Ecommerce Evolution

Josh Martin is fearless. At age 24 he’s winning contests, designing new products, building communities and partnering with some real movers and shakers in our industry. In this episode I grill Josh (pun intended) on his success with his BBQ company and his experience in the wine business. There are tons of lessons in this episode whether you’re running an 8 or 9 figure business or just getting started.   How Josh won the Million Dollar Brand Scholarship Award Influencer marketing mistakes to avoid Keys to $.25 email list opt-in strategies How to run good customer surveys and getting useful data Understanding the “why” behind your product and how that influences marketing and future product launches Plus more!

The holy grail right now for online advertising is to be both funny and persuasive. To be relevant and engaging. Funny videos that sell are rare. Mostly because most people don’t know how to create them. In this episode Joseph walks us through his 8-step process for creating funny videos that sell without hiring an expert.  Joseph Wilkins has a rich background in creating videos that convert. He launched his career in the infomercial business while working on the launch of Little Giant Ladder. That infomercial went on to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ladders.   I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Joseph on a mutual client - Tru Earth. Joseph and his team created videos for Tru Earth that have now racked up over 100 million views! More than that, though, they are driving new customer acquisition.   Here’s a look at what we cover: Why having a crystal clear picture of your customer in your head is a must before you do anything else. You wouldn’t write a letter without knowing who you

Growing your sales on Amazon really comes down to three things: Getting found on Amazon by improving your organic rankings or paying for ads.   Getting more people to click on your listings once they see it.   Convincing more shoppers that your product is the one for them. It sounds simple enough right? But most Amazon sellers miss several key tactics that severely limit growth. That’s why I was so excited to talk to Daniela Bolzmann founder of Mindfulgoods.co. She is a PRO at making products on Amazon stand out. She’s so good, in fact, that Amazon created a case study featuring her work.  Here’s a look at what we unpack on this episode: How to maximize your SEO efforts for launching new products on Amazon How to integrate and tweak existing listings that already rank to get them to rank HIGHER Leveraging your 6 images for maximum conversions What to do with A+ content to make your product nearly irresistible  How Yes Bar gets it right with their listing optimization and storefront optimization Top Amazon

If you’re thinking about selling now or anytime in the next 5 years, you need the info in this episode.   In the first half of 2021 alone, $2.5 billion in capital has been raise by brand aggregators all looking to acquire eCommerce brands.   Currently there are over 100 aggregators just in the eCommerce space. A few months ago, I met Dave Bunch at Ezra Firestone’s Blue Ribbon Mastermind in Miami. We were both speaking there and when I heard his story, I knew I wanted him to be on the podcast. Dave is the President of Growve a $250 Million dollar aggregator with close to 25 brands under one roof.   So why the rise of aggregators? What makes that business model so attractive? Why are brands selling to aggregators? Those are all questions I wanted to ask Dave.   Here’s a look at what we talk about: Why right now might be a good time to take some chips off the table The benefits of rolling equity vs. full buyouts Why you should be weary of large offers When deals go bad - how to better prepare for the issues tha

Deacon helps founders & CEOs create profitable, scalable business growth through coaching and consulting programs at SharpBusinessGrowth.com. He's led teams overseeing $50 Million in marketing campaigns, and delivered revenue growth results recognized by Inc. 5000.   If you look at wildly successful DTC brands compared to the rest, you definitely find some differences. But those differences aren’t always what you think. Sometimes really great products fail. Sometimes insanely smart entrepreneurs never reach their full potential. Sometimes great marketing tactics alone just aren’t enough. Deacon Bradley is one of those guys that you feel smarter just from one conversation with him. In this episode we talk about Growth Mulitpliers vs. Growth Inhibitors. Some of these might surprise you.   Missing the connector of brand and strategy that make your team and your agencies to be successful The story of an awesome DTC product that never fully figured out who they were The power of Vision and commanders intent H

​​Most of the high growth eComm companies I know are all building to sell. Some want to sell once revenue hits $5 million, some $25 million and some $100+.  Regardless of what your target number is or regardless of if you even have a number, this interview with Chad will be super helpful.   Hear how Chad built his pet brand business and sold it for 7-figures in under 3 years.  Here’s a look at what we’ll cover:   Tips and advice for sellers  Maximize EBITA as you prepare to sell Practical tips to “think profit first.” Tips for prepping to sell your business Learning from successes and failures Understanding how self-imposed limits are holding you back!

KetoBrownie (now rebranded as Sinless Snacks - https://www.sinlesssnacks.com/) started where a lot of great food brands start - in the founder’s kitchen.  Nick Raccuia’s story is a great one, full of insights and inspiration, successes and failures.  It includes nailing product development on a few products and failure with other products.  It covers periods of near burn out followed by the power of partnerships and strategic investors.   Now Nick’s company produces two of my favorite sinless and guilt-free snacks: the original Keto Brownie and the Sinless Snacks cereal bar.   Here’s a look at what we cover: Knowing your customer is the key to product launches. Learn from NIck’s product successes contrasted with a few painful flops. The benefits of a strategic investor and how to find them Not launching on Amazon soon enough Packaging and transit issues How obsessing over your customers and products leads to wins

While getting free PR for your brand isn’t easy, it’s not impossible. And the rewards can be huge.  Great companies and CEOs have always understood this. From Steve Jobs to Walt Disney to Richard Branson and others. Free press can be worth millions to your brand.   And you don’t have to be as dynamic as Richard Branson to get free PR. Ali Karsh is the co-founder of LVPR, a PR company that works exclusively with cool DTC brands like NATIVE, Cloud Paper, Everyday Humans, and many others.   In this episode, we condense Ali’s 15+ years of PR experience into a power-packed interview.  We cover the most important topics so you can start getting free PR now for your brand.  Here’s what we discuss: When’s the best time to engage with media? How to craft a compelling founder story that the media is eager to share? How the pandemic has made getting PR easier (and harder) LVPR’s 5 Rules for brands it works with What is commerce/affiliate PR and how it’s changing the PR game. Plus more!

Justus Murimi is a guy that once you meet him you’ll likely never forget him. Why? Justus is one of the best askers of questions that I’ve ever been around.  I first met Justus at Ryan Daniel Moran’s lake house in Austin Texas. It was a meeting of eCommerce investors. I was part of a group discussion with Justus and he was asking insightful question after insightful question. Then I had a chance to spend some time with him and we immediately hit it off. He has a knack for understanding entrepreneurs and helping them get unstuck.  He’s the Community Manager for the One Percent with Ryan Daniel Moran.  He’s also the head coach of the Incubator.  Every week he’s coaching, teaching, and mentoring eCommerce businesses at every stage of growth.   I LOVE this topic.  While we don’t get super tactical, I believe this episode could prove to be one of the most helpful we’ve ever published.   As entrepreneurs, we're all prone to getting stuck. And it’s not just a one-time deal. Depending on the stage or growth your busi

Who doesn’t love eating cookie dough with a spoon?  Having a tasty product that customers crave is helpful. That’s part of the reason DoughP (pronounced like dope) has been so successful.  But for the real reason behind DoughP’s amazing growth, look no further than the co-CEO team of Kelsey and Is.  Not only are they co-CEOs, they’re also married.  And they produce some addictively good cookie dough that’s shipped directly to your door    There’s a lot we can learn from DoughP both from a branding and eCommerce growth perspective.   Here’s a look at what we cover: When you get your branding right, marketing becomes easy How to detach and make unemotional decisions How to be fun, relevant and also have a serious mission side to your business How and when to pivot  How to scale operations from $50k per year online to over $350k per month in one year.

Amazon has always been a jungle for sellers.  Battling sabotage from unscrupulous competitors, protecting yourself from listing takedowns, and avoiding account suspensions are all enough to keep you awake at night.  So how do you protect your Amazon business from all the forces trying to kill it?   My advice is to learn from and get to know former Amazonian Chris McCabe. Chris used to work at Amazon in the policy enforcement team. Now he works daily with sellers to mitigate issues and fight suspensions.  He’s been so effective at helping sellers that he’s been awarded the nickname ECommerce Chris. He’s also the host of the podcast, Seller Listing Solutions, and speaks at leading Amazon events like the  Prosper Show.  Chris is a guy you need to know.  Here’s a look at what we cover: - Top reasons listings get taken down and what’s in your control.   - Reasons for listing takedowns that most sellers don’t know about.  - What it was like working at Amazon  - The leading reasons for account suspensions and how to

Tom Worcester is a tremendous success story.  Grit, determination, and the ability to pivot he has in spades.  He started his eCommerce business lunchboxpacks.com in 2018 to cater to the festival and event-going crowd.  He hustled and used in-person marketing at events to help his theft-proof hydration backpacks (think a camelback, but with security features).  The products took off.  Then the pandemic hit.  No festivals. No in-person events.  But Tom knew his customers still craved community.  So he continued to build community and he helped build another business - Create with Carousel that helps eComm brands build great video content.   Here’s what we dive into: How to build community online for an ecomm brand in record time with a unifying topic  How to positively create echo chambers for your brand What hooks you need to use to build community Creating incentives to grow your community 3 layers of a product to consider when you craft a video ad…most people only think about the first two layers How assum

We’re all but guaranteed to see another record holiday season on Amazon this year. But that does not guarantee that you will have a banner holiday season. This year is sure to be challenging for online sellers. More shopping will take place in stores than last year during the height of the pandemic. Ad cost are also on the rise. Combine all of that with increased competition and you see why success this holiday season won't be easy. Getting the most from the Cyber 5 and beyond will really boil down to three things: Covering the basics. Proper inventory levels. Understanding  key selling dates and Amazon’s deadlines. Getting the right badges. Having listings optimized.  Without the basics in place, you’ll be seriously behind this holiday season. We’ll help you get ready.   Getting an edge. This year is sure to be uber competitive for Amazon sellers. Do you have your lighting deals and coupon strategies ready? How’s your storefront, A+ content, and Amazon posts?  Is your Amazon ad strategy primed and ready? We

Are you fully prepared for Holiday 2021?  This year is sure to be unique.  While eCommerce is still growing, it’s growing at a slower rate than last year.  Stores are opening, and, for now at least, shoppers are spending more money on experiences than they were during the height of the pandemic.  So how can you maximize your online holiday sales this year? In this episode, we listen in to the recording of the recent webinar we hosted that covers 7 ways to have a record holiday season including: How to leverage the latest YouTube ad formats to get more exposure and more conversions at a lower cost. What you’re likely missing with your current search and shopping ad structure and how to fix it.   Why now is a great time to consider Google Smart Shopping Campaigns How to deliver the right holiday message at the right time How to combat rising ad costs Plus more!

With iOS 14 and privacy updates throwing advertisers for a loop and increased ad costs making reaching your ad goals harder than ever, scale on Facebook may seem illusive.  On today’s episode, I wanted to hear from an up-and-coming Facebook ad manager and co-host of the Rich Ad, Poor Ad podcast Dyland Carpenter.  Dylan specializes in eComm media buying and is fanatical about testing, experimenting, and finding ways to scale ad accounts.  Here’s a quick look at what we cover in today’s episode: Common mistakes keeping you from scaling with Facebook ads Why creative is everything and how to approach creative testing Finding the winning campaign formula - learn how Dylan uses controls and tests to always be leveling up. Thoughts on iOS 14  Budgeting for scale and how to be aggressive without breaking the algorithm  Plus more!

Are you ready to crack the YouTube ads code?  Ready to learn how to win now and into the future even as privacy issues are causing media buyers to pull their hair out? Here’s the Audio from a recent, wildly popular webinar I presented at.  We had just over 2,000 people attend to hear our Winning Formula for Scale for YouTube ads for eCommerce. This presentation is fast-paced and full of practical tips and examples.  Here are 3 reasons to listen:   Learn how top eComm brands are profitably spending $500k per month on YouTube ads.  Many were spending $0 on Google ads just a few months or years ago. Diversity.  In a world of tracking issues, algo updates, and constant uncertainty - you need to diversify your customer acquisition channels. Understand how creative, campaign, and audience strategies work hand-in-hand to deliver stellar results.    

Several of my successful eComm friends are selling all or a portion of their businesses right now.  It makes sense.  Ecommerce valuations are at an all time high.  Also, when you consider that entrepreneurs make 50% or more of all the money they will EVER make from their business when they sell it - you have to be thinking about when and how you want to sell your business.     In this episode I interview my friend and expert M&A advisor, Joe Valley.  Joe is a partner at Quietlight Brokerage, one of the leading online-focused M&A advisory firms in the world.  Before joining the team in 2012, Joe sold his own business through Quiet Light. Since then, he has helped facilitate nearly a half billion in online exits and now is the author of the bestselling book, The EXITpreneur’s Playbook - How to Sell Your Online Business for Top Dollar.   Here’s a look at what we discuss in this episode:  What is an EXITpreneur and why it pays to think and operate like one Why you should start “training” for an exit now

Nearly every day we have eCommerce companies reaching out to us wanting to know how to grow their eCommerce brands using YouTube ads.  YouTube ads are both exciting and mysterious to most store owners.   In this episode, I’m bringing you insights from some of the best and brightest minds at OMG Commerce. This is the audio recording from a recent YouTube ads expert panel that I moderated.  This was a really fun panel for me because it was made up entirely of my team.  I brought in 6 of our top YouTube ad specialists from team OMG to answer your burning YouTube questions.  I think you’ll really learn a lot and enjoy this format.  Here’s a look at the questions we dive into: What are the best YouTube audiences to launch with and what are the best audiences to SCALE with? How are YouTube ads different from Facebook and IG ads and different from ads on other platforms? How long does it take to start reaching your CPA or CAC goals? What kind of scale is possible with YouTube ads When things go wrong on YouTube - w

Prime Day 2021 was a year of firsts.  It was the first year Prime Day took place in the 2nd quarter.  From 2015 to 2019 Prime Day was in July.  In 2020, due to the pandemic, Prime Day was moved to October and became the de facto kickoff to holiday shopping.   This year was also the first year that Prime Day experienced year-over-year growth of 10% or less.  But when the 2-day event brings in $10-11 billion in sales, any year-over-year growth still represents HUGE growth in real dollars.   For this episode, I brought in OMG’s Amazon Director Chris Tyler to help unpack what we experienced with our clients this year during Prime Day.  Here’s a look at what we discuss: Some surprises we saw in the OMG client sales data How advertisers may have been more excited than shoppers this Prime Day Prime Day may not be a great fit for every seller - some categories crushed it during Prime Day, other categories were “meh.” Why inventory issues for many sellers influenced the prevalence of deep discounts and likely took so

You want low CPMs (like the early days of Facebook)?  You want massive engagement from eager shoppers?  Are you looking for a little virality to go with that?  Then you need to consider TikTok and SnapChat ads.  I’ve had more clients and other agency friends ask about TikTok and Snap ads in the last few weeks than I can ever remember before.  Both platforms are still in their infancy from an ads standpoint (with SnapChat being more established than TikTok).  Both still offer tremendous opportunities for first adopters who are willing to learn the platforms.     Today I’m bringing on two experts, Madison Grover VP of Social from Pouch, and Anders Piiparinen CEO from Wallaroo Media.  They’re giving us a crash course on what we need to know about TikTok and Snap ads. Why you should build TikToks and NOT ads How creating consistently great content on TikTok can have a compounding or “resurfacing” affect How to repurpose TikTok content on other platforms Why you can’t repurpose YouTube or IG content on TikTok Und