Brendan Hughes has been “doing” eCommerce and digital marketing since 1997. For much of his career he was responsible for implementing digital marketing strategies in large consumer organizations in Europe. 

After spending some leading digital transformation in a large news media publisher and as a board member of IAB, Brendan realised how intransparent the entire ad industry had become. 

He wrote extensively on the topic and has recently published his first book providing practical advice to eCommerce store owners on how to get better returns when advertising across the big walled gardens that dominate the industry. 

Brendan now leads the team at Optily, an innovative solution to cross-platform ad optimization. 

In This Conversation We Discuss: 

• [00:00] Intro
• [01:18] Coding in the 90’s
• [02:47] From building websites to Ecommerce
• [06:25] Analyzing the marketing funnel
• [08:52] Cognitive biases that affect marketing
• [10:15] Quantifying the success of your process
• [11:19] Fine tuning the top of funnel
• [12:09] Success in short form video
• [14:04] The research and evaluation mode
• [15:29] Tackling the lower end of the funnel
• [17:39] Funnel inefficiencies and plateauing
• [19:01] Sponsor: Electric Eye electriceye.io
• [19:32] Sponsor: Mesa apps.shopify.com/mesa
• [20:05] Sponsor: Gorgias gorgias.grsm.io/honest
• [21:32] Sponsor: Rewind rewind.io/honest
• [22:04] Sponsor: Klaviyo klaviyo.com/honest
• [22:52] Shortening the funnel through data
• [25:27] Why you should still consider retargeting
• [27:14] Acquisition vs retention marketing
• [29:36] Setting the ROAS expectation
• [34:13] Goals, data, and experience matters
• [36:23] Short-term vs Long-term
• [38:18] Acquisition costs are based on the channel
• [40:08] Best fit customers for Optily
• [43:39] Optily does not replace SMEs or contractors 
• [46:46] Optily specials offers for listeners

Resources:

• Try Optily for 14 days optily.com/request-a-demo/ and also get 15% discount on your first year
• Have a “no-strings attached” free 1 hour ad strategy consultation calendly.com/brendan-optily/ad-strategy-consultation
• Connect with Brendan linkedin.com/in/brendanhughes
• Scale your business with electriceye.io
• Download Mesa at the Shopify App Store apps.shopify.com/mesa
• Level up your customer support gorgias.grsm.io/honest
• Respond to any of Rewind’s welcome emails and mention HONEST ECOMMERCE to get 1 month free rewind.io/honest
• Get started with a free account at klaviyo.com/honest

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