Funnel Vision Issue #007

Happy Friday! Welcome back to Funnel Vision 👀

Don’t know about y’all I’m noticing a lil’ fall crispiness to the morning air.

For most people that means back to school, sweater weather, and pumpkin-spiced everything. But for ecom and DTC marketers, that means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Q5—a.k.a. the biggest shopping events of the year—are just around the corner. 

Today’s issue is packed with insights & examples to inspire as you plan your biggest campaigns of the year.

Let’s get into it!

Reading time: 5 minutes.

PERFORMANCE CREATIVE STRATEGY

Three expert strategies to dominate this BFCM

Yesterday we wrapped Session #1 of our 2024 BFCM Bootcamp and it was dope.

If you were there, you know what I mean. A full recap will be up on YouTube soon, but in the meantime, here are three of the top takeaways to guide your BFCM planning.

1. Lean into proven creative

The typical approach most brands take to BFCM is one we’ve all seen play out in our feeds…

A race to the bottom over who can offer the deepest discount.

But as marketers, we need to ask ourselves: does this approach attract the type of customer we really want?

"The deeper the discount, the less sticky the customer. It's almost universally true."

Kevin Cohen dropped sooo many nuggets of insight during yesterday’s sesh.

(One of which, coincidentally, was actually about chicken nuggets.)

There’s a place for deep discounts, but it’s not with cold audiences.

The smarter approach? Lean into your strongest creative.

"If you have an ad that’s already working, use it!" Jennie Karrer had so much practical advice on creative execution to share it could fill several newsletters.

"Some of our best BFCM ads were existing top-performers with a Black Friday wrapper. Keep it simple."

💡Takeaway: When other brands are scrambling to out-discount each other, you stand out by focusing on what already works.

2. Treat Your Warm Audience Like Gold

BFCM weekend is the most expensive time of the year to acquire new customers.

"If you’re going after cold audiences, be prepared to spend 50-100% more to acquire them," says Kevin. For smaller brands, this spike in costs can make advertising to cold audiences unaffordable and unsustainable.

Instead, focus on your warm audience first:

• Customers who have already purchased from your brand

• Leads in your database or CRM who haven’t converted

• High-intent warm audiences on paid social

This cohort is not only more likely to buy, but reaching them through retargeting and email campaigns is far more cost-effective than trying to convert a cold audience that still needs to be educated on your product.

💡Takeaway: Instead of pouring resources into attracting new customers who may only be lured by the lowest price, focus on the ones who have already invested in your brand.

This is how you build a devoted following that sticks around long after the sales are over.

Kevin put it best:

“These are the people that already make your business. Take care of them.”

3. Detailed briefs drive BFCM success

Concepting great ads is one thing, but bringing them to life is where the rubber really hits the road. Great briefs produce great ads. Simple as that.

“Your brief needs to be solid. Clear but detailed,” says Jennie. “It needs to communicate your creative vision and articulate what you want the ad to achieve.”

Some brief must-haves:

• Clearly state the goal you want the ad to achieve — clicks, impressions, traffic, etc.

• Include rich examples: If you see an ad you like and want to emulate, include it in your brief

• Get specific in your instructions so the final product meets expectations

• Cover technical requirements like format, dimensions, and intended platform to avoid time-consuming recuts

🎁 Resource: This video ad template contains everything you need to go from idea to asset. Take it, make it yours. Grab it here →

Session #1 of the 2024 BFCM Bootcamp may be a wrap…

But we’ve got tons more where that came from.

Now you’ve got a stack of high-converting creative lined up and ready to go, it’s time to put those assets to work.

In next week’s session, you’ll learn how to run your most profitable BFCM campaigns yet.

We’ll unpack:

→ Managing budget and scaling spend as ad costs spike

→ Steps to take NOW to build a strong retargeting pipeline

→ How to run campaigns without burning out yourself or your team

Featuring two incredible guest speakers:

⚡Juhi Pikale ⚡Growth mastermind with $850M in spend worth of learnings from brands like Fabletics, Savage x Fenty, & Good American.

⚡Nacho Manchi ⚡ – Certified media buying superstar, and veteran of many BFCM campaigns. 

It’s happening next Thursday, August 29. Don’t miss it!

STEAL THESE ADS

3 top BFCM ads to inspire your own

Consider these high-performing ads a jump-start to your Q4 brainstorming.

Till next time…

BFCM is a big opportunity for DTC marketers.

It’s also a big responsibility. Hopefully the tips and tactics in this newsletter help guide your thinking and spark some fresh ideas to run with.

And if you need a creative partner to help you rock your Q5 campaigns, let’s chat! Just reply to this email to get the conversation started.

You got this! Seeya next Friday, friend.

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Know someone looking for efficiency, flexibility, and scale with performance creative and media buying? Refer brands in your network and earn $1,000.

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