Building DTC brands to 8 and 9 figures | Founder of Soar With Us & For You Advertising | CMO of JAQ Group

The rules of DTC growth changed in 2025. In 2026, they're set to change again.

The playbook that got you to £10-30M - broad Meta campaigns, a handful of hero SKUs, one creative style across every touchpoint, is now actively working against you. 

Algorithms reward creative diversity. Attention spans demand psychological precision. 
And TikTok Shop has emerged as a genuine high-volume demand creation channel, not just another place to run ads.

The brands winning today are producing high volumes of distinctly different assets across every awareness stage (problem, solution, product), each built on messaging frameworks that actually drive people to buy. 

Not more creative. Better creative, deployed smarter.

I've spent 7 years in this problem space. My agencies have generated £600M+ in revenue across 250+ DTC brands. 

More importantly, we've built systems that compound, so you're not starting from scratch every creative cycle. Data from 70+ brands and over 4,000+ ads per month. 

A few recent wins we've delivered for our clients:
→ Ekster: 40% increase in profit, 75% YoY growth
→ Spacegoods: New customer orders up 86%, NCPA down 33%
→ AKT London: Tripled new customers and cut CPA by 59% in 6 months
→ Nutrition Geeks: 2,200% growth in 12 months

What makes us different: we build context databases that capture your brand DNA, winning angles, and performance learnings across every campaign. 

When the algorithm shifts or a creative fatigues, we're already three steps ahead, not scrambling to figure out what worked.

If you're a CMO or founder at an 8-figure brand feeling the scaling friction, happy to talk through what's working right now. Connect here or email olly@soarwithus.co

Olly Hudson

We’ve packaged what’s working, what’s dead, and what’s next for 2026 into one resource:

🚨 THE 2026 D2C PLAYBOOK: The New Rules of Meta, TikTok, AI & Performance Creative

2026 is the reset year.

If your ads aren’t built for algorithmic feeds and personalised signals, you won’t scale.

Every platform is now fully personalised.
You’re not competing in interest groups anymore 
You’re competing inside each user’s unique feed.
And at the same time…
People crave connection more than ever.
They want emotion and authenticity, not just AI-fed precision.

So what wins in 2026?

Brands that blend machine logic with human insight.

That means:
- Creative systems built to match micro-behaviours
- Messaging that adapts in real time
- Ads that feel made for one, but scale to millions

This is your roadmap to profitable, personalised growth across Meta, TikTok, Google, and AI workflows.

- What’s working
- What’s out
- What’s next

Get the playbook here and build for what's coming: https://lnkd.in/ePapZ29e

If you're a DTC brand looking at 2026 resource/planning, get in contact with us here: https://lnkd.in/eVb3BKbs

The Creative-Led Paid Acquisition Partner Behind £600M+ in DTC Revenue | Meta & TikTok for 8-9 Figure Brands.

Back by popular demand, we're reopening the vault. Get access to our most requested resource: the top-performing brand funnel breakdowns of 2025.

Not just their ads. The full stack:

Paid strategy > Organic > Landing pages > Google ads > Email > Offers

Everything.

Easily the most ripped asset we’ve ever put out.

So we’ve packaged them properly. One folder.

Here’s who’s inside:

– Rhode
– Meshki
– LOOP Earplugs
– Alo Yoga
– IM8
– Refy
– BREZ
– Wonderskin

Use this to cut out weeks of guesswork or get your next winning concept straight from their playbook.

Grab the folder here: https://lnkd.in/exiK3_XK

undefined undefined

BFCM Guide

This is just one page from our 127-page ultimate guide to BFCM. 

If you’d like 126 more pages of ecom gold, join 500+ brands and check this out: https://bit.ly/3RlTHZ4


Plug 1

Newsletter Tease

Ps. Head here if you want to be the first to receive our 2024 ads blueprint this week: https://bit.ly/3YR6HaD


12/03

5 more critical errors to fix: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/olly-hudson_use-data-to-fix-your-brands-creatives-and-activity-7168154221719056384-Yn5A?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

13/03

Motion plug

We recommend Motion because it simplifies comprehensive insights.

• Eliminates the guesswork
• Brings quick clarity to your ads process
• Converts your ad data into digestible reports
• Keeps your teams aligned toward a common goal

Get 10% off your first 3 months using our code: SWU10
https://motionapp.com/

Kind Patches are running 3,000+ live ads right now. And not a single one is relying on a hero SKU or one-size-fits-all message.

We just broke down the funnel of one of the most deliberately segmented brands we’ve seen.

→ Every SKU positioned around a pain point
→ Every angle tailored to a specific outcome
→ Every ad mapped to a unique persona

This is persona-led growth, done properly.

Not “here’s our sleep patch” → but “here’s how you solve Sunday night scaries without melatonin.”

We’ve broken down the ads of 10 of their personas

- For those who want better skin and hair
- For those who want less stress
- For those who want better sleep
- For those who want more energy
- For those who want more focus
- For those who want support with weight goals
- For women who want hormone support
- For those who want better intimacy
- For those who travel often
- For men who want to take it to the next level

The breadth of products and persona variations feeds Meta’s Andromeda system with high-volume, diverse signals, improving delivery efficiency and incremental reach.

Want to see our breakdown?
Like this post
Comment “persona” and I’ll DM you.

We’ve scaled to 80+ people, 250+ brands, and £500M+ in tracked revenue.

And everyone in our leadership team is under 30.

Talent and energy got us here.

Structure is what’ll get us further.

We’ve made every classic mistake you’d expect from a young team building fast:

– Hired too late
– Invested in the wrong things
– Moved without the right operational muscle

At some point, you hit a ceiling. You can only build what you know.

We’ve always been good at doing - making ads, shipping strategy, driving performance.

But building a business that lasts is a different game.

That’s why this quarter we brought in Rachel McDonald (ex-Dentsu) to help sharpen our strategy, how we operate, scale and continue to lead the market into 2026.

She’s led global teams. She’s been in the rooms we’re aiming for.

Now she’s in ours.

Because if you want to build a long-term agency with real staying power, you need to balance hunger with experience.

Young teams are underrated.

But young teams with the right support? That’s where things get dangerous (in the best way).

In 2025, TikTok Shop grew 180% YoY, converted at up to 12%, and produced $2.7M LIVE days. In 2026, it’ll feel crowded. This is the playbook most DTC brands will wish they had before that shift.

TikTok Shop is converting at 8–12%, while most DTC sites are still stuck at 2–4%.

That gap is the opportunity and it won’t last forever.

If you’re doing £5M+ in e-commerce and TikTok Shop isn’t on your roadmap yet, you’re probably underestimating what’s happening.

TikTok Shop isn’t a “new channel” anymore. It’s a different operating system for commerce.

It rewards speed, structure, creative volume, and momentum.

The brands winning aren’t chasing one-off spikes, they’re building repeatable systems across affiliates, LIVE, offers, and content that compound daily.

This is a start-to-finish guide designed to help established brands launch TikTok Shop the right way, with the infrastructure, strategy, and execution required to scale without chaos.

Inside the guide, we break down:

- How to build a TikTok Shop foundation designed to scale (not collapse under demand)
- The technical setup and LIVE structures top brands use to keep viewers engaged and buying
- How to select hero products and offers that drive consistent GMV
- The affiliate ecosystem playbook: recruiting, incentivising, and sustaining creator output
- How to use LIVE coupons and flash deals without eroding brand value
- What high-performing TikTok Shop content has in common (hooks, structure, proof, CTAs)
- The host framework for training on-camera talent that can actually sell
- The metrics that matter during LIVE — and how to react when performance dips
- How to turn TikTok Shop into a creative engine for wider paid and organic growth

It’s a practical, plug-and-play blueprint for building a TikTok Shop system that drives consistent revenue and scales with control.

If you’re responsible for growth, creative, or e-commerce performance, this guide is your reference point.

Want it?
Like this post
Comment "tiktok 2026" and I'll send it over.
Make sure we're connected so I can DM you

I received this message from a client saying it’s the best experience they’ve had with an agency in 8+ years of eCom.

We’ve doubled the team this year. Launched new processes. Taken on some of the most ambitious brands we’ve ever worked with.

But through all of that, the thing I’m proudest of? The feeling our team creates for the people we work with.

The trust, reliability, and care that sits underneath it all.

And this note from a client, saying it’s the best experience they’ve had with an agency in 8+ years, says more than I ever could in a pitch.

Massive shoutout to Martyna, Kit and the wider team for the hard work and dedication you bring to our clients every day.

The kind of partnership that gets noticed (and recommended) without ever having to ask.

If I had to sum up how we’ve scaled Soar:

Build it properly. Treat people well. Let the work speak.

Turns out… it’s working.

Here’s to the next chapter.

Next month marks 7 years since we started Soar With Us from a spare bedroom at uni.

Today, we’re a 60+ team, managing 8–9 figure brands, and became Meta’s #1 DTC agency in the UK.

But here are 7 things we did to build in 7 years.

(I probably shouldn’t be posting this. Most agencies would gate-keep it)

1️⃣ Invest in marketing
You don’t have a sales problem, you have a marketing problem.
80% of our pipeline is inbound.
We built a weekly content engine designed to give away the strategy and sell the implementation.

What that looked like in practice:
- 1x podcast/week (D2C Diaries) – brands came in pre-sold, they’d already listened to 10+ hours of us.
- 1x lead magnet/week – frameworks, audits, templates
- Newsletter – built on HubSpot, personalised follow-ups based on downloads
- Founders post 5x/week – LinkedIn + X 
- Events & masterclasses – offline to online flywheel


2️⃣ Proprietary process + unique IP = scale leverage
- Agencies commoditise when they only sell hours. We scaled by building our core IP: Growth Compass, 360 Feedback System, creative frameworks.
- Our audit decks don’t just point out problems, they score, rank, and prioritise fixes using our frameworks
- Every new client runs through our Growth Compass scoring to benchmark performance gaps and build roadmaps


3️⃣ Founder-led organic content
We closed a £35M brand in 30 minutes as they’d already listened to 50 hours of us.
We turned our founders into a content-led growth engine and it changed everything.


4️⃣ Creative + paid = one system
- Merged creative + growth into one unified team by acquiring Hambi Media in 2024.
- Used frameworks to break down customer journeys and optimise every stage.
- Focused creative testing on incrementality, not just ROAS.


5️⃣ Internal culture = growth leverage
You don’t scale by adding clients. You scale by retaining great people and giving them progression and clarity.
I’d rather lose a client than a top team member.
- Every employee has career framework + KPIs tied to business impact.
- Internal culture pillar reviews, “kind candour” feedback loops.


6️⃣ Operational Excellence → margin + moat
We waited too long to bring in experience. A good ops head is a 6-figure unlock.
👉 Build ops early. Don’t wait until you’re 50 heads in.


7️⃣ Aggressive brand positioning + acquisition strategy
We positioned ourselves as the #1 performance creative agency early and backed it with proof.
- Aggressively pursued press, awards, and partnerships (Triple Whale agency of the year).
- Merged multiple agencies under one group to cover TikTok, Meta, and Creative.


It’s also worth saying, we’ve made every mistake you can make.

But we stayed obsessed with one thing: becoming the best growth partner in DTC.

If you’d like to work with us in 2026 as your Creative-Led Paid Acquisition Partner, get in touch here: https://lnkd.in/ew-b7dhN

Soar With Us

Hambi Media

Creative strategy is the most misunderstood (and most impactful) role in a DTC growth team. 

But most brands are hiring them for the first time with no idea of what “great” even looks like.

And the few A-players in the market? Already locked in or demanding salaries that don’t make sense for most teams.

If we could solve one constraint that would unlock growth in our agency, it’s the supply of creative strategists.

So instead of trying to hire them, we built them.

Over the last 12 months, we’ve refined an internal system to turn high-curiosity, high-potential operators into world-class creative strategists.

Now, we’re opening it up - The Creative Strategist Incubator

The 9-month pathway we’ve built from zero to strategist (and why Meta is backing us).

This is the MBA for Creative Strategy.

We’ve broken down the details of what this is in our newest episode and how you can apply.

Episode dropping at 5 pm. 🚀

If you're stuck on how to diversify creative… start here.

We built a creative hierarchy to maximise Entity ID diversity and in doing so, we unlocked:
- Scalable reach
- Lower CPMs
- Net-new audiences

All without increasing budget.

Think of the testing hierarchy as a pyramid.

At the base are the big creative swings, at the top, the small refinements.

When you’re launching:
→ Launch brand new concepts from scratch.
→ Test messaging within those fresh ads, don’t just swap copy into old visuals.
The goal: identify the message, persona, format combo that resonates most.
It keeps learnings clean and avoids grouping penalties.
(Even if variations get grouped under the same Entity ID, a winner will emerge).

When you’re optimising:
Got a winner? Remix it.
→ Change the format or the vehicle
→ Update the hook so it looks instantly different
→ Translate the story to a new style (e.g. founder VSL → third-person VO)

Here’s the hierarchy we use inside every high-growth account:

1. Format
Static / UGC / High-Production
→ Use when you're plateauing or need fresh signals.

2. Vehicle
Founder story / Green-screen / Testimonial / Listicle / Product demo
→ Use to scale a proven message across new personas.

3. Persona
Gen Z female → 40+ mum / Creator → Founder
→ Use to expand TAM or unlock overlooked pockets.

4. Hook
Zoomed-in face / Problem-statement / Unboxing / B-roll
→ Use to ensure Meta sees your ad as net-new.

5. Messaging
Script tweaks / CTA variants
→ Use once a concept is already converting.

If your creative system isn’t built around this hierarchy, you won’t scale in 2026.

We’re entering a new era of ecom.

Google, Shopify, Walmart, Etsy, Wayfair, and over 20 others have just dropped UCP: a universal standard that lets any AI agent buy from any retailer in real-time.

It’s now live in Gemini + Google's AI Mode.

Here’s why it matters for DTC 👇

The “Universal Commerce Protocol” (UCP) revolutionises the shopping experience.

Think of it as an open-source checkout layer for the AI era, one that any brand can integrate with, and any AI agent can transact through.

Why it matters:
→ It removes friction from discovery to checkout
→ You stay the merchant of record
→ Customers can buy directly inside AI interfaces (Gemini, Search, ChatGPT, Copilot)
→ Built-in support for Shop Pay, Google Pay, more coming
→ It’s composable: plug in your product catalogue, offers, checkout flow + discounts
→ It’s open-source and backed by Google

The goal? To create one shared language for agentic commerce so agents, brands and wallets can speak to each other instantly.

Just like HTTP did for websites.

Most DTC brands won’t clock this yet. But AI discovery is going to be a commerce channel, not just a research tool.

This changes how products are surfaced, selected, and sold.

It’s the end of the linear funnel. And the start of contextual, agent-led buying.

If you’re a scaling DTC brand:
→ Get your products into the Merchant Centre
→ Integrate the UCP spec (works with any backend)
→ Enable agentic checkout across Google + others

AI agents aren’t a threat. They’re the next growth opportunity.

IM8 Health went from $0 to a $120M run rate in 11 months. Now they're targeting $300M by the end of 2026.

We’ve been pointing to IM8 as best in class for months.

One of the cleanest funnel builds I’ve seen: long-form site, deep education, premium price justified at every stage. 

All engineered by Danny Yeung.

Built with:
- David Beckham as co-founder
- A product that replaces 16 supplements with one drink
- A scientific board from NASA, UFC & Mayo Clinic
- NSF certification + clinical trials from day one

Catch the full episode here, it’s stacked with insights: https://lnkd.in/e85t_ASx

IM8 Health

Investor I CEO I Entrepreneur I Advisor I Astronaut

We break down the creative strategy and funnel plays that drove $40M in Meta spend and 6,000+ ads during BFCM 2025.

If you’re serious about scaling in 2026, this is the episode to start your year with.

Here’s what we cover 👇

Q5 strategy: The most important “quarter” that isn’t a quarter.

Most brands waste this window with hype-led messaging or default evergreen creative.

The sharpest brands? They layer seasonal context into a funnel-led framework and it scales:
✅ 50% to TOF problem-aware “reset” creative
✅ 20–30% to MOF trust-builders + objection handling
✅ Hook variation built to extend shelf-life past Q5
✅ BOF = urgency + relevance, not just discounts
This is how you capitalise on low CPMs, high intent, and minimal competition from the big enterprise players.

Black Friday learnings
We spent $40M on Meta in November (+185% YoY) and shipped 6,000+ ads.

Our top takeaways:
- Start earlier than you think
- Don’t change your offer mid-flight
- Demand gen > discount panic
- Simple > clever (especially for older demos)

Creative strategy in 2026
You’ll either win with:
- Ultra-authentic, native content
- Highly stylised, scripted storytelling
Middle of the road = forgettable.

We also break down:
- Our approach to creative iteration vs net-new
- How to stretch performance from your best hooks
- The key human desires your content needs to hit
- Why volume still matters… but where it comes from matters more

Biggest risks for brands right now
- Poor offer architecture
- Weak mid-funnel
- Not adapting messaging to intent
- Lack of urgency across the team
- Process changes without buy-in

What’s coming in 2026
- M&A activity will ramp up
- Meta spend will keep growing, but TikTok Shop, YouTube, and AppLovin will become serious plays
- Brands will need a deeper bench of channel-ready creative
- “Creative similarity” will punish lazy iterations
- Great products with true retention will win. Everything else gets exposed.

This episode will give you the blueprint to hit the ground running in January and compound into your biggest year yet.

Catch up now: https://lnkd.in/eCja7Gu7

85 people in the room. Talented people. And a voice in my head asking what I'm doing up here.

I thought imposter syndrome would disappear with progress.

More clients. Bigger wins. A growing team. Surely at some point you just... feel like you belong?

But it didn't disappear. It just changed shape.

Now it shows up in different moments. When I'm presenting a new strategy to the team. When someone asks a question I don't have the answer to. When I look around the room and realise how genuinely good the people around me are.

You think you'll feel "ready" at a certain level. But you don't. You just get better at showing up anyway.

Here's what I've come to understand: imposter syndrome doesn't leave. And maybe it shouldn't.

Because the moment you stop feeling it is probably the moment you've stopped growing.

If I'm expecting everyone else to improve with the business, it's non-negotiable that I'm on the same growth trajectory. Not standing still. Not coasting on what got us here.

The voice in my head that asks "what am I doing up here?" isn't the enemy. It's a reminder to stay accountable. To keep the standard high. To not let comfort replace curiosity.

The shift for me came when I stopped trying to get rid of it. Instead, I started using it as fuel.

Being clear, not perfect. Owning what I don't know. Backing the people who do know. Learning faster than the business is scaling.

Because leadership isn't about having every answer. It's about creating belief and showing up when it counts.

Some days the voice is louder than others. But I show up anyway. Not because I've figured it all out. Because the team deserves a leader who's growing as fast as they are.

P.S. Do you still feel it? Or have you found a way to make peace with the voice that questions if you belong?

You'll lose over $90K this year to avoidable fundraising admin, here's how to stop it.

Most founders are still tracking investors in spreadsheets and scrambling to build data rooms the night before calls.

If you're a 100-person company, you're bleeding up to 1,848 hours per year ($92,400 annually) on admin overhead that could be automated.

I switched to an AI-powered fundraising workspace that changed everything: pitch deck, investor CRM, outreach sequences, and data room, all in one place using Notion.

The results:
→ Admin time dropped 80%
→ Pitch iterations 3× faster
→ My calendar freed up for actual investor conversations

The AI Founder's Kit I'm using includes everything you need to go from idea to funded:

- $300 Supabase credit for backend
- $60 in Vercel credits to ship your frontend
- 1 Year Framer launch
- Up to 6 months of Notion Business with AI
- 2,000+ vetted early-stage VCs, incubators, accelerators
- 50 pitch decks from YC, a16z, Sequoia-backed startups
- Tactical fundraising guides from operators

This isn't about working faster, it's about pitching sharper and closing smarter.

👉 Comment NOTION and I'll send you the free toolkit

Personas are the real unit of scale on Meta now.

Meta doesn’t need you to define audiences anymore, creative does that work now.

In this episode, we break down what’s actually driving scale on Meta in 2026: persona-led creative, smarter systems, and AI used as a multiplier, not a shortcut. 

We cover why accounts hit incremental reach ceilings, why one persona always steals spend, and how the best brands are structuring creative and campaigns to scale without burning budget.

If performance looks fine but growth has stalled, this episode will help you reframe the problem

🎧 Full episode out now: https://lnkd.in/encyKp78

Here’s 5 scaling challenges we see in every £30K–£1M/month agency:

- Margin collapse
- Sales team friction
- Delivery bottlenecks
- Founder burnout
- No true peer group

I’m co-hosting an in-person mastermind this March with Jordan Platten that solves all of these in 3 days.

Agency Accession is for agency owners making £30K–£1M+ per month who want to scale profitably without breaking the business in the process.

It’s 3 days of honest conversations, deep dives, and decision-making, with operators who’ve actually scaled past £100K/mo and had to rebuild the systems they broke along the way.

The focus is simple:
→ Profit
→ Client results
→ Happiness

Think founder dinners + fire strategy + clarity you don’t get from group chats.

When: 23–25 March
Where: London, UK (outskirts)
Who: Agency owners doing £30K–£1M+ p/m
Format: Evening kick-off, seminar-style talks, and implementation workshops

Common challenges we’ll break down:
- Hiring sales teams without losing margin
- Systemising delivery without bottlenecking
- Creating predictable acquisition
- Delegating ops while scaling volume
- Embedding AI (the right way)
- Finding a real peer group that’s on your level

This is built for founders who want to scale with leverage, not stress.

Operators who want to simplify, not stack more onto their plate.

If you want to be in the room (or have questions) head here for more details: https://lnkd.in/exKbmhnB

Helping Agencies Around The World Scale

Most DTC brands are hiring creative strategists with no benchmark for what “great” actually looks like.

It’s usually the first time they’ve ever made the hire.

And without reps, they end up either overpaying… or onboarding someone who takes 6 months to add value.

We hire this role over and over, which gives us reference points, systems, and a real understanding of what works.

That’s why we stopped relying on the market to provide talent.

We built a system to create it internally and to cut the time to value down from months to weeks.

If you can’t afford a £90K+ A-player with 5 years of reps, your only option is to build them, fast.

That's why we've created the UK's first creative strategy MBA, more details on this here: https://lnkd.in/e-rJdsBi

You can apply here: https://lnkd.in/eXXfmmMs

Meta changed how it decides which brands deserve scale, and engagement is no longer the deciding factor.

For DTC brands, GEM + UTIS explain why ads that get views no longer scale, and what kind of creative now does.

That changes the practical playbook for DTC brands in two big ways:

1. You’re no longer “feeding the algo” with ad volume. You’re feeding it with signal shape.

2. Organic is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s now part of the ranking surface area for paid.

Here’s what Meta is doing consistently across ads, organic, and Reels:

They’re moving from “What keeps people watching?” to “What genuinely matches what this person cares about?”

That’s the throughline.

Meta has publicly admitted something important: old engagement-based systems were flawed.

Interest-matching precision sat at 48.3% - near random.

So they built UTIS: the User True Interest Survey.

How UTIS works:
- Users are asked directly: “How well does this video match your interests?”
- Thousands of responses are collected daily
- A perception layer is trained on top of existing ranking models

The results:
- Precision improved from 48.3% → 63.2%
- Niche, high-quality content surfaced more often
- Generic viral content was actively demoted
- +5.2% total engagement
- +5.4% high-interest ratings
- –6.84% low-interest ratings

The key insight: interest isn’t just topic. It includes audio, mood, style, motivation, and production quality.

This philosophy directly mirrors what GEM is doing for ads.

GEM is not “a better targeting engine.” It’s a storyline interpreter.

It looks at:
- Sequence behaviour (months → weeks → days)
- Cross-platform actions (IG, FB, Reels, WhatsApp)
- Web behaviour
- Organic and paid interactions
- Creative attributes (format, style, persona, context)

Then it asks: “Does this brand’s creative consistently align with what this person actually cares about?”

That’s why Meta keeps repeating: “Rank both organic content and ads.”

Organic is no longer distribution. Organic is training data.

Meta doesn’t just want more ads.

It wants:
- More distinct interpretations of who your product is for
- More signals of relevance depth
- More evidence of niche alignment

This is why creative is the targeting. And why generic viral content is now actively punished.

UTIS demotes:
- Trend-jacking
- Broad, relatable humour
- “Everyone will like this” hooks
- Empty watch-time bait

GEM rewards:
- Narrow language
- Specific use cases
- Clear persona intent
- Context-rich demonstrations
- Consistent organic + paid storytelling

So when DTC teams ask: “Why are our Reels getting views but ads aren’t converting?”

The answer increasingly is: you trained Meta to think your brand is for everyone, so it’s for no one.

I've published an article breaking this down in more detail: https://lnkd.in/ezy75VeE

Most brands are already planning 2026. Very few are planning Q5 properly.

In the latest episode of D2C Diaries, Loukas Hambi & I break down why the period between Christmas and the first full week of January is the most misunderstood (and most valuable) window in e-commerce, and why how you use it will shape your entire year.

We cover:
 – What we saw spending nearly $40M on Meta in November 
 – Why simple offers still outperform complexity at scale
 – The demand and mindset shift that happens almost immediately after Christmas
 – The short “flash in the pan” motivation window brands either capitalise on… or miss
 – And the biggest changes we expect in e-commerce in 2026
- Plus our 2025 awards & predictions for 2026 👀

If you execute Q5 properly, you don’t just win January - you set momentum for the rest of the year.

Full episode live now 🎧 https://lnkd.in/epNwpMV8

Genuinely one of the things I’m most proud of at Soar: our AI research process.

Very few agencies go this deep but time and time again, it’s the part clients are most impressed by.

We dig into friction points, buyer psychology, emotional nuance, and unseen drop-offs across the entire journey.

Because before we scale anything, we want to know what’s blocking scale.

What’s inside our AI research doc (and why clients rate it):

– Conversion blockers that don’t show up in GA
– Emotional insights to shape messaging, UX, and offers
– New persona unlocks based on real behavioural signals
– Practical fixes that get implemented immediately

✅ One client used it to fix hidden site issues and even rolled out a new feature to catch customers entering the wrong discount codes at checkout.

It’s not just research. It’s one of the clearest reasons high-growth brands choose to work with us.

Shayne Williams

🚀 Scaling Businesses | Acquiring & Exiting Profitably | Growth & M&A Strategy

I help founders and business owners scale, acquire, and exit strategically, leveraging omnichannel marketing, brand positioning, and M&A expertise to maximise business value and drive high-ticket growth.

Who I Am & What I Do?

As the Founder of SugarNova and Owner of Glossy PR, I specialise in scaling high-end brands and startups through strategic marketing, PR, and digital growth solutions. I’ve spent years mastering paid ads, PR, SEO, CRO, and revenue optimisation, helping businesses dominate their industries and become high-value assets.

Beyond marketing, I have extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and business investing, where I help companies increase market share, optimise operations, and prepare for high-value exits or investment opportunities.

What We Do at SugarNova & Glossy PR
✅ Omnichannel Digital Marketing & Paid Ads
We build high-converting ad campaigns across Google, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, maximizing ROI and revenue growth.

✅ SEO & Content Marketing
We help brands dominate search engines and generate organic traffic that converts, positioning them as industry leaders.

✅ Public Relations (PR) & Brand Authority
At Glossy PR, we secure premium media coverage, ensuring your brand is seen in top publications and positioned as an authority in your space.

✅ Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) & Customer Journey Mapping
We turn traffic into paying customers by optimizing user experience and sales funnels for higher conversion rates.

✅ Social Media Strategy & Influencer Partnerships
We craft engagement-driven social media campaigns and partner with top influencers to amplify your brand’s reach.

✅ Brand Development & Market Expansion
We help brands launch, scale, and enter new markets, ensuring sustainable, long-term growth.

✅ M&A & Business Investing
I assist business owners in:

Acquiring, optimizing, and scaling companies.
Preparing businesses for high-ticket exits or investment opportunities.
Investing in scalable ventures and aligning growth strategies for maximum valuation.

Why Work With Me?

I combine marketing, revenue growth, and M&A strategies to create scalable, high-value businesses. Whether you want to scale, acquire, or exit, my approach ensures your business is positioned for maximum success.

💡 Let’s Connect → If you're a founder, investor, or business owner looking to scale fast, acquire companies, or prepare for a high-value exit, let’s talk.

Founder

Most dentists are stuck shouting into the void with Google Ads and Instagram graphics.

The clinics that win are the ones patients recognise before they ever type “dentist near me”.

That is why I am so pleased with this recent win for one of our clients at Glossy PR.
Sunninghill Clinic’s dentist and owner, Dr Loven Ganeswaran, was featured in Boots Magazine, talking about jaw tension and how it impacts dental health.

On the surface it is a helpful article. Underneath, it is a growth asset.

Here is what a Boots Magazine feature does for a clinic like his:

•	Patients see you quoted as the expert, not just another advert
•	You explain problems and solutions in calm, accessible language, which lowers anxiety and builds trust
•	By the time someone lands on your site or calls the practice, they feel like they have already “met” you in a trusted setting

This is exactly how we approach PR for dentists and clinics at Glossy:

1.	Lead with expert comment in titles your patients already read.
2.	Turn those pieces into proof on your website, enquiry flows and emails.
3.	Use the links and mentions to strengthen local SEO so you are not reliant on paid.

If you run a clinic and you are tired of competing on price, discounts and Google Ads alone, it is time to add visible authority to the mix.

In 2026 we are opening up a small number of new spots for dentists and clinics who want this level of positioning.

If you want to be the name patients recognise before they search, send me a message or head to book.glossypr.com and we can map out what that would look like for your practice.

PR That Earns Trust and Credibility, SEO That Ranks, Paid That Scales, CRO That Converts 📈 Helping Brands Lower CAC, Increase ROAS & LTV While Strengthening Valuation | Omnichannel Marketing Specialist and M&A Investor

Another strong expert placement for one of our clinic clients.

Sunninghill Clinic’s dentist and owner, Dr Loven Ganeswaran, appears in Boots Magazine, explaining how jaw tension impacts dental health and what people can do about it.

For clinics and healthcare businesses, this kind of editorial PR delivers:
• Authority: patients see you quoted as the expert, not just advertising your services
• Education: clear, accessible advice that lowers anxiety and builds trust
• Better enquiries: people who come through have already “met” you in a trusted setting

This is how we approach PR for dentists and clinics: expert comment first, then route that credibility back into your website, enquiry flows and local SEO.

If you want to be the clinic patients recognise before they search “dentist near me”, it starts with this kind of coverage.

Most brands treat Valentine’s like a cute campaign.
The smart ones treat it like a second Q4.

When we look inside ad accounts at SugarNova and PR calendars at Glossy, the pattern is the same every year:
	•	Black Friday and Cyber Monday are loud, expensive and discount led
	•	Valentine’s brings quieter, higher intent, emotionally driven, full price buying

For beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands, that is a different game completely.

From my side as an agency owner, this is why I take Valentine’s PR very seriously:
	•	Higher intent than cold ads
People reading “Valentine’s gift ideas”, “self care gifts” or “for the person who has everything” are not browsing. They are buying.
	•	Built in trust
Your product sits in a curated edit, not a self funded ad. That is third party validation your first time buyers cannot manufacture on their own.
	•	Compounding assets

One good Valentine’s feature gives you:
• An “As seen in…” strip for PDPs and landing pages
• An editor quote for email and social
• A quality backlink for SEO and AI visibility

Plug those into your site and funnel and you are still monetising that one placement months later.

From an omnichannel perspective, Valentine’s coverage does three jobs at once:
	•	SEO – authority backlinks, better rankings, more branded search
	•	CRO – proof on the pages where people hesitate
	•	Paid – warmer audiences and higher conversion on the exact same media spend

If you are a beauty, health or wellness brand planning 2026, Valentine’s should not sit behind BF/CM as an afterthought. It should sit alongside it as a peak moment for emotionally led, margin friendly sales.

At Glossy PR we get you into the right Valentine’s edits.
At SugarNova we wire that proof into your SEO, CRO and paid.

If you want Valentine’s to move your numbers, not just your likes, send me a message and I will walk you through how we plan those campaigns for DTC brands.

Valentine’s Day gift guides deserve far more attention in your 2026 planning than they usually get.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are loud, crowded and driven by discount logic. Useful for volume, yes, but increasingly expensive and noisy.

Valentine’s is different.

The psychology is closer to luxury and self-care than bargain hunting. Shoppers are looking for:
	•	Meaningful gifts that signal thought and effort
	•	Indulgent skincare, fragrance and wellness rituals
	•	Experiences they can share with a partner or enjoy alone

For beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands, strong Valentine’s PR can be just as commercially powerful as peak Q4.

Here is why we treat Valentine’s gift guides as a priority:
•	High intent traffic. Readers are actively looking for ideas. These clicks convert better than cold ad traffic.
•	Third party trust Your product is framed as a considered recommendation, not just a self funded ad. That reduces friction for first-time buyers.
•	Reusable assets Each feature gives you: • An “as seen in” strip • An editor quote • A quality backlink All of which can be plugged into PDPs, landing pages, emails and paid creative.

From an omnichannel perspective, Valentine’s coverage feeds:
	•	SEO, through authority backlinks and branded search
	•	CRO, by adding proof to your most important pages
	•	Paid, by warming audiences and improving conversion once they click

If you are a beauty, health or wellness brand planning 2026 launches, Valentine’s should not be an afterthought behind BF/CM. It should sit alongside it as a peak moment for emotionally-led, full-price sales.

At Glossy PR and SugarNova, we build Valentine’s into the PR calendar and then connect it to SEO and paid, so it actually moves the numbers, not just the likes.

If you want to make Valentine’s work harder for your brand this year, send us a message, and we will walk you through how we plan those campaigns.

BFCM and Christmas are a spike.
PR should be your baseline. 📈

We are now lining up stories for:
💘 Valentine’s gifting
💜 International Women’s Day
🌤 Spring skin and wellness
🏖 Early summer prep

All for beauty, health and wellness brands in the UK.

The brands that win 2026:
✅ Plan 3–6 months ahead
✅ Build trust every month
✅ Do not disappear between sales events

If you want your brand in those conversations,
this is your window.

Connect with us Glossy PR if 2026 is your year to have a full strategy that grows credibility and supports your other marketing efforts. 

Or send me a DM. 😊

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The omnichannel truth 💡

Most founders think growth is a channel problem.
It’s rarely that!

It’s a system problem. 🚨

Paid ads can scale demand you already have.
PR builds belief so strangers trust you faster.
SEO compounds attention so you stop renting clicks.
CRO stops the leaks so growth actually sticks.

If you’re only doing one of these, you’re basically driving with one wheel.

Want the system installed properly? 

Connect with us SugarNova | Scaling Brands with Omnichannel Ads, PR, SEO, CRO & Strategic Acquisitions for Growth 🚀

Everyone’s chasing the TikTok Shop high. Very few are looking at the P&L.

We’re now auditing brands doing 30–50% of their revenue via TikTok Shop, who:
•	Can’t tell me their blended MER or payback
•	Don’t know how much discount pressure is baked into their “best months”
•	Have built an audience that only buys when there’s a yellow voucher on-screen

TikTok Shop is powerful. 
But it’s still just one channel in the system!

The brands that will still be here in 3–5 years are the ones who:

•	Use TikTok to acquire customers, then move them into email, SMS and their own site
•	Protect their core pricing on Shopify and in retail
•	Backfill TikTok demand with PR and SEO so “seen on TikTok” turns into search, press and long-term brand value

That’s the game we’re playing at SugarNova: 
Paid ads for scale. 
PR for trust. SEO for durability. 
CRO to make every visit count.

If TikTok turned off every promo mechanic for 30 days, most brands would panic.

If that sentence makes you uncomfortable, it’s probably time to rebuild your acquisition strategy across Meta, Google, TikTok, PR and search, not just hope the next live goes well.

Happy to open the numbers with any DTC founder doing £200k+/month and relying heavily on TikTok Shop.

And follow us SugarNova | Scaling Brands with Omnichannel Ads, PR, SEO, CRO & Strategic Acquisitions for Growth 🚀 to learn more about the value that we can add to your brand.

SugarNova | Scaling Brands with Omnichannel Ads, PR, SEO, CRO & Strategic Acquisitions for Growth 🚀

View company: SugarNova | Scaling Brands with Omnichannel Ads, PR, SEO, CRO & Strategic Acquisitions for Growth 🚀

TikTok Shop can feel like free money. That feeling doesn’t last.

The platform trains both brands and buyers to think in:
	•	Flash deals
	•	Vouchers
	•	Free shipping thresholds
	•	“Spend a bit more for X”

Great for short-term revenue. Terrible if you don’t understand your contribution margin and repeat rate.

We’re starting to see two types of brand emerge:

🟢 The disciplined ones
	•	Use TikTok-specific bundles and trial sizes
	•	Keep core pricing anchored on their own site and in retail
	•	Use flash sales for launches, events and clear-downs

🔴 The “always on sale” ones
	•	Chase every voucher and discount mechanic
	•	Watch margin quietly erode
	•	Struggle to sell at full price anywhere else

TikTok Shop is an incredible acquisition and testing engine.

It’s also a fast way to build a customer base that only responds to discounts.

If TikTok Shop dropped every promotion for 30 days, would your unit economics still make sense?

Book a call with us to see how we can scale your brand and sales across multiple channels in 2026.

Most salon owners think growth comes from running more ads.

More offers.
More spend.
More noise.

But the brands that really scale?
They build authority first.

PR does something advertising alone never can.

It positions your stylists as experts, not just service providers.

It validates your work through trusted publications, not self-promotion.

And it builds credibility before a client ever clicks an ad or books an appointment.

What most people miss is this 👇🏼

Great PR doesn’t just build reputation.
It fuels everything else.

• Editorial features strengthen SEO with high-authority backlinks
• Search rankings improve for treatments, locations, and brand terms
• Ads convert better because trust already exists
• Local dominance becomes easier because you’re “the name” people recognise

When we combine PR with SEO and a smart layer of paid media, salons don’t just attract more clients, they attract better ones.

Clients who travel further.
Clients who book higher-value treatments.
Clients who already trust you before they walk through the door.

This doesn’t just apply to hair.
We see the same results across beauty, wellness, fitness, aesthetics, and clinics.

If 2026 is the year you want to stop competing on price and start owning your category, PR isn’t optional.
It’s the foundation.

Our books are open.

PR gives hair salons the kind of visibility advertising can’t.

Press coverage positions your stylists as experts, highlights your signature techniques, and builds credibility with clients who trust what they read.

A strong media presence sets you apart, drives demand, and turns your salon into an industry authority that clients actively seek out.

Give your salon the best start for 2026 - Our books are open.

Most DTC brands don’t have an ad spend problem.
 They have a decision-making problem.

Here’s the pattern I keep seeing when I audit accounts:

Budget goes up
 ➡️ Another channel or agency gets added
 ➡️ Everyone feels “busier” 
➡️ MER quietly gets worse

When we dig in, the issue is almost never “bad ads”.

 It’s what sits underneath the ads:
	•	No clear flagship offer
	•	No tracking anyone in the leadership team truly trusts
	•	No view of which channels and creatives drive profitable customers vs discount hunters
	•	No link between paid, PR, SEO and what actually happens on the site

Paid media doesn’t solve that. It just makes the gaps more expensive.

The businesses that do well with ads do something very unsexy first:

✅ They agree the commercial truth: MER, CAC/LTV, payback, contribution margin 
✅ They double down on the few offers and funnels that already work
 ✅ They stop chasing every new platform and fix the system they have 
✅ They give each change long enough to gather signal before jumping again

That’s the work we do at SugarNova:
	•	Paid ads for scale
	•	PR for trust and demand
	•	SEO for durability
	•	CRO so every visit sweats harder

If you’re a DTC founder doing £200k+/month and you feel like you’re spending more and understanding less, it’s probably not a media buying issue.

It’s a strategy and system issue.

Happy to open the numbers and show you how we build omnichannel plans that a board, a CFO and a founder can all get behind.

SugarNova | Scaling Brands with Omnichannel Ads, PR, SEO, CRO & Strategic Acquisitions for Growth 🚀

If I had £10k/month to grow a DTC brand:

	•	£5k paid to validate the offer and gather data
	•	£3k PR for authority and story angles
	•	£2k SEO for compounding pages + internal linking + digital PR support
	•	CRO is always running in the background

This is how you scale without burning margin.

Equally, if you're spending £100k/month on paid ads, I PROMISE YOU, your ads will work much better for you, and ROAS will increase if you spend £90k/month on ads, and £10k on PR & SEO. 

So many agencies that are incentivised by 'commission on ad spend' will disagree... I wonder why?! 😅

Glossy PR SugarNova | Scaling Brands with Omnichannel Ads, PR, SEO, CRO & Strategic Acquisitions for Growth 🚀

Most men’s brands are scaling on sand.

I see it inside ad accounts at SugarNova and through inbound at Glossy PR every week.

You have:
	•	Great formulas
	•	Strong creative
	•	Decent Meta and Google performance

But you are still virtually unknown the second someone steps off the platform.

Meanwhile, men’s skincare, grooming and wellness are exploding. The brands that win will not be the ones shouting the loudest. They will be the ones that look serious at first glance.

That is where PR changes the game.

For male founded brands, smart PR means:
•	You show up in “best for men’s skin / hair / recovery” round ups your buyer actually reads
•	You get third party quotes that justify your price point without you screaming “premium”
•	Your PDPs, landing pages and emails carry proof, not just claims

Result:
 Your ads stop doing all the heavy lifting.
 Your SEO stops fighting uphill.
 Your brand starts to look like it belongs next to the legacy names.

And for agency owners running ads for these brands:

If you are already:
	•	Dialling in CAC and MER
	•	Fighting rising CPMs
	•	Hitting a ceiling on conversion
then adding proper editorial PR on top of your media is one of the fastest ways to make your results look unfair. You get:
	•	Warmer traffic that has already “met” the brand
	•	Higher conversion on the exact same spend
	•	Happier clients because the brand is winning across channels, not just in Ads Manager

At Glossy PR we build the authority.

At SugarNova we turn that authority into performance.
If you:
	•	Own a men’s skincare, grooming or wellness brand, or
	•	Run an agency looking after these brands and want a PR partner that actually understands paid and CRO
drop me a message or send your client this post and connect us.

2026 is going to be very kind to the men’s brands that look credible everywhere, not just in their ads.

Men are quietly leading the next wave in beauty and wellness.

Male-founded skincare, grooming and wellness brands are cutting through with better formulas, smarter positioning and a more honest conversation about how men want to look and feel.

The opportunity is big. The risk is simple: getting lost in the noise.

If you are a male-owned brand in this space, you are competing against:
	•	Heritage brands with deep retail reach
	•	Celeb-backed launches with heavy ad budgets
	•	Lookalike “bro” brands copying the same tone and creative

Ads alone will not fix that. Authority will.

PR is how you:
• Get your products into the round-ups men actually read
• Build third-party credibility that supports higher pricing and long-term loyalty
• Give your paid and retention channels proof to work with, not just claims

We are actively seeking men’s skincare, grooming, and wellness brands to build into 2026 authority stories. If you want to turn this category momentum into visibility, credibility and growth, let us talk.

The paid ads ceiling!

If your brand is stuck at a paid ads ceiling, here’s the uncomfortable reason:

You don’t have enough belief in the market.

So the only lever left is spend, discounts, or “new creatives every week”.

Fix the belief layer:
	•	PR builds authority you cannot buy with CPM
	•	SEO builds presence where intent lives
	•	CRO turns traffic into margin, not noise

That’s how you lower CAC without praying to the algorithm.

If you want to win in UK DTC in 2026, you need omnipresence.

Not everywhere.

Everywhere that matters.
Paid captures demand today.
SEO captures demand tomorrow.
PR creates demand next quarter.

Most brands do one.

The winners stack all three.

SugarNova | Scaling Brands with Omnichannel Ads, PR, SEO, CRO & Strategic Acquisitions for Growth 🚀

“We tried PR, it didn’t work”

When someone says PR didn’t work, it usually means one of three things:
	1	They bought press, not positioning
	2	They got coverage but didn’t operationalise it
	3	They treated it as vanity, not a conversion asset

Real PR is a growth input:
	•	trust points for ads
	•	homepage authority
	•	email flows
	•	retargeting angles
	•	partnership credibility
	•	SEO lift

PR is useless if you treat it like a screenshot.

Connect with us, Glossy PR, to see how PR should be working for your business and brand.

I’ve seen this play out with too many brands.

They spend months and a small fortune on a new website.

The design is beautiful.
The pages feel considered.
The structure seems logical.

Everyone signs off. They launch. They feel proud.

Then “SEO” gets bolted on afterwards.

Suddenly:
	•	Headlines are stuffed with awkward phrasing
	•	Extra paragraphs appear because “we need more keywords”
	•	Blog posts are written for robots, not customers
	•	Navigation gets overcomplicated
	•	Layouts start to break on mobile

Within a few months, that clean site feels messy and hard to use.

Why?

Because SEO has been treated as a separate project instead of part of the system.

And it is the same story with paid and PR:
	•	SEO done in isolation ignores UX, conversion and brand
	•	Paid done in isolation ignores search demand and content depth
	•	PR done in isolation ignores landing pages and tracking

At SugarNova we refuse to work like that!

We build websites and funnels with PR, SEO, paid and CRO built in, not layered on top.

When we design or rebuild a site, we look at:
	•	Information architecture that matches how buyers actually search and decide
	•	Content that reads cleanly for humans and clearly for search engines
	•	Landing pages that can work for Meta, Google and TikTok without needing separate hacked-together versions
	•	On-site journeys that make sense for both first-time visitors and returning customers

For one client, approaching it this way meant:
	•	A clear, simple navigation
	•	Fewer, stronger pages
	•	An uplift in organic revenue and paid efficiency at the same time

No fight between “design” and “SEO”.
No fight between “brand” and “performance”.

A good website today has to do both:
	•	Look and feel like a serious brand
	•	Behave like a high-performance growth asset

That is why we treat the site as part of the Omnichannel Growth Engine, not a separate vanity project.

If you’ve just relaunched a site and performance has dipped, there is usually nothing “mystical” going on.

You have a system problem, not a traffic problem.

Happy to review it and show you how we’d bring PR, SEO, paid and CRO into one plan instead of four separate to-do lists, SugarNova | Scaling Brands with Omnichannel Ads, PR, SEO, CRO & Strategic Acquisitions for Growth 🚀.

Dr Candice O’Neil has been featured in digital magazine Gathered, sharing practical insight on social connection and how to improve your social skills.

On the surface, it is a helpful, feel good feature. Underneath, it is doing some very serious work for her brand:
•	It places Candice in a trusted, lifestyle led context where readers are actively looking for guidance, not doomscrolling.
•	It shows her as a calm, thoughtful voice who can make psychology feel accessible and applicable to everyday life.
•	It gives Ontic Psychology a reusable proof asset that can sit on the website, in enquiry flows, email nurture and workshops.
•	It quietly signals to other journalists and producers that she is a safe pair of hands for more in depth pieces and broadcast.

This is why we build PR around expert comment and high fit titles, especially for psychologists, therapists and coaches in saturated markets. You do not need to shout the loudest. You need your work to show up, consistently, in places your ideal clients already trust.

If you are a psychologist, coach or specialist and you want 2026 to be the year your visibility finally matches your expertise, this is exactly the sort of authority arc we build at Glossy PR.

Drop me a message if you would like to map out what that would look like for you.

Dr Candice O'Neil featured in digital magazine, Gathered, sharing some insightful comments on social connection and how to improve your social skills ✨

Great start to the year for our clients. 💪🏽 

Although in reality it’s BAU! 😊

https://book.glossypr.com/

I am going to keep talking about this one because it shows exactly how smart PR should work for DTC brands.

Over Christmas, ROSARD PARFUM was featured in Pause Magazine’s Home & Lifestyle Christmas Gift Guide, sitting alongside established names in the home and lifestyle space. 

As some of you know, I am an investor in Rosard, so I see both sides of what this does for a young brand.

For early stage and niche DTC brands, a placement like this is not just “cute press”. It is a performance lever:

•	Gift guides are pure high intent
People reading them are in buying mode, not scrolling mode. The click-throughs are worth more than a cold ad impression.

•	Someone trusted is vouching for you
When a magazine chooses your product, you are no longer a random logo on a social ad. 

You are a considered recommendation. That cuts through a lot of first time buyer hesitation.

•	You get assets that make your ads cheaper to run

One feature gives you:
	◦	A quality backlink
	◦	An “as seen in” logo
	◦	A quote you can drop onto PDPs, landing pages, email flows and creative

The next time you spend on Meta or Google, you are sending traffic into a funnel that already has proof baked in.

This is the difference between running ads to “hope they convert” and running ads into a brand that already looks credible next to the big names in your category.

If you are building a beauty, home or wellness brand and want your 2026 ad spend to hit harder, this is where I would start: get your authority and proof sorted, then scale.

If you want to map out what that could look like for your brand next year, send me a message or head to book.glossypr.com and let us see if there is a fit.

A festive win worth revisiting.

Rosard Parfum was featured in Pause Magazine’s Home & Lifestyle Christmas Gift Guide, sitting alongside established names in the home and lifestyle space 🎁

Why this matters for emerging DTC brands:

• Gift guides drive high-intent traffic during the most important trading period of the year
• Third-party recommendations reduce friction for first-time customers
• Each feature adds another quality backlink and “as seen in” asset you can plug into PDPs, landing pages and email flows

This is how editorial PR moves from “nice press” to a tangible revenue and brand asset.

If you are a beauty, home, or wellness brand planning 2026 launches, now is the time to plan next year’s guides.

Your body often works out the relationship is wrong long before your head admits it.

That is exactly what our client, Dr Candice O’Neil, has unpacked in her latest feature for Tyla
 – how symptoms like an upset stomach, disrupted sleep and constant unease can be early signals that something is off in a relationship.

From a PR and positioning point of view, this is the kind of coverage I want for psychologists and mental health professionals:
	•	It turns complex emotional dynamics into clear, human language
	•	It reaches people in a moment where they are already open to reflection and change
	•	It positions you as a practical, trusted guide, not just another profile on a directory

Tyla reaches tens of thousands of readers a day. One well placed expert feature like this can become:
	•	A shareable resource for your existing clients and community
	•	A strong trust signal on your website, enquiry flows and socials
	•	A credential that makes it easier to secure further media, podcast and speaking slots

This is how we think about PR for psychologists, therapists and specialists at Glossy PR.

Not noise. Not vanity. Expert comment that genuinely helps people while quietly building long term authority and demand for your work.

If you are a psychologist, therapist or coach and want 2026 to be the year your visibility catches up with your expertise, drop me a message and we can see if there is a smart way to build this for you.

Sometimes your body realises you are with the wrong person before your mind catches up.

Our client, Dr Candice O’Neil, has been featured in Tyla, unpacking how signs like an upset stomach, disrupted sleep, and constant unease can signal that a relationship is not right for you.

For psychologists and mental health professionals, coverage like this delivers real value:
• It translates complex emotional dynamics into clear, accessible guidance
• It reaches readers in a context where they are already open to reflection and change
• It positions you as a trusted, practical voice, not just an academic profile on a directory

Tyla’s digital platform reaches tens of thousands of readers daily. One well-placed expert feature can become:
• A shareable resource for clients and followers
• A trust signal on your website and enquiry flows
• A stepping stone to further media, podcast and speaking opportunities

This is how we think about PR for psychologists and specialists at Glossy PR. Not noise for the sake of it, but expert comment that educates the public while building long-term authority.

If you are a psychologist, therapist or coach and want 2026 to be the year your visibility matches your expertise, let us talk.

Most coaches think they have a visibility problem.
In reality, they have a credibility problem.

Anyone can post on Instagram. Very few get invited to share their thinking in Women’s Health.

Our client, Rachel has just been featured by Women’s Health, talking about her Taylor Swift Eras Tour inspired workout and how to train with both fun and performance in mind.

From my side as agency owner, this kind of placement hits differently for a PT or transformation coach because it:

	•	Changes the frame
You are no longer “a trainer on social”. You are the trainer Women’s Health trusted to speak to their global wellness audience.
	•	Upgrades every touchpoint
“As seen in Women’s Health” on your site, landing pages and enquiry flows does more for conversion than another Reel ever will.
	•	Compounds over time
One strong feature becomes proof for DMs, sales calls, podcast pitches and future media. It keeps working long after the issue stops trending.

At Glossy, this is exactly what we want PR to do for service based experts. Not just a logo for the media page, but a lever that:
	•	Shortens the trust gap
	•	Attracts better, more committed clients
	•	Supports higher pricing and stronger positioning

If you are a coach, PT or specialist and you are tired of shouting into the algorithm, this is your sign to add proper authority into the mix this year.

Drop me a message if you want to see what this could look like for your brand in 2026.

Most PTs are shouting into the social media void. A handful get invited onto 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻’𝘀 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵.

Being featured by Women’s Health puts personal trainers in front of a trusted, global wellness audience who are actively looking for expert-backed advice, not quick fixes.

For coaches, coverage like this is powerful because it:
	•	Builds instant credibility beyond your own socials
	•	Puts you in front of high-intent, fitness focused readers
	•	Positions you as a go to expert, not just “another trainer online”

Huge shout out to @rachelsolwaylevelup, sharing her insight on the Taylor Swift Eras Tour inspired workout and how to train with both fun and performance in mind.

This is the kind of PR that turns great coaching into a recognised authority brand.

There are logos.
And then there is Good Housekeeping!

For most consumers, Good Housekeeping is one of those rare names that actually means something. Decades of product testing, honest reviews and “does this really work” scrutiny.

So when they vote Curo Skin the best handheld shower filter, it is not just a nice line for social. It is a serious credibility milestone for a young brand. 🚿✨

From my side as agency owner, a Good Housekeeping win matters because it:

•	Shortens the trust gap

Shoppers who are unsure about switching to a filtered shower head suddenly have an anchor.
“If Good Housekeeping rate it, it probably does what it says.”

•	Supports higher pricing and positioning

You are no longer competing on “cheapest on Amazon”. You are competing on proven quality.

•	Feeds every other channel

One result becomes:
	•	“Voted best handheld shower filter by Good Housekeeping” above the fold on PDPs
	•	A hero quote in your emails and paid creative
	•	A powerful trust signal for retailers and partners

This is exactly how we think about PR at Glossy. Not as random logos, but as trust assets that change how buyers feel at the point of decision.

For Curo Skin, this sits alongside their wider press run and award wins, helping them stand shoulder to shoulder with brands that have been on the shelves for years.

If you are a DTC beauty, health or wellness brand and you are still relying on social proof alone while your competitors are stacking third party validation like this, you are leaving a lot on the table.

If you want 2026 to be the year you stop shouting and start being independently endorsed, drop me a message and I will happily walk you through how we build this for our clients.

Good Housekeeping approval carries real weight. 

Backed by decades of consumer trust and product testing, it reassures shoppers that a product delivers on quality, safety, and performance, a major win for brand credibility 🚿✨ Curo Skin  voted the best handheld shower filter.

Most “best of” lists are pay-to-play.
This one wasn’t.

Our client CURO Skin has just been included in The Telegraph’s round up of the best shower filters – a huge win for a young, sustainable DTC brand. 🚿

From my side as agency owner, this kind of feature matters for a few reasons:

•	It validates the category
 Shower filters are still “new” for a lot of UK consumers. Being named by The Telegraph as one of the best helps buyers understand why it belongs in their routine at all.
•	It builds trust before the click
 When someone sees CURO Skin in a Telegraph round-up and then hits the site, they are not arriving cold. They have borrowed trust baked in.
•	It becomes an asset, not a moment

 Used properly, this one piece of coverage turns into:
	◦	“As seen in The Telegraph” on PDPs and landing pages
	◦	An editor quote in emails and social ads
	◦	A high-authority backlink that supports SEO and future AI visibility

This is the difference between “nice PR” and strategic PR.

For CURO Skin, it is another step in building a brand that can sit next to long-established players, despite being much younger and leaner.

If you are a DTC beauty, wellness or home brand and you are still relying on social and ads alone, this is exactly the layer you are missing: trusted third-party proof that makes every other channel work harder.

If you want to plug that into your 2026 plan, drop me a message and we can see whether Glossy PR is the right fit for your brand.

A fantastic "best of" feature for @curo.skin 🚿 The sustainable filtered shower head brand has been included in The Telegraph's round up of the "best shower filters".

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The Battle

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Shayne Williams

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taplio

The Battle

Olly Hudson

Shayne Williams

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Olly Hudson's LinkedIn Performance

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