If I give you 30 minutes right now, what all can you finish?
You can probably shower and change.
You can get a quick full-body workout.
Heck, You can even order a Domino’s Pizza and wait for it.
You can also follow along with this post and build a D2C Advertising Strategy for your brand – in the very same 30 minutes.
Sounds gooey good?
Get ready to take this simple 4-step framework that will hand-hold you till the end.
Here's why you should stick along till the end of this post:
E-commerce owners: Use this and build a strategy for your brand.
E-commerce Marketers or Agencies: Use this to pitch and close clients on a discovery call.
Step 1: Identify the Key Products (5-10 minutes)
So many products to choose from, where should you start?
You need to identify a few key products that you’ll be testing first.
Easy solution- Ask the E-commerce business owner and he should be able to tell that.
Create a new Google Doc and under the heading “Key products”, put the links and names of all these products.
In case they don’t know which ones would be best-selling, follow these steps:
Skim through their product categories, all collections and see what all are they offering.
Ask them if a particular product category has a higher profit margin – put that in the google doc.
Then, go to the Facebook Ads library to see what similar brands are selling.
It’s simple logic- If it’s summer and brands similar to you are selling chilled cola, then it’s obvious… Go and sell chilled cola (with a twist of course).
Coming back – Open the Library, select the country and enter broad keywords related to the brand you’re eyeing.
Now click on the “Filters” button and do these two things:
- Filter to see only the Active Ads
- Filter to see only ads older than 30 days
This setting will remove all the ads that have been launched in the last 30 days.
Typically, most brands won’t run ads for 30 days or more if they aren’t profitable.
Here’s where you will get more product ideas that should be tested.
Do you see any products that are being advertised, that are also available with you/your prospective client?
Put them on your Google doc.
Awesome! Now you have a list of hero products that should be tested first. And you most likely know that it works, because it’s working for other brands in the same market.
This step should take you 5-10 minutes.
Step 2: Build a Target Audience Persona (5 minutes)
Most business owners are aware of their ideal customer avatar but don’t know the specific details.
We need specific details so we can tailor the messaging according to them. So here’s a simple trick: Use ChatGPT
Copy the content on the “About Us” page of the brand’s website, including the Mission, vision and value proposition and use the following prompt with ChatGPT:
“I am giving you all the details about a D2C brand named [BRAND] which is based in COUNTRY/CITY and sells PRODUCT CATEGORIES/TYPES online.
Here's what their About page says: [Paste the about text]
Here is their mission and vision statement: [Paste Mission statement here]
Here is the Value proposition: [Paste value proposition here]
Give me a detailed ideal customer avatar for this brand. We will use this information to tailor our messaging (ads, copies and emails) according to them”Within 2 minutes, you have the exact Ideal customer persona that you’d be talking to via your ads. Put all the details on your Google doc.
Half the battle won, in barely 15 minutes!
We know what we are going to sell. We know who’s gonna buy it.
Step 3: Know the Reasons They Buy (2 minutes to a few hours)
Every product that’s bought online, is being bought to serve a specific purpose.
It could be solving a customer’s pain points. E.g. A Wrist strap to help Gym rats lift heavier.
It could be arousing a specific emotion in their heart. E.g. A luxurious frame for their wedding photo.
It could be fulfilling their hidden desires. E.g. A Dating app for single men above 50.
Whatever kind of product you are going to sell, they will be bought to serve a purpose.
You have to know that purpose. Period.
There are two ways to do this:
Slow but Comprehensive Method (can take a few hours)
Go to Amazon and search for products similar to your key products.
Go to the Reviews section and read all the reviews one by one.
As you read through them, you’ll start to notice trends, and commonalities.
You will start to identify the reasons why they are buying these products. Pay close attention to long, story-like reviews. They will also give you a lot of copywriting and hook ideas.
Repeat this process with a few products similar to yours.
Update the strategy doc with all this information.
Fast but Superficial Method (2 minutes)
Enters our good ol’ friend: ChatGPT
Open ChatGPT and paste the following prompt:
“Now you know a lot about the [BRANDNAME], its mission, vision and values, its target audience and its demographics.
Give me a detailed list with description of all the following:
All the pains that this target audience is experiencing that may get alleviated once they buy these products.
All the hidden desires that this target audience might have that will get met when they buy these products.
All the emotions that these products when bought, will arouse in our target audience."Ideally, use both methods. But if you have a time crunch, or your pizza is already there, you can go with the faster method.
Voila, you’re already done with a big ass work.
You know what You are going to sell. You know who’s gonna buy it. You also know why would they buy it. What’s their drug.
Related Reading: Find Products For Your Customers
Step 4: Competitor Analysis (10-15 minutes)
Get back to the Ads library and see what ads your competitors are running.
Apply the same filters and get ready to take a lot of screenshots.
Analyse the competitors’ ads from the following different angles:
- Marketing Angles
- Offers
- Is there an offer thats been live for more than 60 days?
- Creative types
- Is there any particular type of creative that they have been running for a long time?
- Hooks
- Are they using UGCs? If so, what kind of creators are being used?
- Ad and Creative Languages
- Landing page types
Screenshot everything relevant into your Google doc.
Congratulations, in less than 30 minutes you have done the entire homework for this Brand’s D2C Advertising Strategy.
Use this data during your pitch on the discovery call so showcase your expertise as a marketer.
Of course, this isn’t comprehensive, and by no means replaces a full-blown strategy ideation process, but it’s a great starting point especially given the time frame.
Try it out today and let me know your experience in the comments.
