Unlocking Sustainable Growth on Amazon: A Straight Up Growth Case Study
By Hanna Tekle |
Published on Sep 24, 2025
| 5 min read
It’s not how much you spend, it’s where and how you spend it.
An emerging protein brand partnered with Straight Up Growth to unlock bigger gains on Amazon. They faced challenges with misallocated ad spend and limited new customer reach. We helped them scale efficiently and achieve a 4x increase in Amazon revenue by realigning spend, optimizing for organic ranking, and activating key growth levers.
In this blog, we break down the four strategic moves that led to: a 67% drop in wasted spend, $24M run rate, 624% new-to-brand (NTB) growth, and more game-changing wins.
1. Expand Reach Through New-to-Brand Acquisition
Stop overspending on people who already know you.
One of the biggest hurdles this brand faced was low new-to-brand (NTB) share in a hyper-competitive category. Despite a solid annual $6M run rate, they were overly reliant on branded keywords, spending 24% of their budget on customers who already knew them. This limited exposure to new audiences in a competitive category presented a prime opportunity to expand their customer base.
Our Approach:
We reallocated budget from branded to non-branded keywords, shrinking branded spend to just 10%. This expanded their reach, attracted new customers, and laid the foundation for sustainable growth.
The Results:
✅ New-to-Brand (NTB) customers grew 624% (6.5K to 18K/month)
✅ Built a repeatable acquisition funnel for sustainable growth
2. Strengthen Retention and Subscription Growth
Turning one-time buyers into long-term subscribers.
The brand struggled with inefficient spend:
- 26% of their ad dollars were wasted
- 60% was locked in research campaigns
- Weak organic ranking on key products
- 44% of revenue came from ads, too high to be sustainable
This left little room for repeat purchases or lasting customer relationships, limiting ROI and growth potential.
Our Approach:
We dialed in a keyword strategy focused on exact matches and key category terms. By improving organic rank, we increased visibility and encouraged more trials and repeat purchases, crucial for subscription growth.
The Results:
✅ Wasted spend dropped 67% (26% to 8.6%)
✅ Subscription revenue strengthened through higher repeat purchase rates
✅ More balanced mix of organic vs paid revenue
3. Capitalize on Amazon Tentpole Events
Don’t sit out Prime Day if you want to play at scale.
Amazon’s tentpole events (like Prime Day and Cyber Week) are massive opportunities, but this brand had been skipping them entirely. Zero participation in major Amazon events meant they were missing out on significant revenue spikes and ranking boosts.
Our Approach:
- Used historical data to show the untapped value of events
- Created a tailored event strategy
- Restructured campaigns to focus on converting terms
- Shifted targeting to an exact match for better control and results
The Results:
✅ Achieved a 475% lift in unit sales during their first Amazon tentpole event.
✅ Secured lasting ranking improvements from the event surge
4. Scale with Efficiency Instead of Waste
More ad dollars don’t have to mean more wasted spend.
Most brands fear that scaling ad spend will lead to diminishing returns. This brand needed to grow fast without losing efficiency.
Our Approach:
By combining smart budget reallocation to maximize returns, keyword targeting, and event-based campaigns, we were able to scale monthly ad spend from $65K to $200K, while increasing efficiency and maintaining it.
The Results:
✅ 67% decrease in wasted ad spend (26% to 8.6%)
✅ $24M run rate by August 2025, surpassing the $10M goal with $12M by the end of 2024.
✅ Profitable growth with long-term potential
5. Conclusion
The right playbook transforms Amazon from a plateau into a growth engine.
This protein brand transformed its Amazon trajectory with four strategic shifts: expanding new-to-brand acquisition, strengthening retention and subscriptions, leveraging tentpole events, and scaling spend with efficiency.
The results speak for themselves, from a $6M baseline to a $24M run rate in less than two years. At Straight Up Growth, we’ve proven that with the right strategy, brands can scale profitably and sustainably on Amazon.
Ready to scale like this? Let’s talk. Schedule a free audit today!
Q&A
1. What was the primary issue the protein brand faced on Amazon before partnering with Straight Up Growth?
The brand was facing challenges with misallocated ad spend and limited new customer reach, leading to an over-reliance on branded keywords and inefficient spending.
2. What were the key strategies implemented by Straight Up Growth to improve the brand's performance on Amazon?
Straight Up Growth reallocated budget from branded to non-branded keywords, optimized keyword strategy for better organic ranking and repeat purchases, and capitalized on Amazon tentpole events.
3. What were some of the significant results achieved by the protein brand after implementing Straight Up Growth's strategies?
The brand saw a 624% growth in new-to-brand customers, a 67% drop in wasted ad spend, a 475% lift in unit sales during their first Amazon tentpole event, and achieved a $24M run rate by August 2025.