meaningful associations that add value beyond the intrinsic product attributes." "Merely making consumers aware of the different means they already use to express their identity is likely to decrease their need to self-express in subsequent choices...[W]hen a consumer’s need for selfexpression has already been met by some brands, additional self-expressive brands are relatively less attractive." "Consumers’ need for self-expression can be satiated not only by a brand’s direct competitors but also by brands from unrelated product categories, nonbrand means of self-expression, and self-expressive behavioral acts." https://lnkd.in/gx-jYRyK

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Are you ready for today's signal-less digital landscape? Download the “Advertiser Action Plan: How to Navigate the Post-Cookie Era” eBook to: ✅ Understand how cookie deprecation will transform digital advertising ✅ Learn how to adapt your advertising strategies to build customer trust and loyalty ✅ Find out key steps to ease your transition to a cookieless world Grab your copy now: https://lnkd.in/gTfF7un8

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Have tipping screens led to consumer tipping angst? I argue that several factors are affecting consumer tipping behavior -- as well as their opinions toward tipping -- in this article by Andy Medici. What do you think? #tipping #consumerbehavior #consumerpsychology https://lnkd.in/e_JGW3Q6

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A smart move by Colgate-Palmolive. It's not that people don't want to share any of their data - they want a fair exchange of value in return (and they want to be the ones to make the decision, not the other way around). “We’re not collecting data just to have it. It’s important that there’s a reason behind everything we collect – a value proposition.” #FirstPartyData #DigitalMarketing

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What if you could get 400 regular buyers to weigh in on best practices for direct-to-consumer (DTC) subscription? Subscription products are the holy grail for consumer and DTC brands, but what do we actually do and want as buyers? As someone who runs and works with consumer brands, I wanted to get some real insights here, so I ran a survey with SurveyMonkey. Here’s what I found from 400+ responses: Finding 1: 80% of respondents subscribe to less than 3 products. Insight for brands: It’s unlikely your new brand is going to find a ton of subscription traction, so don’t build the model and assumptions around that. Finding 2: Pet food has the highest likelihood for subscription, while beauty, skincare, health and wellness supplements aren’t as high as you would think. Finding 3: Two major concerns people have when subscribing is not knowing how long a product will last them, as well as the cancellation process and terms. Insight for brands: at the point of subscription, give insight around product usage, typical duration, as well as crystal clear information on ease of cancellation. We as buyers have all experienced subscription experiences that are impossible to cancel, and that’s a hesitation we bring when evaluating any new subscription. Finding 4: 82% of buyers have subscribed, knowing full well they’ll cancel, just to get the discount. Insight for brands: heavily discounting to incentivize subscriptions may be hurting you. This data not only helps me as I build my own brands but working with teams, we now don’t have to debate how to structure these kinds of user experiences — sometimes all you have to do is ask! Success isn’t just about finding answers; it’s about being caring enough, and daring enough, to ask the right questions #DareToAsk. A ton more insights here. Check out the full survey, and let me know in the comments what questions you want to see data and findings on: https://lnkd.in/egGvRJse  #surveymonkey #ad #daretoask

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The central question of B2B Marketing should be "who should be our next 10 customers..." and everything you do should be built around the answer. Today's newsletter is Part 2 of "The Main Things That Work in Enterprise Marketing (and Cost $0)" https://lnkd.in/ekpc8DK2

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Have been having a few conversations recently and it brought back up this oldie but goodie from last year. I want to draw your attention to the fact that Amazon is letting other retailers use their in-market data segments to drive sales outside of Amazon. Said differently, Amazon Advertising is such a good media partner that they will give in-market data from Amazon (the marketplace) to drive sales for a competitive retailer. So many RMNs struggle with non-endemic and mainly because they think like a Retailer and not a Media Publisher. This certainly sets quite a precedent for RMNs moving forward on how far they want to push the Media arm vs. the Retail arm of their RMN offers. However, my biggest takeaway is that if I am a Retailer, I am SPRINTING to integrate my DTC and Amazon business. It's no longer a game of which, AMC can seamlessly integrate audiences, data sets and more, and Amazon is willing to let you take those learnings to drive sales on your own platforms. This opens up a world of specific assortment strategies, audience segmentation and custom journey mapping. Wild.

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Did you know we're empowering our Influenster community with a series of tutorials on how to create strong, engaging user-generated content based on the 3 C's? 📸 In return, our community is generating top-tier UGC, including in-depth reviews, eye-catching photos, and engaging social media posts that truly resonate—delivering unmatched results for brands and retailers. 💥 → 3x more reviews with media than network benchmarks → 2x longer reviews than industry benchmarks → 5% average social engagement from sampling participants → 3x lower rejection rate than the competition 💡 Influenster is making life easier for commerce and marketing teams to improve their ROI while streamlining content creation. Take a deep dive into how in our recent article: https://my.ugc.bz/raIGHD #bazaarvoice #ugccommunity #contentcreation

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The cookie heard across the world yesterday... Alison Weissbrot breaks it down in Campaign US what this might mean for agencies and brands, with Robert Silver of Razorfish weighing in, who "believes that the trend toward more restrictive data usage is not going to die along with Google's third-party cookie plans.  'The trend towards more restrictive data usage is not going to stop, as the consumer push and regulatory momentum behind stricter controls are going to continue," he said. "Already, we are seeing how Google provides users with opt in/out options across devices, and they may adopt messaging that demonstrates the benefits cookies can have to a consumer experience. For advertisers, more control over first-party data is still the right strategy, and in the long-term, it will enable more efficient media targeting, better personalization, better measurement and ultimately better outcomes." https://lnkd.in/gT28xikd

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A really interesting case history on #brandstrategy. ““[Liquid Death] sees itself as a media company first and a product second,” observed Young. “The company’s CEO has said in multiple interviews that you can’t ‘own’ an ingredient like canned water, but it could own a unique brand, wrapped in a compelling package, with a bold point-of-view that speaks to a niche audience.” If this can not only be theorized but also successfully executed for a product most people would see as a commodity, how much more true this statement should be for categories with higher intangible value! #brandmanagement #branding #marketingstrategy https://lnkd.in/eaB8mMmw

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I love a good Dove moment, don't you? What's important to note is that when a powerful brand takes a stand against the possible or actual negative impact of technology on reinforcing unrealistic beauty standards, we stop and pay attention. It's also important to note however that Unilever is still investing in AI technology. According to NewBeauty's Rowan Lynam, the company is "utilizing the kind of tech that can produce bespoke formulas and analyze data provided by users. We’re talking skin-care quizzes that analyze photos of your skin, or specialized shampoo based on your lifestyle and location." With OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT-4o on Monday, we now all have access to more AI for free, without the need for a subscription. Let's use it responsibly! #chatgpt #newbeauty #AI #beautyindustry #unilever #dove #esteelauder #openAI https://lnkd.in/erhWG7zK

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year for marketers — BFCM. One question I keep hearing from brands? How should they prepare to capture shoppers’ attention meaningfully during the busiest time of year. Recently, I spoke with Digital Commerce 360 to discuss how customers like @CozyEarth have turned to Attentive to improve their holiday SMS and email marketing strategies. Cozy Earth’s results since joining Attentive are quite impressive. 🛍️ More conversions and clicks after working with our teams to ensure their emails don’t end up in spam 📈 Grew sales by 25% YOYYou can read the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gYQw4bcZ What are you predictions for BFCM this year?

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Many years ago, I negotiated athlete endorsement deals to help brands sell more stuff by "borrowing equity" from their celebrity endorsers. Some worked out better than others, but successful ones always revolved around whether there was an authentic connection between the athlete and the product/service they endorsed. Fast forward to today's creator economy. My colleague Adam Stewart nailed it in his recent AdAge article: "Savvy brands are harnessing the power of authentic, creator-first marketing to engage with today’s discerning consumers...Authenticity is key, as consumers can easily spot inauthentic endorsements." There's a massive untapped opportunity to collaborate with creators who genuinely align with your brand values! Our Creative Works team (led by Abigail Posner) casts creators as talent in ads/content every day, including for the clients referenced in this article:)

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Looking to supercharge your social media strategy with advice from the pros? Join The Arboretum by Sprout Social for an exclusive panel featuring experts from Sweetgreen, Ogilvy, and a renowned social media strategist and influencer. Get insider knowledge on the latest trends and actionable tactics to elevate your brand’s performance right away!

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