Last week I'm on a call with the founder of a $6M/year DTC meat brand who told me something that completely flipped how his team approached their marketing.
For context: their brand is high-quality, organic, sustainably sourced, and VERY big on authenticity.
He tells me:
"Our audience does NOT like over-polished content."
And they’ve been in business over a decade so he's had time and volume to back what he's saying.
The scrappy iPhone stuff? The plain text emails? That's what moved the needle.
And when you think about it, it makes complete sense.
His audience buys from because they care about fresh, healthy, natural, organic, etc.
That's the WHOLE brand promise! So it makes total sense they want what feels authentic.
When the emails look like they came from a corporate marketing department, or ads look like a studio made them, it breaks the trust.
These people want content and creative that feels real, not rehearsed.
The average email agency or freelancer doesn’t think in terms of BRAND, just best practice.
“Every email needs a CTA in the hero“
“All of our emails should be beautifully designed“
“We can’t create iPhone-style yap content, it’s bad for our brand“
Here's what stuck with me: most brands build creative guidelines based on what looks better.
This guy built his based on what his customers actually responded to.
Raw footage. Real people. Plain text emails when it made sense. No stock photography.
Stop trying to look professional because you think you should and start showing what your audience wants to see.
Your brand guidelines shouldn't come from what you think looks good. They should come from what your customers tell you actually works.
Don't assume polished equals performing.
Look at your last 10 emails. Do they sound like your brand or do they sound like everyone else's brand?
If you want emails that convert instead of just looking pretty, book a call with us.
Anthony