Ben Schreiber

I reviewed photoshoot quotes for 3 DTC brands last quarter. At $8-$15K per shoot, I understand the temptation to cut this line item completely. But the brands I've seen get the best results? They're not skipping shoots. They're doing fewer, better ones, then using AI to turn that investment into a content engine. AI is only as good as what you feed it. Great input imagery gives you the foundation to generate hundreds of variations, angles, and formats. Poor inputs just mean you're scaling mediocrity. The real unlock is making one shoot do the work of ten. That $10K investment becomes the source material for an entire content library. Every dollar you put into creative goes further than it ever has. Smaller brands can now compete on content volume without outspending, but it first starts with investing in quality inputs.

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When DTC revenue slows down, the default move is often: “Let’s increase ad spend.” But many times the real bottleneck sits inside the funnel - checkout friction, payment declines, weak post-purchase flow, or chargebacks. Fixing the system usually unlocks more growth than buying more traffic. Where do you think your biggest funnel bottleneck is today?

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DTC brands - take this super important Black Friday advice from me: -Don’t spend too much time on design and copy revisions if that means you’ll send fewer emails Sending 5 ugly emails with generic copy during the BF period is far better than sending 2 perfectly designed emails with cute copy. During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you’re not trying to educate or persuade. You’re not trying to be cute or entertaining. You’re trying to stay top of mind and sell. People are already in buying mode by default. Don’t let design and copy revisions delay your emails. Only do them if they DON’T affect your sending schedule in ANY way. Don’t have time to design a new pretty email in Figma? Literally take the last one you sent, tweak the headline a bit, and resend it. Nobody will notice and even if they do, nobody will care. Don’t waste time on noise. Top-of-mind awareness is the most important thing during BF. You’re fighting for people’s attention against dozens of other brands in their inboxes. Nobody cares or has time to open every single email and think “wow this one has cute copy and design, I’ll buy”. It doesn’t work like that. Lots of people will see your sender name in their inbox, get reminded of you, then check out your website later and buy. Stay top of mind as much as possible without harming your deliverability too much - that’s the only goal. Ps: I was inspired to write this post after my latest discussion with Jacob Mars #emailmarketing

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I’m the Co-CEO of a DTC growth agency working with brands like M&Ms, WildBird. Here are 9 agency truths I would tell DTC brands if I weren’t afraid to hurt their feelings. 9. Growing your business is not the agency's job. We call ourselves an e-commerce growth agency, but growth is not our job. The CEO's job is to coordinate all the moving pieces of the business. The agency's job is to be world class at our specific piece of that puzzle.  8. You want your agency to make good margin on you. Brands celebrate 85% gross margin but complain when agencies make margin on them. It goes both ways. If your agency doesn't make good margin on you, you won't get good service. 7. No agency wants to churn clients. Everyone worries agencies will blow through their budget to make more money. The reality is they won't because you'll fire them. Client retention is way cheaper than constantly acquiring new business. 6. Everyone gets in a tissy about agency pricing structures. When you find someone who actually delivers value, the pricing becomes way less important. Price is correlative to value. 5. One in-house hire can't match agency-level pattern recognition. One person cannot have the pattern recognition that comes from managing dozens of accounts. Agencies see what's universal across brands and what's not.  4. Exceptional growth talent is expensive whether agency or in-house. The supply demand dynamics are brutal. Every e-commerce brand wants great growth people, but great growth people are rare. Don't shop on price. 3. If your business has fundamental problems, no agency can save you. We can make our piece excellent, but if your product sucks, your margins are terrible, or your fulfillment is broken, you're still going to struggle. 2. Tangible growth takes months. That's why we forecast the business 12 months ahead and constantly reforecast every month. Anyone promising overnight success is lying to your face. 1. Growth is a team sport. Is it Patrick Mahomes or Andy Reid? Tom Brady or Bill Belichick? There's 22 people on the field. It takes everyone to win the Super Bowl. Business is the same way. If you're doing $2-50M and need a team that's brutally honest about what we can and can't fix. Let's talk. Link’s in my bio.

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You're doing repeat purchases wrong on Instacart. Here's how to fix it: 1. Stop relying on discounts to bring customers back 2. Focus on your product detail pages first → High-quality images showing actual product size and use → Clear, benefit-driven descriptions (not just ingredient lists) → Strategic keyword optimization so you show up in search 3. Nail your in-stock rate on high-velocity SKUs → Stockouts kill your "Buy It Again" momentum → Track which products drive the most repeat purchases → Prioritize availability on these items above all else 4. Use Instacart Ads to retarget past purchasers → Bid on your own branded terms to capture returning customers → Target competitor keywords for your repeat-driving SKUs → Allocate more spend to products with proven repeat rates 5. Deploy coupons strategically—not desperately → Use first-purchase coupons to acquire, not retain → Test "clip to cart" offers on complementary products to increase basket size → Reserve discounts for trial, not loyalty Now you're building actual repeat behavior instead of training customers to wait for the next promo. No margin erosion. No race to the bottom. Just buyers who come back because they found you, loved you, and can find you again. If you want to see what’s actually holding back your Instacart growth, I’ll run a free audit for you. Comment “Instacart” and send me a connection request.

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Any DTC site with an AOV under $80 is NOT a business! At that AOV, you NEED to shut your DTC site down! Because the math doesn’t work anymore. Here’s what this looks like in real life for most brands in 2026: • CAC: ~$40 • Gross margin: ~60% • Revenue on an $80 order: $48 And that's before you even account for: Shipping, fulfillment, returns, customer support, and platform costs. This is why so many brands we work with are deprioritizing or fully shutting down DTC and reallocating budget to Amazon. Yes, Amazon takes a cut. But they also handle your logistics, fulfillment, returns, plus you get access to UNMATCHED buyer intent. For low-AOV products, Amazon is often the only channel where unit economics actually make sense. If your AOV is under $80, you’re probably better off letting Amazon do the heavy lifting. Move where the buyer behavior is going. Amazon might just be your biggest opportunity. ♻️ Repost if this resonates. Need help scaling on Amazon? 🔗 Click the link on my profile.

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Most high-risk brands think Meta's restrictions are the ceiling. They're not. The brands scaling from $200/day to $50,000/day in CBD, GLP-1, Telehealth, and supplements aren't getting special treatment from Meta. They just built infrastructure that Meta actually trusts. Here's what that looks like: A supplement brand came to us stuck at $250/day: 🚫 Ad approval rate hovering around 89% 🚫 Constant rejections slowing momentum 🚫 No path to scale without triggering bans We restructured their account setup with compliant infrastructure: ✅ Ban rate dropped to 15% in one week ✅ Scaled from $250/day to $50,000/day in 10 days ✅ Campaigns stayed live and profitable Most marketers blame Meta's AI or "the algorithm." But Meta doesn't block high-risk brands because of what they sell. It blocks them because the account setup signals weakness. Weak payment methods. Unstable Business Managers. Profile structures that scream "high-risk." When you fix the foundation, Meta stops fighting you. At Heavy Value, we manage $39M/month in Meta ad spend across restricted verticals — maintaining a 99.8% approval rate and 2.45% ban rate. That's not luck. That's infrastructure. 👉 If you're running marketing for a CBD, THC, Pharma, or Nutraceutical brand and your campaigns are stuck because of rejections or account instability, DM me. Let's talk through your setup and see what's actually holding you back. #MetaAds #HighRiskVerticals #CBDMarketing #Telehealth #Nutraceuticals #PharmaMarketing #AdCompliance #MetaAdvertising