The Ecommerce Influence Podcast: Advanced Acquisition And Retention Strategies For Fast-growing Online Brands

If you can’t write, you can’t sell (unless you hire a copywriter). How to increase conversion, LTV & engagement with better copy. 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

Quick win: How you can have success with influencers for content creation to drive more engagement, better ad creative, and increase organic traffic. 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 w

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

Product launches can be a rocket ship to your sales or a sinking vessel pulling you underwater.  Here are 6 different ways to make your next product launch your best ever. 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

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

Last year was a wild ride - and one of the hardest years for eCommerce ever.  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

Quick win: how to optimize your email marketing to make it work harder for you (without working harder yourself). Key Takeaways: 3X your email sign up rate with conversational pop-ups Why your transactional emails need personalization  How to conduct customer research  Write insanely good copy by using what your customers say What KPIs to track with changing privacy policies  Resources: Brand Growth Membership (Join today for a 7-day trial) @BrandGrowthX on Twitter Review or subscribe on iTunes

Make more money, work less, and be prepared for a black swan event when you offset the risk of business by investing smartly.  Taylor Pearson is the founder of Mutiny Fund, where he helps investors maximize the long-term growth of their portfolios.  In this episode, he shares how he thinks about investing and diversifying as a business owner.  We talk about how to think about diversifying your portfolio to offset the risk you've taken by going all-in on a business You’ll learn what talk risk means, how to better preserve wealth and what to think about investing right now when it seems like the whole world is going crazy.  This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and listeners are reminded that managed futures and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. Visit mutinyfund.com/disclaimer for more informat

Quick win: where to unlock hidden revenue in your email marketing. Key Takeaways: How to determine which emails to focus on (that will drive the most revenue) and when to test. How to optimize your flows (trigger emails) to ensure you’re not leaving money on the table. 3 email mistakes you’re probably making and how to fix them. Resources: The Brand Growth Accelerator (apply today: next cohort starts Feb 15, 2022) The Brand Growth Membership @BrandGrowthX on Twitter Review or subscribe on iTunes

If you want to be successful you need to focus on selling your business, not selling your product. (Even if you’re not planning on selling) This is an episode about the system that we use to run our business called the Effortless Growth Operating System (EGOS).  It’s a 6-step system that we share with members of the Brand Growth Membership and help people implement directly in their own business in the Brand Growth Accelerator.  Today - Austin and Lily team up to give you a look into how it works and Austin shares his own experience with poor management and burnout that led to the creation of the Effortless Growth Operating System. What you’ll learn in this episode:  How to create compelling job descriptions & how to hire the right people  How to focus your energy on the areas of your business you love  How to get clear on your vision & truly believe in it  Episode Highlights: 5:08 Austin’s background in eComm, business, and operations 9:22 The Effortless Growth Operating System and how it can impr

Facebook is smarter than you, and your customers are better marketers. (Learnings from working at a fast-growing brand.)  Today’s guest is our own Brand Growth Experts Marketing Manager, Lily Ackerly.  We’re talking about Lily’s journey being one of the first employees at a fast-growing brand and what she’s learned from really teaching herself the ropes in eCommerce.  Lily also has a lot of experience in customer support - and we’re going to give you some reasons why you should keep your marketing and customer support teams close and engaged with each other.  You’re going to be hearing more from Lily on the podcast so this is your first opportunity to “meet” her and hear some of her ideas.  Episode Highlights: 5:49 Lily’s start in eCommerce at a fast growing brand  7:49 Team set up in the early days of a business  8:45 Wholesale and the word of mouth benefits it gives  9:47 Facebook in 2016 13:31 Learnings from Facebook ad account management  14:57 Keeping advertising (and reporting on it) simple  17:55 Cult

How do you sell a product that no one understands until they try it? With smart marketing, positioning, packaging, and a solid mix of DTC to big box sales.  John Pinto founder of BoomBoom Naturals (all-natural nasal sticks) and he's been a friend of mine for over 10 years, we met and got our start together working at our first job out of college.  In this episode, we talk about John’s journey with BoomBoom, what he’s learned in DTC and acquiring over 500,000 customers through Facebook and online marketing, and his recent (and very successful) shift from DTC to big box stores. We also talked about life balance, being an entrepreneur with kids and what that looks like. John's one of the most balanced people that I know and he shares some of his ideas and hacks around how he's been able to keep that going while building a large and fast-growing company. Episode Highlights: 5:47 How John and Austin met  7:05 Johns eCommerce venture  11:52 When Jordan Belfort endorses your product  13:33 Selling a product that’s

Get out from under never-ending to-do lists, delegate and build a business with happier employees, customers, and profit.  Cameron Herold was the CEO of 1-800-Junk, which he grew from 2 million to well over 100 million. He now has a company called the CEO Alliance where he helps second in command up their game and be more successful.  He's also the author of 5 books, including Vivid Vision, which lays the foundation for building a vivid vision in 3-year segments for your business and life. There’s a ton of insight to gain from Cameron and we discuss getting clear on your priorities, traveling while running a business, having kids and still being an entrepreneur, and strategy for how to delegate, manage, hire and train your team. Episode Highlights: 5:26 Traveling to Antarctica with a group of CEO’s 8:31 Creating a larger vision for life and work and how Cameron came to practice and teach this 11:25 How to have a successful CEO and COO relationship to be successful 13:11 Cameron’s experience in a CEO / COO re

It’s been a wild wave in ecommerce when we look at where the industry started to where the opportunities are today. My guest today reflects on what's he's learned at 15 years in ecommerce and what's coming in ecommerce in 2022. Drew Sanocki was the CEO of the eCommerce brand AutoAnything, the founder of the blog nerdmarketing.com and the owner of the Shopify direct marketing app PostPilot. He has his hands in a lot of key areas in eCommerce and has been in the game for about 15 years.  In this episode, Drew shares his well-rounded journey from buying out, being the CEO, and acquiring a bunch of companies. We talk about what it's like to run a $100 million retailer and what it’s like to run a small brand and scale up to 7-figures.  This episode has a ton of information on what’s been working in eComm, where things have started to shift and we end with where we think this wild ride is going for eCommerce in 2022. Episode Highlights 5:40 Secrets to turning 50 and being in the best shape of life  7:10 Taking ove

“Where did the SEO hide the dead body? On page two of Google.” Yes - SEO in 2022 will still play a huge role in eComm success. With ad costs going up it’s a great time to learn how to drive quality organic traffic with smart SEO tactics.  John Murphy is the CEO of Ebike Generation and an eCommerce SEO expert.  In this episode, we talk about John’s journey, and how he went from being an executive at GE to starting his own eCommerce company. John’s eComm success has largely come from SEO after he was banned from Google Ads and Facebook ads in the early days of his business.  He shares his tips on how he drives $2 million a year from just SEO and what SEO in 2022 will look like (yes - free traffic still exists).  Note: John is offering his course How I Generate $2M+ Per Year in Sales from Organic Traffic in the membership in March. If you’re a member you can register here. Or if you’d like to join to take the course you can find more information here.  Episode Highlights: 5:47 How John started selling online 

The path to massive success is often through failure. This episode's guest went from Forbes 30 under 30 to bankruptcy in the same year and reflects on lessons learned.  Josh Durham co-founded Weighted Comforts, one of the first weighted blanket brands, with his mom in 2015. They took off like a rocket, hitting 8-figures in 4 years.  But - they hit some snags, the market shifted and at age 24 Josh went from almost $10 million in sales to bankruptcy in a period of less than a year.  In this episode, he goes through what it was like to grow, how they did it, and then what it was like when it all unraveled. Josh is very transparent in his experience of where and how things went wrong in a way you’re not going to hear in many places. There’s a lot to learn here.  Josh has gone on to have success with another brand and now his own agency, Aligned Growth, and he shares a bunch of learnings from having worked with a lot of different brands now.  Episode Highlights: 3:56 How Josh got involved with eCommerce growth ma

“Systems run your business, people run your systems.” Learn how to grow your business and unlock hidden profit using virtual assistants.  Barbara Turley is the founder of The Virtual Hub, an agency that pairs businesses with virtual assistants, and she's an expert at delegation. Barbara has paired over 500 virtual assistants with companies and her team is over 240+ in the Philippines. In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on how it's worked for her, and how it might work for you in your own business. This episode is very helpful if you are building a remote company, are thinking about using virtual assistants, or have tried and failed to use VA’s in the past.  Episode Highlights: 8:38 How Barbara started her virtual assistants business  11:38 Roles for VAs that often get overlooked  13:10 Managing teams in different time zones  16:12 Where to start when hiring virtual assistants 19:20 Tools used to manage communication  20:32 The importance of having a process before hiring  22:07 Becoming a good deleg