DTC Brands Are Shifting Their Focus Away from Social Platforms for Marketing Wins
Facebook has become the new marketing middle man, or at least that's what this recent Digiday article posits. No longer the growth hackers they were even a year ago, Facebook has found themselves in the unenviable position of the barrier between DTC brands and consumers that needs to be “hacked away”. Following their shut down of nuanced targeting options, dropping of third party data support and a slowly leaking userbase, brands who once found huge marketing success on Facebook are now relying on more traditional marketing methods to build lasting relationships with their customers. According to John Povey, SVP of marketing and analytics at the agency A4 Media "Brands are taking a step back to think about how they should allocate their budgets in a way so that they have a differentiated mix that’s well-rounded”. They're far from the only brand that thinks so.
“IT’S NEVER ABOUT ONE CHANNEL - IT’S ABOUT DOING ALL OF THEM WELL.”
In the absence of a singular Facebook-based growth model, DTC brands have been retreating to less crowded and more traditional marketing spaces. Direct mailers, email campaigns, print and of course digital display ads have all been found to grow brand awareness and increase consumer confidence. By escaping the noise of a purely social media based strategy and creating a one-on-one relationship with consumers up front, brands have found that they are able to see much better campaign stick when it does come time to scale strategies on social platforms like Facebook. According to Ryan Babenzien, the founder and CEO of the sneaker brand Greats, "It’s never about one channel; it’s about doing all of them well.”
So what does this mean for your DTC brand? It means that your best marketing tool is not a single social media platform or marketing app and that brand building and direct consumer outreach are more important than ever. Moreover, it means that first party data is becoming increasingly more valuable in creating a long-term scale strategy. As Scott Tannen, the founder of Boll & Branch puts it, “Facebook became a shortcut for people so you could buy an audience. That’s becoming more difficult again, and so you have to build a real company and business that people can grab onto". This is the next marketing challenge that DTC businesses will have to face. How do you build a brand organically that will stand the test of time?
“YOU HAVE TO BUILD A REAL COMPANY AND BUSINESS THAT PEOPLE CAN GRAB ONTO”
Luckily for you, FieldTest is here to help reconnect you with your future customers. Our ads are designed to convey a sophisticated editorial feel and are served in premium placements on high value websites. We find that this not only builds consumer confidence in your brand but also performs impressively well, driving reliably more engagements and conversions than discount ad placement. We have worked hard to build the most complete model of audience intent available to DTC brands. That means when you run a campaign with us, your ads only get placed in front of people most likely to love them. We offer full passback to social. This means that once a consumer interacts with your ad, we collect that data and allow you to then showcase your product or brand materials to them across all social platforms, giving you the full arsenal needed to drive conversions at scale. No more guesswork, no more gambling on the Facebook data black box.
FieldTest has helped DTC brands including SIO, BlueChew, Parachute and Pact Apparel find success selling their products with editorial and full bleed ads that link to brand content or earned media. Our blend of brand-focused content promotion and data-driven delivery provided a uniquely powerful solution for brands looking to find their audience and drive sales with long-term customers when integrated into a robust marketing stack.