The Compound Effect: How to Scale Up and Find Success with Agencies, Software Companies, or Ecommerce Stores

We’re thrilled to announce our 50th episode of The Ecom Show, hosted by none other than Budai Media’s founder and CEO, Daniel Budai!

To match the excitement of this occasion, we’re lucky to welcome Martyn Cook this week on our show. This serial entrepreneur has proven time and time again that he can handle any industry, business model, and marketing strategy, evident by the several successful business ventures he’s launched in his career.

Writing + publishing books, creating traffic, starting software companies, and running an ecommerce empire…

It’s a pleasure to listen to Daniel and Martyn speak about:

✔️ Early days of Facebook

✔️ Choosing the right business model

✔️ Expensive lessons in business

✔️ Conscious and ethical entrepreneurship

✔️ Legend of the Compound Effect

Before Facebook Ads...

Back when Facebook was in its earliest incarnation, Martyn noticed the potential for something massive. He saw pages with large amounts of engagement and a slowly developing marketplace for proven pages with active communities. Flash forward to 2021, where Facebook Ads are king, and the platform is heavily monetized with countless businesses depending on the traffic they can generate on the social media site.

After pouring in all his hard-earned money and purchasing several Facebook pages, Martyn realized he had stumbled on gold with the ability to drive traffic to any site he pleased.

Agency, Ecommerce, or Sofware?

He’s done it all, and there are admitted advantages to pursuing one of these unique business models, according to Martyn. Agency models are great because they require low overhead, scale relatively quickly, and let you grow at your own pace. These are the people that sell the tools to the ecommerce gold rush participants!

The ecommerce strategy is a viable one as well, and it allows you to invest in a product that grows in value each day. You have complete autonomy to do what you please and develop a brand, which is why Martyn believes building your own business is the best investment you can make!

Software is competitive, but it’s different in that it’s all about keeping a customer as opposed to bringing in new customers all the time.

Biggest Mistakes

There’s no rush quite like hitting major milestones while owning an ecommerce business, but it pays to set the infrastructure up right before you choose to scale.

Within 90 days of starting, Martyn and one of his companies hit a million dollars in revenue, and with little data available to inform him, he stormed on and scaled aggressively. After being let down by the postal service and high shipping volume, he had to refund a quarter-million dollars in goods, which definitely qualifies as learning the hard way!

Good For the World

We’ve heard this on our show before, but it gets repeated for a reason. You should always have a goal aside from making money when you start your business. For Martyn and his nootropic company, Noobru, it’s all about helping malnourished and impoverished people supplement their diets so they can get the nutrients they need.

In addition to feeling good about yourself, donating to a cause creates goodwill, builds loyalty, and gives you an additional value proposition to advertise!

1% Secret

Martyn is a massive believer in the “Compound Effect,” which is why he wrote his book The 1% Secret. It’s meant to address both personal and business problems with real actionable tips to employ each day.

The Compound Effect is all about doing what you can each day with small goals and developing. You won’t see changes overnight, but the slow, gradual change is the goal. This also rings true for businesses. Don’t worry about the first purchase being lots of revenue. Work on getting them to come back again and again… That’s where the real money is made!

Read The 1% Secret, check out Noobru, learn more at Smarterdestiny.com or connect with Martyn on LinkedIn!

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Going Glocal: Bringing a European Ecommerce Brand from 0 to 50 Million Euros in Annual Revenue Using Both Vertical AND Horizontal Scaling

Jure Knehtl is no stranger to scaling ecommerce brands in Europe, and we’re no strangers here at Budai Media to having exceptional guests with a whole lot to teach us what they know!

That’s why we’re ecstatic to bring on Jure, who has years of experience starting and scaling ecommerce companies and agencies in a multitude of different markets around Europe.

If you’ve ever wondered how to grow your business, or the differences between horizontal and vertical scaling, join us on the latest episode of The Ecom Show with Daniel Budai to hear about:

✔️ Scaling in different markets

✔️ Going Glocal

✔️ Selecting clients that are a good fit

✔️ Figuring out content creation

✔️ Best tools, tricks, and advice for scaling in 2021

Choose Your Market!

Should you start in your own country? Choose a bigger foreign market? Aim for the United States or Europe?

Each market has its quirks, and it’s up to you as a business owner to know them before you launch. That’s why Jure started in his home country, Slovenia, where he could take advantage of knowing the culture, laws, and language before testing out other markets.

Starting in the USA has its advantages because it’s a massive market, and you only need to create content in one language for the most part, but in Europe, it takes time to dip into new markets when you horizontally scale. Just remember to know your market and how to speak to your potential customers!

Go Glocal

At the core of Jure’s philosophy is “going glocal,” which essentially means taking the localized strategy and appealing to markets worldwide. Suppose you can take that same careful approach, tailor your message to each market, and speak both the literal and figurative language of the customer. In that case, you’ll set yourself up for success in every market you enter.

Going global with a local approach also means taking your time in each new market and not being too eager to jump ship to the next. You should build trust and treat every market differently when you scale to becoming a truly global brand.

The Best Clients

Knowing when to get rid of a client or which sort of customer to take on in the first place is a valuable skill to have. You should align not just on the surface but with long-term goals and values for the best results!

Jure and his team constantly change their criteria as the formula for the perfect client doesn’t yet exist. And they will never take on a client that just cares about making money. Knowing if they have plans for years in the future or if they’ve ever worked with an agency are essential questions to ask before you onboard a client, but ultimately it’s up to you to make that decision!

The Secret to Content Creation

First, they tried sending products and outsourcing content creation for ads to companies in the US. It took too long and was highly inefficient, often involving planning a month or more ahead of time. Then they tried to create content in-house, which worked great until it didn’t. Conversion rates went south as content became more formulaic and stale.

Now Jure entrusts his network of influencers to help with content creation, giving them free rein to let their creativity out! This has had unbelievable results so far, and it cuts down on the resources needed to produce quality content that sells.

Tips From an Ecommerce Expert in 2021

Someone like Jure could surely talk all day about game-changing strategies to implement and the best tools to use like, but he was able to sum it all up in a few words masterfully…

Multichannel/omnichannel marketing is the approach every business should be taking these days because you can never entirely rely on one platform or marketing channel. Expanding to more platforms and taking the time to learn is crucial if you want to succeed!

Get in touch with Jure or work with the WeScale Agency, feel free to connect on Linkedin or at their official agency website!

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Demystifying Conversion Rate Optimization and Data Analysis to Maximize Your Store's Profit and Potential

All the way from Kenya, we’re proud to welcome Ann Njuguna, a data analyst, web developer, and conversion rate optimization specialist with a keen eye for detail.

We’re even more proud to say that Ann is one of our team members at Budai Media, making this episode of The Ecom Show a special in-house episode!

You’d be shocked to know just how many businesses are entirely neglecting CRO these days, even though it’s more important than ever to get on board with this ever-growing field.

Sit down and listen in as Budai Media’s founder Daniel Budai, and our very own CRO expert weigh in on a variety of topics like:

✔️ How data collection and CRO have evolved in the last several years

✔️ Which businesses should start thinking about CRO

✔️ Optimizing for mobile or desktop

✔️ The best tools for data analysis

✔️ Are there quick hacks for better CRO?

Then and Now

Before Ann got her start in CRO, she specialized as a web developer. In the six years since she chose to focus on CRO, lots have changed!

We see more ecommerce businesses and companies in general focusing on data collection. Before, it was also quite tricky to find an ideal customer for CRO because not many people understood its value, but Ann has noticed this is rapidly changing. People are starting to wake up and understand its importance.

Right for Your Business?

Should my business be focusing on CRO just yet? That’s an important question to ask with an easy answer to give: Yes! Regardless of what product you sell, Ann says that any webpage with a goal in mind, whether it’s a video to be watched or a button to click, you should be thinking about CRO.

To dive deep and figure out what issues plague your website’s conversion rate, it’s essential to have enough reliable data to make an informed hypothesis and decision. If you haven’t received enough traffic to your website, you can still make note of trends you see and try to figure out why certain things are or aren’t working.

Desktop vs. Mobile

Which one should you optimize for? The easy answer is both, but that isn’t always feasible for companies depending on money, human resources, and time. The more complicated answer is that you should truly consider the nature of your product and your audience before you make this decision.

Ann gives the example of a logo or graphic design company that creates graphics and says that their clients are most likely using desktops due to the nature of their work and the software they will use when they receive their order. On the flipside, fashion brands usually receive more casual shoppers on mobile devices, so it pays to think this through!

Right Tools for the Job

Google Analytics does a great job delivering a well-rounded arsenal for data analysts and CRO-focused individuals, but it’s hardly the only thing you should be using. For optimization and data collection, Ann recommends Google Optimize for more basic stuff, while Optimizely and Visual Web Optimize are more high-tier tools.

Segment, Heap Analytics, and Mixpanel are also excellent tools to have in your arsenal, while for testing and heat maps, Hotjar, Crazy Egg, and Usertesting.com are incredibly useful.

Easy Hacks and Quick Fixes?

It might not be what you wanted to hear, but there are no quick hacks in CRO!

The best bet is to follow the process because what works for one store might not work for another. Instead, collecting data and identifying leaks in your customer journey is vital, along with testing your theory multiple times.

The thing with CRO is that it is a never-ending process, so don’t get too comfortable if you’ve seen a boost in your numbers. Competition is always nipping at your heels, so if you don’t think it’s crucial to improve your user’s experience constantly, other companies will swoop in and take your customers!

If you would like to work with Ann and see how she can help you fine-tune your website to produce better results, feel free to contact us!

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Build Trust, Improve Customer Lifetime Value, and Foster Familiarity with Conversational SMS Marketing and Stellar Customer Support

From medical school to ecommerce merchant, to tech startup co-founder…

Like most marketers, Lisa Popovici has had an interesting career, even before she helped found Cartloop. This exceptional up-and-coming company hopes to revolutionize customer service, and the way companies interact with people.

In this exciting episode of The Ecom Show with Budai Media’s founder Daniel, we get a crash course on SMS marketing in addition to:

✔️ Building customer relations

✔️ Automation vs. People Power

✔️ Exciting Cartloop features

✔️ Integrations

✔️ Tips from a marketing master

It’s All About the Customer

Cartloop doesn’t just believe in customer support when there is an issue… They’ve got real people walking shoppers through the entire buying experience, giving them tips and advice, so it’s no surprise that this idea is taking off.

Neither an agency nor an app, this innovative company believes in real-time support and the fact that customer service can be both a viable channel and an extension of the sales team at the very same time!

Who Does it Better?

We’ve interviewed and recommended SMS marketing providers before on our show, but Cartloop adds an exciting new wrinkle to the mix. Instead of sending out automated flows, Lisa and her team have found that hiring and training real customer-facing professionals can do a world of good for any ecommerce brand.

With real people working the phones and interacting with shoppers, they can do a whole lot more than conveying automated responses to customers… They can collect real-time feedback and use it to inform business-wide decision making too!

Special Features

Like any good retention marketing tools, Cartloop has its own robust abandon cart, cart recovery, and other commonly used flows in SMS and email marketing. You can also find two-way campaigns, branded links, unique discount codes, popups, dedicated customer service, and lots of other impressive features when utilizing this remarkable platform.

Works Well with Others

In this industry, the software is only as good as its integrations and Cartloop is well aware of that. They’re planning on integrating with Shopify, Woocomerce, and even Klaviyo in addition to many others. What does this mean for ecommerce owners? More accessibility and easily shared data between channels. Omni-channel marketing depends on the seamless interaction between channels and linking up your SMS, emails, and online store is all but essential at this point in time.

What Comes Next?

Lisa’s best advice? Learn who your customers truly are! Cartloop was founded on the principle that listening to your customers is more than necessary to have a healthy, thriving business. You can have the best product in the industry but if you can’t connect with people, you won’t succeed in selling it! Talk to your shoppers, ask them why they shop with you, segment them accordingly, and watch as your conversion rates soar (along with your ROI)!

If you’d like to work with Cartloop, or get in touch with Lisa, you can find her on Twitter or LinkedIn. 

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How to Build a Diverse Customer Acquisition Strategy, an In-House Marketing Team, and an Incredibly Unique Value Proposition

Running the marketing for an entire company is no easy task, no matter the industry.

Steven Krinberg from Helix started as a one-man marketing machine outsourcing to agencies before reigning it in and building himself a fully-functioning, in-house marketing team.

So what can we learn from this innovative, consumer-focused mattress brand

On this episode of The Ecom Show, our podcast host and Budai Media founder Daniel gets a chance to chat 1-on-1 with a true marketing professional to discuss things like:

✔️ Finding your value proposition 

✔️ Building an in-house marketing team from scratch

✔️ Ways to generate website traffic

✔️ Using retention marketing to nurture customers

✔️ Significant challenges for scaling companies

What Do You Bring to the Table?

Steven can name dozens of mattress brands and their value propositions, but there isn’t anything quite like Helix Sleep. Tailor-made shopping experiences, high-quality materials, eco-friendly mattresses, and a helpful sleep test have all contributed to Helix’s success, which is easy to do once you’ve figured out where your brand fits in.

Customization and customer happiness also play a prominent role, which is why Helix listened to their customers and offered them more choices after initially “taking the decision making out of the shopping experience.”

Building a Super Team

What are the benefits of building your marketing division in-house? You can save money, have more control over your brand’s direction and voice, and have greater transparency!

Relying on some agencies is nerve-wracking when you don’t know what to expect, and it can be more challenging to coordinate. Helix tests out agencies for new channels and sees how it goes, and if everything works well, they plan on bringing it in-house to add to their marketing team.

The Best Channels for Acquisition?

No matter the preferred marketing channel of choice, any experienced marketer can tell you that it is wise to diversify your traffic streams. Using Facebook or Google ads is fine, but don’t get too comfortable with all your “eggs in one basket” if you can help it!

Helix has successfully tried Facebook, Google, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Affiliate programs, influencer marketing, direct mail, and even TV ads in the quest to bring more customers to their brand. Never stop testing, and don’t be afraid to try new channels!

Changing the Way You Send Emails and SMS

Since people don’t buy mattresses very often, Steven figured it doesn’t make much sense to try and “sell to people” via emails or SMS messages.

Instead, they’ve changed how they use retention marketing channels at Helix and have instead focused on customer nurturing. They realized that people don’t like salesy emails or content, so they refrained from being invasive and merely concentrate on maintaining a relationship with their customers, which lead to people buying more mattresses when the need to do so arose.

What Comes Next?

Marketing for a mattress brand has its unique challenges, like establishing Lifetime Customer Value metrics that make sense. Since people only buy mattresses every few years, it doesn’t make sense to sell too much.

Instead, Helix has branched out and used its successful business model in other areas like sofas and other home furniture. Steven also notes that once you hit a certain level, it becomes necessary to bring your data centralization and storage in-house to have complete control over it and dictate precisely how you will use it going forwards!

If you’d like to get in touch with Steven, feel free to drop him a line on his LinkedIn or check out Helixsleep.com!

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Myths, Tips, and Tricks of SEO: How to Stay Ahead of the Constantly Changing Algorithms

Much like football or boxing, SEO has changed considerably over the last 20 years while the fundamentals still remain the same. The competition has grown, the algorithms have gotten smarter, and it’s no longer enough to stuff keywords into a page and hope for the best!

In this episode of The Ecom Show, Budai Media’s own Daniel Budai and Craig Campbell discuss the tips, tricks, and myths of SEO and effectively rank on search engines like Google.

Craig is an SEO expert with nearly two decades of experience helping clients catapult their website to the top of Google’s rankings, which is why we’re eager to hear him speak about:

✔️ How SEO has changed

✔️ Hard coding vs. Apps

✔️ Easy issues to solve in SEO

✔️ Diversifying your platforms

✔️ Building authority

Evolution of SEO

Twenty years ago, you could get away with poorly written content stuffed with keywords, and Google’s top spot would go to the one with the most links. Nowadays, it’s not that simple!

Craig mentions that much like Football or boxing, SEO’s core fundamentals still remain the same, although certain aspects changed significantly. There is more competition, more strict rules, very advanced algorithms, and more ways than ever to improve your SEO ranking.

If you want to do well, you’ll have to prioritize quality over quantity these days because search engines prioritize engagement and the same can be said for all social media platforms too.

Automate or Delegate?

The functionality of your brand’s website is also a big part of SEO, and shaving seconds off your loading speed can be the difference between a 1% and 3% conversion rate. Craig mentions that you shouldn’t obsess too much over your speed, as anything under two seconds is more than enough!

If you’re in dire need of some website fine-tuning, apps and plugins usually are 10x cheaper and 10x quicker than hiring someone to do it manually. It doesn’t make sense to pay someone for all that work if you can get an automated program to do it for you.

Low Hanging Fruit

Plenty of things get overlooked in SEO, like broken links or pages, for example. Simply redirecting traffic for old or outdated products that aren’t in stock can save you lots of headaches in the future. There are different tools you can use to achieve this, like a 301 redirect. If your broken links are being indexed, they will ultimately cannibalize your website traffic.

Google needs to be shown what you want it to see, so don’t waste time or space trying to rank every page. It doesn’t make sense to have a different URL for every shoe size, for example, when you can just organize it better in one page to save attention for your product page or main page.

Diversity is Your Friend

It may sound strange coming from an SEO expert, but don’t put all your eggs in the SEO basket! Craig thinks that having a healthy presence on multiple platforms is crucial if you want to be taken seriously because one slip up on your primary platform could be the difference between succeeding or going out of business.

Utilize Facebook, email marketing, Tik Tok, Bing, LinkedIn. It doesn’t matter, really, as long as you’re pulling in customers from a wide range of places. SEO works best when you have a healthy presence across multiple platforms anyways!

Expertise, Authority, and Trust

Nowadays, it’s all about building authority with Google and having lots of engagement, of course!

The E.A.T. acronym is an excellent reminder of how critical it is to establish your brand on multiple channels with external publications, podcasts appearances, and a whole range of other helpful boosters. Google doesn’t want uninformed people telling others about health, such as why it has implemented this system.

If you would ever like to speak with Craig or learn from his experience, CraigCampbellSEO.com is an incredible resource for any digital marketers or brand owner. You can also find him on Youtube, where he has over 500 educational videos!

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The Swiss-Army Knife of Digital Marketing: Utilizing Google's Impressive Arsenal With SEO, Shopping Network, and Youtube

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve been joined by a real force in the marketing world, Jarod Spiewak, who has been teaching himself the secrets of marketing since he was 14 years old!

From graduating high school and university early to working in corporate marketing, Jarod was unsure of his career path until the fateful day he joined Upwork and became a one-man marketing machine.

Since then, Jarod has mastered the art of SEO, Google Ads, and a whole arsenal of other Google-affiliated tools to deliver an unparalleled experience to his clients, which is precisely why we’re excited to have him on The Ecom Show!

Grab a pen and paper and listen in as podcast host Daniel Budai and Jarod talk about:

✔️ Comparing corporate marketing and digital marketing

✔️ When to start utilizing Google

✔️ Google vs. Facebook

✔️ The great PPC & SEO debate

✔️ Underutilization of Youtube

Old vs. New

It doesn’t take long listening to Jarod to understand why he couldn’t stand corporate marketing. Conventional strategies, toxic work culture, office politics, and a failure to utilize digital marketing strategies all led Jarod to leave the corporate world behind and start his own business.

Going it alone isn’t easy, but picking up skills and committing to learning digital marketing is a viable career path now, even for those who never received a college degree.

Is It Right For You?

When should you hop on the Google train? Once you hit six figures? After you’re raking in seven figures? If you’re doing well on your current platforms and want to grow rapidly, Google is the number one search engine on the planet, after all, so you can’t go wrong there.

The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all plan for brands, and it depends entirely on what you are looking for and at what stage of your sales funnel you want to use ads for.

Facebook vs. Google

People are quick to choose sides when talking about online advertising titans, but there can only be one king. Facebook is undoubtedly good for some things, but there is no denying that Google is a powerful force with a whole toolset at its disposal.

Google is also a much more stable platform than Facebook, which routinely bans accounts for no reason and has limited analytics. There is nothing wrong with using Facebook for your marketing, but it’s no secret who Jarod prefers!

Choose Your Strategy

You can ask a hundred marketers about this and get a hundred different opinions. The ultimate question is how much should you focus on SEO and how much you should spend on PPC?

There is no easy way to determine the right answer for your brand, but you shouldn’t feel bad about testing different ways out. Jarod personally recommends letting your keywords shine while using PPC for other keywords that don’t necessarily do well for you, creating a well-rounded strategy for your brand.

The Power of Youtube

Lost in all the mix is the fact that Youtube is the world’s second-biggest search engine, and Google also owns it! Youtube is massively underserved because there is a high perceived entry barrier for people who aren’t confident they can make video content.

Ironically the best performing video ads on Youtube aren’t exactly high quality, which ties in nicely with Jarod’s theory: If it would work as an ad on TV, it won’t work on Youtube! If you can figure out how to segment your audience and connect with them via video, there’s no limit to what you can do!

If you would love the opportunity to reach out to Jarod, you can find plenty of information about him on Google, which is quite fitting! You can also check out his agency, Cometfuel.com, for more information!

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How to Bring in High-Quality Traffic and Figure Out What Marketing Channel Works Best for Your Brand

We’re proud to announce another epic panel discussion with some of the brightest minds in marketing on this episode of The Ecom Show.

Join in as we answer all your questions about website traffic and customer acquisition with experts from different marketing channels like Facebook, Google, Pinterest, and Youtube like:

• Csaba Borzasi - Founder of Game of Conversions
• Sandeep Kumar - CEO and Founder of ROI Minds
• Bryan Fuentes - Owner of 2DG Media
• Joanna Szewczyk - Founder and CEO of PinMeApp
• Daniel Budai - Founder and CEO of Budai Media

If you’ve got a killer product or an exciting brand but you’re struggling to bring people to your site, there’s plenty you could be learning about, such as:

✔️ “Wild West” of advertising on Youtube

✔️ The power of Google advertising in ecommerce

✔️ Organic marketing strategies with Pinterest

✔️ Importance of creatives and testing on Facebook

The Awareness Funnel and Maximizing Youtube’s Potential

Our friend Csaba says that you’ve only got a few seconds to pull someone’s attention, which is why only the best scriptwriters succeed. Scriptwriting edges out production value in terms of importance, with some of the most successful videos featuring seemingly low value, laidback imagery, and a well-designed script.

If you can utilize Csaba’s great H.E.R.O technique when marketing, you’ll achieve incredible results too. Since Youtube is an action-based platform where people are already searching for knowledge or solutions to problems, it’s a natural bet for people looking to sell products online!

The World’s Best Search Engine

Google is also quite powerful, especially when you consider how many people use it and how it works similarly to Youtube. If you’re asking a question on Google, chances are you in some stage of the customer journey, whether you know it or not.

When specific keywords are entered into Google, it’s captured in the data, and it’s a whole lot easier to target certain people based on their search. If you can figure out who your customers are and find out what buying stage they are in, Sandeep thinks it’s simple to pull in large numbers of people to your ecommerce store.

Start Slow. Set it Up Right.

Pinterest is massively underutilized to this day, considering it has over 400 million users and that 30% of people that go on Pinterest are coming from Google searches.

Joanna says it’s essential to start with other channels before you experiment with Pinterest, but once you’ve developed a brand identity, you can start tinkering with it. First, you need to start slow and build a page without your product to earn the trust of customers and show them you are a vital resource for their favorite niche.

Once you are established, you can display your products organically and attract a million views based on a few hundred subscribers to your page.

The Power of Creatives

Bryan says there are plenty of factors that determine whether a Facebook ad is excellent or not, but one factor takes the cake. Creativity is absolutely necessary if you want eyes on your ads and money in your pocket.

If you have less than 1% click-through rates, it isn’t your product that is the problem…

It’s your ad and your offer!

Well-written copy that pulls at the heartstrings is a fundamental theme no matter the channel, along with testing your ads to inform how you will proceed to advertise going forward. It helps to throw a few bucks into several different ad sets getting started, so you can have “skin in the game” while also learning what works best and what doesn’t work at all.

Bringing in traffic can be done in various ways, but the biggest takeaway is that no one channel should be carrying the load. You must integrate and connect and overlap to make an omnichannel strategy so you can flourish on all platforms and confidently pull in new customers all the time.

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Incorporating SMS Into Your Omnichannel Marketing Strategy and Sharing Data Between Platforms for Maximum Personalization

SMS marketing is one of the most overlooked marketing channels for the time being, but did you know it averages over 40x ROI?

On this episode of The Ecom Show with our host Daniel Budai, we get to hear from Elena Kostova, one of the marketing masterminds behind SMSBump, a company we are proud to partner with!

SMSBump is part of the Yotpo ecosystem, which has great marketing tools like loyalty programs, review apps, and more, which is why it’s more important than ever to make sure your tools are integrated and ready to share data with one another and ensure customers have the most personalized experience possible.

Tune in and hear Elena and Daniel discuss:

✔️ Implementing SMS for the first time
✔️ Collecting subscribers from different channels
✔️ Mixing channels together synergetically
✔️ Big things in store for SMSBump and Yotpo
✔️ Best tips for succeeding with SMS marketing

Getting Started

Unsurprisingly, our knowledgeable guest is quite familiar with getting brands started in SMS. Elena says most people aren’t aware that SMS marketing is a viable channel and one of the most lucrative ones with the best ROI.

If you’re just getting started, it helps to know who you are speaking to, local and national regulations (there are many laws in Europe and the USA), and start with the most successful automation like Abandon Cart first.

Build Your SMS Subscriber List

“You’re only as successful as the number of customers you can reach,” according to Elena, and this rings true especially for SMS marketing. If you put out quality content and highly personalized messages, it won’t matter if your subscriber list is small.

It’s recommended that you have several platforms to bring in SMS subscriptions, pulling in different audiences from TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc. You can use special offers to entice people into signing up and tailor that offer to the average demographic on any given social media channel.

Synergetic Integration

By itself, SMS marketing won’t accomplish much. It works much better alongside several other potent marketing channels like Facebook Ads, loyalty programs, email marketing, etc. Fortunately, Yotpo has a whole arsenal of excellent tools that all integrate with SMSBump, so you can share data between all of them to learn as much as you can about your customers.

Suppose you can apply what you learn about your audience on SMS and plug it into Shopify or Klaviyo. In that case, you’ll be that much better at personalizing, segmenting, and ultimately bringing in more revenue.

What’s Next for SMSBump?

Since SMSBump now operates in the Yotpo ecosystem, it helps them offer a complete “360” all-encompassing tool that allows marketers and brands to succeed in all areas. They are getting better at sharing data and creating strong customer profiles that can be used on any channel. If you can connect 1-on-1 with a customer and make them feel appreciated and noticed, there is no limit to what your brand can accomplish!

Best Tips for SMS Marketing

Elena could indeed talk all day about sharing advice, but she mainly mentions focusing on a few select things. For instance, you should get comfortable with delivering your messages with as few words as possible. There is a character limit!

Also, study up the regulations of each country. Some require double opt-in confirmation, and there is a vast cultural difference between the USA and Europe when it comes to receiving SMS marketing messages.

The key theme we’re seeing this year with all our guests on The Ecom Show is personalization is the next big thing moving forward. Elena mentions that conversion rates jump up 54% with more personalized messages, so capturing data and leveraging it between all channels is critical!

Feel free to check out more great resources, tips, templates, and content at SMSBump.com or send Elena a message at [email protected].

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Finding a Winning Product, Scaling Up and Adapting to Facebook Ads Updates

All the way from Scotland is ecommerce growth hacker Fraser Brien! In just 3 years, Fraser has gone from an inexperienced marketer to one of the industry’s most knowledgeable accelerated growth marketers, specializing in Facebook Ad buying and horizontal scaling to other countries throughout Europe.

It doesn’t matter which country or culture he’s appealing to. Like a real marketer, Fraser can adapt and find a way to communicate with any audience.

On this episode of The Ecom Show, Daniel Budai, our multitalented CEO and podcast host, talks shop with Fraser Brien about:

✔️ How to know when you have a winning product
✔️ Common problems when scaling too fast
✔️ Adapting to the Facebook Ads updates
✔️ Knowing your market
✔️ The best tips and tools for growing and scaling horizontally

Finding Your Product and Brand

Great marketing won’t save you from a bad product or brand. When choosing the item you plan on selling, you should always consider the lifetime value of each customer. If they shop with you one time and have anything less than a stellar experience, you can assume they won’t return. Having a problem that allows customers to keep buying is key.

It’s also essential to give people a powerful brand because all the marketing in the world won’t help if you don’t have a following, an audience, or a soul underneath it all. He can’t choose a product for you, but Fraser does note that if your core concept and product are solid, you’ll make it a lot easier on yourself when you market it!

Growing Pains

If you want to expand to other countries, there are plenty of things you need to consider. If you’re going to sell products in Canada, for example, you’ll need to account for the customs and taxes on an item because people won’t leave great reviews if they need to pay expensive fees on top of the money they already spent.

It also helps to know the legality of selling in other countries and do your due diligence when it comes to admin. The “under the road” infrastructure, as Fraser calls it, is the foundation for a successful move to another market!

Weighing in on the Apple vs. Facebook War

The IOS update from Apple was thought to have crippled Facebook Ads, but the marketers can adapt and overcome! Ultimately, Fraser doesn’t think the update will be a bad thing, but for now, people have to get used to finding a new way to collect data and track their spending on ads.

You also can’t expect to throw a lot of money at ad buying on Facebook and hope to see results anymore, so it pays to capture your data and know how to use it properly!

Catering to Different Cultures and Countries

Fraser noted that expanding into other countries is trickier in some than others. If you want to hit the Danish or Dutch markets, you can feel it out with English copywriting due to local language proficiency. However, French, German, and Spanish people are less likely to engage, so it helps to have a translated website and copy that isn’t just translated word for word.

It’s important to know what the local culture is like, what social media platform they like best, how they engage, what is ok or not acceptable to say, and other cultural differences that could come into play. Some cultures are more diverse so studying your market is critical.

Advice for All Marketers

With significant IOS changes, it’s more important than ever to learn how to compile data, form a hypothesis, and test it. Google Analytics is one of the best tools a marketer can know how to use, and it’s completely free! Knowing how to use this proficiently could make a whole world of difference, especially in the post-IOS update world.

There are, of course, many platforms at your disposal when it comes to marketing to your audience, but it is necessary to know what roles they can play and where your brand’s customers typically hang out. Some younger brands may resonate more with TikTok, while Pinterest takes longer to grow but pays off with much more quality leads.


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