Meta and Google have been the gold standard for DTC marketers for years, but it may not be enough in today’s fast-paced ecommerce landscape.
DTC marketers face constant pressure to grow their brands, attract new customers, and maintain customer loyalty. To achieve these goals, more than traditional marketing channels are needed. To thrive in this competitive environment, DTC brands need to focus on channel diversification, leveraging a mix of alternative marketing strategies to ensure their marketing efforts are robust, adaptable, and capable of reaching diverse audiences.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the importance of channel diversification, dive into several alternative marketing channels DTC marketers should consider, and uncover data from Nift’s latest eBook, Navigating Success: Insights from Marketers on Channel Diversification. This in-depth report features real-world, actionable data from a survey of over 150 retail marketing executives so DTC and retail brands can leverage data to meet their CPA, ROAS, and net new acquisition goals in today’s competitive environment. Download your free copy of the eBook here.
Key takeaways from this blog:
- 74% of DTC marketing leaders say it’s challenging to correlate their results from alternative channel testing to the actual channel.
- 77% of DTC marketers find it challenging to accurately attribute results from alternative channels.
- 74% of DTC marketing leaders plan to market on more than 5 channels to hit CPA goals.
Let’s get to it!
The Importance of Channel Diversification
Marketing channel diversification involves spreading marketing efforts across various platforms and strategies to reduce risk and maximize reach. By diversifying, DTC brands protect themselves from over-reliance on a single platform that could become less effective due to market changes, increasing costs, or new regulations.
Remember the saying, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”? That extends to DTC marketing, too!
Diversification allows DTC brands to tap into different audience segments and create personalized marketing approaches that cater to their target audience wherever they are.
The Benefits of Alternative Marketing Channels
Alternative marketing channels offer DTC marketers new and effective ways to engage with their target audiences, improve customer retention, and boost brand visibility. By exploring these options, brands can differentiate themselves and achieve better returns on their marketing investments. Let’s dive into 6 alternative marketing channels and their benefits for DTC brands:
1. Email Marketing
Email marketing remains one of the most powerful tools for DTC brands. 11% of DTC marketers use email marketing because it provides a direct line to customers and offers endless opportunities for personalized engagement and communication. By segmenting audiences and tailoring email content, brands can nurture leads, upsell products, and build long-term relationships.
Email marketing allows brands to connect consistently with their audience through automated campaigns like welcome sequences, abandoned cart reminders, and post-purchase follow-ups. It’s a cost-effective method that typically generates high returns, especially when combined with a strong channel diversification strategy.
2. Referrals and Gifts (Nift)
Leveraging referral programs and gift platforms like Nift can help DTC brands acquire net-new customers with reliable results and first-party data access.
Nift is revolutionizing how consumers and brands discover each other by integrating DTC products and services as a ‘thank you’ gift within high-traffic consumer apps like Tinder or Tripadvisor. The products or services offered on the Nift platform are not ads or coupons; they are personalized gifts shown to consumers who are primed and ready to purchase.
For DTC brands, Nift advertising is an alternative marketing channel for brands that want to attract incremental new customers to their business. Unlike paid search and paid social, Nift’s software utilizes the power of first-party data and artificial intelligence to offer personalized ‘thank you’ gifts to surprise, delight, and convert. Because, let’s face it, who doesn’t love receiving a surprise gift?
Take a perfume subscription company, for example. In just 3 months with Nift, they were able to:
- Gain 24,442 net new subscribers
- Increase conversion rate to 8% for first-time buyers
- Improve CPA by 43%
That’s the power of gifting!
3. Amazon PPC
With millions of shoppers using Amazon as their go-to marketplace, Amazon PPC is a valuable channel for DTC brands looking to expand their reach. Amazon PPC allows brands to target specific keywords and product categories, ensuring their products appear to hundreds of ready-to-purchase customers.
DTC brands can capitalize on high-intent shoppers who are ready to purchase by diversifying into Amazon PPC. This channel increases visibility and drives sales, making it a valuable addition to a comprehensive marketing strategy.
4. TikTok Ads
TikTok has rapidly become a significant player in the digital advertising space, especially among younger demographics. With TikTok’s algorithm favoring authentic and creative content, brands can run ads that feel more like organic posts, blending in with the platform’s user-generated content.
49% of Gen Z users make purchases on TikTok, so for DTC brands targeting Gen Z and Millennials, TikTok ads offer a unique way to engage and attract users through short, captivating videos.
5. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has evolved from a niche tactic to a mainstream strategy that can significantly impact a DTC brand’s reach. By partnering with influencers, brands can tap into established communities and gain access to engaged followers who trust the influencer’s recommendations.
These collaborations often lead to higher engagement rates, making influencer marketing a valuable channel for building brand awareness, driving sales, and nurturing customer loyalty.
6. Pinterest Ads
Pinterest is a highly visual platform where users go to seek inspiration and discover new products. This makes it an ideal channel for DTC brands, especially in the fashion, home decor, beauty, and lifestyle industries. Pinterest ads allow brands to reach users when they are in a discovery mindset, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
With options for both promoted pins and shopping ads, Pinterest enables DTC brands to showcase their products and drive traffic to their eCommerce sites. The platform’s targeting options also allow brands to reach specific demographics and interest groups, making it a powerful tool for engaging potential customers and increasing sales.
5 Strategies For Effectively Tracking ROI Across Multiple Marketing Channels
Effectively tracking ROI across multiple marketing channels is crucial for businesses to understand the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and make informed decisions about where to allocate their resources.
In fact, 74% of DTC marketing leaders say it’s challenging to correlate their results from alternative channel testing to the actual channel. Additionally, 77% find it challenging to accurately attribute results from alternative channels.
1. Set Clear Goals and KPIs
Before tracking ROI, businesses must define specific goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) for each marketing channel. These may include:
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- Lifetime Value (LTV)
- Conversion Rate
- Net-New Customer Acquisition
2. Implement UTM Tracking Codes
UTM codes are essential for tracking the performance of specific campaigns across channels. By adding UTM parameters to the URLs used in ads, social media posts, email campaigns, and other marketing initiatives, businesses can gather data on where traffic is coming from and how each source is performing.
3. Leverage Marketing Analytics and Automation Tools
Marketing analytics and automation tools like Google Analytics can help businesses integrate and analyze data from multiple channels. These tools often offer dashboards that consolidate data, showing the performance of various campaigns and channels in real time.
4. Utilize Attribution Software
Attribution tools collect data on user interactions across a variety of marketing channels. These tools help businesses create custom attribution models, collect data from various touchpoints, and visualize the impact of each channel on conversions and revenue.
5. Conduct Regular Performance Reviews and A/B Testing
Remember to ABT (Always Be Testing).
Regular performance reviews are essential to understanding how different channels contribute to overall ROI. By reviewing data monthly or quarterly, businesses can identify trends, optimize poorly performing channels, and invest more in channels showing higher returns.
A/B testing also plays a crucial role in optimizing ROI. By testing different variations of ads, emails, copy, creative, and landing pages, marketers can identify which approaches work best for each channel and audience segment.
Amp Up Your DTC Marketing Strategy
Channel diversification is no longer an option but is necessary for DTC marketers aiming to build a resilient and scalable brand. By embracing alternative marketing channels like Nift, DTC brands can effectively reach diverse audiences, increase brand visibility, and drive sustainable growth.
Download our ebook to discover more about alternative marketing channels and diversification strategies, including:
- How to navigate a cookie-less world
- 5 future trends in DTC marketing
- 3 critical KPIs DTC marketers need to measure
- And more!
Grab your free copy here or request a demo with our team to learn more about Nift Advertising for DTC Brands.
About the Author
Mark McMaster is Vice President of Performance Marketing Solutions at Nift Networks, a rapidly growing marketplace reshaping how consumers discover and engage with brands. Nift delivers personalized gifts to consumers, AI-matched to their individual preferences. These gifts are offered through premium consumer apps such as TripAdvisor, Afterpay, and Tinder, expressing gratitude during key life-cycle moments. Brands, including True Classic, HelloFresh, Chewy, and SiriusXM, partner with Nift to gain exclusive access to millions of highly engaged customers. Mark’s team identifies new brands that can benefit from Nift as a new user acquisition platform and helps these brands tailor their approach to delight Nift’s consumers and earn their loyalty while meeting CPA or ROAS goals.
Mark brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing with a focus on digital solutions for performance goals. He began his tech career at Google, where he was one of the first vertical marketers tasked with translating evolving online behaviors into effective search advertising. At Google, he managed teams serving some of Google’s most prominent global clients and mid-market and SMB growth initiatives. His final three years at Google were in a product strategy role, improving YouTube’s video solutions for app-based, eCommerce, and other performance marketers, growing the business from a small portion of YouTube’s ad revenue to a $2B+ global business.
Snapchat recruited Mark to launch a performance marketing sales and service team, which became the foundation of the platform’s fastest-growing vertical, eCommerce. Over five years, Snapchat’s performance teams onboarded thousands of customers and a team of over 100 sales executives, analysts, and customer support leads. Creative strategists helped drive success for diverse categories across Snap’s ad products and unique augmented reality (AR) shopping experiences.
Mark is active in the startup world and the eCommerce industry. He co-founded the sports app Takes and was an early advisor to Frenzy, an AI technology platform that optimizes merchandising and product-search for Shopify merchants. He holds a degree from Northwestern University in Marketing and studied Journalism, Political Science, and Humanities as an undergrad at the University of Kansas.
