Author Note: This is the TLDR of the DTC Library. Module #00 out of 7 Modules. Read this for an overview on our approach to DTC growth in 2025. Then dive deeper into each module.
I. The End of the Original DTC Manifesto
The old playbook rewarded being early. In 2025, that’s not enough.
The first wave of DTC felt like magic. Historically, brands came from conglomerates—top-down portfolios where P&G is just made of hundreds of acquired entities. But DTC? It was personal. It was a rebellion. People with vision, not distribution deals.
The pitch was simple:
- Cut out the middleman
- Own the customer
- Pocket the margin
Early adopters were rewarded. Channels were cheap. Moats were novelty.
That era is over.
Since 2020, the squeeze has raised the bar:
- Everyone has access to the tech stack: Shopify, Klaviyo, Triple Whale, Gorgias
- Distribution has been democratized: Meta, Google, Amazon, Walmart
- Privacy wars decimated attribution: iOS 14.5, GDPR, CCPA
- Black Swans are now seasonal: Tariffs, supply chains, sentiment dips, LLMs
The old DTC map no longer applies in this landscape. What we propose is a compass and a system that adapts to the moment now.
If the original advantage was the tech stack, it was the channels, identifying what the highest leverage activities is a exercise of decision-making.
No playbook is invulnerable. So instead, this page will dynamic and updated regularly as the market moves. Strategies and tactics will change, but there are principles which will be the bread rock of the foundation.
Keep that foundation straight and center to inform decision making is in a world of noise, decision making frameworks and discernment is ultimate leverage. If you want AI to do a 100x output, that initial singular input matters more than anything you end up doing.
For the foundation, Start with the beliefs. This is the worldview that informs everything else we do.
II. What We Believe: Emblem Principles
- Brand is goodwill at scale. Add up the sum of goodwill: the good, the bad and ugly and that's your brand.
- Commerce shapes culture. What is bought shapes human behavior at scale and informs the culture.
- Integration > Siloed. Integrating marketing, operations and finance is an entry point.
- Contribution Profit is the Growth North Star. Einstein said everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Absolute dollars in the bank is that simple north star.
- Run your P&L like an athlete. Keep lean. Build strength. Design for endurance.
- Creatives that are Worth a Damn: Does this creative deserve the attention of our customers? Does it spark true joy? Emotional depths where they’re eager to DM their loved ones and in the group chats?
- Cultivate a Creative Portfolio: Thoughtful creative allocation is where you unlock your next incremental TAM.
- Buy media like an investor. Lean into ML automation, but know when to intervene. Discernment beats dogma.
- Not all behaviors are weighted equally. Big swings drive real change.
III. The Checklist
Of outlier brands within DTC they share the following seven in common. These are meant to be sequential as each one builds on top of the other. However, they can also be accessed in a modular format.
1. Clarify your POV and Category Thesis
Early on, the novel aesthetic of DTC was pastel, modern, UI/UX design. Wrap any product in a DTC aesthetic wrapper and it was sure to be a moon shot. Anything once it's been done is no longer novel and innovative; it's bland. AKA what people think of as branding is blanding.
Have a message worth spreading. And if it's a message worth sharing, then it's sure to be polarizing because you can't be magnetic without having two poles - positive and negative. Yes, there will be people who will actively hate on your brand, yet alone don't understand. But their worldviews are different, how they're raised, their life circumstance. But for the people you're after, the attraction will so strong that you'll have supporters who will be the champions of your brand.
Plant your flag. Define the market you're leading. Where you know exactly what you stand for, the message you have to share to the world. What are the stakes you're rooting for, your values, who are your people? This informs the rest of your growth marketing, acquisition and retention. The foundation and soul of the brand. Opposed to a soulless corporate conglomerate.
There's advice out there that recommend "don't even worry about branding, focus on direct response and get the sales". If you're at ground zero and $0 in sales, right on. Now once you have product-market fit, it's paramount to have an identity. Going hard on direct response worked for an Athletic Greens that rebranded to AG1, but the year is 2025. You need both. It's not a question of or, it's a question of and.
Clarify your point of view and your category thesis.
2. Contribution is your North Star
Contribution profit is order revenue minus all customer variable costs that scales with each unit sold.
Customer variable cost includes
- Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
- Ad spend
- Merchant Fees (Shopify, Stripe, Paypal)
- Fees associated with packaging / last mile delivery
Contribution profit is the highest fidelity marketing metric before approaching traditional profit and loss financial metrics. Why not look at net profit? From a traditional marketing lens, marketing does not typically have direct day-to-day impact on how operational expenses are allocated (e.g. marketing's core competency isn't recruitment, deciding employees or contractor compensation, when inventory is purchases or when and how investments into product development and research are). So if we can get the contribution profit in terms of absolute numbers up, then marketing is effective.
Your media spend may be anywhere from 20% to 50% of your budget depending on your circumstance. In that case, it's critical to not just look at your reported performance within Facebook Ads Manager but holistically how this massive tax of ad spend affects your entire business. What's reported in Facebook is not absolute truth; what's in your bank account is absolute truth.
Ever since Apple's update back in 2021 with iOS 14, giving iPhone users the ability to opt-out of being tracked to personalize their ad experience, that means every time someone clicks and buys something on Facebook because they opted out, Facebook is now interpreting that data as "oh, it seems like you want to buy something but you didn't. So you must not be our ideal customer." So Meta will have false signals on who to serve ads to. This is an oversimplification, but the point is this leads to underreporting.
Since then, Meta has introduced sophisticated modeling using artificial intelligence to bridge the gap, giving an estimate of what was likely lost. But again, a model is not perfect; it's making assumptions. If you really want to check what's going on, check under the hood. If thee dashboard in your car isn't working, while your car hood is smoking on your drive down the freeway, you wouldn't say "The car dashboard isn't showing any engine problems".
3. Big Swing High-Leverage Growth Levers
Pull high-leverage growth levers first. Not all growth activities are equal. Identify which levers impact profit the most.
Example - If you're running cost controls, you're not getting any spend, and you've tested hundreds and hundreds of ads. There are two conclusions:
- Your ads are not good enough
- Your ads are good enough, and based on your unit economics, there is no way that Facebook can get you the outcome that you are bidding for based on your inputs. The only way to win is to redesign your constraints.
Ask ," What tools do I have at my disposal?"
Think of it in terms of the perfect product, the perfect price, the perfect timing. That product would give a genie-like outcome within the most optimal time - instantly or maybe it takes time, so people feel like they've earned that. Whatever that might be, the offer which includes product, positioning, pricing, guarantee, payment terms, shipping options is a massive needle mover.
Product: What does a person buy and get?
Positioning: How is your product interpreted? For example, if a brand's selling a pair of pants, it's different if they're saying "tactical pants for weekend warriors. hunting game to nurture a primal experience that's been lost in a lost modernity) vs. "pants that are loose yet you can move when you're out clubbing with your girlfriends."It can be the same exact pair of pants, different positioning.
Pricing lower? Higher pricing is it bundling adjacent products? Is it a tiered offer where the more they buy the more they save?
Guarantee. How can you reduce friction?What's a guarantee for a $100 item vs a $1000 item. Do you get to talk to a real human being instantly?
Payment terms. Software like Afterpay and Sezzle are sure have a murky reputation when dropping on the details that it disproportionately affects people who shouldn't be buying products. It is an option when you get people different financing ways, especially on bigger items.
Shipping:
- Having a shipping threshold after $100 for free shipping
- Buy at least 3 items to get free shipping
- Maybe there isn't free shipping based off of your unique economics and you find that it doesn't move the needle, people are still buying without the expectation that we are not Amazon Prime. Your product is not a scalable item, and it takes time to even create, which gives into the storytelling of your product.
For example, we had a brand that was doing around $300,000/month and over doubled revenue to $700,000 in a month by shifting the offer. Specifically adding a promotional discount to the hero product. Everything else was exactly the same. Mind you adding a promotioal discount on an evergreen is usually not the sustainable option. The brand, it fit their circumstance because they were actively trying to liquidate all the inventory. But it shows you the power of just tweaking one aspect of the offer.
4. Construct a Creative Portfolio
Structure your content like a diversified portfolio. Across offer, avatars, angles, media type, creative styles.
5. Buy media based on business outcomes
Layer offer/avatar/angle to expand TAM while maintaining Contribution Profit.
6. Craft landing experiences that transfers belief.
What's a transformative and compelling experience you can give to the customer? Design with that in mind.
7. Use your P&L as a strategic tool.
Build a structure that supports cash flow, contribution margin, and scale.
Read the next module → Module #01 Category Compass (Coming Soon: May 19, 2025)
IV. How We Can Help
- Go to the DTC Library and bookmark it, you’ll want to time and time again where it’s organized where you can go deeper
- Ask us a question at any time in the comment sections of the articles.
- You can apply to our waitlist for boutique managed services and see if you’re eligible for us to take you on as a marketing partner. A small percentage of readers do.
