Is the theater kid → marketing adult pipeline real? 

We saw some Twitter chatter about it, and we’re curious: have you seen it firsthand?

• Yes, theater is where great marketers are born!

• No, theater is where actors are born… 

Thanks! Now for Peloton’s PR problems, cigarette sales trends, and your daily dose of DeathTok.

EXPERT Q&A

How a deathtech startup got 1M+ TikTok followers

Eterneva makes memorial diamonds from dead people’s (and pets’) ashes — and they’ve amassed more than 1M followers on TikTok. 

Their account has gotten more likes on the platform than Nike.

It’s converting, too. About 80% of Eterneva’s sales leads come from TikTok, Eterneva’s creative content director Phil Cisneros told MarketerHire. 

How? Cisneros, the strategist behind the account, broke it down. 

They started on TikTok right when it exploded.

Eterneva posted its first TikTok in the early days of the pandemic: March 13, 2020. 

That quarter, TikTok was getting downloaded at a record-breaking pace, which felt like an opportunity.

“We had a slight organic presence on every other social platform, but it wasn't growing,” Cisneros said. 

They stood out — even on DeathTok.

Back then, TikTok was known as an app for dancing teens.

Even in the “death space,” Eterneva was unique. Their competitors weren’t on TikTok, and content about death on the app was typically “a dark, gothic experience,” Cisneros said. 

Eterneva offers a “brighter, different way to look at grief or death.”

They figured out four content pillars. 

Through experimentation, Cisneros found four types of Eterneva content that resonated on TikTok.

• Storytelling videos: These videos celebrate the people Eterneva diamonds commemorate.
• Science: These videos explain the science behind lab-grown diamond (and clarify that they’re real diamonds).
• Reactions: These videos show people seeing their Eterneva diamonds for the first time. 
• Trends: These videos use TikTok trends, like sounds and prompts, to tell Eterneva’s story.

They had a viral hit.

In September, Eterneva posted a TikTok that began with a text box: “You’re too happy making diamonds from people’s ashes.” 

A compilation of joyful customer reactions followed, set to a trending clip from Lukas Graham’s “Mama Said.” 

The video got 16M+ views — and took Eterneva from about 240K followers to 1M, Cisneros said. (Can’t have hurt that it ended in a “Follow to see me make diamonds” CTA!)

They read the comments.

Engagement is so key to reach on TikTok that Cisneros spends more time replying to Eterneva’s comments than he does making videos. 

(Organic responses perform better in the comments than prompts, he’s found.)

Our takeaway?

Conventional wisdom says that you should use TikTok to market impulse buys — priced under $50 — and good times. 

Think fashion and beauty more than end-of-life planning.

But Eterneva shows that as the app gets more saturated, an unexpected product or perspective can resonate, too.

TWEET TREAT

Stars — we’re just like them!

SMALL BITES

Death by Peloton, 7-Eleven Swedish sweets, and inflation marketing…

Peloton could probably have sued HBO Max for product disparagement… 

… or echoed Crockpot’s response to its This Is Us debacle… 

… but they went with an ad Ryan Reynolds made in 48 hours instead. 

Twitter named 2021’s best brand tweets — and yes, Blues Clues made the list.

Swedes get steamy with sweets in a new 7-Eleven ad. 

The inflation age means marketers will need to defend price hikes. 

Snap’s first content accelerator, 523, will fund BIPOC and LGBTQ+ creators.

Edible Arrangements is trying a full-funnel approach to attract Gen Z gifters. 

Nike is still a teenage dream. 

Good news, content marketers: median bounce rate fell YoY.

SPONSORED

Want to quit your marketing job?

It seems like every marketer we know is quitting these days. It’s been a helluva 1.5 years, and it’s understandable to feel burnt out. 

But if you quit your full-time job, how are you supposed to pay your next bill… or the next one?

An easy answer: with on-demand work from MarketerHire.

Wait, what’s MarketerHire?

Well, it’s Raisin Bread’s parent company. Hi, dad!

But MarketerHire is mainly a marketing marketplace. So it’s a network of vetted marketing professionals from badass brands, and the MH team matches those marketers with orgs that need them.

Join MarketerHire’s network, and you can set your own rates and hours, and work with cool brands — like Quip, Glossier and Allbirds. 

One email marketer joined the platform and 5Xed his salary in less than a YEAR?!

FROM OUR BLOG

3 reasons freelance taxes are… special 😬

If you’re a marketer thinking of going freelance, you should know two things: 

• MarketerHire is here to help! 👋
• Your taxes are about to get a little hairy. 

Don’t get spooked, though — get prepared. Here are the three big tax shifts you’ll experience as a first-time freelancer, according to the pros. 

1. You have to pay them out of pocket. 

Full-time employees get taxes deducted from their paychecks — self-employed people, not so much. 

Freelancers should set 25% to 30% of their earnings aside for…

• State and federal income tax (rates vary) 
• Self-employment tax (a flat 15.3% in 2021)

2. You have to pay taxes more often. (Every quarter!)

Freelancers should pay quarterly estimated taxes to the IRS if they expect to owe more than $1,000 in federal taxes at the end of the year. 

You may also need to pay quarterly estimated state taxes.

3. You can deduct more expenses.

That includes the cost of bookkeepers and accountants to help you with your taxes! Thank goodness.

A few more tax deductible costs: 

• Health insurance premiums
• Home office expenses 
• Business travel

Want to learn more about freelance taxes — while Tax Day is still a healthy four months away?

DATA SNACK

Are marketers behind the cigarette boom of 2020?

Puff puff! In 2020, cigarette sales in the United States jumped for the first time since 2004, according to the Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report.

Cigarette companies’ marketing spend rose last year, too — but that wasn’t such a first. It had been up and down for years, and YoY upticks haven’t always boosted sales.

So why did 2020’s marketing spend increase work? It might be that cigarette companies invested in and divested from the right channels at the right time. 

📈 Where tobacco companies spent more in 2020

Tobacco companies spent their marketing dollars a little differently in 2020, and more YoY on:

• Outdoor advertising: 28.6% growth — though overall US OOH ad spend dipped ~30% in 2020
• Price discounts to retailers: 5.3% growth
• Promotional allowances to retailers: 3.5% growth

📉 Where tobacco companies spent less in 2020

Tobacco companies also cut spend YoY in the following spots: 

• Magazines: 50.6% decrease
• Direct mail: 37.9% decrease
• Point-of-sale materials (a.k.a ads inside retail stores): 25% decrease 

Our takeaway?

Cigarette promoters invested in OOH ads right when they were cheapest, and turned declining sales around for the first time in 15 years. 

Of course, cigarettes had unusual tailwinds in 2020, too. People may have also smoked more out of  '90s nostalgia … or to relieve pandemic stress. 

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