If you have not heard of Dollar Shave Club, they are a Venice, CA company that delivers personal grooming products, such as razors, by mail. The company originally launched in 2011, however it relaunched last year in 2012 with “Our Blades Are F***ing Great" a super-creative, low-budget ($4.500 according to FastCompany Article) video that they released on YouTube.
Dollar Shave Club's “Our Blades Are F***ing Great" video went on to win the “Best Out-of-Nowhere Video Campaign” at the 2012 AdAge Viral Video Awards. To-date the video has received more than 11M views, that is a pretty insane return on investment for the $4,500 spent on production and distribution.
So what are the 5 things that Dollar Shave Club did right when it comes to digital marketing?
First, DSC executed an extremely well designed and integrated multichannel marketing campaign. It is clear that they spent a lot of time thinking through how to leverage their online marketing efforts to drive coverage in the press, and they were successful. After releasing their “Our Blades Are F***ing Great" video they received invaluable coverage in Forbes, FastCompany, The Economist, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal and dozens of high-authority blogs. The video didn't just drive buzz, it drove sales, in the first 48 hrs after release they received 12,000 new orders, now that is a great testament to the power of video.
Second, they understood the importance of a well designed landing page and clearly thought through their messaging and the overall user-experience as is evidenced by the websites clean design and crystal clear messaging that includes a snappy messaging and a definitive call-to-action for the consumer. In addition to paying attention to UX, according to Michael Dubin, CEO and Founder they are now paying close attention to conversation rate optimization. In a recent article published to Big Spaceship, Dubin stated "we use Optimize.ly. So far it’s been great. We’re learning a lot every day about which pages work. It’s a process that every e-commerce company needs to go through. We like to look at the backside of the funnel first. Meaning, if we can convert more people who are already at the checkout page that’s a big win.
The Dollar Shave Club Homepage
Third, DSC leveraged the power of social media extremely well and understood that not every platform is created equal, and unlike many paid close attention to Google+ for it's tremendous SEO value and huge growth potential. DSC's Google+ following is 4X what it is on Facebook today. With that said, they have done a fantastic job fostering a following on Facebook and cultivating relationships with current and prospective customers.
Dollar Shave Club Google+ Page
Dollar Shave Club Facebook Page
Fourth, they absolutely crushed SEO and did a great job of leveraging PPC. Regardless of whether you look at natural search for their brand name, useful consumer search terms, or a combination of the two DSC dominates natural and paid search even with a handful of competitors that are pouring money into SEO and search marketing.
Natural Search for the "DSC Brand" on Google
Search for "Cheap Razorblades" on Google
In the above search for "Cheap Razorblades" DSC owned the top billing for the PPC ad and the first natural search result.
Fifth, DSC enlisted the support of bloggers as powerful advocates to reach potential consumers. They sent sample product to dozens of high-authority bloggers and enlisted their potential in driving consumers to their product online. The strategy was super effective and even mommy bloggers took the opportunity to help evangelize this fledgling brand with a unique and disruptive value proposition. The fact that they developed a great product, and an idiosyncratic, authentic brand that struck a chord with their target audience was a huge help in making the job of would-be evangelists easier.