Welcome to this issue of The DTC Insider newsletter. 👋

We strive to deliver the latest growth marketing news and trends in the DTC space straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

Topics we'll cover today:

💠 Create Your Own Sales Peaks
💠 Media Buyers Must Evolve Into Growth Marketers To Survive
💠 Bootstrapping a $100M E-Commerce Empire

When planning 2025, did you consider creating your own sales peaks?

Every business has its own seasonality.

However, nothing should keep you from identifying opportunities to create unique commercial actions, aside from the well-known ones (ie. Black Friday, Valentine's Day).

It could be things like:

👉 A sale
👉 Product releases
👉 Brand anniversary
👉 Strategic partnerships
👉 Early access to something
👉 Limited-time product editions

If you haven't done this, I'd suggest you go back to your 2025 plan and think of these sales peaks of your own.

Plan strategically and communicate clearly to make the most out of it.

--
If you're looking for a growth partner that helps you make 2025 your best year yet, let's chat.

In 2024, we audited over 120 brands, and we found that many of them have been stuck in a revenue plateau for 2, and even 3 years.

So, the question is: will you stay in the same place for yet another year, or will you draw a line in the sand and start a new chapter for your brand?

At BSR Digital, we have just 2 spots left for brands that want to unlock the next level of growth.

Will you be one of them?

Hot take: media buyers must evolve into growth marketers to survive.

Just think about it...

In 2024, it was clear that there were fewer levers to pull at the ad account level.
👉 Campaigns consolidation
👉 Broad targeting
👉 AI features

So, what can they do about it?

At my agency, BSR Digital, we have updated our SOPs to allow our media buyers to thrive.

How?

To start off, they need to stop looking at the ad account as the "exclusive source of truth".

And start looking outside, where they will find many more growth levers:
✔️ Backend (ie. Shopify and/or attribution tools) analysis
✔️ Ads analysis & proposals
✔️ A clear road map
✔️ Website check

Let's break them down.

Backend analysis:

Looking at the backend's data will help them understand more than just numbers.

It will actually help them better understand the business:

👉 Cohorts
👉 Seasonalities
👉 Top-selling products
👉 Products that are usually bought together

And more...

This information impacts things like:

👉 Messaging
👉 Offer design
👉 Products to focus on
👉 Planning of promotional actions

Ads analysis & proposals:

I've personally hired many media buyers since 2013.

And I can tell you...this is a highly overlooked part of the ad accounts by most media buyers.

In plain words, most of them don't like looking at how ads perform or propose improvements.

That's why our media buyers have a specific SOP for analyzing the performance of each ad in detail and for suggesting improvements.

Website check:

Media buyers don't need to be CRO experts.

That being said, they need to know what's happening on the website.

Now, it's easy to do it when a client is onboarded.

But not having a recurring process to check on the website, means losing sight of important information, such as:

👉 Current promotions & discounts
👉 Landing page info & structure
👉 Up/cross-sell opportunities
👉 Sold-out products
👉 User experience

If they have basic CRO knowledge, even better.

A clear road map:

Brands hire agencies/media buyers to help them grow their businesses.

And that requires a professional growth strategy.

I acknowledge that before iOS 14 it was easier to get away without it.

But at the same time, many of those brands are not around anymore.

At my agency, we create 90-day roadmaps.

They include the high-level goals our clients need to achieve for that period and high-level tasks that will allow us to do so.

Then, each month we update it and adjust accordingly.

Doing all this, media buyers will go from "the ads person" to "the professional who's helping me grow my business".

--

Follow me on LinkedIn for more growth marketing content in the e-commerce space.

Why has this brand grown to 9 figures...while most others haven’t?

Their answer:

(Btw, it's a common pattern I've seen across successful brands.)

𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁?
➝ It's not.
➝ They sell apparel.
➝ While it's a great product, it's not the main factor.

𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆?
➝ Nope.
➝ They doubled their business...
➝ ...4 years in a row without spending on ads.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁?

Tune in to this episode of The DTC Insider podcast - in which I interviewed Bear Handlon, founder & CEO of Born Primitive - to answer that and many more insightful questions.

I promise it's worth your time.

We discussed:

👉 The foundation of Born Primitive's success through a clear value proposition.
👉 How authenticity and strong brand values attract and retain loyal customers.
👉 The role of community engagement in driving brand growth.
👉 The influence of military experience on leadership and operational strategies.
👉 The importance of aligning company and employee values to foster a positive culture.
👉 The impact of Bear Handlon’s visibility as a brand face on authenticity.
👉 The continued relevance of email and SMS marketing for community building.
👉 Why thriving in e-commerce requires strategies beyond digital advertising.
👉 Building and leveraging a customer list for maximizing sales during key events like Black Friday.
👉 The importance of early preparation for major sales events to ensure success.

Tune in:

📺 YouTube
🎧 Apple
🎙️ Spotify
🌐 Website

More episodes our listeners love:

💎 Unlocking New Revenue Streams in 2025 with Neal Goyal
💎 The Secret Sauce Behind BattlBox's Success with John Roman
💎 IQBAR’s Journey to 10,000 Locations And $50 Million with Will Nitze
💎 Supplement Brand Bootstrapped $10,000 and Built It Into Sales of $30 Million in Three Years with Ronak Shah
💎 Unlocking 9-Figure Growth: The Blueprint That Transformed Two Brands with Brett Swensen

📰 TikTok's Valentine's Day Planning Guide
📰 Google Ads plans major AI Push in 2025
📰 TikTok Appeals to Trump to Save it from US Ban

The DTC Insider newsletter + podcast reaches a highly qualified audience of DTC founders, directors, and marketers. Learn more about the sponsorship opportunities we offer for your business.

Show us some love!

If you love the value delivered on our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review.