The Ecommerce Influence Podcast

July 2020
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26	27	28	29	30	31

Tue, 28 July 2020

262: Behind the Potter’s Wheel: How East Fork Successfully Grew an Unconventional Business

Growing a team is challenging for any company. But going from two people to 90 in just 10 years with a non-traditional business model? That’s an almost unbelievable feat.

Connie Matisse, cofounder and CMO of East Fork, joins us today to talk about how she built a successful business with a 90+ person team without following the path of many traditional businesses.

Tune in to learn how East Fork created a memorable marketing engine with a self-described “laughable” budget, what they’ve found to be one of the most critical business functions that’s often ignored, and how they’ve kept their store running through the challenges of COVID-19.

Episode Highlights

4:44 How the 2008 economic recession introduced Connie to the world of craft pottery
7:00 Reinventing pottery to reach the modern household
11:16 Connie’s organic approach to content marketing and building a holistic brand
13:35 The challenge of being the voice of the brand for a fast-growing business
16:41 What East Fork leadership spends 90% of their time on to ensure successful growth
19:23 Moving from WordPress to Shopify and the effect it had on demand
21:27 How East Fork is managing production and customer expectations in a COVID-19 world
23:36 Analyzing profitability and venture capital funding for a capital intensive business
26:21 How East Fork’s leadership style has evolved during COVID-19
27:59 The many hats Connie wears as a cofounder
30:30 Connie’s process for creating honest and authentic brand collaborations
33:05 How to stop following the herd and create space for radical thinking

Direct download: EI_263_Connie.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CST

Tue, 21 July 2020

261: Q4 Predictions For Online Retailers: The Case For (And Against) A Massive Quarter

There are only 130 days until Black Friday. With the global economy in so much flux because of COVID-19, what are your Q4 predictions?

Are you preparing for a massive Q4 or wondering if your business is going to just get by?

In this episode, I go over a few Q4 predictions with cases in favor of and against Q4 being a thriving quarter for ecommerce, factors to consider that are in and out of your control, and most importantly, how you can prepare.

Episode Highlights

3:39 Why the ecommerce industry is primed to have a massive Q4
5:59 COVID-19 effects on spending and your consumer’s potential psychological shift during Q4
8:01 How to manage your ecommerce inventory to get a leg up against your competition
9:12 If your target audience includes these people you might have a difficult Q4
10:39 The biggest case against a successful Q4
13:17 Large corporations marketing budgets and how they could impact small business’ ability to compete
14:27 Austin’s Q4 predictions and his 3 step plan for preparing for the type of quarter in store

Links and Resources:

Direct download: EI_261B_q4Predictions.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CST

Tue, 14 July 2020

260: Ecommerce SEO in 2020: What Actually Moves The Needle

With Facebook boycotts, changing advertising policies, and channel unpredictability, it’s more important now than ever to invest in what you can control

The approach to search engine optimization (SEO) has changed over the last several years, but it still remains an incredibly important component of your marketing strategy.

This week’s guest is SEO consultant and expert Dan Shure. Dan’s been working in SEO for more than 12 years, and he joins us to talk about what’s changed over time when it comes to SEO strategy, the two different types of core content to focus on, what’s working in ecommerce SEO in 2020 and the tools you should be using to be successful.

This episode has some great actionable tips you can start using today, and I hope you enjoy!

Episode Highlights

5:16 How Dan fell into SEO while working as a professional musician
7:50 What is SEO really? Is it a channel, a traffic source, links, or something else?
13:30 The #1 thing business owners need to think about when it comes to ecommerce SEO in 2020
15:49 Informational intent vs. purchase intent content and how you should be using each in your SEO strategy
18:53 Letting the keywords be your guide as you’re thinking about creating content with informational or purchase intent content
22:40 Breaking down seed keywords and how to identify them for your brand
26:04 Why Dan shifted from an agency business model to a consulting and training model
31:35 The technical pieces of SEO you need to watch out for in ecommerce
33:55 Should you have a developer on your team to help you with technical SEO?
35:34 Shopify blog or Wordpress blog: which is better for SEO?
37:20 What’s working right now with content: remember the keywords are king.
42:56 Backlinks: do you need them and how to build them proactively
46:30 Must-have tools for ecommerce SEO in 2020

Links and Resources:

Direct download: EI_260_DanShure_Widen.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CST

Tue, 7 July 2020

259: Traeger Grills’ 10-Figure Smoking Gun: A Holistic Growth Strategy

Holistic marketing can make your brand more consistent and unified across all your marketing channels so that it stands out from the competition.

Jesse Semchuck, Director of Acquisition for Traeger Grills, joins us to share what he has learned from viewing channels holistically. He shares what the makeup of his marketing team looks like, 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.

Episode Highlights:

5:59 Jesse Semchuck’s role at Traeger Grills and what he’s been excited to build over the last year
7:55 The difference between selling mattresses and selling smoker grills
9:18 What’s working well for Traeger Grills right now
11:14 The makeup of Jesse’s marketing team
12:37 Questions Jesse asks when thinking about strategic scaling and how he decides which marketing channels to focus on
17:06 Why low ROAS isn’t always a bad thing and the importance of understanding how different channels impact one another
20:13 When is the right time to invest in a full funnel holistic approach to your marketing
22:42 What most people do wrong when hiring an agency, and a better way to approach it
26:58 How internal team interaction with agencies is structured at Traeger Grills
29:00 Questions to ask a potential agency partner
30:57 When to outsource to an agency versus keeping things in house
32:31 Agency red flags to watch out for

Direct download: EI_259_Jesse_JustUnoUpdated.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am CST