If you didn't know, Facebook went down and the world of DTC went into flames... It is scary how leveraged brands are to the tech of FB. Don't worry - this newsletter is here to help you get away from relying on FB.

We published a new podcast episode with Casey Armstrong, the CMO of ShipBob!

To everyone that signed up this past week, welcome to the community. We are so happy to have you here!

In this newsletter, you’ll find:

👎 Why you shouldn't rely entirely on Facebook Ads

🙏 What content you can create that will transcend FB Ads

🔥 Latest updates in DTC and social media

🎧 Brand new episode with Casey Armstrong, the CMO of ShipBob

If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe so you never miss out. And be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Spread the wealth away from Facebook

I was already planning on writing about creating content that doesn't have a direct response. Then Facebook went down for most of the day on Monday; brands suffered without Facebook ads running, which should be ALARMING. The outage on Monday only proves my point about diversifying your content.

Now I am not going to tell you that you need to get on TikTok instead, because you would be at the will of that platform too.

Today I want to discuss content from an overall brand perspective.

Ads on social media are easy to track because there is a direct response. But think about how a lot people don't buy from direct ads. How do they find you?

Word of mouth.

Word of mouth is by far the most powerful way to get a customer. If a friend who a person trust tells them about a product, that person is more inclined to check out the company. Word of mouth has been around since the beginning of time.

Technology has allowed us to scale the reach of word of mouth with the printing press, and now social media.

You can see that influencer marketing is effective because if done well, it feels like a friend is suggesting a product, therefore you trust this brand you are being introduced to.

I am going to be honest with you, I have never bought something directly from a Facebook ad or any ad online. I buy something after I check out the brand's website and social media. I watch videos and learn more about their mission. I am probably not the only person to do that either.

I say this because I think most brands that have started recently have been told to create content and then put money behind it on Facebook ads. They are doing a ton of paid media without thinking about organic social media or even building their brand through content on their website.

Not to say you can't have direct response ads going - I highly suggest that, but there needs to be a balance of content to serve other people like myself who don't buy directly from ads.

If Facebook and other social media platforms go down, people would forget about you because they aren't connected to your brand. Let's change that by creating content that makes people love your brand.

There is more to life than top of funnel content

Top of funnel content is more direct response content where you get people interested in your product by talking about the benefits of the product or how you can solve their problem. They might not want to buy right away, but now they want to know more about you.

Why should I buy from you?

If you only talk about benefits and product features, you don't create emotional connections with your customers or prospective customers.

So you need to create other types of content that will connect to consumers on an emotional level, such as brand videos.

You could run these videos like ads, but they might not do well in the context of a Facebook ad.

Regardless of ad performance, these brand videos are still vital to your marketing. These videos are great for people researching your brand and want to know more about what you stand for.

Let me repeat this, direct response content is excellent, and you need it, but think about the most prominent brands - they create these incredible visuals that talk about the essence of their brand. Successful brands have these videos throughout their website to tell the brand story.

If you only had direct response video content, you might deem these brand videos not good because they didn't have a "high conversion." This assumption might be valid for Facebook ads, but in a different context, these brand videos could be the main selling driver where that direct response video feels out of place.

Since our goal is not to rely on direct response videos and photos only, let's talk about three videos you should create for your brand.

Three brand videos that will 

1. Founder's Story

The origin story is vital for consumers to understand why the founder started their company. What was going on in the founder's life that made them start this company? How does the founder see the world and want to improve the world with their company?

The goal of this video is to help build trust with consumers through the founder's story.

2. Brand Impact / Mission

Every brand has a mission or even a give-back effort to different causes. Have a video explaining the problem you are trying to solve as a brand and show people how they are helping a specific cause by purchasing your product. This video helps consumers understand what you stand for, and they can join in on your mission.

The goal of this video is to rally consumers around your greater mission beyond selling your product. 

3. A Heroic Story

We see this type of video a lot with more health products and athletic attire. You have more motivational music and a voice-over talking about overcoming challenges. The visuals show off the athletes training using the product or wearing the clothing.

You can do this with any product; just change the context.

If you had a food product with health benefits, you could talk about how you don't compromise on ingredients and have nice visuals of people being active and enjoying your food product. The ideas are endless.

The goal of this video is the hit the emotional story of the brand and get people motivated or inspired by your brand.

Give people something worth talking about

Word of mouth is so powerful, and to get people to talk about your brand, you need to strike them emotionally.

Product features are great, but people will only talk about you if they believe in your impact on the customer's life or how you help a cause the customer also cares about. People don't want to share about scammy companies, only companies that make them look good or signal what they prioritize in their life.

Make people look good when they talk about your company - these brand videos will give them something to talk about with their friends.

As you build out your marketing and sales, layers of different content are needed at each stage of the buyer journey. I think Monday made many companies see that they only have content for one part of the buyer journey and not in other parts of the marketing funnel. Build out the emotional connections with brand videos.

Keep Creating!

Matthew Gattozzi

In Other News

🚢 Cargo ships anchored near West coast ports

📸 Instagram is getting rid of IGTV, sort of

🛒 Amazon rolls out early Black Friday deals to jump-start holiday shopping

👓 Warby Parker’s strong debut could be a good sign for brands looking to go public

💥 Facebook and all of their products went down on Monday

📱 Val Geisler explains iOS 15 and all of the changes in marketing

Shipping as a Marketing Tool with Casey Armstrong

Shipping and logistics are not sexy compared to a cool commercial that you see on TV, but shipping and logistics are vital to the buyer’s experience. With the rise of Amazon, we expect fast shipping and cheap shipping. Understanding how to ship products to a customer and coordinate timing and budgets takes a lot of effort but if you want to succeed you need to understand shipping and logistics.

Today’s guest is Casey Armstrong, Chief Marketing Officer of ShipBob. ShipBob is an eCommerce Fulfillment Service for DTC Businesses and Casey works with many brands every day to show the power of how shipping and logistics can drastically change the business for the better.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The evolution of shipping over the last few decades

• How shipping can affect buyer behavior

• Common mistakes brands make and how to overcome those challenges