My TikTok Ads Framework That Generated 300% ROAS for a DTC Brand

"TikTok is for teenagers dancing. Our customers aren't on there."

That's what the founder of a premium supplements brand told me when I first suggested adding TikTok to their advertising mix last year. Six months and $1.2 million in TikTok-generated revenue later, he had a very different perspective.

I get it. Many brands, especially those targeting professionals or older demographics, dismiss TikTok as irrelevant to their business. But that's a costly misconception. TikTok has evolved far beyond its initial perception, with 67% of users now over 25 and engagement rates that dwarf other platforms.

In this post, I'll break down the exact framework I developed for this DTC brand that took them from skeptics to believers – and from a 1.2x ROAS on Facebook to a 3.1x ROAS on TikTok. This approach builds on some of the principles I've discussed in my Meta Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns article, but adapted for TikTok's unique environment.

The Challenge: Breaking Into a New Platform

The supplements brand had a solid digital marketing foundation: successful Google and Facebook campaigns, email flows, and decent organic social. But they were hitting a growth ceiling and facing rising CPMs on Meta platforms.

Their target customer – health-conscious professionals aged 30-55 with disposable income – didn't align with their perception of TikTok users. And they had no internal expertise in creating TikTok-style content.

These challenges are common, but they're based on outdated assumptions. Here's how we overcame them:

Phase 1: Platform-Native Creative Development

The biggest mistake brands make on TikTok is repurposing content from other platforms. TikTok requires a fundamentally different creative approach.

We developed four content pillars specifically for TikTok:

Content Pillar	Format	Example
Myth Busting	Direct-to-camera debunking of supplement myths	"The Vitamin D Myth That's Costing You Results"
Day in the Life	Following customers using products in daily routines	"Morning Routine of a CEO Who Never Gets Sick"
Ingredient Spotlights	Educational content on key supplement ingredients	"This Adaptogen Changed My Energy Levels in 7 Days"
Before & After	Customer transformation stories with product integration	"From Burnout to Thriving: Sarah's 30-Day Journey"

For each pillar, we created multiple variations using different hooks, pacing, and calls to action. The key was making content that felt native to TikTok while still maintaining the brand's professional positioning.

"I was convinced we'd need to make our brand 'younger' or more casual for TikTok. Sam showed us how to maintain our premium positioning while adapting to the platform's style. The content still feels like us – just a more engaging version."

Phase 2: The Testing Framework

With our creative foundation in place, we implemented a systematic testing framework. This is where most TikTok campaigns fail – they don't test methodically enough to identify what actually works. This methodical approach is similar to what I outline in my article on creating effective SOPs - structure and process are key to success.

Our framework had three testing phases:

1. Creative Format Testing – Determining which content pillars resonated best
2. Hook Testing – Identifying the first 3 seconds that drove highest view-through
3. Offer Testing – Testing different promotions and landing page experiences

We allocated $15,000 to this testing phase, with strict performance thresholds for moving creatives to the scaling phase. Only about 20% of our initial concepts made it through all three testing phases – a reminder that data, not intuition, should drive creative decisions.

The winning combination surprised us: the "Ingredient Spotlight" pillar featuring a female doctor explaining adaptogens outperformed everything else by 3x. This contradicted the client's assumption that product-focused content would perform best.

Phase 3: The Scaling Strategy

With winning creative identified, we implemented our scaling framework:

• Audience Expansion – Starting with interest-based targeting, then expanding to broad targeting with demographic filters
• Budget Scaling – Increasing daily budgets by 20% every 48 hours when ROAS remained above threshold
• Creative Refreshment – Introducing new variations of winning concepts every 7-10 days
• Retargeting Layers – Building custom audiences based on engagement and site behavior

The most effective approach was what I call the "Engagement Ladder" – using TikTok's robust engagement targeting to create a funnel that moved users from awareness to consideration to conversion through sequenced content.

The Results: Beyond Our Expectations

Within 90 days, TikTok became the brand's highest-performing acquisition channel:

• 3.1x ROAS – Compared to 1.2x on Facebook during the same period
• 42% lower CPA than other social channels
• 22% higher average order value from TikTok-acquired customers
• $1.2 million in attributable revenue in the first six months

Beyond the direct performance, we saw significant halo effects: a 31% increase in branded search volume and a surge in organic TikTok mentions as customers began creating their own content about the products.

Key Lessons for DTC Brands

If you're considering TikTok for your DTC brand, here are the critical takeaways:

1. Platform perception ≠ reality – TikTok's user demographics have evolved dramatically
2. Native creative is non-negotiable – Repurposed content from other platforms rarely works
3. Systematic testing beats intuition – What you think will work is often wrong
4. Engagement targeting is TikTok's secret weapon – Build funnels based on content interaction
5. Creative refresh cycles are faster – Plan for more frequent content production

The brands that will win on TikTok are those willing to adapt their creative approach while maintaining their core positioning and message. It's not about becoming a different brand – it's about presenting your authentic brand in a format that resonates on the platform.

For more platform-specific strategies, check out my YouTube Ads Masterclass or learn how I reduced CPC by 40% for a SaaS client using a different approach. If you're interested in documenting these strategies for your team, my article on creating effective SOPs provides a practical framework.