5 Tactics That Helped me Grow From Follow Along on STM To $2.500.000 (9)
5 Tactics That Helped me Grow From Follow Along on STM To $2.500.000
Yo STM’ers!
I would like to share with you the most important things I have learned from the Wild Boar Liquidator Project (hunting DTC brand).
Below you will find a list of the most important tactics/strategies we are using to achieve our growth.
I believe that building DTC brands will be more and more popular among affiliates in the upcoming months/years and that’s why I’m sharing this here.
Quick overview
Two years ago I opened a follow along Wild Boar Liquidator & wakeboard JV and at the beginning I definitely didn’t think the project would become so big.
I’m confident to say that Black Fire is one of the fastest, if not the fastest growing hunting brand in Europe. At the moment we’re doing low-mid six figures a month and I believe this is just the beginning.
We’ve managed to get on-board the biggest retailers like Decathlon and other biggest niche-specific retailers. We’re still using my affiliate skillset/mindset to compete against companies that are using traditional approaches (trade fairs, PDF catalogs lol, exclusive distributors, etc) and it looks like we will continue to do so.
That way we keep our margins high, we can invest more in marketing than any other competitor, and people who work for us have very good wages and bonuses.
Overview in Numbers
- 8 full-time employees (5 production line workers, 3 management)
- 3 part-time employees
- 6 total products
- B2B vs B2C revenue ratio = 62% vs 38%
- 80% of revenue comes from 2 countries
- 6% of total
Facebook and Google ads are very important as well, but honestly we are not doing anything really exciting there. Optimizing LTV, CVR and testing boatloads of creatives is the name of the game.
B2B CUSTOMERT ACQUSITION STRATEGIES
At the beginning Facebook ads were bread and butter for our growth. Right now the B2B segment represents 65% of total monthly revenue.
For me B2B sales are perfect because they are stable (no algos involved
), predictable and once you close the deal, you just need to deliver the product. That way, I have more time to focus on mid-term goals because I don’t need to rely just on Facebook. Below are a list of TOP2 strategies we use to on-board B2B clients*.
B2B client in our case are: brick & mortar hunting store, online retailers, ...
1. PURE COLD MAILING
“The money is in the list.”
You've probably come across the expression. For every main GEO I’ve built a database of hunting store owners and we are reaching out regularly. We have built email scrapers for web pages where these emails are found. This is how we kicked off B2B sales at the beginning.
2. COLD MAILING ON STEROIDS
In the last two months I’ve on-board 4 out of 6 biggest hunting online retailers with this simple approach.
Here is exact step by step instructions:
- Identify the potential client
- Find the company name
- Use a companies search engine like northdata.com
- Identify who is owner or CEO of that company
- Use a tool like https://email-checker.net/ to validate the email
- Google the CEO/owner and find whatever you can to use in email so that your email will stand out
- Write an email, use what you have learn from step6
- Use simple CRM like lessannoyingcrm.com to log everything and get reminders for follow-up email
- Write the process and give it to VA or someone else to do this on regular basis
With tools like northdata.com you can find who is decision maker or who you need to influence to get to decision maker (eg. owner).
3. LIMITED EDITION PRODUCTS
In December I was listening to Snacks Daily Podcast and they talked about the secret behind Oreo’s limited-edition flavor strategy.
Inspired by OREO I reached out to our biggest B2B client (online retailer) and offered him:
- Limited edition packaging with his logo on our product.
- A mix of flavours that only his customers would be able to buy.
- Campaign limited for two months. Just to make it more exclusive.
Here is what happened:
- They sold out first batch already in the pre-sell
- They were super engaged with marketing activities because it was “their” product
- We got messages from his competitors if we could do the same
- We got messages from hunting magazines if we could make limited edition boxes for their subscribers
Long story short … This was a great success not only because of the sales but also because we received 5 new big B2B partners and this didn’t cost us anything. ROAS = to the moon.
Next step is to do this with top influencers in our niche.
4. GLOCAL APPROACH & REWARD SYSTEM
Our sales structure is basically very simple.
In each country we have a country manager. CMs main responsibility is to close the leads that I generate and to build and nurture relationships with our B2B partners in his country. We work with them on a rev-share basis. They are receiving % of sales for as long as they are managing the client.
Because we don’t have exclusive distributors, we give CMs some of the margins which is still much lower than working with exclusive distributors.
That way we can offer them good bonuses and I believe this will have a positive impact also on loyalty because if they decide to leave, they will stop receiving % of sales.
CMs are also responsible for all the translations. In Europe it is super important to offer support in local languages and have someone who understands the specific of the local marketing.
5. BRAND COMMUNITY
From the very beginning we invest a lot of time and effort to build a strong community around our brand/products. The way we build this community is simple:
> Invitation to our Facebook groups via email when the customer complete the purchase
> Two-way communication on Instagram (we have a guy who is chatting with our loyal fans via DM on IG)
> "Welcome to the Family" thank you note goes in every box! Even B2B boxes of our dealers
The value of this community is priceless. We are using community to improve products, innovate new ones, video creators, find new team-members, beta testers for new products and so one.
This brand community is our main source for Facebook ads creatives!
#####################
Damn ... what was a long post!
Next time I will share my TOP 5 fails in the past two years from both projects (The Wild Boar Liquidator and The Scaleship) so stay tuned!
Cheers,
wakeboarder
Below is the exact cold-email template I was sending to get in touch with all the biggest B2B partners.
I'm following COMPANY NAME for a long time now, and I really admire how the company is managing the online marketing presence. Not many hunting retailers have online marketing on the level that COMPANY NAME has.
Could you please connect me colleague responsible for the hunting accessories department at COMPANY NAME?
We're one of the fastest-growing new hunting brands in Europe (Black Fire | The Most Powerful Wild Boar Attractants) and I would like to discuss business cooperation between both companies.
I would be honoured to send you over our products so you can test them in your hunting area.
Also, we have prepared great roll-ups for your store in CITY NAME that I can send you over, free of charge of course (see image attached).
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards
Very impressive!
Particularly liked 3 - the limited edition products. Great angle!
This brand community is our main source for Facebook ads creatives!
Based on everything I've read, as well as my personal experience in marketing, customer reviews is one of the most effective marketing tools.
You can toot your own horn until you're out of breath, but in most cases it won't hold as much weight as what customers are saying about you.
This is why we see customer testimonials on almost all landing pages.
As for FB ads - the vast majority of the most successful creatives I've used have been video testimonials from existing customers. They're not always easy to get, but where there's a will, there's a way. Even if it's not your own product and you're only an affiliate, you can get creative, e.g. by paying for the product and sending it to a few people for free in exchange for free testimonials.
Amy
Awesome aganeeee! 
This is the stuff of legend and dreams.
Always wanted to build an amazing eCom offer and your case study hits every chord.
Well done & congratulations.
Wow, just wow!
You really took it off my friend and you're reaching the success you and your team deserve!
Who would have thought that a "simple" product in a relatively narrow niche could turn into something this big.
Kudos to you guys!
Hyperintelligent wild boars deliver a crushing blow to the hunting industry! Great work mate, this is already in the newsletter
Very impressive!
Home > Paid Traffic Sources > eCommerce