Scaling eCommerce Brands Through Profitable Acquisition

Driving profitable, scalable growth for 8 and 9-figure eCommerce brands through integrated performance marketing, creative, and data systems.

AFR Fast Starter 2024 | Finalist Melbourne Young Entrepreneur | Startup of The Year | Emerging Agency of The Year

At Blue Sense Digital, we work with 8 and 9- figure eCommerce brands to align growth strategy with financial outcomes and operational leverage.

We work with businesses where marketing, finance, and operations need to be aligned for profitable scale.

Our clients typically operate in:
· Fashion & Lifestyle
· Consumer Goods
· Home & Living

We believe profitable scale depends on three critical levers:

→ Creative Velocity & Diversity
→ Technical Account Structure
→ Data Integrity

By integrating these pillars, we help brands build a scalable acquisition model, tied directly to financial outcomes.

For earlier-stage brands, we share proven frameworks and strategies through educational content and resources:

→ https://www.youtube.com/@bluesensedigital

If you’re an eCommerce leader ready to build your next chapter of growth, let’s connect: 
https://calendly.com/bluesensedigital/exploratory

I promise to honour your time.

Nathan Perdriau

As an ads guy, it hurts to say...
But organic > ads.

40 days of posting on Instagram.

The reach I've generated would cost $67,000 in ad spend.

Zero dollars spent.

Here's What I've Learned:

1. Volume Negates Luck

You can't post twice and expect to go viral.
Consistency compounds.
The more you ship, the more chances you have to hit.

2. No Platform Has a Daily Posting Limit

There's no cap on how much you can post.
Most people post 3x per week and wonder why they're not growing. I now post 10 times a day.

3. Diversity Matters

Don't just talk about one thing one way.
Different formats.
Different angles (tactical, contrarian, personal).
Different hooks (questions, stats, stories).

Variety attracts different segments of your audience.

4. Contrarian Takes Matter

Everyone says the same thing.
"Test more creatives." "Improve your landing page." "Focus on retention."

Say something different.
Challenge common beliefs.

Share what others won't.
That's what stops the scroll.

5. Experience Matters Most

The uncomfortable truth:
I wouldn't have any success with organic content if I hadn't spent 6 years deep in performance marketing.

Content without expertise is noise.
Expertise without content is invisible.

The Order of Operations:

- Do the work for years (build real expertise)
- Run ads to acquire clients and prove your methods
- Document what you've learned through content
- Scale organically once you have something worth saying

You can't skip step 1.

Producing Better Financial Outcomes for 8-9 Figure Brands

I analysed I Love Ugly's ad library (250 ads running).

One thing stood out immediately:

They're leaning HEAVILY into partnership ads.
And most fashion brands are completely missing this opportunity.

Here's what I found...

What They're Doing Well:

- Heavy use of DCO to avoid page limits 
- Zero DPA's (quality over quantity) 
- Partnership content driving their best performance

The Missed Opportunity:

I scrolled through their entire library.

Everything is high-production studio shoots with clean text overlays.

Zero low-fi content. Zero organic-feeling ads. Zero auditory hooks.

Now here's the interesting part:

When I sorted by longest-running ads...

The top performers (some running 3+ years) are ALL high-production.

So their testing shows this works for them.

But there's a gap:

Their fastest-growing category is activewear.
They're pushing it hard with partnership ads.
Activewear lends itself to organic, UGC-style content naturally.

The Play:

Partnership ads are working. Activewear is growing. But they haven't tested low-fi content in this specific vertical.

That's the white space.

If you're running partnership ads but keeping everything polished and produced...

You're leaving engagement on the table.

The best partnership content feels native to the platform.

Not like an ad that happens to feature someone else.

Test organic formats in your fastest-growing categories first.

That's where audience receptiveness is highest.

We ask this in almost every interview:

"What is a good offer?"

Almost no one gets it right.

Here's the framework:
A good offer creates a value discrepancy in the market.

From your perspective as the seller:
Offer Quality = Perceived Value - Your Actual Costs

You want customers to think your product is worth WAY more than it costs you to deliver.

Example: Customer thinks: "This must cost $200 to make" Your actual cost: $40 Selling price: $100

That gap? That's your margin opportunity.

But here's where it gets interesting:
Customers are running the OPPOSITE equation in their heads.

From the buyer's perspective:
Offer Quality = What It Costs You - What I'm Paying

They want to believe you're selling close to cost.

That you're barely making margin.

That they're getting an incredible deal.

This is why 50% off Black Friday sales work so well:

Customer logic: "These normally sell for $100, now they're $50" "The cost to make these didn't just drop in half" "This is an amazing deal"

Demand goes up.

But as a seller? You just torched your margin.

The equation shrinks for you even as it grows for them.

So what's a GOOD offer that works for both sides?

A reframing of value where the consumer believes they're getting enormous value, but your COGS remain low.

An example:

Free sample packs at cost of shipping.

Customer pays $7 shipping. Gets $20+ worth of samples. Feels like they're getting it free.

But that $7 covers your COGS AND your CAC.

You're break-even on acquisition. 

All profit comes from purchase 2 and 3. 

You've maximised perceived value without sacrificing margin.

The principle:

Stop competing on price.
Start engineering perception.

The best offers make customers feel like they're stealing from you...

While you're actually widening your margins.

How we scaled "unscalable" outbound to 120 clients.

Four years ago, we made custom Loom videos for prospects.

Walked through their website, ads, and gave specific recommendations.

Worked great. But we could only make 10 per day.

So we hired a team.

Conversion rates tanked immediately.

Our faces weren't on the videos anymore.

The fix:

1. Scripted every recommendation
2. Recorded our voice and face for each one
3. Editors superimposed our recordings onto prospect footage

Now it looked personal. But the team did the work.

We ramped to 120 videos per day.

Here's what broke at each stage:

Hit 20/day → conversion dropped
- Fixed: Hired better prospectors

Hit 50/day → no new clients
- Fixed: Hired SDRs to call and get videos watched

Hit 80/day → ran out of editors
- Fixed: Hired full-time editors, recorded at 2x speed

Hit 100/day → too complex to manage
- Fixed: Hired outbound manager

The pattern:

Push the system until it breaks.
Find the bottleneck.
Fix it.
Repeat.

This is how you scale anything:
- Paid ads
- Content production
- Outbound systems
- Operations

People said custom videos with 20+ recommendations weren't scalable.

We proved them wrong.

Key lesson:

You can scale the unscalable.

Just identify what's restricting growth and solve that specific constraint.

Ask yourself right now:

What's the one thing stopping me from doubling output?

Then go fix it.

VSL ads in eCommerce are the opportunity right now.

I've seen a VSL recently hit $360K in total spend (one asset).

Here's their structure:
1. Hook with education (not product)
2. Problem agitate 
3. Mechanism explanation (why it works)
4. Objection handling (why past solutions failed)
5. Product proof (UGC, testimonials)
6. Risk reversal (guarantee)
7. Simple CTA

Why this works:
- Feels educational, not salesy
- Removes doubt in specific order
- Pre-qualifies buyers before landing page

I did a full video breaking down exactly how to make a VSL that can hold $100k+ in ad spend. Linked in comments below.

Birthday sales are an easy way to create a spike without feeling salesy. Time them right and they can bridge the quiet months without hurting the brand.

Three things stop creatives from fatiguing...

IM8 did $100M in under 11 months.

80% of their first-time customers are on subscription.

Sounds like the dream, right?

Wrong.

Here's why copying this strategy could destroy your business:

What IM8 Does:

Subscription is the DEFAULT option.
Save 30% messaging everywhere.
One-time purchase? Hidden on a separate page.

I bought their product to test the funnel.

I didn't even realise one-time was an option until I went looking for it.

The Subscription Trap:

Most founders think: "If we get more people on subscription, we'll have higher LTV. Then we can pay more to acquire customers. This is the key to scale."

The math seems obvious.

But here's what the data actually shows:

Your CAC on subscription customers is MUCH higher.

Yes, LTV goes up when you force subscriptions.

But your cost to acquire those customers skyrockets.

And the equation breaks.

What You Should Actually Track:

Don't just look at LTV.

Look at CAC to LTGP (Lifetime Gross Profit within 365 days).

Run this for BOTH scenarios:
→ CAC for one-time purchases
→ CAC for subscription customers

Then compare:
→ Which has better CAC to LTGP ratio?
→ Where's the actual arbitrage?

The Reality:

In 90% of cases I've analysed...

You're better off acquiring one-time customers.

Yes, they have slightly lower LTGP.
Yes, they're not "as high quality."

But you can acquire them SO much cheaper that the arbitrage is better.

Before You Go Subscription-Only:

Test both funnels side by side.

Measure actual CAC (not assumed).

Calculate the 365-day gross profit for each.

Compare the ratios.

If your subscription CAC is 2.5x higher but LTV is only 1.8x higher?

You're losing money on every "premium" customer.

The Framework:

1. Run split traffic: 50% subscription-default, 50% one-time-default
2. Track CAC for each cohort separately (not blended)
3. Measure LT GP at 90, 180, and 365 days
4. Calculate the CAC to LTGP ratio for both
5. Scale whichever has better unit economics

Subscriptions don't save struggling businesses.

Better margins do.

Know your numbers before you commit to a model that might be bleeding you dry.

Traffic campaigns feel cheap, but they are cheap for a reason...

Paid ads is for acquisition.

Not retention.

Here's why:

At least 70% of returning customer revenue comes from:
- Email
- SMS
- Direct traffic
- Social (organic)

Your most loyal customers return to your website naturally to see new product drops.

They don't need ads to come back.

This is where most brands get confused.

They measure paid ads against total revenue.

That's fundamentally wrong.

Paid ads don't drive all your revenue.

They drive new customer revenue.

The metrics shift:

Instead of MER (total revenue / total ad spend)

Use Acquisition MER (new customer revenue / ad spend).

This applies to every metric:
- ROAS → new customer ROAS
- CPA → new customer CPA
- Profit contribution → new customer profit

Everything should be measured against acquisition only.

Example:

If you're spending £100K on ads and generating £400K in total revenue, your MER is 4x.

But if only £250K came from new customers, your actual acquisition MER is 2.5x.

That's a massive difference in how you should be evaluating performance.

Caveats:

Fashion brands are different.

High product drop rates mean you need some retention spend.

But for most businesses?

You're spending way too much on retention through paid ads.

Focus retention efforts on:
1. Email flows and campaigns
2. SMS campaigns
3. Loyalty programs
4. Organic social

Focus paid ads on:
1. Acquiring new customers
2. Testing new audiences
3. Scaling what works

Stop conflating the two.

Measure them separately.

Optimize them separately.

Creative is everything in 2026, but most training doesn’t teach you how to actually make a good ad...

Recessions consolidate to the top.

Great businesses thrive.

Weak ones collapse.

We're seeing this play out right now.

Ad accounts that were crushing 2 years ago with zero fundamentals are struggling.

No creative strategy.
No retention systems.
Just cranking Meta budgets and hoping for the best.

It worked when CPMs were cheap and demand was high.

Now those brands are hitting £10M/year and falling apart.

Here's what's breaking:

Their MER is dropping.

They audited their business and realized:
- No retention system in place
- Terrible cohort lift after acquisition
- Creative thrown in randomly with no strategy
- Heavy discounting to spike revenue

Now their entire customer base only buys on discount.

Margins squeezed from 70% to 40%.

All of this compounds.

The brands that survive recessions are the ones that built on fundamentals:

1. Strong unit economics
Contribution margins above 60%.
Can afford to acquire customers profitably at scale.

2. Retention systems
Email flows, SMS, subscriptions, loyalty programs.
Not just hoping people come back.

3. Strategic creative production
Angle testing, offer testing, message-market fit.
Not random UGC hoping something sticks.

4. Pricing discipline
No training customers into discount dependency.
Promotions are strategic, not desperate.

When times are easy, bad strategy gets rewarded.

When the market tightens, fundamentals win.

If your growth is built on "just spend more on Meta"...

You're in trouble.

Fix your fundamentals before the market forces you to.

Third-party attribution tools aren't that helpful.

Here's why:

Attribution is unknowable.

These tools try to identify the first click that leads to a purchase.

But they don't pull you back far enough in the journey to reliably show where spend should go.

So why do people think they're amazing?

Because their platform setup is wrong in the first place.

Third-party tools just expose the flaws in your account structure.

Example 1: Meta attribution

You log into Triple Whale.

Meta says 5x ROAS.
Triple Whale says 3x ROAS.

Suddenly you have clarity: "That's why we can't scale past 3x on incremental spend."

But you didn't need Triple Whale to tell you this.

The issue?

Your Meta attribution is set to 7-day click + 1-day view.

You're getting massive overattribution from view-through conversions right before purchase.

The fix:

Change campaigns to 7-day click only.

Or just check the attribution breakdown in Meta for 7-day click ROAS.

Problem solved. No third-party tool needed.

Example 2: Google attribution

Google shows 10x ROAS in-platform.

Your third-party tool shows 4x ROAS.

People think: "This tool revealed Google isn't performing well."

The real issue?

Brand campaigns and existing customers are sitting in your PMAX and shopping campaigns.

They're inflating your ROAS.

The fix:

1. Segment brand campaigns properly
2. Exclude existing customers from PMAX
3. Structure campaigns correctly

Numbers will match up. No third-party tool needed.

What third-party tools actually do:

They highlight problems in your account structure.

But they don't solve them.

You still need to fix:
- Attribution windows
- Campaign segmentation
- Audience exclusions
- Account structure

If your setup is clean, platform data is reliable enough.

Stop relying on tools to tell you what your account structure should already show.

Fix the fundamentals first.

High repeat rate ≠ profitable product.

Here's what to track instead:

The Problem:

Most brands look at repeat purchase rates by product and think they've found their winners.

Product A: 17% repeat rate → "This is our hero product!"
Product B: 12% repeat rate → "Deprioritise this one"

But repeat rate alone is meaningless.

What You Should Actually Measure:

Contribution margin lift.

Not just "do they come back?"

But "how much more profit do we make when they do?"

The Framework:

Step 1: Calculate first-time customer contribution margin by product

Step 2: Calculate lifetime contribution margin by product (track 365 days)

Step 3: Find the dollar lift between the two

Step 4: Rank products by margin lift, not repeat rate

Here's Why This Matters:

Let's say you have two products:

Product A:
- 17% repeat rate (looks amazing)
- First purchase GP: $20
- Lifetime contribution margin: $35
- Lift: $15

Product B:
- 12% repeat rate (looks mediocre)
- First purchase GP: $35
- Lifetime contribution margin: $80
- Lift: $45

You'd think Product A is the winner.

But Product B is generating 3x more profit per customer over their lifetime.

That's where you should be aggressive on acquisition.

How To Apply This:

Once you know your contribution margin lift by product:

Adjust your acceptable CAC (Cost to Acquire A Customer) accordingly.

Product with $15 lifetime lift → Cap CPP at $40
Product with $45 lifetime lift → Push CPP to $50+

You can afford to pay more upfront for customers who generate more profit long-term.

The Key Metric:

Stop optimising for repeat rate.

Start optimising for contribution margin lift.

Repeat rate tells you if customers come back.

Margin lift tells you if it's worth acquiring them in the first place.

Why Most Brands Miss This:

Shopify doesn't make this analysis easy.

You need to build your own model that tracks:
- Product-level contribution margins
- First purchase vs lifetime margins
- Repeat rates tied to entry products
- Dollar lift, not just percentage lift

But once you have it?

You'll know exactly which products to scale and which to pause.

The metric that matters isn't how often they buy.

It's how much profit they generate when they do.

A marketing win that does not show up in the P&L is not a win.

Account simplification has gone too far.

Some people are advising brands to run just one Meta campaign.

Terrible advice.

Here's why you need structure:

1. New vs returning customer isolation

Without segmentation, Meta juggles budgets however it wants between these groups.

The result?

Way too much spend on returning customers.

You're paying to remarket to people who would've bought anyway.

You need separate campaigns to control this split.

2. Geo segmentation

If you don't segment by region, you can't:
- Balance sell-through rates across markets
- Manage different 3PLs effectively
- Allocate spend to hit regional revenue targets

One campaign means Meta decides where your budget goes.

Not you.

3. Structured testing

You need structure to run conclusive tests.

Without it, you can't:
- Isolate variables
- Draw clear conclusions
- Inform future decisions

One campaign with everything thrown in = zero learnings.

4. Product margin profiles

Meta doesn't know your gross margins.

It will push whatever converts easiest.

Often that's your lowest AOV product with the worst margins.

If you optimize for "maximize conversions" (the default), Meta will drive you towards the worst profit contribution.

You need campaign structure to prioritize high-margin products.

The fix:

Build structure around:
- New vs returning customers
- Geographic regions
- Product margin tiers
- Testing frameworks

Account simplification is good.

Oversimplification kills profitability.

Don't confuse the two.

Your Facebook ads aren't performing as well as you think...

How we forecast eComm revenue (quantitative + qualitative).

Most forecasts fail because they're purely backward-looking.

Here's our approach:

Layer 1: Quantitative forecast

Two sides:

1. Returning customer revenue (highly predictable)
2. New customer revenue (larger error bars)

For new customer revenue:

Look at every day for the last 2-3 years.

Plot daily efficiency (return on spend) on a graph.

It looks like an exponential line going down.

The more you spend, the lower the return.

Run a logarithmic regression through that data.

This finds the optimal spend level for each month historically.

Now you have a baseline: "If August happened again like the last 3 years, what should we spend?"

The problem:

The future is never the past.

Every model will be wrong.

Layer 2: Qualitative adjustments (human input)

Example adjustments:

"In August last year, we were out of stock in core products. We need to add $100K in revenue to account for that."

"We're launching a new activation. We expect it to hold an extra $10K in spend at X efficiency."

"Black Friday creative tested well. We'll scale 20% harder than historical baseline."

Layer marketing events on top of the baseline forecast.

Why this matters:

Without the qualitative layer, you end up with vague targets like "$2M revenue, $100K spend."

If it doesn't work, you can't diagnose why.

With layered forecasting:

You can say: "We expected $300K from that product launch and it only generated $150K."

Now you have learnings.

You know where to adjust spend allocation going forward.

How to implement this:

1. Pull 2-3 years of daily spend and efficiency data
2. Plot it (spend vs ROAS or spend vs revenue)
3. Run a logarithmic regression to find optimal spend per month
4. Overlay qualitative adjustments (stock levels, launches, activations, seasonal factors)
5. Hold accountability to both revenue expectation and spend allocation
6. Review post-period and refine the model

This gives you:
- A data-driven baseline
- Context for anomalies
- Clear accountability
- Learnings that compound over time

Stop guessing at forecasts.

Build a model that learns.

Alo yoga is absolutely crushing it on Meta...

The goal of ads isn't the highest ROAS possible.

That's how you kill growth.

Instead, focus on maximizing contribution profit.

You're thinking: "Aren't those the same thing?"

No. And here's why it matters:

ROAS relies on attribution.

Contribution profit is tied directly to cash.

The best operators see reality clearly.

When your metrics sit closer to reality (cash, profit), you get:
- Better feedback cycles
- Sharper decisions
- Campaigns that actually move the needle

If you're optimizing for the highest ROAS in Meta or Google...

You're operating further from reality.

Further from your P&L.

Here's the shift:

Bridge your metrics closer to what actually matters.

When you launch a new test or optimize a campaign, you need to know it's impacting the thing you care about.

Simple question:

Would you rather have:
- 50x ROAS but make no money
- 2x ROAS but make £5M in profit

You'd choose the second every time.

So why are you still optimizing for the first?

How to fix it:

1. Calculate contribution profit per order (revenue - COGS - ad spend - shipping - fees)
2. Set this as your north star metric (not ROAS)
3. Build your dashboards around profit, not attributed revenue
4. Optimize campaigns for maximum profit dollars, not maximum ROAS
5. Test new channels and creatives against profit impact, not efficiency ratios

Stop chasing vanity metrics.

Start chasing cash.

TikTok and Meta ads for DTC Brands | Creative Strategist | UGC Producer|Founder of Tok-Vibes.com

Hi, I’m Oli!  a creative strategist who helps DTC brands turn scrolls into sales. I blend storytelling and data to build ads that not only grab attention but also drive growth. Here’s what I do best: I dig deep into your ad data and customer psychology to find out what truly makes your audience click. Then I craft fresh ad concepts (often leveraging UGC and AI content) grounded in those insights. The result = Campaigns that lower your CAC, boost ROAS, and scale your revenue sustainably. Over the past 5+ years, I’ve helped startups and global brands alike smash through growth plateaus:🔹 Scaled Loop Earplugs to exceed a $18M Q4 sales goal by 33%. (Yes, we overshot the target by a mile!)🔹 Drove 3.5X ROAS on $150K ad spend for a DTC accessory brand by reinventing their creative strategy (20% above benchmark performance)🔹 Cut CPA by 18% for a skincare client and found new customer angles that led 5 out of 50 test ads to drive 70% of their online revenue.I’m a founder, too... I launched an accessory brand with an innovative first product that I designed myself. I partner with you, founder-to-founder, treating your business like my own. If something isn’t working, I’ll tell you. If I spot an untapped opportunity, I’ll seize it. My approach in a nutshell: Test, learn, iterate. 📊 I run structured ad tests (thanks to my nerdy side that loves numbers) and then double down on the creatives that perform. No fluff, no ego.. just actionable insights and winning ads. And because I started as a content creator myself, I excel at producing ads that feel real and relatable (not like those stiff “agency” ads). On a personal note, I’m a bit of a nomad and nerd: I’ve lived on 3 continents, speak English &amp; French, and once grew a fitness Instagram to 15k followers just by talking about protein pancakes. 🥞 (Turns out, authentic content really does attract an audience...a lesson I carry into my ad strategies!). When I’m not optimizing campaigns, you can find me in a Reformer Pilates class and having lunch on a terrace with a friend.Ready to scale your DTC brand with ads that convert? Let’s chat. 😊 Send me a DM or book a call through my profile link, and let’s spark your next phase of growth.

Oli Cimet

Just had a client cancel because I used AI.

No joke.

New brand outside the US.
Was excited. We aligned on scope.

 I did a deep dive into their product + audience, like I always do.

Then I sent them a doc with early concepts + angles. 
Raw directions to align on strategy.
Spent 3 hours on that strategy work.

Client replies:
“Wait... was this made with AI?”

Yeah. It was. 
I use AI but I tweak, I sharpen, I test..
 But yes, I use AI in my process. Always.

 Reassured him this wasn't "lazy AI spam" 
This was research-backed strategy + ideas I’ve seen work before.

Still said he was “gutted” that it wasn’t 100% written by a human and cancelled the contract. 

🤷

Listen 

You shouldn't care how the idea came to life.
You should care whether it PERFORMS.

I've had ads scale past 6fig using this exact strategy workflow. multiple times.

AI isn't the enemy. Mediocre thinking is.

There’s a huge difference between:

“I let AI do the work for me”
vs
“I use AI to go deeper, faster and then I still do the work.”

If you’re hiring creators, strategists, marketers and banning AI just know:

You’re not being more “pure.”
You’re just slowing down the people who could win you your next best ad.

Do you want your team to use AI, or are you weird about it too? 
Be honest.

DTC Creative Strategist & Growth Partner Scaling 7-8 Figure Brands with Data-Driven UGC + AI Creative for FB & TikTok Ads | Founder of Tok-Vibes | Entrepreneur for Life

How to scale ads in 2026?

 Use this creative stack:

No scripts. No guessing. Just this:

Pick 1 persona

Pick 1 problem they obsess over

Write 3 angles that hit that pain/desire

Pair each with different creative formats (POV, demo, testimonial)

You don’t need 50 ad variations.
You need 3 angles that actually matter to your customer.
That’s how you scale with less.

🚀 My 2026 Creative Stack (So Far)

Every few weeks I try to audit the tools I use the most
because AI is moving faster than most teams can test.

Right now, this is my go-to stack for creative strategy & ad production:

🧠 ChatGPT (duhh!) for research, persona ideation, and rapid testing
🔎 Poppy.ai – for deep research and strategic insight
🗣️ Eleven Labs – for AI voiceovers (almost scary good now)
📽️ Heygen & Arcads – for fast AI avatars + lip sync
✍️ Claude – for copy
🖼️ NanoBanana – for image gen + prompt-based static ad concepts
📊 Atria– for swipe inspiration & moodboarding
🎥VEO3/FLOW/Kling for b-roll generation


These tools help me move faster, prototype smarter, and test wider.
But I know I’m probably late to a few.

👉 What tools are you using right now that I should be paying attention to?

Not just AI but anything helping you move faster or think clearer.

(Especially curious about what people are using for trend mining, brief validation, or market research.)

Let’s build a better 2026 stack together. 💻⚡️

Happy New Yearrrrr

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QuickFrame Creator: Meta Platform Expert

QuickFrame Creator: TikTok Platform Expert

Certified Personal Trainer & Nutrition & Postnatal Coach

Visual communication -  Front End 

Back-End Web Developer

Fashion Styling and Editorial Certification

Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce

Meta & TikTok ads for DTC Beauty & Health brands | Performance Creative Strategist | Ecom | Startups to Fortune 500s

Tok-Vibes is a small creative strategy team that crafts ad campaigns rooted in psychology and boosts performance. 

I'm an expert in growing DTC businesses, but outside of work I've:

Lived on three different continents, built a holistic health brand, and became a Pilates reformer lover.

Most founders think they have a content problem.

You don’t.

You have a clarity problem.

Talked to a brand spending $150K/month.
They’re pumping 40+ videos a week.
Zero winners.

Not one ad scaled.

The problem?

→ No one’s actually doing deep research
→ Strategy is vibes
→ Team's executing without clear direction
→ Their only “winner” was a static from 4 weeks ago

It’s not a production issue.
It’s a thinking issue.

I told them to stop the spam.
We dropped it down to 10 sniper-level briefs a week — high intent, fully mapped to angles that actually matter to their audience.

Most of you are trying to scale quantity.
But quantity without direction just burns money.

In 2026, the only ads that work are the ones that:

Speak to real pain

Are built on data

Are tested like scientists

And made for the platform

Stop copying frameworks.
Stop listening to every “creative strategist” with a Canva template.
Slow down. Get sharper.

Clarity > volume. Always.

He scaled to $1.5M... and now wants to quit. Here’s why...

Recently spoke to a founder who hit $1.5M in 18 months.
Bootstrapped. No outside help.
Now he’s completely fried... and thinking of walking away.

Why?
Because everything in the business still runs through him.

→ He’s still the one coming up with angles.
→ He’s still the one editing ads.
→ He’s still the one deciding what to launch.
→ And now that growth has slowed... he's out of ideas.

He doesn’t need more team calls or SOPs.

He needs leverage

💡 That’s where a creative strategist changes everything.

Not by building systems or managing teams.
But by doing the one thing that actually moves revenue:

→ Giving clarity on what message needs to be said, to whom, and how.

That’s how you go from being a founder who’s “doing ads”…
to a founder who finally has room to run the business.

Stopped writing hooks. Started stealing them.

Best-performing ad angle I’ve tested in 6 weeks.

Here’s what happened:

I was working with a fragrance brand.
Instead of brainstorming hooks with ChatGPT (or overthinking it in a doc), I just read their reviews.

Not marketing copy.
Not competitor scripts.
Just... actual things people say when they love the product.

I found this gem:

👉 “I smell like a CEO now.”

We tested it. It crushed. Lowest CPA in 6 weeks.
No ad rewrite. No 30-minute brainstorm.

Just a sticky line straight from the customer’s mouth.

Now I do this for every client:

– Read their reviews
– Read competitor reviews
– Cluster the copy
– Extract hooks and benefits
– Build angles from real words real humans use

Because the truth is:
Your next winning angle is already written.
You just haven’t gone looking for it yet.

If your ad or your landing page makes me think too much?

I scroll. I bounce. I click out.

Not because I’m dumb!!! because I’m busy.

You’ve got 2.02 seconds.

If your message has a high cognitive load (aka: it takes effort to “get it”) you lose me.

That’s why the smartest marketers write like they’re talking to a 7th grader.

Stop trying to sound clever. Start making sense.

If I have to think? I scroll.

Every. Single. Time.

Once you hit $50–100k/month in your DTC brand, it gets loud real fast.

Not from growth... from problems.

Ads stop working

You’re cycling through UGC too fast

You're stuck making creative decisions based on vibes instead of data

I’ve worked with multiple brands right at that inflection point. 

And here’s what I’ve seen work every time:

Install a creative testing system that maps angles → formats → outcomes

Create ads for different stages of awareness, not just a shiny front hook

Treat statics like angle tests, not just filler

Build modular creative libraries (you’ll thank yourself later)

Most brands at this level don’t need more media buying hacks.

They need clearer messaging and smarter content systems.

If you’re at this stage, what’s been breaking for you?

Founders, read this if you're trying to scale in 2026.

A few highlights from this week’s ecom news:

Amazon is bleeding influencer talent (they're underpaying creators)

TikTok is dominating DTC sales, especially impulse buys

Meta’s pushing deeper into product tagging & AI tools

Facebook Marketplace ads are evolving fast

AI-generated UGC is getting indistinguishable from real creators

What this actually means if you're a founder:

UGC costs are going up. Good creators know their value now. If you’re not building a system for performance-based testing (AI + UGC + hooks), you’ll burn cash fast.

Impulse is everything. TikTok isn’t for branding — it’s for “scroll → stop → click.” If your creative doesn’t hit a pain point in 1.2 seconds, you’re invisible.

Meta is still king... if you play smart. But that means creative built for systems not just volume.

 Angles that go deep. Testing across age splits. Copy-first.

I work with brands scaling in this climate and the ones winning aren't the loudest. 

They're just better at understanding the customer and speaking directly to them.

Are you building creative for today’s platforms or still stuck in 2021?

Saw someone turn their mom’s hoarding problem into a $4k/month side hustle.

Not because they had a genius product.
But because they nailed the angle.

It wasn’t "junk removal."
It was emotional decluttering.

That’s the power of positioning.

It’s what I do every day for brands:
take a basic product → find the real problem it solves → craft messaging that cuts.

You’re not selling a product.
You’re selling a narrative your customer already believes.

Get that right, and you’ll print.

You don’t need more content, you need more control.


Most teams are just “creating ads” not designing systems that let them scale predictably.

Don’t just brainstorm random concepts.

Use a repeatable messaging system:

✅ Angle (strategy)

✅ Hook (attention)

✅ Creative format (expression)

✅ Persona (target)

✅ Pain/desire/motivation (psychology)


Great creative doesn’t just start with a cool visual it starts with a clear plan.

Most brands think they have a creative strategy.

But if I ask them to pull 5 ads from their account right now...

🛑 They all speak to the same person
🛑 They all hit the same awareness level
🛑 They all push the product the same way

That’s *not* a strategy. That’s copy/paste.

Let me break it down for you real quick and you can **test this on your own brand** in 2 minutes:

🔥 **Level 0: You’re only running statics or UGC
You’re not testing formats. You’re testing vibes. That’s why your ads fatigue in 3 days.

🔥 **Level 1: You changed formats but not the message**
Cool. You’ve got a green screen and a meme now. But every ad still says the same sh*t. Congrats, you added “creative diversity”.

🔥 **Level 2: You’re only targeting product-aware people**
If your ad says “Here’s why our product is better...” guess what? That person already *knows* the problem.


🔥 **Level 3: No one’s buying from desire**
Are you writing ads that tap into real psychology? Or are you just listing features and calling it a day?
Because “8 hours battery life” doesn’t compete with “never miss your kid’s call again.”

🔥 **Level 4: You think everyone buys for the same reason**
You’re selling one offer to one person in 40 variations.
Different personas = different angles = different creative. 
That’s how real brands scale.

🔥 **Level 5: You built a system that fuels all of this**
Your content engine hits every part of the funnel, every persona, every motivator and your team can actually deliver it. 
That’s when paid and organic *both* pop off.

👉 If you’re a founder pull up your ad account right now.
Ask yourself:

→ Do these ads speak to different stages of the journey?
→ Are we tapping into real desires, not just benefits?
→ Are we hitting different *types* of buyers?
→ Or are we just posting UGC and hoping for the best?

Want to scale in 2026? Get your strategy past Level 2.

😘

The old way of making ad creative is dead.
If you're still thinking like it’s 2022, you're bleeding money.

Let’s talk about what’s actually working in paid right now:

1. You’re making ads for humans. But AI decides what they see.

You write a hook and hope people click.
But Meta doesn’t care. 

It’s pulling signals from Reddit threads, YouTube tutorials, Amazon reviews, and training its algorithm to match what real people are already saying and searching.

If your ads don’t reflect that, they don’t scale.

2. Funnels are dead. Messages win.

Nobody follows your TOF > MOF > BOF funnel anymore.
They see an ad, Google you, come back 3 weeks later. Or they binge your ads in one night.

If your content only makes sense “in funnel order,” it’s not converting.

Every ad needs to hit. Standalone.
Make the message punch even if it’s the only ad they ever see.

3. Your problem isn’t scary enough.

Better product? Nobody cares.
Cheaper? Cool. You still lose.

Make the pain worse.
Expose what’s actually broken in their life if they don’t buy.
That’s what gets clicks. That’s what sells.

Don’t talk about your “solution” until you’ve built the monster.

4. Your positioning is too soft.

If I don’t know who it’s for in 2 seconds, I’m out.

Good positioning sounds like:
→ Skincare for hormonal acne
→ Watches for guys who destroy everything
→ Planners for ADHD business owners

Nobody wants “premium quality.” They want “this is for me.”

5. Your creative has no energy.

2026 is all about energy. Opinions. POV.
Not polished UGC. Not founder videos that sound like a podcast.

Be raw. Be direct. Show real moments. Make people FEEL something.

If your video doesn't grab in the first 3 seconds, it’s dead.

Paid ads right now are 80% creative, 20% media buying.
If you’re still only testing formats or hooks, you’re behind.

Start testing:
→ Real problems
→ Real beliefs
→ Real pain
→ Real people

That’s what scales now.

What are you testing lately?

How long does it really take to "make it"?

Saw a post where entrepreneurs who hit $10M+ were asked how long it took.

Most said:
→ 7-10 years
→ Multiple failed businesses
→ Years of eating sh*t before things clicked

Not 6 months.
Not your first course launch.
Not your first “big idea.”

That part matters because a lot of people are out here thinking they're behind when really... they're just early.

No one posts the 4 years they made $0.
No one brags about the failed Shopify store.
No one tweets about the 80-hour weeks before the team existed.

But it’s all part of the path.


Detach from timelines.
Solve the next problem in front of you.

If you want to grow fast stop talking about what you sell.

Instead, own the problem. Own the hole your customer is in.

Think about it like this:
No one wakes up wanting your product.
They wake up trying to solve a problem.

So your job?
Repeat that problem over and over until you’re the only name they associate with fixing it.

You don’t sell “carpet cleaner” you sell “the solution to 15-year-old pee stains.”
You don’t sell “a budgeting app” you sell “never worry about money again.”
You don’t sell “ads” you help people stop burning $10K/month with no returns.

Whoever owns the hole, wins.

👉 What hole does your product own?

🚨 A watch ad just did something wild:

No influencer.
No studio shoot.
No hypey CTA.

Just a voiceover + B-roll.

Here’s the setup:

“15,000 watches are about to be destroyed because the logo is off-center by 0.2mm. They work perfectly. So we’re selling them at 50% off before they hit the dumpster.”

Sounds stupid, right?

That’s why it works.


✅ Loss aversion: “You’re saving something from the trash.”
✅ Curiosity trigger: “They’re flawless... but being scrapped?”
✅ Human POV: “I convinced management to let us sell them.”
✅ Real urgency: Not a timer. A policy.
✅ Show, don’t tell: Drop tests. Mud. Water. Still works.

Lesson:
You don’t need a fancy story.
You need one, told well.

This ad’s been running for 9 months straight and scaled to 6 fig...

Here is what *actually* makes it work.

It’s not the visuals.
(It’s just a girl cutting fruit.)

It’s not the polish.
(She’s in a kitchen, talking to camera.)

It’s the psychology.

What makes this a killer ad?

1. Built-in credibility (without flexing)

“My sister is an environmental scientist...”

We immediately trust her *without* her needing to list credentials.

This is *borrowed expertise* one of the most persuasive techniques in DTC.


2. Specific, sensory language

> *“She looked at me like I was bathing in battery acid.”*

It’s not just shampoo = bad.
It’s *visceral.*
It paints a mental image.
You *feel* the guilt, the ignorance, the shift.


3. Anchored in **real-life tension**
She’s skeptical.
She uses $30 shampoo.
She doesn’t want to change.
But she’s *nudged* by someone she trusts.

This is what makes the resolution feel earned — not forced.

**4. Introduces the product *after* the problem feels personal**

She only mentions the product after the emotional tension is maxed out.

This creates *pull*, not push.
You’re not being sold... you’re just watching a personal transformation unfold.

**5. Closes with social proof + logic**

> “Now my hair feels better... it’s cheaper… and my sister approved it.”

✓ Product benefit (hair)
✓ Financial benefit (cheaper)
✓ Emotional benefit (peace of mind)
✓ Environmental benefit (plastic-free)

All layered in under 60 seconds.

---

This is what happens when you blend:

✔️ A great hook
✔️ Clear tension
✔️ Conversational writing
✔️ Psychological triggers
✔️ Zero “salesy” energy

study **why** they work not just *what* they say.

Let me know if you want more teardown posts like this.


### CTA suggestion:

💡 Drop a comment if you want the full swipe of this ad — happy to share.

---

Let me know if you want this formatted for a carousel or want a few headline variants too.

You don’t need a ‘new’ ad.

Everyone's out here trying to make the next viral ad like:

“Let’s reinvent the script. New hook. New angle. New concept.”

Just do what’s already working... but better.

The format doesn’t need to be new.
The message just needs to hit harder.
The voice needs to feel real.
And the target audience needs to go, “yo that’s me.”

Original is overrated. Effective wins.

What do we really mean when we say an ad needs "storytelling"?

→ It’s not about writing a Pixar movie.
→ It’s not about having a beginning, middle, and end.
→ It’s not even about narrative structure (most of the time).

In performance marketing, storytelling = context + emotional relevance.

That’s it.

The real job of storytelling in ads is to:
✅ Make the product make sense in someone’s real life
✅ Reframe the product around something they already care about
✅ Deliver emotion before features

No brand copywriter would’ve come up with that line.
But it hits because it’s true, visual, and emotionally loaded.

That’s what storytelling really is.

So next time someone says “this needs more storytelling,” ask:
❓ What moment in the customer’s life are we dropping into?
❓ What feeling are we anchoring the product to?
❓ What tension are we resolving?

If you can answer that you're doing it right.
If not, you’re just writing filler copy.

We scaled this ad past $60K in spend in under a month.

No talking head.
No polished script.
No creator.
Just POV text + 3 simple b-roll clips.

That’s it.

Why did it work?

Because we stopped thinking like marketers and started thinking like her the actual buyer.

📍Targeted the right avatar
📍Used her exact inner dialogue
📍Made it feel like her story, not an ad

“You gave up crash diets, trusted your DNA, and the weight finally came off — for good.”

It’s not hype. It’s recognition.
She sees herself in the story and that’s why she clicks.

Most ad accounts are over-scripted and under-relatable.

Founders: if you’re testing new angles, try this instead:
→ Write a POV in 1 sentence.
→ Build around her shift in belief, not your product’s features.
→ Layer it over b-roll that feels natural, not staged.

That’s what’s working right now.

Curious who else is scaling with super simple ad formats like this?

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