A DTC marketing agency for brands that sell straight to their customers
Selling direct means you keep the customer's details and more of the margin. It also means you pay for every visitor. Our work changes as your brand grows, from finding the first ads that make a profit to keeping score across several sales channels.
Free, 30 minutes, and you'll leave with at least one clear next step.
What changes as a direct brand grows?
The problems change at each stage. Early on, a brand usually lives on one ad platform and the founder's own content. The question is whether you can find buyers at a cost that leaves a profit.
Next, the brand adds Google, builds email flows and maybe starts texting. Now there are several channels claiming the same sales, and the question becomes which ones really earn their budget. This is the stage to start planning from Shopify orders instead of from the ad platforms.
Later, wholesale, retail or a marketplace enters the picture. Orders come from many places, the founder can't watch everything, and the numbers stop adding up. The question becomes how to grow without losing sight of profit. Each stage needs a different plan, and the sections below show ours.
Find the page for your category
- Fashion and apparel, with pages for modest fashion, streetwear and clothing brands and fan gear
- Beauty, with pages for skincare, cosmetics and fragrance
- Food and beverage, edible gifts and bakeries and CPG brands in stores
- Home goods and furniture and mattresses
- Jewelry, supplements and pet products
- Shopify Plus brands, for brands running several stores or selling wholesale
What we take on at each stage
When you're on one ad platform
Clean tracking from day one, the first email flows, and Meta tests held to a profit target you set.
Paid adsWhen several channels claim the same sale
One report built on Shopify orders, plus holdout tests that show which channels bring sales you wouldn't get anyway.
Incrementality testingWhen email and texts are an afterthought
Automated flows first, then a campaign calendar that isn't decided the night before.
Email marketingWhen wholesale or a marketplace joins in
Each channel on its own line in reporting, and HubSpot for the wholesale accounts your team follows up with.
HubSpotWhen the founder is stretched thin
A fractional COO who runs the weekly numbers and the team while you focus on product.
Fractional COOAt any stage
Data Driven Decisions Daily, or D4 for short. Daily updates, weekly reports and a weekly meeting, with results judged against targets we agree on with you at the start.
Premium ecommerce brandsDirect brands we've grown
Veiled Collection went from pop-up shops to more than 50,000 new customers online
Read itBaked Bouquet grew from pop-up sales to more than 10,000 new customers
Read itFirst Stop Fashion more than doubled its online sales in a year
Read itCharlie Hustle grew its Missouri customer list by more than 2,600%
Read itWhere were these brands when they came to us?
At different stages, which is why we don't run one plan for every brand.
Veiled Collection was at the first stage. It sold mostly at pop-ups and had tried Facebook ads without getting them to grow. Baked Bouquet was in a similar spot, with pop-up sales and one viral video whose rush of orders faded in about two weeks. For both, the job was finding buyers online at a cost that worked.
First Stop Fashion and Charlie Hustle were further along. First Stop had a busy New York store and wanted online sales to grow faster than its ad costs. Charlie Hustle had outgrown its tools, with service in Zendesk, email in Klaviyo and no shared reporting. For both, the job was one set of numbers and channels that work together.
When to stay direct, and when to add other channels
Stay direct-only while
- You're still learning who buys and why
- Your margins need full-price orders
- You can't fund retail promotions or placement fees
- Your stock is too tight to supply a store
Add wholesale or a marketplace when
- New direct customers cost more each month to win
- Retailers keep asking to carry you
- You can make enough stock for both
- You can keep reporting for each channel separate
How it starts
- Day 1
A free 30-minute call
We find out where your brand is today and tell you the first thing we'd change.
- First weeks
Clean numbers
Tracking, a profit dashboard and one weekly report everyone reads.
- Ongoing
Grow what works
Ads, flows and tests run every week, with budget following profit.
DTC brands questions
What does DTC mean?
DTC stands for direct-to-consumer. It means a brand sells to shoppers through its own website instead of only through stores or marketplaces. The brand keeps the customer's details and more of the margin.
When should a DTC brand hire a marketing agency?
Usually when ad spend is big enough that mistakes get expensive, and the founder can't test creative and watch numbers every day. Some brands bring us in earlier to set up tracking and flows the right way from the start.
Should a DTC brand also sell on Amazon?
It can add volume, but it brings fees, price pressure and less control over the customer. If you add it, keep its sales in a separate line, so you can still judge your own ads fairly.
What should a DTC brand look at every week?
Start with total revenue against total ad spend. Then check new customers and what each one cost, and profit per order. Last, look at how many customers buy again and how much email and SMS revenue comes from automated flows.
Is email or paid social more important for a new DTC brand?
You need both. Paid social finds new customers. Email and texts keep them. Set up the basic flows early, because every customer you pay to win should get them.
Do you only work with fashion and food brands?
No. Our published results are in fashion and food gifting, but the same work applies to any brand that sells on Shopify. The category pages above show how we'd approach each one.
Related
More in Ecommerce
See what your direct channels really earn
Tell us which stage you're at, and have your Shopify numbers handy. We'll show you what your channels earn after costs and what we'd change first at your stage.