Confessions of a D2C Marketer

If marketing feels like a battlefield where the rules keep changing, you’re in good company.

Last week, we gathered some of the sharpest marketing minds from brands like Lululemon, Dr Vegan, and Spoke to troubleshoot the biggest growth challenges in D2C.

Spoiler: There’s no magic formula. But the best brands aren’t waiting for perfect answers - they’re moving fast and doubling down on what works.

I got 99 problems…

and apparently, so does everyone else in marketing! These were the biggest challenges that came up – and the best solutions to solve them.

Let’s dig in shall we!

1. “I’m selling 1 product, 3 SKUs - how do I keep it fresh?”

Marketing a tiny product range without sounding like a broken record? The answer isn’t in more features - it’s in more angles.

• Change the context. One product can serve multiple needs – reposition it for different occasions, problems, or lifestyles. Think situational marketing rather than just functional marketing.

• Leverage user obsession. The best one-product brands feel like cults (in a good way). If your audience loves your product, make them the storytellers – UGC, community content, and testimonials keep it fresh without you doing all the heavy lifting.

• Change the conversation. Stop focusing solely on the product and start focusing on the customer’s world. What else are they interested in? For one brand, they discovered their customers were massive foodies, so instead of churning out the same old messaging, they built a brand partnerships strategy that tapped into this passion, unlocking new audiences and fresh content angles.

2. “Our ICP is women, so we tried working with male influencers who had a strong female audience, but it didn’t work! Why?”

One brand ran an influencer campaign using male creators with a strong female following, expecting the audience to convert. Turns out, just because women follow an attractive man online doesn’t mean they want to buy the products he’s shifting.

They trust other women.

• Influencer adjacency matters. Instead of expecting a male influencer’s audience to suddenly start shopping, focus on creators who naturally bridge both worlds.

• Community is king. Women buy based on trust and credibility. One-off posts won’t cut it – build relationships.

• When in doubt, listen to the data. If it’s not working, kill the campaign and pivot. No one needs another round of “but maybe if we tweak the CTA...”

(Side note: this topic deserves its own deep dive – if you’ve got opinions, DM me. Thinking of doing a Bold Moves edition on what makes a genuinely great influencer.)

3. “I’m the only Marketer in a D2C subscription business - how do I do it all?”

Short answer: You don’t. You focus on what moves the needle.

• Automate & build scalable playbooks: Your email flows, retargeting, and community engagement should run without you touching them every day. Every campaign you create should be reusable. Work once, win repeatedly.

• Cut the fluff. Obsess over what brings in revenue. Organic social might feel nice, but if retention and LTV are suffering, fix those first.

• Get an advisor: You don’t know what you don’t know – find someone who does.

4. “We’re a small agency with big corporate clients - how do we skip the procurement circus?”

Working with a Unilever-type company means two things: budget (yay!) and red tape (boo!).

• Make yourself indispensable. If you solve a problem that their usual agencies can’t, they will find a way to work with you.

• Find the ‘yes’ person. Every corporation has a decision-maker who hates slow processes. That’s your internal champion.

• Speed is your power. Be the agency that moves faster than their in-house teams. Results buy you influence.

5. “My Founder’s priorities change every 10 minutes - what do I do?”

Ah, the joys of working with visionaries. Founders are brilliant, chaotic, and sometimes a marketing team’s worst nightmare.

• Anchor them to real numbers. A founder loves a dream, but a sharp CAC:LTV ratio will keep them focused.

• Quarterly priorities = sanity check. Agree on the 3-5 biggest marketing goals per quarter and refer back when shiny object syndrome kicks in.

• Become their thought partner. Founders respect those who challenge them (strategically). Bring solutions, not just problems.

6. “Everyone bangs on about TikTok: is it actually a profitable growth engine?”

Every brand wants to ‘crack’ TikTok. The truth? It’s not about cracking it - it’s about riding it.

• This is a creator’s game. No one wants to see your ad. They want content. Partner with TikTok-native creators who understand the platform.

• It’s a volume play. The algorithm rewards frequent posting and experimentation. Drop the perfectionism and ship content.

• The real goldmine? TikTok Shop. If you sell physical products, learn how to leverage in-app purchasing - it’s the new frontier. But, do the unit economics calculations first…make sure the products on your shop are high margin and profitable.

7. “CAC is up a crazy amount: 50-100% YoY - how do we fight back?

Meta’s not getting cheaper. Google’s not getting friendlier. Here’s how the best brands are navigating rising acquisition costs:

• Retention is the new growth hack. If LTV isn’t increasing, your business model is at risk.

• Diversify or die. Brands who rely solely on paid social are learning the hard way - owned media, partnerships, and SEO matter.

• Improve conversion rates. A 1% bump in website conversion can be more powerful than an extra £10K in ad spend.

8. “How do I convince Finance that Brand matters?”

Every marketer has faced the dreaded finance convo: “So… what’s the ROI on brand?” Here’s how to make the case:

• Use case studies. Show brands that invested in brand early and now print money because of it.

• Show leading indicators. Search volume, direct traffic, and organic mentions often spike long before sales do.

• Frame it as reducing dependency on paid. A strong brand means lower CAC. That’s a finance-friendly metric.

Talking to Finance and Founders

(This one’s personal – I’m marrying a Finance Director this summer, and I’ve been both a Founder and a Marketer, so trust me, I get it.)

Finance: How to win them over

Step One: Empathy

You can’t win over finance or a founder if you don’t understand where they’re coming from.

Finance teams: what they care about

Finance teams own the P&L. They live in spreadsheets, scrutinise every transaction, and constantly optimise for efficiency. They’re the ones chasing invoices, adjusting pricing strategies, and figuring out how to stretch every pound. If marketers don’t understand the financial side of the business, we come across as naive (or worse—whiny).

• Speak their language. CAC, LTV, AOV, Gross Margin (even better NET MARGIN), conversion rates - these are your weapons. Use them.

• Sell brand as an efficiency play. Brand spend isn’t about gut feeling - it’s about reducing long-term dependency on paid acquisition.

• Show the numbers, not just the vision. Bring options, comparisons, and proof of efficiency. Three-channel proposals (e.g., PR, podcast, event) with projected reach work better than vague "brand-building" pitches.

Founders: How to win them over

Step One: Empathy

Every day, Founders are hit with team updates/issues, investor demands, customer feedback, urgent emails and the occasional full-blown crisis. Their brain is a battlefield of conflicting priorities, which is why today’s “must-do” strategy is tomorrow’s forgotten idea.

But it’s not just the chaos, it’s the weight of responsibility. They’re desperate not to be the bottleneck, but terrified of making the wrong call. They need to move fast, without breaking the culture they worked so hard to build. They worry about keeping the team happy, making decisive moves, and not second-guessing themselves into oblivion.

It’s not indecision, it’s the impossible balance between leading with conviction and keeping the whole ship afloat.

So, what can you do to manage them better?

• Founders need structure. The best Founders invest in a solid strategy at the start of the year and actually stick to it.

• Get them an advisor. A monthly check-in with an experienced mentor stops founders from knee-jerk decision-making. They also need someone to offload to that is impartial and won’t judge them for their naivety.

• If you’re a founder feeling lost? Get help. Talk to other founders. You don’t have to do this alone. Even better, come to my D2C Founder meet up next week and meet a load of other Founders in the trenches.

Closing thoughts:

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that digital marketing never sits still. The tactics that worked yesterday are already being rewritten by AI today. The landscape is being completely rebuilt in real time, and the best marketers are figuring out how to stay ahead before the next wave hits.

If you’re curious about where I think marketing is headed and what the Future CMO looks like in the age of AI, dive into my back catalogue here.

If you missed this meet up, but want to be at the next, just keep reading these newsletters. When we do the next one, you’ll be the first to know.

Stay Bold, Stay Brilliant

Building a business is hard, but you don’t have to go it alone. Need help making bold moves? Let’s chat. Forward this to someone who needs a little inspiration, or drop me a line—I’m here to help.

Let’s make moves,
Beth

• Connect with me on LinkedIn.

• Check out my Fractional CMO service here.

• Got questions or a topic you’d love me to cover? Email me at [email protected]

Disclaimer: I share advice from my own experience. Every business is unique, so tailor these ideas to fit your needs.