Instead of separating brand and performance budgets, treat every performance ad as a brand-building opportunity. Ensure all creative is polished and educates the consumer about the product and brand, building equity with every dollar spent on acquisition.
A high-performing listicle landing page—a common mid-funnel asset for D2C brands—should be converting 35% to 60% of its visitors to the next step, typically the product page. This specific benchmark helps marketers gauge the effectiveness of their listicle content and design.
New brands should resist targeting a broad audience. Instead, focus on a specific niche (e.g., Hyrox athletes for a health device) where the product's value is clearly demonstrable. This builds a strong story and credibility that can be leveraged for future expansion into other markets.
Elevate standard influencer whitelisting by creating custom landing pages or advertorials for each creator. Use subdomains like "reviews.creatorname.com" to build a dedicated funnel that feels native to the influencer, significantly increasing conversion potential beyond just running ads from their handle.
Instead of renting space on existing publisher sites for advertorials, create your own. This provides complete control over the user experience, UI, A/B testing variables, and crucially, allows you to place your own tracking pixels for richer data and full funnel ownership.
Instead of perfecting one funnel, successful brands test a high volume of marketing angles (e.g., 50) with simple static ads. They identify the top performers (e.g., 3-4 "honey holes") and then build out more extensive funnels with video and dedicated landing pages for only those winners.