The Weekly Sharpener #68

A simple thesis: a product, a price, and some humor.

Author

Chase Mohseni
June 1st, 2022

👋 Hey fam!

This Wednesday round-up is filled with slew of helpful marketing resources:

You'll get some amazing details on how to build an anti-fragile bootstrapped brand in our Podcast Add Creative with the co-founders of the Perfect Jean.

A POV on why your facebook ads might not be working and how you can fix it. A look into how the battle for live creators loyalty has begun and multiple frameworks on how to ensure all ad dollars are profitable from the folks at Common Thread Collective.

Thanks again for joining us, we deeply appreciate you sharing a little time with us.

Cheers,

Chase

🎙Add Creative

Episode 4 - A simple thesis: a product, a price, and some humor.

Listen to this episode from Add Creative on Spotify. In today’s conversation, Ovadia & Zack share their perspective on how to grow a profitable business that can weather economic hardship. How involving customers and their feedback in the process can help you develop new products and how a simple thesis, and delivering on that time and again is a BIG IDEA. This is a good one! Join 4300+ e-commerce marketers + operators who receive creative breakdowns, data, expert insights, and opinions from the world of DTC Marketing, straight to their inbox, you can sign up right here. You can learn more about The Perfect Jean @ https://www.theperfectjean.nycYou can email us questions directly at chase@trypencil or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/PencilAI and twitter.com/crmohseni

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7GuThjD4whJ6G8dtfZ4gdw?si=CB6HGqmARDSzbBw2wQVV6Q

Grab the 🍏 podcast version here. 

Content that matters 🐐

TikTok takes page from Twitch as battle for creators intensifies

A Live Subscription feature promises predictable monthly income, which could appeal to a creator base that’s felt the double-edged sword of overnight virality.

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/tiktok-livestreaming-subscriptions-twitch-creators/624459/

Why it matters: TikTok wants to own the creator space, this is another play to be the pre-eminent platform where creators make capital.

They have been battling IG for a while now but this shows the importance for all marketers that live streaming will have in the future of commerce, not just gaming.

Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER) & Ecommerce: How to Hold Every Ad Dollar Accountable for Profit

How do you hold every ad dollar accountable for profit? In ecommerce, you use MER and aMER. Grab the Marginal ROAS calculator to find yours.

https://commonthreadco.com/blogs/coachs-corner/marketing-efficiency-ratio-mer-ecommerce-rating

Why it matters: There are plenty of metrics flying around these days. The Common Thread team delivers some real magic here as usual for recalibrating how you look at your business holistically.

There are tactical ways to apply their concepts across this entire article but it's a perfect companion piece to this week's podcast. In light of the current state of the business, there's never been a better time to re-examine how you are looking at things.

Meta Tests New Avatar Reactions in Instagram Stories

The next stage of digital connection will be conducted via avatar depictions, which Meta's looking to accelerate.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-tests-new-avatar-reactions-in-instagram-stories/624585

Why it matters: Meta is looking for new ways to integrate the metaverse + more modern, Gen Z technology into their products. This will make the visual more mainstream and eventually lead to commerce being done on VR headsets with your avatar. Smart move by them to get us comfortable with the visual to begin with.

Carl's CRO Tips 🙌

Offer Free Shipping 36% of users will only buy when shipping is free how to not lose profit margin: add the shipping price on top of your product price.

For more 🔥 follow Carl Weische from Accelerated.

Thread of the Week 🧵

Why it matters: Alex dives into what could be ailing your ads and how you can action them. Each brand has a specific use case and this thread might give you insight into what hasn't been working for your brand thus far.

Our favorite part deals with Current addressable market vs. Total addressable market and what that means for today and your future using Facebook ads as a growth lever.

ICYMI 🔎

Paid Ad Diagnostic for when you're Ads are not converting sales

https://www.trypencil.com/post/paid-ad-diagnostic-when-your-not-converting-sales

20+ best ad creative tools compared (2022)

We've listed 20+ of the best ad creative tools on the market that you can consider, to improve your ad results in 2022.

https://www.trypencil.com/post/20-best-ad-creative-tools-compared-2022

Finding your Ideal Customer will drive performance

ICP = NORTH 🌟 without it you can't deliver creative that cuts through or drives performance.The first question you should answer is: who is your ICP or IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE?

https://www.trypencil.com/post/finding-your-ideal-customer-will-drive-performance

Join the ✏️ community

Sign up to learn and meet 100+ other great founders & operators across DTC.

What we're listening to 👂

The Sport of Business | 5.2.22 | Jake Kassan

Listen to this episode from The Sport of Business on Spotify. Jake Kassan is the Founder and former CEO of MVMT. He is widely considered one of the pioneers of DTC e-commerce, and had a historic nine-figure exit in 2018. In this Episode, Jake and Steven discuss the trials of building a startup in the fashion/apparel space. Their relationship spans all the way back to their college days, where the two entrepreneurs first met. Conversations in this podcast cover leadership, investing, and business development.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1sdPmvx9gWwWSnBEiWup7p?si=MEm14SDoSsaaQPtacBPK9A

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See you next Wednesday!

Chase