David Weinfeld, Co-Founder & CEO at Screenverse
To try to get into the mindset of a DTC brand marketer heading into the holidays, I scrolled through Instagram, over the course of a few days, and wrote down every unique DTC advertiser that I encountered. I captured a list of nearly 1,000 DTC companies.
From fitness equipment to vegan snacks, furniture, shelf-top appliances, gift boxes for the holidays and everything in between, I have come to realize how difficult it is to run marketing for a DTC brand today. Advertising on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook feels like a zero sum game. There are so many different DTC companies competing for a finite and fleeting amount of attention. With such enormous demand, there’s no surprise that Facebook ad prices are increasing exponentially.
On the battlefield of attention, if every DTC brand is using the same megaphone, how can a company possibly stand out?
The answer has to be for DTC brands to reach their target audiences in the real world. I’m not advocating for DTC brands to suddenly eliminate their Facebook and Instagram ad spending. I believe that augmenting social ads with digital video in the real world will make a brand’s Instagram ads that much more effective.
While DTC brands have historically used out-of-home for massive subway dominations and Times Square takeovers, I believe the greatest opportunities for these companies to stand out are in place-based digital video networks. Location and environment provide incredible context to advertise a DTC brand.
Take a digital network like theBulletin that places screens in luxury apartment buildings and high-rises in major cities. These screens are the ideal canvas for DTC brands to enhance their marketing across every other channel. Digital in the real world is a tool to exponentially grow a DTC brand’s megaphone.
Why not break out of the mold of the standard DTC marketing blueprint and carve a path that is cost-efficient, scalable, and complementary to every other digital advertising channel? Advertising where consumers live is the exact place in which a DTC brand needs to command mind share. It’s most often where a DTC product is purchased, delivered and consumed.
Reaching consumers in the physical world is something that every DTC brand should make a consistent part of their media mix. For the smart DTC companies that do, they will be the ones that shift the battlefield of attention in their favor.
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