🧠 Systems for Scaling Success

Welcome back to the 30th edition of the Nord Media newsletter.

Before we get started – Is there anything specific you’re wanting to learn about? Let me know, as always I appreciate all of you who reply each week and share feedback with me.

Our life is full of systems.

Driving, cooking, morning routines, workouts, you name it.

They all require certain steps to perform that lead us to an end goal.

Cooking, for example.

You have to buy the ingredients, prep them, wash your produce, add them to the pan in a specific order, and finally add your garnishes.

The result?

A delicious meal and possible photo op for your socials.

Why are systems so important?

Because they bring order, efficiency, and predictability to your life.

This heavily applies to your business as well.

Business systems help firms improve their performance by streamlining processes through automation or better organization and allocation of resources.

So, Faulty systems = Faulty business.

Don’t stress if you haven’t optimized your business systems to a T.

Today’s newsletter is about using systems to create brand growth.

And if you’re already pretty confident about your systems, it never hurts to be well-versed in what systems are best for your business.

Let's get right into it.

This Week’s Featured Partner - heatmap 🔥

heatmap has partnered with up Triple Whale to bring you all the ultimate BFCM Impact guide! Sign up and get instant access to in-depth data and analysis into past, present, and future strategies, using data-driven tools to help your brand outshine last year’s performance.

The best way to prepare for BFCM this year is by analyzing and understanding what happened in the past and how you can utilize that information to accelerate and improve your BFCM strategy this year.

Whether you’re fine-tuning your wins or avoiding past mistakes, this ebook is packed with actionable tips to make 2024 your best BFCM yet.

Don't miss out—get it today!

Strategies For Growth

For any impactful growth to happen, you need systemized strategies in place. This applies to everything—from marketing to operations.

So, when we started working with this one brand, our goal was to create a growth system that would maximize their holiday sales and ensure long-term success.

First, we focused on list-building and building hype before the season kicked off. With 97% of their sales happening between October and December, we knew how important it was to grow their email list.

By the end of the year, we had 17,000 subscribers ready to buy, which became a huge driver for their holiday sales.

We also produced 40 pieces of UGC creator content in just 20 days, which gave us a constant stream of fresh, engaging material for ads that kept their audience hooked.

On top of that, we helped them fine-tune their pricing strategy, making sure their costs and margins were dialed in.

And to tie it all together, we built a high-converting website to turn visitors into customers.

The result? 

$650K in revenue at a 4.2x ROAS, and 98% of their inventory sold out by mid-November. This success locked in a 3-year contract, setting them up for $1.2M+ in revenue the following year.

Not too shabby.

What Channels Did We Use?

Meta Ads:

We secured a 4.7x return on Meta by focusing on engaging, creator-driven UGC that resonated with the audience.

Given the visual nature of the product (seasonal pajamas), we leveraged this UGC to run highly effective retargeting campaigns, which drove a large portion of the return.

We also capitalized on early list-building campaigns to prime the audience before the major sales period, setting up an efficient customer acquisition funnel.

Google Ads

The standout channel was Google Ads primarily shopping campaigns, where we achieved a remarkable 14x return.

This was driven by a combination of search ads and Google Shopping, both of which worked especially well for capturing high-intent customers.

With inventory flying off the shelves by mid-November, we prioritized budget allocation to Google towards the end of the season, where higher conversion rates justified the spend.

Key Systems To manage the potential fluctuations in demand

Of course, growth doesn’t just happen.

It takes solid systems to manage all the moving parts—especially during peak sales periods.

Here are a few key systems we put in place to manage the ups and downs:

Inventory Management:

We tracked sales velocity and inventory depletion in real time, which allowed us to make strategic shifts in our advertising strategy to either ramp up or pull back spending based on stock levels.

Creative Pipeline:

Given the massive creative needs, we sourced and created content well ahead of the sales season.

The 40 pieces of UGC/creator content were part of a broader system to have assets ready for rapid deployment during peak times, ensuring that we had fresh content to prevent ad fatigue.

Financial and Performance Metrics:

We set clear targets for MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) and break-even metrics, which helped guide our decision-making in real time.

These metrics became the baseline for ensuring the company wasn’t just selling out inventory but doing so profitably—the team's ability to adapt quickly to these metrics allowed for more responsive campaign adjustments.

These systems ensured sustainable and profitable growth, giving the brand the foundation it needed to scale successfully while maintaining control over its margins and growth projections.

Closing Thoughts

Growth isn’t just about working harder—it’s about working smarter, and that’s where systems come into play.

Whether it’s managing inventory, keeping your creative fresh, or making sure your financials are on point, having systems in place turns chaos into controlled, profitable growth.

If there’s one thing to take away from this, it’s that scaling a business doesn’t have to be overwhelming when you’ve got the right strategies and processes working behind the scenes.

These systems not only help you grow, but they also give you the flexibility to adapt and thrive, no matter what the market throws your way.

So, whether you’re gearing up for a big season or just looking to refine your current operations, take a moment to evaluate the systems you have in place.

Are they setting you up for success?

If not, it’s never too late to fine-tune.

As always, I’m here to help if you have any questions or need guidance in optimizing your systems for growth. Until next time!

Want to learn from me or connect on other platforms? 👇
 LinkedIn • Instagram • Twitter 

Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.
Sincerely,
Kody