D2C Marketers Share The Decisions They’d Change If Given A Marketing Do-Over

Every one of us has wished for a do-over at some point in our professional lives. Failure may be the best teacher, but it can also be a pretty painful one.

Below, our panel of expert D2C marketers share some of the moments they wish they could go back and handle a little differently. Hopefully the suggestions below will prevent others from making some of the same missteps.

 

Defining objectives before campaigns begin

eBags director of marketing Erin Gregory says that a game-changer for her has been learning to clearly define goals and objectives before beginning new campaigns.

“Being able to define and clearly articulate what our hypothesis is around a certain test or initiative allows us to manage expectations and then be really clear about what we expect and what success looks like,” she says. She says the process has made scaling and diversifying more manageable, because everyone on the team has the same cohesive, well-defined definition and means of measuring success, regardless of what’s being tested or the stage of the marketing funnel.

 

Taking time to understand new channels

Jamie Alvus, director of ecommerce for vuori, says it’s critical to give new channels an appropriate amount of time when testing them. Otherwise, it’s possible it’s not working because you don’t understand – or just aren’t using – it fully. “There are a lot of upper-funnel channels, and a lot of mid- and lower-channel ones,” she says. “It’s important to understand [the differences] and that incrementality.”

Her colleague Bret Fredrickson agrees. He says he’s learned over the years to push vendor partners to really step up and explain their platforms. “We ask as many questions as possible, because you don’t know what you don’t know,” he says. Brands that depend on platforms to explain every opportunity or feature are likely missing out. Instead, he says, you’ve got to “be diligent about learning and asking questions.”

 

Hiring support faster

Public Rec founder and CEO Zach Goldstein says his biggest marketing mistake was waiting too long to hire someone to help with customer service.

“It became a lot [to handle] quickly,” he says. “I thought I could handle it all, but at some point I just couldn’t. And then it became very clear that it wasn’t something I should be focusing time on.”

Public Rec now has an entire team dedicated to customer support to ensure that the customer experience is an incredible one, but Goldstein says that first hire for customer service was “a huge lift off my shoulders.” He advises other CEO/founders to fill the role as soon as they can to dedicate their time to focusing on other areas.

Looking for more valuable insights for tackling the challenges of scaling a D2C business, including why it’s so critical to diversify your acquisition channels, even if everything is working well? Watch the complete webinar, free and available on-demand here.