New year, new ways to shake things up. Our word for the year is TRANSFORMERS, and with that in mind, we’ve surveyed the D2C landscape for new ways to innovate, connect, and grow. Here’s our take on the top ten things your brand should spend time on this year if you’re ready to rise to the top.

1. Build real relationships. This starts with being clear about your mission, your values, and the benefits of what your product or service actually provides. Then you invite your customers into that story with ways to interact, connect, and exchange stories.
2. Think seamless. Reduce friction between you and the consumer wherever you can. That may mean strategically investing in custom dev, outstanding customer service, or a real-time social media presence.
3. Enough with the virtue signaling (“the conspicuous expression of moral values”). If you’re going to stand for something, dig in and stand for it. In real ways. We can help you find on-brand ways to be a Force For Good with things that matter to you and to your customers.
4. Invest in personalization. So much more than putting someone’s name in the subject line, the personalization of the not-so-distant future involves actually customized brand experiences – from how someone discovers your brand to how you cross-sell or up-sell items to the value you can add to your interactions. For an example, check out our work for Milani Cosmetics (TL;DR, shoppers take a survey, the survey shows results customized for their skin tone, offers coupons for custom bundles, and relevant results are presented first throughout product pages). 86% of consumers report that customization “has at least some impact” on influencing their purchasing decisions.
5. Shift who you view as your stakeholders. If you’ve been viewing your board members or investors as your primary stakeholders, you’re wrong. An unflagging commitment to your customer should be your north star – and it might even take you on an adventure.
6. Clarify your message. It’s tempting to be clever and pithy at every turn (copywriter speaking here), but with brands having access to so many clever wordsmiths, it’s really important we skew more clear than clever. (Although you might be surprised how much harder it is to be simply clear!) Consumers consume at lightning speed, and if they can’t immediately grasp what your product or service is and does, they move on. You might even say it’s the right thing to do with respect to the consumer’s time and energy.
7. Collaborate. From influencers to brand partnerships, collaboration is the new marketing currency. These days, you can even collaborate with your customers.
8. Capitalize on data. Far from discouraging the collection of customer data, the CCPA gives us good incentive to instead collect GOOD data and incentivize customers with a better experience because of it. Here’s our quick take on that.
9. Provide more value. You don’t need to have the lowest price to win. Great service, a personalized experience, and knowing exactly what your customer is actually looking for is the way to rise above your competition.
10. Embrace sustainability. If you’re not already thinking about ways your brand could reduce packaging, source from ethical producers, or pioneer new materials, you’re about to be way behind the eight ball. Transparency and accountability will go a long way toward building you a loyal following.

Digital opportunity abounds, and we couldn’t be more ready to wield our creative, strategy, and dev to help your brand rise to the top. Reach out – we’re always up for some creative juicing.