The results are in, and Emily in Paris had more lovers (41% of you) than haters (31%).  

Even though it’s not uh, gritty realism. 

Our favorite response: “If Emily in Paris was closer to my experience as a marketer, it would be Emily Looking at Spreadsheets in Paris.” 

In this week’s send: 

• Paid digital, web3-style
• The power of ugly ads
• Shein's SEO edge

SPONSORED

Today’s loaf of Raisin Bread is sponsored by… #paid.

Time to say goodbye to insincere shills — and hellooo to content that connects. 

The Age of the Influencer is over. 

Pour one out for the Instamodels hawking products they don’t actually like. 🍻

Now it’s time to get #paid.

#paid is where Fortune 500 companies and DTC brands go to work with top content creators. 

Here’s how it works:

1. You tell them what kind of original content converts best for you.
2. They serve up a list of killer creators (pre-vetted, of course) who already love your brand and talk to your target market.
3. You chat with creators, pick your favorites, and get the original content of your dreams.

Ready to level up your #paid ROI? 

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EXPERT Q&A

Should you pay people crypto to opt into your marketing?

Charlie Silver, CEO of Permission.io, thinks so — and his company’s new DSP, Permission Ads, makes it possible at scale. 

It has “the same reach as Google Ads,” Silver said. “We’re connected to all the same supply.” 

The key difference: This DSP was designed for Web3. It lets companies run display ads with a CTA in the corner: “Click to earn crypto.” 

That leads to a branded landing page with a short survey. Users that fill it out earn a few hundred of Permission.io’s cryptocurrency, ASK. (Current market value: $0.0013.)

It’s clear what consumers get in this futuristic deal: money. But what’s in it for brands? Silver walked us through the pros and cons.

PRO: Crypto rewards lowers cost per acquisition (CPA). 

If you consider an acquisition “someone volunteering to join your customer database,” campaigns with ASK rewards slash CPA, Silver said. 

Permission.io clients usually see a 3-5X improvement in cost-efficiency — sometimes as much as 15X, Silver said. 

CON: It’s pricier than a traditional media buy.

In addition to buying ads, brands buy ASK to reward consumers for engagement. 

That’s not that weird, though, Silver noted. Loyalty rewards programs, from airline miles to Kohl’s cash, already work this way: by rewarding individuals for progressing through the funnel. 

Loyalty rewards are a growing industry, too, expected to hit $17.65B by 2028.

PRO: It lets you nurture prospects long-term.

Advertisers usually build email marketing opt-in into their Permission Ads surveys, Silver said. 

That means brands get custom survey data and a way to use it long-term, for personalized email campaigns and more. 

CON: The payment UX is clunky for first-timers. 

Consumers without crypto wallets  — a.k.a. most people — have to jump through a few hoops to earn ASK. 

They have to share their email, then set up a crypto wallet via emailed link, which just takes a password, but still. That’s a four-step (one-time!) process. 

PRO: Your brand looks respectful — and cool. 

Offering crypto rewards tells customers you value their time and data. Literally.

That “really builds trust,” Silver finds. 

Plus, getting paid in crypto is cooler than getting a few pennies. “Crypto is aspirational,” Silver said. 

Our takeaway? 

Offering customers crypto incentives to opt into your marketing is cost-efficient — in part because of crypto’s cool factor. 

But will the cool last? Will ASK-incentivized leads convert? 

Silver thinks so — and sees ASK becoming a full-funnel crypto reward that marketers use in ads, loyalty programs and everything in between.

TWEET TREAT

Why ugly ads win

When Zack Stuck tweeted about an ad that performed unexpectedly well, we felt it. 

“This happens 70% of the time," MarketerHire's director of paid media Marc Barraza said.

But why? We reached out to Stuck, founder of growth marketing agency Homestead, to get his take. 

So bad, it’s good

The ad in question features a scroll of outdoorsy clothing items on top of a stock image of a ski hill. 

The image bothered Stuck for two reasons:

1. It was blurry.

2. It was a stock image.

“[It] just felt wrong and not polished enough,” he said. 

But in the end, “[i]t gave viewers … an easy and clear use-case for the product,” he said. 

They can see themselves wearing the apparel on the slopes — because there’s a (blurry) slope right there! 

Our takeaway? 

Teaching customers how (and where) to use your product is sometimes more important than visual finesse. 

The ad has been a “significant win” for Stuck’s ad account, and it’s now getting 50% of total ad spend.

SMALL BITES

Faux Chicken Wars, meh holiday sales and more

Facebook might be the best social media platform … for sleep? 

Ford’s AR TikTok campaign got a truckload of views (read: 10.6B) . 

The guy who wrote the PBR tweet speaks!

Running ads for climate-related terms? You’re competing with Big Fossil Fuel. 

Twitter released a 2022 planner for SMMs. 

Content marketers, do you take notes with a networked block system?

Nas is releasing an NFT to promo (and share royalties from) his new song. 

Move over Chicken Sandwich Wars. It’s time for the Faux-Chicken Wars.

Disappointing holiday sales? It’s not just you. 

Avocados from Mexico’s Super Bowl strategy involves first-party data portals.

FROM OUR BLOG

3 signs it’s time to invest in brand development

Brand development has at least seven steps, including audience research, channel selection, and guideline creation. Is it worth it? 

Definitely — especially if you’re experiencing growing pains like these.  

1. Your word-of-mouth marketing has stalled out.

Friends and family can sustain a business for a while. 

But if you’re struggling to find prospects who are strangers, developing brand messaging, visuals and strategy is a natural next step. 

2. You think your audience is urban millennial males.

Urban millennial males “is not really a target audience,” consultant Jared Rosenberg said. “That’s a couple of demographic descriptions.” 

Think of your audience in terms of the needs they have — like people seeking a dairy alternative —  not demographic categories. 

3. Your brand’s messaging is all over the place.

Brand development can help you avoid social snafus like PBR’s. 

Brand marketers aren’t social media managers, but they can help set high-level messaging guidelines to keep tone and brand color use consistent. 

Want to learn more about brand development? We broke down the seven key steps involved on our blog.

DATA SNACK

How Shein broke away from the competition

There are a lot of fast-fashion retailers — but in 2020, Shein broke away from the pack. 

The only fashion site that gets more traffic than Shein is Nike, according to SimilarWeb — and Nike’s not really fast fashion. (Though it’s for fast people!)

Starting in 2020, Shein also saw waaaay more search than its competition.

Why? 

Shein built a strong SEO foundation.

Shein founder Chris Xu started his career in SEO, Vox reports — and it shows.

In August of 2021, 40% of Shein’s website’s visitors arrived via search, Rest of World reports. Meanwhile, search only drives 4% of Zara’s traffic. 

It saturated social.

Shein’s bargain basement prices (like… $4 for a shirt) lend themselves to unpaid haul videos, and Shein runs plenty of paid social and influencer campaigns, too.

They even streamed a branded reality show, the #SheinX100KChallenge —   judged by Khloé Kardashian — on social. 

Its shopping app is wildly popular. 

Some people searching “Shein” are probably looking for its app, which was downloaded 500K+ times per day early last year. 

Gamified touches make it so “addictive” that in May 2021, it actually overtook Amazon as the most popular free shopping app. 

Our takeaway?

The top of Shein’s funnel overfloweth, thanks to a mix of SEO, social, and its mobile app. Other fast-fashion retailers are struggling to compete.

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