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Why Good Products & Meta Ads Aren't Enough Anymore

A Founder's Guide to Surviving (And Thriving) in 2025

Hey everyone,

Welcome back for another bite to chew on.

We've been having a lot of conversations lately about what's really working in DTC right now, and more importantly, what's going to work in 2025. The biggest takeaway is that the game is changing faster than ever. 

One thing that’s obvious is just the high level of competition and competence when it comes to DTC and digital advertising. 

For example - if you search for a protein powder on Meta today, you'll see ads from six other brands immediately after. You’ve signaled that you’re “in-market” for protein, so evey protein powder company on Meta will get their ads served to you. 

Everyone's fighting for the same eyeballs, with increasingly expensive results.

That's why we sat down for a founder's chat on what we’re experiencing and how we’re thinking about the DTC landscape as we head into a new year. 

On the Menu:

  • Why your 2023 strategy won't work anymore

  • The new rules of product development

  • How to start diversifying in 2025

Want to dive deeper into our conversation? 

Check out the full conversation on our YouTube channel here:

Before we get going, we want to ask you a question - Has Meta been unpredictable for you lately?

At Obvi, we had to slash our ad spend in January due to performance issues - and we know we're not alone. 

These days it seems what you do outside of your ad account is just as important (more?) than what you do inside it.

Our strategy? 

Build an army of micro-influencers who authentically love our brand. We seed 100+ products weekly, treating creators like VIPs, not just promotional channels.

But scaling authentic relationships was impossible until we found SARAL

Here’s why it has been an essential part of tech stack for almost 2 years now →  

💎 Find hidden gems → Stop wasting time on wrong-fit creators. SARAL's filters find niche influencers who align with our brand values and actually drive sales.

🌪️ End spreadsheet chaos → Automated email campaigns, shipping tracking, and performance metrics all in one dashboard. No more lost conversations or missed follow-ups.

📈 Scale with authenticity → Turn one-off posts into lasting partnerships with built-in relationship tracking and tiered rewards programs.

The platform removes the manual work so we can focus on creating a powerful community of engaged and passionate advocates. 

Want to build your own influencer army? Book a demo and mention this post to get an exclusive extended free trial in February. 

Why Your 2023 Strategy Won't Work in 2025

Let's get real about what's happening in DTC right now:

→ Customer acquisition costs keep climbing

→ Paid social isn't delivering the same ROAS

→ Every category is getting saturated

→ Margins are getting squeezed from all sides

At Obvi, we built our brand on performance marketing. Meta ads, email flows, SMS – the whole direct response playbook. And it worked really well for a long time.

But here's what's changed… 

When you run an ad in a competitive field on Meta now, customers will see a bunch of other similar ads right after yours. If you're selling magnesium supplements, for example, you're competing with whoever can pay for ads on FB. 

Oh, and those $8 bottles on Amazon. 😬

The era of "put a dollar in, get 4X back" is gone. What worked in 2023 – pushing out basic products and relying on performance marketing – simply won't cut it anymore. 

We recently saw a brand spending $50k/month on Meta ads with solid ROAS, but when they dug into the numbers, they realized they were just recycling the same customers through different offers. 

They weren't actually growing their customer base.

That's the reality of 2025. It’s very difficult to just spend your way to growth these days. 

The New Rules of Product Development

That’s why it’s essential to think about your brand and growth strategy holistically. You can’t just “funnel manage” yourself to scale with one hero product, a graphic, designer and solid media buying plan. 

You need to find new levers that keep customers engaged and unlocks new opportunities. 


One of those levers is product development. Here are the 3 rules for effective product strategy in 2025:

1. Innovation is Non-Negotiable

The days of launching "me too" products are coming to an end. 

We recently talked to Peter Rahal (founder of David Protein), and his insight was golden: "If I do anything but the ultimate bar with 28g protein and zero sugar, I'm just one of many."

That's the bar now – create something so unique that others can only copy, not compete. As much as possible, you want to develop “leader of the pack” products. 

2. Convenience is King

Product development isn't just about formulation anymore – it's about reimagining how consumers interact with your product category entirely. 

We're seeing brands completely rethink their approach by considering their consumer experience. 

This means creating products that: 

  • Fit seamlessly into daily routines

  • Offer unique delivery methods that solve real pain points

  • Are something that solves a need in ways that haven't been done before

Take that new wake-up pill company we discovered – they created a delayed-release caffeine delivery system that kicks in exactly when you need it. 

That's the kind of innovation that cuts through the noise.

3. Margins Matter More Than Ever

The brutal truth is If you don't have 70-90% gross margins, you can't compete effectively on paid social anymore. The math just doesn't work.

The solution isn't cutting corners or reducing quality. 

Instead, successful brands are taking a more strategic approach: 

  • They're investing heavily in R&D to create truly unique products that command premium prices. 

  • They're focusing on solving specific, high-value problems that customers will pay more to solve. 

  • They're building real intellectual property – whether through proprietary formulations, unique delivery methods, or patent-protected innovations that create genuine barriers to entry.

How to start diversifying in 2025

The biggest shift we're seeing? Successful brands are thinking way beyond paid social. Here are 3 ways to think about battling the ongoing paid media CAC-inflation…

First - Own Your Audience

Building a community isn't just about social media followers anymore. 

We think brands will need to take a more comprehensive approach to audience building→  

  • Create valuable content that educates and entertains

  • Develop genuine relationships with their customers through direct engagement

  • Leverage creators as long-term brand partners who help shape product development and marketing strategy.

Look at Mini Katana – they built an entire audience on YouTube. That means they didn't need to rely on Meta ads because they already had an engaged audience. 

Also - they couldn’t, because Meta doesn’t allow weapons advertising!

Necessity = invention. 

So maybe just ask yourself what you’d do if you were not allowed to advertise on Facebook or Instagram. 

Next - Diversify Your Channels

Channel diversification is becoming more and more important for obvious reasons. Meta and Google are still a “duopoly” these days (heavy on the Meta), but everyone is desperately looking for new paths to find efficient, sustainable paid media growth. 

Here's what we're seeing work → 

AppLovin has been particularly interesting for us. 

We started testing it in Q4, and it reminded us of early TikTok advertising – fresh inventory, strong algorithms, and first-order profitability on direct clicks. 

We were seeing customers actually mention finding us through mobile games in our post-purchase surveys. The platform uses sophisticated algorithms to show ads to the right person at the right time, similar to Meta's early days.

But here's the catch – like early TikTok, we hit a plateau. After strong initial performance, we noticed diminishing returns and challenges with customer exclusion. It's still valuable as part of a diversified strategy, but it's not the silver bullet some are claiming it to be.

Pinterest has become a powerhouse for specific niches, especially lifestyle categories. 

We recently talked to a brand that built their entire business on Pinterest, focusing on recipe and home organization content. For the right product category, it's proving to be a high-intent platform with much less competition than Meta.

YouTube is emerging as a serious player for educational content and brand building. Unlike short-form video, YouTube's longer format lets you dive deep into product education and build real authority. We're seeing brands use it both for organic growth through their own channels and for targeted advertising to warm audiences who are already searching for solutions.

Connected TV is starting to make sense for established brands looking to scale beyond social. 

While the upfront investment is significant – you're looking at five figures minimum for creative and testing – brands are finding that CPMs can be up to 70% cheaper on linear TV compared to streaming. 

Plus, you get the added credibility that comes with traditional TV exposure.

Sum It Up

DTC has been a rollercoaster for years. The huge land grab about 10 years ago gave way to the headwinds of the COVID pandemic and then the crash back down to reality afterward. 

Early Facebook ads were a bit of cheat code for brands who were able to hop on board, but it’s becoming more expensive (and more challenging) to make the Meta → Landing Page → Email → PDP funnel approach work, especially at a certain scale. 

Good products are now surrounded on all sides by competitors playing the same digital ads game. So you need to find ways outside of your ad account to not just compete, but win:  

  • Product innovation that creates real barriers to entry

  • High Margins that can support diverse marketing channels

  • Owned audiences that reduce reliance on paid social

Nothing sits still in this game. For a long time, getting to 8 & 9 figures was all about upping your Meta game. 

Nowadays it will take more to build something profitable and enduring. 

Before you go…

As you can tell from this post, profit is hard to come by in DTC these days. So you shouldn’t let it slip through your fingers.

On February 11th, I (Ron) and our VP of Finance Ravi, are joining Dror Gazit of Chargeflow and special guest Ben Perkins of &Collar where we’ll discuss all of the little ways your business is losing money and how to reduce (or eliminate them), including:

  1. Sales-Related Revenue Leaks

  2. Operational Inefficiencies

  3. Compliance and Regulatory Costs

  4. Financial Management

Grab your free seat here to find out how we saved over $1.6M in one year at Obvi, just by reducing waste. And how you can do the same. 

All the best,

Ron, Ash & Ankit