In May, I’ll be in Miami and NYC. 🙌

(First time back in a few years.)

I’ve been working with US brands for many years now...from Argentina.

Different time zones.
No in-person meetings.
No events.
No “being there”.

Just calls, Slack, and a lot of relationships built remotely.

It works. But it’s not the same.

This trip is about finally meeting in person a lot of people I’ve interacted with over the years.

Clients.
Podcast guests.
People from this network.

Turning all of that into some great IRL moments. 💪

If you’re in those cities and there’s something you think I should see while I’m there, let me know. 

Topics we'll cover today:

💠 The Brand With Big Goals, and No Plan
💠 Stop Blaming Meta
💠 Why most brands don't connect with their customers (and how to fix it)
💠 Latest news in the DTC space

We recently audited a luxury brand.

Less than a year old. Strong positioning. Solid product.

The kind of brand that should scale.

We started with the basics:

Full audit across ads, website, offer, and messaging, then moved into building a 90-day forecast and growth roadmap.

That’s where things started to break.

When we asked about their plans for the next 90 days, there wasn’t a clear answer.

No defined initiatives. No campaigns. No resource allocation.

But when we asked about revenue goals, those were very clear. And very ambitious.

This gap shows up more often than you’d expect.

There’s a tendency to treat goals as targets to hit, rather than outcomes of specific actions.

But growth doesn’t work that way.

If the actions aren’t defined, the outcome isn’t predictable.

So we tried to identify potential growth levers:

Creators or influencers? Not a priority.
New product launches? None planned.
Promotions or key dates? Not considered.
Differentiation to highlight? Unclear.

At that point, the issue isn’t channel execution.

It’s a lack of direction.

And without direction, there’s nothing to optimize.

But here’s where it gets more interesting.

Because even in the absence of new initiatives, there are almost always existing leaks in the system.

In this case, we found one immediately on the website.

A product on the collections page displayed a price range, with no explanation.

Once inside the PDP, it became clear why.

The “Select size” dropdown wasn’t selecting sizes.

It was switching between entirely different products and bundle configurations.

Some options represented 2 units. Others 4. Different combinations, all grouped under one product.

The displayed price? Based on a minimum quantity, not a single unit.

From a user perspective, this creates friction at the worst possible moment.

You don’t understand what you’re buying. You don’t trust the pricing. You hesitate.

And hesitation kills conversion.

So we flagged this as a top-priority fix.

No new creatives. No extra spend. Just removing confusion.

These two issues are connected.

On one side, there’s no clear plan for growth.
On the other, the existing experience is leaking demand.

Most brands focus on adding more traffic.

But growth is a system.

It starts with direction, identifying which levers to pull.

Then it moves to execution, making sure the current journey actually converts.

If either side breaks, performance stalls.

Before asking “How do we grow?”, ask:

If those three aren’t clear, scaling becomes guesswork.

And guesswork doesn’t compound.

Growth does.

--
If you need an experienced growth partner to help your brand grow in Q2, let’s chat.

Over the past few months, we’ve audited over 50 7fig+ brands. 

Most weren’t struggling to grow.
They were struggling to grow efficiently. 

Revenue was there.
Profit wasn’t. 

And in many cases, the same patterns kept showing up:

That’s what keeps brands stuck in plateaus, even while spending more.

Q2 is where this compounds.

You either fix the system…
Or you pay more to get the same results. 

At BSR, we work with 7- and 8-figure brands to identify where profit is leaking across ads, email, and the customer journey, and build a clear roadmap to scale efficiently.

If you’re planning to push growth in Q2, this is the moment to get the foundation right.

Customer acquisition is more expensive.

CPMs are up. CAC is up. Competition is everywhere.

Yet…some brands are still growing.

Not because they cracked a new ad hack.

But because they changed how they think about growth.

Let me explain.

Most brands are still asking:

“Should we focus on Meta, TikTok, or Google?”

This brand isn’t.

Yes, they run paid ads.

But they’re also:

Different approach.

Instead of asking:

“How do we scale spend?”

They’re asking:

“How do we create connection at every touchpoint?”

That’s a completely different game.

One of their top-performing pieces of content?

A raw video from a factory.

No lighting. No script. Not “on brand.”

Just real.

And it outperformed everything else.

Why?

Because it didn’t feel like marketing.

It felt like proximity.

That’s what most brands are missing.

They optimize for aesthetics.

Customers optimize for trust.

This is where things get interesting.

Like most brands, they “talk” about retention.

Unlike most brands, they actually built for it.

Here’s what that looks like:

Individually, none of this is groundbreaking.

Together?

It creates a completely different experience.

And that’s the point.

Retention isn’t email.

It’s how the customer feels after buying.

There’s a subtle shift here most brands overlook.

Customers don’t just want a good product.

They want to feel valued.

That’s why:

Not because of the tactic.

Because of what it signals.

“We care about you.”

Most brands try to extract value.

The best ones signal appreciation.

There’s also a structural advantage most brands ignore.

If you’re a small team, you can:

No approvals. No layers.

But instead, many brands try to act like big companies.

Polished. Slow. Overthought.

That’s a mistake.

Speed is your advantage.

Use it.

For years, growth = acquisition.

Now?

Growth = acquisition + retention + experience.

The brands that are still growing understand this.

They’re not relying on one channel.

They’re building systems.

And those systems compound.

If your growth has stalled, it’s probably not your ads.

It’s everything around them.

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

"We want to build a sustainable brand."

It’s something many founders say.

But often, it’s treated as an add-on,
instead of a core decision.

Real sustainability goes beyond materials.

It’s about thinking through every step:

→ Where things come from
→ How they’re made
→ How long they last for the customer

That’s where real differentiation happens.

New episode with Lauren DeCarli, founder of Paneros Clothing on The DTC Insider is out now.

🎙 Tune in

If you found this interesting, please leave us a review. It’d mean the world to me.

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📰 TikTok's Guide to Create TikTok ads in Canva [read more]

Brian Roisentul is the founder & CEO of BSR, a growth marketing agency he started in 2013 to help e-commerce brands unlock hidden revenue by identifying misalignments between their marketing and customer behavior. He is also the host of The DTC Insider podcast, where he interviews thought leaders, founders, and directors in the e-commerce space.

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