8. You can follow along with a company’s marketing by getting on their mailing lists. A/B testing is industry standard - multiple ads compete against each other to create a “control” that it uses regularly. If you can spot good ads, you can spot inflection in its sales momentum
-
Show this thread
-
9. Alternatively, you can find out which companies are underearning by mismanaging their mailing lists. This is also opportunity, b/c subtle changes in advertising can lead to huge changes in performance. In copy specifically, it’s not uncommon for the best ads to 10x the worst
1 reply 0 retweets 11 likesShow this thread -
10. An example of this was with stock of TheStreet before it was acquired by
$MVEN.$TST was kinda a mess of newsletter company; VERY underoptimized vs. the industry. But it had good distro and reach! BARELY TRYING, the company had ~$20 mil of newsletter subscription rev in ‘181 reply 0 retweets 9 likesShow this thread -
11. In comparison, the largest company in the industry can do $20 mil in a week. The ad I wrote about in my copywriting article did $4 or $5 million, written in approx two weeks, for a publisher with sales in the low millions. For
$TST there was CLEARLY room for improvement.1 reply 0 retweets 9 likesShow this thread -
12. But before any of this could come about,
$MVEN bought$TST for a song compared to what it could have been worth with some TLC. If I had confidence in$MVEN it would be a screaming buy on the potential value of$TST alone.$TST could be worth $100s of mil in the right hands.1 reply 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread -
13. Even so, it was a good flip. Bought
$TST shares at $5.70 in early June and sold them for $6.10 a few weeks later. Not the home run I wanted, but the annualized return was OK.$TST was right in my wheelhouse with domain knowledge but you can do this with any ecommerce biz.1 reply 0 retweets 8 likesShow this thread -
14. With investment newsletters, one sales funnel looks like this. Prospect clicks on ad. Ad takes them to a page full of copy. If they buy, immediately upsell them to another newsletter. Then they get emailed ads for more products. There should ALWAYS be another product.
1 reply 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread -
15. One differentiatiator between newsletter companies is the quality of the narrative of the ads.
$TST's are generally not great. Lots of basic association with the "Cramer" brand but there is a lack of SCARCITY, URGENCY, and NARRATIVE. The best cos excel at these.1 reply 0 retweets 8 likesShow this thread -
16. Compare and contrast. One of the best ads of any medium, ever, in this YouTube video... And
$TST's campaign linked from their front page. These two aren't directly comparable but$TST has nothing like the ad on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN5BLQLA4FA … https://subscription.thestreet.com/action-alerts-plus?OID=037527 …2 replies 0 retweets 5 likesShow this thread -
17. That's the difference between a billion dollar enterprise and a company making $20 million barely trying. Is the YT ad hyperbolic? Yes. Was it effective? One of the most effective, ever. Even had TV spots! With invisible products, narrative is key.
1 reply 0 retweets 7 likesShow this thread
18. PS guys just because I’m referencing this stuff and explaining it doesn’t mean I like it. It just exists and since it exists it’s important to understand how it works. If market opportunities exist b/c of it, there’s no reason you shouldn’t trade on it b/c someone else will
-
-
19. Operational improvements in marketing flow through the financials and these inflections can be profitable if you spot them. Financial statements are usually the OUTPUTS of value drivers, not the drivers themselves! Spotting changes in the drivers b4 they show up = edge.
1 reply 0 retweets 9 likesShow this thread -
20. Operational improvements aren’t the only way to synthesize marketing with investing, though. Another way to do so is using your marketing skills to assess how a company is doing in the metagame of narrative management. But that’s a topic for later today...
0 replies 0 retweets 7 likesShow this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.