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- The Weekly Sharpener #83
The Weekly Sharpener #83
Build system that get out of your customers way
Chase Mohseni
August 9th, 2022
👋 Hey fam!
Let's run it back with another Tuesday roundup that I'm excited to share with you.
Please get some Vitamin D in your life - just saying!
Zach Murray and I discuss product strategy and what it takes to build things on this episode of Add Creative.
We uncover his strategy for designing/building products and what he believes creative people need to do their best work. You'll learn a lot on this one!
We also dig into why pulling back marketing spend feels logical but might have adverse effects on your business growth long term.
And learn about how Traffic sources are not all made the same and why you need to test everything!
We are grateful for the space in your inbox and for you sharing some of your valuable time with us. 🙏
Cheers,
Chase
Pencil - Creative AI
Pencil allows you to scale your creative testing on paid ads by automating the creative production process. All you need are your assets, branding, and performance data then in minutes you'll have your new ads ready to go. 🚀
🎙Add Creative
A sneak peek from Episode 14 👀
I think creative people inherently are, are they find, and this is coming from someone who is his one. Like, you know, we find it hard to work in these like, systems that are just layers upon layers upon layers of like opaque paper that sits in front of like a vision. And then like the final thing. And so, you know, for us, and what we're trying to do is, is really try to pull back some of those layers and a creative person has a vision.
Let's, let's let them accelerate their vision while still participating in the normal day-to-day business stuff that needs to happen in the organization that needs to happen, right? Like creative people are inherently unorganized. And so I think the way to do it is tools that get out of their way rather than I think we're right now, it's like a bunch of tools that are in their way in terms of shipping stuff and getting stuff out.
If you enjoy the episode, please rate us 5⭐️'s & share!
Content that matters 🐐
Why it matters: During the last recession those who increased media spend saw their business grow.
I always say run at the storm on the other side are clear skies. Here is some of the data from the last time around:
60% of brands that increased media investment during the last recession saw ROI improvements.
Brands that increased paid advertising saw a 17% rise in incremental sales.
Brands that cut spending risked losing 15% of business to competitors that boosted their spending.
Easier said than done when you're staring down the barrel of money going out the door without a clear ROI. Here is the idea - when people flee or look to cut spend, there are opportunities to grow.
It's why people are saying there is no better time to be an entrepreneur because innovation comes from hard times. Also, every brand that is a household DTC brand, was born out of these times.
What you should be investing in to make these times work for you:
Brand - when you have this it will smooth out the dips from inefficient customer acquisition, macro headwinds, and seasonality. Make sure you DON'T FORGET that without a brand, you are just a product, and Nike would just be another shoe without its brand.
Creative - targeting, placements, timing, etc - won't save you when you need to build a brand that can sustain itself. So run tests, figure out what resonates, double down and iterate within that creative sector. But don't forget that you can make your COGS efficient, cut your headcount, and reduce tech infrastructure costs. But if your customers don't react to what you're selling then you're still in a race to the bottom. Trust me, I've seen it.
Thread of the Week 🧵
Hott take: Your conversion rate isn't a static number true for all traffic, it's dynamic.
— Barry Hott ☄️ (@binghott)
Aug 4, 2022
Why it matters: Note - this is not a hot take, the thread is truly 🤌
Not one size fits all. That's true in clothing and true in your ads. You can run the same ad that won in a lookalike audience against broad targeting and watch it bomb.
Conversely, you can have an ad you would never believe works, but you have a fantastic offer + landing page experience and the ad is a hit.
The moral of this story is - everything is variable, don't get stuck in patterns without allocating budget/time to testing new ways to deliver value to your customer and your business.
The other moral of this story - follow Barry Hott.
Expert Strategy + Learnings
Some amazing learnings from thought leaders in DTC.
Carl's CRO Tips 🙌
Quick navigation + social proof We labeled the menu icons. It is super simple, but creates cognitive ease and therefore makes it easier to navigate through your shop. Also, I added social proof under the CTA to increase trust.
For more 🔥 follow Carl Weische from Accelerated.
Rahul's Paid Media Learnings 🤘
If you are getting new concepts from FB Ads Library, here’s how I’d do it.
Duration - Check to see what ads have been running for longer than a month. Chances are these ads are either profitable for the business or retargeting ads.
Either way it’s a good way to pick out creatives that work.
Iterations - Look at ads that have similar concepts in them. Most brands will make small iterations to “winning ads” in order to extend the shelf life of that creative.
Behind every creative understand the core message these brands are pushing rather than hitting the copy & paste button and creating the same creative.
Follow Rahul here for more 🧠
Creative Cuts ⚔️ - ICYMI
Want to learn about WHY the creative you love works and how you can leverage it 👇
Worth Your Time 💡
No explanation, just content we love and think is ultra-valuable!
At Obvi we’re testing 20-40+ new creatives per week alone ✅
And I’ve been asked...
“How are you analyzing the data for everything and deciding what creatives to scale?” 🤯
Here’s the step-by-step process I use for creative analysis
(Plus some common mistakes to avoid) 👇🧵
— Ash (@ashvinmelwani)
Aug 3, 2022
From our Library 📚
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