– Many people in marketing lack a deep understanding of how and why things work.
– The success of Dollar Shave Club’s viral video was driven by a clear value proposition and offer, rather than just humor.
– Brands often overlook the importance of understanding their unit economics and measuring success in marketing campaigns.Focus on creating a clear value proposition and offer in marketing campaigns, rather than solely relying on humor or viral content. Understand the unit economics and financial aspects of running ad campaigns to measure success accurately.Everyone in marketing thinks that they know what they are doing until they are questioned about how and why things work. Most of the time, marketing plays a smaller role than people think. Dollar Shave Club – everyone thinks of them for the video, but we forget that the offer is in the name of the company, and it’s stated plainly and cleanly in the first 10 seconds of the video. The video was enough to go viral, but the offer is what drove conversion. This wasn’t a lesson in viral marketing; it was a lesson in clear branding with a clear value proposition and offer. Humor sprinkled in does help in making something memorable, but ultimately it’s all about the offer. So when you’re trying to create the next viral ad with humor, instead think of what the value proposition is behind the ad, how that offer is being marketed, and understand how a great offer and overcoming common objections can skyrocket sales for any brand. They had the luxury of a subscription, which the majority of DTC brands will never be able to pull off. So the cost per acquisition could be stretched out over a few orders; the vast majority of brands do not have this luxury today. Furthermore, that video came out in 2013. That’s when ads on platforms like Facebook were cheap and all the targeting in the world existed. Those are not the same economic factors of today. All this is common knowledge, yet I constantly see brands that do not know their unit economics as it relates to running ad campaigns or measuring what success looks like. Just saying, I’m pretty convinced most people in marketing don’t actually understand marketing from a financial and business perspective. And yet we have opinions from people all over the internet who are “experts” at doing things that we regularly hand over the keys to just spend money on ads like it’s nothing. It’s truly baffling the amount of waste that exists in this industry. What happens when it turns out that nothing that we’re tracking actually matters? It’s honestly scary the amount of people who follow the advice of a bunch of people who don’t have full access to data when making their decisions. Last friendly reminder: ROAS is not profit, and yet it’s still something we’re all obsessed with, blended or otherwise. #marketing #ecommerce #uniteconomicshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jivanco