Hey everyone,

Welcome back for another bite to chew on.

If you’ve been reading us for a while, you know that diversifying acquisition away from total Meta dependency is top of mind for us. 

That's why we sat down with Yingying Kuang, VP of Growth at Kitsch (the haircare powerhouse growing over 50% YoY) to talk about how they built a channel-diverse acquisition engine without losing performance.

Biggest insight 👉 You don’t abandon Meta. You build around it, letting each new channel amplify what's already working, not compete with it.

Today, we’re unpacking exactly how Kitsch pulled it off.

On the Menu:

• The Channel Diversification Framework: Test, Scale & Measure

• Platform-Specific Tactics: What's Actually Working, Where

• The Marketing Math: Data-Driven Decisions that Drive Growth

This is just a small sample of our discussion. You can check out the entire conversation with Yingying here:

Or listen on:

• Spotify 🎧

• Apple 🍎

• Youtube ▶️

🚨 Chew On This Exclusive Offer - Free AppLovin Credits 🚨

If diversifying beyond Meta is on your mind, don’t miss this opportunity to test AppLovin for free.

They’ve given us $250,000 in ad credits for qualifying brands in our community. Just fill out a 15-second form and we’ll take care of the rest.

👉🏽 Apply now to claim your AppLovin credits.

1. Channel Diversification Framework: Test, Scale & Measure

Start with your control channel, then expand strategically.

At Kitsch, Meta is still the “control group.” Every new campaign, creative concept, and product offer gets tested there first.

"Facebook is the lowest-risk, fastest feedback loop," Yingying told us. "Everything else builds off that."

Their structured approach:

• Launch 4–5 ad variations on Meta.

• Identify winners based on clear signals.

• Adapt top performers for adjacent channels (TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat).

• Expand into mobile app networks (like AppLovin) once performance is proven.

• Only after maxing out digital do they test offline channels (TV, podcasts, direct mail).
  

🔑 Key Point: "Don’t rush into TV or podcasts if you’re only spending $5K/day on Meta," Yingying warned. "You’re leaving way too much digital scale on the table."

It’s a sequence built on discipline: validate, scale horizontally, then add heavier upper-funnel channels when ready.

2. Platform-Specific Tactics: What’s Actually Working, Where

Once the framework is set, Kitsch tunes their playbook platform-by-platform (because every channel has its own quirks.)

AppLovin: The Surprise Powerhouse

• Quickly became Kitsch’s second- or third-largest acquisition channel (depending on the day).

• 🔓 Big unlock: Gamified end cards layered onto fatigued Meta videos, creating "build a bundle" experiences inside mobile app ads.

• Leverage video ads that have been fatigued on Meta, so the creative lift isn’t too big.

• Bonus: Spend can scale 30–40% higher without immediate ROAS decay. 

🚨 Reminder: We have $250K in AppLovin ad credits for qualifying brands. Claim yours here. No strings attached.

Twitter: Fast Spikes, Short Shelf Life

• Static ads outperform video.

• Campaigns tend to spike performance quickly, then fall off just as fast.

• Audience mismatch (male-heavy) makes it less scalable for Kitsch’s largely female customer base.

Pinterest: Patience Pays

• Weak last-click ROAS, but strong mid-funnel impact.

• Users often pin products for later, so the platform works more as a consideration tool than an instant sales driver.

• Kitsch maintains Pinterest spend because they’re playing the long game.

TV (Coming Soon): Direct-Response Play

• Kitsch is launching direct-response TV creative aimed at reaching non-social media users.

• Their goal: drive immediate conversions and grow their digital retargeting audiences.

Across the board, Kitsch treats each channel uniquely, adapting creative, budgets, and expectations accordingly instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all model.

3. The Marketing Math: Data-Driven Decisions That Drive Growth

Scaling into new channels is messy if you can’t measure cleanly. That’s why Kitsch doubled down on 3 major operating principles:
✅ One source of truth
✅ Daily budget agility
✅ Clear budgeting rules tied to performance

Attribution: One source of truth

"If you trust TikTok to tell you TikTok is winning, you’re setting yourself up," Yingying said. "We needed neutral data we could actually act on."

Instead of believing inflated in-platform reports, Kitsch runs all attribution through NorthBeam.

Every channel is measured on one-day click windows, creating fair comparisons across platforms.

They also set platform-specific ROAS targets, adjusting for known gaps (for example, TikTok under-attributes by ~10–15% compared to Meta)

The result is a rationalized measurement framework they can trust, leading to and faster scaling decisions.

Budget Shifts: Real-Time, Not Monthly

Kitsch reviews their core performance metrics every single day:

• MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio = revenue ÷ total ad spend)

• One-day click ROAS per channel

Then they move fast: If Meta is over-performing, they immediately increase spend there. Or if AppLovin spikes, they shift dollars in real time.

"There’s no end-of-month meeting where we decide how to react," Yingying said. "We move money the same day."

This daily agility lets them maximize profitability instead of wasting days or weeks locked into static budget allocations.

Influencer & Whitelisting Math

Kitsch treats influencer marketing like a cold-blooded media buying channel, not like branding fluff.

Their whitelisting system has 3 tiers:

• Tier 1: Creators with proven sales performance. They identify which influencers drive actual sales through organic posts. 

"If an influencer's Instagram story drives a 2x ROAS, we know that content works," Yingying explained. These become prime whitelisting candidates.

• Tier 2: Small creators who make exceptional ad-ready content. They work with smaller creators who might not have large followings but create exceptional content. 

These "in-house creators" produce high-performing ads that run through their handles.

• Tier 3: Micro-affiliates running niche UGC plays across multiple accounts. They leverage micro-creators for UGC-style content, whitelisting through multiple smaller accounts to reach niche audiences.

🔑 The benefit goes beyond just better creative. It's actually helping them break out of Meta's algorithmic bubble. 

"When you whitelist through an influencer's profile, you're forcing Meta to hit new audiences first," Yingying noted.

To manage budgeting, they enforce simple performance rules:

• CPMs must stay under $10

• CPVs must stay under $0.01

"We don’t negotiate endlessly," Yingying said. "We run the numbers based on their view averages, make an offer, and move on."

It’s mathematical, scalable, and most importantly…profitable.

🧰 Operator Toolbox – Media Buying & Creative Pack

🚨 $250,000 in free AppLovin Credits! We’re handing out more and more of these credits every day. Fill out this quick form to get yours before they’re gone →

⭐️ Agency & Vendor Recommendations! Looking for partner recos? We can hook you up with vetted creative agencies, landing page specialists, and even new marketing channels. Quick connect →

🔹 SARAL - Our influencer management secret weapon. Seed, nurture, and track your creators & UGC at scale → 

🔹 Soona - Soona helps you make, manage & optimize your brand assets at scale. Check out their new tariff savings offer →

🔹 Proxima - Helped us find profitable audiences at scale on Meta when our account was trapped targeting the people over and over. Try their Efficiency Guarantee for a risk-free trial →

Some of these are referral partners. We only share what we actually use or would recommend to a friend.