The Ecommerce Influence Podcast

The daily habits you or your team have can either hinder your growth or facilitate it. But what should we focus on to build good habits while breaking the bad ones?

Our guest is James Clear, New York Times bestselling author of Atomic Habits and writer on the James Clear Blog.

James has spent years researching, writing and talking about the topic of habits. He'll share his insights on what you can do to grow your business, market better, and rethink your habits.

If you want to create a better system of habits that will improve yourself and your business, this is an episode you'll want to tune into!

Episode Highlights:

• 4:58 Why we struggle to develop and maintain the good habits
• 8:14 The principles of habits are the same in various areas of life and work but applied uniquely.
• 10:15 Three big ideas Atomic Habits centers around
• 16:22 What to ask to reinforce your desired identity as an individual or as a company.
• 18:35 Changing environments can be framed as a positive time to form habits
• 21:23 The personal changes James has made during the Coronavirus pandemic to foster better habits
• 25:10 What to focus on first to help your businesses grow
• 28:56 The transition James made from being a blogger to a business owner and how experimentation made it clear what he was actually trying to build
• 33:20 Three things that make a product remarkable enough to buy
• 38:40 Marketing a product to elicit someone's desire to make the purchase
• 42:14 The habits James no longer values
• 44:59 Small town influence on James' family values and love for exploration and travel

Links and Resources:

• Atomic Habits
• James Clear Blog
• Book: Essentialism
• Aer Backpacks
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Have you ever felt that in order to grow your business, you just need to work harder?

We're here to tell you that you're wrong.

In today's episode, we're busting the five myths of ecommerce. From diversifying traffic to always doing the next big thing, we'll share the realities that will actually help you scale profitably, without burning yourself out.

If you own an ecommerce business or you're intimately involved with one, this episode's for you.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights:

• 4:54 Myth #1: All I need to do to grow is work harder.
• 6:06 Reality: Do less, but do it better.
• 7:45 Myth #2: To grow you need to diversify traffic.
• 8:03 Reality: Be an expert on one channel, and don't diversify until you have to.
• 11:59 Myth #3: You need to always be doing what's new.
• 13:12 Reality: Do the right things at the right time (even if it's just one thing).
• 17:19 Myth #4: If I follow big brands, I'll learn what works.
• 20:58 Reality: Here's what actually works, no matter your size.
• 22:15 Myth #5: Top founders have a clear vision and know what they're doing from the beginning.
• 23:19 Reality: Find a mentor you can rely on and build your strategy as you grow.

Links and Resources:

• Episode 149: The Art Of Doing Less But Better W/ Greg McKeown [Part 1]
• Episode 225: From T-Shirt Company To Lifestyle Brand (All While Saving The Turtles)
• Episode 239: How The Cereal School Grew From Zero To 7-Figures A Month In Just 1 Year
• Episode 179: Making A Comeback After The Google Medic Update
• Episode 173: The Five Step Process To Optimize Your Facebook Ad Account
• Foxwell Digital Courses
• Coalition
• Coalition Members Only Training: The Path to 7-Figures: How To Build, Grow & Scale Your Brand

Being in charge of the global marketing strategy for a 9-figure business is no simple feat.

Our guest today is Andrew Rosch, Director of Channel Marketing Strategy for Trek Bicycle.

He joins us to talk about what it looks like to manage a global strategy team for a huge global organization, the importance of only focusing on a few key metrics, why email is still his favorite marketing channel, organic content strategies that are working for Trek, and much more.

If you're growing a large business, or you have aspirations to grow into a large business, you won't want to miss this episode.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

• 6:19 What it means to be the Director of Channel Marketing Strategy.
• 7:44 Finding harmony between brick and mortar and ecommerce.
• 9:27 The Trek customer journey both on and offline and how it overlaps.
• 13:02 How Trek avoids alienating its broad-range of customers with its organic content.
• 15:22 The first test influencers have to pass before working with Trek.
• 16:12 How Trek approaches the seasonality of the bike business.
• 18:49 Andrew's philosophy on measurement and why Trek's global digital marketers are only responsible for 5 key KPIs.
• 21:23 What the Channel Marketing team at Trek looks like.
• 23:58 How Andrew empowers his global team to share new ideas.
• 25:27 This Director of Channel Marketing Strategy's favorite marketing channel.
• 27:01 Andrew's email marketing tech stack and team.
• 29:16 Balancing experimentation and systemization.
• 31:14 Three things Andrew's learned in his career that have contributed to his success.
• 35:05 In ecommerce, what you see is rarely the whole picture.
• 40:02 The importance of going down the rabbit hole and finding out the larger context of what we see online.
• 43:17 When you create content, assume that whoever is going to see it has never seen anything from your brand before.
• 46:23 Having a brand is key when you're thinking about business longevity.

Links And Resources

• Trek Bicycles
• Bronto
• Justuno
• Litmus
• 233: Agencies Aren't Your Enemy: How to Work Together & Build a Better Brand
• @AndrewRosch on Twitter
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

This is the final part in our Scaling Series and we're talking about some hugely successful brands.

In our previous episodes, we covered zero to launch, launch to traction, traction to scaling, and growth mode, which will take you from the stages of just starting out to making somewhere between $12 and $15 million.

In this episode, we're diving into specific case studies of brands you've probably heard of, like MVMT Watches and Native Deodorant, and talking about why we think they were successful and why they were able to grow and scale up.

We hope you've enjoyed this series, whether you're just starting out or close to making an exit.

Episode Highlights

• 4:07 What MVMT, Pura Vida, and Blenders did that made them special.
• 6:23 The huge significance of the first-mover advantage.
• 9:12 Taking advantage of upselling and cross-selling.
• 10:28 The overnight success of Native Deodorant.
• 11:22 Native's checkout process and what makes it so great.
• 13:27 The power of subscription at scale.
• 16:43 How Tuft & Needle scaled to over $100 MM in mattress sales.
• 18:02 Why being a copycat business really doesn't pay off.

Links And Resources

• 238: Zero To Launch: The Scaling Series, Part 1
• 240: Launch To Traction: The Scaling Series, Part 2
• 242: Traction to Scaling: The Scaling Series, Part 3
• 244: Growth Mode: The Scaling Series, Part 4
• 199: How JT Marino Built The Largest Online Mattress Retailer In The World
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Every business has its unique set of growth challenges.

Zach Stuck spent several years working for a digital agency before deciding to go out and start an agency of his own, Homestead Studio.

Now he's in the process of building his agency business. He's on the front lines of trying to help clients grow their ecommerce brands.

Today we're covering a range of topics with Zach. We dive into some specific paid social tactics and what's working right now for Zach's clients, and we talk about the onboarding process Zach uses for his clients to ensure both his clients, and his agency, can be successful.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

• 5:58 How Zach went from working at an agency to starting his own.
• 8:07 Changes in Zach's role from agency employee to agency owner.
• 9:52 Resources Zach used to help a client grow from zero to a million in their first year.
• 11:26 Common paid social misconceptions Zach hears from his clients.
• 14:33 What's working in paid social right now and how to successfully approach dynamic creative testing.
• 17:33 Value-based lookalike audiences and how to easily start using them.
• 19:07 The state of social proof in 2020 - does it really matter?
• 23:37 If you don't have a large customer audience to run social proofing to, what can you do?
• 24:31 A little known fact about 1% lookalike audiences.
• 27:07 Crucial steps for successfully onboarding new clients and building a strong ongoing relationship.
• 32:00 What's keeping Zach up at night.
• 34:20 You can't outsource your growth.
• 37:16 The challenges with growing an agency and how finding clients who are the right fit is key to success.
• 43:20 How Zach's avoiding the churn and burn that happens so often to agencies.
• 44:57 What Zach's eating, is he working out, and what his daily life looks like.

Links And Resources

• Homestead Studio.co
• @ZachMStuck on Twitter
• Book: Essentialism
• Book: Deep Work
• Episode 240: Launch To Traction: The Scaling Series, Part 2
• Klaviyo
• Coalition
• Profit Summit Intensive
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

We're in the midst of an unprecedented global crisis and a time of much uncertainty.

Some of my clients are businesses are experiencing growth, and others are down by 50% or more.

Even if this crisis leads to an economic recession, you get to choose whether or not you want to take part in it.

Today I'm sharing a special recording of one of my recent members-only webinars where I talk about how to lead your ecommerce business during uncertain times, and how to transform this uncertainty into a time of abundance and opportunity for your business (without exploiting anyone).

In this episode we'll talk about:

• The three things business owners should be focused on right now.
• How to think about cash management during a crisis and why you must use this as an opportunity to build a rock-solid financial future.
• Why playing offense is going to become more important than playing defense in the coming months.
• How to lead (not manage) your way through this crisis and come out stronger on the other side.
• How to bring your team together during uncertain times and to build a resilient remote culture.
• How to react if your business HASN'T been impacted by COVID-19 and how you can ethically use this to your advantage.

We will get through this together.

Links And Resources

• Coalition
• Resource: Financing Options for Small Businesses Impacted by COVID-19
• Resource: How to Optimize Your Team and Increase Productivity
• Resource: BGE Forecasting Tool
• Give Local
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

In part 4 of our Scaling Series we're talking about Growth Mode.

You've made your first seven figures and now you're scaling up to eight figures. You've figured out something that works and you might be starting to feel overworked and overwhelmed.

Now is the time to make those key hires and/or outsource channels you feel like you've maximized. It's time to go from the day-to-day manager of your business and grow into the true role of CEO.

In this episode, we're talking about how to start getting things off your plate, managing inventory issues, and how to determine whether it's time to focus on a new marketing channel.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

• 5:38 One of the biggest issues in Growth Mode: Superhero Syndrome.
• 7:57 Implement systems to help you get more off your plate.
• 11:10 Why inventory issues often arise at this stage of growth.
• 13:20 How to solve your inventory issues.
• 16:01 Challenges you might face as you're trying to hire, and what not to do.
• 18:32 Strategic issues that arise during Growth Mode.
• 20:54 Things to look at to determine how much more room there is for growth with a specific marketing channel.
• 22:06 How to successfully onboard an agency or a new in-house hire.
• 24:33 Businesses that take it to the next level offload successful channels and dive into learning the next one.
• 26:44 Slow down to grow faster.
• 28:14 Remember why you started your business in the first place.
• 29:17 Your transformation from day-to-day business manager to CEO.

Links And Resources

• 238: Zero To Launch: The Scaling Series, Part 1
• 240: Launch To Traction: The Scaling Series, Part 2
• 242: Traction to Scaling: The Scaling Series, Part 3
• 173: The Five Step Process To Optimize Your Facebook Ad Account
• Brand Guild
• Profit Summit
• The Coalition
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

If you're struggling to make SEO work for your business, this episode is for you.

Our guest today is a dual-threat. He's building an ecommerce brand while also running a digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO. Not only does he get to see what's working for his clients, but he's learning from what's working in his own business.

Eagan Heath is the owner of The Splendid Beast and Founder of Get Found Madison. Today he's doing a deep dive into ecommerce SEO and talking about how to avoid keyword cannibalization, how to get started with SEO (and if it's even a good idea for your business), and tips for better tracking attribution.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

• 6:11 The dual-threat that is Eagan Heath.
• 9:20 What it takes to grow your skills as an agency and the currency you should be selling in.
• 11:21 The different approach to capturing leads as an agency vs as an ecommerce business.
• 13:16 The complex order process for Splendid Beast and the advantages of a highly custom business.
• 16:21 The strategy Eagan used to double his business over the last four years.
• 18:09 How to avoid keyword cannibalization and appear higher in search results.
• 20:05 When you should start thinking about SEO (and whether you should be thinking about it at all).
• 23:43 How to get started with a very small budget.
• 27:34 Why it's critical to remember that you are not your customer.
• 32:45 The huge value of having a business coach.
• 35:14 What gives Splendid Beast longevity as a business and differentiates it from competitors.
• 38:01 The issue with attribution on Google Analytics and the solution Eagan is using to work around it.

Links And Resources

• Get Found Madison
• Splendid Beast
• @thesplendidbeast on Instagram
• [email protected]
• How to Create a Keyword to URL Map (part of Eagan's Digital Marketing Mastery Course. If you're interested in the course, email Eagan directly)
• Eagan's SEO Checklist
• Ahrefs
• Klaviyo
• Enquire
• Coalition
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Profit Summit
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

In part 3 of our Scaling Series, we're talking about traction to scaling, the period after making your initial $100K to surpassing the million-dollar mark.

There are a number of challenges you'll face at this stage, including becoming overwhelmed with possibilities, losing strategic focus, wearing too many hats within the business, and more.

Today we walk you through how to tackle these challenges and the things the most successful businesses do at this stage to continue growing to 8-figures and beyond.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

• 4:41 The first problem we see at this stage? Mindset and losing focus.
• 7:53 Why most business owners lose strategic focus at this stage.
• 8:53 If you're overwhelmed and losing focus, it's time to hire.
• 10:05 The critical role you have to hire for if you want to continue to grow.
• 10:42 The second problem business owners run into at this stage? The year-over-year mentality, and why you have to get out of it.
• 13:40 It's time to get serious about email marketing.
• 15:10 Other things you can do to increase average order value and lifetime value.
• 16:30 The companies growing fastest at this stage all have this in common.
• 17:38 Why connecting with other successful business owners is critical to your success.
• 19:51 Challenges with cash flow at this stage, and how you can alleviate cash-related issues.
• 22:31 More commonalities between companies succeeding at this stage of growth.
• 25:56 If you're ready to take it to the next level, it's time to get some outside help.

Links And Resources

• 238: Zero To Launch: The Scaling Series, Part 1
• 240: Launch To Traction: The Scaling Series, Part 2
• 149: The Art Of Doing Less But Better W/ Greg McKeown [Part 1]
• 150: The Art Of Doing Less But Better W/ Greg McKeown [Part 2]
• 202: How I Scaled From $500/Day To $15,000/Day In Ad Spend In 30 Days
• 227: How Supply Went From Startup To Shark Tank
• Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! by Greg Crabtree
• Coalition Training: Where to Start When You're Trying to Grow Your Store + Growth Calculator
• Profit Summit
• The Coalition
• Foxwell Digital Courses
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

There is more than one way to create wealth in ecommerce.

While many entrepreneurs follow the path of bootstrapping a business and hoping to one day be acquired, another option is to start on the acquisition side, and grow a portfolio of successful companies.

Our guest today has done both. Drew Sanocki is CEO of AutoAnything, owner of PostPilot, and an expert at lifecycle marketing.

He joins us to talk about the evolution of lifecycle marketing and the big role direct mail is playing in brand loyalty and repeat purchase rate, as well as how mergers and acquisitions can help your brand, and why M&A are his big focus for the upcoming year.

I always learn a lot when we chat with Drew and I hope you enjoy!

Episode Highlights

• 9:05 Why Drew is so excited about direct mail marketing.
• 12:08 The role of direct mail for Drew's 9-figure dropshipping company.
• 14:54 Bringing direct mail into traditional lifecycle marketing and how it enhances your brand.
• 18:55 Exploring brand partnerships in the direct mail space.
• 19:46 Prospecting with direct mail.
• 21:56 Syncing direct mail with Klaviyo and segments that are working particularly well.
• 27:48 The shifting customer journey and how Drew sees it evolving in the near future.
• 32:49 Why merchandising can be the best kind of marketing.
• 36:11 What Drew's excited about in this new decade and what he sees as the quickest way to grow a company.
• 39:13 Merger and acquisition opportunities that can help your brand.
• 42:38 Why most business owners have a blind spot to the acquisition process and how Drew would get started building a portfolio.
• 46:15 Bootstrapping vs acquisition -- does it matter which comes first?

Links And Resources

• Nerd Marketing
• Drew on Instagram - @drewsanocki
• AutoAnything
• PostPilot
• 234: The 5 Things We've Learned In The Last 12 Months
• 203: Why You Should Stop Selling Yourself Short And Think Like A Billionaire
• 195: Austin Ecommerce Investor Reveals His Short-Cut To Scaling
• 116: 4 Profitable Email Strategies You Can Swipe For Your Brand
• How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
• The San Francisco Fallacy by Jonathan Seigel
• Nathan Barry: The Ladders of Wealth Creation
• Klaviyo
• Share Local Media
• William Painter
• Training: How to Increase Sales & Delight Customers with Direct Mail Marketing
• Coalition
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Profit Summit
• Brand Growth Experts
• Foxwell Digital
• Review or subscribe on iTunes