I listened to Kane Kallaway on the Open Residency podcast during my morning run today.

If you gave it a listen, respond to this email and let me know one thing you took away from the episode. A lot of free game was given. Or, as Mark Brazil said a dozen or so times, a lot of “sauce” was dished out.

First time reading the New Edition Newsletter?

👋 Hey, I’m Brandon Blum. I’m the Founder and Managing Partner at New Edition - a Brooklyn-based creative agency that creates winning creative for emerging consumer brands.

In this weekend’s newsletter, we're looking at a pattern I've noticed across the past week of client and new business calls — the gap between product confidence and marketing clarity.

Everything below are real examples from brands I talked to this week, filtered through the lens of understanding what actually drives awareness and sales for bootstrapped eCommerce companies.

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THERE’S A PATTERN I’M SEEING …

This past week, I spoke to eight different founders—a jewelry designer, beauty brands, a spirits brand, a baby products brand, a CPG drink.

Their products are genuinely good. Their margins are healthy (as far as I know). Their customers love what they've built.

Yet almost every conversation ends the same way: "We don't know what's actually driving revenue."

There's a pattern here. And the answer may surprise you.

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HERE ARE REAL THINGS I HEARD:

💆🏻‍♀️ Beauty founder: "We have 9,000 bottles sold. Less than 5 returns. Everyone loves it."

💍 Jewelry designer: "Couples come back. They tell their friends. We know the product works."

🥃 Spirits brand: "Our margins are solid. We're in a safe place to try things."

These aren't product-market fit issues. These are brands confident in what they sell, but lost on scaling awareness.

TikTok? Influencer? In-person? Paid ads?

So they try everything at once, playing whack-a-mole.

Which makes measurement harder. Which makes decisions slower.

It's an endless loop.

👇 FREE AD CREATIVE TO BRAND OPERATORS WHO READ THIS NEWSLETTER 👇

HERE’S WHAT EVERY BRAND I SPOKE TO WASN’T DOING WELL

Email.

Email kept coming up as the biggest missed opportunity.

A beauty founder told me: “Our Klaviyo flows are still from our original launch. We never updated them when we pivoted.”

The jewelry brand said: “We have an abandoned cart flow, but I don't know if it's driving revenue.”

Another: “We should have a 30-day repurchase reminder, but haven't set it up yet.”

I have yet to meet a brand that DOESN’T need at least these four flows set up and optimized:

• Welcome flow – First impression. Sets tone. Introduces hero product.

• Post-purchase flow – Build loyalty. Upsell. Educate on usage.

• Abandoned cart flow – They know what they want. Remove friction. Convert.

• Abandoned browse flow – They were interested. Show them why they should care.

Email is owned media. You own the list. You know who these people are. Don't treat it like an afterthought.

Paid ads are colder than your email list.

I guarantee there are tweaks you can make to your flows by EOD that'll add revenue overnight.

Past Blog Post: 4 Tips When Building Out Your Welcome Series Email Flow

HERE’S THE OTHER THING I NOTICED…

Across every call, there was one underlying question: What's the story that actually sells this?

Some brands have multiple products. Some just pivoted entirely.

In every case, there was confusion about positioning: Do we lead with the hero product? Show the full lineup? Focus on the bestseller?

The most confident brand wasn't the one with the biggest catalog. It was a brand with one clear hero product.

Here's the thing: The best product narrative often isn't the one you think. It's the story your customers are telling.

The co-founders of this brand with one product would stand outside F45 classes asking people: "Can we refresh your hair?" That's the narrative.

Not "pH-balanced formulation" or "clean beauty." It's: You just crushed your workout. You need a quick win. Here it is.

That's a better hero story than anything in a product description.

IN SUMMARY, IF I WERE YOU:

Here’s what I would do:

• Audit your email flows. Actually look at it. Is it telling a coherent story? Or is it generic and/or outdated? Q1 is a good time to clean this up.

• Pick your hero product. Which one actually converts best? Lead with that in ads, email, and social. Everything else supports it.

• Test one channel, deeply. Instead of testing all of them shallowly. Get data. Make decisions based on said data.

Bootstrapped brands are winning right now because they’re not doing everything. They’re doing a few things really well.

What’s working for your business so far this year? What’s the biggest question keeping you up at night heading into February?

Respond directly or email me ([email protected]); I genuinely read every reply and would love to help you stress-test your strategy.

Until next week ✌️