WORKWEEK

Happy Sunday!

I hope you had an awesome week thus far — the Warriors won!! I got a lot of people asking if today’s email was still going out because it’s Father’s Day (Happy Father’s Day!!), and yes it is, but I’ll keep it shorter than normal. I hope you feel relaxed, you’ve got your feet kicked up, and you’re excited to talk about some out-of-the-box ideas that I’ve been sharing with clients. Also, if you find any value in today’s newsletter, please do share your special referral URL below. I never want to charge you for the content, and a new subscriber helps me stay away from having to ever do that!

Just copy and share your link here: So last weekend I hinted at today’s topic — out of home (OOH). But I realize there is so much within OOH to talk about, so instead, I wanted to focus on a few things that I would consider to be out of the box, with OOH being one of them.

If you’re reading this newsletter, there’s a great chance that you’re involved in eCommerce, but it doesn’t mean we necessarily have to stay digital the entire time… there’s nothing wrong with taking a little bite of traditional marketing here and there.

Okay so today, I want to cover a few quick things I think any brand can do, relatively cheap, and with efficient spending/performance in mind.

– Performance-driven OOH

– Partnerships with publishers (not really publishers though) and brands

– Direct mail

Performance-Driven OOH

Chances are when you think of OOH, you think it’s the brand marketing team’s playground to put something up that most people wouldn’t care to look at. I mean, when was the last time that you remember seeing a billboard and then doing something about it? However!! Turns out, as digital ad space is getting more crowded, OOH advertising has been performing better and better.

One of my favorite people in our industry, Brian Rappaport of QUAN Media Group, sent out an email to his insiders (don’t worry, I’m urging him to get a sign-up list going and I will share that link with you once he has it), where he shared the impact of OOH. Here’s what it said:

OOH generated activations of between 18 percent and 41 percent among consumers who had viewed OOH ads within the past six months. OOH ads prompted the consumers to take action at these rates:

– 41% used a search engine

– 33% searched social media

– 33% visited a website

– 30% searched for video

– 21% posted on social media

– 20% made an online purchase

– 19% downloaded an app

– 18% posted a video

This data is from OAAA (OOH Advertising Association of America) and Comscore research.

That’s insane. What’s not included here is exactly what levels of spending were correlated to making these actions happen. For example, was it a Times Square takeover, or a 15 billboard campaign? Not 100% sure, but those sound expensive. That said, we know OOH is great for a few reasons:

– It can drive amazing awareness, especially with great creative.

– Perception-wise, it makes the brand feel a lot bigger and builds trust with consumers.

– When selling into or launching in wholesale accounts, OOH is something retail accounts LOVE to see.

– They seem to work, according to the data above!

So how are we activating this with our clients in a way where it’s performance-driven, and it’s trackable? We have been working with a company called Adgile, where we can put billboards on the sides of trucks, capture mobile device IDs of people on the ground level who are in viewing range of the truck, and then retarget them on channels like Instagram, TikTok, or through programmatic banner ads.

It sounds illegal, I know. Collecting mobile device IDs and then uploading that audience into Facebook? I know. But it works. With a high-ish AOV brand of ours ($85), where they normally have a $60-$70 CPA, we saw a $14 retargeting CPA, in addition to the spend of the trucks.

Depending on which city you’re in, you need a good amount of trucks to go live. In NY, that’s about 5 trucks. In LA, it’s about 7. These trucks are already running their normal truck routes… Adgile just found a way to monetize the blank truck and it works wonders.

Take this one step further and direct your billboard traffic to a HOOX landing page — we’ve seen the best conversion that way!

BTW, if you share your referral link on Twitter or social media today, I’m going to give away a 3-month campaign on the side of a truck. I’ll pay for it myself and you’ll get a truck in a major city. Win-win!Partnerships with Publishers and Brands

The reason it’s “kinda” publishers, is because the one I had in mind was SoulCycle. First of all, if you’re a front-row SoulCycle “woo” girl, let me know so we can ride together one day.

It’s kinda a publisher because they have a huge cult audience of repeat riders who trust them with their recommendations.

Getting a partnership with SoulCycle, or other gyms, stores, boutiques, restaurants, or honestly anywhere there’s an audience that comes for a recommendation is tough, but it’s so worth it. SoulCycle comes to mind because I rode the Evolution of Justin Bieber this morning (don’t judge).

After a ride, when you come out, they have Hydrant stick packets available to replenish with electrolytes, for free, and in the bathroom, they have Curie spray deodorant. Now, both are available to use for free, but the alignment and perception from being in the SoulCycle world is huge!

Another relevant example is when Hydrant created a branded packet to be distributed inside Y7 yoga studios.

You can attribute sales back to the discovery/awareness by either having a specific coupon code available at the point of discovery, a specific URL, or by using a post-purchase survey.

Outside of reaching more people, right in your demo, here are a few things you get:

– Your products are put in a place where their use case is highlighted and necessary (deodorant and electrolytes are exactly what you need!)

– You get the stamp of approval. If SoulCycle carries your product, they are saying that your product fits their ethos, mission, values, etc. It’s like having a Whole30-Approved sticker or a Leaping Bunny Certification on your product packaging.

– You are put in front of a very expensive-to-target group of people. Think about trying to find everyone who is paying $38 for a workout class… those would be some insanely high CPMs.

– It’s a social-proof moment for you in other places. When a wholesale buyer is on the fence, you’re building a Wholesale page on Faire, or you are even pitching for other partnerships, you have something as social proof.

Similarly, partnering with brands is just as useful and can be executed in a few fun ways:

– Put post-cards in each other’s shipper boxes that go to customers (Hello Fresh has made an entire business out of this)

– Lookalike audience swaps through Disco Network (digital-only, and doesn’t require any hard costs)

– Co-branded product launch (this can be as intense as the Swoon x Chamberlain Coffee ready-to-drink beverage, or as simple as the JUDY for your Booty kit).

– Co-branded giveaway on Instagram to each others’ followers.

– A co-branded acquisition page (a landing page where you sell SkinPharm, Hydrant, and SolaWave together, and split the CPA three ways).

All these ways work, and they’re fun to execute. If you haven’t done any, I highly recommend doing them. While you might think a “bigger brand” isn’t open to it, you’ll realize that most brand managers are open to collaborations and creating excitement for their customers.

Direct Mail

For the longest time, I never cared for direct mail. Even when brands like Harry’s, Ritual, AWAY, and others would run direct mail campaigns, I would think, “Damn, why? I would just throw it away!”

However, it feels like now, people are a lot more careful with going through the mail they get — something changed with the type of mail we started getting when COVID happened and we don’t want to miss important documents, checks, etc. So, we started looking into a few direct mail partners and found one that basically acts as Klaviyo, but for the offline world.

We found a vendor called PostPilot which basically is the Klaviyo for direct mail. You can set up flows (post-purchase, re-engagement, subscriber “thank you”, abandon cart, etc.) and turn them on. One other great use case is being able to just send a piece of direct mail to your past customers who haven’t bought in a while, maybe 60 days.

The ROI that comes back from direct mail has been astonishing, and because you have the addresses already, the cost of sending postcards is cheap.

If you have a database of addresses, I highly recommend running a test campaign to see what happens.

Similarly with a truck-side billboard, if you share your referral link on social media, I will pay for 3 brands to get a free direct-mail campaign (normally $5k, but I’ll cover it).And if you want a direct mail campaign on the house, buy a HOOX landing page, and we will cover the cost of a direct mail campaign AND build you a landing page you can use for paid social, direct mail, and anywhere else you’d like!

Alright, I told you, short and sweet today. On to some fun stuff…

Vendor of the Week:

Tapcart — The “I’m Indian but I can’t code” friendly software to build a mobile app for your Shopify store

Okay, you’re probably thinking, “Jeez, this guy promotes Tapcart a lot” and you’re not wrong, I do. But, that’s because they are one of the few software companies we work with that truly deliver the value they promise.

By next week, pending final client approval, I’ll share a link to an app we made in just a few hours for a client of ours. With Tapcart, it’s super easy to integrate with your subscription, reviews, analytics, email, and SMS apps as well.

Alright, so why do I really love Tapcart (and wish I could’ve invested on the ground floor)?

– 92% of users engage with your store’s push notification (I’m sure in 10 years we’ll wish we all took advantage of this).

– It is insanely easy to set up and get an app in the Apple App Store and Google Play store. On average, it takes a merchant 2 weeks from start to finish.

– 2-3x lift in session frequency from your customers

– 40% lift in conversion rate in the app vs the website

– You get unlimited push notifications, instant page loading, one-click checkout (it’s not “Fast” but it’s quick 😉), and you get real estate on someone’s mobile device!

Click here to get a demo of Tapcart, and build a mobile app on the house. If you aren’t happy with it, you can always scrap it, but why not try it out?

Sign up for a demo here.

Jobs of the Week:

• Balls — Growth Marketing Lead
• ABCK Corp — Design and Content Specialist
• GoPro — Senior Business Program Manager, DTC

Question of the Week:

What was a lesson that your dad taught you, that has stuck with you ever since?

Brand of the Week:

Joggy — a new CBD brand from Ty Haney, the founder of Outdoor Voices

This past week I got the opportunity to chat with Ty Haney and hear what she’s up to with TYB. One of the consumer brands she launched alongside it, to be the first brand on TYB, is Joggy!

The visual identity looks amazing, very Web3 friendly, and it’s got a solution-oriented lineup of products for people who are effectively just like her — active people who want better solutions than RedBull for energy, pharmacy-store balm for sore spots, and lavender tea to feel calm.

I ordered some of the Re-Chargies gummies and Runner’s High. I’ll let you know how I like it. You can check out the brand here!