The Ecommerce Influence Podcast

Holistic marketing can make your brand more consistent and unified across all your marketing channels so that it stands out from the competition.

Jesse Semchuck, Director of Acquisition for Traeger Grills, joins us to share what he has learned from viewing channels holistically. He shares what the makeup of his marketing team looks like, how internal teams and third party agencies interact, and how a holistic growth approach can create more synergy across all marketing initiatives and the organization.

Tune in and find out if holistic marketing is something you should use in your business.

• 5:59 Jesse Semchuck's role at Traeger Grills and what he's been excited to build over the last year
• 7:55 The difference between selling mattresses and selling smoker grills
• 9:18 What's working well for Traeger Grills right now
• 11:14 The makeup of Jesse's marketing team
• 12:37 Questions Jesse asks when thinking about strategic scaling and how he decides which marketing channels to focus on
• 17:06 Why low ROAS isn't always a bad thing and the importance of understanding how different channels impact one another
• 20:13 When is the right time to invest in a full funnel holistic approach to your marketing
• 22:42 What most people do wrong when hiring an agency, and a better way to approach it
• 26:58 How internal team interaction with agencies is structured at Traeger Grills
• 29:00 Questions to ask a potential agency partner
• 30:57 When to outsource to an agency versus keeping things in house
• 32:31 Agency red flags to watch out for

• Subscribe to the Brand Growth Experts Newsletter
• Subscribe to the Foxwell Digital Newsletter
• Jesse Semchuck
• Traeger Grills
• Purple Mattress
• @jessesem on Twitter
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

This Week We're Bringing You A Throwback To One Of Our Most Popular Episodes Of All Time.

In May 2018 we interviewed Jake Kassan about what it really takes to build a $100 million business. This episode has been incredibly popular, and it still extremely relevant today.

Jake Kassan, founder and CEO of MVMT Watches, was one of my first clients when he was just launching the brand back in 2013. He talks about how things have changed since then, and how MVMT has grown to what it is today. MVMT strives to be a best in class brand and best in class in all-around marketing, and Jake shares the strategic approach to marketing MVMT uses to achieve those goals. He also talks about how having a strong team is essential to scaling your business and shares his experience hiring a CMO and supporting team, and what you need to know to do it.

Enjoy!

• 9:05 How building relationships with customers through direct sales online helped MVMT scale.
• 12:04 The best success comes in stages and this is what each stage of growth has looked like for MVMT over the last 5 years.
• 13:12 Jake's #1 tip for successfully scaling a business (hint: it's not email or Facebook ads).
• 15:07 What MVMT would do differently if they had to do it all over again.
• 19:05 As an entrepreneur, Jake believes it's important to always be testing and working through those results to find success.
• 21:13 The basic math MVMT used to scale in the beginning and how they look at "spending-money-to-make-money" now.
• 24:18 Where MVMT is testing for acquisition and where they're seeing success.
• 28:28 What you need to know when growing your team so you can successfully scale your business.
• 32:15 How MVMT solidified their appeal with customers through user-generated content.
• 35:09 What Jake loves most about building a lifestyle brand.
• 38:11 Every business goes through low times, here's a few MVMT went through in order to grow.
• 43:09 Why Jake feels it's so important to network with and learn from other founders.

• MVMT Watches
• Hims
• Jake Kassan
• Instagram.com/JakeKassan
• Twitter.com/JakeKassan
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Most companies add a second product line when they want to grow. This week's guest decided to build a second brand instead.

Ashley Merrill founded women's sleepwear line Lunya in 2014 because she was tired of wearing her husband's clothes around the house. Five years later, she decided to expand into menswear, but just adding a men's line didn't sit right with her.

Tune in to find out why Ashley decided to start a second brand, how she grew her company from a startup to an established business, and lessons she's learned about building a team.

• 5:16 How an ambition to solve a problem resulted in launching Lunya
• 8:00 How business has evolved since its unconventional 2014 launch
• 10:42 Why having major funding in the beginning isn't always best, and the spending that eventually moved the needle for Lunya
• 13:05 The value of identifying your brand muse.
• 15:28 One company value that's contributed to Lunya's success
• 16:30 Hiring lessons learned growing from a start-up into an established business
• 21:00 How Lahgo started and why Ashley built a second brand, rather than simply adding the men's line to Lunya
• 25:44 The biggest trap entrepreneurs can get stuck in
• 28:48 The High 5 Test and the lessons Ashley learned from getting her MBA
• 33:20 How non-traditional methods of getting in front of people help the brand
• 39:36 Ashley's key piece of advice for business owners

• Lunya
• Lahgo
• Kinfolk Article featuring Ashley
• The High 5 Test
• Episode 159: The $100 Million Dollar Blueprint W/Mike Danner of Ancient Nutrition
• @ashley__merrill on Instagram
• @lunya on Instagram
• @lahgo on Instagram
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

One of the most challenging parts of growing a business is acquiring valuable customers who will purchase from you regularly.

Part 3 of our Profit Series gets into the nitty-gritty details of how to increase customer lifetime value. We dive straight into customer-centric versus product-centric businesses and talk about different ways to acquire more high-value customers and share proven tactics that will help you increase customer lifetime value.

Episode Highlights:

• 3:36 The first strategic decision you must make when thinking about customer lifetime value
• 6:38 The best lever to focus on to increase customer lifetime value
• 8:03 The revolutionary changes with Facebook advertising that help you reach your best customers
• 10:05 The importance of product and service offerings that tailor to high-value customers
• 11:49 Are loyalty programs a good way to increase customer lifetime value?
• 13:20 The strategy that led Best Buy to boom while their competitors got wiped out
• 15:15 The value of subscriptions and talking to your best customers
• 17:58 How to build a solid referral strategy
• 20:10 Additional tactics to increase customer lifetime value

• Episode 254: Profit Series Part 2: How to Increase Your Average Order Value
• Episode 252: Profit Series Part 1: A Roadmap to a More Profitable and Fulfilling Company
• Episode 178: You Are Treating Your Customers Equally and It's Costing You Money
• Episode 062: Peter Fader, Wharton School - How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value & What Customer Centricity Really looks like
• Book: The Customer Centricity Playbook by Dr. Peter Fader
• Talkable
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Is it possible to build a large, successful business with close to $40 million in revenue without using any paid social?

Our guest, Nate Lipton of GrowersHouse, shows us how it can be done. And, in addition to not using paid ads, he's been able to get his customer acquisition costs to zero.

Nate shares the different approach to marketing that has helped him build several incredibly successful companies in the cannabis and hemp industries. He talks about exactly how you can use YouTube to establish yourself as a trusted brand and drive ad-free sales.

If you're looking for some refreshing ideas for how you can drive more revenue, this is a great episode to jog your imagination about what's possible.

• 5:54 Nate's involvement in the cannabis and hemp industries via multiple different businesses
• 9:44 Fixing a gap in the cannabis industry: the creation of the Grower's Network
• 12:18 The YouTube channel that lifted the veil on growing operations
• 16:37 How Nate got started in ecommerce and his number one piece of advice for beginners
• 20:28 What Nate would do differently if he were building his website today
• 22:31 The future role of video in ecommerce and common YouTube misconceptions
• 24:58 Using video to provide clarity around what a product actually does
• 30:42 One factor that will help you win more customers in the long term
• 32:37 How connecting with your competitors and being radically transparent can benefit your business in a major way
• 35:40 Other non-traditional advertising channels that Nate's using that have resulted in zero customer acquisition costs
• 41:05 The questions you need to ask yourself to reframe your approach to acquiring customers
• 45:37 What you can do right now to increase your revenue

• GrowersHouse
• Growers Network
• Canna Cribs
• TruPotency.com
• [email protected]
• Instagram: @nate.j.lipton
• Magento
• Shopify
• Boredwalk Tshirts
• James Schramko
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• The Coalition
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

In Part 2 of our Profit Series, we're diving into successful strategies and tactics you can use to increase your average order value.

From simple changes with pricing to on-site additions to optimizing your Facebook targeting, we share the exact tactics our top clients are using to increase average order value and how these tactics support the big picture strategy toward profitable growth.

• 4:27 The 80/20 Rule and how it should impact your overall business strategy
• 8:41 The first thing to do if you want to increase average order value
• 10:30 Successful approaches to bundling products
• 13:02 How to use dynamic product ads to increase average order value
• 16:28 A tactic Kettle & Fire is using on their website collections page to boost sales
• 18:10 Why your best type of customers are the key for increasing average order value
• 20:34 The difference between upsells and cross-sells and how to determine which is best for your brand
• 23:57 The value of delivering relevant products at the point of checkout
• 26:19 How upsells can have a huge impact on average order value and why you don't have to overcomplicate the offer
• 29:00 A few additional unique ways to increase average order value

• Episode 252: Profit Series, Part 1
• Episode 204: How To Build A Baller Quiz Funnel On A Tiny Budget
• Book: 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall
• Messenger Mastermind Podcast
• Constantly Varied Gear
• Dr. Axe Bundles
• Kettle & Fire
• Tecovas Boots
• Carthook
• OneClickUpsell
• Facebook and Instagram Pro Ad Buyers Group
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• The Coalition
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

August Noble went from leading acquisition at SnackNation to helping his clients optimize TikTok's acquisition channel -- influencers. He is now using key learnings from other social media platforms to ramp up influencer marketing strategies to promote brands.

Tune in and find out what TikTok is all about and how it's generating more buzz in the social media world.

• 3:17 How August Noble shares a similar start with our co-host, Austin
• 4:10 The successes at SnackNation that led August to paid media consulting
• 6:47 Lessons learned from Linkedin for B2B and B2C
• 8:32 How Linkedin helped targeting strategy
• 10:08 The tweet about TikTok that landed August on our podcast
• 14:29 What makes TikTok more viral than Instagram or Twitter
• 17:26 Building relationships with influencers
• 21:42 The products that do well on the TikTok platform
• 24:18 What August is prioritizing over tracking
• 26:44 Where TikTok is headed and what the most effective content is
• 30:56 Key learnings from scaling on Facebook and Instagram
• 33:53 What's the difference between $15K a day and $1k a day ad spend?
• 35:52 Targeting strategies: Specific versus Broad
• 42:48 Tools and resources August recommends

• SnackNation
• TikTok
• Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
• Enquire Labs
• @augustnoble on Twitter
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

We've had conversations with many clients during these challenging times. While some businesses are booming, others are taking a hit in sales. But the one thing that seems to be on everyone's mind is profitability.

In this episode, we set the framework for our entire Profit Series. Whether or not your business is thriving during this time, we share the five-step process of creating the roadmap you can use for profitable growth.

Episode Highlights:

• 4:52 The decision you have to make about the metrics you keep in focus
• 6:19 How do you define profit?
• 9:12 What it means to set a profitability goal and how it differs in different industries
• 14:53 How to set a capitalization goal
• 17:55 What is a salary cap?
• 21:25 How to manage salary caps
• 25:03 The three levers to drive profitable growth

Links and Resources:

• Book: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• Boredwalk Tshirts
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

They've won the Shopify Build a Bigger Business Competition, hit number 20 on the INC 5000 list, and now they're on the podcast to talk about turning a personal need into a successful business venture.

Garret and Deanne Akerson of Kindred Bravely share how they've navigated running a business together as a couple -- from initial startup to hiring over 50 remote employees and all the challenges and milestones in between.

Tune in and enjoy!

• 4:59 How Garett and Deanne started Kindred Bravely
• 9:01 The lessons learned transitioning from Amazon to Shopify
• 12:07 How the Amazon ecosystem has evolved and how to approach it now
• 14:47 How to navigate running a business as married entrepreneurs
• 18:17 What trading flexibility for structure looked like for Garret and Deanne
• 21:55 The things that make a large, remote company successful
• 26:36 Milestones and challenges during the hiring process
• 30:53 How to know when it's time to hire executive-level positions
• 36:47 Group Zoom calls during the interview process -- is there an advantage?
• 42:36 What questions and themes Garett and Deanne like to bring up during interviews

• Kindred Bravely
• Davy Piper
• Shopify Build a Bigger Business
• INC 5000
• Slack
• GetGuru
• Gorgias
• Asana
• Google Suite
• Zoom
• Topgrading
• Cameron Herold
• Book: Meetings Suck
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

As we see an increase in Facebook and Instagram usage due to COVID-19, many of our clients are scaling up their advertising. Today's episode will cover what's working right now in paid social and how our clients and partners are scaling up!

• 6:37 The specific audiences working right now for top of the funnel advertising
• 9:57 User-generated content that's providing additional scale
• 11:30 What's working right now to scale up middle of the funnel advertising
• 12:22 The audience advertisers should be targeting
• 13:23 Bid strategy - are cost caps working?
• 15:35 How to acknowledge the challenging times on the website and product
• 19:14 Optimizing dynamic creative within campaigns
• 20:58 What optimization is working in low funnel
• 21:33 How to address shipping concerns
• 22:44 Other messaging opportunities to address delivery concerns

• Facebook and Instagram Pro Ad Buyers Group
• Verb Energy
• Episode 245: How to Build a Successful Agency (Without Burning Yourself Out)
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes