LiveIntent Blog
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
      Discover a new advertising channel for powering profitable growth.
    • Publisher solutions
      Maximize the revenue generated across email and web inventory
    • Identity data solutions
      Build stronger connections with addressable audiences everywhere.
  • Identity framework
  • Case studies
  • Company
    • Our story
      Learn more about us, our mission, vision, and the people behind it all.
    • Careers
      Grow and develop personally and professionally at LiveIntent.
    • Press
      Read up on how LiveIntent is innovating the digital ecosystem.
    • Events
      Check out our upcoming events and stay up-to-date with all things martech.
  • Resources
    • LiveIntent Library
      Learn how to harness the power of email with our eBooks, guides, and reports.
    • Blog
      Explore martech topics, strategies, and tactics with fun, insightful content.
    • Knowledge base
      Get answers to all your pressing product related questions.
    • Brand assets
      Everything you need to know about the LiveIntent brand all in one place.
Contact Us
LiveIntent Blog
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
      Discover a new advertising channel for powering profitable growth.
    • Publisher solutions
      Maximize the revenue generated across email and web inventory
    • Identity data solutions
      Build stronger connections with addressable audiences everywhere.
  • Identity framework
  • Case studies
  • Company
    • Our story
      Learn more about us, our mission, vision, and the people behind it all.
    • Careers
      Grow and develop personally and professionally at LiveIntent.
    • Press
      Read up on how LiveIntent is innovating the digital ecosystem.
    • Events
      Check out our upcoming events and stay up-to-date with all things martech.
  • Resources
    • LiveIntent Library
      Learn how to harness the power of email with our eBooks, guides, and reports.
    • Blog
      Explore martech topics, strategies, and tactics with fun, insightful content.
    • Knowledge base
      Get answers to all your pressing product related questions.
    • Brand assets
      Everything you need to know about the LiveIntent brand all in one place.
Log in Contact Us
  • Blog Homepage
  • Programmatic Advertising
  • Email Monetization
  • Identity Resolution
  • LiveIntent Culture
  • Real Time Banter
  • LiveIntentional
  • Subscribe

The #1 New Year’s Resolution for D2C Brands

    • Programmatic Advertising
  • January 30, 2020
Nick Dujnic

It’s been a big year for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. They increased ad spend by 50% and continued to upend retail by cutting out the middle man and building direct relationships with their buyers. In fact, 78% of D2C companies said they increased their budgets this year, while only 60% of traditional retailers said the same.

Consumers are also feeling the D2C hype: 40% of US internet users predict D2C brands to make up at least 40% of purchases in the coming five years.

Still, with great power comes great responsibility. In order to maintain this growth in an increasingly competitive market, D2C brands can’t rest on their laurels. They’ll have to keep innovating and finding new ways to engage consumers.

“More recently, a lot of companies have come up and been advertising in the same spaces and driven costs up,” said Rebecca Lavietes, marketing manager of eBags. “It’s made it a lot harder for us to really drive the same traffic and revenue that we were.”

That’s why there’s one new year’s resolution that should be at the top of D2C brands’ lists: testing new acquisition channels.

Testing new waters

As we discovered in our recent webinar, Overcoming the Challenges of Growing a Direct-to-Consumer Brand, top D2C brands like Vuori, eBags, and Public Rec say they’re dedicated to diversifying and testing new partners and media channels. eMarketer corroborates this, reporting that 93% of D2C brands say acquisition marketing is their top ecommerce marketing investment.

But why should D2C brands prioritize diversification as we head into the new decade? Because Facebook algorithms change, consumer behaviors shift, and new technologies can rapidly alter the landscape. And brands need to stay vigilant – especially D2C brands, which build their empires through direct, digital marketing channels.

As Erin Gregory, director of marketing of eBags said, “A cardinal rule of marketing is that things inevitably stop working. A strategy you’ve had that’s performed day in and day out will eventually go off the rails. So you have to be diversifying in order to hedge against that effect.”

It’s not fear; it’s just fact. That’s why brands like Bombas reduced their Facebook ad spend from 85% to roughly 35% of their budget. And they’re not the only ones.

According to a survey commissioned by LiveIntent in October of 2019, 85% of marketers are concerned over the rising , and 47% of marketers think they could be priced out of Facebook advertising if these trends continue.

Bret Fredrickson, customer acquisition manager of Vuori, echoes this sentiment. “Facebook’s been a huge huge channel for us, but we like to operate as if it is going to disappear tomorrow,” he says. “That means taking advantage of it while it’s here, but also looking at new channels and investing where we think attention will go to.”

Email as the new frontier

Email offers a huge opportunity for D2C marketers to reach consumers across devices and directly in their inboxes – where they already receive one-on-one messages from friends, family, coworkers, and their favorite brands. As LiveIntent found, D2C campaigns drove 25% more clicks and 35% more conversions in 2019 than in 2018.

So, even if D2C marketers got what they wanted most for the holidays – clicks, engagements, and conversions – they should still prepare to test new acquisition channels and diversify their marketing platforms for more success in 2020.

—

0
Tweet 0
Nick Dujnic

Must-Read Content

    • Programmatic Advertising

“The mix has changed”: Why advertisers must diversify their marketing channels

  • Cassie Parker
  • June 23, 2022
    • Programmatic Advertising

Why marketing channel diversification is critical to D2C success

  • Victoria de Leon
  • June 22, 2022
    • Programmatic Advertising

Email advertising: Tips for campaign success

  • Cassie Parker
  • May 31, 2022
Learn more about Programmatic Advertising.
View Post
  • Programmatic Advertising

Email Ads: How and why to advertise in email

  • Cassie Parker
  • May 24, 2022
View Post
  • Programmatic Advertising

4 reasons personalization matters now more than ever — and how email can help

  • Cassie Parker
  • April 26, 2022
View Post
  • Programmatic Advertising

How advertisers and agencies can improve operational efficiency with Audience Manager

  • Cassie Parker
  • April 5, 2022
View Post
  • Programmatic Advertising

Give consumers what they want: Relevance and personalization

  • Cassie Parker
  • February 16, 2022
View Post
  • Programmatic Advertising

Customer remarketing: Best practices with Dynamic Audiences

  • Cassie Parker
  • February 8, 2022
View Post
  • Programmatic Advertising

No third-party cookies? No first-party audience data? No problem.

  • Cassie Parker
  • January 25, 2022
View Post
  • Programmatic Advertising

How advertisers can best capitalize on the Super Bowl with email newsletters

  • Cassie Parker
  • January 19, 2022
View Post
  • Programmatic Advertising

“I’m Yours”: Win customers’ hearts this Valentine’s Day with inventory packages

  • Cassie Parker
  • January 12, 2022
LiveIntent Blog
Think outside the inbox and discover all the innovative ways email can help you grow your business.
© LiveIntent 2022
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
    • People-Based audiences
    • Publisher solutions
    • Identity data solutions
    • Identity framework
  • Company
    • Our Story
    • Careers
    • Employee Resource Groups
    • Press
    • Events
    • Contact us
  • Resources
    • Case studies
    • Blog
    • Knowledge base
    • Brand assets
  • Legal
    • Powered by
    • Content policy
    • Website privacy policy
    • Services privacy policy
    • Do not sell my info
    • Ad choices
© LiveIntent 2022
Popular topics
  • People-Based Marketing
  • Meet-a-LiveIntenter
  • Email Revenue
  • Identity Graph
  • Subscriber Acquisition
  • First-Party Data
  • Direct-to-Consumer
  • Cookie Apocalypse