eCommerce Evolution

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
• What if someone says - I love my business…I don’t want to sell.  
• Top mistakes to avoid when selling your business
• Real life business selling horror stories
• Plus more!

I do highly recommend Joe’s book. You can get your copy today at EXITpreneur.io and begin to understand the true value of your business - and how to get maximum value for it whenever and however you decide to exit.

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 - what’s usually the cause? 
• How important is production value to the success of your campaigns
• What new YouTube features are you most excited about?

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 some of the urgency out of Prime Day shopping.  
• The strange shopping behavior we saw during day 2 of Prime Day. 
• How to maximize Prime Day or holiday shopping by thinking Full Funnel with your ad approach
• Plus more!

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
• Understanding key TikTok metrics
• The basics of a solid Snap ad
• How to drive conversions from TikTok and Snap

Every website is leaking sales and conversions somewhere.  While I love talking about driving more traffic, sometimes the best thing you can do for your business is improve your conversion rate.  In this episode, I interview the founder of Conversion Crimes, Quinn Zeda and we discuss the most common eCommerce conversion crimes she sees.  If you fix even a few of these you’ll see a meaningful improvement in your website performance.  Here’s a look at what we discuss:

• Understanding visual hierarchy and the metaphor of volume knobs
• Creating a process of testing and iteration vs. launching a full site overhaul
• Using customer intel to create marketing breakthroughs
• Keys to better navigation and menu structure
• How to not confuse or overwhelm your visitors
• Using action colors
• Plus more!

Ryan McKenzie is doing what he can to help save the planet.  His super-effective laundry detergent strips are keeping millions of plastic laundry jugs out of landfills each year.  He also wants to save your brand from bad video advertising.

I invited Ryan on the show again because his approach to video advertising is just awesome.  Here at OMG Commerce, we have the privilege of running all of his Google and YouTube ads so we’ve seen firsthand their rocket ship growth.  They were Canada’s 2nd fastest growing start-up and have grown from 7 employees to 200 in record time.  In this episode, we break down Ryan’s  7-step framework behind his video ads that are fueling $100k/day in ad spend.  Here’s a look at what we cover:

 

• What is a powerful pattern interrupt and how to use one.

• Why having a villain in your ads is a good thing.  Hint: Your villain probably isn’t a person.

• How many and how to most effectively use Calls to Action.

• Biggest surprises on what works and what doesn’t.

• How to use logic and emotion.

 

 

If you think the Amazon marketplace is wild right now, you should have seen it in 2003.  My guest today is Jason Boyce.  Jason is a former Top 200 Seller on Amazon - a spot he held for 10 years before selling his company.  Now he’s frequently interviewed and quoted in the media on all things Amazon.   He was recently interviewed for a PBS Frontline Documentary called Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos.  We discuss some hot takes on broader Amazon topics, plus dive into specific tips for sellers.  

Here’s a look at what we discuss:

• How big is Amazon really…and why it’s actually BIGGER than you think
• Amazon and antitrust and what it means for sellers
• How little improvements to CTR and conversion rate create a compounding effect
• Owning the digital shelf - what it means and what you should be focusing on
• Controlling your brand.  How to proactively control and protect your brand
• Lessons from Jason’s new book - The Amazon Jungle

The death of email has been boldly proclaimed and then retracted so many times I’ve lost count over the last 10 years.  Finally, I think most people agree that email marketing is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.  

This episode is a double-header in terms of topic but still delivered in the same amount of time as usual.  It’s a “two topics for the price of one” special! Itay Paz is an online marketing veteran of 25 years.  He’s also the publisher of the Morning Dough newsletter and an SEO expert.  

Morning Dough is one of my favorite newsletters.  It’s one of the few that I open regularly.  In this episode, we talk about how and why eCommerce brands should be using email marketing beyond just transactional emails.

We also talk Web Core Vitals and how Google is going to use certain core performance metrics to score your site.  How your site scores in Google’s eyes will have a direct impact on both your SEO and your paid ad performance.

• How to land on a newsletter strategy that fits your personality and your brand.
• Tips for getting your emails opened and read.
• How often you should send emails and how to avoid spam and promotional folders.
• What are Web Core Vitals and why you should care.
• How to test your site in 60 seconds to see how it performs what Google’s Web Core Vital.

Andrew Morgans is a true OG when it comes to success on Amazon.  Andrew is the founder of Marknology (think marketing combined with technology) an Amazon brand accelerator and the host of the Startup Hustle podcast.  He’s been helping brands grow on Amazon for 9 years.  Needless to say, a LOT has changed on Amazon in 9 years and Andrew has seen a little bit of everything.  In this episode, we go deep into what successful brands are doing right now on Amazon and where things are headed on the platform….

• Andrew’s philosophy of “if your product can’t sell with your photos and videos alone, you need to go back to the drawing board.”
• How your copy and photos should flow
• How A+ content, storefronts and copy really come down to just 2 things
• Andrew’s favorite tools that he uses daily…but when he doesn’t use them to make decisions.
• How to view Amazon ads in light of how the advertising industry is shifting
• Going international - Amazon is doubling down on international growth…why now is the time to consider it for your brand

This is a special episode. My very first podcast appearance as a guest was on Austin Brawner’s Ecommerce Influence podcast back in 2015. Austin is one of the sharpest minds in Ecommerce. He’s either friends with or has consulted with some of the biggest names in DTC Ecomm like MVMT Watches, Pura Vida Bracelets, Snack Nation, and many more. On this episode, Austin and I interview each other! We dive into some pretty wide-ranging, but highly relevant topics. Including:

• Why Austin is so excited about subscription businesses and who’s running them well
• How different business models could be your next growth evolution
• How privacy could create a renaissance of sorts when it comes to the value of good ad creatives
• How pricey changes will impact audience building and audience targeting
• Formulas for creating high-converting content
• Shifting your role in business to greater growth

Plus more!