2/3 Done with Q1! February is a Wrap!

It is absolutely insane that we are entering the final month of Q1 this week as we have now concluded 1/6th of 2024. I’m writing this on the Brightline train from Miami to Orlando, where I’ll be attending Digital Summit.

AI has been the main story in many sectors this year, especially the stock market and marketing. For those who hold $NVDA or other chip stocks, I know you hear me.

Speaking of AI in marketing…

Avenue Z is taking the stage to present it’s new development: Funnel GPT. I teased this tool last week on social, and it was met with great excitement. I’ll dig more into it below with a real-time example. I built an entire funnel in SECONDS for a leading TikTok Shop brand that I know could scale further with a new funnel for paid traffic on Meta.

1. If you thought ChatGPT was cool, check out Funnel GPT.

AI is on a rocket ship. In many regards. The one that probably captured most of the world’s attention is in the stock market. As you’re likely aware, Nvidia ($NVDA), the leading chip stock that powers AI, has been a freight train for years. It’s already up 65% in 2024 as it surpassed a $2T market cap and rose to become the 4th most valuable company in the world. Over the last 5 years, it’s up nearly 2000% - and for good reason. It blew away Q4 earnings last week when it reported and is a significant reason why the stock market has performed so well over the past year.

Nvidia invented the GPU (graphics processing unit) over 20 years ago. GPUs perform mathematical calculations at high speed and are what now power many of the AI/ML solutions we know today.

Thanks to Nvidia, ChatGPT and now custom GPTs exist. Every industry sector you could think of is now undergoing revolutionary transformation.

Marketing and advertising is morphing before our very own eyes, at warp speed.

My team at Avenue Z has been building quite a few custom GPTs over the past few months since it became possible. I’m in awe at the tools that we now have at our disposal. These tools enable us to free up time to innovate and drive impact.

One of my new favorite GPTs, Funnel GPT, is one that we created in the wake of one of the most common problems in marketing across all businesses today: ineffective customer acquisition funnels!

Whenever paid media campaigns aren’t performing to expectations, the most common “excuses” I’ve seen are as follows:

• the ad platform/algorithm is broken!

• high CPMs/competition

• low creative quality

• insufficient creative diversity/testing

• poor media buying

What about… the customer journey? Aka “The Funnel”

Building a proper funnel has not been easy historically. It requires ample time- consisting of market research, competitor analysis, demographic research, and savvy planning.

With our launch of Funnel GPT, we’ve shortened and simplified this process for brands and marketers across any business type: B2B, B2C, DTC, & XYZ 😅.

Watch me build an entire paid Meta funnel for Guru Nanda in the matter of seconds👇

All you need to do is type in a simple prompt: request a funnel for your type of business and a link to the website. Of course, any additional context you can provide, the better off you’ll be. For example, if you want a funnel specific for a paid media channel, be sure to let the GPT know!

Funnel GPT is trained to then give you:

• Funnel Hook

• Step-by-Step Funnel Structure (including lead-nurturing ideas and even post-purchase retention/cross-selling strategies)

• Key Messaging (problem-solution statements & call-to-action ideas)

The coolest part?

Funnel GPT will give you endless funnel ideas. Don’t like the first funnel it gives you?

Run it back! Hell, run it 10 times and choose your favorite.

I can’t imagine replacing this with the old way of doing things. How long do you think it would take a marketing team to come up with 10 fully baked funnels? Gone are those days.

If you’d like to test it out yourself, you’re in luck. I’m giving each of my newsletter subscribers FREE access to this tool now ➡️ HERE.

2. TikTok Shop vs. Facebook & Instagram Shops

I’ve been babbling a TON about TikTok Shops lately.

Mainly for 2 reasons: pure excitement & the fact that not much tactical or operational content is available online today. I’m focusing a decent chunk of my own time on it in 2024 and want to be helpful to the DTC community and share my findings.

The first mistake I see people make is rule out TikTok Shop because of Meta’s failure in social commerce execution. You can’t compare TikTok Shop to Facebook or Instagram Shops. I’ll give you a side-by-side comparison below.

The downfall of Meta’s attempt at social commerce was put on full display about a year ago when Instagram removed the “Shop” tab from the app.

This misstep marked the very moment TikTok would steal Meta's lunch in the social commerce race.

It's amazing what has transpired in just 12 months since this move. Social commerce seemed dead in its tracks.

I viewed this as Meta admitting defeat and divesting investment from social commerce to focus on bottom line and satisfying public markets (which only cared about profit).

Since this move, TikTok has gone full gas and has momentum larger than I ever expected.

I anticipate Meta will reinvest more into social commerce again very soon.

TikTok Shop has the playbook on full display. It’s not perfect, but it’s working. Even in its current janky state.

Zuck is watching & learning. Taking ideas and improving them is what Zuck does best, right?

Now, I’d like to break down the exact snapshot of how vastly different TikTok Shop is from Facebook and Instagram Shops. Before launching on TikTok Shops, you must understand all of the subtleties. It’s an entirely new sales channel and much closer to launching on Amazon than on Meta Shops.

If you made it this far, your head is probably spinning and want nothing to do with learning an entirely new ecosystem.

Let me tell you though — it is WORTH IT.

If you need help in any area of TikTok Shop, my team at The Snow Agency is here for you. Just submit your info > HERE < and we’ll get in touch with you!

Small-Cap vs Large-Cap Stocks

Let’s take a breather from DTC drama for a week.

While this topic isn’t necessarily a debate, it’s quite the diversion.

As you can see in the image above, small-cap stock performance generally mirrors that of large-cap stocks. However, over the past year, they’ve been actually moving in opposite directions for the first time in forever.

Small-cap stocks: publicly traded company valued at $250 million to $2 billion

Large-cap stocks: publicly traded company valued at $10 billion +

The main drivers behind this wedge in trajectory are likely due to small-cap stocks being more susceptible to interest rate hikes and macroeconomic conditions.

Picking the right stocks is a difficult endeavor. This exact situation reminds us to avoid concentrating our portfolios in single names or speculative indices which can be highly volatile and stick to diversified portfolio strategies. Small-caps will likely be stuck in a trough until macro tensions and interest rates ease.

What I’m Listening to 🎧

Beats of the Week: Black Coffee Live (Brasil: 2024)

Black Coffee is one of the legends. He popularized Afro-house throughout the world, which is prevalent in South Africa where he’s originally from. Crazy fact: he only has one functional arm so he DJs with only one hand. He was rammed by a car when he was a teenager, leaving his left arm paralyzed. It’s incredible that he’s been able to reach this level of stardom in a career that requires use of your arms & hands. I’ll be seeing him live for the 3rd time during Miami Music Week in March.

His style makes for great music while you’re working: energetic, rhythmic, and upbeat.

ENJOY!

I welcome all feedback. Good, bad, everything in between.

Hit reply, and let’s hear it! 👂

📧 Share your thoughts or what you want me to cover next!