The Ecommerce Influence Podcast

When shit hit's the fan… what do you do?

Almost exactly 2 years past the first COVID lockdowns in the U.S. Austin and Lily team up to share what exactly has been going on and the impacts it's had on eComm brands.

Learn what's out and no longer working, get some ideas for where you can focus your energy now and how to win in a post-Facebook world.

Episode Highlights:

• 0:45 What's been happening in eComm since COVID hit
• 3:48 Demand for eComm products right now
• 7:06 Supply chain issues - what's next?
• 10:13 The impact of shipping costs going up
• 13:35 Facebook isn't coming back - is it? (how to win in a post-Facebook world)
• 15:19 How to recession-proof your business
• 17:49 What's out and what's in for eCommerce
• 19:45 Wartime CEO: how to be one
• 20:48 Radical focus: how to get narrow and drive results
• 23:27 Opportunities with organic traffic
• 23:56 SEO quick tips
• 24:37 What's the deal with TikTok
• 26:44 Referal and loyalty programs that people actually use
• 27:43 Why you should try direct mail
• 28:01 YouTube has consistently been getting better
• 28:39 Sell your story, not your product features
• 31:26 Get our help

Resources:

• Claim Your Spot in the Profit Summit (April 3-5 in Austin, TX)
• The Brand Growth Membership (Join today to get 7-days for $)
• Radical Focus By Ravi Gupta
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

In this episode, Austin and Chris Orzechowski discuss a wide range of eComm topics to give you some great food for thought.

Topics include - traffic strategies by channel, how to hire a copywriter, choosing your mindset towards your business, how to write a story hook over a product hook (and sell more), and rounding out with web3 opportunities and curiosities.

Sit back and enjoy the ride on this one.

Episode Highlights:

• 4:11 Chris's experiment to find traffic channels that work
• 5:13 Facebook ads right now
• 7:05 What Chris is doing on YouTube
• 11:57 What to look for when hiring an in-house copywriter
• 14:57 Where to hire a copywriter to increase conversion, LTV & engagement
• 18:12 Creating a brief and working as a team from idea to output
• 21:19 Story based hooks vs product based hooks
• 24:21 How to tell a story around your product (that's compelling & sells)
• 29:03 Parenting as an entrepreneur
• 33:56 A "not participating in recessions" mindset
• 40:20 The difference between good and great copywriting
• 43:30 Thoughts on crypto and NFT markets
• 48:08 The metaverse and optimizing your real life for the online world

Resources:

• TheEmailCopywriter.com
• Podcast 317: How to Beat Your Competition with Effective Copywriting and Brand Positioning
• The Brand Growth Membership (Join today to get 7-days for $1)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Key Takeaways:

• TikTok and Instagram platform updates (and opportunities)
• How to get quality content from influencers
• Creating influencer contracts & how to do it right

Resources:

• Brand Growth Membership (Join today for $1 for 7-days)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

What opportunities are you leaving on the table with Google Shopping? This is a critical mid-funnel channel that will help you convert more customers.

Eagan Heath is one of the unique people that has experience both owning an eCommerce brand and owning an agency. This episode is about what he's seeing work right now from his access to a lot of different accounts in different industries.

Eagan is an expert in Google Shopping and Google ads and he shares his strategy.

(If you're interested in learning more about Google Shopping Eagan is doing a deep dive on this in the membership on March 16th. You can join the membership here for access.)

Episode Highlights:

• 5:32 Landing pages & opportunities to optimize ads
• 12:01 Opportunities to improve your customer retention
• 15:45 Optimal ad spend ratio for retention and acquisition
• 21:10 Channels to focus on outside of Facebook
• 27:24 Using Google's data to optimize your ad account
• 29:25 iOS impacts on Google ads
• 31:04 False beliefs about Google Shopping (and why they're wrong)
• 34:26 Potential revenue lifts from Google Shopping
• 35:53 Products that do best on Google Shopping
• 38:25 Competing on price or brand
• 41:27 How to set your pricing
• 43:44 KPI's and how to track your performance with loss of data from privacy updates
• 48:05 The importance of design & having an internal creation funnel

Resources:

• Price Increase Modeling Calculator
• Eagan's Podcast
• Caravan Digital
• Podcast 243: How To Improve Your Ecommerce SEO
• The Brand Growth Membership (Join today to get 7-days for $1)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Quick win: How to build a successful loyalty program to improve customer retention and drive higher value repeat purchases.

Key Takeaways:

• What does a good rewards program look like (tools & strategy)
• Offering a discount vs a free item: what provides more value

Resources:

• Brand Growth Membership (Join today for $1 for 7-days)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Austin and Lily share strategies, actions, and tips that you can take away from launches that they've seen crush it.

Episode Highlights:

• 2:51 The power of product launches: why you should do them
• 4:16 Coordinating with influencers to pour fire on your launch
• 8:50 Waitlisting your audience before a launch
• 10:38 Testing your product ideas with SMS
• 12:41 Using a loyalty program to give early access to your VIPs
• 17:04 Send more emails than you think you should
• 19:50 Scarcity & planning to sell out
• 23:07 Critical operational considerations for product launches (that a lot of people miss)
• 24:56 Bringing your customer support team into your launch marketing plans

Resources:

• Product Launch Idea Thread (members only)
• The Brand Growth Membership
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Quick win: How to train, optimize and manage a remote team. Plus, tips in building company culture and why it should be an integral part of your onboarding process.

Key Takeaways:

• Optimizing a team for remote work
• Building a marketing first company
• Training in company culture first
• How to build a training system that will scale with your growth

Resources:

• Brand Growth Membership (Join today for $1 for 7-days)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Breathwork is a superpower for dealing with stress, lack of clarity and overwhelm. If you're overwhelmed learning to work with your breath and meditation is how to stop entrepreneurial burnout.

This episode will put a tool for your toolkit to help you get through the challenges that come from running your business (and life) and help you thrive in fulfilling your dreams and best life.

Carson Finkle is the CEO of Tenth Street Hats, a DTC hat business. He also has a new business called Create Meditation. His deep dive into the meditation space came from his own challenges with overwhelm and burnout in his eComm business.

We do a bit of meditation towards the end, so I highly encourage taking some time for this.

Episode Highlights:

• 4:08 How burnout led Carson to meditation and breathwork
• 9:02 Meditation as a practice to help entrepreneurs
• 10:47 A new approach to meditation
• 15:40 Identifying your north star and getting there
• 23:28 How Carson balances life with a full plate
• 26:58 Creating a system to find a flow over a structured schedule
• 34:39 Meditation practice with Carson
• 52:25 Breathing exercises you can do on your own

Resources:

• Create Meditation
• Book your free session with Carson (first 20 to enter Ecommerce Influence in "how you heard of us" will get a free session)
• Book: Breath by James Nester
• Book: Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown
• Book: Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza
• The Brand Growth Membership

@BrandGrowthX on Twitter

Quick win: a streamlined process that will teach you how to hire your dream team while saving yourself time and headache.

Key Takeaways:

• Why you need a compelling job post
• Use your marketing skills to "sell" your company and attract the right person
• The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make: wasting time into interviewing unqualified people
• How to set up a process that filters out people who don't fit early on

Resources:

• Brand Growth Membership (Join today for $1 for 7-days)
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

What do the opportunities and hurdles for eComm businesses look like this year?

Austin and Lily share what they're excited about and where they suggest focusing your efforts right now.

Episode Highlights:

• 6:18 What Austin is most excited about in eComm right now
• 8:28 4 big opportunities for eComm this year
• 8:43 Influencers to create or grow a brand
• 12:01 TikTok will continue to expand reach
• 12:37 Privacy - getting ahead of others who refuse to admit it's impacting them
• 14:00 Loyalty programs & better retention and LTV
• 14:54 Success with SMS flash sale
• 15:45 Hurdles eComm will face this year
• 20:11 Brands to look at for best practices in eComm right now
• 27:00 What Austin's been listening to for inspiration
• 28:47 Book's that Austin has recently enjoyed
• 31:23 Lily's podcast recommendations
• 32:07 A good (and short) book to inspire you
• 33:28 Austin's 2022 prediction
• 35:24 Lily's 2022 prediction

Resources:

• The Brand Growth Membership
• @BrandGrowthX on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes