Dara Denney

Winning abandoned checkout email structure: - HEADLINE + CTA above the fold - Dynamic product block - Benefits of their specific product - Featured testimonials Don't just throw in a dynamic product block and call it a day. This is what real personalization looks like...

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Lessons from scaling a B2B paid media budget from $0 to $200k/mo: (While beating CPA targets by at least 35% the entire time) 1. Ad creative and messaging are your biggest levers Hot take: B2B marketers spend too much time obsessing over the stuff that makes little difference. What does make a difference: •  Messaging that speaks directly to your target audience •  A healthy mix of angles that *don't* exclusively focus on product marketing •  A thorough testing process to maximise results and minimise budget waste We've invested a lot of time and resources into creating a bulletproof system for creative strategy, enabling us to ideate, design and develop creatives with SPEED. At this budget, we're pumping out min. 20 per month. 2. Keep It Stupid Simple Complexity is not required. Usually, it's a symptom of larger issues (e.g. positioning). I'm a scrappy growth marketer at heart. I prefer to validate things before layering on any type of complexity. I think it comes from historically working with bootstrapped and low-funded (but high-growth) startups. You do not need an expensive tech stack. You do not need a complex campaign structure. At a high level, our campaigns on paid social are split into: • Cold layer (net new audiences, out-of-market buyers) • Warm layer (retargeting & traffic with higher awareness) • Testing and scaling campaigns I've glued entire funnels together with low-code solutions and spreadsheets before considering spending $$$. 3. Feedback loops are critical Cliche: if you’re not learning, you’re not improving. We implement feedback loops wherever possible across the entire customer journey. This spans from our Creative Feedback Loop, all the way to why existing customers are cancelling. Too often teams will operate in isolation. Some of the insights gained through these feedback loops are invaluable. 4. Break the rules If you’ve worked with me, you know I like to go against the status quo. If everyone follows the same playbook and rules, how are you supposed to stand out? I prefer to follow the data than to follow best practices. Our most successful campaigns have resulted from breaking the mould and discovering what I call wedges (high-impact, low-competition strategy) for clients. An important factor here is clients' willingness to test new concepts. #saas #b2bmarketing #paidsocial #demandgeneration #gtm #advertising #startup

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Here’s 5 quick ways to check your company’s SEO value: 1. Google search 2. Bing search 3. Google website indexes 4. Ahrefs backlink checker 5. Archive.org site saves

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7 Meta & TikTok ads concepts that are crushing it for DTC brands in 2024 👇 → USP hooks: "3 reasons why..." → Street interviews: “Excuse me, where did you get your outfit?” → Outrage invoking hooks: "Vegans will hate this..." → Video reviews: "I saw this on TikTok so I bought it" → Shortcut to success: "I found a hack to achieve…” → UGC style: "How I styled my latest order" → Self improvement: "This is the best way to level up your home" Emotions lead to higher engagement. Don't be afraid to be controversial! That is what makes ads go viral. At the same time, be careful with your choice of creator. The creator should be your ICP (ideal customer persona). They must resonate with your brand. Leave a comment about which one you've tried.

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If you've been told, "You can't get better than 1:1 ROAS in Meta," you're being lied to. Here's the mistake we see too many DTC brands (or agencies working with brands) make: ➝ Running highest volume awareness campaigns to boost metrics ➝ Not getting efficient conversions and direct business impact ➝ Blaming the "algorithm" and not running enough creative We refuse to make that mistake — you need a fundamentally different process for fundamentally different results. Here's how we operate at Kynship: 1. Using financial forecasting to set benchmarks If you don't know first order profitability (based on unit economics), how can you expect to run profitable ads? This is where most agencies mess up, not digging into your numbers and creating an accurate forecast based on profitable CPA targets. 2. Collect and source as much creative as possible Anything you have in Google Drives, Dropbox folders, ad accounts, etc. is creative leverage. In most cases, we also supplement existing creative with influencer seeding to generate a large volume of native, organic content to be leveraged in ads. 3. Leverage high volume against cost controls Remember our forecasting and profitable CPA targets? We're setting those as benchmarks in your Meta ads, then pushing as much creative as we can to unlock potential winners. By using cost controls, anything Meta spends against will be profitable, meeting your target ROAS (whether it's 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, etc.). Any questions about our performance marketing approach? Let me know 🤝 

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Throwing more cash to make your ad account grow doesn't work anymore: I see DTC brands pushing 6 figures in monthly ad spend that can't turn a profit or find winning ads. Instead: ➝ Understand your unit economics ➝ Set profitable CPA targets per product SKU/offer ➝ Use cost controls to ensure profitable spend ➝ Test as much creative as possible ➝ Scale the winners If there's any gap in this process, you're asking to throttle growth.

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In May I spent almost $250K on paid ads for a B2B SaaS company while we’ve been experiencing the lowest CAC in a 7-month period. Around 13 months ago this company was spending $0 on ads. Here’s why I think we’ve been able to do this from a marketing POV: Background: This company primarily operates a PLG model and is in a competitive category. [1] Rapid creative testing Paid marketing isn’t just about managing ads — 80% of that can be learned on YouTube. It’s now about creative: resonating with the target audience and presenting an attractive offer. This skill set is rare; most media buyers still focus on conversion campaigns for e-commerce or lead gen for B2B. Today, both technical media buying skills and creative strategy are essential. We’ve tested hundreds of creatives through a process called the creative feedback loop, where we test various variables and learn what works over time. As with most bets, The Power Law applies: a few ad creatives and campaign types drive most conversions. Using this process, we’ve created viral ads (+30M impressions). High attention leads to rewards from ad platforms. This has been our biggest unlock. We’ve tried two different creative agencies, but neither could significantly outperform our control. [2] Simplicity Simplicity is often a cliche, but what does it really mean? B2B marketers tend to overcomplicate, often buying bloated software and processes. Refining your offer and message can solve most growth problems. I discuss the hierarchy of impact with founders: offer layer, message layer, creative layer, and tactical layer, in that order. Tools and processes are at the tactical layer, but if you nail the first few layers, the tools don’t matter. Focus on your offer and message for leverage. Achieve this through high-velocity experimentation, testing something every week until it clicks. Everything else is usually a distraction from bad fundamentals. [3] B2B creators & experts In Q4/23, I changed this company’s paid strategy, maintaining efficiency despite aggressive scaling. We shifted from clicks to consumption, aiming to capture as much attention as possible. Trust with buyers has eroded, so peer opinions now weigh more than vendor claims. Observing other industries, I’ve seen a shift in B2B buying behaviour, necessitating changes in our sales approach. I could discuss these topics for hours. Let me know if you’d like a deep dive into anything specific. #b2bmarketing #startup #saas #gtm #advertising #paidads #efficientgrowth

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SDR is dead SEO is dead Ads are dead Here's why this is nonsense. My feed is fully of people who have first-hand experience as practitioners and are (in some cases) projecting that experience to the entire industry. Sensationalism gets clicks but the danger is that people really do get laid off and big changes are being made because "word on the street" is that cold outreach doesn't work. When in doubt, consider some first-principle thinking to balance the noise of "experts". 1️⃣ Is the attention of your target audience on that channel? E.g. if you know for a fact that your audience uses Facebook daily then who cares what some Facebook ads marketer experience is? Be where your audience is. 2️⃣ Is what you're doing currently working? Cost of acquiring customers has gone up, but if your Cost of acquiring customers relative to their total value is healthy, there's no need to over-correct. Sometimes, optimising what you already have set up is the better option. 3️⃣ Experiment but don't over-index: my rule of thumb is to 15% of your time and budget towards experiments, 85% of your attention and focus on doing more of what's already working (following up on the above). 4️⃣ DIY with help from the best: You should neither re-invent the wheel, nor should you blindly adopt someone else's playbook. I don't believe in either extreme. My suggestion: Learn from the best and adjust for yourself. All this click-bait talk of "this and that is dead" is a game to get attention. I know people doing great with billboards. But then again, no so much with newspapers. It's less about the channel and more about the strategy behind it. Are you communicating a compelling value prop? Are you measuring what matters and iterating intelligently? Unless you're writing an academic study on the latest microtrends in marketing, obsessing over them shouldn't be your main focus. Running a profitable business should. So, take it with a grain of salt the next time you see another "X is dead" post. Focus on your fundamentals, stay close to your customers, and keep doing more of what works. The rest is mostly noise. p.s. Make sure to check out my newsletter. I'll share more no-BS marketing takes to help you cut through the hype and grow your business.

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3 steps to increasing revenue for your DTC brand: Step 1: Drive traffic Step 2: Convert traffic Step 3: Retain customers But....there’s a catch. Don’t neglect step 3. If done well, step 3 pays the cycle all over again. For free.

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Starting your ads with problematic scenarios are going to outperform ads that just talk about how "obsessed" people are with your products. An example of this can include directly calling out what your customer is struggling with in the first 5-10 seconds of your video. The more specific you can get with these hooks and problem statements the better your ad will be. It makes people feel like you're directly talking to them and resonate with the problem/solution more.

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When you help drive over $100M in revenue for ecommerce brands, you learn a few things about media buying. Here are 5 truths I wish I would've learned earlier (that I know now): 1. Unknown business goals = busted ad strategy You should know the long-term financial goal of the business — scale to sell, grow margins and profitability, etc. Business goals are ultimately what we're optimizing marketing and advertising for, and you'd be surprised how many agencies miss this from the beginning. 2. Unclear unit economics = challenging optimization Each product has different margins. If you're not looking at AOV, COGS, and LTV to set your ROAS/CAC targets, you're shooting in the dark. At Kynship, we optimize for specific financial outcomes (contribution margin), so the more precise the target, the better we can achieve this. 3. No cost controls = challenge for profitability Cost controls are the most practical framework to achieve everything I've talked about so far — limit unprofitable spend, scale profitable spend. The available profitable volume shifts day by day, so you don't want to force spend where the opportunity isn't available. Cost controls let off the gas in less favorable times and push harder when there's high ROI spend. 4. Low creative volume = reduced ability to scale Testing as much as you can is like a lottery — more tickets unlock more opportunities for success (profitable growth). Because we're using cost controls, spend is burned on low performers. In any ad set, top performers are the minority in any collection — more volume is the best way to scale that minority. 5. No creative flywheel = no volume = no growth Everything in #4 can't exist without a flywheel to generate the content. Influencer seeding (gifting products to influencers with no strings attached) is low cost, but high ROI when done correctly. You're getting native content that performs well in ad accounts for just COGS. Without a flywheel, it's difficult to scale testing and spend. If you're running paid, what's a "truth" I missed out on here?

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Here’s how to make SEO your biggest revenue driver (advice based on generating +$20 million in revenue, not pipeline): ✅ Treat it as a demand capture channel Skip top of the funnel entirely, and jump straight into JTBD middle & bottom of the funnel. There’s gonna be plenty of room later to play the awareness game. The magic of SEO lies in the ability to reach buyers who are already searching for your product. That may be only 5% of your TAM buyers (in-market buyers), but that’s more than enough to grow you to (hundreds of) millions in ARR. Plus, the bar is so low - since most SEOs are chasing vanity metrics (traffic), these low-volume, high-intent long tail money keywords are such an untapped opportunity. ✅ Spend money on content, not backlinks Backlinks don’t generate revenue, content does. You can’t rank for all these keywords where buyers are already searching for your solution until you have a page of content for that query, so building backlinks won’t help. Let’s say there are 10,000 ways (KWs) prospects are searching for you already. This is your lowest hanging fruit you should saturate first. Once you cluster those 10,000 keywords, you’ll have e.g. 2,000 pages of content to create. The faster you publish this content, the faster you’ll capture all the existing demand. So, your goal should be increasing content publishing velocity, because publishing 10 pages a month means it’ll take you 200 months (almost 20 years!) to just saturate existing demand. Publish 200/month, and you’ll do that in under a year. ✅ Natively integrate product into content Google rewards content that provides the most value to the user. That should be your first step - to create the best page of content Google can show to the user. Skip this step and jump straight into promoting your product and you just won’t rank. Once you’ve provided value and solved the user's problem, the next step is to position your product as the natural next step: as a better / cheaper / faster alternative. It’s that simple! ✅ Report on performance weekly It’s hard to hide when you’re transparently reporting on progress every week. It’s gonna push you to do better. Once the campaign hits mid stage (usually 4-6 months in), go from just reporting on leading indicators to reporting on signups & revenue. Conversions should start increasing linearly with traffic. I know that with the old SEO playbook conversions never increase linearly with traffic, but with this playbook, they do. Because, remember, we’re targeting just high-intent, revenue generating opportunities - none of those fluffy TOFU keywords that drive a ton of traffic but little-to-no signups.

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TOF (Top of Funnel) Not Working for You? – Do This ↓ These are the steps to: - capture attention - build connections - scale your impact This is your no-nonsense guide to top-of-funnel activities that drive real growth and engagement. Content Marketing that Captivates → Solve Real Problems: Write articles addressing your audience’s challenges. Make them insightful, relatable, and actionable. → Showcase Success: Use stunning case studies to highlight your product's impact. SEO that Works for You → Target Pain Points: Use long-tail keywords specific to your industry’s challenges. Example: “Boosting SaaS Sales” instead of “increase sales.” → Organize for Impact: Create pillar pages around core topics linked with cluster content to boost SEO. Engage with Interactive Content → Quizzes and Assessments: Develop fun, insightful quizzes that generate leads. → Webinars and Q&As: Host sessions with industry experts and record them for on-demand content. Strategic Partnerships and Co-Marketing → Collaborate for Success: Partner with complementary businesses for co-created content, webinars, or product bundles. → Host Virtual Summits: Co-hosting events can expand your audience and boost engagement. Social Media that Stands Out → Consistent LinkedIn Value: Post insightful content regularly. Use polls and interactive posts to engage your audience. → Amplify Through Employees: Encourage your team to share company content on their profiles. → Create Social Challenges: Launch a challenge or hashtag campaign related to your product to engage users. Build and Engage a Community → Set clear goals, create an engaging content calendar, and drive member contributions. Video Content that Connects → Compelling Testimonials: Film short, authentic customer testimonials. Genuine stories build trust. → Show Behind-the-Scenes: Highlight the people behind your product to create a deeper connection. Innovative Email Campaigns → Personalized and Segmented: Tailor emails to different segments. Speak directly to their needs. → Repurpose for Reach: Share your best email content across social media and blogs. Leverage User-Generated Content → Encourage Sharing: Invite customers to share their stories and reviews. Feature these prominently to build community and trust. Here’s the Bottom Line: Growth isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing what works. Implement these strategies to provide value, build genuine connections, and consistently engage your audience. --- And they say, "just post on social and you'll get sales." Yeah right 😆 Digital selling is so much more than just social media posts. Follow along to learn real growth strategies 👍

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Here's EXACTLY how to write X vs Y content that converts like crazy: The 6 steps are: 1. Optimized title for CTR 2. Engaging intro 3. First CTA after giving clarity in the intro 4. In-depth feature comparison 5. Alternatives 6. Conclusion This is even more relevant now with SaaS content strategies focusing on these keywords more than ever to drive bottom-of-funnel sales ... as well as being crucial keywords for SEO affiliates. But first, why care about product comparisons? 💡 They have HUGE buyer intent - people searching are READY TO BUY 🧠 Build trust & credibility - readers see you as an expert ✅ Reduce decision anxiety with easy pros vs cons 1. Optimized, keyword-rich TITLE - Designed to boost click-through rate (CTR) - Main keyword for SEO - Understand the reader's PAIN POINT The pain point behind the search - I call it the Micro Intent - is the most important: What's the pain point BEHIND the keyword? If they're looking for reliability: - "X vs Y: Which is the most reliable?" If ppl comparing Macbooks are often using it for design, specify this: - "Macbook M1 vs M2 Compared: Tested for graphic designers." 2. Engaging INTRO that builds trust - Hit that keyword in paragraph 1 for SEO - Use the SPEAR framework for trust (or PAS) - Clear and confident value judgment for which product is superior FOR EVERY BUYER SEGMENT Understanding the range of people likely to visit your page is key. For laptops, it’s probably a mix of people who: - want to game - want to be social - want to design things - are students needing to work Clearly state the best option for each segment, and why, in language that creates visual imagery in their minds, so they can already imagine themselves using your product/service = 💰 3. Use a comparison table CTA to get conversions - Showcase key specs & comparison points - Highlight best product per segment - Use contrasting button colors on the CTA BUT ONLY INCLUDE SPECS WITH HIGH EMOTIONAL IMPACT. Not the ones that don't lead to buying actions, as they aren't heartstring-pullers. 4. In-depth feature comparisons Go through each comparison point in detail, giving specific advice on which product excels in this area Don't just give numbers - give SCENARIOS For "Battery Life", emphasize the real-world implications of an 8-hour vs 4-hour battery life 5. Brief overview of ALTERNATIVES For that specific spec, there might be a different product that excels. Mentioning this can get you the affiliate sale IF the reader really prioritizes that particular feature or spec 6. Conclusion with final call to action - Reinforce your verdict confidently but without being pushy - Present top product's CTA - Recommend related content if they weren't ready to purchase today (send them higher up in the funnel e.g. "how much to expect to pay for X", "types of X", etc). Keep them in your orbit. I'll put the whole 3000-word article in the comments if anyone wants to read this!

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I worked at an SEO agency that had a 37% success rate. My agency is at almost 100%. Here’s how: After spending 10+ years in tech, I kickstarted my marketing career by joining an SEO agency as Head of Revenue, and did a lot of great things there: - Added $65,000 MRR in 7 quarters (started at $20k) - Grew the blog from 500 to 100,000 monthly visits in one year - Drove 40+ podcast appearances for our team …and a whole lot more. Still, I wasn’t fulfilled. Not just 'emotionally’ - mostly in the business sense: Our client success rate was 37% because we worked with a ton of mediocre brands and executed a ton of mediocre campaigns, and this is where I realized that one of my key motivations was to work on the most ambitious projects. So I left the agency and started Content Distribution. Here’s how I took it to +30 people and achieved a near-to-hundred-percent success rate: ✅ Okay with sacrifices First off, I had to be okay with going from $100k/year to minimum wage. This lasted about 2 years. ✅ Easiest way to win is for your clients to win Also the hardest way. But after seeing what working with a ton of mediocre clients gets you, I’ve decided to only work with the most ambitious brands and design my business around making sure they win. Currently working with three +$100m brands who are dominating their categories, so it seems like it’s working! ✅ People ops Very early-on, I admitted to myself that I’m not the best-suited person for the ‘content job’. I know I know, says the founder of a content agency… But I’ve seen what great looks like and realized I won’t be the best at it… So the first hires I made were 10 writers, out of which came the first big hire I made - Gordana Sretenovic as our editor in chief and 1st full-time team member. Me being honest to myself right from the start and passing the content reigns to someone great at it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made. ✅ Controlling the outcomes If you want to win, it makes sense to play the game where you can actually control the outcome. Obvious, right? Well, this actually turns out to be quite controversial in SEO. Our entire strategy is based around creating the most valuable page of content Google could show for the KWs we want to rank for. Very different from the old SEO playbook (all about the technical SEO + backlinks). Which makes you rely on things you don’t control - you’re basically praying to Google gods. Not good if you want a scalable, predictable revenue generating machine. Our approach is 100% focused on playing the game where we fully control the outcome. ✅ Only working with the most ambitious clients Back to the start of the story - for mediocre clients you can only produce mediocre outcomes. And I didn’t want that. We’re now very specific about who we want to work with - only the most ambitious brands who want to dominate their category.

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Jenni AI cracked organic Short-Form Content and are now at ~$5M ARR. Here’s how to replicate their TikTok strategy in 6 simple steps. If you were to pay for 30M United States views with TikTok ads, it would cost you around $300,000. This guide will show you how to do it organically, with better conversion, with a $20,000 budget: ● Go on TikTok and search for keywords in your niche ● Filter for the most liked videos in the past 30 days ● Upload the best posts on a notion page ● Get a VA for $5/h to reach out to UGC creators on Twitter, Upwork, and Discord groups ● Shortlist them based on their lifetime organic views (shoot for 10M minimum) ● Get 20 of them on a $500/mo retainer Each creator should create their own TikTok account and post once per day. Accounts should be named after relevant keywords in your niche or after your own product. Get your VA to set up a Google sheet so you can track all the accounts’ views and likes daily. Set up a bonus structure for creators with the money you have left in order to keep everyone incentivized. Make sure the creators are working together to understand what content works best for your product. Track downloads/sign-ups on the backend and figure out the average conversion rate. Double down on what works

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Here’s my 4-part SaaS growth marketing framework that increases MQLs +2750%. Yes, you read that right. Here’s the framework 👇 1. Revenue-Focused Content Too many content efforts are derailed by well-meaning marketers toiling away in SEO tools. Here, we leave the keyword tools behind and use a new "3S" strategy (sales, success and support) to create content that directly impacts revenue pipeline. 2. Community-Led Marketing Community is not audience. It is not another marketing channel. But, it can lead your marketing. In times of economic uncertainty, your community is your moat. It’s easy to say “build community,” but this is very much a simple (not easy) strategy. 3. Authority-Building Content Building your authority online expands far beyond SEO.  This is how we become the journalistic center of the universe in our industry. Influencers and amplifiers will be knocking down our door to be featured and we’ll share industry insights not found anywhere else online. 4. Demand-Focused Content Founder brands are more powerful than ever. Executives are seeing the power of building a personal platform to create customer and talent pipelines. ⚡️ Want to see what kind of results this framework drives? 👇

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Here are 7 metrics you need if you want to self-audit your account: (Save these to start your audit template) 1. Exclusions Analysis ➝ Meta should focus on new customer acquisition ➝ Exclude existing Shopify/Klaviyo customers ➝ Exclude sets like 180 day Pixel purchasers 2. Landing Page Analysis ➝ Check campaign endpoints ➝ Optimize for pages with a clear "buy" CTA ➝ Use collections only with 1,000+ SKU stores 3. Delayed Attribution Multiplier % ➝ Used to adjust cost controls based on conversion tendency ➝ 1-day (impulse) and 28-day (no view-through attribution) ➝ 7-day is a primary focus for us with most ecomm clients 4. Blended COGS ➝ Takes in your unit economics per product/offer ➝ Compared relative to breakeven CAC ➝ Informs ad account targets 5. Above Target Spend Analysis ➝ How much is wasted spend AKA above target spend? ➝ What's the percentage relative to total spend? ➝ Informs path to profitability per product/offer 6. Creative Diversity Score (%) ➝ Splitting static, video, product, and human creatives ➝ We aim for 40:60 static to video, 50:50 product to human ➝ Ratios are never exact, and may vary based on brand 7. Creative Volume and Refresh Score ➝ How much diverse creative is being incorporated? ➝ How frequently are campaigns being updated? ➝ Our benchmark: 1x/week (Meta is 2x/month) You can figure all of these out by yourself... Or, we're looking to bring on 2-3 more accounts this summer. We start with a free comprehensive business audit and growth forecast (way more than we can fit in a LinkedIn post). If you're an 8-9 figure ecommerce brand (our criteria match), send me a message if you're curious 🤝

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