oliverjones1

[oliverjones1]

Castlery: Proof that when you want something done right…

Castlery was founded by a group of young professional friends in Singapore who realized that none of them could find stylish, luxurious, and affordable home furnishings in their home country. The friends attended college, worked their first jobs abroad, and realized when they returned to Singapore their local retailers didn’t provide many options that fit their specific taste in furniture.

The founding team started in a 900 sq. ft basement office and grew the brand into a global powerhouse of furniture that appeals to young professionals in the market for a mid-range offering between Ikea and higher-priced, upscale furniture brands like West Elm.

Know where to send your prospecting ads (and to whom)

One of the benefits that Castlery has is that the brand has a defined audience - the exact demographic that the founders were in when they started it. In this interview with co-founder Declan Ee from CNA Luxury, Ee talks about how he and his friends noticed that there was no mid-tier option available between Ikea and high-cost furniture brands before they entered the industry.

Knowing that was their target market, the gender and age distribution for the brand’s site traffic as listed by Similar Web shows that they have found the customers they were seeking - young professionals, mostly female, and mostly in the 25-34 age bracket.

Their audience is already interested in competitor furniture brands, but the listing of the top 10 shows an important aspect of the competitive space for Castlery: the brands at the top of the list would be out of the budget range for many in their target demographic of young professionals.

By creating sleek, luxurious, and high-quality products, the brand appeals to its target customers more than those at the bottom of the list.

By offering their products at affordable prices with many bundle deals, coupons, and promotions, they’ve found the “sweet spot” within their competitive matrix. 

Some of the ads in their library only have 1 ad version, while others have 20, 30, or even 40. Some are ads for a single product, while others are ads for entire product lines. Some use influencers, others have bundle deals, coupon codes, or simply lead potential customers to a product line.

By using data and ad optimization, they can run different ads at different segments based on where they are in the prospecting funnel, what their interests are, or what their actions have indicated they are most likely in the market to purchase.

How to build your marketing mix

Marketing mix allocation is extremely important for a brand and should be constantly optimized based on where the most conversions and LTV SPOT increases are coming from.

Mobile is great and accounts for a large amount of traffic and sales for some brands, but that doesn’t automatically mean that it’s right for all brands. 

Likewise, social, search, display, email, or direct marketing should have budgets allocated according to the response that they deliver, not how cool the tech is or how familiar the marketing team is with that channel.

The marketing channels used by Castlery, and the traffic that those channels bring to the brand’s eCommerce website are smooth considering their significant numbers. This would indicate that their testing and results have borne out their marketing mix allocation and that the brand’s marketing team is putting its budgets in the right places.

If I were a betting man, I’d bet that the decision was made by the Castlery marketing team to bring prospective customers in to see the breadth of products the brand offers, along with the quality they deliver at mid-tier pricing.

Upsells can be one of the best aspects of ad funnels.

Once a well-run campaign and prospecting strategy converts potential customers into buying customers, how does a brand create an uplift or pivot into their other product lines?

Upsells within the sales or ad funnels are an excellent way to do this, especially if the brand knows a lot about its customers.

Young professionals aren’t too keen on sleeping on the single or full mattress that they probably had in college, and if they’re shopping at Castlery they probably know that a bedroom needs more than just a bed.

As a first-time purchaser, the brand doesn’t know a whole lot about my shopping habits or preferences, but it does know that every bed (for a young professional) needs a nightstand next to it.

The upsell offers that come with this bed both match the bedframe itself and provide me with options that can work for different budgets.

Retargeting that finds you where you spend your time.

To get a look under the hood of their sales funnel and retargeting strategies, I clicked on the link in one of their Facebook posts that also corresponds to one from the ad library within the middle-range of ads currently running (The Dalton Bed set).

An important point to note is that I purposely chose to use the Facebook Single Sign On (SSO) to create an account with Castlery to check out the item I’d chosen (The Dalton Bed set pictured above). Castlery gave me the option to use either Google or FB for my SSO, and the tech companies love it when you do this because it creates “stickiness” for their platforms.

Using this option means that people don’t have to remember or enter passwords for the hundreds of different eCommerce, tech, or other websites that they use often. This leaves people more inclined to continue to use those SSOs rather than individual passwords for each site, making them more inclined to use the platform for the SSO more often, and less likely to ditch those accounts in the future.

Despite using the FB SSO for checkout (after which I abandoned the cart and site entirely to see their retargeting), I scrolled and refreshed my FB feed several times looking for a Castlery retargeting ad that never came.

I checked my Gmail for an abandoned cart email, and it hadn’t come within the first half hour.

Logging on to YouTube, where I spend most of my time listening to news, interviews, and some podcasts (most of my social media experience - I’m not on FB much except to do these deep dives), I was hit with several layers of Castlery ads.

When I opened YouTube, the very first thumbnail that I was served was a Castlery ad.

I selected a video to watch (from a creator that I watch on a nearly daily basis) and was hit with a pre-roll ad from Castlery. This shows a relatively advanced level of retargeting, as it didn’t just send me ads on Facebook because I used that platform for the SSO and was currently logged on.

They began serving me ads, in multiple formats, on the platform where I spend the most time.

Some things are out of a brand’s control.

There has been a not-insignificant drop in the traffic and engagement for Castlery since October, and I don’t believe that has anything to do with the brand.

The global economy, along with stock markets, businesses, housing, etc, all have an economic and business cycle that business leaders - especially in the consumer product category - would be wise to always pay attention to.

Economic data shows that job growth is far lower than what was originally reported, credit cards in the West are maxed out, and delinquencies across all types of credit and loans are increasing rapidly.

Each of these data points shows a slowing economy and potential recession, wherein the target demographic for Castlery - young professionals - are likely to be some of the first casualties.

Given that the brand puts so much of its marketing mix allocation into paid search, I would imagine that a portion of its target demographic is in the process of tightening their wallets and budgets, which would make them less likely to be searching for new furniture online.

Can the Castlery team bring traffic & and engagement back up?

The downturns of the economic cycle are nothing new, yet it seems many companies and business leaders seem to be unprepared and surprised when it happens. This environment can either provide disaster or a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for your business, depending on several factors.

Two excellent quotes speak directly to this type of situation, so of course we’d like to share them in meme format for you now.

1.         Make hay while the sun shines.

2.         If you can be a lean cat in fat times, you can be a fat cat in lean times.

3.         At least one of the Castlery founding team members (Ee, the subject of the interview linked in the first section) was educated at the London School of Economics and started his career working in global finance and investment banking.

4.         If anyone is set to help an eCommerce company weather a global downturn, that type of founder would be needed in a senior leadership position.

5.         With their eCommerce and DTC focus, at least Castlery doesn’t have to worry about sharing margins with retail sales channels, so they have a lot more room to work with than other competitors may.

6.         With a 9600% traffic and search growth rate since 2019 and a stellar marketing machine behind them, we hope the brand can find a way to thrive in any environment that the future may bring.

How Can You Apply this?

How can we apply the lessons learned from the Castlery team’s marketing, investments, strategies, and wild success?

Applicable insights:

•          You don’t want your prospecting ads to be a “shotgun blast” into the ether. Take the time to map a potential customer journey germane to your target demographic to make an educated guess on where to reach them. After the first campaign, optimize and refine continuously.

•          In a perfect world, your marketing mix refinement should at some point deliver a relatively smooth chart when looking at your metrics. If there are major ups and downs across your traffic, engagement, and conversions, something is off.

•          Every ad or sales funnel should have an upsell offer. These can be a discount, bundle, or product that goes well with what the customer is purchasing - but it should be a part of every funnel.

•          Marketers have an unheard-of amount of access to data today, and retargeting technology is always getting better. Use the two together and ensure your retargeting efforts are data-driven.

•          The leadership and marketing teams for an eCommerce or DTC company should always be mindful of the economic and business cycle. Keep your eyes out for indicators so that you will know when a downturn (which will result in reduced sales across many industries) is coming.

[oliverjones1]

Tactacam: From tinkering in the garage to a massive success story

Tactacam: From tinkering in the garage to a massive success story

Most marketing agencies, product development teams, and executive leadership for large companies in the US are located in the coastal areas or big cities (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc), and don’t really have a solid understanding of what makes middle America “tick.”

Every once in a while, a company comes along that has that understanding, and it’s usually because the founders themselves are from the proverbial “flyover country” of America. Today, we’ll talk about one such company that started with a single type of niche product - hunting cameras - and how their understanding of what their target demographic wants leading to a 99x traffic growth over 4 years for camera manufacturer Tactacam.

One type of product can be enough.

One might look at Tactacam and wonder how a company that really only offers one product - cameras built for outdoor enthusiasts - could achieve a 99x growth rate in traffic and massive business success.

Those who understand the outdoor enthusiast economy know better.

$536.7 billion was spent by Americans on outdoor gear in 2022, and that’s a trend that has risen pretty much every year as long as it has been tracked. Tactacam is not the first type of camera that is targeted towards outdoor enthusiasts (GoPro), but the brand focuses on a totally different Total Addressable Market (TAM).

While GoPro focuses mainly on adrenaline sports (mountain bikers, skiers, etc), Tactacam targets hunters, conservationists, farmers/ranchers, off-grid residents, RV owners, campers, boaters, and fishermen.

It may surprise some city slickers who read this LTV Spot newsletter that 29% of the traffic for a company that focuses on the above activities would be female, but it’s not surprising for those who grew up in the Midwest or South.

What is surprising is the age distribution that is relatively even from age 25 all the way up to over 65.

And while we call the wide suite of Tactacam offerings “one” type product, we do understand the major differences between their multiple lines of that type of product.

While they are all essentially cameras, the variations sold by Tactacam are each designed for a different purpose:

Many of the products listed above will be targeted and sold to the same general audience - think Iowa or Texas vs New York City or Los Angeles - but even that population has to be segmented for offers based on interests.

The very first Tactacam was an early beta version of the brand’s best-selling action came series. Founder Ben Stern went to school for videography, and his grandfather made fun of him for telling a story about a buck he shot while hunting but not having any video to back up the story.

Ben used what he’d learned in school to build a very basic camera that could be mounted to his rifle, took it out hunting to test and refine it, and began to share it with friends. It soon became so popular that the company was born, and the product lines grew from the action camera to other offerings which facilitate all of the activities listed above.

Ben knew his customers, knew the current demands that were not being met within the marketplace, and got to work building an outdoor camera empire.

Patents & IP can make you primed for a buyout or acquisition offer.

As of this writing, Tactacam has 12 patents for its technology, from the cameras to mounts and stabilizers. Some entrepreneurs go into business out of a love for what they do or building teams, but some just want to make as much money as humanly possible - and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Getting patents for your products or ideas can be an expensive, time-intensive, and bureaucratic process, but if your product is new or novel it can be well worth your time to do so.

And if your goal is to see your company eventually acquired by a larger brand or private equity firm - after which you can cash out and live the rest of your days on a beach sipping mai tai cocktails - having the rights to IP or patents that can be sold or licensed to other companies is a good way to do it. Patents & IP can make you primed for a buyout or acquisition offer

As of this writing, Tactacam has 12 patents for its technology, from the cameras to mounts and stabilizers. Some entrepreneurs go into business out of a love for what they do or building teams, but some just want to make as much money as humanly possible - and there’s nothing wrong with that.

And if your goal is to see your company eventually acquired by a larger brand or private equity firm - after which you can cash out and live the rest of your days on a beach sipping mai tai cocktails - having the rights to IP or patents that can be sold or licensed to other companies is a good way to do it.

Know what your customer wants and where & when they want it.

The core of marketing is understanding how to reach your customer with the perfect marketing tripod of, “right time, right place, right message.” Tactacam is a hybrid DTC eCommerce company with most of its products sold through retail channels because it knows how its customer’s shop.

Additionally, and most importantly, they know where their customers shop:

If you know anything about hunting, fishing, or outdoor enthusiast culture, you know the brands listed above. Tactacam also has deals with outfitters, which are companies that lead and “outfit” hunters with gear and supplies on hunting trips.

Each of these tactics - outfitters and retail channels - allows the brand to meet its target consumers in the places where they are already seeking gear for the activities Tactacam products are used for.

If a hunter or fly fisherman doesn’t even know that Tactacam exists but is provided with one of the brand’s action cams for a big game hunt in the backcountry of Montana, there’s a better-than-average chance that hunter will go home and buy one for themselves.

You can also see this conscious tactic play out where Tactcam doesn’t offer sales channels:

Despite the social media focus, the brand doesn’t have stores on any of its social media platforms. In fact, the links included in these videos point you to the brand’s website, but the only products that can be purchased on that site are the Reveal brand cameras (and not the flagship action cameras):

Outdoor enthusiasts are more prone than other groups to be in the “trust, but verify camp.” They are more likely to want to put their hands on an expensive product before buying it, especially if it’s going to be a part of their trusted kit or hunting load out.

By putting its products on the shelves in trusted retail channels, the brand gets additional marketing through shelf placement, which is noticed when its target customer is already shopping for the gear they need.

It also forges alliances with these trusted retail brands.

And as stated above, the brand’s customers aren’t likely to buy something just because they saw a cool ad or post for it on social media.

Know how to talk to your customer and where.

Besides the retail sales channel, where else does Tactam put its marketing focus?

Direct, organic search and paid search are the top 3 channels for the brand, with the remaining 3 marketing disciplines (referrals, social, and display ads) coming in far behind.

With their focus on creating social media videos for content, it’s not hard to understand why a lot of the traffic comes from mobile users:

Notice where the paid vs organic is. The target demographic for this brand may see things they like on social, but will go to their desktop to perform searches, and likely when it’s time to buy. They aren’t as likely as urban customers to conduct a purchase via mobile.

Let’s have a look at the keywords that Tactacam targets in its search efforts:

Most of these keywords focus on the brand name, which could indicate it’s a strategy built to ensure the brand catches people who either hear about the products from a friend (word-of-mouth, some of the most powerful marketing in the world), or who see products somewhere and decide to perform their own search.

What about the search ads that Tactacam runs?

Notice the search ads also focus on the brand name (Tactacam) or brand name + products.

The brand knows that it’s already a “known quantity” in the industry and is pointing potential customers in the right direction to do their own research on Tactacam products.

Since the brand owns a dozen patents for its technology and products, they don’t have to worry as much about knockoff competitors as other brands would.

Social can help brands build communities.

There are many social groups that were extremely popular in the days of our parents and grandparents that have fallen on hard times because not as many people these days are inclined to be a part of those groups.

In certain demographics, however, the desire to commune with like-minded individuals is as strong - and even stronger, in some circumstances - than ever.

The Tactacam potential customer demographic is one of those groups, and the brand has capitalized on that quite well.

With over 83k ratings for the Tactacam REVEAL app bringing it to a nearly 5-star average, the brand has a lot of “social proof” to help bring in customers and new users for the app - which is required to use the functionality for the brand’s products.

The brand also has communities within each of its social media pages:

Retargeting and upsells.

Even though Tactacam follows an eCommerce/retail hybrid, the company still incorporates the tactics that we at LTV Spot constantly say that every brand with an online presence should: upsells in the sales funnel and retargeting.

Let’s go down a quick sales path for the Tactacam products that are offered on the website. Remember, the company doesn’t sell many of its products on the website and has no social media shops.

I clicked a link in one of the brand’s social media posts, which took me to the product line page of the website:

I selected one of the products that were neither the most nor least expensive:

And was immediately hit with the accessory upsell offers that would go well with this product:

After selecting to purchase the item above and abandoning the cart, I began to check my various social media accounts for retargeting efforts, and quickly found this:

While the brand didn’t end up in any pre-roll ads on YouTube, it did get this tile icon sponsored on my YouTube dashboard, which would have been a good location for it.

I didn’t find any more retargeting efforts but given that the demographic most likely to purchase these products will do so through the stores listed above, it’s not hard to see why retargeting wouldn’t be one of their greatest ads spends.

Even if it’s minor, every brand should have comprehensive upsell and retargeting strategies baked into its marketing allocation.

The Marketing Machine and Numbers Behind Tactacam:

Tactacam has had 137 different installs into its website tech stack over the years but is currently down to only 42. This very well could have been a shift in strategy dictated by the private equity firm that bought the company out, but it certainly highlights a change:

Nearly all of the brand’s former advertising programs were removed (DoubleClick, Google Ads, Facebook Advertising, Pubmatic, Google Remarketing), but the video platforms remained (Vimeo, YouTube).

It very well may have been the PE firm that moved Tactacam from a pure e-commerce business model to a hybrid e-commerce and retail model, which would certainly necessitate a reduction in online ad spend.

Additionally, once the brand started seeing a meteoric rise within the closely-knit communities that make up its target customer group, the need for advertising greatly reduced - as happy customers are doing it for them.

The employee headcount ranges depending on where you look, with ZoomInfo reporting <25 employees and GrowJo reporting 160. Pitchbook puts the number at 326, and that platform is likely to have the most accurate numbers based on the LBO deal from the PE firm that bought Tactacam.

Revenue numbers also vary, and as a privately held firm Tactacam doesn’t have to report them as a public company would. ZoomInfo puts revenue at <$5mm, but GrowJo seems to be a little closer to an accurate estimate at $7.5mm per year.

Overall, Tactacam has made great leaps and strides since it started off in the garage of founder Ben Stern. The brand’s story just goes to prove that if you know what your customer base wants and how to deliver your value proposition to them, the sky is the limit.

 How Can You Apply this?

Tactacam started when founder Ben Stern’s grandpa made fun of him for not putting his education to good use. Deciding to get to work and turning a hobbyist hunter into a brand-building success story certainly has some insights to be gleaned from Ben’s experience.

So, what insights can we glean from the story outlined above?

Applicable insights:

If there is enough unmet demand within the marketplace, one core type of product can be enough to build a successful brand - if you know how to play your cards right.

If your product is new or novel, establishing and owning the patents & IP behind it can be a game changer that leads to a very successful future (and protection against competition).

Know what your customer wants before you even start building a company or product.

Know where to sell to your customer - it may not be the places where other brands are putting their efforts.

Know how to talk to your customer, and where. Different platforms will often require different messaging and strategies. Know the difference.

Social media platforms are a low-cost way to reach a wide audience. If you have a community-inclined target demographic, social should be used to build communities.

Every single eCommerce brand needs to have strategies within its sales funnel for retargeting and upsells.

[oliverjones1]

Sallve: Why Investors are Fighting over this Brazilian Skincare Brand

Sallve: When a dozen VCs are willing to part with $40mm for a skincare line, pay attention.

In 10 minutes or less, here's what you’re discovering:

Sometimes the most important business decisions you make are those made at the very founding of your company (how, where, in what business, and for whom you will compete).

Ad spend on platforms where your target demographic doesn’t spend time could very well be like lighting your hard-earned capital on fire.

Many startups and brands today like to choose unique or “edgy” names that may be difficult to spell properly - doing so means you will need a great search team to help your customers find the right website if you don’t want scammers to eat your lunch.

For some customers, the only internet access they have is through a phone. Mobile plays a key role in eCommerce with customers in developing regions.

According to Pitchbook, Sallve is an “Operator of a beauty company intended to focus on catering to the discerning needs of Gen Z and millennial consumers.”

If you paid attention to the opening stats for the company, you may be wondering just why in the world a Brazilian beauty company that targets Gen Z and millennials would be able to raise over $40 million from VC firms.

The firm’s 9800% increase in web traffic and nearly $16mm gross revenue last year shows that they certainly know what they are doing - let’s dig in deeper to figure out exactly what that is.

The appeal of a Brazilian skincare company to Venture Capital

Even the most successful Silicon Valley Venture Capital firms have a roughly 10% investment success rate, and their entire business model is centered around finding the one unicorn that will pay for all of their laggard or totally unprofitable investments.

So why would a dozen global VC firms (including Google Startups) be willing to pour over $40mm into a skincare line in Brazil through its Series B funding round?

This may be the first key:

Firstly, we are surprised that 41% of this DTC eCommerce skincare brand’s traffic is coming from males. More importantly, however, is that Sallve seems to be able to attract and convert the age groups that are well renowned for ditching the favored brands of their parents and setting out on their own path in pretty much every way.

Gen Z and millennials aren’t down with evergreen brands or big box beauty retailers. They want to find their own favored brands that speak to them. Gone are the days when several generations of men in a family would share Old Spice aftershave or young women would borrow mom’s makeup.

It’s not just the ability to court the younger generation that makes this brand so attractive to professional investors. Although its products are relatively cheap (R$60-160, roughly $12-32), the key to the investability of a skincare company is its LTV.

Those who care about their skin don’t want to change brands or simply buy whatever the “cheap stuff” is off of the shelf at the store. They are more likely than most consumers to find a brand they like, that works well with their skin type, and stick with it for a very long time.

For skin care in a country full of people who love to spend their days at the beach and in the sun, that can mean monthly sales of one or multiple products per successfully converted customer, every month for years or even decades.

To add the icing on top of this fudge sundae for VCs, understanding the culture in Brazil makes this an even more attractive investment opportunity.

Most people understand that geographical locations in the USA like Beverly Hills (California) or Manhattan (New York) are the global capitals of cosmetic surgery for vanity-filled celebrities, debutants, and the “Real Housewives” casts of characters.

But do you know which country is number two on the list? 

Brazil

Let’s take a moment to summarize a few of the financial incentives that make $40 million look like a fair amount of money for VCs to throw at Sallve:

Targeting a demographic that all brands want to court – successfully

In an industry that has an exceptionally high LTV if you can win a customer

In a country where the populace cares very deeply about their appearance

Only dorky old people are on Facebook today

Facebook successfully built one of the first - and by far the best - marketing and advertising platforms across all of social media. I attended a weeklong course to become a certified Facebook marketer, and understanding its algorithm and what went into it is mindblowing.

So why is this how Sallve treats Facebook ads?

To be perfectly candid, they do have a Facebook store:

But it seems as if they don’t see the site (or its top-tier ad platform) as being worth the investment.

During my retargeting deep dive, I noticed that there wasn’t any retargeting efforts coming at me through my own YouTube normal viewership, so I wandered over to the brand’s YouTube channel as well.

Guess what:

The view counts on their videos are all over the place (some have a few dozen views, while others have tens of thousands), which is paltry for a brand with that much funding and so much web traffic.

As it turns out, social only comes in 4th place in regard to where their website traffic comes from. The brand knows that the demographic it is targeting doesn’t spend their time on Facebook or YouTube, so the brand goes where its audience is:

TikTok

Instagram

Pinterest

Retargeting (or lack thereof)

I was rather surprised when I did my retargeting test for Sallve that I didn’t receive any retargeting ads on any of my preferred platforms, any abandoned cart emails, or any retargeting efforts whatsoever.

Because they have an FB store, I selected one of their products there and had it lead me to the Sallve website:

The FB store took me to the Sallve.com.br website and the product page, where I noticed something that we love to see during our deep dives here at LTV:

An upsell offer! While the upsell offer may be something that we constantly say should be done by every eCommerce company, it's especially smart in beauty brands like Sallve.

People who take care of their skin will often have several “routines,” including morning, evening, going outside or to the beach, and sometimes others in between.

Each of these routines will use different products, which makes each an LTV-increasing opportunity for Sallve. If they can convert a new customer into getting two, three, or more items right off the bat and keep those customers using the brand, it can be a long-lasting relationship.

Organic and paid search

When you look into the traffic sources to Sallve’s eCommerce website, both #1 and #3 come from search:

And they are nearly 75% organic with a little over 25% coming from paid:

The keywords targeted by Sallve are also interesting:

Notice that of the 10 keywords targeted here, 8 include the brand’s name directly. Rather than generic searches for things like cosmetics, UV moisturizer, or acne cream, the brand is focused on making sure that people searching for Sallve already find the right eCommerce website.

Of the top 5 search ads, all are sending traffic to the vegan products portion of the Sallve eCommerce website:

And while Sallve is a global company with headquarters in South America (Sao Paolo), the US, and the EU, nearly all of the brand’s traffic to the website comes from Brazil:

Their bounce rate is also pretty gnarly for a brand with so much money in the bank - hopefully they clear that up at some point.

Sometimes, it’s all about mobile traffic

Sao Paolo is a rather modern and industrialized city, but a relatively large part of Brazil is rural and what many in the US or Western Europe would consider 3rd world living standards. When it’s time for Carnival all bets are off and even Sao Paolo becomes a mass of humanity…but on a normal day it’s pretty civilized.

Westerners are spoiled in terms of infrastructure, and often don’t understand that smart phones are the only access to the internet that the vast majority of the world has - Brazil included.

As a result, Sallve’s traffic isn’t just almost exclusively from Brazil, but almost all is mobile as well:

If you want to have a successful eCommerce or DTC business that has a customer base outside of the West, you must, must, MUST optimize your website and systems (including payment) for mobile.

Build communities

You may have noticed in the photo of Sallve’s Instagram profile above that they have a community on that platform that is dedicated to the brand, and not just followers. The brand does the same across all of its social platforms, and even has this:

The app gives Sallve’s Gen Z and millennial customers a place to connect, learn beauty secrets, keep track of their skincare routine, and of course share tips with each other. These age groups are not known to be big fans of joining communities or social groups with older generations, but they love the chance to link up with their like-minded and similarly-aged cohort.

Building a community around your brand can be a great idea for any DTC or eCommerce company, but for those seeking to court the Gen Z and millennial demographic, it should be seen as “table stakes.”

Referrals, referrals, referrals

We saw something during our investigation into Sallve’s exponential traffic gain that we don’t see very often, but we absolutely love it when we see it.

Referral traffic!

Granted, the referral traffic to the Sallve website isn’t all that much of their total traffic, but looking more closely at the referring sites paints a picture that helps us see another one of their marketing strategies:

We looked at their display and ad networks, and they aren’t really worth sharing (only around 5k of the total traffic). What this tells us (especially with LinkTr.ee being the highest referral traffic provider) is that they likely have a solid influencer and affiliate marketing program in the making.

If you look at the variety of industries the top referring websites come from (finance, gambling, lifestyle, shopping, business services), there’s no single common theme - it seems to be people who just want to make their cut of the rapidly growing Sallve brand.

Doing so is one of those wonderful situations in which everyone wins.

Affiliate and influencer strategies are a pretty simple way to get a diverse audience for your growing brand, and to borrow the fans of others and introduce them to your products, while the affiliates and influencers also get their own share of the spoils for sending their followers or traffic your way.

Everyone wins, and that’s a game we can all get behind.

The Marketing Machine and Numbers Behind Sallve

When analyzing the marketing tactics and strategies behind the success of Sallve, one intersting tidbit of info came when we looked at the tech stack present within the company’s website. It seems that over the past 6 years, the company has had 122 different programs installed into their stack at one point or another:

But over half of those have been uninstalled, and the stack is now down to only 62. Of those removed were a lot of advertising (FB Ads, Google Ads, Taboola, Pubmatic, FB Custom Audiences, YouTube, and others) as well as a lot of marketing analytics software.

They still have tech to help run the marketing for the platforms that they do focus on (Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok), but it seems there was a conscious decision made that those listed above weren’t worth the effort - or even space to have installed on their website.

The public numbers for their employee count go from <25 (ZoomInfo) to 100 or 200, but Pitchbook put the headcount at 174, and they’re usually pretty accurate.

Their revenue estimates were a little tough to find, and getting the different funding deal amounts required going through several different sources, each of which would have one or another of the rounds censored. Piecing them all together allowed us to come up with the +$40mm (just over $41,000,000 to be exact), but thankfully the 2022 revenue was listed directly on ECDB ($15.9mm).

Sallve has played all of its cards right so far, and we expect to see good things from the brand in the future.