The Ecommerce Influence Podcast

Today, we’re continuing our theme of “things you should do right now to prepare for Q4”.

I’m not going to let you get to the end of October without a plan for the holidays. Not this year. We're going to start early so you can avoid that annual freakout.

In this episode, Andrew and I share the key differences between Facebook and Instagram advertising this year and last year. There are a lot of similarities (creating good offers, creative, etc) but we’ve noticed some big changes and in this episode we’ll help you approach Q4 with your Facebook and Instagram ads the right way. Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

  • 5:17 Here are the big differences between this year and last year when it comes to marketing with Facebook & Instagram.
  • 13:11 Why you should be separating out ad placement and setting up ads that only run on Instagram in Q4.
  • 14:35 How to social proof your ads and why this process is so valuable.
  • 17:45 The changes in how Facebook lets you bid in the auction and the approach you should take during Q4.
  • 21:10 Andrew's 3 phases of Q4 and how you should approach your ad objective through each phase.
  • 24:34 Facebook inventory in the Newsfeed will max out during the holidays. Here are a few other placements you should be considering.

Links and Resources

Become a Member

If you liked this episode, you're going to love the Brand Growth Experts Membership.  It’s a community of top ecommerce business owners and marketers who I coach one-on-one to help scale up their businesses. Together we’ll create a plan that will help you scale up your business, and then I’ll help you execute it.

If you want to make sure you’re growing as quickly and sustainably as possible, click here to learn more. Hope to see you on the inside!

Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. If you’re running an ecommerce business and sending emails to your customers, you should be using Klaviyo. It will help you find out who your best customers are and target them one-to-one to make more money.

I’ve been using Klaviyo since they were just two employees. Now they have a team of 150 and are rolling out new features almost weekly. If you aren’t already a customer, head over to www.ecommerceinfluence.com/klaviyo and you’ll get a free trial + priority on-boarding.

Direct download: EI_164_Flash_Q4_2v2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CDT

I have a fascinating episode for you today. This week, Andrew Foxwell sat down with Jason Moser, a senior analyst for the Motley Fool investment research team. You might be wondering why we are interviewing someone who helps people pick stocks for a living. It turns out, Jason's whole job at the Motley Fool is to research and analyze companies in the e-commerce sector and learn how they are innovating.

This is a big picture episode and they talk about a whole bunch of things. Andrew and Jason get into talking about Wayfair and Amazon. They also talk about the state of ecommerce, Shopify, Facebook, Instagram, and a bunch of other things. I think you'll really like this episode and I look forward to hearing your feedback on it. Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

  • 6:05 How Ecommerce brands are innovating the marketplace.
  • 9:00 The two trends you should be exploring if you're a growing ecommerce brand.
  • 11:27 How creating your own version of Amazon's "Prime Day" can generate revenues greater than Black Friday.
  • 13:52 What Shopify is doing to help their clients grow their brands.
  • 17:20 The 1 thing Dollar Shave Club has done to grow their business and how you can use it to grow yours too.
  • 22:26 What your customers are really looking for (Hint: it's not a discount).
  • 30:00 The future of ad products on social networks and their perceived value for advertisers.
  • 38:56 The one tip you should always follow if you plan to invest in the market.

Links and Resources

Become a Member

If you liked this episode, you're going to love the Brand Growth Experts Membership.  It’s a community of top ecommerce business owners and marketers who I coach one-on-one to help scale up their businesses. Together we’ll create a plan that will help you scale up your business, and then I’ll help you execute it.

If you want to make sure you’re growing as quickly and sustainably as possible, click here to learn more. Hope to see you on the inside!

Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. If you’re running an ecommerce business and sending emails to your customers, you should be using Klaviyo. It will help you find out who your best customers are and target them one-to-one to make more money.

I’ve been using Klaviyo since they were just two employees. Now they have a team of 150 and are rolling out new features almost weekly. If you aren’t already a customer, head over to www.ecommerceinfluence.com/klaviyoand you’ll get a free trial + priority on-boarding.

Direct download: EI_163_Motley_Fool.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CDT

Today’s episode was inspired by a conversation with a colleague about building audiences and stockpiling potential customers for use in Q4.

Last year, he said he put $10,000 into audience and list building for Q4. He expected he would be able to use those audiences but he had no idea when or the return on ad spend he would get.

He believed if he brought people in, told the brand story and got them in his remarketing and email lists, he'd be able to earn back his investment. Off of that $10,000 investment he made almost $150,000 and basically spent all his Q4 ad spend just retargeting those lists. Didn't do any prospecting.

This is important because right now is the time you should be thinking about your Q4 strategy. This is the time when the people who are going to have their most success through the holidays are starting their prep. And that's what this episode is going to be about.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

  • 8:00 How running engagement ads with the intent of being "social" will help you build an audience you can re-target and warm up over time.
  • 11:00 Why lead generation ads are a great way to learn about your customer while building a more qualified audience for Q4.
  • 13:45 How providing value through Messenger ads could lead to a huge with in Q4 this year.
  • 15:17 The importance of using the "view content" objective in a Facebook conversion ad as you ramp up to Q4.
  • 17:00 Why now is the best time to work on dialing in your lead capture and how a quiz funnel may be the way to go.
  • 18:13 The number 1 thing you can do to ensure you have a stellar Q4.
  • 20:40 For those who are managing accounts or reporting results to others, here's how to set the expectation for Q4.
  • 22:16 Not sure where to start for Q4? This is what you should be doing right now.

Links and Resources

Become a Member

If you liked this episode, you're going to love the Brand Growth Experts Membership.  It’s a community of top ecommerce business owners and marketers who I coach one-on-one to help scale up their businesses. Together we’ll create a plan that will help you scale up your business, and then I’ll help you execute it.

If you want to make sure you’re growing as quickly and sustainably as possible, click here to learn more. Hope to see you on the inside!

Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. If you’re running an ecommerce business and sending emails to your customers, you should be using Klaviyo. It will help you find out who your best customers are and target them one-to-one to make more money.

I’ve been using Klaviyo since they were just two employees. Now they have a team of 150 and are rolling out new features almost weekly. If you aren’t already a customer, head over to www.ecommerceinfluence.com/klaviyoand you’ll get a free trial + priority on-boarding.

 

Direct download: EI_162_Flash_Q4.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CDT

Today’s guest has a really cool business. He creates beautiful custom designed maps of National Parks, Mountain Ranges and Hydrology of states. And if you’ve ever been in an REI, you’ve probably seen his work featured in all their stores.

In today’s conversation, we were able to catch up with Jared Prince and learn how his business has changed over the last year.

We brought him on to talk about the sustainable growth he’s built into his business and how he has done it. He shares feedback from 6 months after attending both Intensives Andrew and I hosted in February. He shares what’s been going well, and how he thinks about growing his business after 5 years.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

  • 9:40 What happens when the PR "buzz" wears off and how to turn it around.
  • 13:33 How building an email list and properly segmenting that list has helped grow business for Muir Way.
  • 14:42 The one thing Jared says Facebook and Instagram ads are great at generating for business.
  • 16:10 Launching a new product? Here's how Muir Way just made a big splash with their new release.
  • 18:22 How Jared's role has changed within Muir Way as the business continues to grow.
  • 20:28 How offering a chance to win the "right" prize for subscribing to an email list has improved Muir Way's subscriber quality vs just a discount on purchase for signing up.  
  • 23:51 The two ecomm remarking strategies Muir Way has not implemented and why they were not a fit for the brand.
  • 25:56 How A/B testing of one small copy change led to a 5x difference in ad performance.
  • 28:02 The one thing ecommerce brands should be talking more about when scaling their businesses.

Links and Resources

Become a Member

If you liked this episode, you're going to love the Brand Growth Experts Membership.  It’s a community of top ecommerce business owners and marketers who I coach one-on-one to help scale up their businesses. Together we’ll create a plan that will help you scale up your business, and then I’ll help you execute it.

If you want to make sure you’re growing as quickly and sustainably as possible, click here to learn more. Hope to see you on the inside!

Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. If you’re running an ecommerce business and sending emails to your customers, you should be using Klaviyo. It will help you find out who your best customers are and target them one-to-one to make more money.

I’ve been using Klaviyo since they were just two employees. Now they have a team of 150 and are rolling out new features almost weekly. If you aren’t already a customer, head over to www.ecommerceinfluence.com/klaviyoand you’ll get a free trial + priority on-boarding.

Direct download: EI_161_Jared_Prince.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CDT

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