Make landing pages great again 🪧 

Honestly, affiliate programs for creators are the worst.

(this being written by 2 creators over here)

At a point when it feels like technology is more advanced than ever, it simultaneously feels like we’re stuck in 2012.

If you’re a brand—let alone a creator—you know what I mean.

But if creators are a dominant force for marketing your products and driving conversion, they should get preferential treatment and optionality to build experiences to aid that.

That’s where Superfiliate enters the chat.

Their team is cooking up some absolutely wonderful products, brands, and creators right now, built for how social commerce actually works in 2024.

Wanna build a landing page for:

• Creators you work with? Check.

• Ambassadors in your network? Done.

• Affiliate partners? No problemo.

If you’re a brand, this is fantastic.

Because you can finally run an end-to-end creator program and offer everything from seeding and discount/link code tracking to automated payouts fraud protection. All packaged up in a sexy, cobranded landing page.

You can also build loyalty programs to reward your customers with things like cash money, store credits, and more.

For creators? It’s even better.

Finally, you can create branded, native experiences for your followers without worrying about the design, much less analytics and performance, or how you’ll get paid.

If you’re a brand and you rely on creator/influencer programs as a key growth strategy, this is honestly one of the dopest eComm tools you can leverage on the market.

Check the Superfiliate website to see some live examples.

The next time we talk about their product, Clayton and Oren will break down our favorite landing pages from their customers.

Learn more about Superfiliate

Micro is the new macro—storage edition 🎨 

A common theme we emphasize here is that when you’re starting a brand and launching your first product, always start from a place of simplicity.

Go niche to go wide. Everyone wants to build a big brand, but few know that to start, you focus on making one thing really, really well.

Cliik is a textbook example of this.

Who knew there was a need to make better-looking and functioning storage products?

The narrative and storytelling is on point, almost like a nod to the nostalgia of 90s ads.

And the product optionality is so simple and good. Got a feeling our next cult home brand is in the making.

Stay tuned.

Category on the rise: Gardening 🥬 

Yes, it’s time to put on those garden clogs and dig your hands into some nice, cold soil.

Over the last few years, gardening as an aesthetic has become a go-to creative muse for brands and their seasonal campaigns, from 18east and Earth Studies to Gucci and TOAST’s most recent spring line.

But what’s different about this trend, in my view, is that it’s about more than just the clothing. Gardening stems from a deep desire to connect with something bigger than yourself: nature.

And this is something I feel that we’re all craving more of.

Because we’re all chronically online these days, that connection to nature is what we have left to connect with reality.

Wanna start a gardening brand?

Here are a few products I think would crush it (depending on who you sell to):

1. Stylish gardening apparel that’s actually functional

2. Well-designed gardening tools that come in a set

There’s something about making functional products that give people a sense of aspiration when wearing or using them.

Brands to check out for initial inspiration

• Gardenheir

• Niwaki

• Slop Magazine

Hyper’s Brand Building Sprint

A few thoughts on Email Marketing

This week in our Brand Building Sprint series, Oren talks about pro tips for email marketing. 

A cheat sheet of our recommendations is below, and Oren covers this on YouTube as well.

What software should we use?

• Klaviyo is the standard for eComm.

• Brevo is what Oren is using to keep costs down for his brand to start.

• Beehiiv is our recommendation for non-eCommerce (and what we use for this newsletter).

How can most brands improve email?

Every email needs personality, more TikToks, more jokes, more brand lore less screaming buy.  Give people a reason to be excited to open!

When should you start building a list?

Start ASAP when you're concepting a brand. Use Carrd or Squarespace/Shopify etc. to set up a form, and make sure to call it out and promote it along the way.

Even 100 subscribers to start goes a long way to setting yourself up for success.

What are automations? And which should I start with?

The first automation to work on is your welcome automation — when someone signs up, drop them in a welcome flow focused on education, not just sales.

Cover your brand story, your best videos, everything that makes you special, put them in a series of emails-- your best sellers, how-to's, customer reviews, and success stories, this is about nurturing.

It's important to have welcome emails up and firing early because you're warming your domain and account up and helping your emails actually land in inboxes versus waiting to send campaigns and worrying they might land in spam.

What should I do on my live site?

Make sure popups are on your site, and try Amped, who have a shockingly high opt-in rate.

Bigger brands who want some advanced automation segmentation tech should check Black Crow.

I don't like popups...

You'll see less email retention, but focus on including opportunities to sign up on the page and include them on every page.

How much should we email?

We recommend doing campaigns at least once a week, for most brands, likely 2x. If you haven't launched yet, use campaigns to update on your progress every 1-2 weeks, not every email needs to be about sales, you can set the stage for what comes next.

What other automations should I setup?

1. Abandoned Cart—These are reminders to finish transactions—don't just do one here, lean in and do multiple. We also implore brands to treat these like real emails.

2. Throw a plain text one in and ask if the consumer has questions. There are real people on the other side of your emails, and you should engage with that in mind. Be sure to reply and answer what comes in.

3. Post Purchase - This is a flow after a purchase that includes thank you's, check-ins for reviews or surveys after purchase, recommended pairings, drop videos about the products or access to guides etc.

4. High content track—For people who open about 90% of your emails, give them more. They're fans, so don't be afraid to load them up, get them stoked, and send them things they'll love.

5. A final pro-tip - Mix in plain text emails from founders or team members, and don't be afraid to solicit feedback and replies and treat email marketing like a real conversation.

It’s all in the details 📔 

If you’ve read this newsletter long enough, you know how much we love the work Ugmonk is doing in the work + productivity space.

Every product they drop is thoughtfully designed.

Sure, part of the draw with these unbound journals they just dropped is the photography. But you don’t make something look this sexy if the product itself isn’t also top shelf.

Jeff and the team over there just get it.

Let this be a sign to the rest of you—if you’re making something that’s higher AOV, go the extra mile.

Tweak it an extra millimeter. Percent. Inch. Whatever it is, it’s worth it.

A new wave of skincare branding 🏾 

Call it the Art Director’s skincare effect. Or the Aesop aesthetic. Either way, we’re having a fun moment with branding and design for skincare products.

One brand we’re loving right now is Moksi, a skincare brand for people undergoing cancer treatment. A pretty badass product to make, and again niche in its focus.

FCKLCK Studio did incredible branding work on this and nailed the mere humanity of the end user and their use of this product.

It’s a telling series, from the packaging to the photography. Beautiful stuff.

Another brand we’ve been loving is Margin, dubbed a contemporary care brand.

Margin crushes it with a showcase of materials, science, and detailing in the product. There’s an ethereal aspect to their products; it feels too good, too clean.

And while using your IG account for art direction certainly isn’t for everyone (and we wouldn’t advise it for most), it absolutely works as a selling point for Margin.