JDS Strategists - The Origins
Hello! I am Jack Sweeney, founder of JDS Strategists Ltd. Welcome to the website - I hope you enjoy. Not everyone is interested in an 'origins' story, but for those who are here it is.
I had fairly humble beginnings as an Account Executive back in my late teens, a role that quickly revealed for me a love and aptitude for business strategy. It launched a fairly rapid career formation and progression across 10+ years where I had the pleasure to work with many household brands, culminating in a position as Karcher’s Marketing Director.
Wearing my various different ‘hats’ throughout the years allowed me unique insight and as a result I saw and heard of remarkably similar occurrences happening everywhere. It won’t come as a huge shock to anyone that the first of these was an inefficient, if not completely lacking, collaboration between sales and marketing teams. The second was an absence of both strategic ability and agility to create and implement strategy fully.
And this is where JDS began.
Over the past 2 years we have had the privilege of working with some amazing brands, and along the way it has become increasingly clear that our efforts and focus needed to be on the world of Direct-to-Consumer.
Let me explain why.
Simply put, it is clear this is the area that offers the most attainable, profitable growth.
Throughout our engagements to date however, we have exposed a crucial misunderstanding of what DTC actually involves, and how to do it successfully.
It is often dismissed as ‘just’ setting up an ecommerce website.
Which it is not.
It is often undervalued as ‘just’ a quick, cheap digital marketing tactic.
Which it is not.
And it is often seen as something that you 'just' plug into existing business operations.
Which it definitely is not.
Direct-to-Consumer must be considered as a primary part of your overall business strategy.
It is imperative for brands to take the time to fully explore all the interconnections, before chucking an ecommerce agency a brief and splashing £1,000s on Facebook ads. (Spoiler alert - they will take your money regardless.)
If you fail to do so, you will find yourself on a one way road to underwhelming results, wasted effort and investments, internal chaos and damaged retail relationships.
It must always be strategy first.
And with JDS Strategists, it is.
We empower brands to make the right strategic choices, and supercharge DTC growth.
If you currently sell through retail, we acknowledge risk and encourage caution. However, through careful businesswide planning and considered implementation we'll help you mitigate those risks, ensuring DTC sales are truly incremental, and more profitable.
If you're a pure DTC brand, you're likely too focused on digital marketing and marketplaces. We'll work with you to evaluate the broader sales and marketing spectrum, build a comprehensive growth plan, and implement profitable change.
