The top questions from eCommerce owners right now - answered. (hint: are Facebook groups dead = no!) 

These are questions that have come up either in the Brand Growth Membership forum or in our member's office hours calls recently. 

This episode is designed so you can walk away with an answer and an action to take. 

If you have questions you want to chat with us about check out the membership.

Episode Highlights:

• 4:54 What’s the state of business - are we optimistic or pessimistic?
• 9:03 Austin’s thoughts on the impact of Russia/ Ukraine war
• 13:51 Building a community on Facebook: are Facebook groups dead?
• 19:49 Raising capital & how to bring in a partner 
• 23:35 Facebook shops opportunities to increase conversion 
• 26:03 Personalization, quizzes & better lead capture 

Resources:

• Training: How to Build a Quiz Funnel 
• The Brand Growth Membership (Join today to get 7-days for $1)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Quick win: How to use landing pages to optimize for conversions by testing and creating a better experience. 

Key Takeaways:

• Using landing pages to test site design
• Landing pages to improve ad performance

Resources:

• Brand Growth Membership (Join today for $1 for 7-days)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Tips on running and selling a business from an exit entrepreneur who never planned to sell. 

How can you build a business that both you and future you will benefit from? This episode covers the steps to growing a business you can sell.

My guest (and friend) Jared Nations shares his lessons, tips, and learnings from recently selling his business. His story is interesting because his plan had been to keep running the business as a cash flow business and never sell. After a cold offer, he changed his plan and pivoted. 

This episode gives you an inside view to what selling a business looks like and what you can do to prepare your business (even if you’re not planning to sell). 

Episode Highlights:

• 6:36 COVID impacts on business growth 
• 10:52 Getting a cold offer to buy 
• 13:51 The layers of building a deal to sell 
• 15:03 Why you should position your business as a strategic acquisition when selling 
• 17:34 What makes a deal successful 
• 18:58 Running a business for growth 
• 20:44 Learnings from the selling process 
• 25:57 Not having a single point of failure that the owner is involved in 
• 27:47 Building a business for the future you 
• 30:45 Hiring while in an intense growth period 
• 33:26 Creating culture in a remote team 
• 39:04 How many meetings is too many meetings 
• 42:01 Understanding what the people on your team value 
• 46:17 Business models and mistakes when trying to innovate

Resources:

• @nations_jared on Twitter 
• The Brand Growth Membership (Join today to get 7-days for $1)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

When shit hit’s the fan… what do you do? 

Almost exactly 2 years past the first COVID lockdowns in the U.S. Austin and Lily team up to share what exactly has been going on and the impacts it’s had on eComm brands. 

Learn what’s out and no longer working, get some ideas for where you can focus your energy now and how to win in a post-Facebook world. 

Episode Highlights:

• 0:45 What’s been happening in eComm since COVID hit 
• 3:48 Demand for eComm products right now 
• 7:06 Supply chain issues - what’s next? 
• 10:13 The impact of shipping costs going up
• 13:35 Facebook isn’t coming back - is it? (how to win in a post-Facebook world)
• 15:19 How to recession-proof your business 
• 17:49 What’s out and what’s in for eCommerce
• 19:45 Wartime CEO: how to be one 
• 20:48 Radical focus: how to get narrow and drive results 
• 23:27 Opportunities with organic traffic 
• 23:56 SEO quick tips 
• 24:37 What’s the deal with TikTok 
• 26:44 Referal and loyalty programs that people actually use 
• 27:43 Why you should try direct mail 
• 28:01 YouTube has consistently been getting better 
• 28:39 Sell your story, not your product features 
• 31:26 Get our help 

Resources:

• Claim Your Spot in the Profit Summit (April 3-5 in Austin, TX) 
• The Brand Growth Membership (Join today to get 7-days for $)
• Radical Focus By Ravi Gupta
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

In this episode, Austin and Chris Orzechowski discuss a wide range of eComm topics to give you some great food for thought. 

Topics include - traffic strategies by channel, how to hire a copywriter, choosing your mindset towards your business, how to write a story hook over a product hook (and sell more), and rounding out with web3 opportunities and curiosities. 

Sit back and enjoy the ride on this one. 

Episode Highlights:

• 4:11 Chris’s experiment to find traffic channels that work 
• 5:13 Facebook ads right now 
• 7:05 What Chris is doing on YouTube 
• 11:57 What to look for when hiring an in-house copywriter 
• 14:57 Where to hire a copywriter to increase conversion, LTV & engagement
• 18:12 Creating a brief and working as a team from idea to output 
• 21:19 Story based hooks vs product based hooks 
• 24:21 How to tell a story around your product (that’s compelling & sells)
• 29:03 Parenting as an entrepreneur 
• 33:56 A “not participating in recessions” mindset 
• 40:20 The difference between good and great copywriting
• 43:30 Thoughts on crypto and NFT markets
• 48:08 The metaverse and optimizing your real life for the online world 

Resources:

• TheEmailCopywriter.com
• Podcast 317: How to Beat Your Competition with Effective Copywriting and Brand Positioning
• The Brand Growth Membership (Join today to get 7-days for $1)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Key Takeaways:

• TikTok and Instagram platform updates (and opportunities)
• How to get quality content from influencers 
• Creating influencer contracts & how to do it right

Resources:

• Brand Growth Membership (Join today for $1 for 7-days)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

What opportunities are you leaving on the table with Google Shopping? This is a critical mid-funnel channel that will help you convert more customers. 

Eagan Heath is one of the unique people that has experience both owning an eCommerce brand and owning an agency. This episode is about what he's seeing work right now from his access to a lot of different accounts in different industries. 

Eagan is an expert in Google Shopping and Google ads and he shares his strategy.

(If you’re interested in learning more about Google Shopping Eagan is doing a deep dive on this in the membership on March 16th. You can join the membership here for access.) 

Episode Highlights:

• 5:32 Landing pages & opportunities to optimize ads 
• 12:01 Opportunities to improve your customer retention 
• 15:45 Optimal ad spend ratio for retention and acquisition
• 21:10 Channels to focus on outside of Facebook
• 27:24 Using Google’s data to optimize your ad account 
• 29:25 iOS impacts on Google ads 
• 31:04 False beliefs about Google Shopping (and why they’re wrong) 
• 34:26 Potential revenue lifts from Google Shopping 
• 35:53 Products that do best on Google Shopping 
• 38:25 Competing on price or brand 
• 41:27 How to set your pricing 
• 43:44 KPI’s and how to track your performance with loss of data from privacy updates 
• 48:05 The importance of design & having an internal creation funnel 

Resources:

• Price Increase Modeling Calculator 
• Eagan’s Podcast 
• Caravan Digital 
• Podcast 243: How To Improve Your Ecommerce SEO
• The Brand Growth Membership (Join today to get 7-days for $1)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Quick win: How to build a successful loyalty program to improve customer retention and drive higher value repeat purchases.

Key Takeaways:

• What does a good rewards program look like (tools & strategy)
• Offering a discount vs a free item: what provides more value 

Resources:

• Brand Growth Membership (Join today for $1 for 7-days)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Austin and Lily share strategies, actions, and tips that you can take away from launches that they’ve seen crush it. 

Episode Highlights:

• 2:51 The power of product launches: why you should do them
• 4:16 Coordinating with influencers to pour fire on your launch 
• 8:50 Waitlisting your audience before a launch 
• 10:38 Testing your product ideas with SMS 
• 12:41 Using a loyalty program to give early access to your VIPs 
• 17:04 Send more emails than you think you should
• 19:50 Scarcity & planning to sell out 
• 23:07 Critical operational considerations for product launches (that a lot of people miss)
• 24:56 Bringing your customer support team into your launch marketing plans  

Resources:

• Product Launch Idea Thread (members only)
• The Brand Growth Membership
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes