Customer Acquisition Lessons from 10 Years

In this episode of The DTC Insider podcast, Brian Roisentul welcomes Ryan Beltran, co-founder of Original Grain, here on the show. Ryan and his brother Andrew launched the brand back in 2013 with a highly successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $500,000. Since then, they’ve grown Original Grain into a unique watch brand known for its quality, sustainability, and craftsmanship, selling over half a million watches. In addition to reaching their 10-year milestone, they’ve planted 700,000 trees and partnered with iconic brands like Jack Daniels and the New York Yankees. We’ll dig into their approach to acquisition, retention, partnerships, and many more interesting topics. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: How Original Grain started with a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013 The brand's focus on creating unique watches from reclaimed materials The evolution of e-commerce over the last decade Challenges Original Grain faced during COVID-19 The importance of understanding contribution margin for business success How daily tracking of metrics provides actionable insights Identifying customer trends to shape marketing strategies The risks of over-investing in unproven products Why Q4 strategies should focus on proven products instead of experimentation The importance of diversifying marketing channels for future growth Opportunities and challenges of TikTok Shop for high AOV products Leveraging partnerships to drive revenue streams Building a brand through community engagement, not just ads The role of authenticity and connection in content creation The value of strategic planning for long-term growth Why founders should actively participate in content creation How licensing deals can expand brand visibility and customer reach The impact of real-life activations on brand loyalty Balancing metrics with building long-term customer relationships Understanding customer needs beyond sales to drive e-commerce success Sponsor for this episode: This episode is brought to you by BSR Digital. BSR Digital helps e-commerce brands that want to scale their business to the next level through paid ads & email marketing. To learn more about BSR Digital, visit their website or book a call here.