Sarah Grosz

Here’s a tip for beauty brand founders: If you’re not already planning for Black Friday, you should be. 🗓️ A strong Black Friday marketing campaign doesn’t just rely on deep discounts (though those 30%–50% off offers definitely help). What really sets your brand apart is creating a special experience for your consumers. And guess what? You can start building that experience as early as spring! 🌱 Think limited-edition products that aren’t available the rest of the year, or bonus sizes—offering the same product at a larger size for the same price. Or why not add a little something extra, like exclusive merch (T-shirts, bags, etc.) that’s perfect for the season? 🎁 The key here is creativity. With so many brands vying for attention during this high-volume sales period, you’ve got to stand out. Consumers are ready to open their wallets, and now’s your time to shine. ✨ Leverage 2024 to watch how a multitude of other beauty brands engage to lay a foundation of what you can and do not want to do in 2025. Plan ahead, and let’s make your Black Friday 2025 unforgettable!

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A lil #TBT for ya... This was Sircle Media's first agency video from way back in 2014. So much has changed: 1- We used to focus pretty heavily on apparel brands, but that category was just not amazing and not for me. Fitmark cameo, Mark A. Samuel 2- Not one of the people in this video still works here, but I have so much love and respect for the time they put in and I keep an eye on their success out in the wild. Congrats on that Colombia win, Marvin Centeno! 3- Even our logo - We received a cease and desist from Mastercard, so yeah... Yet so much remains the same: 1- Brands need to keep up with the speed of social media, and it is impossible to do it internally. You need a partner who is always leaning forward and ahead on trends, rather than always being one step behind. 2- They need staffing and strategy, that is best done outsourced but priced and structured as if it were an internal hire. 3- I still LOVE what I do, despite all of the ups and downs that come with it. I am most proud of the fact that we have remained true to our mission, have not strayed or chased shiny objects, and have continued to double and triple down on our original thesis. Not always easy for a growing agency to do, but mission critical to our success! So, I ask you...would you hire us? #cpg #socialmediaagency #socialmediastrategy

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I’ve never really told you all what I actually do for a living, so here you go Pisgah Peaks Ventures builds & manages fractional marketing team for SMBs that are doing under 10-15 M ARR. The teams could be anywhere from 2 to 20+ individuals. Hiring for PT marketing roles can be a big drain on small businesses. They're unsure of who to hire, how to train, and they def don't want to manage them. This keeps costs in check (no office space here!) + avoids costly benefits / W2 wages. Perfect clients for us? B2B companies with 1-2 internal marketing team members Dispensaries with 2-5 locations. Soloprenuers who are scaling from 6 > 7 figures. A few years ago we started investing into other small businesses & at this point have equity in a handful of other SMBs. The goal? By 45; be able to live off the proceeds of our portfolio and golf 4X a week. To my network.... Tell us What do you do? Why do you do it? Post in the comments!

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I want to talk with TikTok Shop operators/experts who have scaled brands on the channel. What’s the most successful TikTok shop launch? Who did it? What were the secrets? Know someone? Tag em below 👇

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Great DTC behind the scenes and the reality of how to run a successful business. It’s not all glitz and glamour you see externally, a LOT of hard work and clever people who get on with each other for a common goal is what it takes to succeed. TAKE NOTES 📝

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TikTok Shop Has 500,000 US Sellers!! With this astounding number of sellers in the US alone just 8 months after launching TikTok Shop here, they are crushing it in the e-commerce world. 📈 And that's not even counting the 15 million+ global sellers on the platform, with major hubs like Indonesia. TikTok has rapidly become an e-commerce juggernaut. 💸 Of course, with such explosive growth, there are bound to be some growing pains. TikTok had to crack down hard on fraud and policy violations in the latter half of 2023 - deactivating over 1 million sketchy seller accounts and removing 37 million shady product listings. 🚫 The $400 million they invested in safety and security measures shows they're taking this seriously as a legit shopping platform and the numbers speak for themselves. ❤️ #TikTok #socialmedia #creatoreconomy

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The Power of Fair Compensation with TikTok Shop Affiliates When it comes to working with affiliates and influencers, fair compensation is everything. You can still run paid influencer partnerships and campaigns, but with TikTok Shop’s integration, commission-based relationships are a game changer! Why? TikTok automatically calculates, tracks, and pays out commissions for you. It’s seamless and SO easy—seriously, why wouldn’t you do it? When setting commission rates, people often recommend 5-10%, but a sweet spot to get started is 30%. It’s eye-catching, and influencers will be eager to jump in and work with you. Plus, with this model, the more influencers post and engage, the more they earn. The best part? You can easily track everything. See who your top sellers are and who’s driving sales, and then focus more energy on those creators who are crushing it! It’s a win-win for brands and affiliates alike. 🌟 #AffiliateMarketing #TikTokShop #InfluencerMarketing #Ecommerce #MarketingTips #FairCompensation Trndsttrs TikTok 😃

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The forecasts you’re creating won’t scale your DTC brand to the new heights you think they will… Without the right actions to follow them up. Too often I see DTC brands  👉 Create forecasts of their desired future state,  👉 Distribute it across the management team,  👉 Then sit back and assume the numbers are just going to "happen."      A forecast is a planning tool that gives managers visibility into the ACTIONS their team must take to create the forecast.    Forecasts become reality in one of two ways  1️⃣ Luck - I don't recommend building a business upon this method  2️⃣ PEOPLE planning and executing activities that drive and create the numbers contained within the forecast.    DTC brand founders, my call to action for you is this -    The next time you create a forecast, sit down with your management team and make a list of the activities that PEOPLE in your company will take to CREATE the forecast in reality.    This simple framework will propel your brand's scale forward like never before. -- Did you find this post helpful? If so, consider resharing it and giving me Jon Blair a follow.

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If you're considering doing business influencer marketing. It's really important that you understand LinkedIn is still Social Media. I continually see both influencers and brands break the advertising rules set by Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). You must disclose it's a brand partnership, you can either do this by following the gif below or writing #ad. The other option is listing that you are a "brand partner" or something similar working at the company. Many brands prefer this because it allows them to use that business influencers content as a thought leadership ad. We monitor this at Flooencer as part of this so all our customers remain compliant. You can bet that someone will push it too far and cause larger scale BIM programs to get audited. A side note on this topic, I saw a few people giving some influencers flack for promoting a brand (I won't name names). If they'd disclosed this partnership to their audience, I believe no one would've batted an eyelid. Make sure you are honest with your audience, or, if you're the brand, that you're honest with potential buyers.

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How are DTC Brands leveraging Influencer Marketing and Creators for BFCM? In the traditional sense of creator collaboration and influencer marketing, it would be an outdated strategy to scale for Black Friday Cyber Monday. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it won't work--it's just extremely expensive. So what are some ways we're seeing creator collaborations or influencer marketing for DTC? 1. Long-Term Organic Content Creation - Creators and brands are looking for ways to collaborate on the social media side. We've seen deals of creators doing X amount of videos per month on a retainer bases. This is great on both ends as brands can quantify the number of content deliverables each month for certain creators and can adjust accordingly. Creators love this because there's a long term agreement on work and compensation. It's really a win-win and should be utilized more. 2. Product Seeding - This is more of a numbers game. It's like throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. Sometimes, influencers will post, but sometimes they won't. You're really just crossing your fingers at this point. Believe it or not, this is more of a risk because you have to consider COGs and shipping costs. You do need only one winner to hit, but it's important to understand that this really is just a numbers game. It CAN work, but may take a while. 3. Live Events/Activations - Throwing a live event and inviting creators/influencers in your industry can be a great move. However, it is entirely dependent on how you curate content during that event. Note that hosting events takes a lot of work and money, so the only way you can make the best use of it is to curate good content during the event to be repurposed for ads, website, social media, etc. 4. Creative Collaboration - One way to save on cost is IF your brand is great at putting together effective creative briefs. If your brand is able to write awesome ad scripts and execute on those briefs, it opens the doors for you to collaborate with who you want. You're essentially giving them the exact blueprint on what to do. It's lower on cost and 90% of the success of the campaign falls on you. If your brand has this capability, I would highly suggest this option. Overall, there's definitely a shift in how collaborations are happening between DTC and the Creator Economy. I think that unique and creative partnerships are going to make a huge splash... Super excited about that. Anything I've missed? Comment below!

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Who wants to join me at The Q4 Ecommerce Summit? If you’re in DTC or marketing, this is the event you don’t want to miss. My friends are hosting the ultimate Q4 Summit on September 26th in NYC, and they’re letting me bring a guest on the VIP list! Why should you attend? - Learn from 25+ experts in DTC and marketing - Take home actionable insights for BFCM - Network and recharge with peers before Q4 - Access exclusive tools and resources early This is by far the biggest event of the year. Harley from Shopify is headlining, and the rest of the speaker lineup is going to blow your mind. We’re talking about 500 brands and marketers, all in one place. Who’s interested in joining me? Drop a comment below, and I’ll pick one person to bring along as my VIP guest. Let’s crush Q4 together!

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Why did Stitch partner with Talon.One? Three main reasons... 1️⃣ In working with Braze customers, we've seen an incredible amount of pain with their existing loyalty platforms (looking at you, Punchh & CrowdTwist, Inc.). 2️⃣ The platform is 👌. The response time and the ability to customize workflows is elite. 3️⃣ The combination of Braze + Talon.One is a marketer's dream. Scale, capability and efficiency bridging marketing & loyalty together.

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Last week, a founder asked me why their Meta ads weren't converting despite "good enough" creative. After testing thousands of video ads at Obvi and working with brands across DTC, I've noticed a pattern… Most brands confuse "good enough" creative with actually effective creative. Here are 3 game-changing video editing techniques we use at Obvi to drive real results... 1. The Green Screen Effect But not how you think. We use it to create instant context by filming over actual product pages and demos. Result? 32% higher watch time and significantly better conversion rates. 2. Strategic B-Roll Implementation We shoot every product from at least 5 angles: - Top-down for detail - Wide for context - Close-up for texture - Usage shots - Lifestyle integration This variety keeps viewers engaged through the entire message. 3. The Double-Person Effect This is our secret weapon for hooks. By filming the same person in two positions within one frame, we create natural dialogue that stops the scroll. The results? - 2X higher engagement - 47% lower CPMs - Significantly better ROAS Here's the truth: In 2024, basic product videos won't cut it anymore. These are the cuts (get it?) that have been working for us 👆, but you should be testing and analyzing everything to find what works for you. The brands winning on Meta are the ones treating their ad creative like a science, not an afterthought 🔬

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DTC brands: Fed up with overspending on Email?👇 That's the hottest topic on most people's lips nowadays. I know Jordan West moved over to Sendlane for this exact reason. I also know that Yotpo is hitting hard on the cost savings you can get when migrating over to their platform. Heck, even Intuit Mailchimp is beating that drum. And for good reason... Here is me doing some calculations using Yotpo's email ROI calculator to determine if we are overspending on emails.

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Do NOT turn off your Black Friday discounts. Here’s $1.2 million as proof not to do it. I’m seeing so many brands ramp down spend and promotions now that BFCM is over. This is a mistake in 2024: → Consumers are saving discretionary spend for discounts due to market conditions. → You're hurting your media buying efficiency. → You're affecting both short-term AND long-term sales. Shoutout to Noah King for the post idea—his data corroborates what I’ve been seeing.

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MEDIA FACT: More people are watching Olympics than in the previous years. Live TV still has it space. INSPIRATION: I must say as a marketer interested on brands It is so refreshing to see… Left & Right Old & New Blue & Red Black & White Men & Women And everyone else in between united by the Olympics and cheering for their countries. Fundamentally, we have more that unites us than divides us. We have many more similarities than differences. We are 99% the same, but we start in different contexts and are benefited by luck in very personal ways. We need more bridge moments like this where we unite and stand as one. We need more brands that are bridge-makers. The alorythim has segregated us too much. It is not about sugar-coating or hiding the truth in favor of "being nice". We must debate and speak our beliefs. But first and foremost, we must respect each other. Be kind. And create bridges. What is your bigger role in marketing ?

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Black Friday sale went well, I decided to re open it up until tomorrow (ends dec 3rd @ 10am est). We have 6 more spots left at $997 before the price goes up to $2,997 to join Media Buying Pro. This program is for two specific people: 1. You are a Facebook ads buyer for a company/clients and want to become full stack to increase profitability / ROAS to charge more and get better results 2. You’re an offer owner who can’t afford an actual good agency/media buyer and want to learn to profitably scale ads yourself, but can’t seem to find a course that’s up to date and has great, ongoing support If this doesn’t sound like you, then you can skip this post. But if this does interest you… Comment and I’ll send you the full details.

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Unpopular opinion: Creators want more than PR boxes & gifting. Have you experienced the same? I sat down with Melissa Daniels from Modern Retail to share my insights on how the industry has changed and how strategies that worked a few years ago no longer do today. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eU_3RCYM #influencermarketing #retail #retailmarketing #modernretail

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