The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

It's five times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.

So the saying goes.

But as an ecommerce seller, there's a plethora of tools out there that you can leverage to engage your audience, expand your customer base, and make your brand more profitable.

My guest for this episode is Paul Baron, who is a Chatbot Architect at The Chat Agency, a marketing solutions provider that helps brands rank, build lists, and boost conversion rates using chatbots and influencer marketing.

Paul will be sharing how he got into ecommerce and how he eventually made the deep dive into digital marketing. He'll walk us through where his marketing strategies have found the most success, how he gets people into lists, and how he builds a network of brand ambassadors using various marketing funnels.

You'll also learn why it's not just knowing your audience, but also knowing how they engage with your brand, that can take your business to the next level.

Timestamps:

• How Paul got into ecommerce - 03:58
• Where Paul and his team has seen the most success - 8:03
• Getting people into your marketing funnels - 10:33
• Why you should consider yourself an 'influencer' - 15:02
• How much brand ambassadors matter in terms of revenue - 20:45
• The value of putting together a buyer persona (If you haven't already) - 27:10

I'd like to thank Paul for all the good stuff he shared with me today. If you're looking to grow your brand through chatbots and influencer marketing, definitely check out their services over on thechatagency.com.

Speaking of growing your brand, nothing speaks ecommerce more than mastering the art of importing from the world's factory floor. Copies of our book, Import From China Like A Pro are still up for grabs—your copy is on us, just pay for shipping!

Don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you like this episode, and as always, happy selling and we'll talk to you soon!

Whether you're an established seller or running an ecommerce business out of your living room, you'll run into some hairsplitting decisions sooner or later.

Should you create a new listing or re-introduce an old product as 'new and improved'? Is it better to offer a 'deluxe version' or craft an entirely different listing? Should you hire your first employee or keep on handling everything yourself?

Questions like these keep a lot of ecommerce sellers up at night, but that's what our Under the Hood segment is for.

In today's episode, we're doing a follow-up Under the Hood session with Dawn LaFontaine, who was our guest way back in Episode 244: How to Drive Traffic to a Low Search Volume Product.

We'll be talking about what a lifestyle business actually means and what it's like being at that crossroads where you're looking to hire that first employee.

I'll also be sharing my strategies for converting high organic traffic into actual sales, why you want 'Made in the USA' for certain products and could live with importing others, plus, I'll be answering some of Dawn's burning questions that you might also be itching to ask yourself.

Timestamps:

• Recapping our first Under the Hood session - 5:07
• How I stay excited with everything I do - 16:58
• What defines a lifestyle business and why it may be different for everyone - 24:39
• US-made vs China-made, and why a mix of both is okay - 34:53
• Revamping an existing product - 40:12
• My tips for offering product variations - 43:37
• Launching a product using an old listing - 47:18
• Why PPC is always worth it - 48:37

I had a fun time talking to Dawn and I hope more of our furry friends find their way into her cute cardboard boxes. Check out all her awesome cat boxes over on Cat in the Box.

By the way, Premium won't be open again for a few months, but we still have a ton of free stuff that you'll surely find value in.

Our free public webinar on Importing From China 2021 is still open for registrations. We'll be teaching you our exact secrets to importing from the world's factory—from sourcing products, to working with suppliers, to shipping and logistics.

This free webinar will be on June 3 at 10 AM (PST)Reserve your slot here.

As always, if you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review over on iTunes to let us know. Happy selling, and we'll talk to you soon!

Mike and Dave talk about why Amazon is pushing sellers away from FBA, how they are dealing with storage limits, and what fallback strategies you can use.

"Amazon is not a retail company, it's a logistics company that does retail."

Interesting adage. But is it still true today?

In this episode, Dave and I will try to dissect Amazon's mindset—whether over the next several months, they will try to get more sellers to send more of their inventory into FBA, or push them towards Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) or merchant-fulfilled models.

In particular, we'll go over key factors that might be affecting Amazon's recent moves, including COVID, supply chain disruptions, and rising labor costs.

We'll also look into Amazon's recently-updated inventory and restock limitations, how it shakes things up for third party sellers, and what strategies we are putting in place to stay ahead of the curve.

Finally, we'll talk about our general fallback options in case FBA does cease (whether partially or entirely) to make sense for ecommerce sellers.

If you're looking for some insights as to what's been going on with FBA and how you can plan your business around that, definitely give this one a listen.

Timestamps:

• Is FBA dying? – 4:24
• How rising wages could affect Amazon's mindset on FBA – 12:10
• Dealing with Amazon's new inventory and restock limits – 14:25
• The pains of managing your own warehouse – 23:57

It's always a pleasure having Dave to bounce my ideas off of. Feel free to check out his piece on Amazon's Storage Limits in 2021 and all the other good stuff over on the EcomCrew Blog.

Also, in case you missed it, today is the last day that EcomCrew Premium will be open for the quarter. We limit our openings to make sure that we can cater to all of our Premium members, so if you're someone who could use unlimited email support from two 7-figure sellers, finds value in webinars presented by industry experts, and are looking to join a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, give Premium a try.

Finally, leave us a review over on iTunes if you liked this episode. Until the next one, happy selling and we'll talk to you soon!

Whether you're just starting out or are looking to scale your business, capital is a problem. Things change fast in ecommerce and getting your hands on cash can be difficult.

My guest today is Don Henig, a tried-and-true finance guy who has found a rather fresh way of financing Amazon businesses through his company, AccrueMe.

AccrueMe is an investment company that offers funding to Amazon private labels and wholesalers in return for a small temporary share in profits. Its goal is to help Amazon sellers grow without worrying about the usual burdens of typical financing options—there's no interest to worry about, no required monthly payments, and they don't take any ownership over your business.

In this episode, we'll get to know Don and the interesting story behind AccrueMe. He'll also walk me through the process of how their financing model works, with real-world examples to boot.

So, if you're pressed for cash or are planning to take your business to the next level with additional capital, you'll get a lot out of this episode.

Timestamps:

• Why and how Don started AccrueMe – 3:41
• How AccrueMe financing works – 12:39
• Some important points I like about the AccrueMe financing model – 18:28
• Real-world examples of AccrueMe financing – 22:33
• How you can apply for funding – 31:58
• The minimum requirements for approval – 35:53

I'd like to thank Don for coming to the show and sharing his creative financing model with us. If you have any burning questions about AccrueMe, you can connect with him over on LinkedIn or email him at [email protected].

In case you haven't already, now is your last chance to sign up for EcomCrew Premium this quarter! Some perks our Premium members love most are the unlimited email support from myself and Dave Bryant, our monthly Secret Sauce Webinars delivered by industry experts, and our entire library of courses and Q&A webinars where like-minded entrepreneurs share their pain points and strategies.

Premium won't be open for a few months after today, so make sure you don't miss out.

Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please head over to iTunes and leave us a review.

Until the next one, happy selling!

In this edition of our Amazon PPC series, Dave explores advanced tactics that worked for his own brands which coincidentally, everyone else seems to be ignoring.

Do your Sponsored Products campaigns suck? Has your ACoS gone through the roof?

Today, Dave will address those problems and talk about Amazon's Sponsored Products.

This episode kicks off with a breakdown of the most basic strategy that everyone is using for this advertising campaign method—the peel-stick-block technique.

Then, Dave will talk about some of our advanced tactics and how we are using them for our own brands. He will cover topics like placement bids and why you're probably doing it wrong, the effective ways to do dynamic bidding, and when to take advantage of category targeting.

Whether you're looking to improve your Sponsored Product campaigns and keep that ACoS at a manageable level or just learning about Amazon's bevy of advertising options, there's a lot in this episode for you.

Timestamps:

• Peel-stick-block and the basics of Amazon Sponsored Products - 4:17
• Our advanced strategies for Amazon Sponsored Products - 5:40
• Placement bids and how most people are doing it wrong - 7:25
• Which placement performs best for Mike and Dave's brands - 11:59
• Dynamic bidding - 14:09
• Category targeting - 19:20
• Why category search doesn't work for most people - 20:19

If you loved this episode, stay tuned for future editions of this Amazon PPC Overhaul series, where we'll talk about the other advertising campaign options on Amazon, the best software to manage all your ad campaigns, and how our PPC experiments impacted our own brands.

By the way, EcomCrew Premium is open this week only! This will give you access to our deep-dive Secret Sauce Webinar on Amazon Sponsored Products, where we really get down to the nitty gritty and share our three secret targeting campaign strategies.

Premium also gives you perks like unlimited email access to Dave and myself for all questions that you may have, 6 up-to-date ecommerce courses in glorious HD, our entire library of past webinars, including other Secret Sauce editions with industry experts. See you on the inside.

Don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. It helps more than you know.

Until the next one, happy selling and we'll talk to you soon!

Mike and Dave break down how Gino Wickman's best-selling book, Traction, helped them grow their ecommerce companies. They also announce the giveaway winners of Gino's new book, Entrepreneurial Leap.

Ever struggled as an entrepreneur but can't quite put your finger on what the problem is?

I know I have.

One of the biggest things that helped me get past that and level up my entrepreneurial game is Gino Wickman's best-seller, Traction. Matter of fact, I did an entire podcast series on how I used his practical methods with my own business.

In this episode, Dave and I talk about how the book impacted not just EcomCrew but also our separate ecommerce brands, from capturing our company core values, to building an awesome offshore team, to nailing down our long-term goals.

By the way, Gino himself was on Episode 376 where we talked about his new book, Entrepreneurial Leap. In that episode, we kicked off a giveaway of three signed copies of his book, and we're happy to announce the three lucky winners today!

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who participated!

It's definitely fun having Dave around more often on the podcast. You'll catch more of us during our upcoming free public webinar on Sending External Traffic to Amazon, where we'll be teaching you how free organic traffic can help you sell and rank on Amazon without wasting money on paid advertising.

Mark the date: May 19 at 10 AM (PST)

Sign up here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to iTunes and leave us a review. It helps more than you know.

As always, happy selling and we'll talk to you soon!

I bought an exciting new ecommerce business last year!

I've talked about how that opportunity came about with my business partners, Andrew and Bill, back in Episode 366.

Now, several months into this venture, there's a bunch of new questions to be answered and a lot more stuff to be explored, all of which I'm happy to share with you guys.

In today's episode, Dave is back on the show to ask me some of those burning questions:

• Was it wise to have bought the company during the pandemic year?
• What are the top 3 things I'm focusing on to grow the business?
• How am I dealing with the increased cash flow needs as the business grows?

We'll be talking about all that and much more in this episode. Whether you are looking to buy an ecommerce business yourself or are developing your business to sell it in the near future, this episode definitely has a lot in it for you.

It's always a fun time having Dave come on the podcast. Be sure to check out all the awesome stuff he's putting out on the EcomCrew Blog.

If you enjoyed this episode as much as we did, leave us a review over on iTunes. It helps more than you know.

Until the next one, happy selling!

Check out our article here for more information into our PPC overhaul and investigation.

Over the last year, Amazon has rolled out a bunch of new advertising options alongside a trend of rising ACoS.

While my offshore team has done an amazing job with PPC and keeping everything in check, I've found that a few competitors have caught up to us by taking advantage of these new ad formats.

All this can get overwhelming for new Amazon sellers and has a lot of us scratching our heads as to which methods to use, how much to spend, and which software works best.

This is why we're doing an Amazon PPC Overhaul series.

In this 6-part series, Dave and I will re-examine the current advertising campaigns we use for our own 7-figure brands and bring you a breakdown of our actual numbers to answer all your questions about PPC and Amazon's hoard of ad formats.

For this pilot episode, we'll be talking about why PPC can be the biggest driver of profit in your ecommerce business. We'll also be giving an overview of our current account performance and the goals we want to achieve after our investigation.

Timestamps:

• Why we're doing this Amazon PPC podcast series - 1:01
• How my early PPC tests are turning out - 7:35
• Current PPC baselines for our own brands and our 3-month goals - 9:38
• Should you just turn off PPC during the off season? - 13:34
• Our thoughts on how AI plays into PPC and ad campaigns - 19:10
• Some key questions we want to answer in this series - 22:21

Be sure to check out Dave's Amazon PPC Overhaul article, which is the perfect companion to this podcast episode, and all the other good stuff we have for you over on the EcomCrew Blog.

Also, if you haven't already, grab your free copy of our book, Import From China Like A Pro now. From finding products to import, to working with suppliers, to getting your inventory shipped, this all-in-one guide will help you avoid the mistakes we ourselves have made when importing from China.

And again, the book is free, just pay for shipping.

If you like this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast, tune in to the rest of this series, and leave us a review over on iTunes.

Until the next one, happy selling!

Episode 301 with Dave Alexander was a memorable one. We talked about his failures in venturing into the world of ecommerce (including his hilarious first ecommerce idea) and how perseverance eventually got the ball rolling for him.

Since then, Dave has found success with his brands, Bushy Box and Lazy Leash.

Hungry for more growth, Dave is back for a second Under the Hood session where I answer his biggest questions on how to level-up his ecommerce game.

Some of the things we talk about in this episode include the best ways to get traffic into your own ecommerce site or Shopify store, why reaching out to influencers can help you get more visibility to relatively unique products like pocket-sized dog leashes, and how to start selling your product on Amazon.

Whether you are only just launching your first product or are looking to scale your business, I'm sure there's something valuable here for you.

Timestamps:

• Getting traffic into your own website or Shopify store - 3:12
• How to reduce your workload and avoid burnout - 13:38
• Why you should reach out to influencers and media platforms - 16:59
• The benefits of hiring a full-time PR person - 23:11
• My advice on selling on Amazon - 26:03
• Basic principles in crafting a killer Amazon listing - 28:52

I'd wanna thank Dave for finding the time to do this episode with me, and I'm definitely looking forward to Part 3 with him several months down the road. Be sure to check out his awesome products on Bushy Box and Lazy Leash—who knows, they might give you some inspiration to develop your own unique ecommerce product.

Finally, if you haven't already, be sure to join our giveaway of 3 autographed copies of Gino Wickman's Entrepreneurial Leap, which will run until April 30. To enter, simply leave us a review over on iTunes and email us a screenshot of your review at [email protected] with the Subject Line: Entrepreneurial Leap. Good luck!

Happy selling, and we'll talk to you soon!

Shipping and logistics has become a nightmare (If it wasn't already). Between sea freight rates soaring 300%, massive delays in getting your shipments from China into Amazon warehouses, and Amazon making sellers bear the brunt of its inventory limits, a lot of ecommerce sellers are struggling to foot the bill.

In this episode, Dave and I break down this nightmarish sea freight situation and how it's affecting us personally in terms of margins and inventory management.

We also talk about some useful tactics and strategies we are putting in place to stay ahead of the curve and keep our businesses afloat (pun intended). Finally, we share our predictions on where this whole thing is going and why you should definitely be placing your entire holiday order right now.

Timestamps:

• Breaking down the current mess that is shipping and logistics - 00:57
• How much freight transit times and costs have soared - 05:02
• It's actually impact to our margins - 8:11
• Managing your inventory and taking advantage when your competitor runs out of stock - 13:26
• How Amazon's capacity issues is putting the screws to ecommerce sellers - 16:30
• Our predictions moving forward - 27:09

It's always a blast having Dave come on the podcast. Be sure to check out the EcomCrew Blog to read up about things like sea freight, why costs have basically tripled in the past year, and other burning ecommerce topics.

Also, in case you missed it, we're giving away 3 autographed copies of Gino Wickman's new book, Entrepreneurial Leap, which answers all the questions you're ever going to ask yourself before taking the leap into entrepreneurship.

For a chance to win 1 of these 3 copies, simply leave us a review on iTunes and email us a screenshot of your review with the Subject Line: Entrepreneurial Leap. If you've already given us a review in the past, you can take a screenshot of it and send that over.

Entries will be accepted until April 30, and the winners will be announced shortly thereafter here on the podcast. Good luck!

Until the next one, happy selling!