Sharm Tank Vol. 16

Author

Nik Sharma
March 08, 2024

Happy Friday!

Hope everyone had a relaxing week (shoutout Meta). But seriously, that outage was a pretty serious reminder about the dangers of relying on a single channel. Luckily, for the majority of our clients, paid media efforts are diversified.

Oh, also, unrelated by AdAge dropped a Gen Z marketing glossary and it’s pretty hilarious. Take a look here.

We’re Hiring!

  • Director of Paid Media — you will oversee our team of media buyers, providing strategic input around campaigns, how to achieve client results more efficiently, and working with our internal creative and web UX/UI team. You must have good experience to apply for this role.

  • Account Coordinator — you will work with the BEST account team in eCommerce, supporting them to ensure that our clients always feel a proactive and thoughtful presence from us. You don’t need much experience to apply for this role, you just need to be hungry.

  • Senior Web Designer — in this role you will lead the UX/UI design process from concept to execution, ensuring high-quality deliverables that meet project objectives and deadlines for you designed projects.

  • Office Assistant - We are looking for a part-time office assistant to help us with administrative tasks for ~5 hours each week, coming in on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. We’ll need your help with organizing the office and assisting our team.

The Main Course

The last few newsletters covered a pretty wide range of topics, but for the most part, we’ve put our focus on happenings outside of the Sharma Brands world.

I wanted to use this week’s newsletter to reign it in and actually talk about some of our recent (and most exciting work).

Just last week, we launched a brand new site for a tattoo numbing and aftercare brand called Tattoo Numbing Cream. The new site is one of our favorite projects to date so we wanted to walk through the process and outline.

 Without further ado, let’s dive into it!

Tattoo Numbing Cream, a leading eCommerce brand in the tattoo after-care industry, sought to elevate its online presence and strengthen its brand identity. In partnership with Sharma Brands, a strategic overhaul focusing on comprehensive brand guidelines and site refresh was carried out to achieve these goals.

Opportunities:

  • Unify brand image across various platforms, creating a seamless and cohesive customer experience

  • Execute a redesign that not only modernizes its appearance but also enhances user engagement, especially on pages that attract the most traffic.

  • Develop and implement comprehensive brand guidelines, ensuring consistent use of brand elements across all mediums, further strengthening the brand's identity and recognition.

Results:

When it came to brand guidelines, the Sharma Brands creative team debated between three different directions: a punk aesthetic, an aesthetic reminiscent of Las Vegas tattoo parlors, and some combination of the two. Ultimately, we decided to go with the more punk aesthetic as it allowed us to differentiate the brand without being too similar to other tattoo creams.

From there, we needed to re-do the logo. We initially wanted to do something more artisanal, opting for a handwritten logo. However, we decided to go with something that was grungy, yet clean, leaving us with a streamlined logo in a san serif font reminiscent of a stamp. 

Several other branded elements were identified including a collage-type of element used to highlight menu items and a banner reading, “f*ck pain” plastered across the home page. From just a glance, it was clear that his new Tattoo Numbing Cream was more irreverent and more boisterous.

Once all branding was finalized, we began to add additional functionality to the site to bolster AOV and CVR, but more importantly, to improve the overall UX. This included adding filtering to shop all to allow customers to differentiate between products for numbing, skincare, and general bundles.

A specific build-your-own-bundle page was created that allows customers to make a bundle of any 4 products on the site and get 15% off as a result. For overall CRO, we also added a module called, “Complete Your Tattoo Care Package,” an upsell that recommends accompanying products. This coupled with the build-your-own-bundle page proved to be very effective.

Copy focused on keeping ink/tattoo quality strong while also providing relief. We made sure to hammer in that messaging whenever possible (ex. “How do we do pain-free ink and perfect healing?”). Our hypothesis was that if we could consistently remind customers of the dual benefit, then it would be an easier sell.

Finally, we outfitted Tattoo Numbing Cream’s new PDP with several new sections. This included modules for ingredients, how to use, and helpful tips, as well as an FAQ section. Comparison charts were also added to the site to highlight Tattoo Numbing Cream’s biggest value props.

We wanted to make sure that customers could easily differentiate between Tattoo Numbing Cream and similar products. In order to do so we positioned other creams as unreliable, mentioned that our cream numbs longer, is better for sensitive skin, and absolutely doesn’t affect tattoo quality.

The last thing we looked out for was social proof. We took two measures to ensure that the brand was properly represented by its community. The first was to upload actual UGC video to the site without any testimonials to simply show the product in use rather than pushing for conversion. The second tactic, however, was a bit more direct, offering credit to anyone who bought a product and posted about it on social.

That’s basically the full breakdown. We didn’t reinvent the wheel, but we sure as hell optimized it (and doubled their conversion rate as a result).

Alright that’s all for this week's main course, let’s get into some fun stuff…

What We’re Reading This Week

Campaign of the Week

It’s rare for a legacy brand to not only zero in, but leverage a cultural phenomenon properly, actively acknowledging young consumers without being “cringey.”

But Gap isn’t your average legacy brand.

Last Summer, TikTok fawned over the music video for “Back in 74,” featuring dancer Will West and artist Tyla. The viral music video and song nspiring countless others to mimic West’s heartfelt performance.

Gap's "Linen Moves" campaign cleverly harnessed the power of TikTok by bringing back the magic of Jungle's hit “Back of 74,” featuring the mesmerizing dance of Will West and the artistry of Tyla.

Gap's stroke of genius? Combining these cultural phenomena in one ad to evoke their ‘90s and ‘00s heyday. It's a masterclass in tapping into viral moments and nostalgia, reminiscent of iconic ads like Beyoncé for Pepsi.

By featuring both Tyla and Will, Gap's ad didn't just ride the wave of current trends; it reignited the excitement of seeing celebrities in commercials. It's a blend of nostalgia and that reminds you why people fell in love with Gap in the first place.

The ad hitting the For You Page sparked a collective memory trip, reminding us of the moves and garbs that once captivated us (pun intended).

Gap knows its audience, and this campaign speaks directly to them. From the trending hashtags to the stylings that echo current fashion vibes, it's a call to action that's hard to ignore.

The result? A campaign that doesn't just sell linen but sells a movement, embraced and amplified by the audience itself.

Vendor of the Week

Sometimes the best way to learn about your customer is to simply talk to them. KnoCommerce offers pre- and post-purchase survey tools so you can build out your 1st party data.

Perhaps you want to collect behavioral data and determine why your customers are so interested in your product. Or maybe you want to double-check your attribution and ensure that you know exactly where your users are coming from.

We recently used KnoCommerce to push out a post-purchase survey for one of our beauty clients and insights were pure gold. We were able to figure out exactly what type of demographic was associated with high lifetime value and were able to double down on messaging via email to upsell these users.

There’s no reason to not use surveys! It’s an amazing lever that has unlocked a ton of growth for our clients.

Want To Work With Us?

Click below to learn more about our services and how we can send your brand into hyperdrive!