Mon, 21 October 2024
Hello, my friends and long-time listeners. I have a new podcast. It’s called The Adventure Capitalist. If you liked Ecommerce Influence, you’re going to love my new show. Every Thursday, my co-host Cody Shirk and I, cover the latest stories in business, investing, and geopolitics that slide under the radar. Our goal is to tell stories that inspire you to think and invest differently in a rapidly changing world. Sometimes we bring investors, entrepreneurs, and other adventurers to join us. I cannot promise that your life will instantly change if you start listening to The Adventure Capitalist. But I can guarantee that you will find it always interesting, always useful, and you’ll go to sleep knowing you’ve got an edge. I’m going to go ahead and play one of the episodes and then you can decide if you want to listen in. Listen to The Adventure Capitalist on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts.
Direct download: 101524-CA-009_Main_AUDIO_ONLY_Update.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:36pm CST |
Wed, 11 October 2023
The return episode is here! I'm back! After an unexpected 10-month break, this is the long-awaited return episode. The truth is, letting the podcast go dormant was never my intention. I had been planning to launch a new episode for months. However, even with the best intentions, it never happened. So what happened? A lot of unexpected things changed in my life. I believe there are times for learning and times for sharing. I have been in a heavy learning phase over the last year. Now is the time for sharing. All is revealed in this all-new episode. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Direct download: The_Ecommerce_Influence_Podcast_edit_v2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:51am CST |
Tue, 20 December 2022
The best of 2022 and how to start planning for 2023. Listen to this episode with a notepad or your phone ready to take voice memos. Jot down a few ideas to bring into your 2023 roadmap and plans. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 13 December 2022
The big wins, what didn’t work, and what to do next. Austin and Lily recap BFCM 2022. As you’re reflecting on your own campaign you can compare how you did and maybe jot down some things to consider for next year too. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 6 December 2022
A couple of months ago Lily started a new role as CMO at an early-stage eComm brand. And it’s been a crazy first 60 days as CMO - she stepped in at the beginning of Q4. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 29 November 2022
384: Get Friendly With Your Finance Report: What Every DTC Owner Needs to Know (but often doesn’t) About Financial Planning
If you’re a marketer who dreads financial planning this episode is for you. Learn how to build a plan that supports your marketing strategies (instead of hindering them) so your business can grow with fewer bumps. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Fri, 18 November 2022
Parenting and being an entrepreneur, Austin share’s what life’s been like in his new role as first-time Dad. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 15 November 2022
382: Reinventing Social Commerce: Putting Personal Connection Back In The Shopping Experience with Live Shopping
How to use video to vastly increase conversion with live shopping. Educate customers, build loyalty and have fun! What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 8 November 2022
Our framework to run your business effortlessly and a sneak peek into the Effortless Growth Operating System we've built to help clients do this. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 1 November 2022
This is a brand that didn’t start with the expectation of selling online. McCullough has a human-first perspective and there’s a lot to learn from him on customer experience and leadership. A conversation about connection and the human experience, two things that are just as important (if not more important) to building and growing your brand as your marketing strategy. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 25 October 2022
One of the biggest challenges eCommerce businesses face is low profit to turn this around you need to turn one purchase into two (into three and so forth!)
Today we’re going to talk about how to drive repeat customers so that you can be more profitable and have more cash to fuel back into your business.
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Tue, 18 October 2022
Build a better brand by staying focused and paying attention to the opportunities, and eliminate shiny object syndrome. The truth is more does not equal better. Max Rast is the founder of Klar, a data tracking and reporting software. Max built this software after his experience as a CMO at a fast-growing food and beverage DTC. He was obsessed with spreadsheets and trying to build a clear picture, without getting bogged down in all the tiny details of attribution and the millions of data points available to eComm marketers. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 11 October 2022
A framework to get clear on your acquisition strategy and drive predictable revenue so you can grow your business. Predictable revenue is one of the pillars of the 7 Figure Founder program with Austin. A lot of early-stage eComm owners look to what they see other brands do but the truth is if you double down on just one channel you’ll be able to stabilize your business and hit 7 figures. This is how we think about this “one channel” strategy and some of the ways we help clients implement this. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 4 October 2022
How eCommerce brands can provide a customer experience that mimics the best parts of in-store shopping to bridge the gap between retail and DTC. Building relationships is easier in person, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t delight customers with a personalized shopping experience in your online store. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 27 September 2022
How to build a brand-focused website that will increase conversion with brand first CRO. Brand building and storytelling are hot topics in eComm right now. Between the changes in privacy making it harder to scale by simply running well-targeted ads to consumers expecting more transparency - being able to relate to the people who land on your site is more important than ever. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 20 September 2022
How do you manage and motivate a team? Today we’re going to share strategies for small teams. If you have a mix of in-house employees and a few contractors or if you’re going to be making your first hires soon this episode will help you lay the foundation to have success as you grow your team. If you’ve already built a team and you’re looking for fresh ways to motivate and manage there’s some insight for you here too. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 13 September 2022
How do you grow a DTC brand in today’s climate? Here are some of the customer acquisition strategies being used by a top brand growth manager right now. Michael Grasewicz started at Taylor Stitch and has played an integral role in the fast growth stage of several DTC brands. This is what he’s learned along the way. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 6 September 2022
What started with an idea to heal her own health issues became a conversation with other women and turned into a big experiment that lead to a successful business. This episode is about how Monica Grohne, the founder of Marea, went about scaling a DTC business. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 30 August 2022
In this Greatest Hits episode, Perfect Keto's Co-Founder, Dr. Anthony Gustin, talks about how Perfect Keto started off as a side project and then experienced massive growth -- making $100MM in just 19 months.Dr. Anthony Gustin cofounded Perfect Keto as a side project in November of 2016. He had one goal in mind: making keto easy. Within 4 hours of launching, the company made $20,000 and took off like a rocketship since. Little did he know, the creation of Perfect Keto was at the rise of one of the largest diet crazes of the past 50 years. Anthony joins us to talk about Perfect Keto's growth, his business beliefs, and why he thinks going into retail is the last resort. We also discuss his experience of burnout and how entrepreneurs can best avoid it. Enjoy! Episode Highlights
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Tue, 23 August 2022
In this Greatest Hits episode, we revisit a conversation about building a large, successful business with close to $40 million in revenue without using any paid social.Our guest, Nate Lipton of GrowersHouse, shows us how it can be done. And, in addition to not using paid ads, he’s been able to get his customer acquisition costs to zero. Nate shares the different approach to marketing that has helped him build several incredibly successful companies in the cannabis and hemp industries. He talks about exactly how you can use YouTube to establish yourself as a trusted brand and drive ad-free sales. If you’re looking for some refreshing ideas for how you can drive more revenue, this is a great episode to jog your imagination about what’s possible. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 16 August 2022
In this Greatest Hits episode, we're revisiting a conversation Traeger Grillswith's Director of Acquisition who talks about how holistic marketing can unify your brand across all marketing channels and make it stand out from the competition.Jesse Semchuck joins us to share how a holistic growth strategy has contributed to Traeger's success. He outlines the makeup of his marketing team, how internal teams and third-party agencies interact, and how a holistic growth approach can create more synergy across all marketing initiatives and the organization. Tune in and find out if holistic marketing is something you should use in your business. Enjoy! Episode Highlights
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Tue, 9 August 2022
In this Greatest Hits episode we're revisiting a conversation with John Warrillow about harvesting the value of your company and building to sell.John Warrillow is the founder of The Value Builder System, a Top 10 Forbes Ranked Podcast host, and author of Built to Sell, a best-selling book that’s helped over 50,000 businesses build more valuable companies. Throughout his career, he's founded and exited four companies and now dedicates his time to helping entrepreneurs sell their own for higher multiples. Listen now for John’s most valuable advice on the secret to a successful exit, key pillars for being built to sell, how to create more value in your business, and the biggest mistakes he sees entrepreneurs make when trying to do this on their own. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 2 August 2022
Today we have a secret weapon for you that will help you write copy that converts, reach your best audience, and build brand fans for life.If you’ve googled “better conversion copy” or “how to find my niche” recently this episode is for you. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Fri, 29 July 2022
Quick win: How to align life and work with the path that you want to be on through regular check-ins and personal reflection. |
Tue, 26 July 2022
A family butchery started in 1920’s LA became a beef jerky dynasty when they started selling online. Here’s the story of their journey from brick and mortar to eComm. Brian Bianchetti’s founder story is unique. He started working with us to help transition his 4th generation family brand to an online DTC store. This is his story of how they found success and grew to hit 7 figures. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 19 July 2022
Austin and Lily revisit their 2022 eComm wins and learnings and opportunities and share what should remain in focus and what should be top of mind for the second half of the year. 2022 has been been a wild ride thus far for everyone, and BGE is no exception. Austin welcomed his first child, BGE has restructured and added a new program, and there are a ton of moving parts in DTC, the economy, and the world already this year. Austin & Lily revisit their February predictions and share their updated opportunities & challenges for the remainder of 2022. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Fri, 15 July 2022
Quick win: A lesson from the big brands - you grow faster and smarter when you have focused simplicity. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 12 July 2022
What really is the relationship between site speed and conversion rate? How important is UX when it comes to running a fast eComm site? Learn how to run a fast site and where to focus on optimizing your user experience from a UX expert. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Tue, 5 July 2022
The best practices for email to help you prep your email list and collect customer info to drive more sales and make your holiday campaigns easier. Whether you plan to run holiday campaigns or not this year this episode will help you improve your email marketing with some quick tips and long-term strategies you can start using today. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Fri, 1 July 2022
Quick win: Austin shares the pros and cons of the EOS method outlined in the book Traction and his tips on how to apply this business process to your eCommerce company. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 28 June 2022
An active media buyer shares the nuances of the “new” Facebook platform and some paid social wins right now. If you are struggling with your ad performance right now or if you’re trying to learn more about Facebook advertising and how the platform works you will learn a lot here. We all know what a nightmare ad performance has been in the last 12 months so this episode is to give insight into how some eComm brands are managing their ads accounts right now and give you some tips and ideas to improve your own performance.
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Fri, 24 June 2022
Quick win: customer satisfaction can be a gold mine for marketing. You can build brand virality through word of mouth. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 21 June 2022
It’s time to reflect and refocus. Our tips to make sure you’re on track to have a winning Q3 and Q4 this year. The first half of this episode focuses on how to get organized and reflect on the first half of the year. The second half of this episode will give you some high level areas to focus on in Q3 and what to look ahead to for Q4. You’ll leave with a checklist that you can run through in your own business to ensure you’re focused on the things that will scale your business and keep you on track to hit your revenue goals. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Fri, 17 June 2022
QW: Follow the Money - Optimize The Email Flows that Drive the Most Revenue (and don’t waste time on the others)
Quick win: how to prioritize email flows that drive the most revenue, and not waste time on one's that won't. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 14 June 2022
Understanding human behavior will bring you more customers and increase your conversion rate. It’s the psychology of UX design for eCommerce. Psychologist and expert UX designer Alina Prelicz-Zawadzka gives an insider view into why we do what we do, and how you can use that to improve your website. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Fri, 10 June 2022
Quick win: Austin Brawner's #1 piece of advice for eComm owners actively trying to scale their business up to 7 figures: get perspective Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 7 June 2022
Answers to the question every eComm owner asks themselves at some point - should we hire an internal team or hire an agency to do that? This is a question we see over and over from clients and one Austin and Lily have both dealt with personally before too. If you’re trying to figure out what to do - here are some answers What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Fri, 3 June 2022
Quick win: an accountability chart makes it easier to identify the role you need to hire for BEFORE you overwork your team or yourself. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 31 May 2022
Tips on how to grow and market your eCommerce brand and hit that 7-figure goal both from a creative and operational direction. Srdjan (Serge) Popovic is the CMO of Crossrope, a fitness jump rope company. He met the CEO and partnered with Crossrope as an early influencer in the fitness jump rope space. He then left his career in mechanical engineering in 2015 to join the team as employee #3. If you’re interested in content creation and UGC to grow your business, you will get a lot out of this episode. Also, Serge has an awesome hiring theory he shares and he talks explicitly about hiring for marketing roles. What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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Fri, 27 May 2022
Quick win: how to build a formula for creative churn that consistently turns out winning content for your eCommerce brand.
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Tue, 24 May 2022
A case study on Posh Shoppe and their 90 day growth goals to find success on TikTok, hire a Brand Director and deliver 1 million compliments. Posh Shoppe owner, John Chen, was struggling to continue the growth of his business after the iOS updates killed his acquisition on Facebook. He attended an event with Brand Growth Experts to help him get clear and figure out what to do next. This episode is his story, why he came to us and the goals he has for the next 90 days. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 20 May 2022
Quick win: how to use subscriptions to raise the floor and increase LTV and improve customer retention. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 17 May 2022
Ideas for customer support strategies that are NOT scalable to provide a truly unique and special experience for some of your customers.
This episode is for people who want to go above and beyond for their customers. Why? Because your customer won’t remember that your site was easy to navigate. The things that make a brand stand out and memorable are the experiences - these are the things that people share with their friends & this is what keeps people coming back. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 13 May 2022
Quick win: building a crystal clear vision to be the single guiding light to drive growth in your business. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 10 May 2022
Stop only sending discount emails! Implement these 3 email campaign ideas to drive full-price sales in your business. Austin and Lily share some email designs they’re digging right now to serve as creative inspiration for you. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 6 May 2022
Quick win: Tried and tested email flows to drive more revenue without reinventing the wheel. Grab our Email Map to start driving more revenue with email today Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 3 May 2022
Want to drive more sales, lower your ad costs and make your buyers into loyal customers? Run a community-building challenge for your eCommerce business.
This is a packed episode with tons of tactical ideas to grow your business using a 60-day challenge model. Alicia Reynoso grew her business to 8-figures before selling using this strategy and she’s sharing everything…
If you want to go deeper and get Alicia’s help building a challenge in your own business check out her training in the members. (Not a member? Join here) Episode Highlights:
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Category:general
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Fri, 29 April 2022
Quick win: How to use VA's to fuel the growth of your business & get more time back by having someone to delegate to. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 26 April 2022
How to get from here to there. Setting goals and systems to scale a profitable business. A re-cap of our Profit Summit event. We wanted to record an episode coming out of the Profit Summit because there were some big themes that came up. Each attendee was very different in terms of product, team structure and revenue but they all showed up with pretty much the same question - “how do I get from here to there” everyone had a future goal without a clear path on how to get there. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 22 April 2022
Quick win: How to maximize your time and grow your business without giving up all your time. Prioritizing and delegating tasks to get more done. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 19 April 2022
Sick of expensive acquisition costs? This is how to grow a brand with organic TikTok (read: no ad spend). This episode features the founder of a hemp cigarette company. And guess what - he can’t advertise on Facebook or Google due to the nature of the product. So, he had to get super creative to figure out how to acquire customers and get in front of people. After several failed attempts he found massive success with organic TikTok. He did $500k in revenue in year 1 with no paid ad spend, and no employees while working full time at his agency. All because of their viral TikTok videos. This is also an interesting vantage point because the brand made its own videos (and he was the one making them). So it’s a little different than the other TikTok success stories with influencer marketing out there right now. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 15 April 2022
Quick win: How to respect your time, your team's time & be a more effective and efficient company. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 12 April 2022
With paid traffic costs continuing to go up PR is a great place to find long-term value in traffic and social proof. Learn how to get press for your eCommerce business.
Nora Wolf is a PR expert and specializes in getting brands tons of press. She takes a modern approach to PR and uses a mix of media strategies including a unique take on influencers as press. She shares her tips and tools on how to get media for your eCommerce business. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 8 April 2022
QW: Be a Conscious Leader Pt 2. Radical Responsibility: Why You Shouldn’t Blame the Agency, Facebook, or Your Employees...
Quick win: When things are going wrong in your business how can you take radical responsibility, shift perspective and ultimately solve the problem. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 5 April 2022
How to grow a bootstrapped brand from nothing to 8 figures by thinking outside the box to drive organic traffic with influencers and TikTok acquisition. Jason Wong started his first eCommerce business when he was just 15 years old. Since then he’s become one of the top marketers and entrepreneurs in the space. He’s built a framework to build bootstrapped brands up to 8 figures using organic TikTok and influencer content. He was one of the first to see TikTok as an opportunity. As a forward thinker, he has a lot of ideas on what the future of eCommerce looks like and where the opportunities for growth are. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 1 April 2022
Quick win: How to get clear on your vision for your business and life.
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Tue, 29 March 2022
349: Q&A: The State of Ecommerce, Are Facebook Groups Dead?, How to Raise Capital (Without Getting Screwed)
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:
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Fri, 25 March 2022
Quick win: How to use landing pages to optimize for conversions by testing and creating a better experience. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 22 March 2022
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:
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Fri, 18 March 2022
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:
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Tue, 15 March 2022
If you can’t write, you can’t sell (unless you hire a copywriter). How to increase conversion, LTV & engagement with better copy.
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:
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Fri, 11 March 2022
Quick win: How you can have success with influencers for content creation to drive more engagement, better ad creative, and increase organic traffic.
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Tue, 8 March 2022
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:
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Fri, 4 March 2022
Quick win: How to build a successful loyalty program to improve customer retention and drive higher value repeat purchases. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 1 March 2022
Product launches can be a rocket ship to your sales or a sinking vessel pulling you underwater. Here are 6 different ways to make your next product launch your best ever.
Austin and Lily share strategies, actions, and tips that you can take away from launches that they’ve seen crush it. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 25 February 2022
Quick win: How to train, optimize and manage a remote team. Plus, tips in building company culture and why it should be an integral part of your onboarding process. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 22 February 2022
Breathwork is a superpower for dealing with stress, lack of clarity and overwhelm. If you’re overwhelmed learning to work with your breath and meditation is how to stop entrepreneurial burnout. This episode will put a tool for your toolkit to help you get through the challenges that come from running your business (and life) and help you thrive in fulfilling your dreams and best life. Carson Finkle is the CEO of Tenth Street Hats, a DTC hat business. He also has a new business called Create Meditation. His deep dive into the meditation space came from his own challenges with overwhelm and burnout in his eComm business. We do a bit of meditation towards the end, so I highly encourage taking some time for this. Episode Highlights:
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@BrandGrowthX on Twitter |
Fri, 18 February 2022
Quick win: a streamlined process that will teach you how to hire your dream team while saving yourself time and headache. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 15 February 2022
Last year was a wild ride - and one of the hardest years for eCommerce ever.
What do the opportunities and hurdles for eComm businesses look like this year? Austin and Lily share what they’re excited about and where they suggest focusing your efforts right now. Episode Highlights:
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Direct download: EI_343_Shane_Cixeros_conflicted_copy_2022-02-03.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CST |
Fri, 11 February 2022
Quick win: how to optimize your email marketing to make it work harder for you (without working harder yourself). Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 8 February 2022
Make more money, work less, and be prepared for a black swan event when you offset the risk of business by investing smartly. Taylor Pearson is the founder of Mutiny Fund, where he helps investors maximize the long-term growth of their portfolios. In this episode, he shares how he thinks about investing and diversifying as a business owner. We talk about how to think about diversifying your portfolio to offset the risk you've taken by going all-in on a business You’ll learn what talk risk means, how to better preserve wealth and what to think about investing right now when it seems like the whole world is going crazy. This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and listeners are reminded that managed futures and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. Visit mutinyfund.com/disclaimer for more information. Episode Highlights:
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Fri, 4 February 2022
Quick win: where to unlock hidden revenue in your email marketing. Key Takeaways:
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Tue, 1 February 2022
If you want to be successful you need to focus on selling your business, not selling your product. (Even if you’re not planning on selling) This is an episode about the system that we use to run our business called the Effortless Growth Operating System (EGOS). It’s a 6-step system that we share with members of the Brand Growth Membership and help people implement directly in their own business in the Brand Growth Accelerator. Today - Austin and Lily team up to give you a look into how it works and Austin shares his own experience with poor management and burnout that led to the creation of the Effortless Growth Operating System. What you’ll learn in this episode:
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Tue, 25 January 2022
340: Experiences From a Fast-Growing Brand + a Case for Keeping Marketing and Customer Support Teams Close
Facebook is smarter than you, and your customers are better marketers. (Learnings from working at a fast-growing brand.) Today’s guest is our own Brand Growth Experts Marketing Manager, Lily Ackerly. We’re talking about Lily’s journey being one of the first employees at a fast-growing brand and what she’s learned from really teaching herself the ropes in eCommerce. Lily also has a lot of experience in customer support - and we’re going to give you some reasons why you should keep your marketing and customer support teams close and engaged with each other. You’re going to be hearing more from Lily on the podcast so this is your first opportunity to “meet” her and hear some of her ideas. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 18 January 2022
How do you sell a product that no one understands until they try it? With smart marketing, positioning, packaging, and a solid mix of DTC to big box sales. John Pinto founder of BoomBoom Naturals (all-natural nasal sticks) and he's been a friend of mine for over 10 years, we met and got our start together working at our first job out of college. In this episode, we talk about John’s journey with BoomBoom, what he’s learned in DTC and acquiring over 500,000 customers through Facebook and online marketing, and his recent (and very successful) shift from DTC to big box stores. We also talked about life balance, being an entrepreneur with kids and what that looks like. John's one of the most balanced people that I know and he shares some of his ideas and hacks around how he's been able to keep that going while building a large and fast-growing company. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 11 January 2022
Get out from under never-ending to-do lists, delegate and build a business with happier employees, customers, and profit. Cameron Herold was the CEO of 1-800-Junk, which he grew from 2 million to well over 100 million. He now has a company called the CEO Alliance where he helps second in command up their game and be more successful. He's also the author of 5 books, including Vivid Vision, which lays the foundation for building a vivid vision in 3-year segments for your business and life. There’s a ton of insight to gain from Cameron and we discuss getting clear on your priorities, traveling while running a business, having kids and still being an entrepreneur, and strategy for how to delegate, manage, hire and train your team. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 4 January 2022
It’s been a wild wave in ecommerce when we look at where the industry started to where the opportunities are today. My guest today reflects on what's he's learned at 15 years in ecommerce and what's coming in ecommerce in 2022.Drew Sanocki was the CEO of the eCommerce brand AutoAnything, the founder of the blog nerdmarketing.com and the owner of the Shopify direct marketing app PostPilot. He has his hands in a lot of key areas in eCommerce and has been in the game for about 15 years. In this episode, Drew shares his well-rounded journey from buying out, being the CEO, and acquiring a bunch of companies. We talk about what it's like to run a $100 million retailer and what it’s like to run a small brand and scale up to 7-figures. This episode has a ton of information on what’s been working in eComm, where things have started to shift and we end with where we think this wild ride is going for eCommerce in 2022. Episode Highlights
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Tue, 28 December 2021
“Where did the SEO hide the dead body? On page two of Google.” Yes - SEO in 2022 will still play a huge role in eComm success. With ad costs going up it’s a great time to learn how to drive quality organic traffic with smart SEO tactics. John Murphy is the CEO of Ebike Generation and an eCommerce SEO expert. In this episode, we talk about John’s journey, and how he went from being an executive at GE to starting his own eCommerce company. John’s eComm success has largely come from SEO after he was banned from Google Ads and Facebook ads in the early days of his business. He shares his tips on how he drives $2 million a year from just SEO and what SEO in 2022 will look like (yes - free traffic still exists). Note: John is offering his course How I Generate $2M+ Per Year in Sales from Organic Traffic in the membership in March. If you’re a member you can register here. Or if you’d like to join to take the course you can find more information here. Episode Highlights:
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Direct download: 33620-20John20Murphy_Updated20Midroll.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CST |
Tue, 21 December 2021
The path to massive success is often through failure. This episode's guest went from Forbes 30 under 30 to bankruptcy in the same year and reflects on lessons learned.Josh Durham co-founded Weighted Comforts, one of the first weighted blanket brands, with his mom in 2015. They took off like a rocket, hitting 8-figures in 4 years. But - they hit some snags, the market shifted and at age 24 Josh went from almost $10 million in sales to bankruptcy in a period of less than a year. In this episode, he goes through what it was like to grow, how they did it, and then what it was like when it all unraveled. Josh is very transparent in his experience of where and how things went wrong in a way you’re not going to hear in many places. There’s a lot to learn here. Josh has gone on to have success with another brand and now his own agency, Aligned Growth, and he shares a bunch of learnings from having worked with a lot of different brands now. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 14 December 2021
“Systems run your business, people run your systems.” Learn how to grow your business and unlock hidden profit using virtual assistants. Barbara Turley is the founder of The Virtual Hub, an agency that pairs businesses with virtual assistants, and she's an expert at delegation. Barbara has paired over 500 virtual assistants with companies and her team is over 240+ in the Philippines. In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on how it's worked for her, and how it might work for you in your own business. This episode is very helpful if you are building a remote company, are thinking about using virtual assistants, or have tried and failed to use VA’s in the past. Episode Highlights:
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Thu, 9 December 2021
This Is A Special Episode – The Recording Of A Live 'Ask Me Anything' With Joe Valley On How To Sell Your Online Business, Recently Offered Inside The Brand Growth Membership. Joe is the author of The EXITPreneur's Playbook. He's a buyer and seller of many online businesses and the president of Quiet Light Brokerage. He’s an expert on how to sell for max profit. If you listened to my earlier episode with Joe this AMA session takes those concepts and goes deeper, which is what we do in the Membership. The podcast is just a glimpse into what we cover in the Brand Growth Membership. We’re giving you a sneak peek inside the Brand Growth Membership with access to this Ask Me Anything session because we just launched a brand new version of our membership and it’s KILLER - check it out here. I hope you enjoy this session and if you want to check out more of the Ask Me Anything sessions and trainings we have in the membership... we’re offering a 21 day trial for just $1. Go here to sign up. (only available until Dec 12, 2021) Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 7 December 2021
Launching a first-of-its-kind product comes with challenges, but Pela has always been a creative first-mover. They’ve had massive success and fun educating consumers and keeping their mission to combat climate change positive. This episode’s guest is Pela CEO Matthew Bertulli. Pela makes compostable phone cases and they just launched a new product called Lomi that went viral on Kickstarter. Matt and his team at Pela are forward thinkers and Matt share’s how that’s led them to success, what it was like to go from bootstrapped to venture-backed, as well as what he’s excited about for the future of eCommerce and environmental products. This is an excellent episode with somebody who is in the arena building things and very passionate about his work. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 30 November 2021
We’re looking out to the (near) future at some very creative opportunities for eCommerce in NFTs. These ideas could help circumvent some of the margin pressure and economic challenges brands are facing today. This episode features Taylor Holiday, the founder of Common Thread Collective. Before running an eCommerce agency he had his own D2C brand so he brings a ton of knowledge from being on both the brand and the agency side of eComm business. Taylor is an NFT enthusiast and has some brilliant ideas about NFTs and their place in the changing sphere of eCommerce. In this fascinating conversation, you’ll learn a ton about NFTs -- what they are and how you might be able to use them to combat margin pressure in your eCommerce brand. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 23 November 2021
331: Where Are Your Customers Really Coming From? Using Post-Purchase Surveys to Reveal True Attribution
Was Facebook ever really performing as well as we thought - or was our attribution model just wrong? A post-purchase survey will tell you where people are actually hearing about your brand. If you're spending money on Facebook you know it's incredibly hard to figure out where your customers are coming from. Matt Bahr, CEO of Enquire Labs, has a way to help you better track attribution with a post-purchase survey. I stumbled across Enquire a couple of years ago and thought they were super interesting because their simple survey really helped us figure out what was effective marketing and what was not. In this episode, we talk all about what they're doing and how they’ve helped brands figure out attribution in the midst of the chaos of iOS changes. It's an excellent episode and you’ll get a lot of interesting tips for running successful marketing. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 16 November 2021
Cryptocurrency is the financial system of the future. Ready or not it’s coming and as an eCommerce founder, there are opportunities you could be taking advantage of now. This episode is part of a series on cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFI). My guest, Nat Eliason, has been a guest before as an SEO expert but in the last year he’s made a trajectory shift and moved into the space of web3, and specifically DeFi. Nat talks about why he made the shift, what he’s so excited about and why, as a business owner, you should care. We go into the basics of DeFi and how people are getting hedge fund style returns. If you know nothing about cryptocurrency, this episode is for you - Nat has some simple ways you can start earning money today. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 9 November 2021
You might be surprised how lessons learned from over a decade on a SWAT team apply to building a highly successful lifestyle brand. Todd Lamb, CEO of PureLife Organics, was a police officer for 17 years, as a SWAT team leader and then canine officer. When his wife started having health issues he turned to natural remedies and found an incredibly successful protocol that helped her heal. He wanted to share this protocol with others and thus, Pure Life Organics was born. Today, the business Todd built from the ground up is well on it’s way to 9-figures. In this episode - Todd shares his wisdom about paid traffic and expertise in creating offers. He talks about how his team systematically worked to make native ads work and how they're testing at a budget of $10k to $15k a week to get results. There are some great nuggets here about native ads, copywriting, and creative strategizing. Enjoy! Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 2 November 2021
Would you quit your day job and move to Miami to sell your new product while playing on the beach? Sounds like a dream and this founder made it a reality, with a lot of hard work, motivation and talent. This episode’s guest is Chris Meade, the founder of Crossnet, one of the fastest-growing games in the US. Chris has been on an incredible journey from quitting his job at Uber to moving to Miami to sell his dream game on the beaches. Crossnet has grown incredibly fast due to an organic viral video and word-of-mouth marketing with live events and influencers. In just a few years they’ve gone from selling 2-5 nets a month to an 8-figure business. Crossnet started as DTC and has expanded into big-box retail and Chris shares some of the opportunities and challenges that came with that shift. This is a great founder's story and an inspiration if you have a product idea. I hope you enjoy it! Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 26 October 2021
How is your pop-up game? Email capture strategies to increase conversion are one of the single most important things you can do to grow your eCommerce business and if you’re using the same old “discount for email” strategy you’re missing out on potential customers. This is a tactical episode with how-to steps you can use to improve your email capture strategies to increase conversion right now. John Ozuysal is the Head of Growth at Optimonk, a platform where you can create unique, interesting pop-ups and overlays to drive more sales and capture more emails. As we all have holiday marketing top of mind, I thought it would be a great time to bring John in to share what they’re seeing success with right now and provide some inspiration as you determine how to integrate pop-ups and overlays into your Q4 strategy. One of the things that they've been experimenting with is conversational pop-ups and John shares how they tripled signups and boosted revenue by 25% using this method. We also cover customer value optimization and opportunities to learn more about buying behavior with qualitative pop-ups. If you're interested in quick, easy tweaks to your website that will make you more money… this episode is for you. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 19 October 2021
If you hate what you’re doing - can you stop doing it? How can you stay engaged and keep your business ventures fun? Plus, using video sales letters for viral launches. Andrew Drish is a good friend and we have spent countless hours talking about business, life, and relationships. So - I'm excited to bring him on the show and share one of these conversations with you. Andrew was behind The Foundation, which was a very successful accelerator for developers building software companies. In this episode he shares the story of how he pulled off its 7-figure launch, completely automated, with a video sales letter that went viral. From there - Andrew shares the story of how he completely burnt out and then came back to entrepreneurship with a whole new approach. Over the years, Andrew has extensively studied top-performing video ads (Purple Mattress, Squatty Potty, etc) and he shares his winning formula that you can apply directly to your own video creative (hint: it’s more about the script than the visuals). This is a great interview - Andrew has a ton of insight on life and business and I’m always inspired after talking to him. I hope you are too. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 12 October 2021
We’ve all been saying it - the world is crazy right now. So - I’m sharing what’s top of mind for me going into Q4 and 2022 including the very real energy crisis in China, opportunities to make 6+ figures flipping NFTs, and what the heck to do with paid social in Q4. This episode is a solo cast. I wanted to check in and talk about what's been on my mind as we prepare for Q4 and ultimately start to make our 2022 business plans. I’m thinking about how to optimize Facebook and Instagram for Q4 (after a crazy year). I’ve been doing daily journaling and it’s given me a great perspective on where I’m at in my business and life. I’m also talking about how the energy crisis in China will likely impact business and why you should be paying attention now. Plus, I’ll share some new exciting things to come on the podcast with an NFT series. I'd love to hear from you on Twitter. What are you thinking about? What's exciting to you right now? Let me know what you’d like to hear more about on the podcast. I hope you enjoy this solo episode - I always enjoy talking with you. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 5 October 2021
What could you do to make your website better, your ads stronger, and ultimately increase sales? Try one of these expert tips from an agency owner who’s interviewed over 150 eCommerce founders and marketers. Chase Clymer is the host of the Honest Ecommerce podcast and also co-founder of the Electric Eye Agency. In this episode, we’re talking about mistakes that eCommerce owners make with their website and advertising and how to make simple improvements to avoid them. Chase and I also discuss ideas for Black Friday/Cyber Monday marketing, user testing your website, and how to actually run A/B tests. Lastly, Chase shares his Brand Scaling Framework philosophy and the 3 KPI’s he bases everything on. This is a great practical episode with expert tips and takeaways to implement today. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 28 September 2021
The pandemic forced many owners to shift from brick and mortar to eCommerce. Some succeeded, and some did not. Today’s guest was one of the successful -- she doubled her brick and mortar business revenue in 2020 by implementing Shopify, Klaviyo, and a seamless in-store and online rewards program. Mandy Buterra began her journey as an entrepreneur at age 50 when she started Wren and Wild a brick and mortar business featuring clean beauty and aerial yoga, in Bend, Oregon. Her business evolved and she was building a good customer base, then COVID hit. Instead of panicking, Mandy taught herself eCommerce and joined our Coalition membership. Listen to this episode to learn how she’s now hitting sales highs and doubled her revenue in the last year by transitioning her brick and mortar to eCommerce. If you’re in the transition or considering turning your brick and mortar into an online store this episode is filled with good tips about how to integrate the two business models. If you’re already running an eCommerce business Mandy also has tons of tips around how to build a rewards program and smart email marketing to build customer loyalty. This is a well-rounded conversation and I know you’ll walk away with at least one tip to implement in your business. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 21 September 2021
Are you building to sell? You should be. Even if selling isn’t your main priority it will make you a better business owner and it will make the value of your business higher. This episode has the details of how to do it. Joe Valley is the author of The Exitpreneur’s Playbook and a buyer and seller of many online businesses, both on his own and now as a broker with Quietlight.com. Joe’s book is designed to help you get maximum value for your online business and in this episode we go deep into his vast knowledge of building to sell. He answers a ton of questions you should be asking when you’re thinking about selling your business, what multiples to look at for eCommerce, plus he shares mistakes you might be making now and how to prevent those BEFORE you’re getting ready to sell. It's an excellent interview and Joe is truly an expert in building to sell. If you’re ever going to want to sell your business or have thought about buying a business in the future you’re going to get a ton of value in this episode. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 14 September 2021
Building a business is filled with amazing highs and big lows. Despite some tough blows in the early days, one eCommerce founder kept his commitment to his personal health and family and found success on the other side.Jay Campbell is the owner of Aseir Custom, and in this episode he shares his wild journey of building a business. We go deep into what he's learned through major manufacturing issues and how he managed customer experience after that. We discuss how he unlocked massive growth working with influencers. We also talk about Jay’s commitments to his family and personal health and how for the last 5 years he has taken a trip with his wife every 8 weeks. Aseir Custom went from about $16k / month in sales in February 2021 to hitting $250k in August 2021. The journey has been anything but linear and there’s a lot to learn from this story. Jay has a great mindset and he shares the raw truth of his experience going through incredibly challenging times while seeing rapid growth in the business simultaneously. If you are an operator in the weeds, building a business, or experiencing rapid growth you will get a lot out of this discussion. Episode Highlights
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Tue, 7 September 2021
Is TikTok the new frontier for social advertising? How to get reliable Facebook ad performance data post iOS 14? These are some of the questions The Social Savannah is answering for us today.This episode features Savannah Sanchez a media buyer and owner of The Social Savannah. Savannah started her advertising career at large agencies working on Facebook ad accounts. In 2019 she left to create her own boutique agency helping eCommerce brands with their paid social advertising. She is a prolific creator of ads and creative as well as an optimization expert. She has cracked the code of TikTok ads and continues to be a top creator of winning Facebook creative. In this episode Savannah and I discuss how to get started with TikTok ads, the key metrics to be tracking on Facebook post iOS 14, how creative strategies should vary between social channels, and some of the tools Savannah uses to track metrics across channels. Savannah also shares her vast knowledge working with TikTok influencers and what you can do to see success there. If you are running a brand or doing digital marketing, you're gonna get a lot out of this episode! Plus: if you’re a member of the Coalition check out Savannah's recent training: Demystifying TikTok. Episode Highlights
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Tue, 31 August 2021
In this Greatest Hits episode we're revisiting a conversation about market disruption and big goals. JT Marino shares the story of his dream to build a company that would disrupt the mattress industry.JT Marino was the co-founder of Tuft & Needle, and this is his story of bootstrapping his way from nothing to the largest online mattress retailer in the world. JT, who is now the Chief Strategy Officer for SSB Phoenix, joins us to share his incredible story. We talk about why customer-centricity was one of Tuft & Needle’s core principles from the beginning, and the role it played in their eventual merger with Serta Simmons. JT shares his thoughts on the importance, as a founder, of having an intimate understanding of how every aspect of your business works, and why they decided not to take any outside investments when they first started out. This is one of my favorite founder interviews we’ve done and I hope you enjoy it! Episode Highlights
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Tue, 24 August 2021
We’re bringing back this Greatest Hit with 6 quick wins you can execute today to grow your business immediately.I get asked for my growth checklist for eCommerce businesses all the time so I'm bringing back this episode with Andrew Foxwell on how to grow your business with 6 tactical and quick wins you can implement today. We're sharing the tried and true things we know work from Facebook ad set up to email segmentation, and website optimization to customer acquisition. I guarantee these tips will help you generate sales and you'll see results immediately. Enjoy! Episode Highlights
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Tue, 17 August 2021
Positioning your brand correctly is the most powerful thing you can do to attract and retain customers. Effective copywriting is how you do it. My guest on this episode is none other than The Email Copywriter, Chris Orzechowski, and he’s here to deliver massive value about copywriting, positioning, and marketing strategy. We talk about how to think about copywriting, ways to improve your emails, and different styles of email campaigns and flows. We go deep into positioning and ways to unlock advertising angles for your brand that are probably already inside your own head if you’re passionate about your business and products. Chris is a member of the Coalition, our community of 250+ eComm founders, and recently did a training on How to Make Your Emails Irresistible. It’s one of our most popular trainings so definitely check it out. If you’re interested in joining the Coalition to access this training and more like it, sign up here. Episode Highlights:
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Tue, 10 August 2021
I have worked with hundreds of different companies at various stages of growth, from pre-launch to multi-million dollar acquisitions. In this Greatest Hits episode we're talking about scaling a brand and what it takes.This is the first episode in our scaling series, where we’ll talk about each stage of growth and the challenges you're going to face as you scale up your business from zero to 8-figures. In this “zero to launch” episode where we’ll address some of the questions you’ll face when you’re determining how to launch and going from an idea for a product to actually getting sales. If you enjoy this episode be sure to go back and check out the other core episodes in our Scaling Series that will give you value whether you're at the beginning, already making 7-figures, or somewhere in the middle. Enjoy! Episode Highlights
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Tue, 3 August 2021
In this episode we have a handful of quick and easy wins that have been tested and proven to increase revenue. If you’re looking for a win that also saves you time - it’s in here. Lisa Byrnes is a marketing and business coach. She's also a member of the Coalition, our community of 250+ eCommerce business owners and experts. After 17 years managing multi-million dollar brands, Lisa left her corporate job and started her own marketing business to support emerging eCommerce business owners (specifically women) build their marketing strategy and fulfill their own dreams. We’re talking tactical easy wins for emerging brands ($10k - $50k) and this episode is filled with great action items that won’t take much time but could have a big impact on your business. Enjoy! Episode Highlights:
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