What's Working in Ecommerce

In this podcast episode, Olly Richards, owner of StoryLearning, an online education business, shares his unique career path and discusses the impact of the internet on the creator economy. Learn the importance of diversifying marketing channels and the proper way to repurpose content across different platforms.

For help with paid social, paid search, or email automation, check out our agency here:

https://www.caravandigital.com/

You can find Olly Richards from StoryLearning here: Website: https://ollyrichards.co

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBTz3Np62RSDc8XneG9avrA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrollyrichards

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

IG: https://www.instagram.com/realollyrichards/

Timestamps:

00:01:02 - Olly Richards on career path and industry experience.

00:02:13 - Olly Richards on the transition to online education business.

00:06:41 - Olly Richards on using stories for language learning.

00:09:11 - Internet democratizes knowledge and removes gatekeepers.

00:11:25 - Scaling a knowledge-based business and building a brand.

00:15:19 - Diversifying marketing channels after scaling primary channel.

00:19:32 - Repurposing content without considering platform leads to low traction.

00:20:36 - Popular video transformed into engaging blog post example.

00:25:20 - Focus on high-quality content that stands out.

00:28:17 - Elements of a strong offer on sales page.

00:30:20 - Approach to sales optimization and testing variables.

00:33:57 - Importance of large tests on offer in sales process.

00:37:41 - Olly Richards on book strategy and reaching different audiences.

00:39:47 - Books diversify audience sources and attract readers.

00:41:44 - Underutilized opportunity for marketers to write valuable books.

Join us in this enlightening conversation with Aman Ghataura, the Head of Growth of Nuoptima and Alphagreen, as we delve deep into the e-commerce world, particularly focusing on the CBD marketplace. Aman shares the trials and triumphs of advertising in the CBD space and how strategic SEO can be a game-changer.

For help with paid social, paid search, or email automation, check out our agency here:

https://www.caravandigital.com/

You can find Aman Ghataura here: https://nuoptima.com/ https://alphagreen.io/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-ghataura-2336b1100/ 

Timestamps:

00:01:11 - Aman on creating Alphagreen, CBD marketplace in Europe

00:02:19 - Aman on using SEO to outrank CBD brands

00:04:50 - Aman on writing high-quality product descriptions for SEO

00:09:18 - Speaker on using icon text for effective communication

00:13:53 - Speaker on benefits of FAQ sections on product pages

00:15:58 - Speaker on detailed product descriptions in competitive niches

00:17:35 - Discussion on blog post structure and elements

00:19:41 - Explanation of contextual pop-ups for conversions and guidance

00:24:24 - Comparison of SEO and PPC costs and returns

00:26:32 - Discussion on sales analysis in B2B and e-commerce

00:27:34 - Exploration of agency success levels and partnerships

00:29:07 - Explanation of focusing on one service or industry

In this episode, dive into the fascinating world of e-commerce with Ryan Flannigan from Nuance Media.

Today, we delve deep into Amazon optimization, the nuances of paid traffic, and the power of data-driven strategies.

Learn from real-life case studies and uncover the secrets of platforms like Helium 10 and Jungle Scout Cobalt.

For help with paid social, paid search, or email automation, check out our agency here:

https://www.caravandigital.com/

You can find Ryan Flannigan from Nuanced Media here: https://nuancedmedia.com/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanflannagan/ 

Timestamps:

00:01:16 - Amazon: optimize hero listings, stay competitive. 00:03:52 - Growth-driven advertising: competitive analysis, data-driven optimization. 00:08:37 - Expensive tools analyze market, inform decisions. 00:10:36 - Split testing on Amazon, use Google Optimize. 00:12:18 - Agencies optimize listings, impact sales. 00:16:10 - A+ Content increases conversion rates. 00:19:27 - Optimize listings, PPC campaigns for growth. 00:21:52 - Selling on brand's website vs Amazon. 00:25:11 - Optimize listings, get reviews, work with professionals. 00:29:14 - Subscribe and share the podcast. 00:29:14 - Catch the next episode. 00:29:14 - Share the podcast with others.

In this podcast episode, Yash Chavan, creator of Saral, a tool for influencer marketing, talks about the benefits of influencer marketing for direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce brands, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and genuine recommendations from creators.

For help with paid social, paid search, or email automation, check out our agency here: https://www.caravandigital.com/

You can find Yash Chavan from Saral here:

https://www.getsaral.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yctheman/

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:10 - Why DTC brands should consider influencer marketing

00:01:07 - Shifting from celebrity endorsements to authentic creators

00:03:35 - Tips for starting influencer marketing with your email list

 00:08:08 - Rewards for ambassador affiliates: cash, gift cards, credit

00:09:17 - Finding influencers in your niche on Instagram and YouTube

00:12:40 - Nano influencers: starting with them before larger ones

00:17:05 - The barbell approach: working with nano and mega influencers

00:19:25 - The broader impact of influencer marketing beyond influencer channels

00:21:42 - Transitioning from affiliate commissions to upfront payments

00:25:43 - The importance of the metric marketing efficiency ratio in evaluation

00:27:03 - Introducing Saral: a tool developed for influencer marketing

00:28:13 - Saral: an affordable tool with cold email outreach, CRM, and performance tracking

Brandon Amoroso from Electriq discusses how he and his team went from Ecommerce Agency Services to building an Ecommerce SaaS App for alcohol sellers. 

For help with your paid search, paid social, onsite SEO, or email automation, you can check out Eagan's agency at: https://www.caravandigital.com/

You can also watch this episode on YouTube here.

Guest Bio

Brandon is the founder and CEO of Electriq, a DRINKS company that scales brands with profitable e-commerce models built from innovative proprietary methods. Powered by the freedom and individuality of the Gen Z mindset, Electriq has fueled over 35 in-house specialists in a range of growth-focused strategies, including email/SMS marketing, SEO/content marketing, paid acquisition, and web design/development.

Brandon is a career marketing specialist who focuses on strategies that increase customer lifetime value by creating best-in-class consumer experiences backed by data. Having worked with brands such as Florence by Mills, Safely, Wine Insiders, Foria, Health-Ade, Men's Wearhouse, and more, Brandon has a proven track record of scaling early-stage startups to developing marketing strategies for Fortune 1000 companies and everything in between.

As an entrepreneur, his unique approach to business has empowered the Electriq team to take full ownership of their expertise, cultivating a non-traditional purpose-focused culture that has enabled exponential growth during a global pandemic and workplace crisis. The teams-focused mindset has created a model where clients and customers are thriving because the electrIQ team is thriving.

Brandon received a B.S. in Business Administration and a minor in Digital Entrepreneurship from The University of Southern California and lives in San Diego with his dog.

Website: http://www.brandonamoroso.com Company: https://www.electriqmarketing.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonamoroso/ Brandon's Podcast The D2Z Podcast

Timestamps

00:00:00 - Introduction and Background of Brandon Amoroso, Founder and President of Electric 00:01:11 - Brandon's Journey of Starting and Scaling Electric 00:03:16 - Explanation of Shopify App Developed by Drinks 00:08:52 - Challenges of Scaling and Hiring in a Virtual Environment 00:12:05 - Investing in Technology Partner Relationships to Grow Agency 00:15:26 - Transitioning from DTC Brands to Software Apps 00:17:31 - Using Video Content for SEO and Customer Journey 00:18:38 - Leveraging Early Adopters as Brand Advocates 00:19:48 - Transition from Traffic Generation to Customer Lifetime Value

Richard Harris from Black Crow A.I. discusses how artificial intelligence can drive better e-commerce sales by finding your most valuable website visitors.

For help with your paid search, paid social, onsite SEO, or email automation, check out our agency at: https://www.caravandigital.com/ 

You can listen to our audio episodes on your podcast player, too.

Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-working-in-ecommerce/id1594627039  

Google Podcasts https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93aGF0c3dvcmtpbmdpbmVjb21tZXJjZS5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiAyorJ8r71AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ&hl=en  

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/7KR2qIrN3FHQUvKFpN41ei  

Stitcher https://www.stitcher.com/show/whats-working-in-ecommerce/  

You can find Richard Harris and Black Crow A.I. below:

https://www.blackcrow.ai/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardlharris/ 

Timestamps 

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:06 - Future Value of Site Visitors: ML helps brands understand visitors. 00:02:14 - Real-Time Data for Predictions: System predicts KPIs for e-commerce. 00:08:00 - Segmenting Users by Future Value: Customize communications and offers. 00:11:15 - Conversion Rate and Future Value: Predicting conversion rate based on behavior. 00:13:32 - Marketing Decisions Based on User Value: Impact on strategies and spending. 00:16:50 - Longer Sales Cycle and Attribution: Extending attribution window, privacy considerations. 00:22:39 - Intelligent Marketing Decisions: User recognition and transaction value. 00:24:18 - AI and Machine Learning in Marketing: Impact on job roles. 00:27:02 - AI's Role in Elevating Marketing: Future of analysis and entry-level positions.

How to Use Online Trends to Create Hit Products

Learn how a passion for pickleball leads to a new pickleball product. In this episode, Scott Brown and Tim Swindle, co-founders of Glacier Games, talk about how they created the PaddleSmash out of a backyard idea.

For help with paid social, paid search, or email automation, check out our agency here:

https://www.caravandigital.com/

You can find Scott Brown & Tim Swindle from PaddleSmash here: https://paddlesmash.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescottbrown/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/timswindle/

Nicholas Brown from Dragonflip talks about how to create an Exit Strategy to sell your e-commerce business. 

You can find Nicholas here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholascrawleybrown/

https://dragonflip.com/

 For help with your paid search, paid social, onsite SEO, or email marketing, reach out to Eagan and his team at: https://www.caravandigital.com/

In this episode of What’s Working in Ecommerce, Ashley Kinkead from Private Label Mastery shares how she got started selling her own products on Amazon. 

She’s done over $2.5M in sales and teaches others how to do the same and more, including:

• Keyword and product research

• Sourcing Manufacturers

• Amazon SEO and PPC 

For help with paid social, paid search, or email automation, check out our agency here:

https://www.caravandigital.com/

You can find Ashley Kinkead from Private Label Mastery here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-kinkead/ 

https://www.amzprivatelabelmastery.com/ https://plmastery.com/masterclass32756214

Timestamps

*The Journey to Selling on Amazon [00:01:07]* Ashley Kinkead shares her experience of discovering and starting to sell on Amazon in 2015, transitioning from a layoff to entrepreneurship.

*Scaling a Book Selling Venture on Amazon [00:03:19]* Ashley Kinkead discusses how she scaled her book selling venture on Amazon, starting with buying used books for $0.50 and eventually selling around 500,000 books in a year.

*Transitioning to Private Label Selling [00:05:02]* Ashley Kinkead explains her transition from selling other people's items on Amazon to creating her own private label products, including the process of finding suppliers and manufacturing unique products.

*Amazon as a launching pad for new ecommerce businesses [00:08:49]* Discussion on how Amazon provides marketing, SEO data, and successful product validation for new ecommerce businesses.

*Starting product research journey [00:09:32]* Discussion on using data directly from Amazon and product research tools to identify market opportunities.

*Private Label Mastery's success [00:11:22]* Discussion on Private Label Mastery's success in private label sales on Amazon, with $25 million in personal sales, and the unlimited opportunity for sellers.

*Bootstrap vs. Having Funds [00:17:10]* Discussion on the advantages of having more funds to launch a business on Amazon.

*Time to Launch First Product [00:18:06]* Discussion on the time it takes to launch the first product on Amazon, with a focus on building something special in about three months.

*Marketing on Amazon [00:19:18]* Discussion on the mix of organic SEO and pay-per-click campaigns for marketing on Amazon.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of hosting Joshua Uebergang, a fellow digital marketing expert from Digital Darts, an agency based in Australia. We had an insightful discussion about our respective agencies, the services we offer, and the current trends in digital marketing. This blog post aims to share the key insights from our conversation.

The Impact of iOS 14 Update on Digital Marketing

One of the main topics we discussed was the impact of the iOS 14 update on businesses in 2020. Joshua highlighted how this update has made marketers more intelligent and focused on the fundamentals. He emphasized the importance of understanding goals and using tools like Google Analytics, UTM parameters, and Triple Whale for data analysis and tracking.

Triple Whale, in particular, is a tool that helps with customer analytics and calculating the cost to acquire a customer. It offers various metrics such as net profit, return percentage, total ROAS, new customer cost per acquisition, and cash turnover. Joshua also mentioned Klaviyo as another platform for pulling in financial data.

The Role of Multichannel Marketing

We also delved into the importance of measuring the effectiveness of marketing investments and the role of multichannel marketing in today's world. The customer journey involves more than just searching and buying, with research and consideration phases often taking place before a purchase is made. Google has found that many purchases involve 27 touchpoints, highlighting the need for multiple interactions with a brand before a customer decides to buy.

Simplifying Facebook and Instagram Ads

When it comes to Facebook and Instagram ads, Joshua emphasized the importance of simplicity in campaign setup. He debunked the misconception that complex targeting strategies are necessary and suggested structuring campaigns into top, middle, and bottom of the funnel, using naming conventions that provide clarity. We also touched on the use of dynamic ads and catalog sales for bottom-of-funnel targeting.

Creative Considerations and Targeting Strategies

In terms of targeting strategies and creative considerations, Joshua recommended using lookalike audiences and broad engagement targeting, while also excluding certain customer segments. He mentioned the challenges posed by iOS 14.5 and the need to exclude certain audiences from targeting. I highlighted the use of Klaviyo for managing customer email lists and discussed the importance of organic-looking creative that fits the platform.

Scaling Facebook and Paid Social Advertising Campaigns

We also discussed the process of scaling Facebook and paid social advertising campaigns. We emphasized the importance of retaining social proof by using existing posts and post IDs when creating new campaigns. This allows for easy scalability across all campaigns. We also highlighted the ability to customize creative for different placements, such as stories and reels, which can help increase engagement and reach.

Hiring and Creating Roles within an Organization

Joshua shared some valuable insights on hiring and creating roles within an organization. He emphasized the importance of documenting tasks and processes, as it helps in improving efficiency and allows for knowledge to be shared and reused. He also highlighted the significance of properly defining roles and responsibilities when hiring someone. He shared his experience with using Wickens Traction's people analyzer model, which involves assessing values and cultural fit during the interview process.

Conclusion

Our conversation was a treasure trove of insights and practical advice for anyone navigating the digital marketing landscape. I am grateful to Joshua for sharing his expertise and experiences. I hope you find these insights as valuable as I did. Remember, the key to successful digital marketing lies in understanding your goals, using the right tools, and continuously learning and adapting to the ever-changing digital landscape.

You can find Eagan's agency at:

https://www.caravandigital.com/

And you can find Josh at:

https://www.digitaldarts.com.au/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuauebergang/

https://twitter.com/digital_darts

Timestamps

Scaling Facebook Ad Accounts [00:01:11] Discussion on scaling Facebook ad accounts and navigating the challenges of the iOS 14 update.

Understanding Goals in Facebook Marketing [00:02:13] Importance of setting goals and utilizing tools like Google Analytics, UTM parameters, and Triple Whale for effective Facebook marketing.

Using Triple Whale for Analytics [00:03:47] Exploring the features and benefits of Triple Whale for analyzing customer data, calculating cost per acquisition, and measuring profitability.

The funnel stages and touchpoints [00:10:54] Discussion on the different stages of the customer journey and the number of touchpoints required before making a purchase.

What's working with Facebook and Instagram ads [00:11:39] Explanation of the importance of simplicity in campaign setup and the misconception of using complex targeting strategies.

Campaign structure and targeting [00:13:08] Explanation of a recommended campaign structure and the use of broad targeting in Facebook ads.

The importance of retaining social proof [00:21:11] Explains how to retain social proof on Facebook by using existing posts and post IDs.

Customizing creative for stories and reels [00:21:35] Discusses the opportunity to customize creative for the story and reel placements on Facebook and Instagram.

Matching ads to organic content [00:23:52] Emphasizes the importance of making ads look like organic content to increase engagement and effectiveness.

The documentation process [00:31:46] Importance of documenting daily tasks and how it helps improve efficiency and knowledge retention.

Defining a role clearly [00:32:33] The significance of defining roles and responsibilities when hiring someone, with personal experiences shared.

Hiring process and values [00:34:59] Discussion on hiring strategies, including red flags, the People Analyzer model, and the importance of aligning values during interviews.