The Unofficial TikTok Shop Podcast with Jordan West

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The way you sell in one country is completely different from the way you sell in another. It’s important to create different stores that behave independently to cater to these differences. 

In this episode, Jordan talks with the CEO and Co-founder of Popup, Matteo Grassi, about what eCommerce is looking like in 2022, the things that are and are not working, and how to launch a brand in different countries. 

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• In cross-border commerce, it is recommended to have separate and localized stores.
• If a country doesn't have a strong middle class, you should target iPhone users or people with newer models of smartphones, as these are products that they have to spend a decent amount of money on.
• Customers want a substantial amount of information on a landing page.
• Popup is created in a way where you can have multiple popup stores under one brand and every popup store behaves independently.
• You can use popup stores to test different things. 
• In scaling a brand, use a multi-channel marketing strategy.
• If you are starting a brand, try to build a community.

Today’s Guest:

Matteo Grassi is a co-founder and the CEO of Popup. 

Popup is an eCommerce platform that enables merchants to build and control customer journeys while managing multiple popup stores from one admin.

Connect and learn more about Matteo here:

LinkedIn: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/matteowastaken

Website: https://www.popup.store

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

upgrowthcommerce.com/grow

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://upgrowthcommerce.com/apply

Send us a text

Starting a business with limited capital requires a lot of research, creativity, and thinking everything through to make the most out of your resources.

In this episode, Jordan West interviews Vivek Agarwal, Founder of Ookioh, about bootstrapping a business from the ground up. He also shares how his business found success despite $0 being spent on marketing.

Listen and enjoy this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Unit economics is knowing how much profit you make when you sell one unit of your product. 
• It’s a loss if you are burning money by just acquiring customers and not actually profiting.
• When you are bootstrapping, you have to think everything through and be creative.
• You have to have a sense of what the costs are when bootstrapping for the first couple of years. 
• People are not focusing on profit, that's why they don't spend as they should.
• At the end of the day, the goal is to make money.
• Do a lot of research for your business.

Recommended App: Slack
https://www.slack.com

Recommended Podcast:  Bloomberg Podcasts
https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts

Today’s Guest:

Vivek Agarwal is the founder of Ookioh.  

Ookioh is a brand of modern and fun women’s swimwear.

Connect and learn more about Vivek and Ookioh here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivagarwals
E-mail Address: [email protected]
Website: https://www.ookioh.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ookioh

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

upgrowthcommerce.com/grow

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://upgrowthcommerce.com/apply

Send us a text

TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform, and its ads platform is beginning to compete with all the other major contenders. To succeed in the world of paid ads in 2022, it’s essential to begin experimenting with Tik Tok.

In this episode, Jordan West shares why TikTok ads are working in 2022 and will continue to work even better in the future. He discusses how to run these ads and why you should be testing on TikTok.

Listen and learn more on this episode! 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Over 55% of people on TikTok are over 35 years old, who have the money to spend and these are the people that you want to be targeting.
• You can now tell an entire story in one of your TikTok ads.
• In the past, the first 5 seconds of your ads needed to be captivating. Now it should be the first 1-2 seconds.
• Get on to TikTok, start following other brands that are making a dent in the space, figure out what they are doing, and try out some of the ideas and trends.
• TikTok recommends putting 5 ads in your ad sets.
• User-generated content (UGC) almost always does better as ads than the content you make as a brand.
• Make sure that whoever gets on camera knows what they have to do.
• Content matters so much on these platforms.
• Your return on ad spend (ROAS) is understandably not going to be amazing at first. 
• You have to warm up your audiences and see what kind of videos are working through Tik Toks analytics.
• Make sure to choose the correct objective.

Book quick wins appointment here:
https://www.mindfulmarketing.co/quickwins

Connect with Jordan here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-west-marketer/

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

upgrowthcommerce.com/grow

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://upgrowthcommerce.com/apply

Send us a text

Create awesome content and Tiktok will do the rest!

In this episode, John Roman CEO of Battlbox talks about how TikTok became their number one traffic source and the anatomy of what’s working for them on this platform. He shares great tips on how to repurpose your usual videos on other social media platforms to Tik Tok-friendly content.

Listen and enjoy this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Start with videos about your products and base them on what’s trending on the platform.
• TikTok's algorithm is smart enough to know what your content is and show it to the right audience.
• Shoot videos you use for other platforms in a way that you can chop and repurpose them as TikTok content. 
• Mix up your videos with some comedy trends on TikTok.
• Try to post daily or 5-6 days a week.
• People aren't searching by hashtags, most users are staying on TikTok's FYP (For You Page) because TikTok does a great job curating it.
• Gaming the system is creating awesome content.
• When you see an opportunity to scale, go for it.

Today’s Guest:

John Roman is the CEO of Battlbox.

BattlBox provides subscriptions for outdoor survival gears packages.

Connect and learn more about  John Roman and Battlbox here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-roman
Blog: https://www.onlinequeso.com
Website: https://www.battlbox.com

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

It’s pivotal to keep financial statements updated and well-organized to make the best decisions on the next steps to take in your business.

In this episode, Nathan Hirsch of EcomBalance and Outsource School talks about how they help eCommerce brands with their bookkeeping needs. He also shares some of the pitfalls they see in people’s Profit and Loss Statements.

Listen to this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Keeping your bookkeeping up to date will help you to make good decisions in real-time.
• You should be in a system where you can get your books within 10 days of the month being over.
• Compare the numbers to the previous month and the same month of the previous year to see what's going on in your company.
• See everything like what you sold, the fees, and the actual net.
• Note the cost of goods.
• Do segmentations to make sure that you are focusing most of your resources on what makes the most money.  
• Get the right people in the right spots.

Recommended Tool:  ClickUp
https://www.clickup.com

Recommended Podcast:  Tools of Titans
https://tim.blog/podcast/?amp

The Motley Fool Podcast
https://www.fool.com/podcasts/

Today’s Guest:

Nathan Hirsch is a co-founder and the CEO of  EcomBalance.

EcomBalance provides bookkeeping and accounting services for eCommerce brands.

Connect and learn more about Nathan and EcomBalance here:

Websites:
https://www.ecombalance.com
https://www.outsourceschool.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhirsch

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeeUpNathanHirsch

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realnatehirsch

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

What does it take to leverage the huge brands of the NFL, MLB, NBA & NCAA  for selling your products? With the high upfront fees in licensing, finding connections and making creative licensing deals can make a big difference.

In this episode, Clay Canning, Co-Founder and COO of Screen Skinz shares his journey with his brand and licensing. He talks about the creative ways of how he acquired his licenses and how it differs from the normal way to go about it.

Listen and learn!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Finding somebody to vouch for you, help you out, and leverage relationships have an incredible effect on your credibility.
• It’s common to have to pay an upfront royalty for every license you get. As an alternative, you can connect with another company and leverage their licenses with your products. 
• Underestimating expenses can be a big mistake for a business. 
• The relationships you build out of partnerships with companies are so important. 
• The real magic happens when you find interdependence.
• You gain more loyal followers in building a brand and story approach than maximizing just ad views.
• Having patience is important in scaling a business.

Recommended Tool:
Slack https://www.slack.com
Monday https://www.monday.com

Recommended Podcast:
Business and Biceps
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-biceps/id1072159330

Today’s Guest:

Clay Canning is the COO and Co-founder of Screen Skinz

Screen Skinz provides screen protectors inscribed with licensed logos. 

Connect and learn more about Clay and Screen Skinz here:

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/claycanning50
https://www.instagram.com/screenskinz

Twitter:
https://www.twitter.com/claycanning

Website:
https://www.screenskinz.co

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

When and why does getting a fractional CFO make sense in the life of a business? What is the ideal financing structure for a business? Does it differ from what banks suggest?

In this episode, Jordan chats with his business partner and CFO, Matt Putra and they talk about how to structure debt, what kind of debt to take on, and the different types of debt levers that are out there. He shares how the bank wants you to structure things and the way he thinks your debt should be structured.

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Every business should start out doing proper bookkeeping.
• A fractional CFO makes sense when it is doing above $500,000 and wants to grow fully for the long term.
• If you are venture-funded and want to grow really fast, you can have a CFO right away when you are starting.
• The more complex your company is, the more a fractional CFO can help.
• It is not bad to get debt from more expensive financing such as Shopify, Clearco, PayPal, & Wayflyer because these have very clear values and are very flexible.
• You can pull money out of your business and put it in investments. Your net worth will be in a different exposure to risks.
• A five-year-term loan provides certainty and gives you one big cash injection which is paid in small monthly payments.
• Banks will have a lot of restrictions to protect themselves, it is important to read through the covenant or ask your CFO or lawyer if you don't understand it.
• Some of the things that a CFO looks at in a company hiring are revenue, sustainability, growth margins, marketing spend, and the salary-to-revenue ratio. 
• Looking forward constantly at your expense structure and managing it is important for sustainable growth.

Recommended Book:
Will by Will Smith
https://www.willthebook.com

Today’s Guest:

Matt Putra is a fractional CFO at EightX.

EightX helps businesses in need of CFO services to optimize their business cash flows.

Connect and learn more about Matt and EightX here:
Website: https://www.eightx.co
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/mattputra

Financing structure that banks suggest:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mattputra_longpost-bank-money-activity-6898057989517840384-Fjvj

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

People crave connections and authenticity. Your brand story connects with people and it sets you apart from other sellers out there. 

In this episode, Ryan Maltbie, owner of BBQGrills.com, shares the beautiful story of their business. He talks about the one page on their website that converts people 75% of the time. 

Listen up, you won’t wanna miss this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Without a strong domain name or SEO push, organic traffic is a slow drip.
• It helps to educate consumers before they decide to shop for your products.
• There may be others who sell the same products for the same prices and with the same images as you, so the main factor in finding success is what sets you apart.
• Tell people your brand story on your website.
• There is so much value in putting yourself out there.
• Let your consumers know who they are buying from.
• People crave connections and authenticity.
• Discipline will push you to do something for your growth when you may not want to.

Today’s Guest:

Ryan Maltbie is the founder and CEO of BBQGrills.com

BBQGrills.com provides a wide variety of gas grills and other products for outdoor kitchens.

Connect and learn more about  Ryan and BBQGrills.com here:
Website: https://www.BBQGrills.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanmaltbie

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

Without superfans, your brand may not survive, hence, building a community around your brand is essential in 2022.

In this episode, Jordan West talks about what it is like to build a community in 2022 and why it is imperative to your brand’s survival. He also shares some tips on how to take care of your community.

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Five levels in a customer's journey: Complete unawareness of you, Engagers, People who looked at a product page on your website, People who made some sort of intent like adding-to-cart, and Purchasers.
• Community comes in after level 5.
• Facebook is still the best place for a VIP community.
• Slack and Discord are also good places to house communities.
• People from your community need some kind of perks.
• The lowest form of perk is a discount.
• One thing that works is giving VIP customers early access to drops.
• The whole idea with the VIP community is that your customers can talk back and forth.
• Tap your e-mail and SMS list.
• The community does not necessarily need to be centered around the brand.

Book quick wins appointment here:
https://www.mindfulmarketing.co/quickwins

Connect with Jordan here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-west-marketer/

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

With more and more customers using their phones to shop, the use of SMS marketing opens up the possibility for brands to interact with consumers in a way that’s far more engaging than email.

In this episode, Alex Beller, the President of Postscript, talks about some little tweaks that you can make with your SMS marketing campaigns to maximize value, and how to get started on SMS.

Listen and enjoy this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Postscript focuses exclusively on SMS and the Shopify ecosystem.
• Subscriber LTV and two-way engagement generate the most revenue.
• SMS is instantaneous and consumers are used to interacting with SMS as a two-way channel.
• Another major category for Postscript is support.
• To get started on SMS, start with acquisition.
• Get phone numbers collected compliantly from your site pop-ups.
• Include keywords call-to-actions and scannable QR codes in the packaging you send. 
• Have a well-optimized welcome flow.
• Have a regular campaign cadence.
• Treat SMS like a VIP channel.
• The value of someone's SMS program is their subscriber LTV multiplied by the number of subscribers you have.
• Set benchmarks for acquisition rate, revenue per message, messages per subscriber, and unsubscribe rate.
• Subscribers should receive at least 5 messages per month.
• Acknowledge and embrace all the different company stages you are in.

Featured Link:
https://help.postscript.io/hc/en-us/articles/1260804681349-Create-Your-Postscript-Desktop-Popup

Recommended Tools/App: Loom
https://www.loom.com

Recommended Podcast: The Trojan Horse Affair
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/introducing-the-trojan-horse-affair/id1200361736?i=1000550872351

Today’s Guest:

Alex Beller is the co-founder and president of Postscript.

Postscript is the most used SMS platform for Shopify merchants.

Connect and learn more about Alex and Postscript here:

Website: https://www.postscript.io
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ringmybeller
Email:  [email protected]

This episode's sponsor is...Postscript, the leading SMS vendor for growing Shopify and Shopify Plus brands. Loved by companies like Olipop, Kopari, Brooklinen, and 6,000 more. Get a free 30 day trial of Postscript at https://postscript.io/install

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply