📦 - Give it Away and Slash Your CaC

DTC 568 - Mental Health Awareness, Strategic Giveaways, and ChatGPT Google Drive Hack Wednesday, May 29, 2024 Good morning, TikTok layoffs have begun. The app plans to lay off a thousand employees in marketing and operations worldwide as the impending TikTok U.S. ban looms. This means a lot of tech talent will be hitting up job boards soon enough. Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: 💗 Creative brand campaigns for Mental Health Awareness Month. 💡 The art of giving away Teslas: Van Oakes reveals how strategic giveaways can slash CAC! 😲 Did you know that ChatGPT just added this cool new feature? 🎉 Fun holidays worth celebrating in the 1st week of June. You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Mapology, Yoodlize, and Avery Row. 👋 GROWTH 🚀 This Brand Doubled Their Sales… And Your Brand Can Join Them A service based brand joined Pilothouse’s brand accelerator, Pilot Program, with one goal in mind: [scale](. 🚀 The team took over their campaigns, revamped their creative approach, and saw results better than anyone could have expected… 💥 Their sales doubled and their AOV increased by over $30! This isn’t a one-off success story. The team has [opened up limited spaces for Pilot Program]( to help your brand achieve results like these. If you want to scale to new heights, [get in touch with the partnerships team today](. BRAND SPOTLIGHT 💗 3 Creative Campaigns for Mental Health Awareness Month More brands are jumping on board to talk about mental health and the impact of mental illnesses. Here are three creative brand campaigns we’ve spotted this month that do a great job of speaking out and fostering an emotional and lasting connection with their audience: 👇 Rare Beauty The mission-driven beauty brand encourages its TikTok followers to [‘Make A Good Call’]( and connect with a loved one during Mental Health Awareness Month. [Rare Beauty’s Mental Health Awareness Month initiative.] For those who don’t have someone to ring, they also offer their own hotline, 877-HEY-RARE, for those who want to chat and for emotional support. The takeaway? This is a great opportunity to promote mental health awareness and provide a resource for those in need. Rare Beauty founder Selena Gomez has been a long-time mental health advocate, and this campaign feels like a natural extension of the brand’s core values. She has also co-founded [Wondermind](, the world’s first mental health fitness ecosystem that provides actionable advice for people with mental health issues. OLIPOP This month, the healthy soda brand [promoted its educational blog post about the link between sugar consumption and mental health]( on its social media channels for Mental Health Awareness Month. The article makes a case for how a poor diet that is high in sugar can contribute to anxiety and mental health issues, which positions OLIPOP as the better and wiser drink choice. It’s a soft sell backed with solid stats. The piece is written by a registered dietician who specializes in digestive health. The impact? This piece of research-backed content was published on the OLIPOP site last year, but since it’s evergreen content, the brand was able to give it a second life by leveraging it in a timely manner. 💡 Take a look at the content you’ve written and think about when are some good opportunities to leverage them for social media in your marketing calendar. Alo Yoga The athleisure brand partnered with podcaster and relationship coach [Jillian Turecki](. The popular podcast host interviewed five strangers on the street and offered relationship advice on the Alo Yoga Instagram page. The [video campaign]( stresses that the most important relationship is the one you have with yourself. The videos promote self-love as an important part of mental health, which ties in well with Alo’s core mission of promoting mindfulness and wellness. The impact? Alo is known for doing high-profile influencer collabs, but this campaign is a departure from their usual product placement-heavy ads. While Turecki is wearing Alo while interviewing, the video is more focused on creating an emotional connection with the company's online audience than pushing a product or promotion. Want to be in the know about more holidays in the upcoming months? Scroll down to our new ‘Celebrate This’ section! 🎉 We’ll include holidays you can highlight in your social media calendar or marketing campaigns every week. PODCAST 🎧 Boost Your Sales with Strategic Giveaways In this episode of the pod, we have Van Oakes, Founder of Goat Media, who is the GOAT at running successful giveaways. Van has helped scale Diesel Power gear through countless high-value, strategic giveaways and other brands to boost sales and reduce customer acquisition costs through his agency. We talk about some past highlights like how he ran a $7 million dollar giveaway featuring a $100,000 truck and why it's so important to understand your niche when coming up with a desirable incentive. The best part about running contests? It’s a cheat code for lowering the cost of Meta Ads. Van explains: "If you're selling a t-shirt and I'm selling a t-shirt with a chance to win a Lamborghini, I'm going to win all of those [Meta Ad] auctions. I've never not been profitable on the front end of one of these giveaways. They do drive revenue as well as grow your lists massively. Influencers bring legitimacy to your giveaway, making it easier to convert new customers who may be skeptical." In this podcast, we cover: - How to run a strategic contest by leveraging high-value items and influencers to reduce CAC and build a loyal community - Why omnichannel marketing is necessary for a successful giveaway campaign. - Diving into legal compliance and how to make sure your giveaway adheres to a platform's rules - Use giveaway winner content to encourage participation in future giveaways. 👉 You can listen to the full episode with Van [here](. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE ChatGPT has now made it possible to add Google Drive and OneDrive files directly. Users can upload Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and Google Sheet files. Some possible uses? AI can help you create data charts, presentations, and summarize lengthy docs you don’t want to read. OpenAI is gradually rolling out this integration to ChatGPT Plus, Team and Enterprise users over the next few weeks. Can't view the image? [Click here]( ⚡ QUICK HITS 🤨 Are you sure you're measuring your influencer campaigns the right way? Find out how you should be looking at ROI on your influencer marketing. [Grab the free ebook here](. * 📰 NEWS - Skittles [releases a limited edition Pride pack to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and will donate $1 per unit sold of proceeds to GLAAD](. - Amazon [overhauls voice assistant Alexa and adds a monthly subscription fee](. - Alibaba [taps David Beckham as global ambassador for ecommerce platform ahead of Euro 2024](. 🎉 CELEBRATE THIS! June is the start of Pride Month, and Father’s Day is coming up on the 16th. But there are lots of lesser-known micro-holidays you can celebrate in the upcoming week! See if any of these fun mentions apply to your niche and add them to your social media calendar 😉 🌈 June 1: National Bubbly Day, National Nail Polish Day, New Year’s Resolution Recommitment Day, Pride Month starts 🐔 June 2: National Rotisserie Chicken Day 🐜 June 3: Insect Repellant Awareness Day, National Carl Day, Repeat Day 🛒 June 4: Shopping Cart Day, National Cheese Day 🍔 June 5: National Veggie Burger Day, Thank You Day, World Environment Day 🕶️ June 6: National Eyewear Day, National Applesauce Cake Day 🍩 June 7: Love Island Day, National Donut Day SPONSOR DTC 📥 Got a B2B Biz? Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 160k brand leaders and founders this year. [Talk to our team to learn more](. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 📺 [AKNF 407:]( YouTube Full Funnel Breakdown with Kari - 💎 How Anna Harman [Grew Studs To An 8 Figure Brand]( - 💣 [AKNF 405:]( Navigating Email Landmines + Bot Click Clarification - 📈 The Marketing Millennials on [Cracking the DTC Success Formula]( - 💰 [AKNF 403:]( Early Indicators of Amazon Success - 👕 How True Classic [Turned Customer Support Into a Profit Center]( Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight]( and [Frances Du](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. [Direct To Consumer]( Pilothouse, 1011 Government St., Victoria, BC V8W 1X6, Canada [Advertise with DTC]( | [Work With Pilothouse]( [Unsubscribe](