CPG Unwrapped: Marketing Strategies for Direct-to-Consumer Success
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing has undoubtedly been gaining momentum in the eCommerce space over the last decade. In fact, DTC marketing is projected to generate over $210 billion dollars for companies in 2024 alone. By offering consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands more control, higher margins, and access to valuable consumer data, DTC marketing can be extremely profitable when done right.
The key is to have a comprehensive marketing plan in place that seamlessly targets your audience across multiple channels. Keep reading for more information on DTC marketing, plus our top tips for direct-to-consumer success.
What Is Direct-To-Consumer Marketing?
DTC marketing allows companies to directly connect with and sell to customers without going through 3rd party retailers. This gives brands total control over their product, its pricing, their brand’s reputation, and the customer experience. By removing resellers and storefronts, brands can make more money per sale while offering lower prices to their customers; it’s a win-win!
However, while direct-to-consumer marketing has obvious benefits, it also has its challenges. Without retailers to promote their products, the responsibility of customer acquisition and retention falls to CPG brands themselves. For that reason, it’s imperative for brands to invest in creating a well-rounded, multi-channel marketing strategy.
How To Create A Winning Direct-to-Consumer Marketing Plan
Incorporate Digital Ads:
Paid search and social media ads can help get your brand’s name in front of your ideal audience. With the ability to target certain demographics, CPG companies can generate valuable leads and raise brand awareness.
Leverage Social Media Marketing:
Social media allows brands to connect with potential customers and existing customers alike. The ability to share images and videos on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X enables you to connect with followers in a more humanized way while showcasing your product, its features, and how it works.
Social Media is also an opportunity to share social proof and help potential customers understand how they can benefit from your offerings. User generated content and influencer marketing can be particularly effective tactics in gaining the trust of your followers and converting them into loyal customers.
Utilize SMS:
Given that over 90% of text messages are seen within 3 minutes, SMS offers CPG brands a quick and easy way to deliver their message to consumers. It’s an effective way to send a variety of content, including browse or cart abandonment reminders, sale and promotional alerts, and new product launch details.
Maximize Your ROI With Email Marketing:
Boasting an impressive 3,600% average ROI and over 4 billion active users globally, email ranks supreme in the world of DTC marketing. It’s your direct line to the people who want to hear from you. Email allows consumer packaged goods brands to share educational, promotional, and entertaining content to showcase their expertise, excite their audience, build brand loyalty, and drive revenue.
Email marketing has unique advantages, such as the ability to personalize emails, segment your audience, and program dynamic feeds to show products relevant to each individual recipient. CPG brands can also use email to collect valuable feedback in the form of surveys, allowing them to better understand the needs, desires, and thought-process of their audience.
While each of the above channels plays a distinct role in a well-rounded DTC marketing strategy, it’s important to identify, track, and monitor the appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs) for each channel and adjust your marketing plan accordingly. Important metrics to track may include customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, open rates, click rates, conversion rates, churn rates, average order value, and total monthly revenue. It’s also essential to ensure that your branding – including imagery, colors, fonts, positioning and voice – are consistent across all marketing channels.
Conclusion
Direct-to-consumer marketing empowers consumer packaged goods companies to distribute their product and connect with customers without the help of resellers. However, a well-rounded, multi-channel marketing approach is vital for success.
While digital ads, social media, SMS, and email are all components of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, they each have their own complexities and best practices. This can make it extremely challenging, time-consuming and costly for businesses to manage all of these marketing channels on their own.
Here at Strategy Maven Agency, we specialize in creating email campaigns and automations for CPG brands. Our team of expert strategists, copywriters, designers, and implementation specialists are here to maximize your DTC marketing efforts and drive revenue. Schedule a free consultation call with us today to learn more about how we can help you take your brand to new heights.
