Ep 35 - DTC Growth Strategies: Beyond Paid Social with Jessica McGlory and Owen Bell

Over the last years, DTC businesses have been able to incorporate more comprehensive approaches to meeting the evolving needs and attention spans of their customers. We learned strategies, insights, and tips on how these growth leaders leverage channels beyond paid social to scale direct-to-consumer businesses.

In this episode, Jessica dives into Verb Energy’s focus on finding where their target market is hanging out through innovative strategies like micro-affiliates, third-party inserts, and co-marketing. Owen highlights the importance of optimizing creative for its marketing channel in order to get the best performance and results. 

Here’s What We Discussed: 

• [01:50] Owen talks about Honeylove’s processes for finding and starting successful channels by using tried and true channels of competitors
• [08:11] Jessica shares Verb Energy’s strategy for reaching their audience through micro affiliates, what is a micro affiliate, and how they manage these relationships 
• [17:30] Owen talks about interesting anecdotes and learnings on channels out of paid social 
• [19:20] How much time and money are necessary to determine a channel’s viability? 
• [27:00] Finding success with third-party inserts and co-marketing   
• [34:00] How are you thinking about performance and attribution when looking at emerging channels versus SCM paid social? 
• [42:31] Knowing when it's time to pull the plug on a particular channel; Make sure you’ve given the channel enough time and the resources it needs to be successful

About Our Speakers

Jessica McGlory, Head of Growth, Verb Energy, Jessica is a visionary growth leader with a knack for unlocking e-commerce and DTC companies’ marketing strategies to drive revenue and achieve long-term company goals. In 2019, Jessica left her role as Director of Paid Social, Paid Search, and Programmatic to step in as Head of Growth at Verb Energy. In the last decade, Jessica has helped organizations across nearly every vertical successfully scale marketing efforts across paid social, paid search, SEM, native advertising, and more. Jessica’s work and leadership have earned her recognition including being named a Business Insider Marketing Rising Star, a PR News Social Medial Luminary, the winner of the AdColor Rising Star Award, and more.

Owen Bell, VP of Growth, Honeylove, Owen serves as VP of Growth at Honeylove, driving paid and organic acquisition and retention strategy. As a recovering liberal arts student, sometimes he writes and does freelance work to validate an otherwise linear career path.

 

Quotes

“When evaluating the new channels, it comes down to audience in our acquisition strategy… We have these growth segments that are focused on communities that we want to always look like we're everywhere. So everywhere they are is where we start to strive to be.” –  Jessica McGlory

 

“I will say when considering a new channel, in my opinion, please don't ever think about it in terms of spend.” – Jessica McGlory

 

“For us, the key determiner is, is the creative optimized? Have we invested enough in the creative process to get something that's truly native to the channel or feels like it really fits with the audience?” – Owen Bell  

 

“We want to make sure we've invested the resources before really calling it on the channel. Whether that be a consultant, or if we're running it internally then do we switch up the resources that are committed to this? Can we reinvest in creative here in a more meaningful way?” – Owen Bell 

 

Resources Mentioned

• GRIN - How to find influencers for your brand: https://grin.co   

 

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!  

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