What do kombucha, nuggs, and matcha have in common?
This week's breakdown of the DTCX Exceptional Ecommerce podcast is a must-read for all CPG marketers. Chris Meade sat down with Shray Joshi, founder of Good Peeps and performance marketing extraordinaire, to chat about all things CPG marketing. Watch the full episode below ⤵
From the science lab to kombucha and vegan nuggs, Shray Joshi has done it all. Before his move into CPG marketing, Shray studied biochemistry and had a dream of working in nutrition science, fueled by his struggle with growing up overweight.
After working with his university to figure out what types of foods cause inflammation in the body, Shray wondered how he could bring healthy products like matcha into more people's everyday lifestyles. He made a career pivot to CPG marketing and jumped onboard with Cha Cha Matcha, thus launching a new career trajectory and understanding of all things brand and digital.
Shray and Chris dive right in to discuss some of the biggest lessons he learned while running performance marketing at Health-Ade, Cha Cha, and Simulate Nuggs, and how Shray is taking those lessons into his own company, Good Peeps. ⤵
Know your LTVs
Data is the key to CPG marketing. Knowing your product and your customer LTV is a sure-fire way to know that your brand will be profitable.
Shray notes that when working for Health-Ade, he knew that kombucha is a high-consumption product, therefore the LTV was going to be much higher than the category average. He reeled in consumers with a daily dose of probiotics, and because the LTV was so high, they were seeing more than a couple hundred dollars per cohort, which is practically unheard of.
Drive offline sales with online targeting
One thing Shray emphasizes is that advertising is what drives retail sales of CPG products. Launching in retail with awareness campaigns and just hoping to hit as many eyeballs may be the traditional route, but shifting to the new and modern route of launching DTC is a guaranteed way to drive sales both on and offline. Wondering how this is done?
👉 Launch ads on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram
👉 Collect data from audiences reached
👉 Use total purchase behaviors to market to your offline audiences
With this new targeting structure, Shray has seen big moves both on and offline for brands, with bigger brands yielding an additional $3-$5 in offline sales per dollar earned on digital.
Keep your content team in-house
Keeping all things content internal is key, according to Shray. He notes that while agencies may understand the platforms the best, they won't have the same understanding of the brand and its voice as someone working in-house.
Since content is the point of distribution for most brands now, it's important to have someone (or a whole team!) on staff who understands how organic social media works, keeps up-to-date with trends, and generates content that is easy to digest both for organic social and paid ads.
Your brand is more than just a product
One of Shray's biggest lessons and piece of advice he can give to anyone growing a brand is to know the difference between having a product and having a brand.
Products are just that, products. But a brand? They need a mission, a voice, and depth. There should be an aspirational "why?" and intention to set your brand up for success. Without this, having success with your brand's product is a much harder milestone to reach.
What does the future look like for Shray Joshi?
Shray has moved on from leading digital performance marketing at Health-Ade to lead his own agency, Good Peeps. Their mission? Good people, good work, good times. Shray's goal with Good Peeps is to "remove the noise" in CPG marketing and put together a team of the best players to work with the best brands, which he's seen great success with so far.
Want to learn more about ecommerce growth through the personal trials and obstacles of industry professionals? Subscribe to DTCX Exceptional Ecommerce Podcast on Spotify. Then, hop on over to the DTCX Facebook group and join in on the conversation.
