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

• 4:58 Introducing JT Marino
• 6:47 How the friendship and partnership started between the founders of Turf & Needle, JT and Daehee
• 11:13 How the Tuft & Needle co-founders maintain a strong friendship while running a business together
• 12:51 How JT’s prior experience with heavily-funded, but unsuccessful, Silicon Valley start-ups influenced Tuft & Needle’s decision to not take outside investments.
• 17:21 The importance of identifying “the problem” when you’re building a business, and how this led to the creation of Tuft & Needle
• 19:28 Some of the other principles the Tuft & Needle founders committed to before starting their business
• 22:11 How JT and Daehee used a problem-solution approach to determine whether they had a product-market fit for Tuft & Needle
• 27:59 The benefits of being highly involved with and having an intimate understanding of every aspect of the business, from manufacturing to supply chain to marketing
• 31:30 How Tuft & Needle moved through the pit of sorrow and started to scale
• 35:12 How a Hacker News blog post contributed to explosive growth of Tuft & Needle
• 37:51 The importance of customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth to Tuft & Needle’s success, especially when they had a limited advertising budget
• 39:40 The various channels that helped grow the business over time
• 42:45 JT's approach to tracking attribution across a variety of channels
• 45:55 How Tuft & Needle developed advertising techniques and targeting that span across digital and non-digital
• 50:34 The unconventional reason Tuft & Needle started selling on Amazon
• 53:39 The Net Promoter Score target T&F set before making the decision to list on Amazon
• 56:10 JT’s advice if you’re considering selling on Amazon and the importance of looking at the market picture as you start to grow
• 59:35 The role customer-centricity played in Tuft & Needle’s decision to merge with Serta
• 1:06:46 The future of the mattress industry
• 1:09:48 JT shares his hobbies and what’s in store for him in the next year
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Links And Resources

• Tuft & Needle
• How to Get Startup Ideas by Paul Graham
• Blog: How we bootstrapped to the #1 rated mattress on Amazon.com
• Meet the Warby Parker of Mattresses
• JT on Twitter: @johnmarino
• JT@tn.com
• The Coalition
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

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

• 3:59 Quick Win #1: 4-6% Lookalikes based off pixel value.
• 5:21 Quick Win #2: Identify previous customers who are likely to spend again, but who are no longer on your email list, and hit them with remarketing.
• 6:57 Quick Win #3: Integrate your Klaviyo audiences with Facebook.
• 8:08 Quick Win #4: Turn great text reviews into video reviews.
• 10:48 Quick Win #5: Use bid caps to ensure your Facebook ads are being shown.
• 12:39 Quick Win #6: Get a fresh perspective on your website.

Links And Resources

• Klaviyo
• UserTesting
• Profit Summit
• The Coalition
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

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:

• 4:08 How Chris became The Email Copywriter 
• 4:54 Why Chris chose to focus on eCommerce copywriting
• 9:01 Where Chris’s advertising inspiration comes from
• 11:36 Debunking the biggest misconception about email marketing - sending too many emails 
• 15:18 Long form copy - why you should test it 
• 19:28 Writing about your product with dimensionalized benefits 
• 21:07 Levels of market sophistication and how to position yourself in your industry
• 24:21 Appealing to your market identity 
• 26:26 Chris’s favorite email testing opportunities
• 28:15 The process Chris uses to test copy 
• 32:08 Copywriting that shifts people’s mindset 
• 33:17 Using your product knowledge to write inspiring copy 
• 39:09 How to talk to your customers to inform your copywriting
• 40:49 The future of email marketing - what you should be thinking about
• 46:11 What’s working right now in email marketing - things to test today
• 52:28 The new marketing copy opportunity - SMS 
• 58:59 How to hire a copywriter 

Resources:

• Chris’s Website 
• Make Your Marketing Emails Irresistible Training
• Copychief.com
• The Coalition
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

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

• 5:04 Why we decided to do a scaling series.
• 9:12 The most important thing when you’re just starting out? Feedback.
• 10:29 Knowing what your community looks like is critical for scaling.
• 13:45 Once you know your community, identify their buying power and your market potential.
• 15:43 A zero to launch case study.
• 18:21 Common missteps at this stage.
• 19:45 Creating a “talk trigger” product.

Links And Resources

• Launch To Traction: The Scaling Series, Part 2
• Traction to Scaling: The Scaling Series, Part 3
• Growth Mode: The Scaling Series, Part 4
• Case Studies: The Scaling Series, Part 5
• The Coalition
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

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:

• 4:47 Why Lisa started her coaching business and her focus on female entrepreneurs
• 7:33 The biggest mistakes emerging brands make
• 10:10 Strategy: marketing towards a persona instead of a demographic
• 13:17 Common website mistakes that are easy to fix 
• 16:00 How to tell your authentic brand story & and the marketing power of a founders face
• 18:50 Brands who successfully showcase the founder as the face of the brand 
• 22:12 Easy things to do to engage with customers 
• 25:26 How to focus and not immediately dive into the next new and exciting marketing idea 
• 29:09 How the Coalition has helped Lisa grow her business 
• 29:57 Voice of customer copywriting technique 
• 31:36 One thing to take away from this episode and implement this week 

Resources:

• Lisa’s Website
• @lisabyrnemarketing on Instagram
• The Coalition
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes