Marketing lessons I'm learning as a DTC business
owner
Here are the top 5 marketing lessons I'm learning as I grow a DTC business.
This article was originally published here.
I've been working in content marketing for 13 years. I've also been writing about email marketing, SEO, influencer marketing, and social media marketing during those 13 years.
I've interviewed 100s of experts, reviewed data/reports, written case studies, and analyzed top trends. I've learned a ton by writing about marketing. But, now I'm officially in the marketing hot seat as I grow my own DTC business (www.readingwithrik. com).
I'm implementing what I've learned to grow my own little (for now) business, and it's not easy. Here are some of my takeaways so far:
1. Product quality is king
A big marketing budget can't make up for a crappy product. Similarly, if you have an excellent product (we do, BTW), marketing is a lot easier.
2. You need a distribution plan
You can have the best content in the world, but if you don't have a distribution plan, no one will see it. For 13 years, my responsibility has been to create high-quality content and then pass it on to another team member for distribution.
Nailing distribution is a current challenge for me, and I'm drinking from the firehose over here.
3. Audience channel before omnichannel
I will never stop preaching omnichannel marketing. Customers shop across several touchpoints before making a purchasing decision, and it's critical to meet them with cohesive experiences.
That being said, omnichannel marketing is expensive and time-consuming. If you are a small DTC business, it makes more sense to invest in the platform where your primary audience spends most of their time and grow from there.
4. Ask your audience & track your audience
Your marketing budget is precious when you're a small, family-owned business. The best way to maximize ad spend is to learn as much about your audience as you can BEFORE you dump money into campaigns.
But also, don't take audience feedback at face value. You'll also want to set up an attribution platform so you can see what your audience actually responds to. We're still in the audience research process, but we will use Triple Whale 🐳 for attribution.
5. Website copy and platform count
One of the best things we've done so far is migrating our old site to Shopify, redesigning the site, and rewriting the copy.
Given, we didn't have a budget to hire a huge marketing firm to do the design for us. What we did have on our family team was a rocket scientist (for real), a designer, a writer, and a founder.
Thankfully, Shopify is fairly intuitive. With our combined skills, we've been able to create a website that's pretty dang good.
I'll report back with more findings as I continue to grow. In the meantime, check out Reading With RIK.
Thanks for your insights. Soon I want to start an online sales project on Shopify and I will try to take into account your experiences.
Thanks for sharing these insights! I completely agree with the focus on product quality – it really is the foundation of any DTC brand. The point about distribution is also so important; it’s easy to put all the effort into creating content and overlook the strategy for actually getting it in front of the right people. I especially liked the reminder to start with the primary audience channel instead of going all-in on omnichannel marketing right away. It’s a great way to stay efficient, especially for smaller teams with limited budgets. This post gave me a lot to think about for my own marketing approach – thanks again for the valuable tips!
Amazing insights!
Does it work the same with marketplaces that need a funding beforehand? I'm trying to search for my first collaborators right now lol
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I believe that its all about the product quality and user experience
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Great tips.
Do you think the UI does matters in the E-Commerce platform? Does it has to look fancy or Amazon style?
Great tips here.
Particularly about having a plan BEFORE you jump into paid ads.
Then be very experimental and curious about what's working and why. What is the real, killer message that resonates?
Thanks for your insights. I'm currently starting a DTC brand with Shopify, I know how to do SEO since I grew an open-source project from 100 MUV to over 100k MUV via SEO. However, the challenge I'm currently facing is that I don't know where to get good backlinks for E-commerce sites. Do you have any experiences to share on that side?
Great insights! I totally agree that product quality is the foundation for successful marketing—no amount of budget can compensate for a product that doesn’t deliver. Your point about focusing on audience channels before scaling to omnichannel is so important for small businesses, and it's often overlooked.
Also, love how you leveraged your team’s unique skill set for the website overhaul—that’s a creative way to maximize resources.
What's the biggest thing shopify has helped you with over your old website?
Personally I think it's all about #2 #2 #2 ... even #1 can take a back seat if you have nailed #2. I don't LIKE that to be true, b/c I'm a product person, but I see it all the time. Shitty products that have a better GTM plan can beat out a better product without a solid GTM plan