163 Brett Curry From OMG Commerce: Killer Tips & Strategies To Nail Your E-Com MarketingHey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show! I’m your e-commerce friend Daniel Budai, and today I’ve got a fellow e-commerce marketing agency head, Brett Curry from OMG Commerce, here with me to uncover the latest, and biggest trends shaping the industry.

Brett is the founder of OMG Commerce. A result-driven digital marketing agency that specializes in helping e-commerce businesses grow their revenue through Amazon advertising, Youtube marketing, Google ads, and Facebook marketing.

OMG Commerce’s accelerated marketing portfolio offers brands a smarter framework to carry out and measure their marketing efforts. They focus on nurturing leads at every stage by guiding buyers through all four stages of shopping: awareness, consideration, purchase, and loyalty.

Click here to visit their website, and learn more about their marketing services.

Before we kick off, we’d like to quickly take a moment to introduce the show to any new listeners tuning in. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast sponsored by Budai Media. We have over 160+ episodes and release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands grow with the help of email and SMS marketing.

We’ve even released an exclusive 50-point checklist to help e-commerce businesses assess and audit their Klaviyo account. Click here to access it.

Join us in this episode as we discuss:

⭐OMG Commerce’s Journey in eCommerce

⭐How YouTube Can Help Brands Increase Their Overall Brand Presence

⭐How Retention Marketing Can Help You Double Down on Your CLV

⭐How to Create a Brand Identity While Selling on Amazon

⭐How OMG Commerce Helped Ezra Firestone’s Brand Generate $5M+ Sales in Just One Year by Leveraging Amazon

⭐How to Identify Your Niche and Bottlenecks as a Business Owner

⭐Brett’s #1 Tip to E-Commerce Businesses in 2023

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please spare a moment to leave us a nice review!

Click here to visit OMG Commerce.

To stay in touch with me, follow me on:

YouTube

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

Thanks for tuning in!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

View Details

162 Ameka Coleman From Strands of Faith: How Ameka Built a Unique Hair-Care Brand From ScratchHey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show!

The best business ideas come by finding simple solutions to everyday problems. There’s no better way to get people buying than by finding a way to make life a little less annoying for them, and our guest for today is living proof of that!

Ameka Coleman is the founder of Strands of Faith, a haircare brand that helps people with textured hair enjoy the feeling of having a great hair day every single day with their collection of rich, handcrafted, non-toxic products that focus on hydrating, revitalizing, and moisturizing the strands to healthy hair.

Ameka started her journey by bootstrapping the business almost five years ago and has created a thriving community where her customers can find encouragement, and upliftment to live cleaner, happier, and healthier lives. In this episode, she walks us through her journey, inspiration, and struggles she’s overcome along the way.

Before we dive right in, here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there:

The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency helping brands grow their revenue with personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. Budai Media has worked with 150+ businesses and generated $50M+ in additional revenue for the clients. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder and CEO of Budai Media.

Join Daniel and Ameka in this episode as they discuss:

⭐Ameka’s journey With Strands of Faith

⭐The Importance of Diversifying Your Ad Spends

⭐eCommerce Influencers Worth Following

⭐How to Bootstrap Your Business

⭐How Strands of Faith Created a Community Around Their Products

⭐Advice to eCommerce Owners Looking for an Exit Strategy

⭐Ameka’s Advice to eCommerce Business Owners

Thanks for tuning in!

Do leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode!

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

View Details

161 Scott Moller From Year 5: How to Grow Your eCom Business on Amazon Hey Budai Nation,

With net sales worth $470 billion in 2021, Amazon is the leading e-tailer in the USA. With its global scope and reach, it’s one of the most valuable marketplaces for any brand considering growing their presence.

We’ve got Scott Moller here to walk us through the intricacies of selling on Amazon. Scott is the co-founder of Year 5, a top-notch Amazon management agency that provides brands with unique solutions and helps them maximize their sales on Amazon. Year 5 is the only Amazon Management Agency that doesn’t charge a minimum monthly fee; instead earns once they start delivering you results. Their clever name Year 5 is an invitation to brands that want to experience year 5 results through winning at Amazon within just one year.

Visit Year 5 and take control of your brand on Amazon.

Before we get started, here’s a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners out there:

Join us in this episode to learn more about:

✅The Story Behind Year 5

✅Selling on Shopify vs. Selling on Amazon

✅Perks of Working With an Amazon Agency

✅How to Deal With Competition on Amazon

✅When Should a Business Expand to Selling on Amazon

✅How Does Amazon’s Attribution Model Work

✅How to Optimize Your Amazon Listing

✅Amazon and Email Marketing

✅Interesting Amazon Updates for 2023

✅Scott’s Advice to Business Owners Looking To Sell on Amazon

Thanks for tuning in!

Do leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode!

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

View Details

160 Paul Farago From Ace Marks: How to Make Your Brand Stand Out in a Saturated Market Hey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to the E-Com Show!

We’ve got Paul Farago, the founder of an immensely popular and creative footwear company Ace Marks, joining us today to help you put your best foot forward in front of your customers. Paul Farago comes from a footwear legacy family which has over decades of experience in the industry. Ace Marks is his second venture in this space.

Ace Marks is a men’s footwear brand that raised around $1.3M through Kickstarter in their final round of funding. With their focus on customer experience, quality, and innovation this brand has managed to stand out, and create a name for themselves in an extremely saturated market.

Ace Marks aces customer experience by always focusing on how they can overcome the obstacles that stop their customers from making that first purchase. They do this by offering a virtual stylist to help customers shop, providing a flexible and easy returns program, and having an innovative buyback policy that not only incentivizes customers to keep shopping again but also fulfills a greater social initiative by providing shoes to those in need.

In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 150+ businesses and generated over 50M+ in additional sales revenue. Our goal is to help over 1000+ businesses in the coming few years. We’re very passionate about learning and sharing knowledge, which is why we started The Ecom Show. We’ve even released an exclusive 50-point checklist to help e-commerce businesses assess and audit their Klaviyo account. Click here to access it.

Join Daniel and Paul as they talk about:

✅Benefits of DTC Over Wholesale

✅How Ace Marks Stands Out in the Footwear Industry

✅How to Leverage Influencer Marketing to Build Customer Trust

✅Leveraging Your Kickstarter Campaign to Understand Customer Needs

✅Unique Retention Marketing Tips for a High Ticket Product

✅Using Virtual Stylists to Improve Online Customer Experience

✅Paul’s #1 Advice to Fashion eCommerce Brands

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please spare a moment to leave us a nice review!

Click here to visit Ace Marks.

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn.

Find me on YouTube.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

Thanks for tuning in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

View Details

159 Juan Garcia Mansilla From Unit 1: Disrupting the Urban Mobility Space With Smart Helmets Hey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show!

Did you know that motorcyclists account for over 380,000 deaths each year worldwide? Over 37% of motorcycle-related deaths are reduced by wearing a simple helmet. Now imagine what a smart helmet could do!

Unit 1 is a smart helmet startup that is disrupting the urban mobility space with its innovative and advanced tech helmets. Apart from protecting your head, these helmets also have integrated LED lights that allow riders to give turn signals and life-saving tech that detects falls and allows for micro-rotations to better protect your head. These smart helmets are a perfect blend of safety and style and are one of the best of their kind.

We’ve got Juan Garcia Mansilla, the co-founder of Unit 1, joining us for today’s episode to walk us through the inspiration behind this innovative startup, its e-commerce journey so far, and the exciting plans they have for the future.

Before we ride off, I’d like to quickly take a moment to introduce myself and the show to any new listeners tuning in. I’m Daniel Budai, your host for the show. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast sponsored by my agency Budai Media. We have over 150 episodes and release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands grow with the help of email and SMS marketing.

In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 120+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Our goal is to help over 1000+ businesses in the coming few years. We’re very passionate about learning and sharing knowledge, which is why we started The Ecom Show. Speaking of helping e-commerce businesses, my team and I have created a special 50-point checklist to help e-commerce businesses audit their Klaviyo account.

Join Juan and Daniel as they discuss:

✅The Inspiration Behind Starting Unit 1

✅How Smart Helmets Make Travel Safer

✅How Unit 1 Used Kickstarter to Raise Funds & Test Their Product

✅Unit 1’s Customer Acquisition Strategy

✅Juan’s Advice to Entrepreneurs With Unique Products

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please spare a moment to leave us a nice review!

Click here to learn more about Unit 1.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

View Details

Hey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show! It’s the first episode of 2023, and we want to kick things off with some advice for everyone looking to build a timeless brand. Join Kyle Koster, the CEO of Range Leather, and Daniel Budai, podcast host and CEO of Budai Media, as they discuss everything that goes into building a distinctive and long-lasting leather e-commerce brand.

Range Leather is handcrafted leather goods store that crafts premium leather products designed to wear in, not out. What makes them unique is their excellent emphasis on customer experience. They offer a “forever guarantee” on all products sold by offering customers the choice to get anything they purchase replaced, repaired, or fixed. Kyle Koster started Range Leather as a passion project to fuel his interest in making handmade leather wallets, but the brand has grown tenfold since its humble beginning, and now boasts an impressive and diverse line of premium leather goods and accessories.

Before we dive right in, here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there.

The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast show started by Daniel Budai, the show host and founder of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✨How Kyle Built a Handcrafted Leather Brand From Scratch

✨How Range Leather Differentiates Itself From Other Brands

✨How to Identify Good Quality Leather

✨Enhancing Customer Experience Through the Emphasis on Product Innovation and Quality

✨Range Leather Marketing Strategy

✨How to Build a Strong Online and Offline Brand Presence

Do leave us a review if you enjoyed this episode!

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Visit Range Leather to view their collection.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

View Details

157 Meg Smith From Love, Lexxi: How This Lingerie Start-Up Nails Marketing & BrandingWelcome to the last episode of The Ecom Show for this year! We've got an inspiring story of a lingerie start-up that's built a growing community around its brand using a unique and creative marketing approach headed your way today.

We're pleased to share that Meg Smith, the founder of Love, Lexxi, is joining us for today's episode. Meg Smith started her career working for several D2C brands; she then dipped her toes in entrepreneurship by launching a virtual marketing agency. However, she kept finding herself troubled by the lack of options for lingerie that was both comfortable and sexy. Determined to find a fix, Meg decided to take the matter into her own hands and launched Love, Lexxi after conducting a focus group and talking to over 500,000+ women.

Love, Lexxi is a lingerie brand that aims to empower women by advocating body positivity. The founder Meg's struggles with body positivity fuel the brand's mission. Love, Lexxi has been focused on creating a positive space for women to feel celebrated from Day 1. They've created an online sisterhood through their safe and exclusive community LiveLoveLexxi. Their blog, The Harli Effect, focuses on sharing stories and tips highlighting body positivity, acceptance, and holistic wellness. Join us in this episode to learn more about how small brands can create a great customer experience and build a community from Day 1.

Before we get started, here's a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners!

Budai Media is an e-commerce retention marketing agency founded by our podcast host, Daniel Budai. We help businesses hyper-scale with the help of personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. In the last 4 years, we have worked with over 125+ companies and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue.

We've also got a special 50-point checklist to help e-commerce businesses audit their Klaviyo setup. Click here to download it.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✨ The Inspiration Behind Starting Love, Lexxi

✨ Love, Lexxi’s Plans for 2023

✨ How Love, Lexxi Uses Technology to Guide Customers Through the Fit Process Online

✨ How Love, Lexxi Created an Authentic Community Around Body Positivity

✨ How Meg Started Love, Lexxi From Scratch

✨ Meg’s Advice to Entrepreneurs Creating a Fashion Brand

✨ Love, Lexxi’s Marketing Strategy

✨ Meg’s Tips for Creating a Strong Brand Community

Thanks for listening, if you enjoyed this episode please make sure to leave us a review.

We’ll see you back next year!

Click here to visit our website to learn more about us.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

View Details

156 Jake Tannenbaum From Craftmix Inc: How This Modern Cocktail Mix Brand Crafted Its Way to SuccessHey Budai Nation,

Keeping in tune with the holiday theme we’ve got a brand that’ll help you mix things up at your next house party. We’d like to welcome Jake Tannenbaum, the CEO of Craftmix Inc to The Ecom Show.

Started by a former bartender, Craftmix is an all-natural cocktail mix that comes in a dry blend! They make cocktails that are delicious, convenient, and guilt-free! Their better-for-you cocktail mixes have only 25 calories and 5g of sugar per drink! Plus Craftmix comes in small packets making it easy to enjoy happy hour anywhere!

In just two years since its inception, Craftmix has been featured on Amazon, QVC, Wegmans, Kroger, TMZ, and Yahoo Small Business. They also successfully raised over $1.2M in seed funding just two weeks ago. Check out this episode to learn more about their journey to success.

Visit Craftmix to learn more about them.

Before we dive right in, here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there.

Join us for happy hour to learn more about:

🍹The Inspiration Behind Craftmix

🍹What Makes Craftmix So Unique

🍹How Craftmix Uses a Subscription Model to Attract More Returning Customers

🍹how Craftmix’s Happy Hour Strategy Targets Customers Looking For Corporate Gifting

🍹Craftmix’s Journey to Getting Funded

🍹Craftmix’s Marketing Strategy

🍹Jake’s Advice for eCommerce Owners Looking To Raise Funds

Thanks for listening!

Do leave us a review if you enjoyed this episode!

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

155 Jennifer Edmonds From Rx Candles: Building A Business Out Of Your PassionHey Budai Nation,

Happy Christmas week! Keeping in tune with the festivities, we’ve got an exciting and inspiring story of an e-commerce brand that sells scented candles headed your way today.

We’d like to extend a warm and peppermint welcome to Jennifer Edmonds, the co-founder of Rx Candles. Rx Candles is a homegrown candle brand bootstrapped by Jennfier and her sister Jocelyn. Their story begins in 2013, back when Jocelyn started making DIY candles at home as gifts for her loved ones. These quickly gained popularity, and Jocelyn soon began taking and fulfilling orders out of her home. She even managed to raise an initial round of funding through Kickstarter to launch the brand. Jennifer soon joined in, and the two of them made their way up by working the local markets in and around LA and launching their own e-commerce brand. The brand has been going strong ever since and now has both a flourishing B2B and B2C clientele. Rx Candles managed to create a niche within this extremely competitive industry with their line of 100% soy candles designed in unique neutral shades.

Here’s a quick recap about The Ecom Show before we get started:

Join Daniel and Jennifer in this episode as they discuss:

✅ How Joceyln and Jennifer Turned Their Passion Into a Brand

✅ How to Know if You’re Ready to Quit Your Job to Run Your Brand Full-Time

✅ How Rx Candles Manages to Stand Out in a Crowded Industry

✅ Selling on Amazon vs. Etsy vs. Shopify

✅ Rx Candles Retention Marketing Strategy

✅ Jennifer’s Advice to Entrepreneurs Looking to Ditch Their 9-5 to Pursue Their Business

Thanks for tuning in! See you again next week.

Do leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode!

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click here to visit Rx Candles.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

154 Sadie Redinger From CKK Home Décor: Boost Your eCommerce Sales With a Multi-Channel ApproachHey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show!

I’m Daniel Budai and I’ve got Sadie Redinger, the Vice President of Online Sales and Marketing of CKK Home Décor here with me today. CKK Home Décor is a home decor brand that designs, distributes, and wholesales home decor products. They have two boutique lines, Top Shelf Barware & Stonebriar Collection, that concentrate on the smaller mom-and-pop stores.

Top Shelf is CKK Home Décor’s higher-end boutique glassware line that features unique hand-painted glasses. And the Stonebriar Collection is CKK Home Décor’s higher-end boutique line, featuring artisan-style craftsmanship, rich finishes, and bold colors.

While CKK Home Décor may have initially started out as wholesalers and distributors, they’ve now successfully expanded into the B2C market with their two boutique lines. Their B2C success can be credited to their multichannel sales approach. CKK Home Décor is easily and widely available to customers through popular websites like Target, Home Depot, Walmart, and Amazon. They also have their own Shopify storefront. Join us in today’s episode to learn more about using a multichannel approach to sell your products.

Before we dive right in, here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there.

Tune into this episode to learn more about:

✅Sadie’s Journey Into eCommerce Marketing & Sales

✅How CKK Home Décor Expanded From Retail to eCommerce

✅An Overview of Selling Through Amazon FBA

✅Tips for Selling on Walmart, Target, & Home Depot

✅Sadie’s #1 Tip for Professionals Getting Into eCommerce Marketing

Thanks for joining us, please leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode.

Click here to check out the Stonebriar Collection.

Click here to check out Top Shelf’s beautiful collection of glassware.

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click on the links below to connect with me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

153 Zachary Lipari From Superare: How This NY Based Fight Shop Built a Global Brand in the Last 12 YearsHey Budai Nation,

I’m Daniel Budai and I have Zachary Lipari, the founder of Superare joining me for this episode of The Ecom Show.

Started in 2011 out of love for combat sports and grown into a leader in the industry, Superare has the best gear and apparel for the gym or the streets. They’ve got retail outlets in New York and LA, and they’ve got a killer online presence which makes them the go-to brand for fight apparel for fighters across the world.

Superare has had a very interesting journey over the last 12 years. They didn’t start out as a brand, they started as a sports shop selling fight gear and apparel. After spending years understanding what their customers love and prefer, they started developing their own product line, and there’s been no looking back ever since. Superare has built a cult following by developing a creative line of fight products and apparel that draw inspiration from pop culture, and athletes. Their excellent customer service, innovative marketing, and versatile range of products have made them a go-to brand for fighters from across the world.

Visit Superare to learn more about them.

Before we get started, here’s a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners!

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

🥊Superare’s Journey Over the Last 12 Years

🥊How Zachary Transitioned From Retail to Online

🥊How to Manage Customer Returns and Sizing Issues With an Online Sports Store

🥊Superare’s Strategy for Building an Online Sports Brand

🥊Why Hiring Your Customers Is a Great Idea

🥊Zachary’s Advice to New Business Owners

Thanks for tuning in! Please leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode.

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click here to visit Superare.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

152 Itzik Polnauer from Leibish: The Art Of Selling High-End Jewelry OnlineHey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show! This episode is precious and by precious we mean really precious because we’re going to be uncovering the world of luxury e-commerce jewelry.

We’ve got Itzik (Isaac) Polnauer from the legacy high-end jewelry brand Leibish. This world-renowned jewelry brand was founded back in 1979 and has customers from around the globe. Started by Itzik’s father, this business originally catered to a B2B clientele. However, the business made the brave and innovative move of adopting a B2C strategy by launching an online storefront in 1998. This close-knit family business is a leading supplier of colored diamonds to retailers, distributors, and clients from around the world. In the last 33 years, this business has managed to create a stellar mark for itself.

Click here to visit Leibish and learn more about their story.

Before we dive right in, here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

💎How Leibish Entered the World of eCommerce in 1998

💎How to Add Value to Your Customers

💎How to Build Trust While Selling a Luxury Product Online

💎How Does Retention Marketing Work for Luxury Jewelry Brands

💎The Challenges Leibish Faced While Entering the US Market

💎Itzik’s Advice to eCom Owners Interested in Selling Luxury Goods

Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget we have a brand new episode headed your way tomorrow.

Do leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode!

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click here to follow Itzik’s journey on Instagram.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

151 Clive D’Souza From Vvegano: How Vvegano Is Disrupting India’s Food IndustryHey Budai Nation,

Today we’ve got a food e-commerce store from the land of the food itself! We’d like to extend a warm welcome to Clive D’Souza, the founder of Vvegano. Vvegano is India’s #1 Vegan Marketplace, and in today’s episode, we’re going to uncover more about how the vegan trend is disrupting the Indian food market.

India’s got a population of over 1.3 billion people, making it a huge market for any business. Clive noticed that there was a growing interest in the vegan lifestyle in India, and he realized that there was a clear need for food businesses that cater to it, which led him to launch Vvegano. Vvegano sells a host of vegan items like protein, mock meat, groceries, and even pet food through its online marketplace. Their goal is to decrease the overall animal consumption in India by providing vegan alternatives to mainstream consumables. Through their marketing initiatives and diverse product line, they’ve been able to appeal to both vegan and flexitarian markets and have created a big mark in India’s growing vegan industry.

Visit Vvegano to learn more about them.

Before we dive right in, here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there.

Join Daniel and Clive in this episode as they discuss:

🌱 The Story Behind How Clive Founded Vvegano

🌱 How Big Is India’s Vegan Market

🌱 Vvegano’s Plans for the Future

🌱 How Vvegano Became India’s #1 Vegan Marketplace

🌱 Clive’s Advice to eCommerce Owners

Thanks for tuning in! Remember: We now release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Do leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode!

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click here to visit VVegano.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Click here to learn more about Budai Media.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

150 Frank & Brett From Sheets & Giggles: Branding Tips From an Inc5000 CompanyHey Budai Nation,

Welcome to our 150th episode! 🎉

What better way to celebrate this milestone than with expert tips from two marketers from one of the fastest-growing companies? We’ve got Frank Dorval (VP of Marketing) and Brett Vance (VP of Growth) at Sheets & Giggles joining us for today’s episode.

Sheets & Giggles is one of the fastest-growing bedding brands, and their secret weapon is humor! Formed on the foundation of great copy, amazing work culture, and a ton of puns, Sheets & Giggles has made its way onto the Inc5000 list.

We’ve got the vice president’s of their growth and marketing team here with us today to spill the beans on their fast-growing success and to share some expert and proven branding strategies to help small businesses grow.

Before we get started here’s a quick recap about us for all the new listeners out there.

The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast started by Daniel Budai, the founder of Budai Media. After working with hundreds of e-commerce entrepreneurs, and e-commerce professionals, Daniel realized that everyone has a story to tell, and the best way to learn about something you love is through other people that have been doing what you love as well. He started The Ecom Show to create a space for e-commerce entrepreneurs and professionals to learn, share, and grow through real-life experiences. We’re proud and humbled to have been doing this for 150 episodes and look forward to having all our listeners join us on the journey to the next 150.

Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that works with e-commerce businesses to help them accelerate their growth by maximizing their customer lifetime value. In the last 4 years, Budai Media has generated over $35M+ in additional sales revenue and ventured into its own content and learning vertical to help individuals interested in e-commerce and retention marketing learn at their own pace.

Visit our website to learn more about us.

Join Daniel, Frank, and Brett in this episode to learn more about:

✅Sheets & Giggles’ Open Team Culture

✅Sheets & Giggles’ Marketing and Distribution Strategy

✅Sheets & Giggles’ Retention Marketing Stack

✅The Secret Behind Sheets & Giggles’ 50% Retention Marketing Rate

✅The Power of Good Copywriting

✅Frank & Brett’s #1 Tip for E-Com Marketers

Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed listening to this, please leave us a quick review and help us grow so we can continue doing more of what we love.

Click on this link to visit our website.

Click on the links below to connect with Daniel Budai:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

149 Jimmy & Grace From Dwarf Lab: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding CampaignHey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show! This is the first time that we have guests from China joining us on the show. Jimmy and Grace work at Dwarf Lab; an extremely fascinating brand that creates smart telescopes.

Dwarf Lab is a technology-driven optical team with an obsessive compulsion for innovation. Their journey started four years ago when they created microscopes for mobile phones. Inspired by this success they were keen to innovate further and ventured into the space of creating portable smart telescopes.

Dwarf Lab has raised over $1.7M+ since they started, and with over 5000+ backers they’ve managed to collect 500% of their initial goal. They’ve not only successfully rolled out their first portable telescope, but they’ve also collected the feedback they’ve received from their first launch to improve their product and released their new and improved second version.

Before we get started, here’s a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners!

We’ve also got a special 50-point checklist to help e-commerce businesses audit their Klaviyo setup. Click here to download it.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

⭐How Dwarf Lab Raised Over $1.7M+ Through Crowdfunding

⭐Difference Between Indiegogo and Kickstarter

⭐How to Retain Your Crowdfunding User Base

⭐How Dwarf Lab Promotes Their Product Campaign on Social Media

⭐The Biggest Challenge for Technical E-CommerBusinesses

⭐Dwarf Lab Advise to eCommerce Businesses Looking To Raise Funds Through Crowdfunding

Thanks for listening, if you enjoyed this episode please make sure to leave us a review.

We’ll see you back here tomorrow with our super special 150th episode!

Click here to visit Dwarf Lab.

Click here to visit our website to learn more about us.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

148 Craig Leslie From the Bean Coffee Company: Serial Entrepreneur’s Advice to Selling on Shopify & Amazon

Skincare, Food, Coffee… No, I'm not just naming the three most booming industries in the e-commerce world, I’m actually listing down all the industries that Craig has managed to find success in.

Welcome to The Ecom Show, our guest for today is Craig Leslie the Director of Ecommerce at San Diego Coffee, Tea, & Spice, the parent company of the brand, The Bean Coffee Company, an e-commerce store that provides organic, micro-roasted coffee beans straight to your doorstep. Craig is a serial entrepreneur that’s started and provided consultancy to several businesses in the food, restaurant, skincare, and now, coffee space. He has experience in building both offline and e-commerce brands. He’s an experienced and proven entrepreneur with a lot of valuable lessons and effective strategies to help startups grow.

Before we dive right in here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there.

Join Daniel and Craig in this episode as they discuss:

⭐Craig’s Entrepreneurial Journey

⭐How Social Consciousness Helps Brands Appeal to Customers

⭐The Nuances of Building a Sustainable Coffee Brand

⭐Craig’s Advice for Sellers Selling on Both Amazon and Shopify

⭐Tools That Have Helped Craig Grow His Shopify Store

⭐Craig’s Advice for New Business Owners

Thanks for tuning in! Remember: We now release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Do leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode!

Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.

Click here to visit The Bean Coffee Company.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

147 Steve Appleton From Really Good E-Bikes: How To Start A High Ticket Dropshipping BusinessHey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show! Our guest for today is Steve Appleton, the founder of Really Good E-Bikes. Steve is a living example of how great business ideas can come at any age. Steve left his full-time job in real estate development, and ventured into entrepreneurship in his mid 50’s by starting his very own dropshipping business selling e-bikes!

Most of our guests on The Ecom Show sell daily consumer products. However, Steve’s business is unique. Steve is in the high-ticket product niche of the e-commerce world as his average order value is over $1500! His business model and approach to e-commerce is very different as his focus is not on volume but rather the value of each sale. Watch this episode to learn more about the nuances of running a high-ticket dropshipping business.

Before we get started, here’s a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners!

Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with; we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs. We release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Apart from this, check out my $37M 50-point email marketing cheatsheet, and learn how we helped more than 100 e-commerce businesses make more profit.

Join Daniel and Steve in this episode as they discuss more:

✅Steve’s Inspiration Behind Starting Really Good E-Bikes

✅How to Dropship a High-Ticket Product

✅How to Set Your Dropshipping E-Com Store Apart

✅Steve’s Advice to Entrepreneurs Looking To Start a High-Ticket eCommerce Brand

Thanks for tuning in!

If you’re keen on learning about retention marketing, we recently released a three-hour mini-course containing all the information you need to get started. This mini-course comes packed with real-life case studies, proven strategies, and many helpful resources from experienced email marketers. Find the mini-course here.

Visit Really Good E-Bikes to learn more about Steve’s store.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

146 Justin Frank Polgar From Yes Cacao: Healthy Eating Just Got Tastier With Botanical ChocolatesHey Budai Nation and Willy Wonka Fans,

We’ve got a super exciting and tasty product that we’ll unravel in today’s episode of The Ecom Show! Justin Frank, the founder of Yes Cacao, is here with us to talk about how his brand is revolutionizing the chocolate industry.

Yes Cacao is the world’s first chocolate brand that uses organic, raw, wild-harvested Cacao from Ecuadorian Jungles and infuses it with the goodness of botanicals to create healthy chocolate bars that boost your endurance, increase your brain-power, and help you relax.

Click here to try their deliciously healthy chocolates at 20% off. Or, copy paste this link in your browser's address bar: https://www.yescacao.com/discount/BUDAI20

Justin’s always been fascinated by how different kinds of food and herbs can affect specific parts of your body. He got the idea to start Yes Cacao while learning about Chinese medicine. He observed how many people failed to stick to natural medicine because it involved taking multiple pills and was determined to find a more accessible and more fun solution to this problem. That’s when he began experimenting with something that everyone loves- chocolate. The rest was history!

Justin and his wife are both co-founders of Yes Cacao. Together they’ve managed to get this business crowdfunded through successful Kickstarter campaigns, brought their brand in over 170+ retail stores, and pivoted it in a completely new direction by moving entirely online. Watch this episode to learn more about their journey.

Before we get started, here’s a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners!

Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with; we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs. We release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Apart from this, we’ve even got a mini-course that teaches you the A-Z of email marketing!

Click here to sign up for our mini-course.

✅How Justin Got the Idea Behind Starting a Botanical Chocolate Brand

✅How to Crowdfund Your Business Using Kickstarter

✅How Yes Cacao Pivoted From Selling in 170+ Retail Stores to Building Their Own eCommerce Store

✅Selling on eCommerce vs. Selling in Retail Stores

✅Yes Cacao’s Marketing Strategy

✅How Yes Cacao’s Product Range Supports Different Wellness Needs

Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed listening to this, remember we have a new episode headed your way tomorrow!

We have a special surprise for all our listeners!

Get your hands on Yes Cacao’s deliciously healthy chocolate bars at 20% off by using the code: BUDAI20.

Visit YesCacao.

Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

View Details

145 Anthony & Rodney From Munch Addict: Retention Strategies For Subscription Box OwnersDo you love snacking but hate having to stock up? If yes, then you’ll love the guests we have on today’s episode.

Anthony and Rodney are the founders of Munch Addict --- a snack subscription box service that ensures you’re never left hungry with an empty pantry by sending you a variety of International snacks and candy on the regular. What makes their service even more unique? They also have a store service that lets you order extra units of your favorite snacks.

In today’s episode, Anthony and Rodney share the story of how they started Munch Addict, and walk us through all the different retention strategies that they’ve used to grow their subscription-based brand.

Before we get started here’s a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners out there!

In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with, in fact, we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs.

Our founder, Daniel Budai started The Ecom Show to create a platform where e-commerce owners can share their success stories with other founders. We release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Apart from this, we’ve even got a mini-course, several case studies, an active Youtube channel, newsletters, and blogs to help anyone and everyone interested in e-commerce retention marketing learn through their preferred channel

Visit our website to learn more about us.

Here are a few highlights from this episode:

✅How Munch Addict Started

✅What Are the Challenges of Entering the Food eCommerce Industry

✅How Munch Addict Subscription Box Stands Out

✅Navigating Corporate Gifting

✅How Google Knowledge Panel Can Help Grow Your Reach

✅Munch Addicts Marketing Strategy

✅How Email Marketing Boosts Retention for Subscription Boxes

✅Creating a Rewards Program for Your Subscription Business

If you’re keen on learning about retention marketing, we recently released a three-hour mini-course that contains all the info you need to get started. This mini-course comes packed with real-life case studies, proven strategies, and a ton of helpful resources from experienced email marketers. Find the mini-course here.

Visit Munch Addict to learn more about the brand.

Click on the links below to connect with me and my agency:

Find me on LinkedIn
Find me on YouTube

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

Check out some previous episodes.

Thanks for tuning in. Please remember we release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday!

View Details

144 Sarah Saputra From Belle Fever: The Key to Keeping Your Customers Happy

Did you know that a study by Hubspot found that over 68% of consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from a brand known to offer good customer service experiences?

Our guest for today’s podcast knows all about creating great customer experience and she’s got over 22,000+ happy customers that’ll vouch for it. Join Sarah Saputra, the founder of Belle Fever, and our host and founder, Daniel Budai, as they discuss building a successful brand by using customer happiness as a key metric.

Belle Fever is an Australian personal jewelry brand that uses hypoallergenic metals to create lifetime heirlooms for individuals. Their affordable jewelry and exceptional service have played a huge role in their success over the last ten years. Sarah discusses everything from how she created a product differentiator in a highly competitive space, to how her customer-first approach translates into her brand’s approach to digital and retention marketing as well.

If you’re new here, here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show.

The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast hosted by Daniel Budai. Daniel Budai is also the founder of Budai Media- a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce brands grow with personalized email and SMS marketing strategies.

In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Budai Media is committed to helping e-commerce business owners grow in every way possible, and this podcast is one of the many initiatives by the agency to work towards this goal.

Here are a few highlights from this episode:

✅Sarah’s Inspiration Behind Starting Belle Fever

✅How to Differentiate Your Brand in a Competitive Market

✅Belle Fever’s Digital Marketing Strategy

✅Belle Fever’s Approach to Retention Marketing

✅What Were the Biggest Challenges Sarah Faced While Building Belle Fever

✅Sarah’s Advice to Other Business Owners

Visit Belle Fever to learn more about the brand:

https://bellefever.com.au/

Follow Sarah on LinkedIn to learn more about her:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-saputra/

Click on the links below to connect with me and my agency:

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in. We’ll see you back here next Tuesday.

View Details

143 Kai Klement From Bonaventura: The Secret to Selling Successfully in Different CountriesWelcome to The Ecom Show!

Today’s episode is one that will interest all e-com entrepreneurs. We’re going to be diving deep into what it takes to sell your product in a global market. We’ve got Kai Klement, the Managing Director of Bonaventura joining us for this interesting discussion. Bonaventura is an Italian leather store that’s captured the interest of both Asian and European markets. Born in the fashion capital of the world, Bonaventura’s first physical store is based in Milan, Italy. Since then, they’ve launched 10 other physical outlets across Japan, with a huge flagship store as well.

Before we get started, we’d like to quickly introduce ourselves to all the new listeners out there!

The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by the email retention marketing agency, Budai Media. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, who is also the founder and CEO of Budai Media. The Ecom Show is a place for anyone interested in the world of e-commerce to learn more about the world of e-commerce from leading entrepreneurs, and experienced professionals from the industry.

Join Kai and Daniel as they talk about Bonaventura’s journey from starting out as an artisanal Italian leather brand to building a cult following in the Japanese market. Here’s a preview of what’s to come in this episode:

✅Kai’s Professional Journey Before Bonaventura

✅How Kai Started Working as the Managing Director at Bonaventura

✅Selling in Asia vs Europe

✅Bonaventura’s Sales Focus: Amazon vs Shopify

✅Tips for Selling in European Countries

✅Tips for Selling in Asian Countries

✅Bonaventura’s Hero Product

✅Bonaventura’s #1 Marketing Channel

✅Kai’s Advice to Ecom Entrepreneurs for Crushing It This Black Friday and in 2023

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to let me know by leaving an honest review.

Click here to visit Bonaventura:

https://eu.bonaventura.shop/

Follow Kai on LinkedIn to learn more from him:

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

You can find my agency and me by clicking on any of the links below.

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in. We’ll see you back here this Thursday.

View Details

142 Jeff From the Atomic Bear: How This Survival Gear Brand Built a 7-Figure BusinessHey Budai Nation,

Welcome back to The Ecom Show. I’m your host Daniel Budai, and today I’ve got serial entrepreneur Jeff from The Atomic Bear joining us for a tell-all about how he managed to bootstrap his survival brand business and scale it to a steady seven-figure money maker.

The Atomic Bear is an e-commerce store that supplies safety gear ranging from tactical pens to survival bracelets and outdoor survival tools. They specialize in creating portable safety tools that help everyday folks prepare to survive the outdoors.

If you’re new here, here’s a quick recap of The Ecom Show.

The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast hosted by Daniel Budai. Daniel Budai is also the founder of Budai Media. (The agency that sponsors The Ecom Show.) Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce brands grow with personalized email and SMS marketing strategies.

In this episode, Jeff shares what the behind-the-scenes of running a seven-figure survival gear brand looks like. Tune in to learn more about:

✅Jeff’s Decision to Shut His First Business

✅The Idea Behind Atomic Bear

✅Why Jeff Wants to Downsize His SKUs

✅Atomic Bear’s Acquisition Strategy

✅How to Educate Customers About a Product in the Survival Gear Space

✅Jeff’s Advice to eCom Entrepreneurs Looking to Scale Their 6-Figure Business

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to let me know by leaving an honest review.

Visit Atomic Bear to learn more about its products and the story behind them.

https://www.theatomicbear.com/

You can find my agency and me by clicking on any of the links below.

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in. We’ll see you back here next Tuesday.

View Details

141 Greg Meade From Crossnet: How Crossnet Invented a New Sport & Scaled It Using eCommerceThis is the first time ever in the history of The Ecom Show that we’ve got an inventor of not just a product or a brand but of a whole new sport joining us as a guest on the show.

Crossnet is the world’s first four square Volleyball net. Crossnet gives a fun spin to the classic beach game Volleyball by splitting the net into four sections. Not only does this allow for more players to participate individually, but it also increases the difficulty of the game by adding an element of surprise as to where the ball will land. Today we’ve got Greg Meade, the co-founder of Crossnet, joining us here to share the idea behind how they got started and their journey ever since.

The idea behind Crossnet came when brothers Chris and Greg reunited with their childhood best friend Mike and started reminiscing about their favorite childhood memories of playing four square and Volleyball. Drawing inspiration from both games, they decided to create a whole new sport and quickly developed a prototype that was well-received by their friends and family. There’s been no looking back after that. Since then, they’ve expanded into two new verticals of Crossnet soccer and a Crossnet that’s pool compatible.

Before we get the ball rolling on Crossnet’s story, here’s a little about us:

The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency helping brands grow their revenue with personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional revenue for the clients. The agency is also proud to be associated with Klaviyo as a Platinum Partner. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder and CEO of Budai Media.

Join us in this episode as Greg walks us through the following:

✅The Story Behind How Crossnet Invented a New Sport

✅How Crossnet Uses eCommerce to Skyrocket Their Sales

✅Crossnet’s Retention Marketing & Loyalty Program Strategy

✅The Platforms Crossnet Uses Grow Their Brand

✅Crossnet’s #1 Customers

✅Crossnet’s Vision for the Future

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to leave us a good review.

Want to get your hands on Crossnet? Visit their website:

https://www.crossnetgame.com/

You can also follow Greg to know more about their journey:

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

To learn more about Daniel and Budai Media:

Find him on LinkedIn:

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

Follow him on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in. We’ll see you back here this Thursday.

View Details

140 Jodi and Keri From Prolong Lash: The Story Behind Prolong Lash’s Global SuccessWelcome to The Ecom Show - your space to discover new and exciting real-life e-com success stories. This week we’re diving deep into the world of beauty and personal wellness.

The personal wellness and beauty industry is one where the scope to go viral and create a global cult following is immense. Today, we’ve got Jodi and Keri, the CEO and founder of Prolong Lash, here with us today to talk about the story behind how they grew Prolong Lash from a small business to a global brand with a presence in over 80+ countries.

Prolong Lash is a pioneer in the world of lash care. They were the first brand to launch a lash aftercare solution that helps lash professionals maintain the quality of their lash glue. What started with one product has now developed into an extensive line of lash aftercare products. Join us in this episode as Jodi and Keri get candid about the work culture, social media strategies, and business mindset that has helped them grow their global footprint.

Before we get started, here’s a quick introduction for all the new listeners:

The Ecom Show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder, and CEO of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that works with e-commerce businesses to help them achieve hyper-growth and better engagement. In the last four years, we’ve helped over 125+ businesses generate over 35M+ in additional sales revenue.

In this episode, we’re going to talk more about:

✅Prolong Lash’s Origin Story

✅How Prolong Lash Created a Global Network for Lash Professionals

✅Prolong Lash’s Social Media Approach to Targeting a Global Audience

✅When Should You Hire a CEO to Help You Grow Your Business?

✅Prolong Lash’s Advice to New eCom Business Owners

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to leave us a good review.

Visit the website to learn more about Prolong Lash.

https://prolonglash.com/

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in. We’ll see you back here next Tuesday.

View Details

Shopify - A word that’s become almost synonymous with e-commerce. Shopify has enabled every entrepreneur the dream of starting their own business with an easy-to-build storefront. However, their work doesn’t stop there. Shopify is a platform that grows with you.

Welcome to The Ecom Show! This episode is dedicated to Shopify Plus, an enterprise-level solution that enables e-com giants to ditch their legacy platforms for new-age stackable e-com tech. Kray Mitchell from Shopify will be joining Daniel Budai, our podcast host and the founder of Budai Media, for this episode.

Kray Mitchell joined Shopify in their early days and has been with them for the last six years. He works as a launch engineer at Shopify. He’s a launch consultant that works with plus merchants that are coming onto the platform to help evaluate their tech stacks and basically provide guidance and solutions to get them moving as quickly as possible. Enterprise-level businesses have complicated tech systems and require a lot of money, time, and resources when it comes to shifting their operations. Shopify launch engineers help simplify the onboarding process by cutting down the time it takes them to make this switch down by as much as 50%. Safe to say that there’s no one better than Kray to walk us through how Shopify Plus works.

A little about The Ecom Show.

The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses accelerate their growth with personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. In the last four years, Budai Media has helped over 125+ businesses from across the world grow their e-commerce brand and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue for their clients. Our goal is to empower more entrepreneurs to grow their e-com brands by adding value to their lives. The Ecom Show is our way of creating a space for e-com business owners to learn from real-life success stories and proven strategies.

Now back to the show.

Tune in to this episode to hear more about:

⭐How Covid Accelerated The Growth Of Shopify.

⭐The Core Audience For Shopify Plus.

⭐How Shopify Fulfillment Can Help Businesses Compete With Amazon’s Prime Shipping.

⭐The Difference Between Shopify Plus and Shopify.

⭐How Shopify’s Work Culture Promotes Entrepreneurial Spirit.

We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode; we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!

Follow Kray Mitchell on LinkedIn to stay in touch with his journey with e-commerce and business:

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

Kray also has his own monthly talk show known as FailureTV:

FailureTV podcast - https://anchor.fm/failuretv

FailureTV YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpgMHx-U6DtdxzDhH9NxepQ

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in.

View Details

138 Chad Rubin From Profasee: Valuable Business Lessons From a Serial eCom EntrepreneurHey Budai Nation,

Welcome to The Ecom Show, your friendly neighborhood bi-weekly e-commerce podcast that uncovers new strategies, tips, and stories in the world of e-com. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder, and CEO of Budai Media.

Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. This show is sponsored by Budai Media. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning.

We’ve got the serial e-com entrepreneur Chad Rubin joining us for today’s episode of The Ecom Show. Chad’s journey is really interesting. He ventured into the world of e-commerce by expanding his family business online after he saw a vacuum in the online space in the industry for vacuum cleaners. Taking his online success from his first venture, he decided to pivot into creating services for other e-commerce businesses. His second venture focused on helping businesses seamlessly integrate all their operations with the help of technology. He successfully exited from that a couple of years later and is currently the co-founder of Profassee. Profasee uses data and analytics to predict the perfect price point for businesses looking to sell on Amazon.

Chad has successfully been involved in over five businesses in the e-commerce space; he’s also the author of a bestselling novel titled “Cheaper, Easier, Direct.” In this episode, Chad shares some valuable lessons for e-commerce entrepreneurs. Join this conversation to learn more about his journey and to gain his advice on how to manage multiple businesses.

Here’s a glimpse of what this episode covers:

⭐From eCom Store to eCom Service - Chad’s Serial Entrepreneurial Journey

⭐How Profasee Helps eCom Businesses Predict the Perfect Price for Selling on Amazon

⭐How to Find Balance as a Serial Entrepreneur

⭐How to Distinguish Between a Cash Flow Business and a Business to Sell

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to leave us a good review.

You can also learn everything you need to know about email marketing in just under four hours by checking out my mini-course. This mini-course comes packed with real-life case studies, proven strategies, and a ton of helpful resources from experienced email marketers.

https://course.thebudaimedia.com/

Follow Chad to keep up with his entrepreneurial journey:

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

Get a copy of Chad’s bestselling novel:

https://www.amazon.com/Cheaper-Easier-Direct-Marketplace-Commerce-ebook/dp/B01HP76WHU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in. We’ll see you back here next Tuesday.

View Details

137 Brian Kurtz Author of the Bestselling Novel Overdeliver: 3 Golden Rules of Direct MarketingHello and welcome to The Ecom Show. We’ve got Brian Kurtz, the king of direct marketing joining us for today’s episode.

Brian is the author of the bestselling novel, Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing. With over four decades worth of marketing experience, Brian is an expert at what he does, and his book Overdeliver is a must-read for marketers from every generation because it contains golden rules that stand the test of time and trends.

Before we start, here’s a little about The Ecom Show. This show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by the e-commerce retention marketing agency, Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands succeed with the help of personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 100+ e-commerce stores and generated over $35M+ in additional sales revenue for them.

At Budai Media, we’ve always believed that experience is the best way to teach anyone about e-commerce. The Ecom Show aims to make real-life e-commerce experiences more accessible to all business owners out there. With over 137+ episodes, this show aims to unravel one new and interesting e-commerce story each week. The Ecom Show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder and CEO of Budai Media.

Enough about us, now let’s get back to this episode!

Direct marketing is timeless. Every business needs it to survive because it’s the only way to get a specific return on your investment. In this episode, Brian shares with us the golden rules of direct marketing and teaches us about the importance and way to practice measurable marketing.

Join Daniel and Brian as they talk about:

⭐ Brian’s Personal Background

⭐ 3 Golden Rules of Direct Marketing

⭐ The Formula to Finding Your VIP customers: Recency + Frequency + Monetary Value

⭐ The Value of Downselling Your Product

⭐ The Importance of Segmentation

⭐ Testing Your Customer Service with Secret Shoppers

If you enjoyed listening to this episode make sure to leave us a good review.

Click on the link below to grab a copy of Overdeliver.

https://overdeliverbook.com/

To stay in touch with Brian, follow him on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-kurtz-a1934/

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in.

View Details

Starting an e-commerce store is not difficult. Thanks to e-commerce platforms, individuals have all the tools they need to build a website right at their fingertips, making it easy to get up and running. However, scaling your e-com store is a whole different story. As your business grows, your needs from the platform you use will as well, which is when you might consider shifting your e-commerce store to a bigger platform.

I’m Daniel Budai, the founder of Budai Media and the host of The Ecom Show. I’d like to invite you to join James Gurd, the founder and CEO of Digital Juggler, and me as we discuss everything an e-commerce business owner needs to know about e-commerce re-platforming.

James is an eCommerce strategy and re-platforming consultant with more than 16 years of experience working with B2C and B2B brands, including House of Fraser, Mars, Samsung, The Wine Society, Victoria Beckham, RSPB, and Dr. Barbara Sturm. He helps organizations deliver e-commerce growth based on realistic plans and budgets.

Before we kick off, I’d like to quickly take a moment to introduce the show to any new listeners tuning in. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast sponsored by Budai Media. We have over 135+ episodes and release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands grow with the help of email and SMS marketing.

In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 120+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Our goal is to help over 1000+ businesses in the coming few years. We’re very passionate about learning and sharing knowledge, which is why we started The Ecom Show. We’ve even released a 3-hour mini-course to help businesses learn everything they need to know about email marketing. This course includes tried and tested strategies, real-life case studies from actual businesses, and a lot of additional learning material.

Click on the link below to check it out 👇

https://course.thebudaimedia.com/

Getting back to the episode, here are the topics we’ll be touching upon in this episode:

✅James Gurd’s e-commerce journey.

✅A timeline of how e-commerce platforms have evolved.

✅Pros and Cons of using Shopify.

✅Magento vs. BigCommerce vs. Salesforce

✅What drives businesses to migrate to different platforms?

✅How to solve your issues without migrating to another platform.

✅What’s a realistic timeline to migrate to a bigger e-commerce platform?

✅What do business owners need to consider while building their website?

✅James’s advice for e-commerce businesses looking to re-platform.

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please spare a moment to leave us a nice review!

To learn more about James,

Follow him on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesgurd-ecommerce-consultant/

Visit his website:

https://digitaljuggler.com/

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in.

View Details

135 TJ Gamble From Jamersan: How To Choose The Right Tech Stack For Your E-Com BusinessHow’s it going, Budai Nation?

Welcome to a brand new episode of The Ecom Show. I’m Daniel Budai, the CEO and founder of Budai Media and your host for today’s episode. I’ve got e-commerce tech expert TJ Gamble joining me today to discuss e-commerce platforms. This topic forms the very foundation for every e-commerce store.

TJ Gamble is the Founder & CEO of Jamersan, an e-commerce agency that arms businesses with the tools they need to increase their conversion, optimize their marketing strategies, and ultimately grow their business.

TJ Gamble has a lot of knowledge and experience working with e-commerce tech stacks like Magento and BigCommerce. In today’s episode, he will share with us everything that an e-commerce business needs to know to choose the right platform to build and scale its store.

Before we jump in, I’d like to take a quick moment to tell you about The Ecom Show. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency I started about four years ago. Over the years, Budai Media has worked with over 100+ businesses and generated over 30M+ in additional revenue for stores from different niches worldwide.

This journey has been a great learning experience because I have the privilege to work closely with other motivated and inspirational entrepreneurs. So, I wanted to find a way to give back and share my learnings with other businesses out there. The Ecom Show is my way of sharing my e-com experiences and the wonderful stories I come across with the rest of the world.

Speaking of sharing my learnings with e-commerce websites. I’d like to invite you to check out my 50-point email marketing cheat sheet to audit your Klaviyo account.

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/email-cheatsheet

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✅TJ Gamble’s journey with the world of e-commerce

✅How Jamersan helps e-commerce businesses build a scalable business model using Magento and BigCommerce

✅How to pick the right e-commerce tech stack

✅Shopify vs. Magento vs. BigCommerce

✅Pros and Cons of using Shopify

✅New and Emerging E-Commerce Software Solutions

Thanks for taking the time to listen to this episode. I come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!

To learn more about TJ Gamble,

Follow him on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tj-gamble-95a8b67/

Visit his website:

https://jamersan.com/

We also have over 100+ episodes with guests from around the e-commerce world.

Check these out by clicking on the link below:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

I’d love to stay in touch with you. Find me on:

LinkedIn:

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

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Before you go, please take a moment to leave us a review or comment and let us know how you felt about this episode.

View Details

134 Lawrence Ingrassia Author Of Billion Dollar Brand Club: How To Build A Disruptive BusinessWelcome to The Ecom Show!

I'm Daniel Budai, and in this episode, I've had the pleasure of interviewing bestselling author and esteemed journalist Lawrence Ingrassia. Lawrence Ingrassia is the author of the famous book Billion Dollar Brand Club. The book talks about how disruptive startups are creating digitally-native consumer products and challenging long-dominant companies to build successful empires.

In this episode, Lawrence talks about the strategies businesses like Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, and other disruptors use to get their consumers' attention in a competitive market. He also gives us insight into the kind of mindset that billion-dollar businesses use to drive success through all their endeavors.

Before we start, here's a little about me and my show.

I'm Daniel, the founder and CEO of a retention marketing agency called Budai Media. My team and I specialize in helping e-commerce brands hyper-scale their revenue, and build better relationships with their clients through personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. We've been doing this for the last four years, and we've worked with over 120+ e-commerce businesses. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast that talks about e-commerce tips, strategies, and real-life stories of success to inspire our entrepreneurs and creative geniuses.

Now back to the show.

Tune in to this episode to hear Lawrence and me talk all about:

⭐How Dollar Shave Club inspired him to write this book

⭐How to build a disruptive business in a competitive space

⭐How to leverage technology to create a competitive advantage

⭐How to find the "one thing" that attracts customers to buy your products

⭐How to use data to give customers what they want

We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode; we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!

Check out Billion Dollar Brand Club by clicking on the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/Billion-Dollar-Brand-Club-Disruptors-ebook/dp/B07R7KHPH4

Follow Lawrence on LinkedIn to stay in touch with his journey with e-commerce and business:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence-ingrassia-a60659140/

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in.

Billion Dollar Brand Club: How Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, and Other Disruptors Are Remaking What We Buy

View Details

133 Jitendra Vaswani From DigiExe: SEO Tips That Actually WorkWelcome to a brand new episode of The Ecom Show! Today we’ve got the SEO wizard, serial entrepreneur, international keynote speaker, and bestselling author, Jitendra Vaswani, here with us today.

Jitendra is an expert at SEO and affiliate marketing, and in this episode, he very graciously shared the strategy that has helped him earn over 1.5 million clicks on his website. Jitendra’s journey has been extremely insightful and inspiring as he taught himself SEO from scratch.

Give this episode a listen if you’re someone interested in learning about how to get started with SEO, affiliate marketing websites, and CRO. This episode also goes beyond the technical learning as Jitendra opens up about his personal journey of being a self-starter.

Before we get started, here’s a quick recap:

The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast sponsored by Budai Media. We cover everything from e-commerce retention marketing to website optimization, customer engagement, and everything else related to e-commerce. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder, and CEO of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that’s helped over 100+ e-commerce stores hyper-scale their business through personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns.

Join Jitendra and Daniel in this episode of The Ecom Show to learn more about:

⭐How Jitendra Has Received Over 1M+ Clicks On His Website Using SEO.

⭐How to learn SEO from scratch.

⭐SEO and CRO Tips That Actually Work.

⭐Content Strategy Advice For Creating An Affiliate Marketing Website.

⭐The Mindset Needed To Build A Successful Empire.

⭐Jitendra’s biggest business mentor and his advice on how to upskill yourself.

We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode; we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!

Keep in touch with Jitendra:

Visit his website: https://jitendra.co/.

Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jitendravaswaniseo/?originalSubdomain=in.

Check out his podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/34YT8hBIjVFhXCh658TBWO.

Follow him on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jitendravaswani.

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn:

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in.

View Details

132 Karl Lillrud, Global Gurus Top 30 Speakers: How AI Is Shaping The Future of E-CommerceHello and welcome to The Ecom Show!

I’m Daniel Budai, your host and e-commerce buddy, and I’m here to invite you to be a part of today’s episode.

Come join Karl Lillrud and me as we talk about how artificial intelligence and technology are changing consumer interaction and reshaping the world of e-commerce. Karl is an e-commerce expert, a well-reputed business advisor, and a professional keynote speaker that’s been voted as one of the top 30 speakers by Global Gurus.

Follow Karl on LinkedIn to learn more about him:

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

If you’re new here, here’s a gist of what the Ecom Show is all about:

The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast that uncovers the latest trends, strategies, and inspirational stories in the world of e-commerce each week. This show is sponsored by Budai Media, a leading e-commerce retention marketing agency that’s helped hundreds of eCommerce stores grow with personalized SMS and email marketing campaigns. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the CEO, and founder of Budai Media.

Coming back to the episode now, artificial intelligence has been the buzz in every industry, and it’s already started to change the way we shop online. It’s thanks to AI that we’re able to receive and send out targeted ads, receive personalized product recommendations, and even segment our audiences. However, the future holds a lot more promise.

AI and machine learning are spaces that are constantly evolving and improving. In this episode, Karl and I talk about how AI will transform e-commerce interactions with a focus on customer experience and internal processes.

Here are a few of the questions that this episode will answer:

✅What are Machine Learning and AI?

✅How will AI change the face of e-commerce in the next five years?

✅How to navigate business needs based on customer preferences?

✅How to reduce e-commerce return rate using artificial intelligence?

✅How to treat each customer differently?

✅What kind of leadership do e-commerce businesses require to scale?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a review/comment sharing your thoughts. It would genuinely mean the world to me.

Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well!

Find me on LinkedIn

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, that’s packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out my $37M 50-point email marketing cheatsheet, and learn how we helped more than 100 e-commerce businesses make more profit:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in.

View Details

131 Hayden Brass From Zea: How to Create a Brand That Stands Out in a Saturated MarketHey Budai Nation,

We’re back with another episode of your favorite e-commerce podcast, The Ecom Show!

Have you ever held yourself back from starting a business because you feared how competitive or saturated the market for it is?

If yes, then you need to tune in to today’s episode. Our guest for today’s episode is Hayden Brass, the founder, and managing director of Zea, a family-owned sustainable health and wellness brand. We promise you that his story will give you all the push you need to persevere through competition.

Before we dive right in, let me quickly introduce myself and the show. I’m Daniel Budai, the host of The Ecom Show and the founder and CEO of Budai Media, the agency that sponsors this podcast. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency specializing in email and SMS marketing. Over the last five years, we’ve generated over $35M+ in additional sales revenue for over 100+ e-commerce stores from across the globe.

Having worked with several brands in the health, wellness, beauty, and skincare space, we know that sustainability itself isn’t enough of a competitive edge to help a brand stand out from its competition. In this episode, Hayden walks us through how brands can stand out in a competitive market through his own personal experiences of growing Zea.

A little about Zea and what makes it so different:

Zea is a family-owned Australian health and wellness company founded on a love for Kunzea. Kunzea is a special Australian plant that has several healing properties. Hayden and his family have put in years of research to see how they can make the amazing healing properties of Kunzea readily and easily accessible to the world.

Their solution was to launch four distinct brands for health, wellness, and lifestyle - Zea Relief, Zea Gourmet, Zea Essentials, and Zea Active that specialize in a diverse range of natural products, including pain management, skincare, 100% pure essential oils, Australian Honey, and sports recovery.

Visit Zea to learn more about their products and brand story.

https://www.zea.com.au/

Tune in to this episode and join Hayden and me as we discuss:

✅ Hayden’s journey with starting Zea.

✅ The struggles of establishing a business in a competitive market.

✅ How to introduce customers to try and test new ingredients.

✅ Hayden’s advice for entrepreneurs.

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to support The Ecom Show by leaving a review/comment sharing your thoughts.

One last thing before you go, make sure that you find and follow me so we can stay in touch!

Find me on LinkedIn

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

Find me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, that’s packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out my $37M 50-point email marketing cheatsheet, and learn how we helped more than 100 e-commerce businesses make more profit:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for tuning in.

I’ll see you again this Thursday with a brand new episode and a brand new brand story.

View Details

130 Staci L Wells From Zen BooTique: How To Build An International Fashion Brand Through ShopifyHey Budai Nation, this is your host Daniel Budai and I’d like to welcome you all to a brand new episode of The Ecom Show. If you’re new here, The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast where I invite inspirational professionals from different walks of life to share their e-commerce journey and some expert strategies and tips that they’ve picked up on the way.

This show is sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a leading retention marketing agency that specializes in personalized SMS and email marketing campaigns for e-commerce stores. Budai Media has helped over 150+ businesses generate over 30M+ additional sales revenue through their unique strategies and detailed execution. Visit the website to learn more about the agency.

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/

My guest for today is Staci L Wells, the co-owner and CEO of Zen BooTique. Zen BooTique is a sustainable fashion brand with a successful international presence. Staci is the true embodiment of turning your dream into a living and in this episode, she lets us in on her secret to success.

Staci grew up with the dream of one day owning her own boutique and decided to follow her passion when she stumbled upon a sales listing for an online boutique on Facebook Marketplace. Staci used the customer list from the business she bought to start Zen BooTique, a sustainable fashion brand that now sells to customers in the US, Canada, and Australia. Apart from Zen BooTique, Staci also runs her own lifestyle management course where she helps professionals find the balance between work and their personal life.

Click on the link below to visit and shop from Staci’s website:

https://zenbootique.com/

I’d like to invite you to check out this episode to discover more about:

✅ How Staci turned a brand she bought from Facebook Marketplace into a successful e-commerce business

✅ The tools and marketing channels Staci uses to manage her e-commerce store

✅ Starting a business from scratch

✅ How to grow as an entrepreneur

Before you go, find and follow me so we can stay in touch!

Find me on LinkedIn

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

Find me on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter that’s packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Check out my $37M 50-point email marketing cheatsheet, and learn how we helped more than 100 e-commerce businesses make more profit:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet

Check out some previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for listening in; don’t forget we come out with new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday!

If you enjoyed this episode please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

View Details

Welcome to The Ecom Show!

If you’re looking to discover e-commerce entrepreneurs and learn the latest industry secrets from their success stories, you’re in the right place!

Joining us today is Alex Volodarsky, the founder and CEO of Custom Caricatures.

Alex is a very special man because he’s got the superpower to make you a part of your favorite fandom. His company Custom Caricatures owns a line of personalized gifting e-com stores that take your pictures and turn them into a unique piece of art that makes you look like a character from your favorite fandom.

Tune in to today’s podcast to know more about how Alex acquired the popular e-com store TurnedYellow and used its growing success to launch multiple other custom caricature e-commerce stores.

But before we jump in, here’s a little about us!

The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses hyper-scale their revenue through email and SMS marketing. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder, and CEO of Budai Media.

Visit our website to learn more about us:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/

Now let’s get back to the episode!

Back in 2020, Alex decided to set out on an adventure to acquire a business. That’s when he stumbled upon TurnedYellow, a custom caricature e-com store that takes your pictures and turns you into a Simpsons character. Drawn by the quirkiness and fun behind their business model, Alex decided to come on board. Seeing the success of this memorable and unique gifting store, Alex had the brilliant idea of leveraging the existing database of artists and customers they had acquired through TurnedYellow to branch out to other fandoms as well. He created an LLP called CustomCarciatures and now has two other stores that cater to Potterheads and Star Wars fans as well.

Find his journey interesting?

Then tune in to this episode and learn more about:

⚡ How Alex acquired TurnedYellow.

⚡ The secret to building a personalized gifting store.

⚡ The reason behind TurnedYellow’s wild success.

⚡ How Alex used the success of TurnedYellow to launch several other print-on-demand businesses.

⚡ The advantages of having a lean team.

⚡ Alex’s advice to investors looking to invest in e-commerce stores.

(There’s more, but you’ll have to tune in to find that out!)

Find Alex on:

Twitter

https://twitter.com/volodarsky?lang=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-volodarsky-b96ab87/

Buy a unique and memorable piece of art by visiting:

TurnedYellow

https://turnedyellow.com/

MakeMeJedi

https://makemejedi.com/

TurnedWizard

https://turnedwizard.com/

You can also find us on:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

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

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Our weekly newsletter that’s packed with the latest e-commerce buzz straight to your inbox:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

Our previous episodes:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Thanks for listening in; we release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday!

View Details

128 Brian Roisentul from BSR Digital: Brand Marketing Strategies Using Third-Party DataHello Budai Nation,

Today we’re welcoming Brian Roisentul, CEO and founder of BSR Digital, a social media marketing agency specializing in paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads. The successful agency is managing over $3.6M/year worth of ads for different e-commerce brands.

Besides his position as CEO, he’s also the host of the Fit Growth Machine podcast which treats customer acquisition strategies for e-commerce brands. Brian will share with us his success story and journey in the world of social media marketing, but also some pretty valuable strategies for e-commerce brands to scale their businesses quickly and more effectively.

Welcome to The Ecom Show! Your go-to weekly e-commerce podcast for uncovering new stories, strategies, secrets, and everything e-commerce. This podcast is sponsored by Budai Media, a retention marketing agency that’s helped 125+ e-commerce businesses generate over $35M+ in additional sales revenue.

Join Daniel Budai (our host and the founder of Budai Media) and Brian Roisentul in this episode to learn more about:

✅ Brian’s Success Story in the Digital World

✅ Marketing Strategies for Fashion and Apparel Brands

✅ The Use of Third-Party Data to Scale Your Online Business

Let’s jump right in.

Brian’s Success Story in the Digital WorldBrian comes from a background in computer science. He used to work as a software developer for a software factory, based in the US. During the 2008 recession, they closed their doors, like many other companies in the USA back then, which lead him, along with other partners, to start a brand new venture, with which he will keep working in software development, until 2010. He then started his first solo Software Factory to raise its capital shortly after, evolving into a startup with 40 collaborators.

A few months of existence later came the “boom” of social media, when everyone was looking to grow their organic prospects online, trading trucks, cars, and all the crazy stuff for fans and followers. That’s when Brian decided to surf the digital marketing wave and offer viable solutions to their clients, generating leads and sales through social media, shifting from software engineering to leading a pure social media marketing agency, specializing in scaling e-commerce brands in a specific industry he loves: Fashion and Apparel.

Marketing Strategies for Fashion and Apparel BrandsBrian Roisentul, through his own personal experience, breaks down the process of going from the product idea to the end customer into 3 simple, yet very complex phases:

🔸 Choosing the right industry:

His example is pretty clear, he totally left the Tech world for the Marketing world. It took him passion, and motivation, but mainly knowledge since it was a flourishing discipline back then, and he witnessed the birth of social media marketing, taking the opportunity to put into practice his knowledge in software engineering and transcribing it into Digital Marketing. And then, once again, focusing on what he was comfortable and experienced with the most, the Fashion and Apparel industry.

In short, do what you know best, get knowledge, try and fail, learn and focus on a niche or two, and give it all you got to make it grow and evolve into a successful business.

🔸 Differentiating your brand within the industry:

Brian gives a very interesting example of a phone case brand, and how they differentiated themselves from the competition: They helped catch babies’ and toddlers’ attention with fun phone cases that make them look at the camera and smile, making thousands of parents happy, as they take beautiful pictures of their loved ones, thus keeping amazing memories. It was simple, yet ingenious.

And that’s just one idea among many others. You might sell the same product as everyone, but a single asset can make you stand out from the crowd. For example, selling the same T-Shirt as your competitors, but using special fabric, like organic or recyclable materials. The possibilities are endless.

🔸 Acquiring leads and making sales:

Probably the hardest phase to reach, but also the most satisfying, once you start making your first sales, and taking off your business. Brian’s experience showed that the best leads are people who previously bought products similar to yours, or showed interest in your industry or niche. And the best way to get those leads is to actually know them.

And what do you need to be able to know and target them? DATA! There is no marketing as efficient as data-driven marketing, and that’s why everybody’s rushing to gather data about their target audience, they will know what they like, and what they buy, but also their expectations from a specific type of product, making it easy to satisfy their needs.

The Use of Third-Party Data to Scale Your Online BusinessEven though it becomes harder and harder to access Third-Party Data, most notably with the launch of iOs 14, which affected Facebook and other Social Media’s data collection and ad targeting, there are still other ways to gather data to better target your audience and convert them into leads. Brian explains that since 2018, and how the algorithms drastically changed, organic reach is definitely harder than before.

Today, it’s more time for zero and first-party data, but what if you don’t have your own database, and if you do, is it rich enough for you to reach the expected results in sales and impressions? And that’s where Data Exchange comes into place! Anything from targeted Facebook ads that are still showing great results, to partnerships with notorious influencers with a great audience that includes your target, accessing their behaviors, or, even better an exhaustive e-mail list of organic, real, and active demography of potential leads, future-customers.

That’s all for this episode of The Ecom Show. If you enjoyed it, make sure to join us again next Thursday for a brand new episode.

Get our $37M 50-point checklist to take your e-commerce retention marketing to the next level 👇

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet

Follow Brian Roisentul to learn more about him:

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

Visit BSR Digital to learn more about them:

https://www.bsrdigital.com/

Follow Daniel Budai

Daniel’s LinkedIn

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

Daniel’s Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

The Ecom Show

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

View Details

127 Rasmus Barfred from TheMagic5: Business Lessons From A Shark Tank BrandHey Budai Nation,

We’ve got a celebrity joining us for this episode of The Ecom Show!

You may recognize Rasmus Barfred and his company TheMagic5 from the huge splash they created with their show-stealing speech on the popular business reality show, Shark Tank. Their pitch threw all the sharks into a feeding frenzy, and the co-founders walked out of the tank with a deal from Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec.

He’s here with us today to share the business lessons that helped him land the deal, and of course to get candid about his experience in and beyond the tank.

Join Rasmus Barfred and our founder/podcast host Daniel Budai to learn more about:

✅ The Story Behind TheMagic5

✅ How To Prepare For Shark Tank

✅ TheMagic5’s Marketing Strategy

Let’s dive right in!

The Story Behind TheMagic5TheMagic5 is a made-to-measure swimming eyewear brand co-founded by Bo, Niklas, and Rasmus. All three of them were swimmers that struggled with finding a good long-lasting pair of swimming goggles. United by their passion to solve this issue, the three of them set out to create a brand new technology that completely revolutionized this space.

TheMagic5 uses optimal fitting technology to map a customer's face and then creates a completely customized pair of swimming goggles. Their technology is so precise and advanced that they have a return rate of only 1%.

TheMagic5 was founded back in 2017, and soon after Rasmus moved to the USA to expand their business further. Magic5 has spent a lot of time researching and developing its product. They started out by surveying over 450 athletes, swimmers, and triathletes to understand the core issues that people faced with swimming goggles. They then purchased all the different kinds of swimming goggles available in the market to understand the design aspect better. After their primary research, they were clear that they needed a customized product to solve this issue properly, and hence put all their resources into developing the technology they needed. And all that research paid off well for them as TheMagic5 has successfully sold over 100,000 pairs of their personalized swimwear, and has two wonderful sharks as investors to help them scale their business to newer heights.

How To Prepare For Shark TankIt’s impossible to watch Shark Tank without visualizing how you would go about pitching your business to the Sharks. Rasmus got candid about his experience on and beyond the tank. Here are some of the highlights from this episode:

Why did you decide to take your business to Shark Tank for an investment?

There were two things that drove Rasmus and his co-founders to pitch on Shark Tank. The first was awareness:

“Our customer base is everyone from top Olympic athletes, to regular swimmers that swim once a week. We wanted to reach that audience through a mass consumer television show that was super interesting.”

The second was the need for a strategic partner. The optimal technology TheMagic5 uses can be adapted to work with other products as well, but expanding to new verticals requires some strategic guidance which drove Rasmus and his partners to approach the tank. They were particularly interested in getting a deal with either Mark Cuban or Robert Herjavec for their expertise in technology, and they were fortunate enough to walk out of the tank with investments from both the sharks.

How did you prepare for the tank?

The key thing is to know your numbers. If you don’t know your numbers the sharks will see right through you. Secondly, have an explanation to justify any questions that may arise after you share your numbers.

Prepare and practice your pitch several times before you go in. Run yourself through all the different scenarios before walking in, and make sure that you discuss how low you’re willing to go during negotiations beforehand. This makes you look more decisive.

Who should go into Shark Tank and do you have any advice for them?

Shark Tank gives you access to an audience of 5 million viewers on primetime US television. All the press, tension, and visibility surrounding your business make Shark Tank the ideal show for several businesses. Especially those that have a consumer product, tangible product, something that's easy to relate to and can be easily bought online. But the tank has also worked great for transactional websites, apps, and vending machines in the past.

The key is to go in if you know your numbers, strengths, and weaknesses. You need to know your business in and out before you go in for a pitch because only the first minute of your time on Shark Tank is uninterrupted, post that the sharks question you on all the aspects of your business, and depending on their interest this can last from anywhere between ten minutes to an hour.

TheMagic5’s Marketing StrategyTheMagic5’s main focus has been on getting their Facebook, Instagram, and Google PPC ads in order. They focus a lot on SEO and have used their Shark Tank fame to compete for better keywords as well. They’re also very building their social media presence on multiple channels like Pinterest, Tik Tok, Facebook, and Instagram.

Apart from this, they’re exploring how traditional marketing channels like offline advertising and strategic partnerships with swim clubs can help them gain more visibility. Their main goal is to reach the customers while they’re experiencing issues with their current swimming goggles to drive instant conversion, and in order to do so, they need to increase their visibility and awareness.

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to be back here next Thursday for our next episode.

Meanwhile, you can check out some of our previous episodes of The Ecom Show to uncover other interesting e-commerce stories.

Visit TheMagic5 to order your own pair of custom swimming glasses:

https://themagic5.com/

Follow Rasmus Barfred to know more about his journey:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasmus-barfred-38a5b636/

Follow Daniel Budai

Daniel’s LinkedIn

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

Daniel’s YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Daniel’s Newsletter

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

The Ecom Show

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

View Details

Juan Chavez From JMC Equipment: Business Secrets From an Inc.5000 CompanyHey Budai Nation,

We’re honored to share that Juan Chavez, the CEO of the successful automotive business JMC equipment, is our guest for today’s episode. JMC equipment has been holding the title of an Inc.5000 company for the past 4 years now. They have a successful B2B e-commerce store that you’ll learn more about in this episode.

Join Daniel Budai (our host and the founder of Budai Media) and Juan Chavez in this episode to learn more about:

✅ Juan’s Journey With Jmc Equipment

✅ A Business Lesson That Juan Learned the Hard Way

✅ Juan’s Advice for New eCommerce Owners

Let’s jump right in.

Juan’s Journey With JMC EquipmentJuan is the second generation to be leading the team at JMC Equipment. The business was founded by his father, and Juan joined in after he decided to call quits on his first venture. JMC equipment is an automotive parts distributor to repair shops and retail stores. Before Juan stepped in, his father would approach stores in New York one at a time, and find leads door to door.

Juan helped launch JMC into the world of e-commerce by setting up a website and letting customers approach them instead. JMC is a unique company because their team is based out of Medellin, Colombia, but their sales are focused entirely on the US market.

Juan E. Chavez is based out of Medellin, Colombia. He has another successful business venture as well. Juan runs his own travel and real estate company that helps clients based out of New York find their dream apartments in Colombia.

Back to the Inc.5000 company though, JMC equipment has a solid team of skilled professionals that take care of the SEO and e-commerce side of things. They’ve also invested in building a strong team of salespeople, and customer-care executives that make sure that their leads get the information and push they need to purchase.

JMC Equipment sells high-ticket products with their average orders running anywhere between $2000 and above. In order to close a deal, they’re very active with their email marketing and even go a step beyond by calling their abandoned cart to close the sale. Their paid marketing efforts include a combination of Google ads, Facebook ads, and email marketing. For organic marketing, they also have an enriched library of educational blogs.

A Business Lesson That Juan Learned the Hard WayJuan has over a decade of business experience under his belt. We asked him what’s the hardest thing that being in business has taught him, and here’s what he had to say: “The hardest thing I’ve learned goes beyond business, it’s basically about how to pick yourself up from a failure.”

I have been in that position where I thought that I might have to shut my business down. But the resilience to push forward despite the difficulties is what helped. Every other skill is a skill that you could probably just learn, you know if you put in the work, and if you put in the hours, but actual experience of like, you know, the experience that you go through when you make a mistake, and you lose money, or whatever, maybe you're or you're thinking about quitting is not something easy to understand.

But if you stick with it, you will eventually come out the other side a lot stronger with tougher skin. So the biggest lesson is not to give up when failure is knocking on your door.

Juan’s Advice for New eCommerce OwnersThe best way to start an e-commerce business is by finding a good product that you have knowledge about, and that you’re motivated to sell. Ideally, find a way to sell this product without having to start with production. Dropshipping is a great way to escape inventory management. Once you have your e-commerce storefront, and marketing taken care of you can look into expanding into starting your own production. This gives you time to focus on taking your business off. The second piece of advice would be to know your industry. Research and talk to your potential customers, it’s the best way to grow your business.

That’s all for this episode of The Ecom Show. If you enjoyed it please make sure to be back here next Thursday for a brand new episode.

Click on the link below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter and receive actionable tips, strategies, and resources to help you grow your e-commerce store. 👇

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

By the way, we are giving our email marketing cheatsheet for free, and it has already helped more than 100 companies increase their revenue. Here is the cheatsheet link:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet

Follow Juan E Chavez to learn more about him:

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

Visit JMC Equipment to learn more about them:

https://jmcautomotiveequipment.com/

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

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

Daniel’s YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

The Ecom Show

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

View Details

125 Brandon Higginbotham from Vintage Gentleman: How To Use Social Media To Launch Your BrandIt’s no secret that social media applications have taken over the world we live in. Every business owner is now a creator too. In fact, we’ve spoken about how important story-telling and social media can be in creating a strong brand identity in today’s world in several of our previous episodes of The Ecom Show.

But we’ve turned the tables around for this episode. Join Brandon, the founder of Vintage Gentleman, to learn more about how a social media creator/influencer can use their platform to bootstrap a brand from scratch.

Before we begin, here's a small recap of what this show is all about for all the new listeners. The Ecom Show is a weekly podcast hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder and CEO of Budai Media. Daniel invites e-commerce business owners from different industries to share their experiences, learnings, and expert tips to highlight the latest trends, hacks, and best practices for all e-commerce stores out there. This show is sponsored by Budai Media, a retention marketing agency that’s helped over 130 businesses scale their e-commerce stores with personalized email and SMS marketing.

Now that you’re all caught up, let’s continue with the show!

Tune in to learn more about:

✅ How Brandon Started the Vintage Gentlemen

✅ 3 Things That Have Helped Brandon Build a Successful Business

✅ Brandon’s Advice to Creators Looking To Start Their Own Brand

How Brandon Started the Vintage GentlemenBrandon has benefited from having an early adopter advantage. He began using Instagram in 2015 when he started noticing how the application helped create trends. He noticed an opportunity to build an audience and created the Vintage Gentlemen, which back then was just a simple lifestyle account that offered suggestions for men’s lifestyle products.

Since men’s lifestyle was a new niche he quickly gained traction and built an engaging community of about 20-30,000 followers. He started getting offers for brand endorsements and became a popular influencer. Brandon knew that there was scope to build something bigger using the community he had created, this is what led to him launching his own e-commerce store.

Brandon began by dropshipping products from the artisanal brands he had previously done endorsements with. After seeing how well that worked he slowly expanded to creating his own range of products. Currently, about 70-80% of Vintage Gentlemen’s range of products are manufactured in-house.

3 Things That Have Helped Brandon Build a Successful BusinessWith a following of over 240,000 followers on Instagram, Vintage Gentlemen has grown immensely since it began. What was once an influencer account is now a fully functional e-commerce store that manufactures most of its in-house products. Here are three key factors that have helped Brandon fuel Vintage Gentlemen’s growth:

Reinvesting money back into the business: Despite the success of Vintage Gentlemen, Brandon has still retained his job in the insurance industry. His job allows him to fund his own lifestyle without needing any money from Vintage Gentlemen enabling him to reinvest all the profits into growing the business.

Leveraging organic social media platforms to build a community: Vintage Gentlemen might have gone from being a lifestyle social media account to a full-fledged brand but they haven’t forgotten their roots. In fact, Vintage Gentlemen has expanded its social media reach by focusing on TikTok as well. Their strong social media presence and use of other social media creators to aid their growth has helped them build a community.

Finding a balance between paid and organic content marketing:Since Vintage Gentlemen already had an existing community of followers that supported the brand from its inception, Brandon spent the first few years focusing on fine-tuning the e-commerce operations. He set up other paid marketing channels like Google Ads to drive more leads, and email marketing to convert/retain these leads. His end goal is to create a brand that has both strong paid marketing as well as an enriched library of content that's engaging enough to build a community in the men’s lifestyle space.

Brandon’s Advice to Creators Looking To Start Their Own BrandWe asked Brandon what his main advice would be to content creators looking to start their own brand with very little capital. Here’s what they had to say:

Have a strategic approach to starting your business.
Consider drop shipping to save initial start-up costs, invest in a basic Shopify plan, and look at low-risk methods of bootstrapping your business.
Your initial focus needs to be on grabbing user attention and creating a community around your brand.
The key is to find creative ways to build your business.

Catch Brandon and Daniel’s entire conversation by listening to this episode.

To know more about Vintage Gentlemen check out their website:

https://www.thevintagegentlemen.com/

Follow Brandon on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-higginbotham-031118197/

Follow Daniel Budai

Daniel’s LinkedIn

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

Daniel’s YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Daniel’s Newsletter

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

The Ecom Show

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

View Details

124 Michael Muscari From NanoNutra: 3 Strategies To Market A Supplement BrandDid you know that 77% of Americans take at least one supplement? The supplement industry is booming, it’s valued at over $163 billion in 2022, and it’s predicted to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.4% in the next eight years.

Supplements are great for your health, and running a supplement business can help you generate immense wealth! In this episode of The Ecom Show, we’re going to be scratching the surface on how you can create a name for yourself in this extremely lucrative and competitive industry.

Michael Muscari, the founder and CEO of the premium Liposomal Vitamins and Dietary Supplements brand NanoNutra will be joining our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, to share some proven strategies that can help you market a supplement brand.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✅ Michael’s Journey With NanoNutra

✅ 3 Strategies To Market A Supplement Brand

✅ Michael’s Advice To New Entrepreneurs

Michael’s Journey With NanoNutraMichael worked as a financial advisor for a couple of years but he wasn’t too happy working a job where everything depended on the market’s volatility, so he started venturing out and landed a gig with an ad agency. At the same time, he was also working as a freelancer for a supplement company who were in the diet and weight loss space.

That’s where he got his first introduction to the world of e-commerce. Around the same time he stumbled upon the famous book, The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Determined to live by the four-hour philosophy, Michael decided to take control of his own life and started his own e-commerce venture.

Michael’s first venture was called ImmunitySport+ where he focused on creating a niche in the supplement market with his single green immunity tablet. By the time he got this brand up and running, he’d become an expert at SEO and selling on Amazon. He then launched his second fitness and wellness brand called Healthy Start. Healthy Start focused on a wider range of products. His business now exhibited over a dozen supplement products. He realized that he had cracked the code with his research on nanotechnology and liposomal supplements, and decided to go all in.

He sold off all the other assets and moved his sole focus to building NanoNutra.

NanoNutra is a premium Liposomal Vitamins and Dietary Supplements brand. Most oral supplements are unable to help human bodies retain 80% of the nutrients they consume through the pill. Michael’s research on liposomal technology helped him find a solution to this problem which led to him starting NanoNutra. They now sell a full line of supplements, all using liposomal technology.

3 Strategies To Market A Supplement BrandThe supplement industry is highly competitive and diluted. There are a ton of new brands springing up everyday and making a name for yourself requires strategic brand positioning and effort. We asked Michael to share the marketing secrets that he’s picked up over the years of working in this industry.

Here are the three strategies that he’s used to grow NanoNutra:

Focus on Education: NanoNutra uses a combination of technology and natural nutrients to create supplements that aid your fitness journey. Since they’re an early adopter of the Liposomal technology they focus heavily on educating consumers about the benefits and real life value of their products. They’re extremely transparent about what goes into their supplements, the results that customers can expect, and the process of how their supplements work. Michael also sends out a lot of high value emails to his subscribers to share credible information that can help them enhance their fitness and wellness journey.
Get Endorsements: NanoNutra focused on getting doctors, nutritionists and fitness coaches to endorse their supplements. They prioritized creating high-value content from credible fitness and wellness personalities over spending on influencer outreach. This has helped them build trust.
Create Subscriptions or Value-Packs:Supplements are something that you require on a cyclical basis. NanoNutra recognized this and created subscription packs that have helped them create a base of returning customers. They also provide discounted prices on variety packs to encourage customers to test their wide range of supplements.

Michael’s Advice To New EntrepreneursWe asked Michael what his advice would be to new entrepreneurs. Here’s what he had to say:

“You have to have a lot of passion for whatever it is you choose to do or sell. You know, if you're just trying to make easy money, it's going to be very short lived if you find it at all.”

Find something that aligns with you and your values that you feel comfortable selling to other people. E-commerce has gotten nuanced and you need to be able to completely get behind your product to be able to create a solid brand which is why you should chase something that you’re passionate about.

Michael even has a free course called, The Purpose Method, that helps individuals find their true calling. You can check it out by clicking here.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Ecom Show.

Before we go, here’s a special cheat sheet to help you audit your Klaviyo account.

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet

Follow Michael on LinkedIN.

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

Visit NanoNutra

https://www.nanonutrausa.com/

Follow Daniel Budai

Daniel’s LinkedIN

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

Daniel’s Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Daniel’s Newsletter

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

The Ecom Show

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

View Details

123 Matt Edmundson: Scale and Sell Your Business In These 7 StepsHey Budai Nation!

Welcome to The Ecom Show. If you’re new here, The Ecom Show is a weekly e-commerce podcast series hosted by Daniel Budai where he invites new speakers each week to talk about their experiences and share their expert insights on trending ecommerce topics. This show is sponsored by Budai Media, a retention marketing agency that helps customer obsessed e-commerce brands grow with email and SMS marketing.

If you’re a regular, welcome back! We have an exciting episode lined up for you. We’ve got Matt Edmundson, a serial e-com entrepreneur, founder of a successful e-commerce agency, and e-commerce coach, here with us today to talk about his 7-step strategy to successfully scale and sell a brand.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✅ Matt’s eCommerce Adventures

✅ The 7-Step Guide to Scale and Sell Your Business

✅ How Livestreaming Can Help You Stand Out

Let’s jump right in!

Matt’s eCommerce AdventuresMatt was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug at an early age. His first venture began while he was still in school. He started a candy shop and was so successful that he was asked to stop because his school decided to start their own candy store.

But it was back in the last nineties when he properly got into e-commerce. Matt was working as a salesperson for a company that designed and installed saunas when he was approached by a friend that needed some help with building a website for their church. He offered to help his friend build this website in exchange for his friend sponsoring the software required to launch it.

Matt taught himself how to code and built a functioning website using Dreamweaver. He then thought about taking his knowledge of building a website to create his own ecommerce store, but he had one problem, he didn’t have a product to sell.

Matt approached a business that sold tanning lotions and started selling their product through his ecommerce store. This worked out fairly well, and he ended up selling the website to the business he sourced the products from. That was twenty years ago.

Currently, he’s the founder and CEO of Aurion Digital, a group of e-commerce services companies dedicated to helping companies grow online. He’s also an e-commerce coach, serial entrepreneur, an avid podcaster, and a pastor.

The 7-Step Guide to Scale and Sell Your BusinessMatt Edmundson has generated over $50,000,000+ in sales revenue through his combined e-commerce ventures. He’s set up, built, sold, or failed at 19 e-commerce websites in various forms, and has decades of global experience in the world of e-commerce. All his years of mastering the world of e-commerce has helped him devise a 7-step guide to help scale and sell businesses.

Here are the seven steps:

Step 1, The Story: Before you start your business ask yourself what your brand is all about. Do a thorough research of the market you’re entering, and figure out how you plan to position yourself.

Step 2, The Product: Make sure that you understand the product you’re trying to sell before you hit the market. Anticipate the demand for the product you’re trying to create or sell, and ensure that you’re knowledgeable enough to be an expert in that field.

Step 3, The Website: Research on which platform fits your needs the best and create a website to start selling your product.

Step 4, Marketing: Figure out your go-to strategy for digital marketing and create a presence on platforms that your target audience are the most active on.

Step 5, Engagement: This stage focuses on how you can maximize your investment by generating more value out of your leads. How do you get a customer to keep coming back to your brand? It basically talks about how businesses can formulate a strategy to continue selling to their existing customers.

Step 6, Customer Experience: One of the most important steps that most big businesses struggle with. In this stage, Matt talks about all the tiny actions that create a lasting impression on customers, and the steps that businesses can take to elevate their customers’ shopping experience.

Step 7, Growth: In this stage, Matt shares how businesses can scale and repeat the success they received from the previous six stages to grow their business. He deep dives into what gives successful businesses the cutting edge over the rest in the market.

How Livestreaming Can Help You Stand OutLive Streaming is a great way for brands to engage with customers in real-time. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow businesses to engage with a live audience and are becoming increasingly popular platforms for brands to introduce their new collections, or even address their audience about upcoming news.

Matt Edmundson’s number 1 advice to e-commerce businesses this year is to pay attention to live streaming, and find a way to incorporate it with their website. He believes this could be one of the best ways for brands to stand out in the near future. Live streaming allows business owners to turn their own business into a QVC kind of set up, and has great potential to not only help businesses increase their sales but to also positively impact their engagement.

That’s all for this episode of The Ecom Show.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can check out all our previous ones by clicking here.

Follow Matt Edmundson

Website:

https://www.mattedmundson.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/mattedmundson

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mattedmundson/

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/mattedmundson

Visit Aurion Digital:

https://auriondigital.com/

Follow Daniel Budai

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

Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Newsletter

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

The Ecom Show

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

View Details

122 Alex Bortoluzzi From Krakatoa: How to Build an Apparel Brand From ScratchHey Budai Nation,

Welcome to The Ecom Show! A place where you can discover a new e-com story each Thursday. This podcast is sponsored by Budai Media, a growing retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses boost their sales with email and SMS marketing.

This week, chief underwear specialist, Alex Bortoluzzi, will be joining our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai. Alex will be getting personal about his personal wear brand Krakatoa’s story. Krakatoa is a unique men’s underwear brand that’s won over customers with its honest approach and attention to detail.

Tune in to learn more about:

✅ How Alex Founded Krakatoa

✅ How to Win Over Customers Without Discounts

✅ 4 Product Design Takeaways From Krakatoa

How Alex Founded KrakatoaAlex’s entrepreneurial journey began after he left college. He studied computer science in Brazil and then got a job working with computer graphics back in the 80s. He was always inclined toward computers, and he started two companies early in his career. First, he had a motion graphics and advertising and broadcasting company. Needing a new challenge, he relocated to the USA and searched for game designing jobs. He worked with several big gaming companies like Treyarch and Activision and even ventured out on his own to create mobile games from scratch.

However, Alex wanted a change from the tech industry and was looking for a fresh project to dive into. He’d always struggled with finding the perfect pair of underwear and realized there was space for innovation in the men’s personal wear industry. He began researching patterns, fabrics, and the male anatomy and eventually started Krakatoa.

Krakatoa is named after the world’s most powerful volcano that’s located in Indonesia. Alex connected with the name because he felt that his underwear line was the perfect blend between power and beauty, and he believed that a name that connects with eruptions and loud noises would resonate with his male audience.

Alex built Krakatoa without any prior experience in the fashion industry. He put a lot of work into finding what the existing market was lacking and created a superior product by testing out various fabrics, cuts, and styles with multiple prototypes. He’s majorly a one-man show that’s done everything from creating the website to photographing his products. He’s very personally involved in the brand’s story and growth which has helped him create a strong bond with all his customers.

How to Win Over Customers Without DiscountsKrakatoa is a unique brand because they don’t use discounts or sales to attract customers. Alex has always believed in creating a strong brand identity and feels that his community might feel cheated if they see the products they’ve bought go on a clearance sale just a few months after their purchase. This is why he keeps his pricing consistent.

Alex found his target audience and has designed all his marketing to fit what resonates with them the best. He realized that his core audience were men between the age of 30-60 year old. Everything from his product design to the messaging he uses in his ads and emails is catered to them.

He developed his product after testing other underwear from brands across the world. Alex approached different manufacturers from different parts of the world and created various samples before landing up with the perfect prototype for his product. His goal from the start has been to create underwear that delivers the ultimate level of comfort.

His collection consists of solid colors with minimal print because he’s catering to an older audience. His brand’s advertising and tone of voice have always been educational to highlight the advantages of shifting to Krakatoa in a straightforward manner, and it’s worked really well for him because he now has a community of loyal customers. He frequently engages with this community through weekly email campaigns that he works on himself.

While Krakatoa doesn’t offer discounts, their products are very competitively priced, which attracts customers all year round. The secret behind Alex’s success with Krakatoa is his attention to detail and commitment to his brand. He’s consistently working towards improving his product and is very personally involved in most aspects of its growth. The way to create a successful brand without relying too much on discounts is through knowing your target audience and personalizing everything to build strong brand loyalty.

4 Product Design Takeaways From KrakatoaAs we mentioned earlier, Alex has a great eye for detail. He’s managed to successfully create a men’s underwear brand without any prior knowledge or professional experience in the garment industry. This has been possible only through thorough research and unwavering interest in wanting to improve. Here are four product design takeaways from Krakatoa that give it the cutting edge needed to thrive in the fashion industry:

Experimentation: Alex isn’t afraid to use products that his competitors haven’t tried. He also prioritizes the quality of fabrics over their price.
Product testing: Alex ensures that he personally tests out every new style or fabric that he’s planning to launch. You’re your first customer; if you’re not satisfied with your product, no one else would be. He also gifts samples to people around him to get honest feedback on his products from people across different body shapes.
Research: Alex makes it a point to consistently update himself with whatever’s new and trending in the market. He not only researches his competitors but also keeps an eye out for new fabrics, styles, and designs to innovate and inspire his new collections.
Feedback: Alex makes it a point to incorporate the feedback he receives from customers. His main goal is to solve the problem of finding comfortable underwear for men, and he’s extremely open to feedback that can help him improve Krakatoa. For instance, he redesigned the underwear pouch in his upcoming collection as some customers requested roomier underwear.

That’s all for this week’s episode of The Ecom Show. Make sure to check out Krakatoa.

To learn more about Alex, follow him on LinkedIn.

Thanks for tuning in!

We release new episodes every Thursday. Meanwhile, if you feel like listening to some of our other podcast episodes, click here.

View Details

121 Todd: This Brand Makes Millions By Helping People Breathe BetterRunning a business is stressful, Todd Steinberg, the guest of this episode of The Ecom Show is in the business of helping people deal with their stress by helping them breathe better. His business, Komuso, kills anxiety one necklace at a time.

Komuso has created a huge splash in the health and wellness industry with their wearable breathing tool that’s designed to help individuals cope with their anxiety. In this episode, our founder and podcast host Daniel Budai interviews the co-founder of Komuso, Todd Steinberg, about his journey to building a million dollar brand in the health and wellness industry.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

🧘‍♀️ The Story Behind Komuso

✅ The Wellness Benefits of Using the Shift

💸 How to Create a Million Dollar Business From Scratch

The Story Behind KomusoTodd has always struggled with anxiety, and his battle against fighting his nerves found him at the doors of a psychotherapist who introduced him to the world of meditation. Todd found it difficult to sit down and meditate in the standard way and almost gave up on it entirely until his therapist offered him with a simple alternative—a straw. He was asked to breathe through the straw for just two minutes, and observe his breathing.

Within these two minutes, Todd noticed that his body had become calmer and at peace. He was surprised to see such an immediate change by such a simple device, and he went back to share this positive revelation with his wife. His wife Vanessa suggested that this could be implemented more frequently if he had something that he could carry with him easily. Together, they got to the drawing board and tested out various lengths, materials, and shapes until they designed “The Shift”.

The Shift is a one of a kind, minimalistic necklace that helps people breathe better. It acts as an anchor in an anxious moment, and gives users the constant reminder to take a moment to breathe better, think better, and feel better.

The Wellness Benefits of Using the ShiftThe average human being has 50,000 thoughts per day and there’s a study done that says 80% of those thoughts are negative. Humans usually get caught up within the noise created by these thoughts and end up getting stressed.

Breathing is a very natural and involuntary reaction for humans, we don’t usually put too much thought into it, so when we’re stressed our breathing gets affected. When we don’t think about it, we take shallow breaths, which can agitate our nervous system and leave us in fight-or-flight mode. The Shift helps people slow down their breathing by making them conscious of it.

Slowing down your exhale can help you stop shallow breathing, and lower your anxiety and stress levels. It also helps you sleep and focus better.

The fact that it comes designed as a wearable tool ensures that users are consciously aware that they have something that can help them feel instantly calmer. This creates a positive habit that helps users calm themselves when they’re on the go.

Another major advantage of this tool is that it’s a non-tech device which is super easy to use. It gives individuals the much needed downtime from being on the screens, and makes it a suitable product for all ages.

How to Create a Million Dollar Business From ScratchVanessa and Todd Steinberg bootstrapped their business with $30,000 investment, and have managed to grow it to a successful seven-figure business. They have two different products, and only six SKU’s, yet they’ve managed to make millions of dollars in sales without any funding.

Here’s how they did it:

They spent a lot of time researching and developing, “The Switch.” Vanessa Steinberg’s background as a fashion designer helped her in conceptualizing the minimalist and sleek design of the product.

Next, they focused on their messaging. They realized that they have a very unique product, and worked hard to create a resource library that educates individuals about the problem that they’re trying to solve. They even used the negative comments they received, and turned them into FAQs to address common issues people might have with their product. Their focus on creating a narrative that connects with customers on an individual level is what’s helped them create a brand rather than a trend.

Their overall approach has been to go slow and focus on growing their business in a steady and sustainable fashion. They have a very lean team with only one content head, and an agency that helps them run their paid marketing funnels working aside them.

They realized that their main hurdle would be to educate users of their product. Since the product is brand new, they had to be very strategic about the way they introduced it to the market, and that’s why they handle most of their social media commentary themselves.

To put it simply, Vanessa and Todd Steinberg, have managed to create a booming business in the health and wellness industry by finding a simple and straightforward solution to something that every individual faces on some personal level. And this all started by them seeking to solve this problem for themselves.

We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of The Ecom Show!

You can check out our previous episodes by clicking on the link below:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

Visit Komuso:

https://www.komusodesign.com/

Follow Todd on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-steinberg-7740265/

Follow Daniel Budai

Daniel’s LinkedIN

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

Daniel’s Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Daniel’s Newsletter

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

View Details

120 Sarah Vezina: How Octopied Mind Grow Their Sales 3X Each YearHey Budai Nation!

Welcome to The Ecom Show, your go-to weekly podcast series for inspiring e-commerce success stories. This week's episode is about Sarah Vezina, the co-founder of the Canadian apparel brand Octopied Mind.

Sarah Vezina got the idea of starting Octopied Mind while working at Shopify. Octopied Mind is a gender-inclusive, ethical apparel brand that creates hand-drawn designs in small batches. In this episode, Sarah shares the story of how this fastly growing apparel brand has managed to grow its sales revenue by 3X each year.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✅ Sarah's Journey From Shopify To Octopied Mind

✅ The Secret Behind Octopied Mind's Steady Growth

✅ Sarah's #1 Advice For Entrepreneurs

Sarah's Journey From Shopify To Octopied MindSarah dived straight into the world of e-commerce by landing a job at Shopify. She worked at Shopify for a little over a year, and during that time, she had the chance to speak with hundreds of business owners daily. This motivated her to research and start her own entrepreneurial journey.

Shopify has an extremely nurturing culture that's perfect for growing entrepreneurs. While Sarah worked at Shopify, she had access to a free website, an extensive resource library to learn, and an allowance of $500 each year to pursue her entrepreneurial journey. She used these resources to start Octopied Mind, and within a year itself, she was able to pursue her vision full time.

Sarah co-founded Octopied Mind with her best friend, Jill Davis. Their apparel brand focuses on creating meaningful conversations around mental health through hand-drawn art on apparel. Their vision has been to create a community built on acceptance and radical self-responsibility, which they've been able to successfully achieve and grow since their inception in 2018.

The Secret Behind Octopied Mind's Steady GrowthOctopied Mind started as a homegrown venture started by two best friends. Sarah and Jill would create hand-drawn art on preloved clothing items for each other and wear them to parties and other events. They noticed a lot of positive comments and decided to test selling these graphic shirts in small batches to friends and family. Their word-of-mouth marketing spread like wildfire, and this motivated them to go all in and launch their e-commerce store through Shopify.

Octopied Mind is now celebrating four years. They've grown their sales revenue by 3x yearly and are now available in multiple countries. Sarah attributes most of this success to their Facebook ad marketing. Facebook marketing has helped them target customers in different parts of the world and helped them discover new markets.

They also have an extremely high returning customer rate of 30%, which they've been able to maintain by creating a community around their brand. Octopied Mind has several automated email marketing flows that they set up using Klaviyo; these flows alone help them generate $30,000 revenue each month. Apart from this, they've also successfully created a community through their general brand ethos.

At its core, Octopied Mind is creating a space for individuals to speak about mental health and positivity through their gender-fluid clothing line. Their commitment to providing fair wages to their workers, ethically producing their shirts in small batches, and attention to detail regarding quality, size, and fit is what's helped them resonate with their customers. In addition, Sarah and Jill actively share their journey with their community through social media.

Sarah's #1 Advice For EntrepreneursSarah's number one advice for entrepreneurs just starting is to focus on building a website and getting it up and running.

"Don't wait for the perfect website to go live. You can always make changes to keep improving your website once you go live, but it takes time to build a mailing list and get subscribers. Even a simple website is a great start because it allows you to start collecting data."

Her #1 advice for existing business owners is to spend more time working on your business rather than in your business.

"If you're spending too many hours in your business, you need to find somebody and delegate that to them. The faster you delegate, the faster you can just get back to working on your business, and that's where you see growth. That's where you see sales."

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Ecom Show.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's YouTube

Daniel's Newsletter

View Details

119 Tyler McCourt: Wearable NFTs and eCommerceHave you hopped onto the NFT bandwagon yet? If not, would the idea of being able to wear your NFT persuade you to purchase one?

Today’s episode is all about what happens when the internet spills over into the real world. We’ve got Tyler McCourt, the founder of Dott, here with us today to uncover the world of wearable NFTs.

Dott is an e-commerce company that enables you to create wearable merchandise using the NFTs and GIFs you own. It was founded by Tyler McCourt, who’s a serial e-commerce entrepreneur and visionary.

This episode is sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce stores increase their customers lifetime value through the power of email and SMS marketing.

This episode of The Ecom Show talks about:

✅ Tyler’s Journey As A Serial Entrepreneur

✅ The Easiest Way To Start A Customized Apparel Store

✅ NFTs And E-commerce

Tyler’s Journey as a Serial EntrepreneurTyler double majored in college in marketing information systems and finance—and landed straight into a corporate desk job. Realizing that he wasn’t passionate about a career in corporate, he shifted gears and found himself working with a small apparel company that designed clothes for wrestlers. Working there with a small team of just 5 employees helped him discover his interest in e-commerce and marketing technologies, and he left soon after to start his own venture.

Tyler and a friend of his started a venture called Emblem Athletic, where they helped e-commerce apparel stores automate their systems. They were able to grow this to generate a steady 7-figure revenue in a couple of years, and Tyler then proceeded to sell his shares back to his co-founder to pursue other ventures.

After exiting this space, Tyler pursued his vision of creating wearable NFTs and GIFs and launched his latest venture, Dott. He also launched Teamtime, a fully custom apparel store.

The Easiest Way to Start a Customized Apparel StoreStarting your own online e-commerce brand can be difficult when you don’t have a big team. Between production, design, inventory management, marketing, sales, and accounting, there are a dozen different hats entrepreneurs need to wear to get the show-up and running.

Tyler McCourt’s latest venture, Teamtime, helps individuals get started with zero upfront costs. It gives users access to a free online store and custom designs.

All they need to do is sign-up and fill out a form. Users can even outsource the logistics to Teamtime, as they offer free shipping.

In short, Teamtime lets users build a fully custom, automated storefront with personal team designers and unlimited customization options.

How do they achieve these goals? They use a combination of developers, designers, artificial intelligence, and Shopify to create your store and products. This enables them to quickly provide you with a store with up to 10 products. They’re building a massive library of editable templates and an application that allows users to create their basic templatized custom design; users can then directly speak with the in-house designers to modify their products till they’re satisfied. All of this is connected to Shopify using APIs, making it easy to set up and edit the store as the brand scales.

NFTs and eCommerceNFTs have been taking the world by storm. It’s already fusing technology, finance, and art together. Could it also find its place in the world of the apparel industry? Well, it already has! Tyler came up with this idea in college after attending several music festivals; he’d always notice people around him wearing cool shirts, which got him wondering as to why you couldn't wear a GIF.

He started looking into products that could do the same, and the closest he came to this were bulky LED tee shirts. He saw an opportunity to create a new product that could reinvent wearable technology, but he just didn’t have the funds to start developing it. However, he noticed the rising popularity of NFTs after he cashed out of Emblem Athletic, and he jumped at the opportunity to bring his old idea to life.

That’s how Dott was born. Dott is an e-commerce apparel store that connects with your wallet and allows you to create a personalized item of clothing with your NFT or GIF on it. Dott gives you the ability to wear your NFT out and then show off your NFT in a way that you couldn't before. It’s also great for artists because they’re able to promote the NFT in a way that they couldn’t before.

Dott is changing the way that customized e-commerce apparel stores work, and it could open a huge opportunity for artists, designers, and other NFT enthusiasts looking to fuse NFTs with a physical wearable product.

Listen to this episode of The Ecom Show to learn more about Dott and the world of wearable NFTs. It also contains information on the best automation tools and systems e-commerce stores can use to streamline their operations.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out episode 96 of The Ecom Show to know more about another extremely innovative company called Ketonia.

See you again next Thursday!

Links for the companies and people mentioned in this podcast:

Follow Tyler McCourt

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-mccourt/

Visit Dott

https://weardott.com/

Visit Teamtime

https://teamtime.shop/

Follow Daniel Budai

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

Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Newsletter

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

The Ecom Show

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

View Details

118 Steve Dennis - Retail vs. eCommerceHey Budai Nation!

Welcome to episode 118 of The Ecom Show. This episode is a showdown between the world of retail and e-commerce. We’ve even got a celebrity guest on board to make things more interesting.

We’re beyond thrilled to share that the bestselling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, Steve Dennis, will be joining our founder and podcast host, Daniel Budai, for this incredibly stimulating and insightful conversation about the future of shopping in a rapidly evolving digital world.

So, listen in to learn more about:

✅ Professional Journey of Steve Dennis

✅ #1 Reason Why Retail Businesses Fail

✅ Takeaways From Successful Retail Businesses

✅ Retail vs. eCommerce

Professional Journey of Steve DennisSteve Dennis is a consultant, keynote speaker, and author specializing in retail and innovation. He made a name for himself in the retail space after climbing up the corporate ladder and becoming a senior executive at two major Fortune 500 retailers. He’s also the writer of the best-selling book—Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. He is also an esteemed consultant whose thoughts on the future of shopping are frequently shared in his role as a Forbes Senior Contributor.

Let’s backtrack to the beginning, though. Steve initially set out to pursue an education in law. However, he changed course after starting a small business with marketing guru Seth Godin during their junior year in college. Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Steve decided to pursue an education in business.

After this, he started working for a big consulting firm where he developed a special interest in food companies, so he got a job working in retail for “Sears, Roebuck and Company” in Chicago. Ever since, he’s continued to stay in the world of retail. Fascinated by consumer psychology, Steve has made a flourishing career for himself in the retail industry with over 30+ years of experience.

He’s currently the president of Sageberry Consulting, a strategic advisory firm that provides consulting services to the retail, fashion, and luxury industries. He’s even got his own podcast called Remarkable Retail.

1 Reason Why Retail Businesses FailWe’ve shifted to a more digitally connected world which has greatly affected consumer behavior and the way we shop. In the past, consumers were used to going to a physical store, and you know, having to gather information largely from salespeople, or their friends, or maybe a magazine, but you know, very traditional media, to see what was available. This meant that consumers had to physically run around if they wanted to explore a lot of choices.

But over the last 15 or 20 years, we’ve shifted to this world of abundance where there are almost infinite choices at the tip of our fingers. So, in a world of this abundance of choice, the abundance of information to be merely very good is no longer enough. Retail businesses need to be remarkable to survive.

The number one reason for retail businesses failing is mediocrity. In other words, businesses that don’t have a competitive edge or differentiating factor that makes them stand out often fail to succeed. This edge comes from offering competitive pricing, exceptional customer service, understanding the blend between the retail and digital world, and using it to enhance consumer interactions.

Businesses that fail to actualize this and evolve are often stuck in the boring middle and lead to failure.

Takeaways From Successful Retail BusinessesThere are a lot of wildly successful brands that are almost synonymous with the word retail. Here are some quick takeaways and learnings that Steve Dennis shared from observing these real-life retail champions:

Apple: One of the most aspirational and popular technology brands in the market, Apple has succeeded by selling a lifestyle rather than a single product. They’ve built an entire community around their brand ethos, which shows how important community building is; and they provide excellent customer service, which shows the value of cultivating a nurturing customer experience.

Restoration Hardware: They’re not a very digitally driven company, but the lesson from them is to focus on solving problems for a niche. Restoration Hardware is really focused on a fairly narrow set of customers, and they try to meet their needs in a very direct way. This is one of the key ways to be remarkable. When a business can understand their customer and give them what they value, they’re able to retain customers even if they’re charging a premium price.

Target: They’re one of those brands that beautifully blend digital and physical in a much more profound way. Not only have they improved their e-commerce capabilities, but they’ve also recognized that there’s really no such thing as the e-commerce channel and the brick-and-mortar channel. It’s all just shopping. So, their focus has always been on how to best take care of the customer across a spectrum of needs and a spectrum of customer journeys.

One of the main learnings from them is to try and blend both retail and digital as your business grows. This brings us to the last part of our discussion.

Retail vs. eCommerceA lot of people say that the future of shopping is e-commerce and that retail is dying. This is only half true. While e-commerce and digital are the future, retail is far from dead! People still love the convenience and instant gratification that comes with shopping from physical stores. The customer experience that’s provided through live shopping cannot be entirely replaced through e-commerce which is why both are essential for a business to grow.

So, instead of focusing on e-commerce vs. retail, businesses should be asking how e-commerce and retail can work together to enhance the customer’s shopping experience. Customer acquisition becomes challenging after a digitally native brand grows to a certain extent. Post a certain mark; businesses find it difficult to find new customers, which is where entering into retail and physical stores can help them grow further.

Similarly, purely offline businesses are limited to smaller market sizes. Going online opens up the door to a much wider geographic market and makes it easier for customers to find exactly what they want.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show. You can check out some of our previous episodes if you’d like to learn more about e-commerce.

Thanks for tuning in. See you again next Thursday!

Follow Steve Dennis:

Steve’s LinkedIn:

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

Steve’s Website:

https://stevenpdennis.com/

Steve’s Twitter:

https://twitter.com/stevenpdennis

The Remarkable Retail Book:

https://stevenpdennis.com/remarkable-retail/

The Remarkable Retail Podcast:

https://stevenpdennis.com/podcast/

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn:

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

Daniel’s YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ

Daniel’s Newsletter:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup

The Ecom Show:

https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast

View Details

117 JB Kellogg: These Tips Have Helped Over 20,000 Small Businesses GrowHello Budai Nation!

Today’s episode of The Ecom Show is for all the small business owners out there.

Running a small business is not an easy task; there are always 360 different things you need to do and 360 different directions you’re being pulled in. Which is why, we’ve got the co-founder of Marketing 360 here to give us his expert advice on helping small businesses scale.

JB Kellogg is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Madwire, a tech company that’s helped over 20,000 SMBs grow with this singular tech platform called Marketing 360. He founded Madwire when he was just 28 years old.

In this episode, JB Kellogg and our founder and CEO, Daniel Budai, will share business tips, real-life success stories, and learning experiences.

So, tune in and learn more about:

✅ JB Kellogg’s Entrepreneurial Journey

✅ #1 Advice For Small Business Owners

✅ The Most Unique Thing About Madwire’s Company Culture

✅ One Mistake Every Small Business Should Avoid

Before we jump right in, we’d like to give a quick shout-out to Raj, the CEO of Bloomreach. He also runs a tech platform that helps small businesses grow. Make sure to check out episode 62 of The Ecom Show for some additional tips on scaling a small business.

Let’s dig in.

JB Kellogg’s Entrepreneurial JourneyLike every good success story, JB Kellogg’s journey starts with a humble beginning. As a young college student with some extra time on his hands, JB Kellogg was on the lookout for new learning opportunities. This is what drove him to approach a travel magazine asking for a job opportunity.

The magazine needed a website, so JB Kellogg jumped at the opportunity and taught himself everything he needed to know to build a website. This is where he got his first taste of working in the digital world. He continued learning more about digital marketing and running ads and finally took a gamble by starting Madwire.

In 2009, JB Kellogg teamed up with his father to start Madwire. A tech company that offered businesses help to grow. He founded Madwire when he was 28 years old and helped grow the company to a run-rate of over 100M+ in revenue and 500+ employees in under 10 years.

Madwire is technically really one company, but they have a number of brands. Marketing 360 is their biggest brand, which enables small businesses to set up an account that takes care of all their business needs under one umbrella. They can have everything from managing their leads and customers with the CRM to sending emails to managing social media and beyond, so everything they need to manage and grow their business can be done through one login.

However, a lot of these small businesses don't have time to do their own marketing or the resources to keep hiring experts to help them figure it out. This is why Madwire also offers additional services where businesses can hire expert consultants to help them with executing projects as well.

1 Advice For Small Business OwnersWe asked JB Kellogg what’s the number one advice he would give to small business owners in 2022. Here’s what he had to share:

“I think the most important thing to think about is, what is the world going to look like in the next two to three years for your particular industry. And, you know, put a lot of thought and counsel into that, you know, get feedback from other people and then try to develop, you know, your vision for the next three years.”

Once you’ve figured that out, you need to reverse engineer your way to build a strategy that helps you reach your mission. Basically, businesses need to figure out how their industry will evolve and find ways to adapt to these changes.

This involves researching and adopting new systems and processes to help you achieve your goals. So if you’re in e-commerce, you need to ask yourself, what are the new platforms or processes I can work on to improve my payment process? Or, how can I use AI to provide my customers with a better experience?

This is essential because if you’re not thinking of the future, you will get passed up.

The Most Unique Thing About Madwire’s Company CultureBuilding a business with over 500+ employees teaches a man a thing or two about hiring and people management. We asked JB Kellogg to share the most unique thing that’s helped him create an inclusive and positive work culture at Madwire.

Here’s what he said:

“Madwire has always lived by the motto, execution excellence. And what this means is that you don't, you know, try to make the same mistake twice; it doesn't mean that you're perfect. But it means that you're constantly trying to get better. And it also means you step outside of that job description.”

So, if there's a piece of trash in the hallway, when you're walking down the hall, pick it up, if the sink is messy, clean it up, if your neighbor's phone's ringing, answer it, and don't let it go to voicemail just because it’s out of the job description. Execution excellence basically fights the mindset that convinces employees to be married to their job descriptions.

In the early days, Madwire didn't even have job descriptions! Everybody's description was the same, which was execution excellence with whatever is put before you. The idea was to hire people that are able to pivot and help the company scale with the same growth-minded attitude.

One Mistake Every Small Business Should AvoidEvery business owner goes through tough phases that teach them valuable lessons in the journey of entrepreneurship. JB Kellogg shared that the hardest thing that he learned was the realization of when to let people go.

Firing people is never easy, especially when you’re new to building a team. You want to give people enough opportunities, but it’s important to realize the cost of these opportunities. Give your team members an opportunity, coach them, and give them everything you can.

But also look at their attitude, effort, and performance. If a team member's performance is weak, but their attitude and effort are strong, keep them on a long leash and let them learn and improve.

It’s always better to have a team member with the right kind of attitude than a well-performing team member with a poor work attitude. It’s best to let employees go when you notice a poor work attitude that matches a lack of interest in their overall job.

These were some of the most interesting highlights from today’s episode of The Ecom Show.

Thanks for tuning in!

See you again next Thursday.

Click on the links below to follow and learn more about JB Kellogg and his venture Madwire:

Madwire

JB Kellogg’s LinkedIN

JB Kellogg’s Website

JB Kellogg’s Youtube

Click on the links below to follow and learn more about Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s Youtube

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Click on the link below to check out some of our previous episodes:

The Ecom Show

View Details

106 Adam McDonald: 3 Things Every E-Com Business Needs For Success Hello Budai Nation! Your favorite e-commerce podcast is back with a brand new episode on how to create a successful e-com brand.

This week we've got serial entrepreneur/growth strategist/angel investor/e-commerce genius Adam McDonald, with our founder and podcast host, Daniel Budai.

Adam has successfully sold 4 businesses and is now investing in several e-commerce projects. His achievements include building the largest sport surface advertising company in Australia, producing a TV show that he sold to Disney, building Australia's largest outdoor event company, and investing in several e-commerce projects.

In this episode, Adam will reveal the 3 things that every e-com business needs for success! So, tune in to The Ecom Show to find out more about:

✔ Adam's Entrepreneurial Journey

✔ How To Grow Your Business Without Returning Customers

✔ How To Improve Your Customer Experience

✔How To Nail Organic Marketing

Adam's Entrepreneurial JourneyAdam's been a serial entrepreneur throughout his life. He first dabbled into selling products online way back in the early 2000s by reselling American shampoo and conditioners in Australia. He did this for a while before the company expanded and decided to take their selling in-house. You couldn't really call this e-commerce, though—it was more of an online brochure to sell the products to other brick-and-mortar stores in Australia.

Things changed when Adam received a call for help from his dad. Adam's father had run into some taxation issues, which led to him having to sell the business. Adam stepped in and managed to find his father a buyer who owned a big sports advertising agency. As a part of the contract, Adam worked with the buyer to revive the business. However, this contract was short-lived because Adam discovered that the buyer was involved in wrongful business practices and bought back his dad's business and all the equipment.

He then continued growing the venture for the next 3-4 years. He managed to successfully grow it to an 8-figure valuation. He used his wealth from this venture to produce a TV show, which was acquired by ESPN.

Since then, Adam has had a successful and colorful business journey, which ranges from building Australia's largest event company centered around fun to acquiring a physical pet collar business and growing it online. He's currently freelancing as a growth strategist, investing in several e-commerce projects, and building his own picnic rug e-commerce store.

Let's move on to discuss the three things that have helped him find success in all these different ventures.

How To Grow Your Business Without Returning CustomersCLV (Customer Lifetime Value) and returning customers are pivotal in growing a sustainable marketing plan for your e-commerce brand. It's what ensures that your brand can survive and scale without solely depending on ad spends. But, what do you do if your product's lifecycle is too long to have returning customers?

Adam faced this problem with his pet collar business, where his products often outlived the pets themselves! However, he discovered a great alternative to returning customers: referrals!

If you're selling a product that doesn't have the scope of generating returning customers, focus your energy on converting your existing customers into brand advocates! When you provide an excellent customer experience, your customers are inclined to talk about your brand, which leads to organic word of mouth.

Both returning customers and brand advocates have one thing in common; they need to be happy customers first! Customers will only trust your brand enough to keep purchasing or advocating for you if they are satisfied. So, focus on your customer journey, engagement, and referral programs to create a strong base of brand advocates.

You know your brand is on the right path when your customers are willing to sell your product for you!

How To Improve Your Customer ExperienceThe one thing that can help every business become a brand is a genuinely strong network of brand advocates, which only comes when a business can provide a good customer experience.

Between new technology, changing customer preferences, emerging trends, and competition, businesses have to constantly work on redefining their customer journey and experience to ensure that their customers are satisfied.

Adam strongly advises every business owner to conduct a self-audit of their brand to help them consistently improve. He diligently orders through his own business to experience everything from the user experience on the website, to entering the flows, to getting the delivery. This activity helps him discover what needs to be tweaked. After one such audit, Adam realized that their shipping partner provided a terrible delivery experience; this pushed him to find a more reliable shipping service and helped him improve his customer journey.

Conducting a self-audit even once every quarter can help business owners understand their customers' pain points better! Only if you go through everything will you realize what can annoy your customers.

How To Nail Organic MarketingAt the start of the podcast, we touched upon building a sustainable marketing plan for your e-commerce brand. This basically refers to finding organic ways to grow a brand. Anyone can generate 10 million in sales revenue when they're pouring in 8 million on ad spends. The skill is in being able to grow your business using a mix of organic and paid marketing efforts.

This brings us to the third thing every business needs to succeed- a community. If you can build a community around your product, your organic side of things gets looked after. Not only because you end up with a big database, but because you have the power to engage with them. Your community can help you create user-generated content, get ideas on product development, and much more.

The key to building a big community lies in giving. You must keep adding value to your customers' lives to earn that trust and build a community. Having customers sign up to your email list isn't enough. You need to leverage your email list to engage with your customers and work towards creating that sense of community.

On that note, we'll wrap up this episode of The Ecom Show! If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow Adam, and check out his website for more stories to help you grow your e-commerce brand.

Thanks for tuning in; we'll see you again next Thursday!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

115 Rakefet: Outsource Your Marketing With MaypleThis podcast is about marketing, but it isn’t about marketing techniques, SEO, paid ads, or any of that other technical stuff. Instead, it’s about how you can and should outsource your marketing.

Today, we’ve got Rakefet, the CMO of Mayple, to talk to us about the easiest way to grow your business.

Mayple is a vetted professional marketplace that connects marketing experts with businesses looking to build their brands.

Tune in to this episode to hear our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai and Rakefet discuss:

✅ Rakefet’s Journey With Marketing

✅ How To Hire The Right Talent

✅ Mayple Vs. Other Gig Marketplaces

So let’s jump right in!

Rakefet’s Journey With MarketingRakefet has always been in the field of marketing. In fact, prior to Mayple, she worked as a marketing consultant for over eight years. She’s assisted over 100+ CEOs, CMOs, and business managers with their business and marketing strategies. In addition, she’s worked with various consulting firms and helped both B2B and B2C businesses grow with her strategies.

However, Rakefet soon realized that building a strategy is only half the job. It’s usually the execution phase that companies struggle with. She came across Mayple and realized that this business could help bridge that gap between planning and executing. Three and a half years ago, Rakefet took a leap and joined Mayple; the rest is simply history.

Mayple began with the mission of solving all the trust issues that come with working in the marketing industry. But, they soon realized that this was a very broad statement to follow. So, they focused on one of the most common pain points: building a brand’s strategy.

Mayple connects businesses with marketing experts that build brand strategies and facilitates the team a business would require to execute this to achieve their desired result. They do all the groundwork so that businesses are able to find the perfect expert with the help of a simple click.

How To Hire The Right TalentMarketing is a complex field. There are a dozen different platforms, all kinds of data, and a million other things to do, which is why it’s never a one-person job. Businesses that want to grow need to hire a team and get an extra set of hands to help them create and execute strategies flawlessly and, most importantly, to keep up with ever-changing algorithms and trends.

As a business owner, your execution is based entirely on the people you work with, and finding the right kind of people isn’t the easiest of jobs. The industry is fragmented; with everyone claiming to be the best freelancer, the best agency, or the perfect candidate out of the lot, it becomes difficult to find the right fit. Especially because there’s nothing stopping people from calling themselves an expert. And unfortunately, this leads to many businesses seeing bad results and losing trust in the marketing field.

Conversely, the vetting process isn’t easy on candidates either. Around 40% of anyone’s time when you’re a freelancer or run an agency goes into managing the account and maintaining your business rather than doing their professional work. So, there are a lot of pains for the marketer side as well.

Vetting is the most critical process of hiring or finding work. Both professionals and businesses should weigh and assess their opportunities before starting any new project. A robust vetting process can help reduce the number of negative experiences and also streamline work processes. However, vetting can take time and cost businesses a lot of money. Mayple vets the experts so that businesses can get straight to work.

Mayple Vs. Other Gig MarketplacesThere are plenty of websites that connect businesses with freelancers and experts to help get the job done. What’s so special about Mayple, and how is it different from platforms like Upwork or Fiverr?

Platforms like LinkedIn, Upwork, and Fiverr connect businesses with freelancers or agencies, but the onus of vetting their work still lies on the business. Mayple isn’t an open platform. They have a network of only 600 expert professionals. This is because they’ve taken the time and energy to interview, assess, and personally handpick the best of the best in marketing.

Mayple not only offers a curated list of highly trusted and qualified professionals, but also guarantees satisfaction by acting as an intermediary between a business and the professional. Their alliance guarantees that businesses benefit from the strategies that professionals create. Mayple also has a vast network of experts from different fields of marketing, providing businesses with an agency-like roster to horizontally expand their marketing efforts in a seamless fashion.

Interested in learning more about Mayple? Click here to check out their website.

You can also follow Rakefet on LinkedIn by clicking here.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Ecom Show!

We come out with new episodes every Thursday.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

114 Joey Coleman: Build Lifetime Customer Loyalty In 100 DaysWe're back, and we're in conversation with Joey Coleman, the famous author of the bestselling novel "Never Lose A Customer Again."

Behind every successful brand, there's an army of loyal customers, and Joey Coleman is an expert when it comes to turning any sale into lifelong loyalty. Joey has been helping businesses build customer loyalty for almost 20 years now. He's a bestselling writer, teacher, advisor, and incredible speaker.

Tune in to this episode of The Ecom Show to hear Daniel Budai and Joey talk about:

✔️ Joey Coleman's Eclectic Career Path

✔️ The 8 Phases of A Customer Journey

✔️How to Analyze Customer Feedback

Joey Coleman's Eclectic Career PathJoey had a unique career path. He studied international and national security law in college and went on to serve the nation by working in the United States Secret Service. He also worked in the Central Intelligence Agency and eventually made his way up to serving as counsel to the US president himself.

From working as a salesperson to a criminal defense lawyer to teaching in a postgraduate class and eventually starting his own ad agency, Joey's worn several career hats over the years. But what's interesting is that he found a common thread that connected the experiences he gathered from all his jobs over the years. And the thread that connects all of them is, in each of those positions, the way you advanced or were rewarded was by having a keen understanding of the human condition. Why do humans do the things they do? What can we do to convince them or persuade them or encourage them to do the things we'd like them to do? And so as all of those experiences and kind of different career paths meld that together.

Joey found himself really focusing on human psychology as it related in a business context to customers. He applied this to his own ad agency and began researching how he could help his clients retain the customers he worked so hard to acquire for them.

This search led him on a decade-long journey in uncovering why customers leave and what can be done to convince them to stay. This search has formed the foundations for his book, business consulting, and speeches over the years, and he's now a well-renowned customer retention expert.

The 8 Phases of A Customer JourneyIn Joey's bestselling book, "Never Lose A Customer Again," he talks about the 8 phases of a customer journey. These phases show businesses how they can convert any customer into a lifetime buyer. Here's a quick run-through of these phases and how they relate back to e-commerce:

1. Assess: This is when a prospect is assessing whether or not they want to become a customer. In common parlance, we think of this as marketing and sales. They're looking at your website and your marketing materials; they're in some sales conversations with you. They're in the decision-making process to figure out if they want to become a customer.

What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?

E-commerce businesses need to ensure that their website checks all the boxes a customer would look for. Have ample reviews, product information, a variety of photos, links to social media, and helpful resources to make your customer feel comfortable with your website.

2. Admit: This is when a prospect admits that they have a problem or a need that they think you can help them solve. They sign on the dotted line, and they hand over their hard-earned cash. This is day one of the first 100 days process.

What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?

This is where customers are on your checkout page. E-commerce businesses need to focus on providing an easy checkout process. This means giving customers a choice to sign up through social media, providing guest checkout, and making sure there are enough payment options available.

3. Affirm: In common parlance, we call this buyer's remorse, where they begin to doubt the decision that they just made to work with you. Now in most businesses, we're celebrating because we got a new client, we're really happy. Meanwhile, at the client's office or at the customer's home, they're saying, Ooh, did I make the right purchase? I was looking at a couple of options. And I chose this one. But what if it's not right? Well, I'd be able to get my money back when I get in trouble. How will I do this? And that difference in our emotional high in the customer's emotional low or uncertainty. If we don't address that, we're in real trouble.

What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?

This phase involves keeping customers in the loop! It involves sending out order confirmations and shipping updates.

4. Activate: This is the first real moment of truth when they receive the product. We want to energize the relationship. We want to let them know that doing business with us is going to be unlike any business experience they've ever had.

What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?

In this phase, e-commerce businesses need to start thinking of ways to engage with customers who have just received their products.

5. Acclimate: This is the phase where most businesses lose their customers. In the acclimate phase, our job is to hold our customers' hands to help them acclimate to our way of doing business to get used to our way of doing business.

What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?

Find ways to make sure that customers are actually using the product they bought. There are a bunch of ways to do this! You could send them an email showing them how to use your product or even personalize it by sending customers a survey asking them about why they made the purchase.

6. Accomplish: This phase is all about helping your customers accomplish the goal that they had in mind when they did business with you.

What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?

In this phase, e-commerce stores need to check in with their customers and see that their customers are actually making the most out of their purchases. It involves sending out recommendations based on their previous purchase or simply asking for feedback.

7. Adopt: This phase is where the customer becomes loyal to us and only us; they're not looking at the competition; they've adopted the relationship, and they're committed to continuing to do business with us in the future. And if and only if we've gotten through all seven of those phases, do we get to the last phase, the final phase, the holy grail Nirvana, the thing everybody's striving for, which is the advocate phase!

What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?

E-commerce businesses need to continue the conversation and build a long-lasting relationship with their customers by checking in and providing them with value-based content to keep them engaged.

8. Advocate: When customers are loyal enough to go and refer your brand to people around them. Most businesses want to jump to that phase eight right away. They want to get the customer signed up and then say, Well, who else do you know that might need our product? Or, hey, there are some other things we want to sell you and have you join up and participate in it as well. We need to pace ourselves and take time to work through each of the eight phases to earn the trust and comfort of the customer before asking them to become brand advocates!

What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?

This phase comes naturally after a customer passes through the first seven phases! A returning customer is more likely to be a brand advocate as compared to a new customer. They're easier to get referrals from and to upsell. It's important for businesses to value these customers by treating them to discounts and special deals.

How to Analyze Customer FeedbackCustomer feedback is crucial, but it's hard to learn from feedback when your customers aren't being 100% honest. Customers might find it difficult to be critical if they have a personal relationship with your brand. This is why it's important to create honest spaces for customers to freely communicate how they're feeling. Here are Joey's tips for getting customer feedback:

Provide multiple channels for feedback: Each customer has their own personal preference when it comes to communicating, which is why businesses should have multiple avenues to receive customer feedback. Give your customers the freedom to choose from sending you a message, filling out a feedback form, or directly speaking to you via a scheduled phone call.
Ask for feedback at various stages: This is super important if you have a product that works on a subscription-based model or you deliver an ongoing service. Ask for feedback when you're halfway through your transaction, and at the end, that way, your customers have the opportunity to see how you improve based on their recommendations.
Acknowledge their feedback: A lot of companies ask for feedback but don't bother notifying the customers about their next steps. It's important to show your customers that you respect the time that they've taken out to help you improve. Give your customers credit where it's due, and thank them for taking the time to give you feedback.
Be specific: Asking broad-ended questions can get confusing and vague. Instead, be specific and ask your customers exactly what you want to know. Giving your customers direction makes it easier for them to collect their thoughts.
Mix it up: Don't go fishing for compliments! Feedback consists of both positive and negative observations that can help you better your business. Keep it balanced and make sure to ask your customers what they'd like you to continue doing, what they'd like you to stop doing, and what they'd like your brand to start doing.

That's all for today's episode. Make sure to check out Joey Coleman's website if you'd like to learn more about him.

You can also check out his book, "Never Lose A Customer Again," to learn more about the 8 phases of a customer journey.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out episode 109, where Shep Hyken shares some more golden nuggets on creating a memorable customer experience.

You can also click here to check out the rest of our episodes.

Thanks for tuning in! See you back here next Thursday.

Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days

View Details

113 John Burgess: Start Dropshipping With $0Everyone thinks it takes a LOT to start your own eCommerce business. And it does take a lot, a lot of effort, creativity, patience, and perseverance! But thanks to dropshipping and businesses like Shine On, what it doesn't take is a lot of money to get started!

John Burgess, the head of global accounts at Shine On, joins our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, in an interesting conversation about starting your eCommerce journey through dropshipping.

Shine On is a dropshipping store that specializes in producing personalized viral accessories. They empower new businesses across the globe with their easy-to-sell platform that allows individuals to start selling with zero upfront payments.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✔️ John's Background With Dropshipping.

✔️ How Shine On Empowers Businesses

✔️ Scaling A Dropshipping Business

✔️ Expanding Your E-Commerce Store With Dropshipping.

John's Background With DropshippingJohn Burgess heads the global accounts team at Shine, a leading dropshipping business that enables thousands of sellers across the globe with their personalized viral line of products and easy-to-use platform.

But his journey didn't start there! In fact, his story begins in early 2006. Right out of college, and having learned textile design and merchandising, John decided to take a leap and pursue his interest in the internet to see how he could make a career out of it. John combined his knowledge of merchandising with his self-taught skills of C plus to start his own consulting/print shop business.

John basically helped businesses build their own e-commerce stores using the platform BigCartel, and also doubled up his services by providing them with in-house print-on-demand service to create graphic tee shirts.

Unfortunately, due to the market crash, John was forced to sell his business. He then got into digital marketing and learned the ropes of paid advertising, social media marketing, and building e-commerce stores and apps using platforms like Magento. This experience gave John the exposure to working with brands of different sizes, which helped fine-tune his knowledge of the eCommerce industry.

John eventually got an offer to join Shine On and decided to jump ship after seeing the potential in dropshipping. When John joined Shine On, they were fairly new and operating with a small team of only five employees. They've now grown and have a team of over 130 employees, with factories in both the USA and Europe.

How Shine On Empowers BusinessesShine On is a dropshipping platform that removes the biggest barrier to entering e-commerce: dealing with products! Sellers can simply create an account, connect it to their own website, or sell using the Shine On the marketplace and start selling in under thirty minutes.

The idea behind Shine On is that there are zero upfront costs. With Shine On, you can start taking orders and pay only once it's time to fulfill them. Basically, Shine On takes care of the manufacturing and supply chain so that you can focus on brand building and selling.

Shine On attracts two kinds of customers. The first are new customers that need help starting from scratch. The second is existing eCommerce businesses that want to expand their product line or sales revenue. Since Shine On offers personalized accessories, brands can customize items based on their niche and still cater to a whole new audience with virtually no upfront costs for testing a new market.

Shine On has over 10,000 active sellers in the US market alone, and they've also expanded with a new factory in Europe. Shine On caters to sellers across the globe and has helped generate over $152,500,914 worth of products to date.

Scaling A Dropshipping BusinessThere are a lot of people that say that dropshipping is a dead end. However, the truth is far from it! Dropshipping is simply a choice of how you choose to handle your logistics as a business. How well your e-commerce store does still lies in your hand and on how well you treat your customers.

Dropshipping is a very viable and profitable business model for those that focus on brand building. A big part of this involves picking the right kind of suppliers/platforms to help you dropship. You need to move away from Chinese suppliers like Alibaba and find localized platforms that offer reliable and timely fulfillment and quality of products.

Another important thing is to establish your own USP through your service by doing all the things that a brand does to be successful. This involves building lifetime value and brand loyalty.

Advertising platforms like Google, Tik-Tok, and Facebook all have advanced algorithms that see how legitimate your business is, which is why it's crucial for dropshippers to focus on brand building.

Another good way of scaling your dropshipping business is through a horizontal approach. You've got the products and the content ready. Research how local markets in different countries operate and expand your reach to other countries with similar audiences. You might have to modify your strategy in terms of language and pricing, but expanding your store to different regions opens you up to a wider market. Dropshipping makes testing and expanding to a global market easy since there are no upfront inventory or product development costs.

Expanding Your E-Commerce Store With DropshippingA lot of eCommerce stores that are doing well and have their own products also often have a giant email list. And just like every store out there, they might have times where they don't have products to offer during specific occasions like Mother's Day, for example.

Here's an example that John shared with us in this episode:

"One of our clients runs a golf shop, and he's got a huge database of emails, but he had nothing to offer them for Mother's Day. So, we spoke to him and convinced him to run an experiment by adding a personalized gift from our dropshipping collection at Shine On. All he had to do was send out one promotional email. He sent out that email and made over $10,000 in revenue. Just like that, he was able to create a bump in his sales on a promotional day that otherwise didn't exist for his store."

The beauty of this is that it requires very little effort for existing eCommerce brands because all they have to do is sign up on an app, add the product to their store, and run ads. Dropshipping allows existing eCommerce stores to tap into the seasonal market and widen their pool with minimal effort. It also makes it easier for existing e-commerce stores to test out new products.

And with platforms like Shine On, e-commerce stores have the freedom and creativity to customize the product to fit their brand's aesthetic. Check out their website to learn more about dropshipping and the services that Shine On offers.

If you liked this episode, make sure to subscribe because we release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile, you can binge on our previous episodes by clicking here.

We also send out weekly newsletters with some excellent tips on scaling your eCommerce business. Click here to subscribe.

Thanks for tuning in, see you again next week!

Follow Daniel:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Daniel's Youtube

View Details

112 Boyuan Zhao: E-Commerce Agency CEOs Share Their Best TipsWelcome back to The Ecom Show! Today's discussion is special for anyone with their own e-commerce store because we've got the founder of not one but two e-commerce agencies to talk about everything Ecom!

Our guest for today is Boyuan Zhao. He is the founder of the e-commerce email marketing agency PLTHORA. Apart from this, he also has his own Youtube channel where he shares tutorials on how to master Klaviyo, and he's got professional investments in cryptocurrency as well.

In this episode, Boyuan Zhao and Daniel Budai, podcast host and CEO of Budai Media, will be discussing everything that goes into growing an e-commerce brand.

Tune in to hear more about:

✔️The Key To Designing A Viral Product

✔️Be A Content First E-Commerce Brand.

✔️ Boyuan's Advice For E-Commerce Entrepreneurs.

The Key To Designing A Viral ProductThis one's important for anyone that's looking to enter the e-commerce space or to even expand their product line. There are two things that can make any product go viral.

The first is coming up with something quirky. Take the brand Oodie for instance. Oodie is an apparel brand that creates oversized hoodies that double up as blankets. This Australian apparel brand has built a nine-figure business by creating a unique and quirky product that stands out. In fact, one of our previous guests, Jason Williamson, runs an SMS marketing agency that handles Oodie's SMS flows, and he shed more light on this brand in episode 105.

The second is to create hyper utility. Products that can find a unique solution to a very specific problem have the potential to go viral. The Shark Tank legacy brand, Scrub Daddy, is a perfect example of this. There is a sponge that helps clean out every corner of a dish. Similarly, any product that solves a specific problem has viral potential because those types of products are great for ads. You can create simple direct videos that drive customers to purchase your product.

If you're looking to enter the e-commerce space with a new product, start by finding a problem and find a unique way to create a solution for it. A lot of people do it the other way round. They create their product and look for a USP after. However, the best way to beat market saturation is by creating a product that can easily stand out.

Be A Content First E-Commerce BrandWith the explosion of social media, everyone's a content creator! It's no longer enough to just have a good website. In order to create a successful brand, you need to have a great social media presence. This includes being omnipresent on channels like Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, or even Youtube; based on what you sell. Social media platforms help you build a community that can drive your sales even if your website isn't great!

For example, there's this company called Ancestral Supplements. This company's founder markets himself as the Liver King. Their products sell extremely well despite having a simple website, high prices, and a high shipping fee. This is because they have great marketing in place. Being a content-first brand helps in building social capital in the form of trust. The more your customers trust you, the more they're willing to shop from you, despite your brand's shortcomings.

Boyuan's Advice For E-Commerce EntrepreneursE-commerce agencies interact with entrepreneurs from every walk of life and solve problems by coming up with innovative strategies on the regular. We asked Boyuan to share some of his biggest learnings and takeaways from his experience in the industry. Here's what he had to say:

What has been your biggest learning from running a business?

"My biggest learning has been understanding the value of time. People are constantly advertising how they achieved success in very quick timeframes; this can mess with your perception of how well you're doing something. But it's important to understand that things just take some time, especially if you're pursuing more high-leverage activities.

For example, when I first started out, I was doing cold email outreach. So, it'd be about a two-week delay between me putting in the effort and seeing the return. But then, when I started pivoting towards content, it was actually like a three to a six-month time period before I got my first big client. But the thing is, cold outreach is linear in the sense that you just send the email, and that's it. And it's forgotten about, whereas content is more or less evergreen, so it's higher leverage. So, it took me a while to understand that exponential growth can take time to build."

Hiring is extremely crucial for agencies because, in an agency, you're selling a service. And the quality of your service depends on the people in your team. Could you walk us through your hiring process?

"I'm pretty proud of my team at the moment; I'm working with some really great people. I usually hire from within my own community. I get several inquiries about job openings from my YouTube follower base. The second has been through LinkedIn and extensive interviews. I outsource it to professional recruiters and try to find quality leads by filtering them out with good assignments and a detailed interview process.

I also keep finding ways to retain my team by incentivizing team members when they accomplish good targets. This is usually done by rewarding them with a bonus when the project they're working on performs extraordinarily well."

To sum it all up, the key to growing your brand lies in building a viral product, focusing your energy on creating a strong content strategy to market your product, being patient, and most importantly, surrounding yourself with the right kind of team to help your brand grow!

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Ecom Show. We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

You can check out our previous episodes here.

Follow Boyuan:

LinkedIn

Youtube

Instagram

Twitter

Follow Daniel:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Daniel's Youtube

View Details

111 Antoine Gagné: Media Buying Secrets To Achieve Hyper-Growth!TGIT! Thank god it’s Thursday because that means it’s time for another new episode of The Ecom Show!

In this episode, Antoine Gagné, the founder and CEO of J7 Media and Pure Commerce, joins our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, in an interesting conversation about media buying. J7 Media is a Facebook advertising agency that turns companies’ growth into hyper-growth.

This episode of The Ecom Show deep dives into:

✔ Antoine’s Experience With Media Buying.

✔ Is Facebook Still Relevant For Media Buying?

✔ How To Take Your E-Commerce Business International.

✔ Antoine’s Advice For E-Commerce Entrepreneurs.

Antoine’s Experience With Media BuyingAntoine started J7 Media almost ten years ago. They started as an agency that helped businesses in the hospitality industry manage their organic Facebook and Instagram marketing. The change in the Facebook algorithm in 2017 is what pushed Antoine to shift his agency’s focus on media buying.

Since then, they’ve positioned themselves to take over media buying and focused on how to scale e-commerce agencies from growth to hyper-growth. Currently, J7 Media manages over $30 million a year in Facebook advertising for e-commerce brands and are experts when it comes to creating ad funnels for direct-to-consumer companies.

J7 Media may have started from Facebook advertising, but they’ve grown immensely ever since. They expanded into Google Ads and other media buying avenues by acquiring a knowledgeable Google Ads agency.

Antoine has also acquired several e-commerce brands, which has added to his understanding of what e-commerce clients want, as he is now on both ends of the spectrum. Antoine recently launched his second agency, Pure Commerce. Pure Commerce is a specialized e-commerce marketing agency that covers all the marketing needs an e-commerce brand would have.

Is Facebook Still Relevant For Media Buying?The world of e-commerce keeps changing, and there are a ton of different avenues that business owners can choose to spend their money on. With the ever-changing Facebook algorithm, it can get hard for e-commerce businesses to nail down a strategy that works for their brand. And with other more economical options like Tik Tok Ads, a lot of e-commerce businesses have been wondering if Facebook is still a relevant medium for running ads?

The answer is yes. Facebook is still relevant even despite hurdles like their stock going down, the iOS 14 changes, and the emergence of newer ad spaces. Because despite all these factors, Facebook is still a very powerful tool.

The key to nailing your Facebook marketing is to keep testing. Facebook keeps changing its algorithm, which is why as an e-commerce business, it’s important that you keep testing different campaigns and adjust your plan based on the results. You should also diversify your media spending. Focus on driving business through email marketing, SMS campaigns, TikTok ads, and Facebook. Don’t just rely on one medium to drive your sales! Double down on different avenues to increase your customer’s lifetime value, and use media buying to engage with your customers and build a community.

How To Take Your E-Commerce Business InternationalThere are two key things that every business should keep in mind before taking their store international. The first is understanding trends and culture. It’s easier to expand to countries that have similar trends and cultures. For instance, it’s easy to run ad campaigns in England if you’re already selling in US markets. This is because both countries have native English speakers, and trends hit the US markets first.

The second is to align your expectations. There are several barriers to entry like language, price sensitivity, understanding of the local culture, and more that will affect the success of your campaigns in newer markets. Give your business the time to learn and adjust to newer campaigns. Also, research which markets would be easier for you to expand into. For example, it’s much easier for American brands to enter any other global market, this is because their market is way ahead of the curve. On the other hand, it’s far more difficult for international brands to enter the US market because of how crowded their existing market is.

So if you’re looking to expand your business globally, ensure that you do your research about different markets, test and adjust your ad campaigns, and align your expectations since expanding into any new space requires persistence and patience.

Antoine’s Advice For eCommerce EntrepreneursWe asked Antoine about what his biggest challenge as an entrepreneur has been, and if he could only share one piece of advice for e-commerce business owners, what would it be? Here’s what he had to share:

What was your biggest challenge?

“My biggest challenge has been to actually learn what it means to be in business, which I think a lot of people don’t understand. A lot of people think it’s cool to be an entrepreneur. Like, it’s great to put that on your LinkedIn or tell your friends during Happy Hour that you are a business owner, but when it comes down to it, it’s 20 times harder to live the life of a business owner. Because it takes years to reach a point where you can finally start paying yourself a salary, this understanding has been my greatest learning.”

What’s your number one advice for eCommerce businesses in 2022?

“I would say double down on email acquisition! In the past, you could just run ads and generate conversions straight away. It is not as easy anymore, so double down on running media to acquire more emails. Emails are a great way to maintain a community, and my personal experience as an e-commerce business owner has made me realize how valuable email marketing can be.”

On that note, let’s conclude this episode of The Ecom Show. We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday, so don’t forget to tune in!

You can also check out our website if you’d like to learn more about email marketing. Our mini-course is perfect for businesses that are just getting started with email marketing.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. See you again next week!

Follow Antoine:

LinkedIn

J7 Media

Pure Commerce

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

Daniel’s Facebook

View Details

110 Alvin From Relab Studios: Designing The Perfect WebsiteToday's episode of The Ecom Show is special because it's the first time we'll be diving into the intricacies of product design.

We have Alvin Hermanto from Relab Studios here with us today to talk about everything that goes into designing the perfect e-commerce store. Relab Studios is a specialized design agency that helps e-commerce businesses design products like websites and applications by combining design thinking with UI/UX capabilities.

Daniel and Alvin met through YouTube as they're both YouTube entrepreneurs that share expert tips and strategies specific to their field. Daniel talks about his experience of running Budai Media, an e-commerce retention marketing agency, on his Youtube channel; he also shares tips and strategies to help other businesses scale. Similarly, Alvin Hermanto also has an active Youtube channel, where he teaches businesses about design thinking and product design.

Tune in to this episode to find out more about:

✔ How Relab Studios Began

✔ The 6 Stages of Designing A Website

✔ Design Tips From Alvin

How Relab Studios BeganRelab Studios is Alvin Hermanto's first business. It's a design consultancy firm that provides digital product design and solves design problems for e-commerce clients. They build and work with websites, applications, and other portals.

Growing up in Indonesia, Alvin had always been interested in design. Unsure about what to specialize in, he went to Malaysia and studied graphic designing since it was a broader field of study. His university gave him the opportunity to complete his course in Australia, which is where he earned his degree in graphic designing with honors.

Alvin began offering his services as a graphic designer almost 15 years ago. He worked with several brands and transitioned to becoming a digital designer during the time of the e-commerce boom.

It's been over nine years since Alvin started his own UI/UX design consultancy firm Relab Studios. They focus on an intersection between business and UX design or user experience design. Alvin's firm designs software websites and applications; they also share their expertise and techniques on their growing Youtube channel.

The 6 Stages of Designing A WebsiteAlvin has devised a six-stage design process to create the perfect website for his clients. These stages blend design thinking and agile design methodologies to create a website that truly represents their client's brand. The idea is to pay equal attention to strategy and user empathy to create a user-friendly experience through a collaborative process. Here are the six stages to perfecting your design:

Understanding: Stage one is understanding the user, which is the end-user itself. But you're also trying to understand the business. And the way you would do this is by conducting interviews with different stakeholders of the business in the room. You do this to understand the vision of the business, future plans, needs, and expectations from the product. This is the most crucial step, as it forms a base for the rest of your decisions.
Defining: You've understood the problem; now it's time to sit and define the goal of the product. This is done by outlining the premise to create a user strategy template, or a set of design principles, success metrics, the value proposition canvas, and solutions that will define all the needs established in the understanding phase.
Ideating: This is where you start sketching solutions and start putting down ideas on what you want your product to look like. This stage is the most collaborative as it involves both the clients and the design team sitting together to put down ideas that they'd like to see in the product. It's basically a visual representation of all the thoughts and ideas that will frame the website.
Deciding: The ideation phase involves jotting down all the ideas and thoughts that could go into the product. Stage four is where you narrow your focus down and shortlist the solutions you like the most. This stage involves voting on ideas and finding a winning solution. By the end of this stage, you usually have a blueprint of what your website would look like with your website flow and user journey outlined.
Prototyping: This is the stage where you create your storyboard by sketching out what your product would look like on different screens. This can be done in a variety of ways. If you're comfortable with Adobe, you can create your entire prototype using tools like Figma or Adobe XD. If you're not a designer, you could use tools like Canva or even Powerpoint to illustrate what each page or part of your website would look like. This step helps you see what your end product will look like, and the perks of using Figma or Adobe XD is that your UI can directly be given to the UX designer to implement.
Validating: The last stage is to conduct a round of objective user testing to weed out any kinks in your design. This step allows you to see how smoothly your user journey is in action and is an essential quality assurance step before you release your MVP for the world to use.

Design Tips From AlvinYour product design is a true reflection of your brand's identity, and it's one thing that directly affects your relationship with your customers. Your user interface and experience shape the way your customers will interact with your brand as a whole; which is why it's important to remember to ensure that your digital product is in tune with your physical product. Here are some expert tips for Alvin.

Do your research: Look at actual products you use in your everyday life, and observe how their digital presence ties back to their physical products. Find brands that you like purchasing from online, and observe how their design is creating a positive experience for you. For instance: Check out Herman Miller. They create high-end office chairs, but more than that, they serve their customers really well, from a customer service point of view. They've done this by creating well-segmented user flows to provide essential content in the form of videos and blogs.
Create a holistic experience: Good design is something that goes beyond just looking or feeling good. It's about the holistic experience it creates for everyone that uses the design. So let's say we're designing a portal for a wine company, a wine distributor, then it also needs to work really, really well for their salespeople, customer service people, not just the end-user or their customers. So yeah, good product design is something that works seamlessly for every person that uses it.
Try to be inclusive: Design is subjective, which is why it's best to have multiple opinions and make it a collaborative process. The ideal design team involves having a facilitator, a designer, and a decider. The facilitator is the person that holds the compass and navigates the direction in which the product design should be aimed at. The decider is usually someone who has a deep understanding of the brand and oversees all the ideas being suggested by the facilitator; the designer carries out the vision that's been laid out by the facilitator and decider.
Hire someone who's empathetic: Ideally, a product designer is an individual who has a strong acumen for design thinking to back their experience in UI/UX design. They fuse their understanding of your business with design principles to create a product that matches the needs of your customers. If you can't afford to hire a product designer or product designing agency, look for user interface designers that have a strong understanding of how to solve problems. They should be able to understand and empathize with the needs of your clients to help you design a product that best caters to your needs.

If you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show, make sure to check out Alvin Hermanto's Youtube channel for more design and user experience expertise.

You can also check out his latest work on his website Relab Studios, or directly connect with him via LinkedIN.

Thank you for listening! We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday, so stay tuned.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

109 Shep Hyken: Building A Memorable Customer ExperienceWe’ve all heard that the customer is king, but today let’s hear from the king of customer experience himself! We’re honored to welcome Shep Hyken as a guest on this episode of The Ecom Show.

With over 39 years of industry experience and over eight bestselling books under his belt, Shep Hyken is a master at building a memorable customer experience, and today he’s going to let us in on some of his bestselling secrets. Make sure to check out hyken.com to know more about him and get access to bonus research materials to enhance your knowledge of customer experience.

This show is sponsored by Budai media , which is a fully remote eCommerce retention marketing agency. We, at Budai Media, have worked with over 100+ eCommerce clients and generated $30M+ additional store revenue in the last 3 years.

In this episode, Shep Hyken and Daniel Budai, our podcast host and CEO, will talk about:

✔️ Shep’s Journey With Customer Experience.

✔️ How To Win Your Customer’s Confidence.

✔️ Finding Balance With Customer Automation.

✔️ 6 Steps To Master Customer Experience.

Shep’s Journey With Customer ExperienceShep’s story starts just like Harry Potter’s, with a little bit of magic. Young Shep ventured into the world of business as a magician back when he was just 12 years old. He would book gigs performing magic for kids at birthday parties, and that’s where he got his first lesson in customer service. His parents taught him all the basics like sending out thank you notes, following up for feedback and finding out areas of improvement, and basically just everything related to the art of talking to people.

This art was finessed by a series of odd jobs that he’d picked up during his years in college.

From nightclubs to corporate events, Shep had done it all. However, his true passion for building a career in the world of customer experience was fuelled by his time working in a gas station.

"I was working in a gas station, and it was a very cold, cold day, and I pumped a woman’s gasoline for her. And a very elderly woman, probably in her 80s, I didn’t want her to get out of the car and get cold. And my manager actually yelled at me for helping her. I learned two things that day that has stuck with me ever since. Number one, people like me are all over the place; we want to take care of people. So when we’re talking to our clients about customer service, and hiring people for the right experience in the right culture, just know that you need to find someone who likes taking care of people.

The second thing I learned was that your experience of how to treat your customers comes from the people training you and the people in charge. But just because someone is in a high position doesn’t mean they know how to treat customers right. You need to hire based on qualities that complement the role you’re trying to fill."

Shep started out working in customer service and soon started using the term customer experience to define his role because he was told that it’s just a fancier term for customer service. But, he soon realized that customer experience goes far beyond customer service; it includes every touchpoint of a customer’s journey that affects their perception of the brand.

With over 39 years of experience, Shep is now a well-known keynote speaker and the bestselling author of several valuable books that talk about customer experience.

How To Win Your Customer’s ConfidenceIn e-commerce solutions, you have to recognize that you won’t always have the opportunity to interact and create a relationship with your customers. So, you need to find other ways to make that customer say, they are the ones I want to go back to again and again. Basically, find that one thing that drives your customer to keep returning.

And that one thing is confidence! Creating confidence means the customer will refer to you with the word always followed by something ideally positive. You never want your customers to be confident about having a negative experience. Now, I’m confident when I do business with them; I will love what happens. That’s what we’re looking for.

And this is what a confident customer would sound like:

“You know what, it’s always there when I log on, it’s always easy. They always have what I want. They always answer my questions; they always get back to me quickly.”

The key to gaining your customers’ confidence is very simple. Focus on how you can create positive experiences for them throughout their customer journey. As long as the customer recognizes that whenever they reach out or interact, they’re always going to have a positive experience, they’ll keep coming back.

You can create this positive experience by leveraging automation tools, creating self-service resource libraries, having a quick response team in place, and providing a seamless customer journey from pre to post-sales.

Finding Balance With Customer AutomationAutomation is a great tool that can enhance customer experience if implemented in the right manner. Having an omnichannel customer support system is the ideal way to provide an excellent customer experience. The trick is to have a seamless handoff between automation and human experience. For instance: If your customer asks a question that the chatbot isn’t able to answer, your chatbot should be advanced enough to hand over the customer’s query to a human executive to take over.

So, automation is really just one part of it. You can create an automated experience by having a smart resource library, a chatbot and by implementing automated flows in place. However, you shouldn’t depend on automation for everything. Tomorrow, if your customer needs to speak to a human, they should have a medium to connect with and receive help from one. All the best companies find a balance between AI-infused technology and humans to create a wholesome customer experience.

Shep Hyken recently conducted an in-depth survey to find out the ideal way that customers like to resolve their complaints when they run into an issue. This 30-page report gives a detailed outlook on customer preferences; you can check out the entire report here. This report revealed that 65% of customers would prefer to resolve their problems over a phone call with a customer service agent; now keep in mind that the rest, 35% prefer having a digital self-service solution which is why it’s important to have both in place.

6 Steps To Master Customer ExperienceShep Hyken had come up with a six-step checklist for brands that are looking to audit and improve their customer experience. This checklist takes you from the entire customer journey to reflecting and learning from competitors and brands that you love and use as an individual. Let’s take a look at the different steps.

Act like there’s a problem and call and see how hard it is to get your problem resolved: This helps you figure out how smooth your customer journey is and what your areas of improvement are.
Ask yourself why somebody chooses to do business with a competitor instead of you: Don’t try to find your positives to answer this question; instead, focus solely on what your competitors are offering and find out what they’re doing differently. This will automatically lead you to step three.
What can I do that my competitor is already doing: Remember that you’re not looking to do things exactly how your competitor does it. The point of this step is to find inspiration and alter it in a way that makes it your own.
Identify brands that you love as a consumer that are outside your industry: Every professional is also a customer. Find brands that you love, regardless of their size or industry, and figure out qualities that make you loyal to that brand. Try to observe and understand the behavior of brands that you have a likeness for.
See how your observations can better your brand: Say, for instance, you love Amazon because they’re reliable with their deliveries. When you properly observe, you’ll realize that the reason you love Amazon is not that you receive emails; it’s because you receive information that makes you feel confident, which brings us to the final step.
Take a look at all of the different reasons a customer does business with your competitor or the reasons why you love doing business with somebody even outside of the industry, and implement those: Once you’ve done that, you’ll automatically find areas that you can improve on.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out episode 107, where Daniel speaks with Steven Van Belleghem, another customer experience wizard who reveals some of the best customer experience strategies for e-commerce.

Stay tuned because we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday! And if you’d like to see more, you can check out some of our earlier episodes here.

Follow Shep Hyken:

LinkedIn

Website

Latest Book- I’ll be back

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

Daniel’s Facebook

View Details

108 Jure Knehtl: Growth Hacks for Ecommerce BusinessesOne episode was nearly not enough to share all the golden growth nuggets that Jure Knehtl offers, which is why we’re so excited to have him back on The Ecom Show. Jure Knehtl is an expert in growth hacking, and he’s the founder of the successful growth marketing agency, WeScale.

In episode 49 of The Ecom Show, he walked us through some of the key pointers of starting and scaling an e-commerce business. Today, we’re going to dive deeper into strategies to pivot and quickly scale your business in a fast-paced world.

This show is sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a fully remote eCommerce retention marketing agency. In the last three years, Budai Media has worked with over 100+ eCommerce clients and generated $30M+ in additional store revenue. If you’re interested in knowing more, check out our website, or feel free to directly contact our founder and podcast host, Daniel Budai.

Join us on the latest episode of The Ecom Show to hear more about:

✔️ Navigating Your Business Through iOS Changes.

✔️ How To Take Your E-Commerce Business Global.

✔️ The Formula To Building A Multi-Million Dollar Business.

Navigating Your Business Through iOS ChangesThe latest iOS privacy changes hit eCommerce stores around the world like an earthquake—shaking the ground right from beneath them. It’s changed the way businesses advertise; and forced everyone to regroup and find more creative ways to adapt.

Jure works with multiple e-commerce brands from across Europe, and it’s interesting to note his observations on how different brands were affected to different degrees based on their location, audience demographic, and marketing channels.

This update hit the US markets much sooner than it started affecting European markets, but European countries started seeing a downfall between May and July.

You could notice a bigger data loss in countries like Germany and France, where the majority of the population is young and in between 25-34, as compared to countries like the Czech Republic, where the majority of the population uses android phones.

These new privacy regulations were causing huge data loss and majorly affected the way that applications were reporting their analytics. Jure and his team used their expertise in CRO to pivot out of this situation by changing the way they analyze data. They used a three-prong strategy where they’d take data from the Shopify dashboard and the attribution platform that can actually stack all the marketing platforms together. And in some cases, use apps like Iris to have a more visual and real-time view of the performance. The focus shifted away from numbers and more towards understanding consumer behavior.

DIversification of digital marketing efforts is another tactical strategy that’s helped businesses perform better in these testing times. Utilizing a mix of email, SMS, social media, influencer marketing, and paid advertising diversifies your risk to changes. It also helps in community and brand building alongside paid marketing.

How To Take Your eCommerce Business GlobalDavid Ogilvy, also known as the father of advertising, has famously spoken about the power of localization, a philosophy that Jure strongly believes in. The idea is that you need local employees to connect with local communities and customers. Each country you expand to has its own cultures, traditions, and ways of living. You need local people to bring in their local expertise on customer experience and consumer behavior to successfully operate in a foreign country.

Going global also works well when you take your time to understand each market. It’s easier to expand to countries with similar mannerisms; for instance, when you look at English-speaking countries or countries that are neighboring each other and have some similarities in culture.

The key to taking your business global comes down to finding the right people to help you navigate the new territory, taking time to understand the new culture, and incorporating strategies that are specific to the new countries you’re expanding to. For instance, Tik Tok is huge in the USA, but it’s banned in India and many other Asian countries.

The Formula To Building A Multi-Million Dollar BusinessJure and his team helped a brand scale their e-commerce business to generate over 42 million euros annually in the span of two years. This isn’t the first multi-million brand he’s helped build. Prior to this, he’s helped scale several other brands to a multi-million dollar empire. Here’s the winning formula he attributes this success to:

You need to have an amazing product where there’s a high potential for the return customer rate. Businesses that can generate a return rate of between 30-40% experience a great amount of success. In order to do this, you need to invest a lot of time in actually understanding your customers. Talk to them and understand why they actually want to buy your products, their dislikes, and hopes from your future collections.

Then you start working on your plan of action, “What are our acquisitions channels? What are our retention channels? How do we implement influencers into that? When do we actually start an ambassador program, and how do you implement all of these in your market?.”

And then, you basically analyze how to grow globally by identifying similar markets. But, nailing down your returning customers is really crucial to growing your brand. When you have 200k customers with a good product behind them and a good returning customer rate, you automatically start getting referrals. You can keep pouring money, but it isn’t a successful brand until customers continue purchasing without needing any additional advertising push. When you have returning customers, you're able to focus your funds on new customer acquisition, with only a small bit going towards retargeting your returning customers.

Interested in learning more about growth marketing? You can directly reach out to Jure or check out his company website WeScale. They’re a growth marketing company that helps e-commerce businesses scale internationally with the power of paid social, direct-response creatives, user-generated content, retention channels, proven growth hacking tactics, and delivering profitable results.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out episode 49 to hear more from Jure and Daniel.

We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. You can check out some of our earlier episodes here.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

Daniel’s Facebook

View Details

107 Steven Van Belleghem: Best Customer Experience Strategies For E-CommerceWe’re delighted to welcome Steven Van Belleghem, bestselling author, YouTuber, and co-founder of nexxworks, to this episode of The Ecom Show.

Steven is the author of the bestselling book, The Conversation Manager. He also has a very helpful YouTube channel where he speaks about customer experience strategies. Steven has successfully founded several ventures like Snack Bites and Nexxworks. In recent years, his primary focus has been towards educating entrepreneurs about customer experience through webinars and YouTube.

In this episode Steven and Daniel Budai, our podcast host and CEO, will discuss:

✔ Steven’s Youtube Journey.

✔ Building An Emotional Customer Experience.

✔ Customer Experience Trends To Watch Out For.

✔ Why Businesses Need To Deep Dive Into Data.

Steven’s Youtube JourneySteven started his Youtube channel back in 2010, back then it was more to promote his newly launched book, The Conversation Manager. He had created an animated infographic video, a style which was really trending back in 2010, and he received over 50,000 views on his first videos.

Post this, he took a hiatus up until 2014 and realized that he needed consistency to grow. Steven created an entire series of value based videos to help businesses better their customer experience. However, these videos didn’t receive much traction. Instead of getting demotivated, Steven decided to push harder, and he now has a strong and growing community of over 20,000 subscribers.

“It's slow. The hardest thing is the first 1000 subscribers, and then you're starting to have a community you start to feel it. It took me I think two or three years before it really took off. Now, I have a pretty active group of people who watch my content, and I enjoy it myself. I make a few videos each month.”

So, the key learning for anyone looking to start a career in YouTube is to be persistent and patient through the entire journey. It takes time, but eventually it’s worth the payoff.

Building An Emotional Customer ExperienceCustomer experience has changed a lot over the past few years. The past 10 years were really about making things very convenient. But after the big digital jump forward from COVID, convenience has become a commodity. It’s no longer a differentiator. We live in a world where there's almost zero tolerance for digital inconvenience, people are not willing to waste their precious time on the digital incompetence of an organization. So, it's no longer a positive differentiator, it's a negative differentiator.

Being very convenient is very cool, but it’s only creating a transactional relationship. So, the goal to differentiate yourself in the next couple of years will indeed be to make it more emotional and there are two main ways to create a more emotional bond with your customers:

The first one is what Steven calls, a partner in life strategy, where you try to understand the human behind the customer. This involves learning more about the interests, ambitions, and tastes of your customers. The better you understand that from each of your individual customers, the more value you can add to their life. So to become more emotional, it's not about optimizing the customer journey, it's about creating positive change in the life journey of people.
The second one is about society. If you look to the world today, there are a lot of challenges on our plate, we have a fight against racism and discrimination, we have more geopolitical tension than we had in the last seven years, we have a climate crisis that is becoming more and more urgent, and we're still in the biggest healthcare crisis of our generation. And more and more customers expect organizations to make a difference to become part of the solution. Having a strong brand philosophy that works towards making the society a better place is a great way to emotionally connect with your customers. Everyone loves to support a brand that’s genuinely trying to do good for people and the world around them.

This applies to businesses at all levels! If you're a small local company, try not to change the world, try to change your world, look at things in your own local community, where there's a challenge, where there's a problem, and see how you can contribute towards solving it. And if you do so, people will recognize that, and you will build a stronger emotional relationship.

Customer Experience Trends To Watch Out ForThere are basically two key evolutions that will play a big role in transforming customer experience:

The first one is everything related to technology. Technology is evolving, and because of that the expectations of customers are evolving. The second dimension is the human part. As technology evolves, what does that mean for human customer service, human customer experience?There are three technology trends that can heavily change the way businesses and customers react. The first is artificial intelligence. AI will help us to automate customer relations and make it more personalized, which will in turn lead to faster interactions.
The second technology trend that will change a lot in the next five years is the hype of cryptocurrency and NFTs. There's a lot going on now with NFT's and it could entirely change the way you look at customer loyalty. Because if you look at customer loyalty today, it’s still very old fashioned. Let’s take the example of a supermarket, imagine that the supermarket starts with their own coin as a loyalty instrument. Today in Belgium, when you go to the supermarket, you have to have 500 points, to avail a discount of five euros. It's not creating loyalty today, but what if you had a coin from that supermarket, which means that if the supermarket performs well, the value of your coin goes up. So as soon as you invest one euro in that supermarket, you get a coin as a reward system, so every time they perform well, you benefit from that. That means that the more successful they are, the more value you get, which means that there's a chance that you will evolve towards an active ambassador, because you have the same goal.

And then you have the whole evolution of the metaverse that has become a real hype since Mark Zuckerberg rebranded his own company which can have a huge impact in the next 5 to 10 years.

The other side of the equation is the human part. The more digital the world becomes, the more value customers will find in a human relationship. While the role of humans might change they will always be needed to ace customer experience. Especially, when it comes to adding empathy, creativity, and passion to technology.

Why Businesses Need To Deep Dive Into Data?There’s a lot of talk about data and analytics being the key factor in driving business decisions, but let’s deep dive into this a little bit more. Let’s look at the Net Promoter Score survey, for instance. As a business owner, you fill out the survey and receive your score. But, what exactly do you do with that data?

Most companies measure it, and then communicate the score in the organization, let's say you have 26. And then they tell the teams, we want to go to 30. And usually, that's where it ends. If you want to make NPS or any data work for you, you need to get to the bottom of it! You should be able to answer: what your score means and how a higher score would benefit you more to be able to understand the way to achieve it.

As a leader it’s important to translate what that data means for every individual employee, where you go to your account manager, for instance, and that you say, hey, look, dear account manager, you got to six. And that's because this small detail that may not be important to you was really crucial to the client. And if there's one thing that really gave or explained his low score, so if you improve that part of your job, you're going to score a 9 or a 10.

If you can successfully tell your employees how their individual work is affecting the score, it becomes a workable goal that the entire team can work towards achieving. This erases the disconnect between the figures and the day to day activities on the floor.

This works with customer feedback as well. Quantitative feedback is easier to get but it’ll never be as effective as qualitative feedback. Instead of just asking for ratings, ask your customers questions to understand their perspective better.

If you’re keen on knowing more about customer experience make sure to follow Steven Van Belleghem on Youtube. You can also check out his bestselling novel here, and follow him on LinkedIn for some more expert advice.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show. We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. You can check out some of our earlier episodes here.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

The Conversation Manager: The Power of the Modern Consumer, the End of the Traditional Advertiser

View Details

106 Hannah Gardner: Etsy Is Like E-Commerce For BeginnersWelcome back to The Ecom Show! Let’s talk about Shopif, no wait! Today, we’re going to focus on the niche marketplace Etsy for a change!

Etsy is a global marketplace for e-commerce businesses focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. In addition, it’s a great platform for individuals looking to start selling online or even expand their online presence by having an omnichannel presence.

In today’s episode, YouTuber and entrepreneur Hannah Gardner and our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai will deep dive into the world of Etsy and E-Commerce. Hannah has built a successful seven-figure eCommerce business using Etsy and Shopify. She also has a YouTube channel where she shares her journey and tips to run an Etsy business.

Tune in to find out more about:

✔️ Hannah’s E-Commerce Journey.

✔️Benefits Of Having An Etsy Store.

✔️Talking About Your Business On Social Media.

Hannah’s E-Commerce JourneyHannah’s first real job in the digital marketing space was for an electric surfboard start-up. She worked with a small team of three, including herself, and spearheaded the marketing campaigns for this company. She picked up various skills like media buying, how to create marketing funnels, website optimization, and much more.

Encouraged and intrigued by e-commerce, she then started working on her own e-commerce ideas. After several failed experiences in e-commerce, she decided to gain some agency experience. After working with several e-commerce brands, Hannah was confident about her skills and started her own swimwear line from scratch.

She started small by sewing her own swimwear pieces but soon expanded into having an entire production line for her collections. Her swimwear Etsy store was successful and thriving. However, she realized that the swimwear business had a very intensive production process which would eat up her profits when she tried to scale. She then steered away from swimwear and aligned her focus with the fashion accessories niche. Currently, Hannah runs a successful seven-figure Etsy and Shopify store.

Benefits Of Having An Etsy Store“Your cheapest and fastest line of traffic is from third-party platforms.”

If you have a product that fits in the world of Etsy, which means that you’re either making it yourself and designing it, or designing it and then getting it made by somebody else, or if you’re selling a digital product or print on demand product, you need to be selling on Etsy!

People coming on your website are either directly searching for you or your product, or have found you through your ads. On the other hand, these people visit platforms like Etsy, eBay, or even Amazon to search for products in general. By having a store presence on Etsy, you increase your chances of getting discovered by newer customers.

Unlike Amazon or Shopify, Etsy is an incredibly easy and straightforward platform to get started with. It’s perfect for people who are just looking to get their feet wet in the world of E-Commerce. Etsy also gives you some wiggle room in building your customer base. The platform has its own customer base that allows you to advertise your products with a budget as low as $10 per week. You can also set up email automations within Etsy to engage with your Etsy customers.

Etsy is a great place for eCommerce businesses looking to attract niche customers. Their seller community offers sellers an open forum to interact and collaborate with other Etsy sellers, and overall it’s a simple platform to get started with. However, Etsy is not a scalable marketplace. If you’re looking to build a giant global eCommerce store, you need to be looking at bigger marketplaces like Amazon and Shopify.

Talking About Your Business On Social MediaHannah isn’t just an entrepreneur, she’s also a popular YouTuber who documents her entire entrepreneurial journey on this video streaming platform. Her channel covers all her wins and losses, including the story about how she had to start from scratch after getting her YouTube channel banned, and deep dives into real-life strategies that have helped her scale her Shopify and Etsy stores.

Hannah isn’t using YouTube as a medium to promote her brand. In fact, she doesn’t even reveal her brand name on her channel. This is to protect her content from getting stolen. A lot of competitor brands steal content ideas and assets like product images from brands. She’s instead used her entrepreneurial experience to create a personal brand for herself on YouTube.

Hannah’s built a growing community of fellow business enthusiasts using YouTube. She’s also got her own TikTok channel called HowToHannah. Seeing the positive response to her value-based YouTube videos, Hannah compiled the best of her learnings and strategies to create an all-inclusive masterclass on Etsy stores. If you’re interested in learning all the ins and outs of Etsy, check out her Masterclass.

If you’d like to learn more about getting started with Etsy, get your hands on her free beginner’s guide.

If you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show, make sure to check out episode 79, where Chris and Miriam, the founders of KetoChow, share their experience with building their brand using Shopify and Etsy.

We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Thank you for tuning in!

Follow Daniel:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

Daniel’s Facebook

View Details

105 Jason K Williamson From E2 - SMS Marketing Can Blow Up Your E-Commerce SalesWe’re beyond thrilled to welcome Jason K Williamson, the founder of E2, as our guest for this episode of The Ecom Show.

E2 is an email and SMS marketing agency that helps Shopify eCommerce brands scale. They create tailored automations to help boost sales and revenue and help businesses profitably scale.

Today’s episode is special since we’ve got two email and SMS marketing experts, Jason and Daniel Budai, our podcast host and CEO, to break down everything e-commerce businesses need to know about SMS marketing.

If you’re an eCommerce brand looking to learn more about SMS marketing, tune in to this episode and uncover:

✔ Jason’s Background In Digital Marketing.

✔ The Crash and Rise Of SMS Marketing.

✔ The Trojan Horse Method Of SMS Marketing.

✔ How SMS Marketing Can Skyrocket Your Sales.

Jason’s Background In Digital MarketingJason’s story starts far from the world of digital marketing. He’d completed his schooling and apprenticeship as an electrician and was just one step away from getting his fully qualified license when he decided to switch gear and start afresh in the world of sales and marketing.

Jason had always been interested in lead generation, and he’d been avidly following Russel Brunson, the famous digital marketer, to see how he could apply his learnings to generate more leads as an electrician. Jason poured in all his savings and then some to attend an event where Russel was a speaker. At the event, Jason met several other speakers in the field, and after receiving some advice from one of the speakers, he decided to pursue email marketing.

Jason taught himself email marketing and provided his services to a teeth whitening clinic for free; this helped him kickstart his career. Three months after setting up Klaviyo campaigns and experimenting with popups using OptinMonster, Jason was able to generate $60,000 extra revue for his client. Not only did he start getting paid for his services, but he also received several referrals that kickstarted his email marketing agency.

One of Jason’s clients, Joshua Tatum, offered him an incredible opportunity to scale his operations, and that’s the point where everything pivoted in his career. Here’s how he describes his journey taking off:

“So he says to me, 'Look, you can be an electrician for the rest of your life, or you can come work with me; I’ll give you a couple of months to get your stuff together. And then you can go ahead and do your business.' So I threw all my stuff in the back of a bag and drove like 18 hours to Sydney to stay with a guy I’d only met online to start my business. And literally, whilst I was driving to Sydney, I got about four phone calls and landed three or four new clients. So it was kind of like that massive action, I put everything into plan A, and my plan B was to make plan A work, and it just kind of took off from there.”

The Crash and Rise Of SMS MarketingJason had several years of email marketing experience under his belt when the founder of Oodie approached him to take over their SMS marketing. Jason helped the brand set up Postscript, which is the SMS marketing equivalent of Klaviyo, and began running campaigns. Oodie already had a large volume of website visitors, and in the early days, they were easily able to capture both phone numbers and email ids.

In just six months, Oodie was able to capture over 100,000 subscribers and generate $500,000 in sales from abandoned cart recoveries each month. However, SMS marketing keeps changing, with new compliances being frequently introduced. It became increasingly difficult to capture leads as compliance became stricter, and Jason suddenly saw a drop from $500,000 a month to just $50,000.

New compliances made it compulsory for brands to have the visitors knowingly subscribe to receiving promotional SMS via a separate check inbox; this deliberate extra step is what led to the crash in the growth of SMS marketing. Jason realized they needed a new strategy to pivot out of this situation and fell back on one of the most powerful tools in email marketing - Pop-ups!

But there needed to be a careful strategy to execute this because while you want to grow your SMS marketing list, you don’t want it to hurt your email marketing campaigns. And not to forget, phone numbers are far more private than emails. You can’t just walk up to a stranger and ask them for their phone number; chances are they’ll say no! However, people are more open to sharing their email IDs. This is where the Trojan method was born.

The Trojan Horse Method of SMS Marketing.“I was going through a drive-thru one day to order a regular meal, and the lady at the cash register asked me if I’d like to upgrade for just $1. I agreed without a second thought because my buyers’ resistance was already so low. I realized that because they had broken through that wall by already getting me to spend, upgrading my order was much easier. And that’s the exact same thing we do with upsells. And I thought to myself, How can I take that exact same philosophy or that same mentality into the popup? How can I get the SMS? Whilst also getting the email and thus the Trojan horse was born.”

The Trojan Horse is basically a method where you entice a visitor by providing them with a discount to sign up on your mailing list; you then include a secondary offer to upsell your SMS list to the same user. Like, say for example, if you provide 10% off for subscribing to your email list, you then give your customers a choice to upgrade because customers love to feel like they’re in control. This could be a secondary banner where you provide 20% off for joining the SMS club.

It’s a win-win for both you and your customers. Your customers receive a bigger discount, and you receive a new lead on a platform that offers a 98% open rate.

You can also apply the Trojan horse method by offering your customers convenience in place of a bigger discount. For instance, once a customer opts-in on your email discount banner, you can simply offer to send them the code via text message instead.

How SMS Marketing Can Skyrocket Your SalesSMS marketing has 98% open rates. This automatically increases your click-through rates as well. For instance: In a list of 100,000 people, you’re likely to receive a 5-15%. I just did a launch for a conservative US apparel brand where we sent out communication about a limited edition launch to a list of 400,000 people, and we got an open rate of 20 to 25% on the email. However, the click rate was only 0.3%. We also sent out SMS broadcasts to promote this collection. And we saw a click rate of 28% from the 3500 messages we sent out.

SMS marketing can help boost your eCommerce sales since it’s reaching your audience on a device they spend most of their day on, and unlike emails, your message isn’t getting lost in spam.

Here are Jason’s top two SMS marketing tips to help you design your next SMS campaign:

Use Postscript: This is one of the best SMS marketing tools available to eCommerce stores looking to expand. They offer advanced analytics tools, an easy-to-use interface, and several options to customize your message.
Optimize Your Popups: Design your popups to be optimized for mobile users. Also, have a strategy to capture your customers' phone numbers along with their email ids in the popup. Creatively using images with real people using your product works better than just showcasing your product. Sell your customers the lifestyle your product offers; it’ll drive more engagement.

If you’d like to know more about Jason, you can reach out to him on LinkedIn.

If you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show, please leave a review, and stay tuned as we release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday. You can also view our previous episodes by clicking here.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

Daniel’s Facebook

View Details

Paul Cunningham From Notch: How To Create A Socially Responsible E-Commerce BrandWelcome back to The Ecom Show! Today, instead of focusing on the world of eCommerce, let’s take a look at the world in general. For example, did you know that globally over 5.7 million children under the age of five are at risk of starvation each year? And this number, like our global population, is only increasing!

As humans, it’s our responsibility to make the world we live in a better place. In this episode, we will explore how businesses can do their part to make a difference with our podcast host and founder, Daniel Budai and Paul Cunningham, the CEO of Notch, a socially responsible apparel brand.

Notch is a headwear apparel brand specializing in creating hats that don’t interfere with your glasses. Committed to resolving world hunger, they’ve managed to put food on over 600,000 tables through the revenue from their sales.

Tune in to hear Paul and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss:

✔ The story behind Notch.

✔ The key to creating a socially conscious brand.

✔ Paul’s advice for eCommerce business owners.

The Story Behind NotchIf you’re a fan of Shark Tank, you’ve probably noticed that the most successful pitches are by entrepreneurs that identify problems and create a product to solve them. Notch started the same way.

Paul has always been an inventor. One fine day, as he sat at home watching a game of golf on his television, he stumbled upon a problem that changed several lives along with his own. The need to prevent his eyesight gave him the foresight to create the perfect hat, one with a notch on the side that allows you to comfortably wear your sunglasses along with your headgear.

After researching, Paul and his wife realized that their product was a one-of-a-kind solution to a very common problem. They perfected their design and immediately applied for a utility patent. After five years of hard work, their patent was finally approved! Notch is now a patented eCommerce headwear apparel brand with a wide global reach.

Paul and his wife Terra have always believed in giving back more than they receive. Hence, since its inception, Notch has been proudly affiliated with Children’s Hunger Fund, where they contribute to resolving the issue of world hunger with every hat they sell. Let’s explore this more deeply in the next section.

The Key to Creating a Socially Conscious BrandEvery human has one thing in common: We all live on the same planet. Sharing this planet also gives all of us a sense of shared responsibility to treat it kindly and do our part to make things better. In the last couple of decades, there’s been an increased awareness of creating socially conscious brands. But, what are socially conscious brands?

Socially conscious brands are for-profit organizations that provide products or services to consumers while maintaining a not-for-profit objective that aids the welfare of society. These include brands that promote ethical and slow fashion, greener production practices, and brands that contribute a part of their revenue to NPOs.

Giving back to the community is an act of goodwill that will positively impact your customers. However, it shouldn’t be used as a marketing gimmick. Paul and his wife Terra deeply believe in giving back to the community and hence have donated a part of their revenue towards the Children Hunger Fund. Through the course of their business, they’ve been able to sponsor over 600,000+ meals to hungry children across the world. Their purpose has always been to help the children that need these meals the most, and hence their funds go towards sponsoring kids on the brink of starvation.

Social welfare is something that should be woven into the culture of a business. While businesses can increase or decrease the amount they choose to contribute towards goodwill, making it a practice from the start is more impactful than waiting for your business to reach a certain level. You can start smaller than you’d like and increase your donations as your brand grows.

Social entrepreneurs should also practice transparency. Partnering up with a verified NPO and disclosing your contribution helps your customers know how authentic your cause is. For instance, Notch has partnered up with Children Hunger Fund since they know that this NPO donates most of the proceeds towards the meals themselves. If they contribute $100, they know that $99 will end up towards children’s meals. Sharing this information with their customers not only makes the customers trust Notch more but also incentivizes them to look up more about Children Hunger Fund in general.

Paul’s Advice for Ecommerce Business OwnersPaul has always been in sales. He started off as a real estate agent and used his savings from real estate to build his eCommerce business from the ground up. As a successful business owner with ten plus years of eCommerce experience, we thought it’d be interesting to get his take on several common hurdles all eCommerce entrepreneurs face.

What is your approach to attracting customers?

We realized very early on that we can’t be putting all our eggs in one basket, which is why we diversified from depending solely on Facebook ads as a way to spread brand awareness. Currently, we use a combination of paid ads, you know, Facebook, Instagram, and then a lot of email marketing. We also have a lot of customer affinity. So we have customers, you know, that will take pictures of their product and tag us from all over the world, and so we’ll try to leverage that as well. And we’re always learning about how to engage the customer better on social media. So that, you know, we’re not at the mercy of paid ads, but we do use quite a bit of paid traffic. We’re also constantly researching how to improve our SEO.

How did you build a global presence for your brand? And what platform did you use to build your business?

All our business is done through Shopify Plus, 100% of it! About 70% of our revenue is generated from direct-to-consumer sales, and the other 30% comes from our wholesale side. We used to sell through Amazon up until early 2021. However, we discontinued this to gain more autonomy over our returns and customer engagement. With Amazon, you lose out on the customer data. As a brand, we decided to sell exclusively through our Shopify website and wholesalers.

We created a global presence by partnering with retailers across the globe. We offer them wholesale prices for reselling our products. And we have dealers in countries like Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the UK, Greece, Germany, and Spain.

How do you approach hiring? And what’s the secret to successfully running a business with your life partner?

So, we have five full-time employees apart from my wife and me. What I’ve learned is we need to hire the right type of person, and then we can train him for whatever we need because you can’t teach personality.

And so we always hire people that are low drama and easy to get along with, and then we fit them into the positions that best fit their qualifications and interests.

My wife and I have been working together at Notch for the past five years, but because we’ve been married for so long before it started, we have a solid foundation, and we know how to get through disagreements without blowing things up. She’s great with handling the day-to-day operations and systems required to keep Notch running smoothly, and I like to focus more on the other end of the business, so it works out well since we balance each other out.

That’s all for this episode of The Ecom Show. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out Notch to learn more about the brand, you can also follow Paul to keep up with his business journey. And don’t forget to check out the Children’s Hunger Fund and all the amazing work that they do!

Stay tuned because we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. You can also check out our previous episodes here.

Before we end this, we’d like to give a shoutout to one of our clients, High Dive Apparel. They’re also an eCommerce apparel brand with a strong global presence. You can read through our case study to know more about their story.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

Daniel’s Facebook

View Details

103 Adam Brown from Sircle Media: How To Organically Build Your Brand Using Social Media

Social Media is the most powerful tool that businesses have at their disposal. It enables them with the power to go from being a business to a brand. Social media has erased the divide between consumers and brands. Brands can now have conversations with their customers and create a strong and loyal community of like-minded people that resonate with their business.

Today we’ve got Adam Brown, the CEO of Sircle Media, here with Daniel Budai, our podcast host and CEO, to discuss how businesses can use organic social media strategies to build their brand.

Sircle Media is a social media agency that specializes in helping CPG and beverage brands dominate their online and in-store sales through organic social media strategies. They focus on content creation, social media management, and community engagement.

In this episode, we will discuss:

✔ Adam’s Social Media Story.

✔ How To Stand Out On Social Media.

✔ Social Media Mistakes Brands Need To Stop Making

So let’s get started!

Adam’s Social Media Story The year was 1999, and it was the age of the “.com Boom.” Adam had just finished graduating from college and was starting out life as an early twenty-something in the world of advertising in New York.

He spent his initial years switching between multiple ad agencies trying to grasp all the knowledge that he could and found himself at 24/7 Media; which was one of the first two ad networks—it was a DoubleClick and 24/7 Media represented websites and sold their advertising for them.

He also worked at the first pay-per-click search engine called GoTo.com, which predated Google back in 2000. This is where Adam got introduced to the world of digital marketing. It took a hiatus from working in the financial sector for Adam to realize that his true passion lies in digital marketing. He founded Sircle Media in 2012, and since then, their focus has been on brand building through organic social media management and content creation.

Sircle Media focuses on helping high growth brands in the CPG and beverage niche scale their business through.

How To Stand Out On Social Media "How can my brand stand out on social media?"

This is one of the most common questions asked by brands when it comes to digital marketing. And the answer is honestly quite simple: By representing their brand in an authentic way!

You don’t need to be selling a one-of-a-kind product, you just need to have an approach that’s unique to your brand to find your USP! Shoutout to Oatly, an oat-based beverage company, that’s managed to create a cult following through its humorous social media presence.

If you really want to stand out as a brand that’s built to last, like an Oatly, you have to have memorable content that makes people want to share it.

Nik Sharma, the king of D2C brands very popularly, once tweeted out saying:

“Create content that makes people want to screenshot and share it in their group chats.”

When we say create memorable content, we mean to create content that’s valuable to your audience! And don’t be afraid to mix it up; focus on a mix of high-quality photography, graphics-based content, videos, and user-generated content to keep your social media fun and engaging.

Engagement is another vital part of building your brand organically on social media. Social media platforms allow for two-way communication for a reason!

Your audience won’t feel like they’re a part of your community if you don’t engage with them and create content that is tailored to their interests. The best way to do this is by asking yourself: Would you want to consume the content you create?

Be quick to act! Social media changes by the second, so you need to be quick to act, adapt, and learn to keep up with social media. This involves consistently researching trends, auditing and reworking your strategy, and conducting multiple trial and error campaigns to see what’s working for your brand.

Creating memorable content, engaging with the audience, and always being on your feet are the foundation of building your brand on a digital platform. If you can crack this code and stay consistent, you’ll see some remarkable results.

Social Media Mistakes Brands Need To Stop Making Let’s debunk some of the most popular misconceptions brands have about social media. Here are some of the most common mistakes people make:

Hiring an expensive social media expert: If you’re a small business looking to find someone to manage your brand’s social media presence, don’t spend all your money on one resource! Social Media involves a plethora of roles like designing, copywriting, running paid ads, engagement, and management. While you might find a professional who’s experienced in multiple roles, it’s not practically possible to be great at everything. Instead, allocate those funds to hire multiple digital native junior resources with different acumens.
Trying to be everywhere: Spreading your brand’s presence is great, but don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to be on multiple platforms at once when you have limited bandwidth. Instead, focus on creating a dominant presence on one platform like Instagram, and then repurpose your branding efforts on LinkedIn.
Measuring organic social media efforts with ROI: Organic social media activities aren’t a numbers game! Instead of focusing on quantity, measure your growth by analyzing the quality of the content that your team is publishing, and focus on your brand’s overall messaging. Organic marketing requires patience, as it takes time to build a community that trusts and vouches for your brand.
Not capitalizing on your story: Everyone from the founder of a business to its employees are advocates of the brand. Sharing your journey involves showcasing your achievements, failures, and all the little moments in between with your audience. Doing this helps build credibility and makes your brand more appealing to your audience.
Trying to do it all alone: Organic social media marketing is all about consistency! If you try to do it all alone, you can’t be consistent with growing your organic social media presence. Having a team or even an additional resource helps you as an entrepreneur to put your focus on other business aspects. This doesn’t mean that you should just completely remove yourself from the picture! Ideally, you should still be involved in important aspects like setting the tone of your brand’s messaging.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show. If you’re a CPG or beverage brand looking to scale your organic social media presence, make sure to check out Sircle Media.

You can also follow Adam Brown for some more stellar tips on digital marketing.

We come out with episodes that venture into new avenues in eCommerce every Tuesday and Thursday, so stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

Daniel’s Facebook

View Details

102 Greg Howlett from Cobblestone Trade: How Logistics & Fulfillment Affect Your Customer Experience

There’s a lot of talk about marketing and brand building surrounding eCommerce. However, that’s just one side of things. In today’s podcast, Greg Howlett from Cobblestone Trade and our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai will unbox the behind-the-scenes operations of an eCommerce brand. This episode will highlight the importance of logistics and fulfillment in enhancing customer experience.

Cobblestone Trade is an intelligent logistics company that delivers custom eCommerce solutions like warehousing and logistics, website development, customer service, Amazon specialist services, and end-to-end eCommerce consulting to increase a brand’s customer lifetime value.

This episode of The Ecom Show takes us through:

✔Greg’s journey into Logistics.

✔The different kinds of logistical solutions for eCommerce businesses.

✔How to enhance customer experience through logistics and fulfillment.

Let’s dive right in!

Greg’s Journey Into Logistics Greg started his career as a software guy, working for Delta technology. It didn’t take long for Greg to realize that he didn’t enjoy software, and he quickly made the move to starting his own eCommerce store in 1999. He started by reselling retail products through his own online platform. Over the years, Greg has successfully built and sold multiple companies.

He also built an eCommerce brand from scratch and successfully exited it within the span of six years. That experience in particular made him realize that his strength lies in logistics and fulfillment, which is what drove him to start Cobblestone Trade.

Cobblestone Trade is an intelligent logistics solution for eCommerce brands that are looking for help in fulfillment and increasing lifetime customer value. They take over the day to day operations of a company by assisting with inventory management, customer service, fulfillment, brand management, price management, and advertising.

Different Kinds of Logistical Solutions for eCommerce Businesses Let’s start by discussing how logistics and fulfillment can affect your brand before we jump into the different kinds of solutions available out there. There are several things involved in running your business. While having a good product and great marketing is essential, you can’t miss out on logistics and fulfillment when you look at delivering excellent customer experience.

Quick deliveries, great customer support both during and after sales, product availability, and brand transparency are qualities that all customers look for when they’re shopping online. This is precisely why Amazon is one of the most famous brands across the world.

As an eCommerce brand you have three options when you look at outsourcing your logistics and fulfillment:

Third party logistics: These are third party brands that offer warehousing and shipping solutions. They usually charge a monthly membership for warehousing, and charge a per order fee for providing shipping solutions. eCommerce brands can easily create an account and get started. This is ideal for brands looking to get their inventory out of their basement, and outsource without heavy investment costs. However, third party logistics often have hidden costs, and brands rely heavily on the service of their third party provider. The brand has to take accountability for order delays, and lost shipments.
Amazon: Amazon provides eCommerce brands with a listing spot on one of the busiest websites on the internet. Brands can leverage advertisements to secure higher search volume on the website. They also offer fulfillment and shipping options which make it convenient for sellers to get started in the world of eCommerce. Customer retention is the main issue with Amazon. They don’t provide the sellers with information about the buyer, this means that it is much harder to get repeat customers on Amazon.
Cobblestone Trade: Cobblestone Trade goes beyond the traditional duties of logistics and fulfillment. They partner up with businesses and take over the end-to-end operations of an eCommerce brand. They assist with everything from optimizing the website, to setting up systems and processes for scaling eCommerce logistics, and customer service.

How to Enhance Customer Experience Through Logistics and Fulfillment Logistics and fulfillment are the two pillars that all eCommerce businesses rely on for smooth operations. It’s no secret that having smooth daily operations will help you create a trustworthy and credible brand in the long-term. Both of these terms cover a broad range of elements ranging from product availability to deliveries and after sales support.

It basically comprises all the backend work that goes into providing customers exactly what they need, such as:

On-time delivery: If you’re a brick and mortar store shipping out of your basement, handling even 10 orders a day can seem time consuming. This gets even more complicated when you add express deliveries, and returns/exchanges to the mix. Outsourcing logistics and fulfillment enables brands to seamlessly scale the number of orders they ship out, and in turn reduces the order processing time. There’s nothing customers love more than quick shipping.
Order fill rate: Order fill rate is the percentage of wholesale orders that are filled. This is a metric that enables eCommerce businesses to calculate how much inventory they have in hand. As a brand you don’t want customers to turn away from your website because 70% of your products are sold out, on the other hand you don’t want to be sitting on a huge pile of unsold inventory as well. Inventory management is a skill that can make or break your eCommerce business.
Customer support: There’s nothing customers hate more than a complicated customer service line with too many touchpoints. While automation is great, it’s essential for businesses to know what they should automate, and use human support for customer escalations. For instance: Sending out order confirmation and tracking details can be automated, however, customers would prefer having human assistance if their order gets lost in transition.
Brand management: There are a ton of eCommerce brands selling similar products. Infact, the market is flooded with individuals selling counterfeit products from popular brands. As you grow, it becomes increasingly important for you to police the internet and keep a lookout for counterfeit products, or unauthorized retailers that are trying to misrepresent your brand.
Exposure: Having an omni-channel presence for your products increases your visibility and makes it easier for customers to buy your products. However, each platform has their own set of regulations and compliances to list products. eCommerce businesses need to have a flexible and strong logistical solution in place to supply to multiple platforms like Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc.

Check out Cobblestone Trade for more expert advice on logistics and fulfillment.

If you liked this episode of The Ecom Show, please feel free to leave any comments you have on our YouTube channel, contact Daniel on LinkedIn, or check out another episode!

We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#101 Josh Dittrich from Branded Seller: How To Sell Your Business For Millions Of Dollars Entrepreneurs put in their blood, sweat, and then some to scale their dream business. But, there comes a time and point in every business owner's life when they decide to take the next big step - cashing in. However, too many online business owners leave the game too soon and miss out on their big payday because they lack a good exit strategy!

Today we've got Josh Dittrich, the Founder and VP of BrandedSeller, here with Daniel Budai, our podcast host, and CEO, to discuss how businesses can maximize their value before exiting.

Branded Seller is full-service management and consulting firm that helps e-commerce businesses grow and plan their exit strategy. Josh Dittrich founded BrandedSeller after successfully selling both his e-commerce ventures for millions of dollars. Josh is also the writer of "Aggregator Navigator: The Ultimate Playbook for Selling Your Amazon Brand Successfully."

In this episode, we will discuss everything from why businesses should sell to planning your successful exit strategy. Tune in to find out:

✔ Josh's multi-million dollar success story.

✔ Why sell your business.

✔ When to sell your business.

✔ How to prepare your business for a sale.

Josh's Multi-Million Dollar Success Story Josh's story begins in a sales job where he ran into someone that worked at Amway. Fascinated by the prospect of generating recurring revenue without any glass limit, Josh was determined to get a job at Amway.

After two/three failed attempts to get a job working at Amway, Josh decided to try an alternate route that led to him dabbling into eCommerce. He started by reselling products he'd purchased from China on channels like Amazon and eBay.

However, he realized that he wouldn't go too far without a good strategy. Josh then joined forces with a growing startup to get some industry experience before venturing out on his own again. In the short span of three years, he moved his way up the ladder from being a salesperson to managing their business development and advertising. He helped the company grow from a 3 million dollar business to a 50 million dollar business.

He achieved this by focusing on multi-channel growth. As a result, the business started selling everywhere, from Amazon to eBay. He also onboarded the help of experts to nail down their advertising campaigns and SEO.

During his time there, he learned eCommerce; end-to-end technology, supply chain inventory management, tech, digital marketing, eCommerce, and the whole nine yards in private label. After seeing what an enterprise-level eCommerce organization looks like, he was inspired to leave and start his brand.

Josh then started two e-commerce ventures; Essential Values and Sniper's Edge Hockey. The first business provides a versatile range of liquid homecare products and follows a multi-channel strategy. The second caters to the hockey niche and dominates its sales through specialized Amazon marketing. Within six years, Josh has built and exited both brands with a multi-million dollar valuation.

While this may appear like a short time to build and exit a company, it took Josh 15 years to acquire the knowledge and experience that helped him successfully scale both his ventures.

Why You Should Consider Selling Your Business Before we jump to how you can sell your business, let's cover why an entrepreneur might want to give up their corporate child. Every entrepreneur is aware of the risk and rewards of running a business. Cashing out means you eventually reap the rewards of your hard-earned labor.

Change is the only constant, and every product has its lifecycle. So if you can sense changing regulations or restrictions that will affect your business, it's a smart idea to consider selling out.

Your personal life is another great reason to consider calling it in. Sometimes the reason to sell can be driven by your personal circumstances. For instance, if you're looking to retire, spend more time with the family, or even if you want a new challenge to chase after.

Growth is one of the most common reasons entrepreneurs consider selling their business. There comes a time when you need to stop and ask yourself if you're satisfied with not taking money out of business. If you find yourself in a constant crunch with cash flow each time you try to grow, it's a sign that you should be considering selling your business, especially if it's stopped giving you personal joy and returns.

When To Sell Your Business You've decided to sell. That's great! But, how do you actually know when's the right time? There's never a clear perfect time to make these decisions. However, there are certain factors that can help business owners make a more calculated decision.

You have to start by evaluating and being truthful about yourself and your business. And it's really important because if you cannot answer why you want to sell, your buyers will get skeptical.

You also need to ask yourself if you have the bandwidth to sell? Once you've got your answer, you work backward and start calculating the value of your business, predict its growth trajectory, and your goals post-exit.

How To Prepare Your Business For Selling You need to have all your data points in place and books in order before you consider selling your business. Think of selling your business as a marathon; it requires patience, persistence, and perseverance!

Once you have decided to sell your business, step back and focus on your exit strategy. You can't be planning for growth if you're constantly occupied with the day-to-day runnings of an office. Every decision post the decision to sell should be focused on how you can maximize your business's current value.

In order to do this, businesses first need to get their books in order and shift from the cash accounting model to accrual accounting.

Businesses also need to reevaluate their expenses and goals. You need to consider whether an expense will benefit in short-term or long-term growth. If it's a long-term growth benefit, you need to stop and consider how this will affect your profitability at the time of sale. While selling, the focus needs to be on maintaining profitability, not on product development, unless a business owner is planning to retain their role or maintain some involvement in the business post-sale.

The last piece of advice would be to analyze your data and identify trends. As a business owner looking to sell, you need to know what your profit, add-backs, and sellers' discretionary earnings are. You should also be able to identify trends.

For instance, your profits for the last 12 months will affect your business's valuation. So if January of the previous year was your least profitable month, you can take that month off your books by waiting until April of the current year since your trailing 12-month period would be February-April.

There are a lot of resources and help available to business owners looking for assistance with selling their company. If data and negotiating aren't your strong points, you can look into bringing a broker to help you facilitate your deal, do keep in mind that this would be an expensive ordeal. Alternatively, you could also do some more research, network, and consult other business owners that have made a successful exit.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show. If you're interested in knowing more about selling your e-commerce business successfully, make sure you check out Josh Dittrich's playbook.

You can also check out BrandedSeller for more information on selling your business or reach out to Josh Dittrich.

We come out with episodes that venture into new avenues in eCommerce every Tuesday and Thursday, so stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

100 Ezra Firestone from Boom, Zipify, and Smart Marketer: Wealth Strategies for Creating Wildly Successful Businesses

Welcome back to The Ecom Show. We're extremely excited because this marks our 100th episode, and we've got a special guest, Ezra Firestone, here with us today to celebrate this milestone.

Ezra is the founder of three highly successful businesses, Boom, Zipify, and Smart Marketer, that generate over $40M+ in annual sales revenue. He specializes in e-commerce, digital marketing, flipping businesses, and wealth creation.

Join our founder and podcast host, Daniel Budai and Ezra Firestone in a very interesting conversation where they discuss:

✔️ Ezra's early years in online marketing

✔️The power of content marketing

✔️SMS marketing 101

✔️ The 3 steps to creating a wealthy business

Ezra's Early Years in Online Marketing Ezra first stumbled upon online marketing in 2005. He began his journey as a freelance consultant, offering services he was interested in learning more about to other brands and professionals. His first client was an online life coach who needed assistance with paid marketing. Ezra assisted him in generating millions of dollars by marketing his e-books and course through optimization of his landing pages and google ads.

However, he was more interested in a product that consumers could physically consume, pushing him into the world of e-commerce. So, he started his journey through drop shipping, all kinds of things. As this was before the existence of Alibaba, he had to source directly through American manufacturers. His first big success was in 2007 with costume wigs like, Elvis wigs, clown wigs, and troll wigs, which worked out well in the early years.

Dropshipping was still in its nascent years, and Ezra identified that this model had many problems. For example, there weren't proper systems for tracking inventory, order status, and quality control. So seeing a better business potential in making products on his own, Ezra founded his e-commerce brand called Boom!

The Power of Content Marketing Content marketing is huge in today's world. Social media has given each brand the power to build its own narrative surrounding its products. Let's look at how Ezra created a cult following for his skincare and makeup brand Boom using content marketing.

Ezra launched Boom back in 2010; however, his business generated its first multi-million only in 2016. He partnered up with his friend, who was a makeup artist, to create an organic skincare and makeup line catered to women from every generation. Drawing from his experience of working with the life coaching business, Ezra implemented the influencer or newsletter business model.

"The idea behind that is that you are talking to a group of people about a collective experience they're sharing and creating content about an experience that is helpful to them. And then eventually, you're going to say, Hey, if you like me, check out my products and services."

Boom has always been a philosophy company. And their philosophy has been:

"You're right the way you are, you're beautiful, just as you are, you don't need to change, you don't need to try to hide, you don't need to, you know, use cosmetics to cover up. And we have products that support that idea."

Boom started a blog back in 2011. And that blog grew into the reason why they now have a 50% repeat customer rate. Through their blogs, they've created content that resonates with women of all ages.

As a D2C brand, you're only going to make it in the long run if you coalesce a community through content to create repeat customers.

The key takeaways from Ezra's experience would be to leverage content and create a community based around your products. This way, you can engage with your customers.

And always remember the three C's of creating content: creativity, consistency, and composure. Boom has generated multi-million-dollar revenue in annual sales because they've been consistent and composed with their efforts to produce creative content over the years. It took them six years to establish themselves as a credible brand in the makeup and skincare industry. So if you're an e-commerce entrepreneur, be patient and don't lose hope!

SMS Marketing 101 SMS marketing is a powerful tool that all e-commerce businesses should be using. Instant messaging can help recover sales and push your customers to shop more. It's an essential marketing tool that you should incorporate into your multichannel strategy.

SMS marketing doesn't need to be complicated. You can make the most out of your SMS marketing by following three simple steps.

⭐ Build your database: Add phone numbers in your store pop-ups as a criterion. A two popup approach where you offer additional discounts for signing up with your phone number can help you increase your opt-in popups. Also, make sure to have a popup when customers try to abandon your website or check out while shopping.

⭐ Set up automated flows: Once you've got your database, use a good tool to create automated flows for abandoned cart recovery and post-purchase contact.

⭐ Content-based messages: Send out an SMS sharing the best content or your current sale once every week. This way, you target your list frequently without spamming them. Offering them customer support through instant messaging is also a great way to retain them.

Following these three fundamentals can help businesses nail down their SMS marketing.

3 Steps to Creating a Wealthy Business Besides being a wildly successful serial entrepreneur, Ezra Firestone is also a venture capitalist. He recently acquired a $30M/year eCommerce business that's been generating losses for years, and made it profitable in just 90 days. Take a look at how Ezra's formula for generating wealth.

There are three key steps to scaling your business. The first is hiring and training! Ezra Firestone has a team of over 150 people to help manage and run his multiple businesses. Scale comes from outside yourself.

"If you're on the road driving, you can't see what's up and up in the distance. You need to let somebody else drive because you need to get up and navigate. You have to make that shift from driver to the navigator. And if you never make the shift from driver to the navigator, you will not scale your company. It took me seven or eight years of my career to do this, and now I'm in a much better position."

The second involves setting up systems and processes. For businesses to function smoothly you need to have, for them to function, you need to have repetitive systems and processes in place that run consistently.

The last one is money management. You need to figure out where and when to scale your business. As businesses start to pick up, they go through a snowball effect. And the most common mistake people make is pulling out of their business when it begins to snowball. And so the snowball can never really pick up steam if they're just pulling money out of business and making unregulated spends.

"What you should do is get a part-time job that pays your bills, which is what I did as well. And then just reinvest 100% back into your business so the snowball can build. And then eventually, when you start pulling from it, it's big enough that it can sustain that. So many people cut the legs out from under their business because they pull the money out as soon as it begins to make money. Whereas if they had just reinvested 100% Back in, it would have been able to get big."

Another great way to generate wealth is through asset liquidation. Build your business to sell it one day. Then, use that money to acquire other valuable assets that you can optimize further and sell. Each profitable business reaches a point where they have enough revenue to grow by either building or buying. Buying is a quicker way to grow your business and achieve your goal.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show. To know more about scaling your business, venture capital, and e-commerce, follow Ezra Firestone on LinkedIn.

Thank you for listening; we release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Learn more about scaling your business:

Watch Ezra Firestone's Masterclass

Check out Ezra Firestone's ventures:

BOOM by Cindy Joseph

Zipify

Smart Marketer

View Details

99 Cale Owen From Gym Launch & Prestige Labs: The Secret Sauce to Building a Multi-Million Dollar Business

Everyone starts their business with the dream of it becoming a multi-million dollar empire someday. Today, we’re going to be jumping in on a real-life success story of how you can scale your business to achieve limitless success.

We’re so excited and honored to have Cale Owenhere with us today. Cale is the CEO of Gym Launch and the Prestige Labs. Gym Launch is a wildly successful fitness coaching business that simply put, “helps other gyms make an ungodly amount of money.” After transforming the fitness industry one gym at a time, the co-founders of Gym Launch started, Prestige Labs. A business focused on helping gyms provide fitness supplements to their customers.

Join our founder, Daniel Budai and Cale as they discuss:

✔️ Cale’s Journey to Becoming the CEO of Gym Launch & Prestige Labs

✔️ The Secret Sauce to Building a Multi-Million Dollar Business

✔️ How To Create Multiple Sources of Revenue From One Successful Business

✔️ Advice for Entrepreneurs

Cale’s Journey to Becoming the CEO of Gym Launch & Prestige Labs Cale stumbled onto Gym Launch as a client. As a proud owner of two gyms, he approached Gym Launch in 2017 for advice on scaling his business. After spending a year implementing their strategies he realized the value that Gym Launch provides, and joined their team in 2018. Cale has worked his way to the top from the ground up, starting as a salesperson, and graduating to the position of the CEO as of December 2021.

Gym Launch grew from being a boutique fitness consulting agency in 2017 to a full-scale business with over 30-35 coaches. Currently, they’re present in both the USA and Canada. After successfully establishing a network of gym distributors, the co-founders Alex and Leila started their second successful venture, Prestige Labs.

Prestige Labs is a health supplement business that creates premium and GMP-certified supplements. Prestige Labs was born to provide a healthy alternative to mainstream supplements that use unnecessary fillers, copious amounts of caffeine, and blends that don’t offer any real benefits. Prestige Labs has managed to build a notable presence in the health industry through its wide network of gym owners and affiliate marketing.

The Secret Sauce to Building a Multi-Million Dollar Business Creating one widely successful business is not an easy task, creating two is a true work of art. Let’s deep dive into how Gym Launch & Prestige Labs have grown into multi-million dollar businesses.

There are a lot of factors involved in making a business successful. Number one is, of course, having a passionate founder. Alex and Leila are two brilliant co-founders who completely understood the game and the industry that they're in. They spent a lot of time flying out to gyms and helping them turn around to become successful. They must have done this over 30 times themselves, before building their wider team.

Another key thing is timing. When you enter an industry it’s important to see where you’re at, and who the key players in the space are. The timing of the industry can massively impact your growth and scale as well.

The final piece, of course, is learning. Both personal and professional. One of Gym Launch’s core tenants is you either grow or die. And personal development is a big piece of that. You can only grow your business if you and all your team members keep upskilling as well.

How To Create Multiple Sources of Revenue From One Successful Business Let’s talk about how Gym Launch has taken the success of a service-led business that focuses on gym distribution channels and used that to build and navigate into a successful e-commerce business that provides fitness supplements.

So when you look at businesses, and you look at helping clients, you look at things in regards to vertical spinning verticals, basically you find ways to expand into avenues where your existing clients will spend money.

If a client goes into a gym, they're spending money on a service, which is the gym, right? And whether it's access or coaching, whatever it might be, that same client is spending money on other avenues related to working out such as supplements, so they're gonna go buy supplements, which in itself is a multibillion-dollar industry. And then you've got a spending wallet of apparel, right, and then you've got a spending wallet of food. And then you got a spending wall of massages or other things that happen within the health and fitness industry. Our goal is to teach our clients to be able to dip into those spending wallets so that that money isn't going somewhere else, but can stay in house.

Prestige Labs was born by applying that same idea. When Alex created Gym Launch, he created the service side, where gym owners are taught how to increase service revenue and service profit, and then to look at the other spending wallets in the fitness industry.

Clients often ask gym owners or their trainers for advice on fitness supplements. So Alex designed a supplement brand and company with the idea of creating the perfect fitness supplements. Prestige Labs provides gyms with premium high-quality fitness supplements at no extra affiliate marketing costs.

So now, the service-based clientele at Gym Launch also double up as our product ambassadors. They receive a 40% commission on selling the supplements, and in fact, our clients have earned over $70,000 in just 7/8 months of selling our supplements. Prestige Labs has made over $17 million in sales in its first year.

This is entirely through creating value for the affiliates, as well as the customers that the affiliates will target. Our affiliates are motivated to sell to customers since they’re receiving a 4X higher commission than standard industry rates, they’re also able to incentivize their customers by offering them 40% off on their purchases. The secret sauce to creating a successful business lies in creating value for everyone involved with it.

Advice for Entrepreneurs Don't be afraid to scale! There is no timeline to success, so don't be afraid to push harder and scale faster. Especially if you’re cash-flow positive. If you're ROI positive, double down on your profits. If you invest all your time, energy, and focus in finding avenues to scale quickly your efforts will pay off. If you act quickly, aggressively, and quickly you’ll be able to create a wildly successful business.

The key is to keep your focus on growth and not get comfortable or complacent with success.

Thank you for listening! We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Ecom show. Follow Cale Owen, Gym Launch, and Prestige Labs to know more about the fitness industry.

We come out with new episodes every Thursday!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

98 Adam Kitchen From Magnet Monster: Stop Telling Your Customer What to Do

None of us like being told what to do. Especially when we’re shopping! The key to keeping your customers happy is in getting to know them inside out. But, how does one go about that? Do we stop telling customers to sign up, how and where do you listen to what your customers want?

Find out in today’s episode of the Ecom show. Join our founder, Daniel Budai, in conversation with Adam Kitchen. Adam Kitchen is the founder of Magnet Monster, a UK-based agency providing experiential email marketing services to e-commerce businesses.

Tune in to hear Daniel and Adam discuss:

Adam’s journey with Magnet Monster
The Success of using Lead Magnets to attract customers
Data-driven email marketing
Effective e-commerce strategies to attract customers

Adam’s Journey With Magnet Monster Adam started his e-commerce journey quite young at the tender age of 17. He first ventured into digital marketing and e-commerce by selling nutritional supplements online. Back in the days when everything was custom-coded and built from scratch. And it was still a relatively novel thing.

“I was actually really interested in content marketing and community building. And that was the main focus of my digital marketing experience for the company I was working with in the UK. And email was always involved in the mix, even back then, in fact, it was a power channel, just like it still is today. So I was always doing a little bit of email.”

Ultimately, he gave up his full-time job as a kindergarten teacher and set off to explore the world as a digital nomad at the age of 25. Adam ultimately returned to the UK and started his own nutritional supplement store, however, his partner and he saw more potential in running an agency, and together they started Magnet Monster.

Magnet Monster started as a company focusing on providing e-commerce businesses with beautiful lead magnets. However, over the years they transitioned into the niche field of providing email marketing to e-commerce businesses using tools like Klaviyo. With a team of 17 people, Magnet Monster is a boutique agency focusing on intricate CRM strategies to help e-commerce businesses exponentially scale their sales.

The Success of Using Lead Magnets to Attract Customers Lead magnets are a strategy where businesses use a gated approach to provide customers with content. For example when businesses make you sign up to receive a discount code. Since Magnet Monster started its e-commerce journey by providing beautiful lead magnets we were curious to know Adam’s opinion on how effective they are in acquiring customers. Here’s what he had to say:

"In my opinion, a lot of them have become obsolete, because gating content for the sake of generating leads, just does not make much sense. Instead, when you give the content out for free, it builds credibility and reaches a broader audience."

This is precisely why we started off this episode by saying you need to stop telling your customers what to do. When you make valuable content readily available your customers get curious to know what more you have to say. Hence, they’ll more willingly subscribe to your newsletter. The key here is to chase qualitative lead generation.

Data-Driven Email Marketing You’ve got your basic setup of flows for new customers, abandoned carts, and various other segments, and you’ve got your monthly campaigns for holidays and promotional products. Is that all there is to email marketing? No, there’s so much more that needs to be done to ensure that your brand is making the most out of email marketing.

Daniel and Adam discuss the role data plays in understanding consumer behavior which in turn affects your email marketing strategy.

It improves the zero-party data capture fees and optimizes a brand’s front-end acquisition strategy.

It also helps in automating more user-generated content, promoting brand collections, and establishing ambassador programs to build customer retention. This entire process works when data is used to create intricate flows and adjust for consumer behavior. You see the value-added when your emails trigger customers to engage in conversation and more frequent interactions with your brand.

Effective E-commerce Strategies to Attract Customers Speaking of holistic e-commerce strategies let’s take a look at some beyond the world of email marketing. Let's talk about loyalty. How do you make customers more loyal, and keep them coming back to your brand?

There’s no one formula fits all approach to increasing your customer loyalty, however, there are some best practices you can keep in mind. You need to have a good product that works. You need to have good customer service because these are the main two drivers of encouraging people to come back. Post this, you need to focus on your distribution channels. Email marketing is one, but having an omnichannel approach is what ultimately helps brands grow.

Increase your presence with messenger marketing, SMS, WhatsApp, and even retail distribution to truly get your brand noticed.

“So if you look at a brand like Coca-Cola, I'm in South Africa at the moment, I go downstairs, and there’s Coca Cola in the lobby like it's in my mini-bar here, it's in the convenience store. It's the same with Nike and Adidas. The retention and repeat purchase rates are higher because one, it's a good product and second, it's absolutely everywhere and easy to buy.”

That being said, let’s bring our attention back to email for a second and talk about an extremely integral role that email can play that people often overlook. Email plays a huge role in discovering bottlenecks as to why someone's not making repeat purchases, It's a touchpoint to get feedback on where the gap between the delivery and expectation of an end-user is and finds out what’s stopping them from making that repeat sale.

Lastly, your strategy will depend greatly on your content and incentive. Offering your customers a complicated rewards program won’t get them excited, it’ll only confuse or drive them away. However, segmenting and focusing on rewarding your VIP customers will help build loyalty toward your brand. Great content and design also play an important role in keeping customers hooked.

If you’re interested in e-commerce and email marketing, visit Magnet Monster, and follow Adam Kitchen on LinkedIn.

Before we close this episode, we’d like to thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, so stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

97 Andriy Boychuk from Flowium: Using Email Marketing to Boost Customer Loyalty

This month our focus has been on the best email marketing practices. Keeping in tune with the theme, we’ve got an exciting episode for you. Join our founder, Daniel Budai, in conversation with Andriy Boychuk, founder of Flowium.

Who better to talk about customer retention and loyalty strategies, than two email marketing experts that are captains of their leading email marketing agencies.

In this episode Daniel and Andriy will uncover:

✔️ Andriy’s email marketing venture

✔️ Best marketing practices for e-commerce businesses

✔️ Effective strategies for customer retention

Andriy’s email marketing venture Originally from Ukraine, Andriy’s journey began with running a website for Ukrainian immigrants. His curiosity to find innovative and cost-efficient ways to promote this blog landed him in his early experiments with email marketing. Most of his early knowledge came from listening to podcasts.

After spending three years as an engineer in a tech company, Andriy realized that he wasn’t passionate about his job. Determined to find where his passion lies, he quit and began to explore the opportunities that Upwork had to offer. He soon realized the untapped potential in email marketing and dove right in, to focus on providing these services for all kinds of businesses and professionals.

Enamored by the result-oriented, and data-driven approach used in email marketing for e-commerce businesses, Andriy found his niche. Starting as a solopreneur charging on an hourly basis, he experimented with various payment models and structures, before landing on starting an agency with a retainership customer model.

Flowium is now a full-scale email marketing agency with over 40 employees. Similar to Budai Media, they offer specialized email marketing campaigns and strategies to e-commerce businesses across the globe.

Best marketing practices for e-commerce businesses Having worked closely with various e-commerce entrepreneurs, both Daniel and Andriy are here to share their two cents on marketing practices that can help e-commerce businesses succeed.

We asked Andriy if there is any piece of advice he’d like to give e-commerce businesses.

Here’s what he had to share:

“A lot of business owners try to act as marketing directors, but they have so many more responsibilities. Having a project manager for all their marketing can help provide direction and help agencies align with the company goals because we can deliver, but we need to know what the needs of the company are.”

As an e-commerce expert, Andriy has rightfully identified how customer loyalty programs help boost sales and increase customer lifetime value. However, email marketing is just one part of this strategy, a marketing director helps enforce an overall strategy ensuring that landing pages, SEO practices, and advertisements all align with the email campaigns.

In order to succeed, e-commerce businesses need to outline their goals and objectives.

Effective strategies for customer retention Running an email marketing agency, one of the most common questions we get is about customer conversion and retention.

“Businesses want us to focus on converting those one-time buyers to two-time buyers, two-time buyers to three buyers, and so on to continue increasing the lifetime value of the customers. One of the most effective retention strategies to do so is a customer loyalty program.”

After conducting a case study analyzing 25,000 email subscribers, Andriy found that loyalty members spent $400 on average, whereas regular customers spent only $90. His experiment revealed that the lifetime value of loyalty members was 4X more than that of regular customers.

This observation has led him to focus on enhancing customer loyalty programs through email marketing. Loyalty software like Smile enables businesses to track loyalty points. E-commerce businesses can then segment their customers to personalize email campaigns giving marketing a more targeted and goal-oriented approach.

Email marketing is all about understanding your customers. Loyalty programs allow you to incentivize them as you learn more about them. To know more about best practices for email marketing do check out our previous podcasts, and case studies. On that note, we’d like to bring this episode to a close.

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, so stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

96 John Terry from Ketonia: Diving into the Deep End of E-Commerce

We loved chatting to Chris and Miriam from Keto Chow so much that we’re back in the Ketogenic E-Commerce niche!

Today, we’re delighted to welcome the Co-Founder of Ketonia, John Terry, to The Ecom Show. Ketonia is a bakery dedicated to followers of the ketogenic diet with low carb high fat baked goods. John runs Ketonia with his Mom and Co-Founder, Geri.

Now, that’s wholesome.

Tune in to hear Daniel and John discuss:

✔️ John’s Ketogenic Journey

✔️ Diving into the Deep End of E-Commerce

✔️ Product Strategy

John’s Ketogenic Journey Growing up with what John describes as delicious Texan comfort food that was ‘not always health centered’, John and his parents have had their struggles with weight.

Until John finished university and began working for a pharmaceutical company in the diabetes field. That’s when John discovered the science behind low-carb dieting and ketosis. Five years later, John convinced Geri to try keto. She lost 60 pounds and began making some really delicious keto food.

“Eventually I just told her, ‘Hey, I’m gonna quit my job, you quit your job, and let’s start a small business.”

John and Gerry began by selling out of the back of their car at farmers' markets, selling out every single weekend. Then they began selling to local vendors who - you guessed it - started selling out every week. They had to look for new ways to scale the business.

Amazon’s Prime Day coincided very well with a large keto convention John and Geri attended to launch a new product. Their coconut macaroons went to number one. These tasty treats quickly got Ketonoia picked up by Walmart.

While John describes the e-commerce keto space as ‘brutally difficult’, it’s well worth proving your right to be in one of the most competitive spaces online.

“Me and my Mom beat out this company that has $30 million worth of funding and 45 employees.”

Diving into the Deep End of E-Commerce Ketonia sources its revenue from a number of online spaces. Amazon, Walmat.com, and Shopify.

John and Geri also use Shopify to get a verified account on Pinterest, where Ketonia has around 5000 followers. On Facebook, they have over 31,000.

So why did Ketonia start on Amazon? John always likes to do tackle the hardest project first.

“It’s one of my strategies in pretty much everything in life. If you try to knock out the most difficult task first, then it makes the rest a little easier.”

This strategy certainly worked out for Ketonia, they’re now brand-registered on Amazon. Unsurprisingly, Amazon makes delivery a breeze.

Product Strategy Ketonia currently sells 2 products. One more is in the pipeline, and 15 more are waiting in recipe form.

Bringing a new food product into the market is expensive. So John has to be pretty strategic about it. John and Geri leverage their relationships with different buyers and say, “This is our catalog, what are you interested in seeing.”

Asking the buyers directly want they want is a great way to cut out the middle man and save your store a ton of money.

Visit Ketonia and followJohn on LinkedIn to find out more about Keto E-Commerce and entrepreneurship.

Ketonia’s delicious coconut macaroons and super handy Keto Bread Mix are available on Amazon and Walmart

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, so stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

95 Josh from LampHouse Films: How to Sell with Commercial Filmmaking

We’re no strangers to the art of storytelling. A few episodes ago, Daniel chatted to the master of video advertising campaigns, Benton Crane from Harmon Brothers. Today, we’re delighted to welcome renowned commercial filmmaker and video marketer, Josh Henry, to The Ecom Show!

Josh is the Owner, Producer, and Director of LampHouse Films and host of the Marketing Conversations podcast. LampHouse Films specializes in film-driven marketing campaigns that sell with storytelling. If you want to get into top-tier video marketing, you don’t want to miss this episode!

Tune in to hear Daniel and Josh discuss:

✔️ How Josh Became a Commercial Filmmaker

✔️ Josh’s Approach to Video Advertising

✔️ The Difference Between TV Ads and Social Media Ads

✔️ Common Misconceptions About Video Marketing

How Josh Became a Commercial Filmmaker Surprisingly, Josh didn’t grow up watching a ton of movies. He did however grow up telling stories. The first instance he remembers occurred in elementary school. Josh was riding his bike down a hill when he fell and scraped his knee. A minor injury, but a great story.

“I remember the next day telling and retelling the story of me falling off my bike 10 times or more, realizing where I would get reactions and finessing the way I controlled the narrative to make it more surprising or funny. I was just addicted to the adrenaline of telling people stories and capturing their imagination.”

In high school, Josh discovered film as the medium that he could tell stories most effectively. He was doing a weekly YouTube comedy show when he met Michael Schmucker, a commercial filmmaker. They partnered up 8 years ago and founded LampHouse Films - now they’re thriving together in the commercial film industry.

Josh’s Approach to Video Advertising LampHouse Film primarily focuses on commercial film. Increasingly, much of this has been in ‘cultural videos’. Over the past two years, many companies have been struggling with growth, often finding it difficult to retain or find new employees. Increasingly, CEOs are turning to films to explain company culture.

So what’s the approach to these kinds of videos?

For any type of video, Josh says, you must know your audience. Who are you talking to? Imagine you’re in the room while your audience is watching your video. Are there parts you’re going to cringe at? Read your script out loud - are there parts you hate saying?

The challenge is with ‘culture videos’ is that your audience is people who know the company. Unlike a product promotion, you’re not introducing yourself the first time. You cannot stretch the truth at all. Josh sees this as a great exercise in video marketing, ‘culture videos’ suggest a new level of scrutiny you have to rise to.

The Difference Between TV Ads & Social Media Ads Generally, Josh’s clients with the biggest ROI are the ones who are running their ads on TV. However, these ads cost millions of dollars. Marketers with a lower budget of 100s of 1000s or 10s of 1000s are going to get a much better ROI online. It only really makes sense to go to TV, Josh explains, if you’re trying to spend a lot of money.

One of the biggest differences between TV ads and social media ads is that people can’t skip a TV ad. In a social media ad, the marketer has 3 - 5 seconds to hook their audience. While Josh finds it a ‘fun challenge’, he also finds it ‘creatively stifling’. TV ads give him the freedom to explore a long setup and reveal.

You also have to make sure that your video advertisement belongs on its respective platforms. TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram and very distinct styles of video advertising. TikTok, for example, is very heavy on user-generated content (UGC) and vertical video. Putting a high production style ad on TikTok will seem rather intrusive.

Whatever platform he’s advertising on, Josh is passionate about making LampHouse ads as authentic and honest as possible. Manufacturing some controversy around your product could go viral on TikTok, or it could alienate consumers.

“With LampHouse we’re not trying to create ads that don’t look like ads, ads that are tricking you into thinking that it’s organic content. We make ads that feel like ads, they’re not pretending that they’re not trying to sell you something. They feel like they belong where they are.”

Common Misconceptions About Video Marketing Josh has met a few clients who believe that a good video advert can be spliced together with footage all around the same idea. You need to know your goals before you start filming. Understand your core need. This is integral to creating a clear video marketing campaign that your audience will understand and love.

If you’re interested in filmmaking and video marketing, visit LampHouse Films, follow Josh on LinkedIn, and check out the Marketing Conversations podcast!

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, so stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

94 Juliana from CXL: We Need to Rethink Customer Lifetime Value

Juliana is the Product Growth Manager for CXL, a Digital Marketing Training center with up-to-date marketing courses taught by the best practitioners in the world.

At CXL, Juliana handles all-things lifecycle marketing. Onboarding, post-purchase communication, user guidance, the works!

Known as ‘The CLV Lady’, Juliana fell in love with Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) during her time as Head of Growth and Product Marketing at Omniconvert, a software as a service (SaaS) for e-commerce conversion and retention.

So what wisdom does Juliana have to share from over 10 years in SaaS and e-commerce?

Tune in to hear Daniel and Juliana discuss:

✔️ Are There 4 Levers of E-Commerce?

✔️ The 4 ‘P’s of Marketing

✔️ Being Real About Customer Loyalty

✔️ The RFM Model

The 4 Levers of E-Commerce Daniel posits that there are 4 levers of e-commerce:

Customer acquisition cost
Conversion rate
Average order value (AOV)
Customer lifetime value (CLV)

What are Juliana’s thoughts? Juliana says that it’s really important to be aware of all your metrics. Your focus, however, varies according to what stage you’re at with your e-commerce business. If you’re just starting out, you’re going to be more focused on customer acquisition and conversion rate than CLV because you don’t have any CLV in the first year of your business.

When it comes to AOV, Juliana says that you need to wait until you have enough transactional data to be able to use that average.

On the other hand, some companies have a ton of data but don’t know how to use it. It’s all very well collecting data, but, as Juliana argues, you need someone (or a team) who knows how to analyze it.

The 4 Pillars of E-Commerce are crucial to a successful e-commerce business. Each one does not necessarily hold equal weight at any one time. You need to measure and prioritize for whatever stage you’re at in your business.

The 4 ‘P’s of Marketing Marketing changes all the time. Through it all, Juliana says, there are 4 ‘P’s of Marketing:

Product
Price
Placement
Promotion

Everything is dictated by these.

Often e-commerce is not about re-inventing the rule. You have to start with knowing the basics inside out.

Being Real About Customer Loyalty In all her experience in retention marketing, Juliana says that you cannot actually grow your retention rate by more than 10% per year.

If you have a 25% retention rate average, in a good year you might get 31%, in a bad year you may not get more than 20%. According to Juliana, this has nothing to do with the tools you’re using, or how smart you are, it’s about romanticizing how loyal customers are. People are eager to try new brands.

Daniel recalls meeting the then CMO of Death Wish Coffee and being surprised to hear them say that their retention rate was “too high”. They were at the stage where they wanted to get back to acquiring new customers.

Believe it or not, you can have retention rates that are too high. There is no exact formula for all of e-commerce. As Juliana points out, it’s about focusing on doing what’s best for your business.

The RFM Model Like all models and formulas, the RFM model doesn’t work for every business. If your e-commerce brand has at least 5 years of transactional data behind it, however, the RFM model is a great methodology to determine customer value

RFM stands for recency, frequency, and monetary value. If you have millions of customers, these three categories provide good segmentations for buyer behavior.

Juliana warns against being relying solely on RFM to create your VIP tier system. Segmenting your customers into VIPs when they may not yet be loyal customers can be counter-productive. Smaller e-commerce businesses need to go further than RFM to really understand their data.

Klaviyo, Juliana and Daniel agree, provide great engagement metrics and segmentation. Email flows that provide open rates, click-through rates, and conversion offer rich data on customer behavior beyond the purchase.

For anything lifestyle marketing and CLV, go follow Juliana on LinkedIn!

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, so stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

93 Neha and Bryan from SwitchGrocery: Building a Brand from the Ground Up

If you’re new to e-commerce, where should your priorities be? SwitchGrocery is a Canadian online health food store for keto, paleo, vegan, and gluten-free diets. And at just four years old, it’s thriving.

For this episode of The Ecom Show, Daniel invites the Co-Founders of SwitchGrocery, Neha Charnaliaand Bryan Horsley, to tell us all about their e-commerce journey.

Shout out to the Co-Founders of Keto Chow, Chris and Miriam Bair, for introducing Daniel to Neha and Bryan!

Tune in to hear Daniel, Neha, and Bryan discuss:

✔️ How SwitchGrocery Began

✔️ When to Invest in Email Marketing

✔️ High Converting Email Campaigns

✔️ Raising Funds for SwitchGrocery

✔️ Being Human with Your Customers

How SwitchGrocery Began Neha laughs,

“I don’t think anyone starts a company with a plan, and we fell into that bucket.”

Much like Chris and Miriam from Keto Chow, Neha and Bryan discovered a low-carb lifestyle first. Bryan’s trainer introduced them to the ketogenic diet, and it did wonders for their health. However, at the time, there wasn’t a huge availability of keto, paleo, or gluten-free products.

Neha and Bryan saw a ‘great need’ for a store that specializes in high-quality keto, paleo, vegan and gluten-free products. A store with founders that are invested in the lifestyle as well as what goes into what they’re selling.

And so Neha and Bryan founded SwitchGrocery. They’re four years in and as a company that was built on social media, they have a great relationship with their customers and US and Canadian suppliers.

When to Invest in Email Marketing Neha and Bryan began heavily investing in email marketing in 2021. Not doing so earlier, Neha says, was a ‘lost opportunity’. In SwitchGrocery’s first two years, Neha and Bryan underestimated and underinvested in email marketing. They weren’t collecting emails via pop ups, and they only launched email campaigns for sales and product promos.

Investing in email marketing has led to a ‘significant increase’ in revenue, and strengthened their relationship with their customers. Neha can’t stress enough the importance of email marketing.

“If there’s anything I would say, just stop and invest in today, it’s email. You can either spend 100 bucks a day on ads or you can nurture the customers you have.”

Neha and Bryan now use Klaviyo. They’ve set up the necessary flows, (welcome flows, abandoned cart flows, new customer flows etc), and send three campaigns a week.

“The flows really allow us to customize. We don’t send mass emails anymore, we really customize to our customers.”Their campaign emails now also include trust and content emails. These will include Neha or Bryan’s favorite piece of user-generated content (UGC) that week, or healthy recipes.

High Converting Email Campaigns Bryan says that ‘contextual’ email campaigns are highly effective. For example, when there was a snowstorm, they sent out a hot chocolate recipe for everyone locked inside. While email campaigns are mostly planned in advance, Klaviyo also allows you to quickly respond to relevant day-to-day events, such as snowstorms.

For this reason, Bryan and Neha have planned emails as well as space in their campaign schedule to connect with customers in their day-to-day experience. These contextual emails tend to have higher open rates, click rates, and conversion. As Daniel points out, attribution is a surprisingly underrated topic in e-commerce.

Neha says that blog campaigns also tend to do very well. She recalls an email campaign she wrote titled, ‘What Makes a Good Business’. It had a 44% open rate and around 23 responses.

Founder emails are especially valuable for increasing engagement and strengthening that brand-customer relationship.

Raising Funds for SwitchGrocery Bryan and Neha have done a few different things to fund SwitchGrocery over the years.

The first was using Clearco, a company that provides funding for ads in exchange for revenue royalties. This enabled to SwitchGrocery to grow with ad funding Neha and Bryan otherwise would not have had.

From there, Bryan and Neha moved to Clearco’s angel investment program. ‘Clear Angel’. This is invested in for longer-term smaller royalty on revenue. Clearco Clear Angel, Bryan allowed SwitchGrocery to scale beyond ads and into inventory.

“Growth is great, but you need the money to order the inventory to then get the growth. It gave us some funds to scale and grow to get to a new kind of level for the business.”

Over the COVID pandemic, Bryan and Neha also were able to take advantage of governmental support. Funding to the Business Development Bank of Canada offered low-interest loans that Bryan and Neha quickly applied for.

These funds have been used to grow SwitchGrocery’s inventory, build their customer service team, and hire developers.

Being Human with Your Customers Neha and Bryan always remind their team and contractors to:

“Treat people like people”

That’s been SwitchGrocery’s approach from the very beginning. Neha wrote their first 100 customers thank you cards. The next 1000 received thank you messages on their invoices.

Taking the time to write a unique message for every customer became incredibly difficult to maintain as SwitchGrocery grew. Neha and Bryan wanted to maintain a close relationship with their customers, but they had to change their approach.

So they launched SwitchGrocery’s private Facebook group.

The Facebook group consists of people that have bought from SwitchGrocery, having been invited in their post-purchase thank you email. As of early 2022, there are over 3000 members. If you’re thinking about starting a private Facebook group for your e-commerce, Neha says that you should go for it.

“I can’t recommend this enough. It just has to be genuine.”

For more incredible community-building ideas and entrepreneurial inspiration, follow Bryan and Neha on LinkedIn.

Visit SwitchGroceryfor keto, paleo, vegan, and gluten-free groceries, recipes, and resources.

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, so stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#92 Jim Moore from OptimizeX Inc: Why We Prioritize Attribution Jim Moore has been a marketing entrepreneur for over two decades. But 2016 marked his first venture into Shopify and Facebook ads. Quickly falling in love with the world of e-commerce, Jim became the Chief Marketing Officer of Celtic Knot Jewelry the following year. Ever the serial entrepreneur, Jim is now also the CEO of OptimizeX Inc.

OptimizeX Inc is a Private Equity group that develops Ad Tech SaaS for real-time reporting, attribution, analytics, automation, and AI, to drive customer acquisition and optimize customer lifetime value (LTV).

Let’s see what Jim’s eclectic experiences can teach us about attribution and ensuring the best possible customer experience.

Tune in to hear Daniel and Jim discuss:

✔️ E-Commerce & Creating a Positive Customer Experience

✔️ Facebook, iOS, and OptimizeX

✔️ Why is Attribution so Important?

E-Commerce and Creating a Positive Customer Experience

Before getting into Shopify and Facebook ads, Jim ran a 24 hour a day call center of almost 300 employees from 2009 to 2013. What’s his approach to customer support at his e-commerce store, Celtic Knot Jewelry, and within OptimizeX Inc?

“We look at customer support not as an expense, but as a profit center. It’s not so much support as it is creating a positive experience.”

Celtic Knot Jewelry goes the extra mile not only to ensure excellent brand-customer communication, but high-quality products, custom packaging, and gift-giving. Including a small gift bag with every order demonstrates care and attention to detail that shows a dedication to creating a positive customer experience.

A positive customer experience, Jim continues, goes further than the product you’re selling, the offers you’re promoting, and the creatives you use. All these things are critical, but it’s also about the way you manage a customer experience. Not just replying to social media comments straight away, but also privately messaging them thanking them for their comment, notifying them of your public reply to their comment, and providing further contact details.

“We treat every comment like a potential lead, we treat every engagement like a potential lead. This is how we cultivate the relationship with our audience.”

If a site visitor abandons their cart, they’ll get a phone call from Celtic Knot Jewelry after 15 minutes. The caller will address whatever reason the visitor has for cart abandonment. If, for example, the price seemed too high, they’ll offer a discount. If shipping is too expensive, they’ll offer free shipping.

Similarly, Celtic Knot Jewelry will also call a customer who has made a purchase. They’ll thank them for the order, verify their address, and confirm their order contents.

If anyone leaves a positive review, Celtic Knot Jewelry will reach out to the customer thanking them for the review, then offer a discount that they or their friends can use. To further extend their reach, the reviewer can actually earn 10% of whatever purchase their friends make.

All in all, 40% of Celtic Knot jewelry comes from their call center, 20% comes from email marketing, and 20% comes from SMS marketing.

Facebook, iOS, and OptimizeX Inc

When Jim and his team began building Optimize X Inc, it actually wasn’t supposed to be an attribution platform. It was originally conceived as a reporting and analytics platform.

Then Apple introduced their privacy updates in iOS 14.5, rendering the data inaccurate. This not only affected OptimizeX Inc, but it also affected Jim’s Shopify store. It was time for a new plan. Well, two new plans.

The first plan was to create a customer call center. Following up with customers via phone calls. These work to resolve issues such as abandoned carts and develop a relationship with the customer.

“Let’s go all-in on customer experience because if I can’t generate predictable results through Facebook, I’ve got to be able to recoup that elsewhere.”

The second plan concerned tracking. Once Apple began restricting third-party data, Jim recognized that it was time for first-party tracking.

Third-party tracking, Jim explains, means that you’re relying on a third party to track data for you. You use your script on their domain and you just get access to reporting and their dashboard. First-party tracking means that you track data on your own domain. Apple does not interfere with first-party data tracking. If they did, Shopify simply wouldn’t work.

Jim and his team, therefore, launched a server on their domain, creating a subdomain that tracks site visitor activity: how long they stay for, how far they scroll, what they click on, or if they watch a video. That data is then sent back to Facebook.

In developing this system, the OptimizeX Inc team realized that in order for all their tools to work, end to end analytics, automation, and AI, they needed to focus on attribution.

“It’s kind of like building a house. Getting the structure up takes no time at all. But it’s once you get the structure, the thing that takes time is finishing the house, getting all the fine details where you want it to make it your home.”

Optimize X Inc will be looking to keep the beta open through the end of March 2022 and make its official launch in April.

Why is Attribution So Important? (29:31)

Put simply, attribution identifies the touchpoints towards conversion. What series of actions does a customer take before converting. How important is each step?

As Daniel points out, attribution is a surprisingly underrated topic in e-commerce.

Cold audiences need data. The more customer data you can track, the more accurately Facebook can predict who you show your ads to. When you put your first-party data back into Facebook, your retargeting improves.

Jim advises anyone who is struggling with performance or attribution is to not think of Facebook as the be-all and end-all. It is not the only way to manage customer acquisition.

Focus on building a community. Engage with your audience. Understand their needs, wants, frustrations, and struggles. Produce products that speak to them a create the best customer experience you can.

“It’s great to get your data back to Facebook so that your ads perform predictably. But if things don’t work, there's always a solution. You just have to dig down and find it.”

Be the first to hear about OptimizeX Inc updates by following Jim on LinkedIn!

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

91 Ronnie Teja from Branzio Watches: Scale Your E-Commerce to 8 Figures with SEO

Ronnie Tejais the Founder of Branzio Watches. With over 15 years of experience in digital marketing all around the world, Ronnie knows a thing or two about building marketing strategies, building a business, and perseverance.

Tune in to hear Daniel and Ronnie discuss:

✔️ Ronnie’s Path to E-Commerce

✔️ Discovering the Importance of SEO

✔️ Is SEO Worth the Time?

✔️ The Value of Email Marketing

✔️ Advice for Entrepreneurs

Ronnie’s Path to E-Commerce

Ronnie is a ‘self-taught’ digital marketer, leading online marketing strategies for businesses around the world. After moving to Canada, Ronnie harnessed his marketing skills in work for HSBC, BestBuy, and SoftwareKing.

At 29 years old, Ronnie decided to invest his time in the watch market. Once he read that watch profit margins are ‘phenomenal’ he jumped right in!

“My focus from day one was to find the supply chain, the suppliers, the ops, and run a team that is far more efficient than I could be as an individual.”

Branzio Watches hire leading watchmakers and designers from around the world. Ronnie’s job is to harness global talent as efficiently as possible.

“I’m a generalist who is surrounded by extremely capable specialists.”

Discovering the Importance of SEO

Ronnie learned all about SEO through networking. If you’re in e-commerce, Ronnie highly recommends going to the yearly Chiang Mai SEO Conference in northern Thailand.

“You will be surrounded by some of the best people around and the friendliest people who are happy to talk about SEO.”

The Chiang Mai SEO conference is especially valuable in bringing together so many perspectives on SEO from different spaces in digital marketing. Ronnie’s self-taught SEO knowledge was based entirely on Google Paid ads, but over the last 7 years, he’s acquired several websites in the affiliate space. Learning about SEO in the affiliate space showed Ronnie what he needed to scale.

Ronnie favors a holistic approach to SEO. Networking with digital marketers across industries to explore how different platforms present different opportunities for SEO.

Is SEO Worth the Time?

To put it simply: yes. You just need to be patient.

Just as you need to have a paid strategy, a social media strategy, or an influencer strategy, you need an SEO strategy.

And if you’re worried about things taking too long? 4 years ago, Branzio Watches were getting 5000 visits per day, today they have around 2 million. And that's free organic traffic. That’s a lot of revenue. If you want to be an entrepreneur, Ronnie advises, you need to think of the long-term.

While prioritization varies from store to store, Ronnie says that paid ads, influencers, SEO, and email should be at the foundation of any e-commerce business. No one element of digital marketing (such as paid ads) is a get-rich-quick solution. A lucrative marketing strategy uses multiple channels. And it takes time.

The Value of Email Marketing

“Email is basically like free sales.”

Like Daniel, Ronnie is in love with Klaviyo. He’s even on their customer advisory board. 12% - 13% of total store revenue in Branzio Watches comes from email.

“So always keep an eye on how to grow your email list.”

A fantastic way to do that is through a quiz. If you’re looking for an example of what a great Shop Quiz looks like, Ronnie recommends checking out Beardbrand. Their quiz recruits 600 - 1000 subscribers a week.

Advice for Entrepreneurs

“Perseverance, man, you need to persevere, don’t give up.”

Ronnie says that he truly found focus last year. He gave up drinking, started waking up at 5 am, and his life changed. He doesn't work 80 hours, he works a normal 30 - 35 hours a week, but his efficiency has skyrocketed. Ronnie isn’t a fan of the “100 hour working week” hustle culture.

Ronnie advises that people often make the mistake of thinking that if they follow one golden rule they’ll get there. Everyone is different. Most entrepreneurs have two of three qualities:

They’re very passionate about their idea.

They’re in the right place at the right time.

They put in years of work.

If you’re truly passionate about your idea, you’ll see it through to the end.

Check out Branzio Watches and follow Ronnie on LinkedIn for more great e-commerce advice.

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

90 Francis Nayan from Stories & Copy: How to Use Storytelling to Make Your Brand Stand Out

Copywriting is one of the most important skills of e-commerce marketing. So let’s take a deep dive into high-quality copywriting and how to incorporate effective storytelling into your email marketing.

Francis Nayan is a Direct Response Email Copywriter and Strategist for 7-8 Figure E-Commerce Companies. Francis specializes in automated behavior-driven emails that provide a steady stream of cash flow for e-commerce businesses around the world.

Daniel and Francis would like to give a shout-out to Joshua Chin, Csaba Borázi, and the Chronus Creative Agency for helping them get connected. Thanks, folks!

Tune in to hear Daniel and Francis discuss:

✔️ How did Francis Get Started in Copywriting?

✔️ How to Increase Conversions With a Personal Tone of Voice

✔️ How Do You Tell Stories in Emails?

✔️ How to Handle Customer Objections

✔️ How Long Should An Email Be?

How did Francis Get Started in Copywriting?

It all began in 2017. At the time, Francis was working as an English teacher in Budapest. He’d been in this role for one and a half years, and he wanted a change. When considering his options, Francis met a copywriter and an international meeting spot. Copywriting appealed to Francis as a career choice that would allow him to work remotely and travel.

From his first client on Upwork, Francis would take on various projects from emails to blog posts and website content until eventually he was hired by an e-commerce email marketing agency. Francis particularly enjoys the ‘instant gratification' from email marketing - seeing how well your work performs a mere few days after launch. That’s when began ‘niching down’ and taking on e-commerce clients.

Daniel and Francis agree that taking on feedback and understanding how customers are responding to your copy is crucial to professional development and success.

How to Improve Conversion with a Personal Tone of Voice

Authentic marketing has never been more important. Millennials and Gen Zs are particularly receptive to a personal and genuine style tone of voice (TOV).

“Nowadays, the buyers are smart. They know what boring templated jargon build copy looks like. They don’t have to be in marketing to know what that is. We have to give the customers credit.”

It’s important for the customer to feel like they’re having a one-to-one conversation while they’re reading your copy. Francis recalls one of his most important lessons from copywriting expert, John Carlton: pretend as if you’re talking to your friend at a bar. ‘Barroom copy’ reads more like offering advice to a friend rather than hard selling.

Naturally, this TOV works best with advanced segmentation, personalized automation, and top-notch design. In Francis’s words, that is ‘smart marketing’. Smart marketing for the smart consumer.

How Do You Tell Stories in Emails?

It goes without saying that marketing emails are shorter than landing pages. So how do you harness storytelling in such short-form content?

As Francis points out, e-commerce emails are limited to fewer than 500 words. Above all, stories show the transformation. To incorporate storytelling into your emails, you need to show how your product takes a customer from point A to point B. You don’t even need 300 words to do that. Most of this involves showcasing what makes your product unique and how it works better than that of your competitors. The more you demonstrate this transformation, the more you can simplify the copy.

“When I say storytelling, it’s not necessarily having that long narrative, it’s showing the transformation.”

It’s not just writing emails that promote a 20% discount, it’s showing the customer why they should use your discount code.

If you are going to go down the narrative route, Francis and Daniel recommend engaging your customers with a story told over a series of emails. AndréChaperon calls this the ‘Soap Opera Sequence’.

The ‘Soap Opera Sequence’ works best at around 5 emails with a call to action (CTA) on the third email. Customers will lose interest if the sequence is too long.

How to Handle Customer Objections

The best way to handle customer objections is to be upfront about them. Don’t hide the fact that there will be certain things your customers face, but that you have a solution to it. For example, “We realize some items will take some time to arrive. That’s why you can track your order every step of the way/we only charge X - amount for shipping.”

Always mention potential objections in the footer or P.S. Or dedicate an entire email to one. For example, “Worried your item won’t fit? Here’s our exchange policy.” Just make sure that your customers know that their objections are being taken care of.

How Long Should an Email Be?

Francis says that this all comes down to testing. Generally, don’t make it too long. Don’t have 300 - 400 words of copy with 10 - 20 product blocks.

The more expensive a product is, the more copy you’ll need.

Francis prefers ‘short, punchy copy’.

“People are just scrolling through their emails, and you want to stand out and get the point across pretty quick.”

Use short concise copy that tells a story of transformation.

For more fantastic advice on copywriting and marketing, be sure to follow Francis on LinkedIn and check out our episode with Csaba Borázi, ‘Why Copywriting is the Number One Skill in E-Commerce Marketing’.

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

89 Dale Bertrand from Fire&Spark: How to Increase Your Reach with Authority First SEO

Want to increase your organic reach? Let’s talk Authority First SEO.

Dale Bertrand is an SEO Strategist, Keynote Speaker, Business Coach, and the Founder of Fire&Spark. Fire&Spark is an SEO firm that helps e-commerce and B2B brands leverage Authority First SEO to double or even triple organic search revenue.

So, what is Authority First SEO anyway? Tune in to hear Dale and our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ Becoming a Founder in Digital Marketing

✔️ What is Authority SEO?

✔️ Why Does Authority First SEO Perform Well on Google?

✔️ Purpose Driven SEO

✔️ Technical SEO

✔️ SEO Advice for E-Commerce Owners?

Becoming a Founder in Digital Marketing Dale has a very technical background. After graduating from engineering school, Dale worked as a software developer for 20 years.

In 2008, Dale decided to switch over to digital marketing. He began as a freelancer then founded his SEO agency Fire&Spark.

Fire&Spark began as an office of 20 people in Boston. When the pandemic hit, they went remote and, like many agencies, never looked back. They’re now stretched across many time zones from Europe to the US.

“We focus on SEO. We’re SEO all day, every day.”

And many of Fire&Spark’s clients are in e-commerce. Dale and his employees especially love working with mission-driven e-commerce brands.

Primarily, Fire&Spark focuses on Authority First SEO.

What is Authority First SEO? Authority First SEO makes brand authority the core focus. This means improving a website’s ability to post high-ranking content. Naturally, Fire&Spark also focuses on the technical aspects of SEO, but the authority side of SEO really moves the needle. Authority First SEO can double or even triple your organic traffic.

Dale identifies 3 fundamentals of SEO:

Building a high-functioning website where Google can index your site.
Keyword visibility: targeting the right keywords and search intent so that you’re offering information or a product that people are actually looking for.
Authority: building authority on Google so that your content is relevant to search intent. The reason why Google should choose your piece of content over your competitors' content.

Why Does Authority First SEO Perform Well On Google? Dale says that Google search results used to be far easier to manipulate. When he was just starting in SEO, you could just put lots of keywords in an article or blog, whether they were relevant or not, and your content would be favored in search results.

Now, those manipulations are useless. Google’s AI is a lot better at understanding search queries. For example, if someone types in ‘3D printing service’, they are looking for someone to manufacture parts for them on a 3D printer. If someone types in ‘3D printer’ into Google, they’re looking to buy a 3D printer. Google’s AI is now really good at discerning between the two. In other words, understanding search intent and queries.

“Fundamentally, an AI search engine like Google is about predicting human behavior.”

And the Google search engine is learning. It’s not just showing us the best results, it’s learning from what we click on. If we click on a website do we stay there? Or do we come back immediately to Google and click on something else?

This means that Google is better than ever at classifying web pages and ranking which ones it should show.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about making sure that you’re targeting the right search intent instead of keywords.”

As a marketer, therefore, you need to know what your customers are searching for. Google’s AI is excellent at understanding what people are looking for and finding the right content. That content needs to be good enough to satisfy your customers' queries and make them stay.

Your customers won’t just be looking for your product or service, they’re looking for information related to your product or service. Namely any relevant pain points and problems. Knowing what your customers are searching for is what Dale calls ‘customer intimacy’.

Essentially, your authority on Google is improved with awesome content that your customers engage with.

What is Purpose Driven SEO? Purpose driven SEO takes a top-down approach to SEO. Bottom-up focuses on all the technical signals that Google needs to see. Top-down focuses on your overarching marketing strategy.

This involves a close examination of your brand. What is remarkable about your brand? Do you have a story? Do you have a social mission? Stories are very powerful from an SEO perspective. Telling a compelling story makes for a great purpose driven SEO campaign.

Having a purpose is key to building authority content. It allows you to partner with like-minded individuals and organizations. This, in turn, creates more content via content partnerships and UGC (User Generated Content) because there’s a subject matter that you all care about. UGC is not created because customers want to help you sell more, it's created because they agree with your purpose.

Google wants to see brands that are either already established or are building momentum. Purpose driven SEO is crucial to establishing your brand.

What About Technical SEO? While Dale focuses on Authority First SEO, he also recognizes the importance of technical SEO. The difference today is that platforms like Shopify, WordPress, and HubSpot make the technical aspects of SEO relatively simple.

The main technical focus, Dale says, should be on page speed. If your pages are too slow, Google can’t crawl or index your website.

From there, it’s all about establishing authority with relevant content that your customers engage with.

What Advice Does Dale Have for E-Commerce Owners? Dale acknowledges that there is a lot of competition in e-commerce. So you need to establish whether your website has a content problem or an authority problem. Sometimes you need to address both, but usually, the emphasis should be on one or the other.

To establish SEO authority, carve out longtail keyword niches where you don’t have a ton of competition. If you already have some authority, make sure that you create content that addresses your customers’ pain points.

Dale also advises against what he terms as ‘inefficient content’. Writing articles is the hardest way to do content. FAQs are very efficient in getting your keywords in and satisfying top-of-the-funnel queries.

To learn more about SEO and driving traffic to your store, visit Fire&Spark and connect with Dale on LinkedIn.

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

We’re very excited to welcome Chloë Thomas to our 88th episode of The Ecom Show. Chloë is a keynote speaker, bestselling author, and Founder of the award-winning eCommerce MasterPlan podcast.

Tune in to hear Chloë and our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ How Did Chloë Begin in E-Commerce?

✔️ How Has E-Commerce Changed in 20 Years?

✔️ Trend #1: Zero-Party Data

✔️ Trend #2 Selling Where the Customer Wants to Buy

✔️ Trend #3 Why the Message Beats the Medium

✔️ Trend #4 Partnership Marketing

✔️ Trend #5 The Path to Net Zero

How Did Chloë Begin in E-Commerce?

Chloë’s e-commerce journey when she began working for a UK high street and catalog retailer. Specifically, optimizing their website and digital marketing.

Back in the early 2000s, Chloë led the e-commerce for a group of mail-order brands. Building their first website, implementing their email campaigns, setting up Google ads, etc. From there, Chloë created an online marketing agency that she ran for 10 years.

Now? She’s a globally recognized e-commerce thought leader.

“I am incredibly lucky to get to think, speak, and write, on the subject of e-commerce.”

How Has E-Commerce Changed Over the Last 20 Years?

Chloë has been in e-commerce for almost 20 years. So it’s safe to say that she’s seen a lot of changes!

The biggest change Chloë identifies is that the software has become more accessible. While the barriers to entry are lower, this has actually made things more difficult. E-commerce owners need to do a lot more to stand out from the competition.

“The successful people are the ones who work out what they should do and actually deliver on it. So in many ways, nothing’s changed. And in some ways, everything’s changed.”

This year, Chloë predicts that these 5 areas of change will guide the future of e-commerce.

Zero Party Data
Selling Were the Customer Wants to Buy
Message Beats the Medium
Partnership Marketing
Embrace the Path to Net Zero

Trend 1: Zero-Party Data

Zero Party Data is data collected directly from the consumer. In other words, permission-based marketing. This is usually collected via shop quizzes or surveys. And Chloë is a big fan.

“It’s marketing done well. As a pure trained marketer, I love it when marketing is done properly.”

Chloë stipulates that zero-party data drives results for two key reasons:

Personalization

Zero-party data allows e-commerce owners to send out more personalized, content-driven marketing that resonates with their customers.

Engages the customers

Quizzes and surveys engage the customers. Neuromarketers have identified that if human beings feel like if they have had some input in the creation of something, they are more likely to back it. In the case of zero-party data, backing it is buying it.

Trend 2: Selling Where the Customer Wants to Buy

Chloë describes this trend as an amalgamation of several online shopping trends.Consumers are increasingly buying online. In games, on marketplaces, on social media, Messenger chats, WhatsApp. Consumers are making purchases from pretty much anywhere you can think of online.

This opens up a whole new world of processes. Understanding what it means to sell on TikTok, WhatsApp, or Pinterest, for example, requires a deep understanding of the platforms. Every one of these channels has its process that e-commerce owners need to learn about and integrate into their stores.

All these marketplaces open up or tap into a new customer niche. Vegan marketplaces are very popular, for example. Net-zero marketplaces are opening up. Recently, Chloë recorded a podcast episode with a company that’s creating a marketplace for disabled consumers. This is a huge untapped market for many online businesses.

Chloë’s advice for keeping up with this trend is to have a tech stack that enables you to adapt quickly. Make sure your product information is in a format that allows you to fire it out to different places quickly. Keep track of your inventory system. Have a marketing team that's ready to twist and pivot.

“The biggest lesson of 2020 was that if you had the right tech stack, life was a lot easier.”

Trend 3: Message Beats the Medium

In the world of the smart consumer, your marketing needs to be creative.

Chloë says that there’s a consumer desire for connection. They want to know the story behind the product that makes sense to them. To know that their decision to buy aligns with their morals. Secondly, there is huge competition. To stand out, you need to be engaging with the consumer and have great creative marketing across channels. Your marketing team needs analytical creative people who understand great copy and design.

Trend 4: Partnership Marketing

If creative marketing is not your strong suit, Chloë advises investing in partnership marketing.

In influencer marketing, the brand owns the right to use the creative marketing that their influencer creates.

Anything you can do with someone that your customers trust is very powerful. It enables your brand to get in front of a good audience and get someone else to create creative marketing.

Affiliate marketing harnesses partners who will promote your brand for a commission.

You can also turn your customers into advocates through a loyalty program or a customer referral incentive scheme. The start of the year, Chloë, advises, is the best time to do it.

Trend 5: Getting on the Path to Net Zero

Increasingly customers are pushing for sustainability, government pressure is on, and as Chloë puts it,

“Quite frankly, it’s the right thing to do for the planet.”

E-commerce industries still have a lot of work to do on the path to net-zero. It’s something to start talking about and get excited about. Evaluate the impact your e-commerce has on the environment and work on reducing waste and your carbon footprint as much as you can.

For even more fantastic advice on how to win at e-commerce this year, check out Chloë’s eCommerce Master Plan Podcast, her Keep Optimizing Marketing Podcast, visit chloethomas.com or follow Chloë on LinkedIn.

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

87 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 More Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

We’re building quite the e-commerce toolbox here!

For episode 87 of The Ecom Show, our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai takes a look at:

✔️ 3 More Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

✔️ Entrepreneurship

✔️ Advice from Dan Kennedy and Tim Ferriss

Let’s dive straight in.

3 More Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

VideoWise

If you want to keep up with the rise of social commerce, VideoWiseshould be your go-to software tool.

VideoWise allows e-commerce owners to connect their Shopify store with TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media channels to add product review videos and other forms of user-generated content (UGC).

E-commerce owners are also free to upload videos from their libraries.

VideoWise significantly increases conversion rates for e-commerce stores on both desktop and mobile. On average, if you have 250,000 website visitors, VideoWise increases your revenue by $20,000. That’s almost 10¢ per visitor.

As for pricing, they only charge $49 per month and 2% of direct video sales. A direct video sale is when a customer converts within your product video. If they watch the video and buy your product elsewhere, this does not constitute a direct sale.

Their analytical tools are also top-notch. On your analytics page, you can see the number of views for each video, average watch times, direct sales, and more.

The Founder and CEO of VideoWise, Claudiu Cioba prides himself on being transparent about conversion. Take a look at what he has to say about honest attribution models in episode #74 of The Ecom Show: How to Use Video on Your Shopify Store Without Slowing Site Speed.

VideoWise is an excellent tool for increasing conversions, engagement, and harnessing UGC without slowing down your website.

Daniel highly recommends checking it out.

FreeCashFlow.io Daniel cannot emphasize enough the importance of having a good accountant for your e-commerce, or even any business.

If your e-commerce is in the US, Daniel recommends checking out FreeCashFlow.io. FreeCashFlow.io are absolute experts on bookkeeping and tax planning. Here are just a couple of examples of how you can save money with proper tax planning:

Startup Cost Deduction This startup cost allows US entrepreneurs to claim a deduction of up to $5000 for any business cost up until the point their business is created.

This includes product research, travel, and work with lawyers and accountants. You just need to keep your receipts and documentation.

Home Office Deduction

There are two ways you can claim a tax deduction from running your business at home.

The first way is the Simplified Calculated Method in which the highest deduction available is $1500.

The second method is more complicated but lucrative: The Actual Expenses Method.

The actual expense method takes the square footage of your office space as a percentage of your total home. Your tax deduction can then cover whatever cost is included in that percentage. That includes rent, mortgage, or even repair maintenance. The biggest deduction FreeCashFlow.io has claimed for their client using this method is $14,000.

For more tax advice, check out Daniel’s podcast episode with the Co-Founder of FreeCashFlow.io: Tax Planning and Deductions All E-Commerce Owners Should Know About.

OptinMonster

Daniel is a huge fan of OptinMonster. When he began his email marketing career in 2018, OptinMonster was the first pop up tool he ever used. And he’s still using it today!

Despite testing many pop up tools over the years, (Privy, Klaviyo’s pop up feature, OptiMonk), OptinMonster always comes out on top.

OptinMonster stands out with its multiple customization options. Including lightbox pop ups, floating bars, scroll boxes, exit-intent pop ups, and more.

With its integration with Google Analytics, on-site retargeting and personalization, lead segmentation, exit-intent technology, purchase history, and advanced traffic redirection, OptinMonster is a great tool to use if you want to increase your conversions without spamming your visitors. Returning visitors, for example, will see a different pop up to new visitors. This provides a more personalized and optimized experience for your customers.

At Budai Media, we see pop up conversion rates as high as 10 - 20% using OptinMonster.

Check out our case study: Over $1.2 Million Generated Using Klaviyo Email Marketing to see how you can use OptinMonster pop ups to generate revenue for your store.

Some Thoughts on Entrepreneurship

Last week, Daniel asked his LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram followers a question:

How many years ago did you launch your business?

Over 100 people responded, many with their own stories to tell. Entrepreneurship is not always easy in the beginning. But once you gain some traction and success, looking back to your humble beginnings can be a beautiful thing.

Daniel’s question put him in contact with some people he hasn’t spoken to in years. When you look for it, there is a thriving community of business owners ready and willing to help each other out.

Reflections from Dan Kennedy and Tim Ferriss

“The company that can spend the most to acquire a customer wins.”

Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is an absolute legend in direct response marketing, but Daniel believes that there’s more to acquiring customers than money. If you understand the buyer persona better than your competitors, you can still win. Even if you have less money.

Gymshark, for example, began in 2013 as a relatively tiny competitor to other sports brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Puma. Its Founder and CEO, Ben Francis, identified a niche that his competitors had failed to fit. In other words, he sought to serve his buyer persona. While Gymshark is not as huge as Nike just yet, it grew exponentially over a few short years, valuing at over $1.45 billion in 2022. It’s safe to say that Gymshark hasn’t been suffocated by its competition.

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”

Tim Ferriss

Now, this is something Daniel agrees with! Take a moment to think about your deepest fears. That’s the first step in addressing them.

Daniel’s biggest fears are deep water and heights. And guess what he has planned? Deep diving, sky diving, and mountain climbing!

Feeling the fear and doing it anyway is not only a huge confidence boost, it trains you to power through difficult situations.

If you liked this episode of The Ecom Show, please feel free to leave any comments you have on our YouTube channel, contact Daniel on LinkedIn, or check out another episode!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Let’s talk scaling, marketing, and friendship. (It turns out that there are friends in business).

For episode 86 of The Ecom Show, our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai takes a deep dive into:

✔️ 3 Must-Have Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

✔️ Friendship in Business

✔️ What Marketing Channels Should You Try This Year?

✔️Advice from Jeff Bezos & David Bebee

Let’s go!

3 Must-Have Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

Recart

Recart streamlines Facebook Messenger and SMS marketing with automated flows, opt-in tools, and software integrations.

Take a look at how we made 18% of a print-on-demand store’s monthly revenue with Recart. Recart allowed us to connect a Messenger welcome flow with a popup, thus tripling our client’s opt-in rate. Generally, opt-in rates tend to be higher on Messenger than with email.

For our client in pet e-commerce, we used Recart to triple our client’s monthly revenue from Messenger.

Daniel highly recommends Recart for e-commerce owners, even if you’re just starting out. Their basic plan is very affordable and their pricing increases as your business grows.

ShopifyShopify doesn’t need a big introduction. As the fastest-growing e-commerce platform in the last six years, over 2 million online stores use Shopify as of 2022.

Unlike BigCommerce and WooCommerce, Shopify takes care of your website domain. This means that you don’t have to deal with any domain admin, but it also means that your website can be shut down by Shopify if your store inadvertently runs into any legal issues.

Like Recart, Shopify is also very affordable. Its pricing begins at $29 and increases as your e-commerce store grows.

Plus, Shopify apps allow you to integrate e-commerce software such as Zipify One Click Upsell, Reconvert, Klaviyo, and many more.

Shopify themes are also a cheap way to improve optimization. They are by no means a single solution to conversion rate optimization, but they are helpful if you’re just starting out with a tight budget.

We’re proud members of Shopify’s partner program. Take a look at how we can help optimize your Shopify store here.

Octane AI

Octane AI began as a Messenger chatbot platform. In 2021, they quickly realized how important zero-party data would be to e-commerce, and introduced two new incredible features:1. Shop Quiz

Shop Quiz collects zero-party data (data voluntarily given by the customer) to personalize product recommendations and build a detailed buyer persona. 2. Conversational Popups Conversational popups allow you to collect email, SMS, and Messenger opt-ins by asking customers about their needs and preferences. And the personalization doesn’t stop there. Octane AI integrates with Klaviyo so that you can not only personalize your welcome flows, but also all future communications with your customers. If you want to learn a ton about your customers and drastically improve your SMS and email marketing and their shopping experience, Octane AI is the tool to use. Friendship in Business Business is not all about being cut-throat. Bob Iger, who was the CEO of Disney for 15 years talks about the importance of friendship and staying in touch with your emotions in his book, The Ride of a Lifetime.While conferences are often about serious networking, don’t be afraid to have some fun and make some friends. Thriving in business is a wonderful experience to share.

Poll: What Marketing Channels Should You Try This Year?

Last week, Daniel asked his followers: What Marketing Channel Will You Try in 2022? And the results are in!

Over half of the respondents on LinkedIn said that they would try TikTok.

It’s safe to say that TikTok is really hot right now. In light of the iOS 14 and iOS 15 updates, many e-commerce owners do not trust Facebook as much as they once did. Plus, TikTok is thriving as a Gen Z platform. It’s a very different user experience from Facebook and Instagram, and it’s easy to consume a lot of content in a short space of time. Daniel predicts that TikTok will be bigger than any other social media platform in a couple of years.

Advice from Jeff Bezos and David Beebe

“It’s hard to find things that won’t sell online.”

Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO of Amazon

If you’re just starting out in e-commerce, take some advice from someone who’s been in the industry for over 25 years. Almost anything can be sold online. It’s about putting in the time and work to learn how.

“Content marketing is like a first date. If you only talk about yourself, there won’t be a second one.”

David Beebe, Founder and CEO of Storified Brands

Even when advertising your brand, try not to make everything about you. Talk about your clients and partners, interview other people in your field, engage with your audience.

If you liked this episode of The Ecom Show, please feel free to leave any comments you have on our YouTube channel, contact Daniel on LinkedIn, or check out another episode!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company

View Details

85 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: Scale Your E-Commerce With These 3 Digital Marketing Tools

Our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai is back with more tips and tricks for scaling your e-commerce in 2022.

This week, Daniel takes us through:

✔️ 3 Digital Marketing Software Tools You Need in 2022

✔️ 3 Marketing Personalities We all Could Learn From

✔️ An Introduction WhatsApp Marketing

✔️ Motivational Musings

Let’s dive right in!

3 Digital Marketing Software Tools You Need in 2022

PushOwl

PushOwl is the most popular push-notification platform. And for a good reason!

PushOwl is used by over 20,000 Shopify stores and it’s very budget-friendly. Your first 500 push notifications are free. From there, Push Owl is between $19 - $50 a month for up to 30,000 messages per month. Considering the return on investment (ROI) for push notifications, this is a great deal.

One limitation of push notifications is that they do not work on iOS and iPhones. If the majority of your visitors are using iPhones (as opposed to desktop or tablets) it may not be worth your while to use PushOwl.

Push notifications are fantastic for browse abandonments, abandoned carts, and shipping notifications. If using push notifications for sales events, namely flash sales, Daniel recommends only targeting your engaged customers. Take care not to spam your visitors, this will decrease your website conversion rate.

Naturally, you should always ensure your customers have opted in for push notifications. PushOwl never sends notifications without your customers’ consent.

If you have a Shopify store, Daniel highly recommends PushOwl as your push notification platform of choice.

ReConvert If you’re looking to really level up your conversion rate optimization (CRO), ReConvert is the place to go.

ReConvert allows e-commerce owners to optimize their post-purchase ‘Thank You’ page. Features include upsells, time-sensitive offers, product recommendations, and surveys. As we know, surveys are invaluable for collecting zero-party data. Plus, ReConvert integrates with Klaviyo. This means that you can set up personalized email flows (birthday flows, for example) based on data collected from your ‘Thank You’ page.

Daniel also recommends filming and uploading up a ‘Thank You’ video to either your ‘Thank You’ page or post-purchase email. Genuinely thanking your customers (don’t use this video to upsell) builds trust in your brand.

Another fantastic thing about ReConvert is its accessibility. Its visual builder is fantastic for setting up sales funnels and flows. Check out their video on how to set up post-purchase funnels for your e-commerce here.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo is the best tool for e-commerce email marketing. In fact, it’s our go-to toolat Budai Media.

There are a few email marketing platforms out there, but Klaviyo’s data analytics sets it apart from its competitors. Its AI is advanced enough to predict not only your customers’ expected dates of next order but also their lifetime value. The most powerful email marketing is founded on close data analysis and advanced list segmentation.

So what are the downsides? Klaviyo is expensive. More expensive than its two key competitors, Mailchimp and Drip. In this instance, however, you get what you pay for. Daniel advises that once your store revenue reaches $10,000 - $20,000 a month Klaviyo is by far your best option.

Klaviyo’s help center is also very easy to navigate. Check it out here.

3 Marketing Personalities We All Could Learn From

Dan Kennedy

We’re off to a fantastic start with a renowned marketing strategist, Dan Kennedy. Kennedy has authored 32 books, including his ‘No BS’ series, ‘Why Advertising Fails’, and ‘Speak to Sell’. He has study groups in over 100 cities.

When it comes to direct response marketing Dan Kennedy is your man. Check out his work on Amazon.

David Ogilvy

What couldn’t we learn from the “Father of Advertising” David Ogilvy? Ogilvy is revered for his highly successful advertising campaigns for Rolls Royce, Dove, and Shell in the mid 20th century.

Ogilvy’s dedication to customer research and measuring market results led to his incredible success. Failing to measure your results, Ogilvy advised, is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Now that we’re in the digital age, it’s far easier to measure market results than it was in Ogilvy’s heyday. You can never have too much data analysis!

Gary Halbert

Gary Helbert is a copywriting celebrity and probably the biggest influencer on direct response copywriting. His AIDA model: attention, interest, desire, and action is to trace the customer journey across marketing channels.

Helbert wrote a series of enlightening letters to his son on advertising, business, and psychology. They’re available online, and Daniel highly recommendschecking them out.

WhatsApp Marketing Last week, Daniel asked his followers a question: Have you ever tried WhatsApp marketing?

To his surprise, the response was, overwhelmingly, “No”.

WhatsApp marketing is much like Messenger marketing. It’s owned by Facebook, and it’s great for building trust with your customers. Daniel advises against using the same tone for Messenger and WhatsApp as you would for your emails. WhatsApp is for communication with your customers - don’t bombard them with sales messages and make sure that you are quick to reply to any inquiries they may have.

Over the coming weeks, Daniel will continue research into the somewhat untapped world of WhatsApp marketing. In the meantime, check out SuperLemon and Sirenato get started on the platform.

Motivational Musings

It wouldn’t be a Daniel Budai Master Show without a few of Daniel’s favorite quotations!

“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.”

John Ruskin

Quality takes time and work. It can take years, sometimes even decades.

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

Steve Martin

Never take being ignored personally, Just work on getting there.

If you liked this episode of The Ecom Show, please feel free to leave any comments you have on our YouTube channel, contact Daniel on LinkedIn, or check out another episode!

Watch this space for Daniel’s very own e-commerce playbook for a successful 2022 coming out very soon!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

84 Valentin Radu from Omniconvert: How to Scale with CRO and Retention Marketing

For our very first episode of 2022, we are delighted to welcome Valentin Radu to The Ecom Show. Valentin is the Founder and CEO of Omniconvert, a multi-faceted conversion rate optimization (CRO) platform built for data-driven growth.

When two CRO-obsessed retention marketers meet, we’re gonna learn a lot about scaling. 🚀 Tune in to hear Valentin and our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ Valentin’s approach to CRO

✔️ What is blackhat CRO?

✔️ Why you shouldn’t spend everything on acquisition

✔️ How to increase customer lifetime value (CLV)

Valentin’s Approach to CRO

Valentin says that the overarching narrative on e-commerce growth is changing. Acquisition marketing used to be the main theme for decades, but now the focus has shifted to retention marketing.

“It’s okay to acquire customers, but what about the costs? What about the future revenue from them?”

Essentially, your growth is going to struggle if your acquisition costs are too high. Growth never happens with a single tweak. You need acquisition, you need conversion, and you need retention. All three pillars are important.

Omniconvert’s e-commerce growth focuses on conversion rate and retention rate. Their extensive use of website surveys and A/B testing allows e-commerce merchants to really get to know their site visitors and optimize accordingly.

Valentin and his colleagues at Omniconvert are strong believers in interactive content such as surveys.

“The most convenient and cheap way to understand what you should be changing on your website is to simply ask your customers.”

What is blackhat CRO? Talking of interactive content, is there a bad way to make things interactive?

Yes. As there is ‘Blackhat SEO’, there is also ‘Blackhat CRO’. Essentially, blackhat CRO is conversion rate tactics that are used to mislead the user into clicking or buying. Aside from their unethical implications, they tend not to build trust or CLV.

Both Valentin and Daniel are against having ‘Wheel of Fortune’ on your e-commerce website. This type of conversion trap is not going to help you establish an authentic relationship with your audience.

As Valentin points out, we are migrating from clicks to relationships.

Clicks mean very little if they come from customers who won’t convert and are not going to stay. Focus on building trust and retention.

Why you shouldn’t spend everything on acquisition

Another reason why people are turning more towards CRO, email marketing, and increasing CLV is due to an incredible increase in competition.

Valentin read recently that 44% of all the active e-commerce companies were launched in the last 12 months. There are 3.8 million new websites on the market than there were one year ago. Ads and acquisitions are far more expensive than they used to be.

“The CPC [cost per click] on Facebook is 89% higher. The CPA [cost per action] on YouTube is 108% higher.”

Spending all your money on acquisition is going to put you out of business. Building a relationship with your customers and increasing CLV has never been more important.

How to increase your customer lifetime value (CLV)

Never assume that CLV is guaranteed. Even if you have an amazing product. It’s something you need to focus on and influence. Communicate with your customers.

“Email marketing is the most undervalued channel that a brand has at this moment because it is very cheap, and it’s very effective. You have this opportunity to talk with customers that know about you.”

Unlike ads, email marketing communicates with existing customers (or at least potential customers if they’ve signed up for a discount). Most of all, email marketing allows you to show your customers that you care. Instead of bombarding customers with discounts, Valentin strongly recommends asking for feedback. Doing so shows your customers that you care about them post-purchase.

“You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” Valentin is also a strong believer in RFM segmentation: scoring your customers on recency, frequency, and monetary value. Do your surveys on your most valuable customers - find out what they bought and why they bought it. CRO and CLV require both quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Don’t forget to monitor your customers’ Net Promoter Score (NPS) - how satisfied your customers are.

“If you have issues in your customer journey, fix them. Don’t ignore them.”

Measuring CLV is crucial to your success. Understand who your most valuable customers are. Those are the ones you need to retain (and acquire some of their buddies too!) Retention and word of mouth are the cheapest forms of advertising.

For even more fantastic advice on CRO, customer retention, and improving CLV, visit Valentin on LinkedIn, or visit Omniconvert.

Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

83 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 More E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

Last week, our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai introduced us to 3 upcoming trends to look out for in 2022. And now he’s back with 3 more! Just when you thought you couldn’t get more prepared for next year.

Join Daniel’s second Master Show for more fantastic advice on:

✔️ 3 More E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

✔️ Timeless Advertising with David Ogilvy

✔️ The Best SMS Marketing Tool

✔️ Advice from the Best in Business

3 More E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022Trend #1: Subscriptions

Subscriptions have taken off over the past couple of years, and Daniel predicts an acceleration in this trend next year.

Subscriptions are already huge in software, SaaS companies make the bulk of their revenue in subscriptions. As of 2021, subscriptions are not quite as prominent in the e-commerce industry, but they’re rapidly rising in popularity.Parsa Saljoughian, VP of strategic finance at WHOOP, states that subscription-based businesses can retain up to 65% of their customers within 12 months.

So, aside from high customer retention rates, what are the benefits of using a subscription-based model in your e-commerce?

You’ll get to know your customers

Subscriptions are a great way to collect zero-party data. Collecting zero-party data is the first step towards hyper-personalizing your marketing and product recommendations.

You can build better incentives

Since subscriptions allow you to really get to know your customers, you’ll collect enough information about their purchase behavior to build an effective VIP tier system, understand what incentives they respond to, and come up with some really solid offers and bundles

Subscriptions are sticky

In other words, they can be a hassle to cancel. When your subscriptions are low-cost, customers may often not feel the need to cancel their subscription if they take a break from your product or service for a few weeks or even months.

So what are your next steps?

If you want to build a subscription-based model for your business, Daniel recommends checking out Recharge if you have a Shopify store or adding the Woocommerce subscription extension if you’re with Woocommerce. Recharge can also be integrated with Zipify One Click Upsell for when you want to upsell a subscription.

Daniel advises that thorough data collection and analysis is integral to a subscription-based model. Metrilo is a great tool to hook up your subscription-based data with your Google Analytics account.

Otherwise, if you need any help with data analysis and building a subscription-based model, head over to thebudaimedia.com or email contact@thebudaimedia.com.

Trend #2: Personalization

As the iOS14 and 15 updates shook digital marketing to its core zero-party data and first-party data became incredibly important. And that trend isn’t going anywhere.

Zero-party data isn’t collected by pixels or third parties. They’re collected through questions: permission-based marketing. Customer information is retrieved through survey questions, quizzes, or popups.

Zero-party data revolutionizes the customer journey: direct questions collect customer information that third-party data would never be able to obtain. It allows e-commerce owners to hyper-personalize and customize every step of the customer journey.

Personalized marketing, Daniel advises, is particularly effective with omnichannel marketing. It’s important to ensure that every marketing channel, be it website optimization, email marketing, SMS marketing, ads, etc. is connected. Omnichannel marketing is particularly useful during sales and promos. During Black Friday, for example, your site will direct visitors to email and SMS marketing. In turn, SMS and email marketing are fantastic for promoting Black Friday and creating urgency.

Daniel highly recommends Octane AI for its Shop Quizzes, Conversational Popups, and seamless personalization and product recommendations across marketing channels.

Thank you emails are also highly effective in optimizing personalization and expressing appreciation to your customers. According to Klaviyo, a post-purchase thank you email has an open rate of over three times the average email. So make sure that your copy is good and you grasp any opportunity for upselling. Klaviyo personalizes the recommended product feed, so do take advantage of that in your email marketing.

Trend #3 Social Commerce

According to Statista, Social Commerce will have $46 billion in sales in 2022. That’s a 20% - 25% increase from last year.

So what is social commerce?

Social commerce is the process of selling products directly on social media. When people are scrolling through TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram, they usually don’t want to be taken to a website to buy a product: they want to buy within the platform.

Keep an eye on your social media and your customers. Use Facebook marketplace if it’s relevant to your audience, or engage with shoppable Instagram or TikTok feeds if you have a Gen Z audience. Daniel advises that Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing selling machines right now, so do check out Pinterest for Shopify.

Timeless Advertising with David Ogilvy

Whilst advertising changes all the time, there’s still a lot to learn from David Ogilvy’s 1959 Rolls-Royce advert. We’re sure you’ve seen this one:

“At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in the new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

This advert has withstood the test of time because Ogilvy did his research on Rolls-Royce customers. The fact that the electric clock is the loudest noise in the car is not relevant to anyone except the target customer. A customer who is highly interested in luxury cars.

Ogilvy wasn’t a big fan of one-word headlines, but he had to take his hat off to the Volkswagen’s 1959 ‘Lemon. Think Small’ ad. This went completely against the grain in the US car market at the time, therefore promoting a novel perspective that humorously emphasizes functionality and affordability.

Avis’s 1963 ad ‘Avis can’t afford dirty ashtrays’ is a great example of how you can position your brand next to your competitors. Avis points out that they’re “No. 2” in rent a cars. Unlike the No.1 in rent a cars, they cannot afford to treat their customers poorly. They will always provide a full gas tank, a smile, and a clean ashtray. That was their unique selling point, and it worked very well.

The Best SMS Marketing Tool - According to You Guys!

Daniel recently asked his followers on Facebook and Instagram a simple question: “What is your favorite SMS marketing software tool?”

On LinkedIn, Klaviyo came out on top, but Postscript and SMS Bump also won over a few votes.

On Facebook, people mentioned Postscript, Attentive, and Klaviyo.

At Budai Media, we’ve tried Postscript, Klaviyo, and Recart. Our favorite platform is SMSBump. It can be used in almost every country across the world, its segmentation and data analysis are very advanced, and it integrates seamlessly with Shopify, Klaviyo, Recart, and other fantastic e-commerce tools.

Advice from the Best in Business Here are a few of Daniel’s favorite quotes from leading figures in e-commerce and marketing.

Jeff Bezos

“There are two kinds of companies - those who work to raise the prices and those that work to lower them.”

Daniel recommends that smaller companies without investors should aim to raise their prices. Larger companies with investors, however, should scale by lowering their prices.

David Ogilvy

“On average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy.”

Daniel recommends spending the same amount of time on your headline as you do on your body copy. Come up with at least 10 different variations of headlines and subject lines, A/B test as much as you can, and find out what works.

Thank you for joining Daniel’s Master show! If you’d like to learn more about CRO, retention marketing, and scaling your e-commerce, visit Budai Media today.

It won’t be long before Daniel releases his book packed full of actionable tips for scaling your e-commerce in 2022 - watch this space!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

82 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

For this episode of the Ecom Show, our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai, takes center stage with his advice for scaling your e-commerce in 2022. Let’s dive straight into:

✔️ 3 E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

✔️ Fond Memories with E-Commerce Powerhouses

✔️ The Best Email Marketing Software

✔️ Advice from the Best in Business

3 E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022 Trend #1: Being Mobile First

According to Statista and Neil Patel, 73% of all sales online happen through mobile phones. In 2021, the percentage increased by 13%.

People are shifting towards using apps over websites. They are far more likely to use Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and Gmail for example, on a mobile app than on a desktop website.

People want to buy in the app, they don’t want to switch platforms.

Gmail is the 3rd most popular mobile app. It’s no surprise that, as an email marketer, Daniel is particularly excited about Gmail and optimizing email marketing to a mobile-first approach.

Daniel’s Tips for Going Mobile First:

Check your site speed on mobile

Speed is absolutely essential to conversion. No one likes anything on their mobile to be slow. Their attention span is short and they want to act fast.

Check the percentage of visitors on mobile

In B2C e-commerce, mobile is the winner. Check where your visitors are coming from to see how crucial it is that you optimize for mobile.

Check Tapcart

Tapcart is a fantastic platform for creating apps for your e-commerce store and business. It doesn’t require any complicated coding, it’s affordable, and it’s super easy to use.

Trend #2: Supply Chain Issues

This may not have been something you wanted to hear about. But the more you know the more you can do to address the problem. Let’s take a look at Daniel’s advice on how to optimize your supply chains.

Europe, North America, and Asia - pretty much all over the world are having difficulties finding the right ingredients or materials for their products. These are mostly due to COVID-19 and varying restrictions and regulations between borders.

According to Statista, 57% of e-commerce stores don’t fully understand their own supply chain. If you don’t know anything about how your product is made or how it gets to your customers…well, that’s a big problem. You need to be an expert in your supply chain in order to address any potential issues that arise.

Here are Daniel’s tips for optimizing your supply chain:

Make it possible for customers to track their product

If you have a Shopify store, tracking codes are very simple and easy to use.

Customers are likely to be more forgiving of delays when they know where their parcel is.

Set expectations around shipping

Be as transparent as possible about shipping times as cost.

Put shipping times and costs on both your product page and checkout page. People are more likely to convert when they know what to expect.

Use SMS and Email Marketing

Keep your customers updated while they wait for their shipping. Lead them to your FAQ pages, consider upsells and discounts. This builds trust and confidence in your brand.

Honesty is the best policy here.

Trend #3 Conversion Rate Optimization Will Become More Important Than Ever

iOS 14 and iOS 15 heavily disrupted Facebook advertising and email marketing analytics. Third-party data is on its way out.

Daniel recommends keeping an extremely close eye on your data and conducting in-depth data analysis. It’s not worth spending lots of money on ads when you don’t know anything about your ROI.

The best thing about conversion rate optimization (CRO) is that it allows you to track what works and what doesn’t in Google Analytics. Usually, the more e-commerce stores spend, the more CRO becomes important. Investing in CRO comes before ad investment.

Fond Memories With E-Commerce Powerhouses

Now we’ve covered the three trends you need to look out for in 2022, Daniel would love to share some fond memories he’s shared with some awesome friends and partners in e-commerce.

Daniel’s first photograph is with Angie Meeker and the Optinmonster team in San Diego, California at the Traffic and Conversion Conference, 2019.

Optinmonster is a fantastic popup builder and marketing plugin. We’ve tried out many popup tools at Budai Media but Optinmonster always comes out on top.

Daniel’s next photograph was also shot in the US, this time in Boston, at the 2019 Klaviyo Conference. Daniel and Budai Media’s account manager, Ben Erdelyi got the chance to chat withHustler Marketing and their CEO Bostjan Belingar. Daniel sees a lot of brands and competitors in e-commerce that doesn’t even acknowledge each other. He prefers a more civil and collaborative approach. It’s a good thing to share and learn with your competitors.

Daniel’s last photograph is with Ezra Firestone at the San Diego Traffic and Conversion Conference. Ezra is the Founder of Smart Marketer, and the Co-Founder of BOOM! and Zipify Apps. Check out his LinkedIn - Ezra shares a lot of useful advice and resources for e-commerce owners and entrepreneurs. Ezra’s email marketing course was Daniel’s first-ever course in email marketing!

The Best Email Marketing Software - According to You Guys!

Daniel recently asked his followers on Facebook and Instagram a simple question: “What is your favorite email marketing platform?”

On Instagram,ConvertKit emerged as the preferred choice for bloggers, coaches, and consultants.

On Facebook, Klaviyo proved to be highly popular for e-commerce owners. If you’re familiar with Budai Media, you’ll know that Klaviyo is our preferred choice too.

If you’re just starting out in the online space, Daniel recommends MailChimp as the most affordable option for newbies. If you are in e-commerce and represent a bigger company, Daniel says that Klaviyo is your best option. It’s pricier than MailChimp, but Klaviyo has deep segmentation options, advanced data analysis, and great integration with Shopify. If you’re using MailChimp and you’re ready to move onwards and upwards in customer data and personalization, it’s very easy to move your list to Klaviyo.

Advice from the Best in Business Daniel looks up to a lot of people in e-commerce and indeed in business generally. Here are a few of his favorite quotes:

Henry Ford

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”

Daniel has seen a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs who are motivated only by money. These are the ones who burn out. Focus on creating value beyond money. Don’t forget your passions and principles.

Jeff Bezos

“If you can’t feed a team with two pizzas it’s too large.”

When we’re talking about decision-making, Daniel recommends keeping team meetings to 8 members or below. No meeting should last longer than an hour.

Thank you for joining Daniel’s Master Show! If you’d like to learn more about CRO, retention marketing, and scaling your e-commerce, visit Budai Media today.

It won’t be long before Daniel releases his book packed full of actionable tips for scaling your e-commerce in 2022 - watch this space!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

81 Ben Parr from Octane AI: Zero Party Data - Strategies for Collecting Data and Increasing Sales

We’re delighted to welcome Ben Parr, the President and Co-Founder of Octane AI, to a webinar with our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai.

Octane AI is the zero-party data marketing platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants. Its conversational technology enables thousands of merchants to collect zero-party data and use it to optimize conversions, average order value, and customer lifetime value.

If you want to form a real relationship with your customers, tune in to hear Ben teach us everything you need to know about:

✔️ The Problem: Rented Relationships vs Real Relationships

✔️ Zero-Party Data Marketing

✔️ How to Collect Zero-Party Data

✔️ Personalizing Your Marketing

The Problem: Rented Relationships vs. Real Relationships

Ben begins by identifying 2 key problems in eCommerce:1. Shopify brands have been building their business on top of rented relationships.

Apple has recently made a change that has completely destroyed the way you were used to doing business.

Before the iOS 14 update and recent changes in data privacy, Shopify Brands heavily tended towards Facebook Pixel in their marketing strategies. Facebook Pixel tracked user behavior and retargeted ads accordingly.

The problem with this strategy is that it’s a rented relationship. Facebook owns the customer contact information, the Shopify Brand does not. It has to pay Facebook to access contact information, essentially renting the relationship with its own customer.

Apple broke this relationship. The new iOS14 gives users the opportunity to opt-out of data tracking. Essentially, this makes it impossible for Facebook to run retargeting ads for iOS users.

96% of U.S users opted out of data tracking in iOS 14.5. The vast majority of people do not want to be tracked. The world of marketing is changing, and it’s time to adapt.

Retargeting ads based on third-party data are going away. Now eCommerce owners need to collect data directly. This is the era of zero-party data.

Ben advises against relying on pixel-based ads and third-party data, that is, rented relationships. Diversify your channels and find new ways of bringing people to your store. From there, focus on building real relationships with your customers using zero-party data. Don’t accept 2% conversion rates in pop-ups, aim for 8%-10% and higher.

Zero-Party Data Marketing

Zero-party data marketing uses data directly collected from your customers via questions. The answers to these questions are then used to personalize the entire shopping experience, from emails to SMS, to the website itself.

Third-party data is collected via several different websites. First-party data is collected on your own website using Google or Shopify analytics. Zero-party is different because it’s collected from data that is voluntarily provided by the customer. This includes information such as size, style, dietary preferences, etc. Such information can only be collected via direct questions. Zero-party data is, therefore, the only way to build a hyper-personalized customer journey.

How to Collect Zero-Party Data

Ben recommends using product quizzes to build deep relationships with your customers. He likens this to an in-store shopping experience. When a customer goes into a store, an associate may be there to ask questions and guide them towards the best product for them. For example, an associate at a skincare store may ask the customer about their skin type, current skincare routine, skin goals, etc. Zero-party data is about bringing this experience online.

Product quizzes are generally loved by customers because they often come to websites without knowing exactly what they’re looking for. The answers to the quiz questions build the customer’s buyer profile which is then used to lead them to the right product. Further, when the right questions are asked, engaged users are more inclined to provide contact information. From there, you can personalize content and products that you send in your campaigns.

The conversion rate in product quizzes is significantly higher than standard popups. As people are keen to receive their quiz results, conversion rates can be as high as 20 - 40%.

Zero-party data is not only fantastic for initial conversions, it can be stored and leveraged for future product recommendations and campaigns.

A conversational popup is a very simple but highly effective way to capture email addresses. Instead of “Enter your email to get 10% off”, “Get 10% off by answering this question” gives your customer the opportunity to interact with your brand and receive a decent product recommendation. The conversion rate is 46 times higher in a conversational popup than in a standard popup.

Personalizing Your Marketing with Zero-Party Data

Ben describes this as the “bread and butter” of zero-party data marketing. Marketing and remarketing are personalized using quiz data on email, Messenger, SMS, and Facebook ads.

A personalized welcome series, for example, is far more effective than a generic welcome flow. If a customer visits a haircare eCommerce store and shares that they prefer to wash their hair at night, their welcome flow would recommend overnight hair masks. Octane AI allows Shopify merchants to send Zero-party data to Klaviyo in order to segment personalized flows accordingly.

The lowdown? The future of eCommerce is in zero-party data: personalized websites, email flows, campaigns, and ads that build a customer journey that converts.

Eager to learn more? Download Octane AI’s free playbook for the definitive guide to zero-party data marketing.

Visit Octane AI:

Octane AI

Follow Ben Parr:

Ben Parr

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

80 Florens from Monkeys.Digital: Unlocking Your Growth with Data-Driven Conversion Rate Optimization

You’re not in e-commerce if you’re not thinking about conversion rate optimization (CRO). The world of CRO and omnichannel marketing is often overwhelming, but Florens Bach is here to change that.

Florens is responsible for performance marketing, Google Ads Management, and PPC (pay per click) marketing at Monkeys.Digital. Monkeys.Digital generates an average of 271% ROI for its clients in e-commerce through Google PPC, CRO, and Facebook and Instagram ads. When it comes to racking up those numbers, Florens knows what he’s doing.

Tune in to hear Florens, and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ Florens’s Foray into Digital Marketing

✔️ Conversion Rate Optimization: Where do I begin?

✔️ Does Google or Facebook Prefer Bigger or Smaller Businesses?

✔️Florens’s Digital Marketing Mentors

Florens’s Foray into the Digital Marketing World

Florens first entered digital marketing in late 2015. As an engineering student, digital marketing was a world of mystery. An old friend of his floated around the idea of getting into digital marketing so that they could enjoy the freedom of working anywhere in the world. Soon enough, Florens was hooked.

“I really enjoyed working with numbers. I got sucked in and I really like it.”

Starting with Amazon PPC, Florens quickly came to realize the importance of knowing how to spend your money. Fully understanding AdWords, budgets, how and when to purchase keywords, and place bids. Florens and his friend became more interested in understanding how PPC works and fits into the bigger advertising picture than actually selling their own products. That’s what made them switch to Google AdWords.

Florens’s first clients were people on Amazon who wished to expand to Google. Google emerged as a better business model to work on as a PPC agency, as Google clients need maintenance almost every week. Amazon PPC sometimes only requires a one-time optimization.

“We’re just number freaks. We love working with money, numbers, digits, and graphs. Google ads were a perfect fit.”

Every company, according to Florens, needs advertising marketing.

Conversion Rate Optimization: Where Do I Begin?

Before you even begin working on your advertising campaigns, Florens advises, make sure that your website works. Work on driving traffic via ad campaigns from there. Driving traffic to a sub-par website isn’t profitable - your customers won’t convert on a bad website.

Once you have a user-optimized website, advertising will do wonders for your conversion rates. Florens highly recommends using an omnichannel marketing strategy. Don’t just start and stop with Google ads, branch out to Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok and influencer marketing.

CRO is not just about recognizing the final decision to buy, it’s about understanding the full customer journey.

“E-commerce is really driven by data. You can analyze almost anything from its data”

When an e-commerce store has €10 - 15,000 in Google ad spend per month, transferring to 500-1000 clicks a day from Google ads, it then has a critical mass of data from which its owner can understand the leverage of CRO.

“If you have more than 500 to 700 clicks a day with your Google campaigns, have a deep look at where the conversion rate is dropping off or what might be those essential blocks where you can see a difference.”

Does Google or Facebook Prefer Bigger or Smaller Businesses?

In Florens’s experience, the bigger the client is, the more premium the support from Facebook. One of the thresholds for Google is 100k ad spend a month. Google recognizes that once you have a certain amount of ad spend your business must be in a very good space.

Google knows how to make a six-figure business into a seven-figure business. If you are a four-figure business aiming for five figures, it’s much harder to make a profit via Google ads. Unfortunately, there are too many stores to allow for a totally unique selling point.

However, Florens continues, Google will help people who have the potential to grow. A focus on growth is essentially where they make their money.

Florens’s Mentors in Digital Marketing

Florens is a big fan of Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Florens highly recommends this book to digital marketers as a comprehensive guide to the six principles of influence and persuasion.

Visit Monkeys.Digital or check out their podcast to see what you can do to unlock your growth potential. They’re very happy to respond to any questions and comments. Florens is also on Instagram @florensbach.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition

View Details

79 Chris and Miriam Bair form Keto Chow: How to Build a Community Focused Keto Brand in 7 Years

Obsessed with building a community-based brand? Look no further than Keto Chow.

Keto Chow began in 2014 as a personal experiment in Chris and Miriam’s kitchen. Their experiment? To create a keto meal replacement shake that tastes good.

As friends and family became increasingly interested in Keto-Chow, Chris and Miriam began shipping batches to fellow keto-ers across the country. Keto Chow rapidly grew into a thriving community-focused brand with well over 30,000 happy customers.

Tune in to hear Chris, Miriam, and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss:✔️ The Keto Chow Story: From the Kitchen to Over 30,000 Happy Customers

✔️ Building a Community on Different Platforms

✔️ The Evolution of Keto Chow’s Recipe and Production

✔️ COVID-19 and Fulfilment

✔️ Can the Online World Replace Trade Shows and Live Events?

✔️ What’s the Secret to Customer Loyalty?

The Keto-Chow Story: From the Kitchen to Over 30,000 Happy Customers

It all began when Chris first visited the ketogenic lifestyle. A weight-loss diet with high fat, very low carbohydrates, and moderate protein. Chris tried out some keto shakes he found online, but they tasted horrible.

“He’s like, ‘I can’t do this. It’s horrible. There’s got to be a better way. And so he just made it up. That’s how we started.”

Their number one focus for Keto Chow: Taste.

“That’s one of the reasons we have so many positive reviews. It tastes really good. It tastes like melted ice cream.”

Keto Chow doesn’t actually have any fat in it. To accommodate for different body types and sizes, Chris and Miriam made every shake customizable: you’re free to add whatever fat suits your taste and body type best.

Along with that, Chris and Miriam have built a vibrant community of people who are looking for a way to make their keto journey easier. Keto Chow has a very active Facebook group and subreddit. Usually, a fellow customer steps in and answers any questions before a customer service rep has even seen them.

Building a Community on Different Platforms

Aside from Facebook and its subreddit, Keto Chow runs a highly popular YouTube channel with almost 18,000 subscribers. They run a live stream every day: from 15- 45 minutes on a Sunday and an hour on Tuesdays. Tuesday’s live stream is all about directly addressing customer questions and pain points.

This is a fantastic session not only for receiving feedback but also for building brand-customer trust and loyalty.

The Evolution of Keto Chow’s Recipe and Production

Keto Chow’s original recipe is still on their website. Chris made it using ingredients you can buy from Amazon. Originally, Chris just posted his recipe for fun for people to use. A lot of people began requesting samples to save the hassle of buying the ingredients. From there, the demand for full meal packages came pouring in. Chris added a WooCommerce shopping cart to the website and Keto Chow grew from there.

“It got to the point where we had to find a contract manufacturer.”

Chris and Miriam tell the contractor how many shakes they need, provide them with what they need, and they do all the mixing and packaging and bring it back to them.

It took a year and a half for Chris and Miriam to find the right person to work with. Initially, their biggest pain point was meeting the contractor’s required minimums. Looking back, Miriam wishes that she aimed for larger minimums.

“We’ve learned a lot about advertising and how to make things move in addition to just being able to not have the fear to put that money down and just go for it.”

COVID-19 and Fulfilment

So what effect did COVID-19 have on Keto Chow’s fulfillment process?

While Chris and Miriam send some products to Amazon, Keto Chow primarily handles its own fulfillment. They told their employees that if they had to close, they would. Luckily, they never had to.

One of the biggest COVID-19 challenges Keto Chow faced was the cancellation of Trade Shows. Chris and Miriam go to a lot of Trade Shows to sell, give away free samples, and organize community meetups. Fortunately, Chris and Miriam had prepared for the possibility of excess inventory and were able to offer giveaways to their customers.

As of November 2021, Keto Chow cannot ship to Australia or New Zealand as the US postal service is not accepting packages for either destination. They’ve also run into some issues with getting stuck in Europe en route to the UK due to Brexit.

Chris and Miriam were, however, able to find a fantastic partner in Canada, Switch Grocery.

“They’re doing a great job up in Canada. And we love working with them.”

Can the Online World Replace Trade Shows and Live Events?

Miriam says that in some ways they can. Online events reach a much larger audience because they save money and time on travel.

One downside, however, is that Keto Chow cannot be tasted online. A taste test cannot be replaced. Online events are great for nurturing their existing community, but Keto Chow’s greatest selling point is its taste.

Chris and Miriam often ask their customers what flavors they would like. It’s a great community-building experience and hub for ideas.

What’s the Secret to Customer Loyalty?

Chris says that it comes down to treating your customers well and having a good product that you believe in.

“We made the product because it was something that we needed. It just so happens that it’s something that other people needed as well.”

Honest marketing has been integral to building Keto Chow’s community. In short: start with a great product, be honest, and treat your customers well.

If you’re interested in what it means to build a brand community, visitKeto Chow’swebsite, YouTubechannel, subreddit, or follow Chris on LinkedIn.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

78 Roshelle from Yotpo Talks Engagement - The New Way to Improve Customer Lifetime Value

Is your brand-customer communication a bit lackluster? Are you struggling to build a close relationship with your customers? This episode is all about customer retention: establishing, building, and maintaining trust.

Roshelle Savdie is the Associate Product Marketing Manager of Yotpo, an e-commerce marketing platform that offers a full suite of solutions for customer reviews, visual marketing, loyalty, referrals, and SMS marketing. Following a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Economics, Roshelle sought a role in the study of human behavior. She found her calling at Yotpo. As a specialist in loyalty and referrals, Roshelle knows what customers care about.

Tune in to hear Roshelle and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss:✔️ Zero-Party Data: What is it and why is it important?

✔️ Why do e-commerce brands need engagement-based programs?

✔️ How to create a VIP program

✔️ Roshelle’s advice for Q4

✔️ Roshelle’s marketing idols

Zero-Party Data: What is it and why is it important?

Zero-party data (otherwise known as permission-based marketing) refers to data that customers voluntarily give brands about themselves. It’s not information that brands can acquire from different sources.

Roshelle identifies two advantages to using zero-party data:

Brands don’t have to guess

Collecting data directly from the source means that targeted marketing does not have to be based on assumptions or guesses. This allows brands to better communicate with their customers and personalize their shopping journey.

Develops trust in your brand

No one likes it when their data is collected and used without their explicit permission. Being clear about data collection and opting for zero-party data is great for building trust.

“You may ask yourself, ‘Why do they give this information so freely?’ It’s because they want to be part of your brand, and they trust your brand.”

Zero-party data reject invasive marketing tactics and instead focuses on creating a better experience for the customer.

Why do e-commerce brands need engagement-based programs?

Engagement-based programs are evolving. Roshelle stresses that engagement-based programs differ from rewards-based programs in that they’re not transactional.

Instead, engagement-based programs focus on relationships. It’s not enough to give away discount codes once in a while. Customers want experiences that make them feel part of the brand.

Gen Z consumers in particular engage with emotional rewards. Princess Polly, one of Yotpo’s clients created a VIP tier system. If a customer is in a certain tier and buys a certain amount, they’re featured in Princess Polly’s social media. Another reward included exclusive access to a VIP Facebook group, encouraging customers to buy further into the brand. Their best reward so far was backstage tickets to a music festival.

Roshelle recalls another brand that gives customers in their highest VIP tier early access to products and sales. This is great for building that brand-customer bond and providing an exclusivity incentive.

How to create a VIP program

So when should e-commerce owners begin setting up VIP tiers? Roshelle says “early on”, even if they’re not going to implement it right away. VIP tiers and loyalty programs require a lot of strategic planning.

Consider:

What do your incentives mean to your customers?
What does it mean for your brand to give away these incentives?
Do your incentives make financial sense?
How are you going to make sure that your customers feel valued?
How are your incentives going to develop an emotional customer-brand connection?

VIP tiers are fantastic for increasing engagement, brand community, and customer lifetime value (CTV). Therefore:

“It’s never too early to have VIP tiers. They power your business much faster than if you don’t have them.”

Roshelle’s advice for Q4

Roshelle’s number one piece of advice is: Build a strategy for Q1.

You’re going to acquire lots of new customers during Q4, that’s great. Now you need to focus on retention.

Roshelle’s marketing idols

In two words: authentic marketers.

“I really admire anyone who is on top of all the new trends, people, technology, but are keeping the essence of their brand and who they are. Anyone who has figured that out has all my respect. It’s really, really hard.”

Follow Roshelle on LinkedIn and visit Yotpo.comfor more advice on increasing customer lifetime value and taking your brand to the next level.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#77 What Do 26 Years of Digital Marketing Teach You? Steve from SiteGeek Shares His Wisdom

In e-commerce and need some advice? Let’s hear what someone with 26 years of experience has to say.

Steve Hooper is the Managing Director of SiteGeek, a multiple award-winning Digital Marketing Agency. SiteGeek helps companies develop omnichannel marketing strategies and build their in-house marketing team. If that isn’t impressive enough, Steve has over 20 years of digital marketing experience to share.

Tune in to hear Steve and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss:✔️ The Biggest Turning Points in Digital Marketing

✔️ The Best Tools to Use in E-commerce

✔️ Why Shopify Themes Alone Won’t Fix CRO

✔️ Advice for Brexit

✔️ Mentors in Digital Marketing

The Biggest Turning Points in Digital Marketing

In 1994, Steve’s boss at the time, Chris, sent him out to buy a modem. Steve remembers Chris saying, “Hey, this internet thing, I think we better look into that, because I think it might catch on.” Very few people had email addresses, and very few even knew what the internet was. But Steve and his company were way ahead of the game:

“I designed my first website back in late 1995. I think that makes me somewhat of a veteran when it comes to website design.”

So what’s changed and what hasn’t?

Steve sites the introductions of tools such as WordPress as significant turning points in internet history. While it was initially rather complex to set up a WordPress website, the arrival of Software as a Service (SaaS), Shopify, and WooCommerce made it possible for anyone to set up an online store.

One thing that hasn’t changed? Us. Human nature.

“A lot of e-commerce companies forget that they’re still selling to people. They’re not numbers that come through a website, there’s a person at the end of it.”

One of Steve’s top pieces of advice is “Don’t sell, educate.” If someone is educated on what your product is and how to use it, they’re not just more likely to buy, they’re going to come back again.

The Best Tools to Use in E-commerce

Steve is a huge fan of Shopify. Once you have the resources to get Shopify Plus, Steve highly recommends doing so. He’s particularly impressed by its security. Its security budget is probably equal to one of the top 10 military budgets in the world.

If you’re using WooCommerce, Steve advises total compliance to their PCI questions. Don’t just tick ‘Yes’, make sure that you have the appropriate SSL certificate and everything in place to ensure your security.

For inventory management, Steve uses Cin7. Cin7 links to Shopify and makes it easy to raise purchase orders and track information inside and outside of Shopify. Cin7 further allows building on several channels, including Amazon and eBay for an omnichannel marketing strategy. It also has its own B2B (business to business) portal, which makes things very easy for wholesalers.

Why Shopify Themes Alone Won’t Fix CRO

While Steve cannot praise Shopify highly enough, he advises against the idea that getting a new Shopify theme is going to fix your conversion rates. First and foremost, you need to understand the data.

Set up split tests where you can and make a list of possible factors that could be affecting your conversion rates. Is your menu structure easy to follow? How easy is it to find products? Are you following up with your abandoned carts? Are you upselling? Above all, make sure that you have a good customer journey and make it mobile-friendly. That’s where your conversion rates will rise.

Advice for Brexit

It’s no secret that Brexit has had a huge impact on e-commerce, especially for UK merchants. Steve recalls his recent meeting with DHL in Germany. They revealed that about 70% of deliveries from the EU to the UK have ceased. There is a big stop on what’s going across the channel right now.

Steve’s advice to e-commerce owners struggling with Brexit is to explore your various options as thoroughly as possible. Talk to your local department trading industry and the department of international trade. If you find that your biggest market is in the EU, consider third-party logistic warehouses. This allows you to avoid all the current distribution issues in the UK.

Mentors in Digital Marketing

Steve’s first ever boss, Chris, remains a good friend and mentor to this day. Chris gives him great advice on digital marketing and where it’s headed.

He was also friends with Andy Jenkins, none other than the executive producer on The Blair Witch Project. That was where Andy got started in digital marketing: 284 of the 286 websites about The Blair Witch Project at the time of release were registered in his name.

Steve also turns to his friend Dominic Cummins in California (not the British politician) for business advice.

The takeaway? You’re never too experienced to have a mentor.

Follow Steve on LinkedIn and visit SiteGeekif you’d like to find out more about digital marketing and e-commerce. Steve says he’s more than happy to ask any questions you may have.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

76 Alan Chen from FreeCashFlow.io Shares the Top 3 Tax Deductions All E-commerce Owners Should Know About

When store revenue is collected as tax, does it still count as a profit? Alan Chen doesn’t think so. We’re doing something a little different for this episode of The Eccom Show: let’s take a look at tax and what you need to know about maximizing real profit.

Alan is the Founder of FreeCashFlow.io, a company that helps e-commerce and online businesses with US tax laws, planning, sales, filing, threshold strategies, and cloud-based bookkeeping. According to Alan, tax planning is the highest ROI activity you can do in your business.

Tune in to hear Alan and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss how e-commerce brands can minimize their tax bill and:✔️ When to Hand Over Tax Planning to an Expert

✔️ The Biggest Pitfalls in Business Tax

✔️ Nexus Sales Tax

✔️ The Top 3 Tax Deductions E-commerce Owners Should Know About

✔️ Alan’s Advice for Q4

When Should You Hand Over Tax Planning to an Expert?

Alan recommends that you seek expert tax advice when your business is making 350k to 400k annual revenue. That’s the stage where there are enough deductions to give you a decent ROI on what you’ve paid to get the service done.

FreeCashFlow.io draws up a monthly or quarterly plan for their clients and calculates what deduction they can take. When April 15 rolls around, they’re going to pay a lot less money.

“I just want people to know that having proper tax planning just equals more money for you. Real measurable value that you see in your bank account that you don’t pay out.”

When Alan says he doesn’t think you should be worried about tax, he doesn’t mean put it on the backburner. He means to hand it over to the experts. Daniel recalls digital marketer Roland Frasier’s advice: spend time with what you’re best at and invest your money into your weak spots.

The Biggest Pitfalls in Business Tax

Sales tax is one of the biggest problem areas right now. E-commerce sellers face particularly strong state scrutiny for this. And this isn’t exclusive to US sellers - Shopify just rolled out a sales tax dashboard reminding its users that they’re responsible for sales tax liabilities for 45 US states.

The higher your revenue, the more you are affected by sales tax. Alan wants businesses to understand that as they take off, they need someone taking care of sales tax. To complicate matters further, every state has its own sales tax. Some states require payment in a matter of days once a business crosses a tax threshold, others wait until the next calendar year.

That’s why it’s so important to have visibility on when your business is and isn’t going to cross tax thresholds. It’s crucial to be prepared, stay compliant, and avoid paying anything you don’t have to. No matter how much your Shopify store makes, revenue is about net profit and your bank account. Tax payments, Alan argues, are not in your profit.

What is Nexus Sales Tax?

Nexus = affiliation, or a connection to something. So if you have an office and a warehouse somewhere, that’s your physical nexus to that location. 5 to 6 years ago Nexus sales tax was great for businesses and drop shippers that had no physical location. There was no way for sales tax to be enforced on a location that didn’t exist.

That all changed following the 2018 South Dakota vs Wayfair court case. This changed the game for e-commerce and online businesses because its ruling introduced an economic nexus. An economic nexus is triggered by a concentration of customers in a certain state. If a business ships products work $100,000 to a particular state they are liable to pay sales tax to that state. Now there are two types of nexuses sales tax: physical and economic.

Moreover, e-commerce owners using Shopify are fully responsible for their sales tax. It often is not automatically deducted.

The Top 3 Tax Deductions E-commerce Owners Should Know About

The Home Office Deduction

This skyrocketed during 2020 when more and more people began working from home. Alan reveals that there are two ways of calculating this deduction.

The first calculation is the simplest but also the most limited. The highest tax deduction possible is only $1500. The second calculation is more complicated but lucrative. The actual expense method. This takes the square footage of your office space as a percentage of your total home. You can take a tax deduction from that percentage. This includes rent, mortgage, or even repair maintenance. The biggest deduction Alan saw from this method is $14,000 - his client runs a phone case business and basically uses half their home as office space.

If you’re operating out of your home, Alan advises, take advantage of the actual expense method.

2. Startup Cost Deduction

The startup cost allows entrepreneurs to claim a $5000 deduction for any cost made up until the point their business is created. This includes product research, travel, work with lawyers or accountants - the deduction rewards entrepreneurs for even thinking about starting a business. Just make sure that you keep documentation.

“So for people thinking about starting a business but are still unsure, now you know that there is a $5000 deduction waiting for you."

3. Celebrate Your Expenses

Paying for expenses in advance significantly increases your tax deductions. Cash coming in is revenue, cash going out is expenses. So prepay for software and take out yearly subscriptions.

Alan also sees businesses pre-purchase inventory to sell in the next tax year. The expense deductible is higher if the revenue hasn’t yet been generated. This takes a lot of planning and forecasting to ensure that business owners don’t end up with dead inventory. Above all else, they need to know that they can sell their inventory.

Alan cannot stress enough how important it is to understand and track your business’s selling trends, profits, inventory, and problem areas.

“Bookkeeping is the lifeblood of any business.”

Alan’s Advice for Q4

Alan advises that the next two months (November and December) are your last chance to play catch up on tax planning. This is the biggest time of year, the top lines look great, but be aware of your net profit. Collect as many emails as you can, but don’t give away too much. Watch your bottom line.

Follow Alan on LinkedIn visit FreeCashFlow.io to see how your business can make a real profit.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#75 Audio Marketing is Changing the Game for Small Business Owners. Here’s How.

Audio marketing relies on (you guessed it!) audio for its output. It’s not a new medium, we’ve all heard radio ads, but with the rise of smart speakers and apps such as Clubhouse, it is blowing up. If there’s any time to dive into audio marketing, it’s now.

Arjun Rai is the Founder and CEO of Hello Woofy, an AI driven social audio, media, blogging, and smart speaker marketing platform. Arjun is committed to making it easy for small business owners to automate their marketing strategy and access audio marketing.

Tune in to hear Arjun and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai to discuss:

✔️ Smart Speakers: Where Are We At?

✔️ How Do Small Ecommerce Owners Get Started with Smart Speaker Marketing?

✔️ Social Audio and Clubhouse

✔️ Hello Woofy and Its Integrations

Smart Speakers: Where Are We At?

Arjun predicts an exponential increase in audio devices. There are projected to be around half a billion smart devices around the world. Marketing studies show that the audio device industry grew between 30% to 50% in a single year.

It’s safe to say that the audio device industry is huge. And it’s getting bigger. Habits are changing and people are now used to getting what they need on demand.

“The core of the issue is that we need to let the underdogs, the small businesses, be a part of this infrastructure that I’m talking about.”

Arjun believes that the coffee shop down the block should have the same infrastructure to deliver coffee when someone wants to order one on the TV, as well as the ability to stream content to customers. Hello Woofy is all about giving small businesses the same capabilities and opportunities as big companies.

How do Small Ecommerce Owners Get Started With Smart Speaker Marketing?

When ecommerce owners join the Hello Woofy platform, they create an app. Business owners choose their app background, logo, description etc. and Hello Woofy submits it to Amazon for approval.

Once Amazon approves their app, ecommerce owners are able to upload products and services they want to sell, schedule video and audio content, and ping those all-important smart speakers. Customers can access your products and site with a simple mobile scan of their smart speaker or TV.

“You’ll be a part of a broadcasting network, a network that is only going to get bigger and bigger. And then you have the opportunity to collaborate with other small businesses within the Hello Woofy network. 2022 is going to be very exciting for small businesses.”

Social Audio and Clubhouse

Social audio, that is, social media that uses audio as their primary means of communication, really skyrocketed during 2020. What are Anjun’s thoughts about social audio and the rise of social audio platforms such as Clubhouse?

“You’re going to have this massive adoption and then you’re going to have normalisation. I’m on Clubhouse every single day.”

A lot has changed in a short space of time. Two years ago we did not have the prolific social audio capabilities as we do today. Before 2020, there wasn’t the same demand we have now for online conferences, meetups, workshops, and masterclasses. Clubhouse is a fantastic platform for entrepreneurs, coaches, and marketers to run their classes and promote themselves.

Hello Woofy and Its Integrations

Hello Woofy began as a social media platform before expanding to include blogging and audio marketing. Its social media scheduler uses AI to help users complete an optimized post. As soon as you start typing your post, Hello Woofy’s AI completes the post with hashtag recommendations, emojis, and keywords.

The same principle applies to blogs: Hello Woofy can autocomplete an entire blog article and schedule it like a social media post to blogging platforms such as WordPress.

When Arjun and his team realised the extent to which audio marketing was going to take off, they expanded into the field.

And they’re not stopping there! Anjun revealed that Hello Woofy is looking into augmented reality.

“Audio is here to stay. It’s not just about speaking on Club, it’s not just broadcasting on smart speakers, it’s really about driving revenue.”

Hello Woofy’s smart speaker technology, content scheduling, and scannable conversions give ecommerce owners a direct connection to their customers in their living rooms, allowing them to build a DTC relationship.

Visit Hello Woofy or follow Arjun on LinkedIn to find out more about audio marketing and what it can do for your business. Arjun’s inbox is open for any suggestions on what Hello Woofy can do for the underdogs of ecommerce. If you’re interested in owning a piece of Hello Woofy, invest for as little as $100 here.

Something for the bookshelf? Daniel and Arjun highly recommend The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketingby Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk

View Details

74 How to Increase Conversion Rates Using Embedded Videos - Without Slowing Down Your Website

Video marketing is one of the most powerful tools out there. But this episode is not going to be about brand awareness and reach. Our guest is more interested in hard conversion and revenue.

Claudiu Cioba is the Founder and CEO of VideoWise, a video shopping app on Shopify that helps brands sell more through the power of video. Claudiu describes VideoWise as more of a video shopping product, not a marketing product. Video marketing, Claudiu explains, is more about increasing or reaching your audience, video shopping is about generating revenue.

For this episode of The Ecom Show, Claudiu joins our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai to discuss:

✔️ How Claudiu Became a Founder and the Ethos Behind VideoWise

✔️ How VideoWise Increases Conversion Rates

✔️ Honest Attribution Models and Tracking Conversion

How Claudiu Became a Founder and the Ethos Behind VideoWise

Claudiu’s journey into marketing began when he was 20 years old. He left his hometown, Transylvania, to pursue a design internship in New York. Starting from branding and web design, ecommerce companies did not yet have terms such as ‘user experience' or ‘user interface design’.

Claudiu started with HTML and CSS and grew from there, taking every opportunity to work with different startups and companies all over the world. Usually, Claudiu was hired for one particular project, designing or redesigning a single product for conversion, so he never stayed at one company for longer than three years.

When Claudiu was offered a full-time position as a human interface designer at Apple, he politely declined,

“I really preferred my freedom, I was traveling a lot over the past six years. And I prefer that Nomad sort of lifestyle, where you can work from anywhere, enjoy life to its fullest.”

Claudiu brought his love of freedom into VideoWise. With over a decade of design experience, Claudiu founded a company that truly values the work/life balance of its employees. They’re a fully remote company, offer unlimited mental health days, and are very generous with vacations.

That said, the actual product that is VideoWise is somewhat different to how it was in its early days. Its first name was actually ‘V Star’, because of its direct relation to video reviews. The idea first came to Claudiu when he was heading over to YouTube to watch a video review of a product he was interested in. Wait a minute,

“Why isn’t anyone using all this content?”

Businesses should be using this social proof, right? Once V Star was born, it wasn’t long before it evolved into VideoWise. ‘Video’ to make it crystal clear that the company deals with video, ‘Wise’ because they’re very proud of their complex analytics.

VideoWise allows Shopify merchants to find video reviews for all their products, track new videos about their brand, automate video embedding on all product pages, and offer in-video purchases.

How VideoWise Increases Conversion

VideoWise is not the type of company that sells what Claudiu describes as ‘hope conversion’.

“We take a lot of pride in showing real and true ROI for companies only when videos actually sell.”

VideoWise cares about the entire shopper journey. From the moment they’re a visitor when they watch the video and show true engagement, the add to cart, and the moment of real conversion.

VideoWise allows ecommerce owners to import product videos across platforms, from YouTube to TikTok to Instagram, and manage them all in one place. From there VideoWise turns these into shoppable videos. This allows the customer to purchase directly inside the video.

With strict adherence to YouTube terms and conditions and Google’s privacy policy, VideoWise eliminates the risk of copyright infringement. The app is deeply integrated into Shopify and its checkout process, and every video player and widget is customizable according to brand design.

As for PageSpeed? VideoWise takes every precaution to ensure that their videos do not slow down your website. Rather than bluntly add a video to a page, they use ‘lite video embedding’. Bluntly adding a video, Claudiu explains, is one of the worst things one can do for PageSpeed. The video will load with the page and revert to autoplay. Instead, VideoWise embeds a thumbnail, compresses the image, and compresses the video itself. As the video doesn’t load when your page loads, your site continues to load quickly. Only when a user clicks on a video does the player open into a full-screen immersive experience.

“Once you put those videos to work, they’re just going to work for you while you sleep.”

Attribution Models and Tracking Conversion

Claudiu is very transparent about attribution and ROI. VideoWise has two attribution models for tracking points of conversion, stemming from:

Influence orders
Direct orders

For influence orders, VideoWise tracks what orders are being made after a shopper engages with the video content in the same browser session. If a shopper watches the video then immediately buys the product, their purchase is defined as an influence order.

VideoWise considers video engagement to be at least 5 seconds of watch time. If a shopper doesn’t watch at least 5 seconds of the video, VideoWise doesn’t consider that to be engagement and doesn’t track it in attribution.

Direct orders, or direct attribution, occur when a customer makes an order inside the video. That's what's so important about shoppable videos. Generally, VideoWise sees most direct orders coming from mobile with a 70% / 30% ratio on mobile vs desktop.

It’s safe to say that when it comes to conversion rates, Claudiu values honest data above all else.

“We’re honest because we see that these videos work.”

Visit VideoWise or follow Claudiu on LinkedIn and Twitter to find out more about boosting your revenue with video.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#73 How to Scale Your Ecommerce Quickly and Safely

The top piece of advice you’ll hear from ecommerce experts is: know your tools. And, boy, there is a heck of a lot of them! Let’s talk about turning your business into an automated scaling machine.

Trevor Limis the CEO of Atomatic, an agency that synchronizes ecommerce tools to optimize efficiency and allow business owners to focus on what’s important: growth.

Tune in to hear Trevor and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss systemizing your business, scaling your ecommerce, and:

✔️ Making Your Customer Support Team Your Sales Team

✔️ The 4 Levels of Company Autonomy

✔️ Tools to Manage Company Growth

✔️ Hiring Great Team Members

✔️ 3 Ways of Tackling Q4 While Managing Growth

Making Your Customer Support Team Your Sales Team

Marketing is all very well and good, but if your ecommerce has bad customer support, your customers aren’t coming back. And they’re going to discourage others from doing the same.

So how do we create a customer support system?

Trevor says that many companies turn to scripts and create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to do this. Scripts are fantastic - but Trevor advises against relying solely on strict scripts and SOP. This puts your company at risk of focusing more on the following SOP than actually resolving their customers’ problems.

Team members should not just be trained how to follow SOPs word for word, they need to know how to use them in the right way, equipped with the tools to address individual problems.

Take this a step further to train your customer service team in sales. A good customer experience is an ideal opportunity to upsell. When a problem or request is solved, train your customer service team to suggest complementary products or subscriptions.

The 4 Levels of Company Autonomy

Before we dive into Trevor’s Autonomy principles, let’s talk about what company autonomy actually is.

Trevor defines company autonomy as a company’s ability to fully function without excessive input from management. That is, every single team member has the initiative to make the right decisions for their company’s growth.

Let’s dive in:

Level 0: Zero Autonomy. Everything is done manually.
Level 1: This is a step up from level 0. This is where a company begins making use of tools and software to help automate parts of its business.
Level 2: Semi autonomous. When your team members are following a set of systems or SOPs to operate tools and software for basic processes.
Level 3: Fully autonomous. Team members are able to respond to given situations quickly and efficiently using tools, software, and SOPs. They also have some understanding as to how their company will function differently in the future.

Achieving autonomy, Trevor says, is ultimately about synchronising software and company systems to achieve optimal efficiency.

Tools to Manage Company Growth

Trevor warns against over-automation. It’s easy to get so carried away with all these different company tools that you forget the most important thing about using them: synchronization.

Atomatic is all about getting everything smoothly running together in harmony.

So what ecommerce tools does Trevor recommend?

Start with a project management tool. This could be ClickUp, Trello, or Monday.com. Plotting your processes in line for your team members to see is crucial to running a business. Project management tools make it easy to see clearly which team member is doing what.

In terms of team communication - there’s no need to make this complicated. Slack and WhatsApp work perfectly well.

Trevor is a strong advocate for Gorgias - a customer service software designed purely for ecommerce. With Q4 quickly approaching, it’s good to think about automating some of those customer service replies the right way. Gorgias makes use of AI and machine learning to not only respond to queries in a relevant way, but even upsell in the process.

Klaviyo, of course, a Budai Media favorite, is a fantastic tool for email marketing.

Trevor’s top tip? Know your tools, and keep it simple.

Hiring Great Team Members

If you’re thinking about hiring, both Trevor and Daniel recommend beginning the hiring process before Q4. This will allow for enough time for training before your business’s busiest season.

Do bear in mind that things will calm down in Q1 and make sure to hire people with a varied skill set. This means that they can continue to help your company grow beyond hard sales at the end of the year.

3 Ways to Tackle Q4 While Managing Company Growth

If you’re a dropshipper, do as much product research as possible before Q4 officially begins. This is so you don’t waste precious time on product research during such a critical period for your business. This is a time for scaling ads, efforts, and handling the increased number of customers.
Look for partners. Look towards multiple suppliers in case communication breaks down or product fulfilment slows down. Have a few back up plans so that products reach your customers on time.
Automate Customer Service as much as possible. The less time your team members need to work on the customer service side of things, the faster problems will be resolved. Make sure that all your tools are verified and tested to minimize the possibility of technical issues.

TL;DR: Know how to automate your ecommerce as much as possible. Keep it simple, and make sure you’re prepared for Q4!

Visit Atomatic or connect with Trevor on LinkedIn or Facebook to find out more about turning your ecom systems into a fully optimized scaling machine.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#72 Authentic Marketing and Why it Matters: LoudCrowd and UGC

Social Media floods us with marketing every single day. How are you gonna stand out in the sea of Instagram and TikTok ads? Authentic marketing. And how do we keep it authentic? Three words: User Generated Content (UGC).

Alex Johnson is the Head of Strategic Partnerships at LoudCrowd. LoudCrowd empowers ecommerce owners to connect with their most valuable customers to generate UGC that works. LoudCrowd is trusted by leading brands including GymShark, Revolution Beauty London, and Verb for getting customers beyond the purchase and into marketing. Tune in to hear Alex and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ What Brought Alex into Marketing

✔️ What’s So Important About UGC?

✔️ Influencer Marketing

✔️ LoudCrowd’s Approach

✔️ The Best Platforms for UGC

✔️ Tips and Tricks for UGC

What Brought Alex into Marketing?

Alex actually started out in the sports world. A huge fan of football and basketball, Alex became good friends with a marketing grad assistant who was working for the sports department at their college. Soon enough, Alex was getting involved with game day promos and campaigns, event ticketing, and sponsorships: diving into all things sports marketing and keeping it up all through college. Alex was in the marketing world for a while before transitioning into sales, actually working with the CEO and Co-Founder of LoudCrowd, Gary, at a different company, years before LoudCrowd got started.

Alex’s work in live sports events took a turn last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Alex was able to make the transition - all the way from marketing, through sales, into media, and eventually into marketing with LoudCrowd.

What’s So Important About UGC?

Alex assured Daniel that around 90% of the social media content comes from brand customers. The top 1% of a brand’s social advocates typically create between 15% to 20% of their content. It’s powerful stuff.

UGC is the most authentic and engaging content out there. It’s going to outperform anything and a brand curates and posts on their own due to social media platforms gating their content.

As a brand gets more and more followers, it becomes harder to reach them. The same goes for influencer marketers. As they become increasingly popular, their content is perceived to be less engaging and authentic.

That’s where UGC comes in. Customers sharing their love for a brand via social media stands out as authentic as it gets. Most of the smart marketers are saying that 90% of customers trust earned media i.e. referrals from friends and family that’s coming through social media. Ads with UGC typically see around four times higher click through rates.

When Apple and Google changed their privacy policies, it became a lot more difficult for smaller direct to consumer (D2C) brands to make returns on their ad spend. LoudCrowd’s solution? Turn your customers into advertisers to build a long-term marketing strategy.

Influencer Marketing

So what’s Alex’s opinion on influencer marketing?

If you have the budget, influencer marketing has certainly been shown to be effective. But Alex believes that influencer marketing is losing its effectiveness. You can only follow so many people that you have no idea why they’re famous and watch them push products. Understandably, most of us assume that influencers are getting paid a ton of money to advertise a certain product. A referral from a customer, especially if from a friend or family member, is going to be a lot more powerful.

“The future of marketing is customer-led”

You’re going to trust a friend, family member, or somebody that you follow on social media more than an empty review. LoudCrowd heavily focuses on incentivising customers to post content on Instagram and TikTok for this very reason.

If you do want to dabble in influencer marketing, Daniel and Alex both recommend beginning with micro-influencers, seeing how that goes, and scaling up.

What’s LoudCrowd’s Approach?

LoudCrowd is, first and foremost, a customer-led growth platform, ultimately helping ecom owners measure and scale UGC. LoudCrowd isn’t an influencer platform and is not focused on finding new people that have never interacted with your brand and creating a ‘follower persona’.

Instead, LoudCrowd creates unique Ambassador programmes for people who have tagged your brand on Instagram and TikTok.

Exclusive Ambassador Programme

High-value super fans with a good following, and very engaging content. These are invited to exclusive reward programmes where they get access to high-value credit free products, early access to product releases and content, event tickets, calls with the founder, etc.

Loyalty Ambassador Programme

These are for all customers engaged with your brand on social media. LoudCrowd offers spending incentives such as discounts and store credit. This builds a community around your brand and turns your customers into nano influencers that produce authentic content. This creates an entire marketing cycle that encourages customers to continue engaging with and buying from your brand.

LoudCrowd takes on a data-driven approach to incentives. Rewards are based on a tier system, offering greater rewards to those who generate the most valuable content. This increases their lifetime value and optimizes conversion rates.

What Platforms Work Best for UGC?

LoudCrowd has seen incredible success with Instagram. It’s become the ecommerce social media platform. Watchwear brand MVMT became a billion-dollar brand just from Instagram ads.

While Instagram is LoudCrowd’s ‘bread and butter’, they’re also now jumping onto TikTok.

So is Alex concerned about migration to TikTok?

Alex considers Instagram and TikTok to be two strong, but different platforms. TikTok is more music and video-based; Instagram relies more on more static posts - but this is changing with the introduction of ‘reels’ - short videos similar to the TikTok format. Alex certainly isn’t concerned about Instagram dwindling with its billions of users and the response evoked during its 6-hour shutdown. The response wasn’t so much, “Thank God we have TikTok”, it was more so upset at not having access to Instagram.

LoudCrowd enjoys the best of both worlds with rewards for customer engagement on both Instagram and TikTok.

Alex’s Tips and Tricks for UGC

Often, it’s as simple as asking customers to tag your handle to be featured on your Instagram and TikTok. And make sure to actually feature people that do. If you don’t feature your customers, your post instantly loses validity and comprises trust in your brand.

Hashtag data is great, but as Instagram doesn’t consider anyone to own hashtags, it can get messy. So focus on the handle.

When your customer has finished an order, remind them to join your VIP rewards programme on your landing page.

Contests are also great. You’ll see a lot of brands posting “Tag 3 friends to win such-and-such a product”. LoudCrowd goes a step further by launching a photo of customers: to enter, customers post a picture of them with their product with a hashtag or handle that the brand can use to track entries. That way you’re getting hundreds of engaging individual posts - you’re not just tagging three people that will see your post for a second or two.

TL;DR: UGC is fantastic marketing. Use Instagram and TikTok. Test competitions, and check out LoudCrowd!

Visit LoudCrowd or connect with Alex on LinkedIn to find out more about scaling your brand with UGC.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#71 Looking to the Future of Ecommerce: What to Expect

Ecommerce has never just been about selling. With ever-evolving digital technology, emerging social platforms, and changes in data privacy, ecommerce has always been about adaptability.

Casey Roeder is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Skylab Media, an omnichannel marketing agency that looks to the future of ecommerce. Skylab media not only covers lifecycle marketing, SMS, paid social, and paid search, it strategizes crypto advertising campaigns, NFT marketing, podcast marketing, and more.

Tune in to hear Casey and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ Casey’s Journey into Entrepreneurship

✔️ Casey’s Business Approach

✔️ New and Emerging Marketing Channels

✔️ The Future of Ecommerce

✔️ Casey’s Tips for Q4

Casey’s Journey into Entrepreneurship

Casey began working in marketing in 2013. In 2016-2027, Casey worked at Hawke Media, one of the biggest names in D2C (direct to consumer) marketing. Casey and his team oversaw Hawke Media’s growth into the company it is today.

At the forefront of management services and advertising, Casey worked in email, paid search, SMS, and collaboration with Octane AI for Facebook Messenger Marketing.

Fast forward to three years later, Casey was working at MuteSix when he was approached by another agency on LinkedIn with a VP Marketing job offer in Hollywood. At that time, Casey was watching a lot of Dave Ramsey videos on getting rid of debt, developing financial literacy skills, and learning how to be financially independent. One of Ramsey’s pieces of advice was to ask for a raise and/or get a second job if you’re not making as much as you’d want to. Casey, however, didn’t want to leave his job at MuteSix, so offered to become VP of Marketing only on a freelance basis.

Over the course of the following year and a half, Casey dived into the hustle. One of his co-workers said that he was surprised that Casey wasn’t running his own business.

“That’s where the wheels started turning. I’m like, maybe I can do this. Because in order to be an entrepreneur, you have to have the hustle, you have to be able to work under pressure, you need that grind.”

Having that foundation and skillset, Casey took a leap of faith and founded Skylab Media. Two years later, Skylab Media is thriving as an omnichannel marketing agency that offers futuristic services in NFT, cryptocurrency, and podcast marketing.

Casey’s Business Approach

So now that Casey’s running an entire agency, what’s his approach?

In terms of the hiring process, Casey is all about transparency. He makes it very clear that his employees and potential employees shouldn’t expect an average 9 - 5 workday. But hard work will be rewarded.

The most important thing for Casey is not entry or senior levels, it’s about who’s willing to put in the work.

New and Emerging Marketing Channels

Social search, lifestyle, and influencer marketing are what Casey describes as the “new age” of print and TV marketing.

Skylab Media offers services in paid socials, paid search, SMS Marketing, and Email Marketing. But what sets Skylab Media apart from its competitors lies in its services in newer (and very hot) markets: cryptocurrency, NFT, podcast marketing, Spotify. Well beyond what your average DTC agency provides.

“It’s cool, it’s new, it’s something that people aren’t doing. And it’s really fun. And why not enter that market as one of the leaders?”

A lot of investors right now know that cryptocurrency is something that should be taken very seriously, especially when we think about the rollout of 5G and new technologies.

Casey believes that most marketing agencies also aren’t thinking about AR, VR, and Oculus. When these innovations become increasingly present in our everyday lives over the next couple of decades, customers will want to bring them into their digital experiences. Casey is already thinking about this - pointing out that AR and VR will give so many more opportunities for brand-customer interaction than the 2D realm.

The Future of Ecommerce

So what does Casey expect to see in the future of ecommerce?

As many of us know, the iOS15 update is taking a huge hit on many small business owners. Enterprise accounts are not as affected because they have an entire plethora of different services going for them. It’s really hitting home for those who are just starting out and mid-sized agencies that rely on advertising longer than a seven-day window period.

Casey advises diving into TikTok, influencer email marketing, and SMS marketing. When done well, these should offset the dip in performance on longer attribution window cycles that used to be available on Facebook and Instagram. SMS Marketing especially, Casey assures, is your “best friend”. What other advertising platform can reach the palm of your customer’s hand with a 90 open rate and a return on average greater than 10x? Nothing other than SMS has the ability to do that.

And TikTok?

TikTok is a fantastic platform for going viral - you’re more likely to go viral on TikTok than Facebook and Instagram. TikTok isn’t as moderated and CPM rates (cost per mille - price of 1000 advertisement impressions) are under $3 on average. TikTok is also rolling out a lot of advertising features very similar to Facebook, such as a storefront and tagging your products for sales.

A lot of big players are now advertising on TikTok. If you’re not on it, Casey advises, to hop right on it. Its algorithm is fantastic and you can get returns from day one. Just make sure that you are as organic as possible and stay very mindful of how you portray your brand. Brand loyalty, identity, and perception on TikTok are very different from how they are on Facebook and Instagram. The two main demographics on TikTok are Gen Z and millennials. The way Gen Z will interact with a brand is completely different from that of any other demographic, including older millennials.

As for other advertising avenues?

Casey says that Snapchat is a very underrated platform and well worth exploring.

Podcast marketing is key to building and growing a dedicated audience that will listen to your brand. In terms of influencer marketing, getting your ads on podcasts you know your audience would be interested in is a fantastic way to get through to them.

Casey’s Tips for Q4

Plan ahead. You don’t want to be scrambling at the last minute to approve Adsense or creatives. If you’re a small to midsize business, make sure all your Black Friday plans are planned by October.

If you're a Gen Z brand, consider donating some of your profits to a charity or a cause - your audience will really gravitate towards that.

Take a holistic approach: what platforms are going to work for your brand? If you don’t have the budget for a huge omnichannel marketing venture, think outside the box. Can you give influencers a product in exchange for content? How can you encourage UGC?

Whatever you do, don’t miss the opportunity. November and December will be your best time for profit.

TL;DR: Look to the future of ecommerce. Use TikTok and SMS marketing, prepare, prepare, and prepare some more for Q4.

Visit Skylab Media or follow them on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to take your advertising light years ahead of everyone else.

Connect with Casey on LinkedIn for all things startups, growth, and omnichannel marketing.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#70 It’s Not All About the First Click: Maximizing AOV the Right Way Sometimes we can get so obsessed with lead generation and conversion we actually forget that one of the most lucrative channels for return on investment (ROI) lies in average order value (AOV).

Kiril Kirilov is the CEO and Co-Founder of Rush, a Shopify shipment software company that automates the shipment process, allows ecommerce store owners to create branded tracking pages, and integrates with Klaviyo, Reviews.io, Loox, and more to guarantee 6 times more revenue from post-purchase flows.

Tune in to hear Kiril and our podcast host and CEO Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ Kiril’s adventure into digital marketing

✔️ What problems does Rush address?

✔️ What does it mean to have a branded tracking page?

✔️ Going beyond the first click

Kiril’s adventure into digital marketing Kiril has actually been a track and field athlete for most of his life. In 2008, he found himself needing an income stream to support his sports endeavors.

Like many ecommerce entrepreneurs, Kiril began exploring eBay, then started looking into Amazon. This, Kiril believes, led to a ‘natural progression’ into Shopify. In 2016, Kiril saw an opportunity in Facebook ads, and worked on those before entering the world of dropshipping three or so years later.

So it’s safe to say that Kiril has a well-rounded resume in digital marketing. He’s familiar with customer pain points, and, indeed, those of the business owner. In particular, Kiril identified a gap in brand-customer communication: from order to unboxing. This led to dissatisfaction for the customer and frustration for business owners losing customers after their first purchase. With his partner taking care of the technical side of things, Kiril co-founded Rush, an app designed to improve the customer experience post-purchase, therefore significantly increasing AOV and customer retention.

“We want to help businesses grow and retain their customers for as long as humanly possible.”

What problems does Rush address? Rush was founded to address knowledge gaps. Kiril says he didn’t set out to reinvent the wheel, but to create a better one.

Before he started Rush, Kiril was running a dropshipping store in the pet niche. He scaled a product from zero to almost half a million in a matter of 45 days. Great, right? Well, Kiril faced the challenge of very angry customers who weren’t being notified of their order because the store and its dropshippers had become completely overwhelmed.

This led to Kiril and his partner sitting down with a pen and paper to figure out how to provide clarity to shipping carriers and customers. Kiril decided that customers needed to be notified on every step of their product’s journey, including delays. Knowing what to expect is crucial to customer satisfaction.

And these order updates get opened! So why not use them for upselling and brand communication? That’s where Rush came in. Rush supports brand-customer communication throughout the entire shipment process - not only making ecommerce store owners more money in the short term but dramatically increasing AOV and customer satisfaction.

What does it mean to have a branded tracking page? A single buyer is going to go back to their tracking page at least 3 or 4 times before their parcel gets delivered.

This is therefore a fantastic page to display brand banners, call to action (CTA) buttons, social proof from review apps, and showcase complementary products for their purchase. Branded tracking pages are possibly the best place for upselling. Kiril asserts that click-through rates on upsells are between 20% to 30% on order status pages. Now that’s a heck of a lot of extra revenue.

Going beyond the first click Acquisition, conversion, and retention go way beyond your customers’ first click. Kiril warns against focusing solely on the first click your customer makes and ignoring the dozen or so clicks after that.

Focus on your knowledge gaps, and make sure you understand your customer persona inside and out. What songs do they like? What do they like to eat? What kind of content do they consume online? Once you understand everything about your customer persona, you fill those knowledge gaps.

Kiril also advocated strongly for tone of voice (TOV) consistency. When they read your offer, it has to connect with what they’re going to see after the click. Provide social proof both on your ad and product page. As so many of us read emails on mobile, make sure to really make use of the 40% of space you have above the fold (what’s visible without scrolling).

“It’s about making sure that you provide as much information as humanly possible to push people to your cart.”

TL;DR Focus on the entirety of your customer journey, and provide as much clarity as possible, and use that order update journey!

Download Rush to increase your AOV by 25% and follow Kiril on LinkedIn for more fantastic advice for maximizing your ROI.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Maximize Your ROI with Facebook, Google, and User Generated Content Maximizing your ROI is all about knowing how to use your digital marketing tools. And there are a lot of them! We’re going to keep it simple this week by focusing on Facebook, Google, User Generated Content (UGC).

Well...and a little bit of Tik Tok.

As the Founder of OXG Media, Jonathan has increased the ROI for a ton of brands, including Hollywood Mirrors, EATs, SKYN.io, and many, many more. Jonathan’s MO is getting a baseline income of $50 - $500k a month for his clients.

We’re very excited to welcome Jonathan to the Ecom Show. Tune in to hear Jonathan and our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ Making a Facebook Ad That Converts

✔️ Collecting UGC

✔️ What Does a High Converting Google Ad Look Like?

✔️ How to Advertise on TikTok

✔️ Jonathan’s Advice for the Rest of the Year

Making a Facebook Ad That Converts Jonathan’s advice: “Tell people what they want to hear.”

The first step is conveying clearly how your product will meet their needs. The second step is removing the risk of disappointment. Finally, end your offer with a guarantee. Sounds simple right? It’s all about making your offer as strong as it can be. As Jonathan points out, basic and vague photo or even video ads simply don’t cut it any more.

Jonathan favors longer story-based copy. If you’re telling a story, you’re selling on emotion. Try not to rely solely on product features alone. No one can quantify a price on emotion or experience, so this is an especially useful tactic for products that are on the more expensive side of things.

And if you can launch a video ad, do it! Video is a very important part of ecommerce because people want to see the product they’re buying and hear reviews and testimonials for themselves. A video with 6 - 7 customer testimonials is a fantastic way to utilize UGC. Not only do you sell powerful experiences or emotive stories, you provide proof that your product delivers results.

Jonathan recommends using snippets of several testimonials on your Facebook ads, and putting the complete video with every testimonial in full on your landing page.

Collecting UGC So how do you go about collecting customer testimonials?

Jonathan says to hit that email list! Sort by customer lifetime value, and reach out to your repeat customers for a recorded testimonial. Make sure to provide incentives such as a discount or giveaways to really sweeten the deal. As these are your most loyal customers, they’ll probably be more than happy to provide a testimonial.

Even better, organize a Zoom call with the customer and company Founder. Not only does this show respect to your best customers, it gives you a lot of video material to work with.

What Does a High Converting Google Ad Look Like? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to create a successful Google Ad. Again it’s all about differentiating yourself from the competition. Make sure to research data and trends, but keep that irresistible offer.

Jonathan’s best advice is to take full advantage of Display Remarketing. Google’s remarketing feature lets you customize your ad campaigns for people who have previously visited your site but have not yet converted. This is invaluable for building brand familiarity and reminding potential customers of the pain point or need that drove them to your site in the first place.

How to Advertise on TikTok Now we can’t talk about video marketing without mentioning TikTok. Heck, we can’t even talk about the internet generally without talking about TikTok! Jonathan reasons that while the traffic on TikTok is super cheap, not every product is going to be a hit.

Products that work best on TikTok tend to be direct to consumer (DTC), and very visually appealing. DTC products that tend to do well on Facebook tend to work well on TikTok. If this applies to your brand, head on over there!

If your product is expensive and difficult to explain, TikTok may not be the platform for you.

So, What’s Jonathan’s Advice for the Rest of the Year? Facebook continues to be the best social media platform for driving traffic to your brand, so don’t be afraid to use it.

And, “you better do email!” Email is the best way to analyse customer behaviour and get to that all-important customer lifetime value. Figure out your value ladder, what people will buy, how much they’ll buy, and what your next upsell is. Generate organic traffic as much as you can.

TL;DR Collect UGC, sell stories and emotions, and know your customer!

Follow Jonathan on LinkedIn and visit OXG Media to find out more about taking your ROI to the next level.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

68 How To Turn Your Brand Into A Household Name

Becoming a household name is all about building an emotional connection with your customers. And the best way to do that? Storytelling.

Benton Crane is the CEO of the Harmon Brothers, the multiple award-winning marketing agency behind groundbreaking ad campaigns for Squatty Potty, FiberFix, and Orabrush, and many more! Their ads have been seen over 1.4 billion times and driven over $500 million in sales.

We’re honored to welcome Benton to The Ecom Show for a fantastic conversation with our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai about:

✔️ The Harmon Brothers: What’s Their Story?

✔️ Which Ad Formats Work?

✔️ Effective Storytelling

✔️ The Best Ads Out There

✔️ What You Need for Video Advertising

✔️ Turning Your Brand into a Household Name - Benton’s Advice

The Harmon Brothers: What’s Their Story? Benton says that the Harmon Brothers’ “Genesis event” occurred in 2006, when Google bought YouTube. Prior to 2006, YouTube lacked any business application. Google, of course, had visions for turning YouTube into an advertising platform.

Benton’s partners, in particular, Jeffrey Harmon, was one of the very first creators to put an ad on YouTube.

When Jeffrey was working on an ad for Orabrush, he chose what his colleagues considered to be a really odd ad length: two and a half minutes long. At the time this was unheard of: TV spots were usually 30 - 60 seconds and infomercial spots were 20 - 30 minutes long. But Jeffrey persisted. He reached out to YouTube and asked them if they could give him a “Skip Ad” button, so that those who want to watch the ad could do so and those who didn’t, well...they can skip it!

No one knew what a big deal the “Skip Ad” button was at the time. It was a giant shift in power from advertisers to viewers. Since the viewer was first given this choice 15 years ago, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok news feeds evolved and continue to operate on the same principle: if you don’t want to watch something, you scroll right past it.

“Everything we’ve ever done since then has been all based on the principle of giving the viewer something that they actually want and something that they can really enjoy.”

As Benton points out, a lot of people have not heard of the Harmon brothers, but almost everyone has heard of their clients. After Orabrush came Poo-Pourri, which, with help from the Harmon Brothers, grew from about $7 million per year to $30 million per year. Then came Squatty Potty which grew from $4 million per year to $30 million per year. Then Purple Mattresses which grew from $3 million per year to over $100 million per year, then Chatbooks, then FiberFix. The Harmon Brother’s most recent client is Lume Deodorant, starting off with $1.5 million earnings in 2018 to breaking $40 million in 2021.

It’s safe to say that the Harmon Brothers know how to scale. Every campaign operates on the same principle of adding value to viewers. This helps brands on their journey from what Benton calls their “poop to gold journey”. Taking them from obscurity where all entrepreneurs start, and helping to build trust over time to turn them into a household name.

Which Ad Formats Work? Benton advises that ads need to be “as long as it needs to be, but not a second longer.” The Harmon Brothers are very careful about getting rid of fluff. It’s all about getting the rhythm right. When it’s a good ad, your viewer could watch a five minute long ad without even realizing how long it is. A 30 second ad, however, if lazily done, can drag on and on because it’s boring.

The longest ad the Harmon brothers have ever created was 11 minutes, and their ads range all the way down from there. They also make shorter 15 to 30 to 60 second versions of two to four to five-minute ads. On average, Benton says a successful ad usually runs from two to four minutes.

Great, that’s the timing down, so what about the formats? One of the most effective but easiest to implement ad formats is what Benton refers to as the “explainer testimonial ad”. It starts with your elevator pitch: one - two sentences about what your product is and why it’s different, or why it matters to the customer. Then it’s a very simple case of providing five - eight customer reviews. Your customers essentially write the ad for you! You just need to go in and find ones that are compelling, entertaining, and make sure to include some variety.

This can be as simple as putting dynamic typography over images, or product shots. Or product shots while a narrator is reading your reviews. Or, if you want to make things really authentic, you may want to feature your customers actually giving their reviews on camera.

An explainer testimonial ad the Harmon Brothers created for Lume Deodorant was phenomenally successful, driving $3 million in direct trackable sales.

Another simple but fantastic ad format is a product demonstration video. A stop motion video of a product in use is a creative but clear way to convey value to the customer.

Effective Storytelling So at what level do you need to start on your storytelling? Benton advises that in the early stages of startup, all investment needs to go into making sales. It doesn’t make too much sense to focus on storytelling investments and character development before sales are coming in. Once you’ve grown your business to $1 to $2 million a year then you should start thinking about storytelling, character development and building a brand universe.

As for the Harmon Brothers? “We believe that we’re an organisation of storytellers. And we’ve become famous for the ads that we make.”

Storytelling is so important to advertising because humans are wired to transmit knowledge through storytelling. We remember stories, and we connect with stories. So when a brand taps into that, it makes the brand more memorable and trustworthy.

Essentially, Benton argues, a brand would be crazy not to be thinking about storytelling and making it a core part of who they are.

The Best Ads Out There Benton's favorite advertising series of all time is Apple’s “Get a Mac”, or “Mac Vs PC” ad campaign. The video series follows a standard but highly effective template: two men appear in a minimalist all-white background. The young man in casual clothes introduces himself as a Mac and the other, wearing a more formal suit and tie introduces himself as a PC. The PC is more of an “old timey” nerd, often frustrated with the Mac’s creative but effortless abilities. The series solidified Apple’s “cool”, “artistic” and “young” branding.

Of course, Benton holds many Harmon Brothers video ad campaigns close to his heart. One of his all-time favorites was their campaign for ‘FiberFix’, which involved throwing cars off a cliff (yes, really, check it out on YouTube!).

What You Need for Video Advertising Benton confirms that yes, picture quality, lighting, and resolution are needed for great cinematography. So yes, having the right equipment does make a difference.

However, in the storytelling world, the story comes first, and art comes second. If you don’t have a great story, or even a great sales pitch, none of the expensive gear matters. Benton recommends starting by experimenting with cell phone footage. It’s a great way to experiment with your stories and learn what works and what doesn’t work. Remember: an expensive camera can shoot bad footage and a lackluster story.

From Obscurity to Household Name: Benton’s Advice Benton advises that every entrepreneur should have a roadmap on how to become a household brand that people love and trust. Having a holistic picture is going to be very valuable on what you need to prioritize and identify.

Knowing your strategy will help you identify your toolkit. You may need Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or you may find that social media does not actually suit your personality and skill set. It all depends on your brand and strategy.

TL;DR - Nail your story, cut down the fluff, and make an ad your viewer wants to watch.

Join the Harmon Brothers University to get the knowledge you need to create ads that brand and sell, connect with Benton on LinkedIn , or visit the Harmon Brothers to get a crap-ton of eyes on your ads.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

#67 iOS 15 Will Drastically Change Email Marketing. Here’s What to Do. Apple’s upcoming iOS 15 update is going to change the way in which ecommerce owners communicate with their customers. And us email marketers need a change of strategy.

Valentina Rasello is an absolute champion at email marketing. With extensive experience in outreach strategy, lead generation, content creation, building marketing campaigns, and more, we’re very fortunate to have her as an Account Manager at Budai Media. Valentina always has her eye on the ever-changing world of ecommerce, so has she done her research on the upcoming iOS changes.

We’re delighted to welcome Valentina to The Ecom Show for an expert’s guide to iOS15 and how it affects email marketing. Valentina and our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ Valentina’s Psychological Approach to Marketing

✔️ What is the iOS 15 Update

✔️ How Should Ecommerce Owners Prepare for this Update

Valentina’s Psychological Approach to Marketing Aside from her linguistic interest and prowess in Italian, Spanish, English, and Chinese, Valentina has always been interested in psychology. How the brain works, and why people make some choices and not others.

This evolved into an exploration into why people choose to buy and why they don’t. Always one for learning new things, Valentina took a deep dive into the world of marketing, taking online courses on content creation, lead generation, outreach…you name it! So began Valentina’s journey into marketing, eventually leading to her current position as Account Manager at Budai Media.

Valentina loves what she describes as her “dynamic” job, especially enjoying the many opportunities it provides to analyze customer behaviour.

What is the iOS 15 Update? Apple’s iOS 15 update is set to be released this Fall. It’s going to impact two main areas: email marketing and ecommerce.

iOS 15’s Mail Privacy Protection feature will allow users to hide their IP address. This means that senders will not be able to see whether Apple Mail users have opened their email or not, impacting the effectiveness of A/B testing in all areas.

Valentina warns against catastrophizing, however. This change only applies to those with Apple devices, who use Apple Mail, and have decided to opt in to Mail Privacy Protection. Mail Privacy will not be in effect on other email apps, such as Google Mail, even if accessed on an Apple device.

The next iOS feature to think about is ‘Hide My Email’. Users can use ‘Hide My Email’ to direct marketing emails to an Apple generated randomized email. In other words they can create a ‘burner’ email.

So How Should Ecommerce Owners Prepare for this Update? Focus especially on open rates, as they will be most affected by iOS 15’s Mail Privacy Protection Feature. Also test subject lines, previews, send times, pretty much everything before the update is implemented.

A/B test like there’s no tomorrow.

Also make sure to clean that email list! When the iOS 15 updates arrive, it will be more difficult to know who is opening emails and who isn’t. We generally recommend list cleaning once a month, but now is a better time than any to remove unengaged customers from your list.

Following A/B tests and list cleaning, ecommerce owners need to begin shifting their focus to other metrics. Valentina recommends closely analyzing click rate and shipping recency and frequency. Get a microscope on customer behaviour. How often they buy, how they interact with your brand, what their favourite products are. All the good stuff. This will be instrumental in creating targeted campaign plans

TL;DR - Don’t panic! But make sure to A/B test, clean your list, and focus on click-through rate and customer behaviour.

Connect with https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-rasello-770954168/Valentina on LinkedIn if you’re looking for digital marketing or linguistic expertise.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

66 Crack the Code: Facebook Video Ads

Facebook is changing. The emergence and rapid growth of TikTok and the disappearance of 3rd party data calls for a shift in marketing strategy.

The CEO of BlitzMetrics, Dennis Yu, argues that there’s no better time to run Facebook ads than now. It’s just about putting out the right content. As an internationally recognised lecturer in digital marketing with over 20 years of web analytics experience, Dennis knows ecommerce, and he knows how to teach it.

We’re very excited to welcome Dennis to the Ecom Show for a deep dive into Facebook Video Ads and what makes them successful. Dennis and our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ Dennis’s Unusual Introduction to Ecommerce

✔️ The Rise of TikTok and Why it Matters to Ecommerce

✔️ How to Advertise Successfully on Facebook

✔️ The Importance of Storytelling to Customer Acquisition and Retention

Dennis’s Unusual Introduction into Ecommerce Dennis describes himself as a “maths person”. Web analytics have been an integral part of Dennis’s career development. Over 20 years ago, Dennis built Yahoo’s internal analytics.

“Behind business, success, and the algorithm, there’s always maths to figure out what’s going on.”

And in an ecommerce world of marketing, sales, and business people, Dennis brought a different perspective to the table. Dennis works to bring the connection between maths and human psychology to the heart of marketing.

The Rise of TikTok and Why it Matters to Ecommerce So why has TikTok seen such a rapid rise of popularity over the last few years? Short answer - its highly sophisticated algorithm.

Dennis says that while TikTok engineers won’t reveal their algorithm, it’s clear that they’re willing to collect a lot more data based on user activity, including image recognition. Dennis recalls a TikTok made at YouTuber Jake Paul’s house. TikTok recognised Paul’s house and showed the video to his fans. Facebook and Instagram, Dennis points out, are not going to get to that level of image recognition anytime soon.

Beyond this, TikTok recognises when a user watches a video multiple times, collecting data even on where they stop watching their current video and return to previously viewed content.

TikTok has incredible potential for ecommerce owners. The traffic is cheap and conversion is great if you have the right kind of content. TikTok adverts are all about entertainment and personality based selling.

How to Advertise Successfully on Facebook Facebook is one of many social media channels, including not only TikTok, but also Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. If we’re talking about video ads, ecommerce owners also have YouTube to contend with.

So why Facebook? Facebook is the number 1 online platform for generating sales. Advertising on Facebook is simply a different ballpark to what it used to be. Brands can no longer rely on 3rd party data, so their video content has to be primed for conversion.

Dennis advises: * Use a short form ad structure. The average watch time on Facebook is 6 seconds. So make those first 6 seconds captivating and keep your ad 15 seconds to a minute long. * Repurpose your Facebook content. If you keep your ad short, you can use it on TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. * Use vertical video. * Don’t use your phone’s built in microphone. Make sure your speaker is properly miced up. * Add captions. * Only batch test 3 - 4 ads at a time. When you find a ‘winning’ ad, it’s time to pump more money into that rather than waste your budget on new ads. When a winning ad works, it works time and time again. Spend 80% of your budget testing and improving your winner. * Have a storyline: what’s the hook, what’s the pain you’re reigniting, how do you introduce your solution, and what’s your CTA?

And Dennis’s number one piece of advice? Collect customer stories.

“Customers write the best copy.”

Your number one job with Facebook ads is to collect user-generated content (UGC) and fine tune it into an ad.

The Importance of Storytelling to Customer Retention and Acquisition Dennis cannot emphasise enough the power of customer storytelling. To put it simply, a good Facebook ad is a video featuring your customers. It isn’t a testimonial, it’s a story about how they feel about your product. People convert because of the why.

When reaching out to your customers, ask their story via video. Find out what inspired them to buy and how your product made them feel.

Dennis maintains that if you’re the face of the company that you need to personally collect UGC from your best customers. In a video interview you build rapport, create more energy, and have the freedom for follow-up questions.

If you have thousands and thousands of customers, it is not, of course, possible to get on the phone with every single one, but you can do it with a few hundred and have virtual assistants help you out with the rest.

Consider sending your customers fun gifts with hand written notes. This will encourage them to create their own content and engage with their brand. It’s simply a case of being receptive and fine-tuning their content.

TL;DR - The best Facebook ad is a customer story. Collect as much UGC as you can.

For all things branding, scaling, and digital marketing, follow Dennis on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Facebook Advertising - What’s the Key to Success? Facebook Advertising is changing. At a time when data analytics are becoming increasingly uncertain due to the upcoming iOS15 update, the quality of creatives (creative advertising) is more important than ever.

Sufian Asghar is the Founder of SZN Media, an agency that boosts ecommerce growth with ROI (Return on Investment) driven advertising. Its team of Facebook specialists dramatically scale their clients' customer acquisition through creative advertising. Sufian has a lot of wisdom to share about Facebook creatives!

We’re delighted to hear Sufian and our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️ How Sufian Became a Founder

✔️ The iOS15 Data Changes

✔️ Branding That Works

✔️ The Key to Facebook Advertising Success

How Sufian Became a Founder Sufian began looking for new ways to make money in his final year of university as a newly married man. As he was starting out with no capital, a business model that required as little start-up investment as possible made the most sense.

So Sufian began offering marketing services to local businesses. Initially working for free, a make-up brand started paying once they saw his amazing CRO (conversion rate optimization) results. This turned into a string of referrals to Sufian, which enabled him to start hiring. To this day SZN acquires clients almost solely from referrals and social proof.

The iOS15 Data Changes Now you can’t work in Facebook advertising without being acutely aware of the upcoming iOS15 changes. Sufian points out that Facebook is pretty quiet about the data they own because they don’t want to raise concern, but the reality is they currently have data on several million people.

So how are the iOS15 data changes going to affect this? The question remains as to the long-term implications for the iOS changes, but the update could entail a huge loss of data for Facebook if its users opt-out of data tracking. This means the Facebook algorithm will get a lot less sophisticated at finding relevant customers for its ads.

The solution? Daniel and Sufian agree that the quality of creatives needs to be amped up more than ever before. As ecommerce has to rely less and less on Facebook data tracking, marketers need to really take advantage of the creative control they have over their own branding.

Branding that Works A key problem that Sufian finds in ecommerce and Facebook advertising is a lack of congruency.

Sufian cannot stress enough the importance of having a consistent brand voice across ads, your website, emails, and customer communication. If you have several different voices for multiple channels, it will become near impossible for your customers to connect with your brand because they will not know what to expect from you.

Branding is not an entity in itself, it's the feeling your customers get when they resonate with your brand because their principles align with yours. GymShark, Sufian provides as an example, was founded on the basis of providing high-quality and stylish gym clothes. Even with their huge expansion, they haven’t lost touch with their initial incentive. And that’s been key to their success.

So know your brand principles. Without them, it will be difficult to communicate effectively with your employees, partners, and customers. They may gradually evolve over time but make sure that your brand stands clearly for something.

The Key to Facebook Advertising Success So aside from consistent and confident branding, what’s the key to Facebook advertising success?

Sufian shares a research technique SZN uses that he recommends anyone who wants to get into Facebook advertising to do:

Every day SZN’s in-house designers do at least one hour of Facebook ad library research.

Use keyword research to see what your competitors are doing. Then scroll through Facebook’s ad library to see what active ads have been running for a long time. If you see an ad that has been running for at least 2 months, you know that it’s effective. That ad will provide great inspiration for your ads and content.

After conducting this research, SZN’s in-house designers share their concepts with the team to get feedback. This means that the entire team learns more every day about what makes a good Facebook ad and designers get to make tons of content to test and qualify.

TL;DR: Consistent branding + competitor research + good creatives = successful Facebook Advertising.

For more fantastic advice on Facebook Advertising, reach out to Sufian on LinkedIn, follow him on Instagram @sufian.asg, or visit https://szn-media.co/.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Ecommerce and Retail - Can You Do Both? It’s no secret that ecommerce has absolutely skyrocketed over the last couple of years. But what about retail? As shops are opening up again, more and more customers are craving that in-person shopping experience.

International retail executive and consultant, Stephen Rector, has extensive experience leading merchandise strategies in both retail and ecommerce. In 2017, Stephen helped establish Macy’s supply chain in China, creating a multimillion-dollar international expansion business. Now he works with several startups to accelerate growth for digital and in-store businesses. It’s safe to say that Stephen knows how to scale!

We’re very excited to welcome Stephen to The Ecom Show. Our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai chats to Stephen about:

✔️ Stephen’s Journey into Retail and Ecommerce

✔️ Ecommerce Retail

✔️ Building Brand Awareness

✔️ Breaking Into Retail

Stephen’s Journey into Retail and Ecommerce Like many marketers, Stephen didn’t study digital strategy and marketing at university. Instead, he studied Political Science and International Relations at the University of Missouri - Columbia. Writing papers and preparing and delivering presentations, although unrelated to retail and ecommerce, proved invaluable to Stephen’s communication skills. Stephen says that he’s been utilizing the skills he acquired at university throughout his entire career.

Whilst in university, Stephen worked full time in retail as a Manager in a music store. When he graduated, his experience attracted companies in...you guessed it, retail!

Since then, Stephen has worked in merchandising, branding, sourcing, and pricing, swiftly honing his skills in retail to ecommerce in the 2000s

Ecommerce Retail Huge ecommerce stores have an interesting relationship with retail. Amazon, for example, implements ecommerce tactics for data collection in all their physical stores. Cameras and shelf stock collect buyer data, behaviour, and conversion rates.

Stephen also points out that many Amazon stores across the US don’t have a checkout. Instead, customers are automatically charged when they add items to their basket.

Amazon isn’t alone in its efforts to enter the world of retail. The Founder of Gymshark, Ben Francis, speaks openly on his YouTube channel about opening physical stores with gyms where customers can work out and try on clothing.

If you’re thinking about moving your ecommerce store to retail, make sure to continue using all that valuable data you’ve been collecting!

Building Brand Awareness Stephen points out that it’s harder to get brand awareness in-store than it is online because retail is saturated with brands that so many people are familiar with.

Stephen advises that the vast majority of sellers need to build brand awareness online before even thinking about trying to get into a retail store.

And brand awareness building doesn’t stop once you get to retail. Stephen praises Casper Mattresses for having a fantastic ecommerce strategy and partnering with Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond. In order to scale, it’s clear that you need as many eyes on you as possible both online and offline.

Breaking Into Retail Daniel and Stephen agree that building brand awareness online is the first step towards breaking into retail. Other than this, Stephen identifies the 2 biggest challenges of doing business with retailers:

Breaking through the wall to get through to them
Managing costs correctly

Getting through to retailers isn’t a walk in the park. Aside from online branding, use your network as much as you can. If you have anyone with retail connections - get in touch! You can also find specialists on how to enter retail relationships or partnerships on LinkedIn.

Evaluate how much it costs to make your merchandise before meeting your retailer. Your retailer will be aggressively pushing down costs on their end as much as possible. Know your stuff, and know your profit margin. Take a look at your competitors in your chosen store, their price point and category. What’s your differentiation? It’s all about presentation and profit.

TL;DR - If you’re thinking about going into in-store retail, your first step is ecommerce.

For more advice on retail, ecommerce, and merchandising strategy, reach out to Stephen on LinkedIn.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Follow These 3 Steps to Succeed in Ecommerce Innovation is the go-to word in ecommerce. Not only do ecommerce brands have to adapt to changing marketing trends, they also need to stay up to date with rapid technological progress.

Damiano Raveenthiran knows a thing or two about innovation. As the Founder and CEO of Startup Slang, Damiano has worked with design development services for over 2000 merchants including brands such as Dyson, Panasonic, and Glu.

We are delighted to welcome Damiano to The Ecom Show. Tune into episode 63 to hear our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, and Damiano discuss:

✔️ Damiano’s Entrepreneurial Journey

✔️ Choosing the Right Marketing Agency

✔️ Using Innovative Technology

✔️ Startup Slang’s Checkout Boosters

✔️ 3 Steps You Need to Succeed in Ecommerce

Damiano’s Entrepreneurial Journey Like most entrepreneurs, Damiano began freelancing. He’s always been interested in websites and technology, but it was only after he finished school that he began seeing how he could create a career in ecommerce.

After Damiano describes it as a ‘lot of trial and error’, he joined Fiverr as a freelancer in 2016. From learning how to build Shopify stores on YouTube, to developing his skills and experience on Fiverr, Damiano began earning 6 figures in his first year of joining the platform.

Damiano says he’s very grateful to Fiverr for getting him to where he is today. In 2017, he founded Startup Slang. What began as a design services platform evolved into the ‘full stack’ ecommerce agency it is today.

Choosing the Right Marketing Agency There is a heck of a lot of marketing agencies out there. There are pros and cons of those who offer more specific services and those who have a more generalist approach.

Damiano says that any agency that has the full ecommerce supply chain will have some services that are better than others. Startup Slang, for example, began with design and development, so naturally, their design and development is the strongest in their stack. Coupled with Damiano’s focus on automation, Startup Slang had strong foundations for its evolution into a growth package for startups.

Damiano’s advice is to look at company structure. It’s not about knowing if something is ‘better’ or ‘worse’, it’s more about discerning whether their strengths are channeled towards the processes you’re looking for.

Using Innovative Technology One of Damiano’s proudest ventures involves a furniture store. Furniture ecommerce, Damiano explains, is one of Startup Slang’s strengths. Once you solve problems for one store, you’ve solved most of the problems for the others.

Startup Slang connected one of their furniture stores in the US with a mobile game where users can design their own home decor. This allowed players to purchase in-game furniture using in-game currency. The app has about 3 million players per day, so it’s been a fantastic extra source of revenue for Startup Slang’s client.

Damiano’s case study gives a clear message to any merchants looking for agencies: look for agencies who have an innovative approach. Thinking outside the box in terms of marketing channels and technology really pays off.

Startup Slang’s Checkout Boosters Talking of innovation, Damiano chats to Daniel about Startup Slang’s new checkout boosters.

When you run a marketing campaign, you’re going to have a lot of people that don’t go through the entire funnel. That is, there are a lot of abandoned carts.

Damiano noticed that many of his clients had millions of dollars waiting in abandoned carts. An ecommerce store has the option to send out abandoned cart flows via email and SMS, but that’s usually where the touchpoints stop.

Startup Slang experimented with calling up customers who abandoned their carts. An abandoned cart call generally had 3 outcomes:

Return to cart and completion of the transaction
Customer is upselled
The customer doesn’t wish to complete their transaction but they offer a reason for doing so.

Even if a customer didn’t complete their transaction, their reason for not doing so offered great data for sales funnel improvement. Startup Slang saw fantastic results for their merchants, even doubling conversion rates in many cases.

Watch this space for StartupSlang’s upcoming Abandoned Cart Caller app!

3 Steps You Need to Succeed in Ecommerce Over the last 3, Damiano has worked with over 2000 merchants. It’s safe to say he knows startups, and he knows ecommerce. Damiano advices that failed ecommerce startups miss 3 crucial steps:

Knowing Your Product If you don’t figure your product out, you’re doing a disservice to your brand and customers. Don’t start with anything else, not even your website, until you know your product.

Content Once you know your product. Make sure your content - videos, photographs, text, design etc is top-notch. Use everything necessary to talk to your audience.

Conversion Now we could talk about CRO until the cows come home. Once you’ve done the initial work of making sure that your customer/product experience is perfect and the content is really speaking to your audience then you’ll have a much higher success rate. Also - never forget good customer service.

Thank you so much for joining us, Damiano. If you want to find out more about ecommerce and web development, connect with Damiano on LinkedIn or visit https://startupslang.com/.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Your Ecommerce Needs to Address the Seeker, Not the Customer In the ever-evolving world of ecommerce, it’s time to go beyond customer satisfaction. You need to understand what your customer is seeking.

This is the philosophy behind Raj De Datta’s best-selling book, ‘The Digital Seeker: A Guide for Digital Teams to Build Winning Experiences’. Raj is the Co Founder and CEO of Bloomreach, a leading Digital Experience Platform for ecommerce. Bloomreach combines unified customer data with AI predictive decisions to create a winning digital experience for ecommerce customers, or should we say, seekers.

We’re very excited to hear Raj and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️Bloomreach

✔️Understanding What the Customer is Seeking

✔️The Effect of COVID-19 on Ecommerce

✔️Using Customer Data Effectively and Responsibly

What is Bloomreach? Raj Co-Founded Bloomreach in 2009. What began as a data-driven search engine evolved into a platform that utilizes the full spectrum of ecommerce data and customer personalization.

Raj splits Bloomreach’s multiple features into three pillars of the customer journey:

Engagement
Inspiration
Discovery

The engagement pillar focuses on personalized marketing campaigns. Bloomreach uses first-party data to personalize every email, SMS, and brand-customer interaction.

Next comes inspiration. Bloomreach inspirescustomers to buy. This is all about content - creating beautiful creative ads that seek to address deeper customer motivation.

The third pillar, discovery, is aimed at navigation. Once a customer has decided to buy a particular product, a couch, for example, Bloomreach helps them discover the right one for them.

Essentially, Bloomreach addresses what the customer is seeking.

Understanding What the Customer is Seeking As a CEO of a company that powers nearly 25% of all ecommerce in the US and UK, Raj often has digital entrepreneurs call him and ask, “So what makes the winners win, and what makes the losers lose.”

So he wrote a book about it! The Digital Seekeris number 4 on The Wallstreet Journal’s business bestseller list. It’s safe to say that it's fantastic insight into what it takes to win at ecommerce.

Its thesis? Successful ecommerce and the best digital experiences are built for the seeker, not the customer. Winners don’t stop at customer satisfaction, they ask the question, “What is the customer seeking?”.

People don’t buy dresses for the sake of buying dresses, they’re interested in expressing their style. If someone wants to buy some wood, it’s not for the sake of owning wood. Among many reasons, it could be to build a deck to entertain their friends, for example.

Ecommerce winners, Raj argues, study the underlying motivations behind customer conversion and build their digital experiences around them. The Digital Seeker is a guide on how to do exactly that. And of course, Bloomreach designs the customer experience around these principles.

The Effect of COVID - 19 on Ecommerce It’s no secret that the COVID -19 pandemic has had a huge impact on ecommerce. Daniel and Raj discuss both its immediate impact and long term implications for ecommerce.

Raj describes the first few months of the outbreak as an era of ‘complete panic’ for ecommerce. People were worried about team members getting COVID, supply chains were breaking down, websites were crashing, international deliveries were seriously delayed, and ecommerce owners began to wonder what was going to happen to their cash flow.

In late Spring to earlier Summer 2020, Raj observed that people were beginning to realize that ecommerce was really taking off. Everyone was going online and ecommerce was struggling to keep up with this burst of customer interest and conversion.

As the pandemic continued, consumer behavior changed rather rapidly. At one phase, for example, everyone seemed to be interested in toilet paper, at another phase, it was egg and milk, at another, it was hair cutting equipment. The rapidly shifting spurts of interest were somewhat difficult to track. Two things seemed to define ecommerce during 2020: growth and unpredictability.

Daniel and Raj believe that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed ecommerce forward by 5 - 7 years. As of Summer 2021, we still don’t know when things will return to normal. One thing we can be sure of, however, is that ecommerce is here to stay. Not only has the industry seen incredible growth, but its sustainability has been well and truly established.

Using Customer Data Effectively and Responsibility Now we can’t talk about ecommerce change without talking about Apple’s upcoming iOS 15 update. Raj for one is very excited about it.

Raj points out that the new update is not forbidding ecommerce stores to collect data, they’re stopping them from collecting data without permission and using it for spam. In other words, the iOS 15 update is one element in an ecommerce future that relies almost wholly on 1st party data.

Daniel and Raj agree that third party data is ineffective data. People don’t want to hear from stores they haven’t signed up to or even heard of. If anything, collecting data in this way is detrimental to brand reputation.

Another interesting point Raj raises is that generally Facebook users have a strong aversion to the data being collected. Spotify users, however, do not. The difference? Facebook uses its data collection to run ads; Spotify uses its data collection to recommend its users some fantastic music.

Spotify is a shining example of how customers are comfortable with data collection and usage as long as:

It’s collected with their permission
It’s used to create a good digital experience

The rundown? If you’re not using predictive AI technology in your ecommerce business you’re probably out of date. The scale of its reach has the potential to offer personalization to millions of customers. At the core of your ecommerce, you need to ask yourself, “What is my customer seeking?” and use that to choose an AI-driven platform that creates the best possible digital experience for your customer.

If you want to learn more about delivering a magical customer experience, connect with Raj on LinkedIn, visit www.bloomreach.com, and check out his book, ‘The Digital Experience’.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

The Digital Seeker: A Guide for Digital Teams to Build Winning Experiences

View Details

Choosing the Right Attribution Model for Your Ecommerce Store Attribution Models are becoming an increasingly popular way to track the customer journey and conversion rates. Due to the upcoming changes in data privacy, it’s crucial to understand and implement every tool in your digital marketing arsenal.

We’re delighted to welcome Sofía Vargas Sandoval onto The Ecom Show podcast to tell us all about Attribution Models and how to use them.

With over 7 years of experience as a Digital Marketing Consultant, Sofía has managed digital marketing strategies for teams all over Latin America, the US, and Australia. We’re very happy to say that Sofía is also Budai Media’s Senior Account Manager!

Join Sofía and our CEO, Daniel Budai, for episode 61 of The Ecom Show for a discussion on:

✔️Attribution Models

✔️Google Analytics

✔️ Understanding Email Marketing and Conversion

✔️ Facebook Messenger Marketing

So What Exactly is an Attribution Model? An Attribution Model is a rule or set of rules that determine the customer touchpoint for conversion.

For example, if you’re using Klaviyo and a customer arrives at your store within 5 days of opening an email campaign or flow, their conversion is credited to Klaviyo. Every Attribution Model is of course adaptable; some businesses will attribute conversion to Klaviyo when a customer arrives at their store up to 60 after opening their email.

Sofía advises that narrowing attribution windows does not make your conversion data more accurate. It’s unusual for a customer to convert as soon as they see one form of advertisement. It’s likely that they’ve seen your product or brand across several different channels before arriving at your store.

Daniel and Sofía agree that choosing the right attribution model for your ecommerce store is an ‘art’. Unfortunately, we can’t always attribute conversion to your customer’s ‘last click’, nor can you simply choose a random model and stick with it.

Take a deep dive into your data and analytics across your marketing channels before trying out different Attribution Models. It’s a long process, but it’s worth it.

Talking of analytics…

Tracking Omnichannel Marketing on Google Analytics Google Analytics supports most ecommerce apps and cross-channel data tracking, making them a fantastic resource for understanding assisted conversions.

Sofía observes that when people monitor conversions on Google Analytics they go to their Conversion Tab without noticing that there’s an option called ‘Assisted Conversion’, where you can set up and test different Attribution Models.

Here you can play with different scenarios, compare your customer’s first click with their last click, evaluate time decay, and more. There are tonnes of options available for tracking customer data and analyzing their journey.

Understanding Email Marketing and Conversion Now, it’s been made very clear that we can’t get enough of email marketing and Klaviyo at Budai Media. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t take a holistic approach to digital marketing.

If you only use Klaviyo analytics, you’re not going to get a full picture of your customer journey which won’t help you select the right attribution model. Still use Klaviyo analytics - they’re great! But take a look at your other traffic sources too.

Sofía observes that a few years ago the conversation around marketing revolved around inbound vs outbound marketing. Now, the conversation is about how you merge and sync outbound traffic strategies and sources for a holistic retention marketing strategy.

Facebook Messenger Marketing With the upcoming iOS 15 update and data protection changes, Sofía highly recommends Facebook Messenger Marketing and ReCart.

Sofía says that the open rates for Facebook Marketing Messages are “amazing”. It’s easy for customers to subscribe with a simple click, and what’s more, Instagram will start allowing sponsored messages this year. If you want to maximize your conversion rates, keep your finger on the pulse for this one.

And the best part is? ReCart integrates with SMSBump and Klaviyo for that all-important holistic approach.

Connect with Sofía on LinkedIn or visit her website to find out more about Attribution Models and understanding conversion rates.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Supercharge Your CRO With Octane AI Ecommerce is changing. Recent changes in data privacy, such as the upcoming iOS 15 update, mean that ecommerce store owners need to adapt quickly to keep up to date with their customers.

Introducing Octane AI. The all-in-one platform for direct data collection and CRO via Shop Quiz, personalized Messenger and SMS automation, and Opt in tools. Octane AI is transforming the customer and merchant journey.

Ben Parr is the President and Co-Founder of Octane AI. Thousands of Shopify and Shopify plus merchants use Octane AI to engage, convert, and retain customers through innovative data collection and a personalized shopping experience.

We’re delighted to hear Ben and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss CRO, personalizing your customer journey and:

✔️ Octane AI’s Origins

✔️ Octane AI’s Key Features

✔️ Engaging Quizzes for your Ecommerce Store

✔️ Getting Attention to your Ecommerce Store

Where did Octane AI Begin? Ben Co-Founded Octane AI in 2016. Initially, Octane AI was primarily concerned with Messenger chatbots. Five years down the line, Octane AI’s main focus is now Zero Party Data.

Ben maintains that Octane AI’s founding principles remain the same:

“Helping customers and brand owners communicate is at the core of everything we do.”

Messenger Chatbots are still very important to Octane AI, but so are Shop Quizzes, personalized SMS automation, and omnichannel marketing. Like any digital entrepreneur, Ben is all about adaptability and evolution.

What does Octane AI do? Octane AI does two main things:

Collects Data
Leverages Data

Octane AI uses Zero Party Data. That is, it collects data directly from customers via Shop Quiz, Messenger, and SMS communication. Ben warns against relying on third-party data. You don’t own third-party data, and it could be taken from you at any time. When you quiz customers on what products they’re looking for, you engage them in brand communication and collect direct data.

Octane AI then leverages this data to personalize the customer experience. Octane AI works perfectly with Klaviyo to segment your customers according to Octane AI’s data collection. This allows you to run targeted marketing campaigns.

Ben and Daniel agree that retaining customers is even more valuable than gaining customers. In Ben’s experience, the lifetime value (LTV) of customers who take quizzes usually goes up anywhere between 10 - 50% depending on the brand.

Shop Quiz Sounds Amazing - How do I Make My Questions Engaging? Both Daniel and Ben say: Keep it Simple.

Your Shop Quiz doesn’t need to be 10 - 15 questions long. Keep it short and sweet. Ben’s advice is to imagine your ecommerce store as a physical store. When a customer walks in, what are they going to ask?

If you own a shoe shop, for example, it’s likely that your customers will ask about shoe size, width, material, or brands. So if you own an ecommerce shore store, it makes sense to quiz your customers on what shoe size, width, material, or brand they’re looking for. It’s really as simple as that!

Just one question can make all the difference. Ben gives another example of an ecommerce pet store asking its site visitors, “Cat or Dog?”. Just that one question drastically streamlines the customer’s journey towards conversion.

Getting Attention to Your Ecommerce Store Ben has written an entire book about the science and psychology of capturing people’s attention: Captivology. So if you want a deep dive into grabbing your customer’s attention, we recommend checking it out!

Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet for capturing attention. But Ben does have a couple of tips for us:

✔️ Know what attention stage you’re at If you’re just starting out in your ecommerce business, capturing attention is a different ballpark to someone who already has brand attention and wants to cast their net wider.

If your aim is to attract new customers, your strategy will be different to the aim of capturing and keeping the attention of existing customers.

Capturing attention will also vary according to different sub-sects of customers. That’s why it’s so important to segment your marketing strategy using detailed customer data.

✔️ Know your product Your marketing will vary according to your product and buyer persona.

Beauty brands, for example, tend to really benefit from influencer marketing. If you’re selling high-end furniture, on the other hand, your focus would be better honed in on SEO and online ads.

Don’t try to capture attention from everywhere. Know where you’re going to get it first.

So What’s Next for Octane AI? Ben is always alert to new trends in ecommerce. He says it’s not long before we see the end of 3rd party cookies. Octane AI is paving the way for Zero Party Data and innovative data collection and customer personalization tools.

Octane AI is always evolving. On the 14th of July 2021, Octane AI announced a brand new feature: Conversational Pop-ups. These integrate with Octane AI’s Shop Quiz tool to create an interactive pop-up that gathers additional customer data and recommends products.

It’s really no surprise that the Shopify Team voted Octane AI as the Best Store Front App. And that was before Conversational Pop-Ups!

Connect with Ben on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter; and visit Octane AI to supercharge your conversion rates.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention

View Details

ReConvert: The Best App for Post-Purchase CRO Shopify’s post-purchase thank you page has a 100% open rate. Not only that, it doubles up as an order update page. That means that your customer is very likely to return to this page several times to check their order status.

A great page right? Imagine all the post-purchase optimization you can do on that! The trouble is, that you can’t edit this page on Shopify by default.

That’s where ReConvert comes in.

Ruth Even Haim is the Co-Founder of StilyoApps and Creator of ReConvert, an app that allows you to customize your thank you page for personalized post-purchase optimization. Ruth has revolutionized the way we think about customer retention.

We’re very excited to hear Ruth and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss customer retention, upselling, and:

✔️ ReConvert’s Origins

✔️ ReConvert’s Key Features

✔️ Using Pop-Ups Correctly

✔️ Maximizing Multiple Marketing Channels

✔️ Ruth’s upcoming projects

Where did ReConvert Begin? StilyoApps began as a small family business at the end of 2018. Ruth, and her brother Eric, both had their own Shopify store and noticed something: their thank you pages weren’t being optimized. As Shopify thank you pages are also used as order-update pages, they saw a lot of wasted potentials.

They decided to change this. In comes ReConvert. Ruth and Eric created an app that allows you to edit your post-purchase page any way you like. Add upsells, product recommendations, pop-ups, post-purchase surveys, and even videos!

It’s no surprise that Shopify quickly picked ReConvert as one of its star picks. The rest, as they say, is history! Ruth says that every happy customer is another great milestone for ReConvert.

ReConvert’s Features: Let’s Break it Down ReConvert’s features fall into three categories

Communication with Customers These include text, images, and videos. These act as branding tools to build customer trust and retention. You’re free to add personalized thank you messages and creative ads.
Receiving Information from Customers Here you can collect customer data. Add a post-purchase and product comment widget for immediate feedback. You’re also able to collect customer birthdays and sync this data to Klaviyo, SMSbump, and a range of different marketing platforms.
Upselling This is by far ReConvert’s most popular feature. Upsell and cross-sell with recommended products, customizable Call-To-Action buttons, and pop-up discounts with timers.

Talking of PopUps - How do I Use Them? Ruth and Daniel both love a good popup - when they’re done well.

Getting too carried away with upselling and popups can ruin your customer’s experience and put them off your brand entirely. Ruth says that whilst you don’t want a popup every second you also don’t want to waste their potential.

Daniel ran a popup A/B test with one of his clients last year. He found that if a customer sees a popup immediately upon arriving at your site, they’re not going to be receptive to your offer. If a pop-up appears, later on, they’re far more likely to check it out.

Ruth and Daniel agree that finding out the average time a customer spends on your website is a great way to figure out when your popup should appear.

As for exit-intent popups? They’re a no-brainer: go for it. Your customer is leaving your site anyway so there’s nothing to lose from giving them one last chance to convert.

Maximizing Multiple Channels So if you’re using ReConvert, do you need to bother with Email, SMS, and Facebook Messenger Marketing?

Ruth and Daniel couldn’t be more confident with this one: YES.

Ruth says that customer retention is crucial to brand success. So you shouldn’t limit yourself to one marketing channel. ReConvert isn’t a replacement for Email, SMS, and Facebook Messenger Marketing, it is a fantastic addition.

It’s very rare to make a sale from one channel. People use multiple devices and platforms. Your customer may have converted at your website because they saw your brand in social media ads, emails, SMS, and Facebook Messenger. Successful branding is all about creating patterns of familiarity.

Don’t rely on one channel: concentrate on integration. Omnichannel marketing is your best friend.

So What’s Next for Ruth? Ruth doesn’t want to stop at ReConvert. Now she wants an app for the top of the funnel.

This will run complementary to ReConvert to complete your sales funnel. Its focus? Upselling before that thank you page.

And boy does Ruth know her popups and upselling! We’re definitely keeping an eye out for this one.

ReConvert is a powerful yet easy-to-use tool that does wonders for your conversion rates. We couldn’t recommend this app enough.

On the next episode of The Ecom Show, we’re welcoming another fantastic guest to tell us all about Octane AI. So stay tuned!

In the meantime, check out our other episodes to find out more about branding, conversion, omnichannel marketing, and much much more.

Connect with Ruth on LinkedIn and download ReConvert to revolutionize your CRO.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Selling on Amazon in 2021. What’s Changed?
Amazon is the largest online marketplace. According to Statistica, Amazon reached 200 million paying Prime members in the first quarter of this year. With 1.6 million active sellers, selling on Amazon is a whole different ballpark to Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce.

What can we learn from someone who’s earned millions of dollars for several ecommerce brands on Amazon?

Liran Hirschkorn is the Founder and CEO of Incrementum Digital, an Amazon Focused Marketing Agency. He’s been working closely with Amazon for the past 7 years. A lot has changed since 2014, and Liran has a lot of wisdom to impart.

We’re delighted to hear Liran and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss the importance of data-driven selling, adapting quickly to changes in ecommerce, as well as:

✔️ How Amazon has changed

✔️ How to stand out in Amazon

✔️ Using other ecommerce stores with Amazon

✔️ Developing a connection with Amazon customers

Amazon’s Fast-Paced Changes Liran says that the Amazon sellers of today are a heck of a lot more sophisticated and knowledgeable than those of 2014. While advertising on Amazon wasn’t really important in 2014, you can’t do without it now.

In 2016 Amazon stopped allowing incentivized reviews. Even if your customer states that they received your product for free in exchange for their honest review, Amazon simply doesn’t allow it. This really mixed things up for Amazon marketers, because, as Liran points out, reviews are fundamental to making sales.

We all saw how Amazon sales absolutely sky-rocketed with the onset of COVID-19. Amazon gained 50 million new Prime customers and ecommerce soared.

It’s no surprise that Liran can’t overstate the importance of adaptability and knowing your data.

Reviews on Amazon: Are They Everything? Short answer: Not quite, but they are important.

The more positive reviews you have, the more protection you have over your competitors. Of course, this depends on what you’re selling. If you have lots of competitors selling similar products to yours, reviews are going to be a lot more important than those for an original product.

But there are other ways to stand out. Liran says that creatives - specifically good images with infographics - are great for sales. Customers are unlikely to read a wall of text about your product, so highlight (in a few keywords) its best features in your images.

Talking of keywords that sell - make sure you know them. And we’re not just talking about one or two here, Liran wants an extensive list. Daniel and Liran strongly agree that Amazon is used as a search platform much like Google, so SEO couldn’t be more crucial.

Knowing Your Goals When you decide to sell on Amazon, your 1st goal should not be to generate profit immediately. It should be maximizing sales velocity, engaging your customers, and working to generate enough reviews for people to consider your product.

A fantastic way to develop a relationship with your Amazon customers is to put inserts in their products thanking them for their purchase and providing incentive for them to leave a good review and/or head to your landing page. This could be an email or text sign-up to a coupon, giveaway, or a limited-time offer, whatever works best for your brand.

Selling Your Product on Multiple Channels If you’re a Shopify seller, you might feel worried about launching a product on Amazon. Don’t be. You just need to do your research. Some products won’t do as well on Amazon as they do on Shopify, some will do even better! It’s just a matter of knowing which.

There are 200million Prime customers who do most of their shopping on Amazon. At the same time, there are lots of people who don’t shop at Amazon at all. Being on multiple channels gives you the opportunity to appeal to different customer bases. With the right strategy, this will do wonders for your sales.

Selling on Amazon in 2021 Amazon favors new products. So make your first sale count. Liran cannot emphasize enough the importance of product research and knowing your data.

Liran recommends Helium 10’s tool X-Ray for checking branded traffic, understanding the best keywords to use, and digging into competitor data.

There’s still so much to learn about Amazon. Liran’s podcast, Ecommerce Mindset is filled to the brim with fantastic advice for succeeding on Amazon and Shopify. Check it out on Spotify and iTunes.

And while you’re on a podcasting kick, why not take a look at our other episodes for more expert advice on ecommerce? The Ecom Show has well over 50 episodes now, so you’re certain to find something perfectly suited to your business goals.

Connect with Liran on Linkedin and visit Incrementum Digital to keep up to date with Amazon’s latest advertising strategies.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Think Small to Think Big: Developing a Growth Strategy that Works To say Aistis is an expert in ecommerce growth would be an understatement.

Aistis Matulaitis, the Co-Founder and CEO of Kandy Agency, got into digital marketing when he was just 15 years old. What began as a side hustle turned into a passion. He now channels his digital marketing expertise into Kandy Agency. Kandy Agency helps ecommerce businesses diversify their streams of income, improve customer retention, and increase their revenue to 7 and 8 figures!

We’re very excited to hear Aistis and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss how to build an effective ecommerce campaign using:

✔️Cost-efficient creative video marketing

✔️Offer testing

✔️Competitor research

✔️A good product-market fit

Research and Brainstorming Kandy Agency is all about research. Data mining, review mining, competitor mining, the works. This is crucial to those all-important brainstorming sessions where marketing strategists propose different ideas and strategies for their client’s video ad.

Then comes the fun part - the shoot! Kandy Agency chooses their locations, models, color palette - everything, with the client’s buyer persona in mind. When it comes to the final cut, Kandy Agency hones in its focus by referring back to their proposed strategies for edits and re-edits.

Test, test, and test again! Putting out different video ads is essential to A/B testing. When you don’t know what works best, you’re not going to be able to scale your ecommerce, simple as that.

Kandy Agency A/B tests several video ads per client. When they see what works best, it’s back to brainstorming.

Aistis says the biggest challenge in video marketing is not the shoot itself, or even the editing, it’s entering the first step of the marketing funnel: research. Once you’ve mined your data, narrowed your focus and come up with the best ideas for your videos, the rest is relatively simple. If you’re advertising on Facebook, you’ll get some great data on what works and what doesn’t that you can use to advance your digital marketing strategy.

TikTok vs Facebook We’re all aware that TikTok is a massively expanding platform. With 1 billion users, it’s no surprise that Kandy Agency has started launching TikTok ads for their clients.

Aistis notes that creating TikTok ads requires a different approach to creating video content on Facebook. For starters, you have more stylistic freedom in Facebook video ads. TikTok ads, on the other hand, have a very distinct style. Keeping up with music trends, for example, is far more important to getting noticed on TikTok ads than it is to Facebook ads. If an ad works on Facebook it’s not going to necessarily work on TikTok, and vice versa.

The plus side to running video ads on TikTok is that all you really need is an iPhone. TikTok favors simple editing already built into the platform.

The Blue Ocean Strategy Both Daniel and Aistis are massive fans of the Blue Ocean Strategy - creating an uncontested marketing space. Creating and capturing new demand is one of the most effective ways to scale your ecommerce.

One of Aistis’s favorite examples of a product that utilized the Blue Ocean Strategy is the false magnetic eyelash. Magnetic false eyelashes took a popular product (false eyelashes that are glued on) and modified its features. It appeals to people who already wear false eyelashes and to those who don’t because they find them difficult to glue on. By modifying one feature of an already popular product a whole new product was made - one that not only appeals to an existing audience, but also creates an entirely new one.

Aistis and Daniel agree that your product needs to be unique; it needs to be a problem solver, and it needs that ‘wow’ factor for your buyer persona. Kandy Agency it’s all about narrowing focus so that their clients are presented with exactly what works. Your ecommerce strategy should be no different.

Daniel’s best advice? “Dig into your niche as much as you can.” If you try appealing to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one. In other words, scaling your ecommerce is about narrowing your focus.

Digital marketing can seem like an absolute maze of emails, video content, and website optimization, but Aistis assures that these are all strongly grounded in three principles:

“When you have a good product, good content, and a good offer, you have every piece in place.”

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves Aistis!

Make sure to connect with Aistis on LinkedIn and check out Kandy Agency to discover even more ways to scale your ecommerce.

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Branding is fundamental to marketing yourself and your business. For this episode of The Ecom Show join Graphic Designer and Design Consultant Jerry Bravo and Daniel Budai to hear all about:

✔️ What branding is

✔️ What branding isn’t

✔️ Branding elements

✔️ Strategizing long-term brand growth

The Cambridge Dictionary defines branding as “the act of giving a company a particular design or symbol in order to advertise its products and services.”

Jerry disagrees. This may have cut it two years ago, but as branding develops, so does its definition.

That’s why Jerry prefers Tom Goodwin’s definition of branding:

“Brands are essentially patterns of familiarity, meaning, fondness, and reassurance that exist in the minds of people.”

Branding is not about logos, jingles, and slogans - it’s about what the customer feels when all these elements and more come together.

Map out your best branding marketing strategy with Jerry’s best advice on:

Brand Substance - The Essence of the Brand Purpose

Why the brand or the product exists

Vision

Image of the brand for the future

Mission

What the brand is known for

The purpose, vision, and mission are the core assets for any brand.

Brand Positioning - How the Brand is Positioned in the Market and for the Consumer Values

Guiding the behavior of the brand - its speech, marketing, and morals

Audience Persona

Creating the most detailed audience persona. This will guide every aspect of your brand development.
Brands can have multiple audience personas. If they sell multiple products, for example, they may want to develop different personas for each product.

Competitor Research

This is crucial to positioning your brand.
It’s very important to understand what your competitors are doing and where they are in your industry.

Differentiation

This comes hand in hand with competitor research.
Differentiating yourself from your competitors.
Creating a unique brand affirms your position in the market.

Positioning Statement

This goes hand in hand with your vision, mission, and statement.
A concise statement that gives the brand direction.

Archetypes

Based on Carl Jung’s 12 personality archetypes. Jung created 12 archetypes to describe innate models of personality that guide behaviors and human identity.
Every brand will fall into one of these archetypes and use it to guide its brand substance and positioning.
Disney, for example, uses the ‘magic’ archetype.
Nike uses the ‘hero’ archetype in all its marketing. They address the consumer as a ‘hero’, the main character.

Brand Persona Personality

Comes hand in hand with archetypes.
How your brand speaks and behaves in the market.
How your brand addresses its consumers.
Defining the personality of the brand enables you to use all its assets effectively.

Language

Formal or informal
This should be consistent with your brand. If you have an informal brand, you don’t want a formal voice, and vice versa. This creates a dissonance in the minds of your audience persona and your brand.

Tone of Voice

This speaks to the core of your audience persona.
Are you playful or serious? Poetic or blunt? The tone of voice is very important to developing a close relationship with your audience.

Brand Communication Name

Your front-line. Your name is the first thing your consumers will see and memorize the more they’re exposed to it.
This has to be memorable and consistent with your branding assets.

Tagline

Not all brands use taglines, but this is a good element to consider.
Much like a catch-phrase. For example, Nike’s ‘Just Do It’.
The more you use your tagline, the more your target audience will associate it with your brand without even needing your logo or your name.

Key Messages

Define your key messages and how you will be using all your brand assets.

Brand Identity Storytelling

One of the most useful assets for constructing your brand - it creates an experience for your audience.
Your brand’s journey.
Storytelling to engage your audience persona. Its genre depends on your audience persona and your brand’s communication style.

Logo

This is not a synonym of branding.
A graphic representation of the brand.
Based on your audience persona.

Typography

Formal or informal.
Very important to define as this will be in every aspect of your brand.
This will influence your brand’s character and image.

Brand Persona Color

Often influenced by Color Theory - the theory that certain colors evoke certain emotions.
If you put all brands into a color spectrum, you’ll often find that they’re grouped into certain colors in accordance with their brand substance and identity. For example, medical brands often fall into the blue spectrum, and this color is associated with cleanliness, formality, and trust.
Color is very important to consider, as using an unusual color for your brand puts it at risk of being associated with a different industry.

Image Style

Establishing an image style for every representation of your brand establishes consistency.
Branding is all about consistency so as to make your brand familiar and memorable to your target audience.

Iconography

Creating a brand experience through cohesiveness.
Establishing icons that you will be using throughout your brand.
If you’re not consistent with your iconography, you’re not allowing your audience to create patterns of familiarity.

Graphic Illustrations

Graphic representation of the brand.
It’s crucial to stay consistent. As always, not staying consistent damages your brand in the minds of your consumers.
This doesn’t mean you have to keep the same graphic illustrations indefinitely, but make sure to keep any changes within your brand strategy as it evolves. If you change your graphic illustrations every couple of months, you’re not allowing your customer to associate certain graphics with your brand.

Presence

How your brand behaves in the media - what values does it represent in blogs, podcasts, and shows, for example?
For example, if your brand does a lot of charity work, it will begin to build an association with certain values.

Website

Having a website is essential.
In 2021, if your brand doesn’t have a website, you’re telling your consumer that you’re not 100% on the market.
A portal of information for your brand. Where people can consult, see, and buy your product or service.

Social Channels

How your brand behaves in social media.
Very useful for establishing your brand image.
Make sure that your social channels are consistent with your website.

Content

Your marketing strategy.
You must create a marketing strategy for your brand. If you do not create a strategy it will be impossible to define consistency.
Just by defining your brand assets, you will start to see a marketing strategy.

Physical Space

Not all companies have a physical space, but if yours does, you need to create a unique and tangible experience for your consumer.
Your customer service must be top-notch.
Consider using scent in your space. The smell is one of the closest senses to memory.

Fundamentally, creating a successful brand is about applying these elements well and applying them consistently. This allows your customer to experience those all-important patterns of familiarity and fondness - you just have to know the difference between being consistent and being static. That’s why Jerry and Daniel are so focused on brand development.

Developing your brand is developing your business. So make sure to connect with Jerry on LinkedIn for more wisdom on branding and graphic design.

Jerry's presentation

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel’s LinkedIn

Daniel’s Facebook

View Details

Agile and Adaptable Ecommerce: The Power of Omnichannel Marketing and the Nurturing of Customers Across a Variety of Platforms What can we work from the marketing genius behind one of America’s fastest-growing cosmetics brands?

Margaux Vallino Reese has helped her company, Colorescience, reach new heights over the last few years, masterfully navigating through the perils of COVID in 2020 to not only stay afloat but thrive as well!

We’re thrilled to hear from both Margaux and our podcast host Daniel Budai to discuss the importance of adapting to circumstances that are out of our control, as well as:
✔️ The effects of COVID in ecommerce

✔️ Shopify vs. custom websites

✔️ Consistency in an omnichannel strategy

✔️ When to use an agency vs. when to hire in-house

✔️ Succeeding in the second half of 2021

The Rise of Ecommerce For most online brands, COVID-19 brought with it a wave of new customers, including millions of first-time shoppers who were completely new to online shopping. Due to the nature of Colorescience’s business model, it was tougher to make things work despite having an online presence.

Colorescience sells many dermatological products with the help of physicians they partner up with, which was obviously disrupted with more and more people confined to their homes. Margaux explained the importance of “staying agile” and adapting to the circumstances, which was why they chose to pivot into more online sales during 2020 while still supporting their partners and giving them access to the same deals.

Choose Your Website With the rise of platforms like BigCommerce or Shopify, brands no longer need to expend endless time, money, and other resources to maintain their website. Margaux realized that switching over from a custom website to Shopify would ultimately save time, make it easier to add integrations, and address the costly bottleneck of website issues that often occur with custom websites.

Now Colorescience is in complete control with their new Shopify website, which allows them to allocate their time for better use elsewhere on the creative side instead of fretting about website issues. Shopify also makes it a whole lot easier to optimize for mobile, which is essential when brands like Colorescience receive upwards of 80% of all traffic on mobile.

Omnichannel Consistency Colorescience is unique in that it has various channels, including offline partnerships with doctor’s practices across the United States. It’s a careful walk along the razor’s edge to keep these partners happy when prioritizing the growth of their online presence and not cannibalize the business of these doctors helping sell their products.

Maintaining consistency in voice, style, and deals across all channels is crucial for big ecommerce brands, especially if you want to hold the trust of your community and partners.

Agency vs. In-House Aside from media buying, Margaux and her team prefer to keep all reactive marketing in-house. A company needs to take ownership over its voice, brand, and creatives because, ultimately, no one knows the brand better than them.

You can hire for specific channels and use agencies to scale accordingly, but the true essence of a company comes from within!

Thrive in 2021 We’ve heard it before, but it never gets old… knowing your customer is the most important thing you can do as a business. If you don’t take the time to learn about your customers, you can expect they will eventually jump to other brands.

With the rise of customer acquisition, it’s more important than ever to focus on retention. Run surveys, give incentives, and never be afraid to ask the customer what they expect and want from your brand. The answers will make or break you!

Reach out to Margaux on Linkedin, or check out Colorescience for incredible skincare products!

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Immutable Management Principles to Grow a Team of 80 We’ve spoken to plenty of ad buyers and agency owners, but never before have we gotten such good insight into team building!

We’re blessed to welcome Scott Seward into the mix this week as he sits down with our Budai Media CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai!

From poker player to ecommerce brand owner to master marketer and co-founder of Right Hook Media, there is plenty we can learn from a talented person like Scott like:

✔️ How ecommerce has changed over the last decade

✔️ Unconventional paths to ecommerce

✔️ Finding Talent

✔️ Figuring out who is and isn’t suitable for your team

✔️ Advice for ecommerce for the rest of 2021

2011 vs 2021 Scott has been around for ages, so he’s got enough experience to recognize the ever-changing landscape of ecommerce. Back in the day, Facebook Ads were just creative posts checked for basic stats by savvy marketing minds; Engagement was driven before data could be attributed. Email marketing was also crucial for building lists of leads and bringing in traffic.

Now things have come full circle, at least with email marketing! Despite the constant worries that email marketing is dying, this media channel hangs around! Now it’s more important than ever to get on multiple channels instead of just buying Facebook Ads.

How to Get Started A common theme in ecommerce is that there are lots of bold, savvy entrepreneurs starting businesses. Scott got his start after linking up with some poker friends into affiliate marketing and studying it early in the morning before heading to work.

That studying has paid off for Scott, but there is no reason why more people can’t follow in his footsteps. Now he is a significant marketing maverick at a lucratively successful company, so don’t lose sight of your goals and never rest until you see progress.

Talent Acquisition We always talk about customer acquisition, but no one ever talks about finding talent! Both Scott and Daniel agree that you shouldn’t just post job openings as they roll in. Instead, see what they can do and judge accordingly.

Suppose you find someone with undeniable talent (especially somewhere where there isn’t much intelligence, bring them in. You can also make room and see how it goes if you want to add someone truly special, but there is a time and a place for everything.

Team Limitations Got a Head of Culture? That’s great! It pays to set a great working culture within the company, but what should you do if you’ve hired the wrong person for a position?

Hire slow and fire quickly is the conventional advice! You can tell a lot by someone based on their work ethic, learning abilities, etc. Still, there is one thing that is important among all companies, and that is being motivated and free enough to achieve your goal without taking energy from your boss. If Scott doesn’t see that, it’s likely they won’t be with Right Hook Digital for too long.

Rest of the Year IOS is changing the landscape this year thanks to Apple, and with a renewed focus on security, people want to complain about how hopeless the project will be. Finally, Scott believes you shouldn’t grow too obsessive over the past data, because there is no need for you to get the whole picture from a limited data pet. Don’t ever be too proud to take advice or listen!

Reach out to Scott Seward and Right Hook Media on both Facebook and their own website!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Evolution of Ecommerce Platforms: From the Early Days of the Internet and Bespoke Websites to Easy to Use Software like BigCommerce Ever wonder what the early days of ecommerce looked like?

Jim Herbert from BigCommerce is one of the original online marketers from back in the day when bespoke ecommerce websites were the only way for merchants to establish a web presence!

From coding as a youngster to studying computer science in university to owning an agency and becoming the Vice President at BigCommerce for the entire Europe and Middle East regions, it’s safe to say there aren’t many people more qualified in the world to discuss the nuances of ecommerce.

Join our loveable podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, and our fantastic guest Jim as they discuss topics like:

✔️ Evolution of ecommerce

✔️ BigCommerce origin story

✔️ The difference between ecommerce platforms

✔️ Importance of partnerships and integrations

✔️ What’s next for BigCommerce

Then and Now Back when the internet was relatively new, Jim Herbert was already working on the bleeding edge of ecommerce! Without ecommerce platforms readymade for shop owners, early “digital marketers” were more like coders.

Today’s marketers stand tall on top of the shoulders of these early internet pioneers like Jim, allocating a lot less time on tech and focusing more energy on building their brand. Now, the price of hosting and building an online ecommerce shop is a tiny fraction of what it once costed, leveling the playing field and making the dream of owning an online business that much more accessible.

Birth of BigCommerce In 2009, Eddie Machalaani and Mitch Harper saw a need for an all-encompassing platform that would enable business owners and merchants to run their stores online. Since then, BigCommerce has grown into a multi-national company, moved its headquarters to Texas in the USA, grown its team to over a thousand people worldwide, and flourished in the ecommerce space!

Aside from helping countless merchants establish their brand online and giving them the tools to succeed, BigCommerce had its IPO back in 2020 to become publicly listed, all but guaranteeing it’s here for the long haul.

BigCommerce vs. Competitors When it comes to “competitors,” Jim has a unique thought process. While Shopify is a household name and admittedly larger than BigCommerce, there is no need to compete with one another in the classical sense.

Shopify is fantastic with great software and easy to use interface for customers, which is why BigCommerce has opted to go in a different direction. They’ve managed to keep the process as simple as possible while still providing tons of freedom and options to choose their payment methods, apps, and other features for their store.

Integrations and Partnerships One of the main differences between BigCommerce and Shopify? The amount of available third-party apps. BigCommerce believes in a more closed ecosystem with heavily vetted, high-quality apps for its users to choose from. Only the best tools and additions can be leveraged on BigCommerce, while Shopify allows its users to choose from an endless array of apps with varying levels of quality.

It might sound like an advantage to have a wide variety, but Shopify doesn’t guarantee the quality of all the third-party apps available. At the same time, BigCommerce makes the decision as pain-free as possible.

What Lies Ahead? The world is constantly changing, so it’s impossible to map out the next 5 years or a major company, but Jim and his team have their eyes on the future of ecommerce.

That means better understanding how users interact with online platforms, figuring out what technology will be relevant in a few years, offering more native language services in different countries, and improving core features like SEO or UI/UX so customers can improve their conversion and average order rates.

If you’re eager to start your brand off on the right foot or switch to a different platform, check out BigCommerce or reach out directly to Jim via email at Jim.Herbert@bigcommerce.com!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

The Secrets of Scaling an Ecommerce Business and the Three Most Important Metrics to Focus on He’s been in scaling up companies in the ecommerce space for years now, and we’re thrilled to welcome Chase Clymer on to The Ecom Show!

From marketing agency to ecommerce agency, to Shopify specific ecommerce agency, Electric Eye has been growth hacking brands for long enough to know the secrets to unlock maximum potential and raking in more dough in a sustainable way.

You can hear all about the origins of Shopify over twenty years ago, or the three pillars of scaling straight from our company founder and podcast host Daniel Budai, and our esteemed guest Chase in addition to:

✔️ The secrets of scaling

✔️ When to focus on acquisition

✔️ The importance of a strong conversion rate

✔️ Building a Content Machine

✔️ Most important metrics to focus on

Three Pillars of Scaling Up At Electric Eye, they aren’t afraid to tell the customer they’re wrong. After all, why would you hire an expert only to say to them what to do?

Often times Chase and his team are given instructions, and they’re used to telling their clients no. Using the Socratic Method, you can quickly uncover the motivations and ambitions of a brand owner and deduce what they are after. The answer is usually always the same: to make more money!

It’s essential to make sure all your affairs are in order before you even considering bringing in a marketing agency, so be sure to take care of that low-hanging fruit first!

Is it Time? Chase has heard it all before… Especially clients begging to push the “magic button” and help bring lots of traffic to their store. The thing is, focusing on the acquisition of customers is a lot like setting your cash on fire if your store isn’t equipped to deal with the customer’s needs!

Chase recommends fine-tuning the website and improving the customer experience before you ever purchase a single social media ad because that money won’t be put to good use otherwise. Waiting until the opportune moment is the move, and at that point, your website is poised to take off into the stratosphere.

Convert, Convert, Convert If you think of your website as a machine, and your conversion rate as your output for a given amount of time, would it make sense to keep giving that machine more to do when it’s clearly broken?

If you can’t manage to find a healthy conversion rate for your ecommerce brand, new customer acquisition should take a backseat! Focus on low-hanging fruit like website speed, layout, graphics, photos, and other simple ways to improve the customer experience. You can theoretically double your business size just by doubling that conversion rate, so every business owner should be focusing on that!

Start From Scratch If you’re starting from nothing at the very beginning of your ecommerce journey, Chase has a simple piece of advice for you.

Pump out high-quality content regularly, depending on your size. A small company can afford to release monthly content that is engaging and trust-building, while significant brands should be doing this daily!

That means high-quality creatives, advertisements, articles, and other engaging content to bring more value to customers. Building content on a repeatable cadence is a lot of work, but it’s more than worth it. The brands refreshing their creatives and pumping out 20x more content are making a heck of a lot more money than the brands neglecting to do so.

Fewer Words, More Meaning AOV, Conversion Rate, and Sessions are critical indicators for success in ecommerce, and we also can’t forget about Lifetime Customer Value either. Average order value is a fantastic barometer for success, while lifetime customer value hets you know how much you should be spending on advertising and acquisition.

If you can manage to rein these items in, there’s no telling what you can achieve with an influx of traffic spurred on by some Facebook or Google ads.

Check out more on Chase’s LinkedIn or his podcast, Honest Ecommerce.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Multilayered Marketing: How to Solve Algorithms, Track Data, Listen to Your Audience, and Combine the Magic of Online Marketing with Offline Marketing What’s better than one brilliant digital marketer with a podcast?

Two brilliant digital marketers with a podcast having an epic discussion that you get to hear for free!

On the latest episode of The Ecom Show with our beloved host and company founder, Daniel Budai, we’re extending a warm welcome to Ciaran Rogers from the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom.

Ciaran spent a great deal of his life working for non-profits and in sales positions before he found his true calling as a marketing master, and we’re so thankful for that! It’s an honor to hear Ciaran and Daniel sit down and focus on:

✔️ Going with the flow

✔️ The multilayered marketing approach

✔️ Winning with great CRO

✔️ Writing with a purpose

✔️ The marketer’s toolkit

Stay on Your Toes The best marketer is the marketer that can adapt easily. The industry changes at a breakneck pace and what worked yesterday might (and probably) won’t work tomorrow. Tools change, platforms restructure, and algorithms evolve so staying ahead of the game is a game in itself.

Ciaran noticed that marketing is coming full circle again, and with the demise of intrusive tracking programs online, data is becoming more of a mystery which obviously makes it harder to repeat successful strategies of the past since there is no way to attribute it anymore.

Real World vs. Digital World Most of the attention these days is placed on digital channels, but you should never neglect the real world. Word of mouth still reigns supreme, and real-life events have a tremendous impact on digital data, like the time Ciaran saw a client’s rates explode after one mention in the daily newspaper. Since much of the world is still very much analog, it’s impossible to accurately track traffic across channels, which can be frustrating for those trying to improve.

The best approach, according to Ciaran, is a multilayered approach, supplement the real-world marketing you are doing with the web or vice versa. Send out an actual letter campaign in real life to coincide with your online strategy.

Don’t Neglect Conversion Rates Conversion rate optimization is a big deal, or so we’ve been hearing from practically all our guests. If you can manage to double your conversion rates whether you run an ecommerce store or an agency, you will essentially double the size of your business!

Searching for low-hanging fruit is a great starting point, small actionable tips and an overarching hypothesis on how to improve are crucial if you’re aiming for success. Ciaran even mentioned Making Websites Win, a favorite book of his and an impactful guide on creating a high-converting masterpiece of a website.

Fewer Words, More Meaning Unfortunately, we live in a time where people hardly read anything. According to Ciaran, more people listen to podcasts than ever, and fewer people are reading articles or blog posts. That’s why he’s paying more attention to the first few words of everything because if you can’t hook someone’s attention with those, there’s no point in finishing your sentence!

Apps like Hemingway and Grammarly are invaluable for Ciaran, helping to cut down on unnecessary words that detract from the message to better serve information to those that need it. It also helps to focus on the pain point, agitate the reader a bit, and suggest a solution!

Tools and Tricks of the Trade The best advice our guest has to offer: never stop reading or listening or learning and always stay curious. It doesn’t matter how you learn, but you should never settle!

If you’re looking for some other great resources, https://www.targetinternet.com/ has an array of great tools that Ciaran has picked up over his illustrious podcast hosting career. You can take a test and learn what kind of marketer you are (along with how to improve), and listen to tons of great podcast episodes while you’re at it!

You can also find our friend Ciaran on his LinkedIn profile while you’re at it!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

The Compound Effect: How to Scale Up and Find Success with Agencies, Software Companies, or Ecommerce Stores We’re thrilled to announce our 50thepisode of The Ecom Show, hosted by none other than Budai Media’s founder and CEO, Daniel Budai!

To match the excitement of this occasion, we’re lucky to welcome Martyn Cook this week on our show. This serial entrepreneur has proven time and time again that he can handle any industry, business model, and marketing strategy, evident by the several successful business ventures he’s launched in his career.

Writing + publishing books, creating traffic, starting software companies, and running an ecommerce empire…

It’s a pleasure to listen to Daniel and Martyn speak about:

✔️ Early days of Facebook

✔️ Choosing the right business model

✔️ Expensive lessons in business

✔️ Conscious and ethical entrepreneurship

✔️ Legend of the Compound Effect

Before Facebook Ads... Back when Facebook was in its earliest incarnation, Martyn noticed the potential for something massive. He saw pages with large amounts of engagement and a slowly developing marketplace for proven pages with active communities. Flash forward to 2021, where Facebook Ads are king, and the platform is heavily monetized with countless businesses depending on the traffic they can generate on the social media site.

After pouring in all his hard-earned money and purchasing several Facebook pages, Martyn realized he had stumbled on gold with the ability to drive traffic to any site he pleased.

Agency, Ecommerce, or Sofware? He’s done it all, and there are admitted advantages to pursuing one of these unique business models, according to Martyn. Agency models are great because they require low overhead, scale relatively quickly, and let you grow at your own pace. These are the people that sell the tools to the ecommerce gold rush participants!

The ecommerce strategy is a viable one as well, and it allows you to invest in a product that grows in value each day. You have complete autonomy to do what you please and develop a brand, which is why Martyn believes building your own business is the best investment you can make!

Software is competitive, but it’s different in that it’s all about keeping a customer as opposed to bringing in new customers all the time.

Biggest Mistakes There’s no rush quite like hitting major milestones while owning an ecommerce business, but it pays to set the infrastructure up right before you choose to scale.

Within 90 days of starting, Martyn and one of his companies hit a million dollars in revenue, and with little data available to inform him, he stormed on and scaled aggressively. After being let down by the postal service and high shipping volume, he had to refund a quarter-million dollars in goods, which definitely qualifies as learning the hard way!

Good For the World We’ve heard this on our show before, but it gets repeated for a reason. You should always have a goal aside from making money when you start your business. For Martyn and his nootropic company, Noobru, it’s all about helping malnourished and impoverished people supplement their diets so they can get the nutrients they need.

In addition to feeling good about yourself, donating to a cause creates goodwill, builds loyalty, and gives you an additional value proposition to advertise!

1% Secret Martyn is a massive believer in the “Compound Effect,” which is why he wrote his book The 1% Secret. It’s meant to address both personal and business problems with real actionable tips to employ each day.

The Compound Effect is all about doing what you can each day with small goals and developing. You won’t see changes overnight, but the slow, gradual change is the goal. This also rings true for businesses. Don’t worry about the first purchase being lots of revenue. Work on getting them to come back again and again… That’s where the real money is made!

Read The 1% Secret, check out Noobru, learn more at Smarterdestiny.com or connect with Martyn on LinkedIn!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Going Glocal: Bringing a European Ecommerce Brand from 0 to 50 Million Euros in Annual Revenue Using Both Vertical AND Horizontal Scaling Jure Knehtl is no stranger to scaling ecommerce brands in Europe, and we’re no strangers here at Budai Media to having exceptional guests with a whole lot to teach us what they know!

That’s why we’re ecstatic to bring on Jure, who has years of experience starting and scaling ecommerce companies and agencies in a multitude of different markets around Europe.

If you’ve ever wondered how to grow your business, or the differences between horizontal and vertical scaling, join us on the latest episode of The Ecom Show with Daniel Budai to hear about:

✔️ Scaling in different markets

✔️ Going Glocal

✔️ Selecting clients that are a good fit

✔️ Figuring out content creation

✔️ Best tools, tricks, and advice for scaling in 2021

Choose Your Market! Should you start in your own country? Choose a bigger foreign market? Aim for the United States or Europe?

Each market has its quirks, and it’s up to you as a business owner to know them before you launch. That’s why Jure started in his home country, Slovenia, where he could take advantage of knowing the culture, laws, and language before testing out other markets.

Starting in the USA has its advantages because it’s a massive market, and you only need to create content in one language for the most part, but in Europe, it takes time to dip into new markets when you horizontally scale. Just remember to know your market and how to speak to your potential customers!

Go Glocal At the core of Jure’s philosophy is “going glocal,” which essentially means taking the localized strategy and appealing to markets worldwide. Suppose you can take that same careful approach, tailor your message to each market, and speak both the literal and figurative language of the customer. In that case, you’ll set yourself up for success in every market you enter.

Going global with a local approach also means taking your time in each new market and not being too eager to jump ship to the next. You should build trust and treat every market differently when you scale to becoming a truly global brand.

The Best Clients Knowing when to get rid of a client or which sort of customer to take on in the first place is a valuable skill to have. You should align not just on the surface but with long-term goals and values for the best results!

Jure and his team constantly change their criteria as the formula for the perfect client doesn’t yet exist. And they will never take on a client that just cares about making money. Knowing if they have plans for years in the future or if they’ve ever worked with an agency are essential questions to ask before you onboard a client, but ultimately it’s up to you to make that decision!

The Secret to Content Creation First, they tried sending products and outsourcing content creation for ads to companies in the US. It took too long and was highly inefficient, often involving planning a month or more ahead of time. Then they tried to create content in-house, which worked great until it didn’t. Conversion rates went south as content became more formulaic and stale.

Now Jure entrusts his network of influencers to help with content creation, giving them free rein to let their creativity out! This has had unbelievable results so far, and it cuts down on the resources needed to produce quality content that sells.

Tips From an Ecommerce Expert in 2021 Someone like Jure could surely talk all day about game-changing strategies to implement and the best tools to use like, but he was able to sum it all up in a few words masterfully…

Multichannel/omnichannel marketing is the approach every business should be taking these days because you can never entirely rely on one platform or marketing channel. Expanding to more platforms and taking the time to learn is crucial if you want to succeed!

Get in touch with Jure or work with the WeScale Agency, feel free to connect on Linkedin or at their official agency website!

Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Demystifying Conversion Rate Optimization and Data Analysis to Maximize Your Store's Profit and Potential All the way from Kenya, we’re proud to welcome Ann Njuguna, a data analyst, web developer, and conversion rate optimization specialist with a keen eye for detail.

We’re even more proud to say that Ann is one of our team members at Budai Media, making this episode of The Ecom Show a special in-house episode!

You’d be shocked to know just how many businesses are entirely neglecting CRO these days, even though it’s more important than ever to get on board with this ever-growing field.

Sit down and listen in as Budai Media’s founder Daniel Budai, and our very own CRO expert weigh in on a variety of topics like:

✔️ How data collection and CRO have evolved in the last several years

✔️ Which businesses should start thinking about CRO

✔️ Optimizing for mobile or desktop

✔️ The best tools for data analysis

✔️ Are there quick hacks for better CRO?

Then and Now Before Ann got her start in CRO, she specialized as a web developer. In the six years since she chose to focus on CRO, lots have changed!

We see more ecommerce businesses and companies in general focusing on data collection. Before, it was also quite tricky to find an ideal customer for CRO because not many people understood its value, but Ann has noticed this is rapidly changing. People are starting to wake up and understand its importance.

Right for Your Business? Should my business be focusing on CRO just yet? That’s an important question to ask with an easy answer to give: Yes! Regardless of what product you sell, Ann says that any webpage with a goal in mind, whether it’s a video to be watched or a button to click, you should be thinking about CRO.

To dive deep and figure out what issues plague your website’s conversion rate, it’s essential to have enough reliable data to make an informed hypothesis and decision. If you haven’t received enough traffic to your website, you can still make note of trends you see and try to figure out why certain things are or aren’t working.

Desktop vs. Mobile Which one should you optimize for? The easy answer is both, but that isn’t always feasible for companies depending on money, human resources, and time. The more complicated answer is that you should truly consider the nature of your product and your audience before you make this decision.

Ann gives the example of a logo or graphic design company that creates graphics and says that their clients are most likely using desktops due to the nature of their work and the software they will use when they receive their order. On the flipside, fashion brands usually receive more casual shoppers on mobile devices, so it pays to think this through!

Right Tools for the Job Google Analytics does a great job delivering a well-rounded arsenal for data analysts and CRO-focused individuals, but it’s hardly the only thing you should be using. For optimization and data collection, Ann recommends Google Optimize for more basic stuff, while Optimizely and Visual Web Optimize are more high-tier tools.

Segment, Heap Analytics, and Mixpanel are also excellent tools to have in your arsenal, while for testing and heat maps, Hotjar, Crazy Egg, and Usertesting.com are incredibly useful.

Easy Hacks and Quick Fixes? It might not be what you wanted to hear, but there are no quick hacks in CRO!

The best bet is to follow the process because what works for one store might not work for another. Instead, collecting data and identifying leaks in your customer journey is vital, along with testing your theory multiple times.

The thing with CRO is that it is a never-ending process, so don’t get too comfortable if you’ve seen a boost in your numbers. Competition is always nipping at your heels, so if you don’t think it’s crucial to improve your user’s experience constantly, other companies will swoop in and take your customers!

If you would like to work with Ann and see how she can help you fine-tune your website to produce better results, feel free to contact us!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Build Trust, Improve Customer Lifetime Value, and Foster Familiarity with Conversational SMS Marketing and Stellar Customer Support From medical school to ecommerce merchant, to tech startup co-founder…

Like most marketers, Lisa Popovici has had an interesting career, even before she helped found Cartloop. This exceptional up-and-coming company hopes to revolutionize customer service, and the way companies interact with people.

In this exciting episode of The Ecom Show with Budai Media’s founder Daniel, we get a crash course on SMS marketing in addition to:

✔️ Building customer relations

✔️ Automation vs. People Power

✔️ Exciting Cartloop features

✔️ Integrations

✔️ Tips from a marketing master

It’s All About the Customer Cartloop doesn’t just believe in customer support when there is an issue… They’ve got real people walking shoppers through the entire buying experience, giving them tips and advice, so it’s no surprise that this idea is taking off.

Neither an agency nor an app, this innovative company believes in real-time support and the fact that customer service can be both a viable channel and an extension of the sales team at the very same time!

Who Does it Better? We’ve interviewed and recommended SMS marketing providers before on our show, but Cartloop adds an exciting new wrinkle to the mix. Instead of sending out automated flows, Lisa and her team have found that hiring and training real customer-facing professionals can do a world of good for any ecommerce brand.

With real people working the phones and interacting with shoppers, they can do a whole lot more than conveying automated responses to customers… They can collect real-time feedback and use it to inform business-wide decision making too!

Special Features Like any good retention marketing tools, Cartloop has its own robust abandon cart, cart recovery, and other commonly used flows in SMS and email marketing. You can also find two-way campaigns, branded links, unique discount codes, popups, dedicated customer service, and lots of other impressive features when utilizing this remarkable platform.

Works Well with Others In this industry, the software is only as good as its integrations and Cartloop is well aware of that. They’re planning on integrating with Shopify, Woocomerce, and even Klaviyo in addition to many others. What does this mean for ecommerce owners? More accessibility and easily shared data between channels. Omni-channel marketing depends on the seamless interaction between channels and linking up your SMS, emails, and online store is all but essential at this point in time.

What Comes Next? Lisa’s best advice? Learn who your customers truly are! Cartloop was founded on the principle that listening to your customers is more than necessary to have a healthy, thriving business. You can have the best product in the industry but if you can’t connect with people, you won’t succeed in selling it! Talk to your shoppers, ask them why they shop with you, segment them accordingly, and watch as your conversion rates soar (along with your ROI)!

If you’d like to work with Cartloop, or get in touch with Lisa, you can find her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

How to Build a Diverse Customer Acquisition Strategy, an In-House Marketing Team, and an Incredibly Unique Value Proposition Running the marketing for an entire company is no easy task, no matter the industry.

Steven Krinberg from Helix started as a one-man marketing machine outsourcing to agencies before reigning it in and building himself a fully-functioning, in-house marketing team.

So what can we learn from this innovative, consumer-focused mattress brand

On this episode of The Ecom Show, our podcast host and Budai Media founder Daniel gets a chance to chat 1-on-1 with a true marketing professional to discuss things like:

✔️ Finding your value proposition

✔️ Building an in-house marketing team from scratch

✔️ Ways to generate website traffic

✔️ Using retention marketing to nurture customers

✔️ Significant challenges for scaling companies

What Do You Bring to the Table? Steven can name dozens of mattress brands and their value propositions, but there isn’t anything quite like Helix Sleep. Tailor-made shopping experiences, high-quality materials, eco-friendly mattresses, and a helpful sleep test have all contributed to Helix’s success, which is easy to do once you’ve figured out where your brand fits in.

Customization and customer happiness also play a prominent role, which is why Helix listened to their customers and offered them more choices after initially “taking the decision making out of the shopping experience.”

Building a Super Team What are the benefits of building your marketing division in-house? You can save money, have more control over your brand’s direction and voice, and have greater transparency!

Relying on some agencies is nerve-wracking when you don’t know what to expect, and it can be more challenging to coordinate. Helix tests out agencies for new channels and sees how it goes, and if everything works well, they plan on bringing it in-house to add to their marketing team.

The Best Channels for Acquisition? No matter the preferred marketing channel of choice, any experienced marketer can tell you that it is wise to diversify your traffic streams. Using Facebook or Google ads is fine, but don’t get too comfortable with all your “eggs in one basket” if you can help it!

Helix has successfully tried Facebook, Google, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Affiliate programs, influencer marketing, direct mail, and even TV ads in the quest to bring more customers to their brand. Never stop testing, and don’t be afraid to try new channels!

Changing the Way You Send Emails and SMS Since people don’t buy mattresses very often, Steven figured it doesn’t make much sense to try and “sell to people” via emails or SMS messages.

Instead, they’ve changed how they use retention marketing channels at Helix and have instead focused on customer nurturing. They realized that people don’t like salesy emails or content, so they refrained from being invasive and merely concentrate on maintaining a relationship with their customers, which lead to people buying more mattresses when the need to do so arose.

What Comes Next? Marketing for a mattress brand has its unique challenges, like establishing Lifetime Customer Value metrics that make sense. Since people only buy mattresses every few years, it doesn’t make sense to sell too much.

Instead, Helix has branched out and used its successful business model in other areas like sofas and other home furniture. Steven also notes that once you hit a certain level, it becomes necessary to bring your data centralization and storage in-house to have complete control over it and dictate precisely how you will use it going forwards!

If you’d like to get in touch with Steven, feel free to drop him a line on his LinkedIn or check out Helixsleep.com!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Myths, Tips, and Tricks of SEO: How to Stay Ahead of the Constantly Changing Algorithms Much like football or boxing, SEO has changed considerably over the last 20 years while the fundamentals still remain the same. The competition has grown, the algorithms have gotten smarter, and it’s no longer enough to stuff keywords into a page and hope for the best!

In this episode of The Ecom Show, Budai Media’s own Daniel Budai and Craig Campbell discuss the tips, tricks, and myths of SEO and effectively rank on search engines like Google.

Craig is an SEO expert with nearly two decades of experience helping clients catapult their website to the top of Google’s rankings, which is why we’re eager to hear him speak about:

✔️ How SEO has changed

✔️ Hard coding vs. Apps

✔️ Easy issues to solve in SEO

✔️ Diversifying your platforms

✔️ Building authority

Evolution of SEO Twenty years ago, you could get away with poorly written content stuffed with keywords, and Google’s top spot would go to the one with the most links. Nowadays, it’s not that simple!

Craig mentions that much like Football or boxing, SEO’s core fundamentals still remain the same, although certain aspects changed significantly. There is more competition, more strict rules, very advanced algorithms, and more ways than ever to improve your SEO ranking.

If you want to do well, you’ll have to prioritize quality over quantity these days because search engines prioritize engagement and the same can be said for all social media platforms too.

Automate or Delegate? The functionality of your brand’s website is also a big part of SEO, and shaving seconds off your loading speed can be the difference between a 1% and 3% conversion rate. Craig mentions that you shouldn’t obsess too much over your speed, as anything under two seconds is more than enough!

If you’re in dire need of some website fine-tuning, apps and plugins usually are 10x cheaper and 10x quicker than hiring someone to do it manually. It doesn’t make sense to pay someone for all that work if you can get an automated program to do it for you.

Low Hanging Fruit Plenty of things get overlooked in SEO, like broken links or pages, for example. Simply redirecting traffic for old or outdated products that aren’t in stock can save you lots of headaches in the future. There are different tools you can use to achieve this, like a 301 redirect. If your broken links are being indexed, they will ultimately cannibalize your website traffic.

Google needs to be shown what you want it to see, so don’t waste time or space trying to rank every page. It doesn’t make sense to have a different URL for every shoe size, for example, when you can just organize it better in one page to save attention for your product page or main page.

Diversity is Your Friend It may sound strange coming from an SEO expert, but don’t put all your eggs in the SEO basket! Craig thinks that having a healthy presence on multiple platforms is crucial if you want to be taken seriously because one slip up on your primary platform could be the difference between succeeding or going out of business.

Utilize Facebook, email marketing, Tik Tok, Bing, LinkedIn. It doesn’t matter, really, as long as you’re pulling in customers from a wide range of places. SEO works best when you have a healthy presence across multiple platforms anyways!

Expertise, Authority, and Trust Nowadays, it’s all about building authority with Google and having lots of engagement, of course!

The E.A.T. acronym is an excellent reminder of how critical it is to establish your brand on multiple channels with external publications, podcasts appearances, and a whole range of other helpful boosters. Google doesn’t want uninformed people telling others about health, such as why it has implemented this system.

If you would ever like to speak with Craig or learn from his experience, CraigCampbellSEO.com is an incredible resource for any digital marketers or brand owner. You can also find him on Youtube, where he has over 500 educational videos!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

The Swiss-Army Knife of Digital Marketing: Utilizing Google's Impressive Arsenal With SEO, Shopping Network, and Youtube We’re pleased to announce that we’ve been joined by a real force in the marketing world, JarodSpiewak, who has been teaching himself the secrets of marketing since he was 14 years old!

From graduating high school and university early to working in corporate marketing, Jarod was unsure of his career path until the fateful day he joined Upwork and became a one-man marketing machine.

Since then, Jarod has mastered the art of SEO, Google Ads, and a whole arsenal of other Google-affiliated tools to deliver an unparalleled experience to his clients, which is precisely why we’re excited to have him on The Ecom Show!

Grab a pen and paper and listen in as podcast host Daniel Budai and Jarod talk about:

✔️ Comparing corporate marketing and digital marketing

✔️ When to start utilizing Google

✔️ Google vs. Facebook

✔️ The great PPC & SEO debate

✔️ Underutilization of Youtube

Old vs. New It doesn’t take long listening to Jarod to understand why he couldn’t stand corporate marketing. Conventional strategies, toxic work culture, office politics, and a failure to utilize digital marketing strategies all led Jarod to leave the corporate world behind and start his own business.

Going it alone isn’t easy, but picking up skills and committing to learning digital marketing is a viable career path now, even for those who never received a college degree.

Is It Right For You? When should you hop on the Google train? Once you hit six figures? After you’re raking in seven figures? If you’re doing well on your current platforms and want to grow rapidly, Google is the number one search engine on the planet, after all, so you can’t go wrong there.

The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all plan for brands, and it depends entirely on what you are looking for and at what stage of your sales funnel you want to use ads for.

Facebook vs. Google People are quick to choose sides when talking about online advertising titans, but there can only be one king. Facebook is undoubtedly good for some things, but there is no denying that Google is a powerful force with a whole toolset at its disposal.

Google is also a much more stable platform than Facebook, which routinely bans accounts for no reason and has limited analytics. There is nothing wrong with using Facebook for your marketing, but it’s no secret who Jarod prefers!

Choose Your Strategy You can ask a hundred marketers about this and get a hundred different opinions. The ultimate question is how much should you focus on SEO and how much you should spend on PPC?

There is no easy way to determine the right answer for your brand, but you shouldn’t feel bad about testing different ways out. Jarod personally recommends letting your keywords shine while using PPC for other keywords that don’t necessarily do well for you, creating a well-rounded strategy for your brand.

The Power of Youtube Lost in all the mix is the fact that Youtube is the world’s second-biggest search engine, and Google also owns it! Youtube is massively underserved because there is a high perceived entry barrier for people who aren’t confident they can make video content.

Ironically the best performing video ads on Youtube aren’t exactly high quality, which ties in nicely with Jarod’s theory: If it would work as an ad on TV, it won’t work on Youtube! If you can figure out how to segment your audience and connect with them via video, there’s no limit to what you can do!

If you would love the opportunity to reach out to Jarod, you can find plenty of information about him on Google, which is quite fitting! You can also check out his agency, Cometfuel.com, for more information!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Jarod Spiewak:

Jarod's LinkedIn

Jarod's website

Jarod's YoutTube channel

Jarod's Instagram

Jarod's Twitter

Jarod's Facebook

View Details

How to Bring in High-Quality Traffic and Figure Out What Marketing Channel Works Best for Your Brand We’re proud to announce another epic panel discussion with some of the brightest minds in marketing on this episode of The Ecom Show.

Join in as we answer all your questions about website traffic and customer acquisition with experts from different marketing channels like Facebook, Google, Pinterest, and Youtube like:

Csaba Borzasi - Founder of Game of Conversions
Sandeep Kumar - CEO and Founder of ROI Minds
Bryan Fuentes - Owner of 2DG Media
JoannaSzewczyk - Founder and CEO of PinMeApp
Daniel Budai - Founder and CEO of Budai Media

If you’ve got a killer product or an exciting brand but you’re struggling to bring people to your site, there’s plenty you could be learning about, such as:

✔️ “Wild West” of advertising on Youtube

✔️ The power of Google advertising in ecommerce

✔️ Organic marketing strategies with Pinterest

✔️ Importance of creatives and testing on Facebook

The Awareness Funnel and Maximizing Youtube’s Potential Our friend Csaba says that you’ve only got a few seconds to pull someone’s attention, which is why only the best scriptwriters succeed. Scriptwriting edges out production value in terms of importance, with some of the most successful videos featuring seemingly low value, laidback imagery, and a well-designed script.

If you can utilize Csaba’s great H.E.R.O technique when marketing, you’ll achieve incredible results too. Since Youtube is an action-based platform where people are already searching for knowledge or solutions to problems, it’s a natural bet for people looking to sell products online!

The World’s Best Search Engine Google is also quite powerful, especially when you consider how many people use it and how it works similarly to Youtube. If you’re asking a question on Google, chances are you in some stage of the customer journey, whether you know it or not.

When specific keywords are entered into Google, it’s captured in the data, and it’s a whole lot easier to target certain people based on their search. If you can figure out who your customers are and find out what buying stage they are in, Sandeep thinks it’s simple to pull in large numbers of people to your ecommerce store.

Start Slow. Set it Up Right. Pinterest is massively underutilized to this day, considering it has over 400 million users and that 30% of people that go on Pinterest are coming from Google searches.

Joanna says it’s essential to start with other channels before you experiment with Pinterest, but once you’ve developed a brand identity, you can start tinkering with it. First, you need to start slow and build a page without your product to earn the trust of customers and show them you are a vital resource for their favorite niche.

Once you are established, you can display your products organically and attract a million views based on a few hundred subscribers to your page.

The Power of Creatives Bryan says there are plenty of factors that determine whether a Facebook ad is excellent or not, but one factor takes the cake. Creativity is absolutely necessary if you want eyes on your ads and money in your pocket.

If you have less than 1% click-through rates, it isn’t your product that is the problem…

It’s your ad and your offer! Well-written copy that pulls at the heartstrings is a fundamental theme no matter the channel, along with testing your ads to inform how you will proceed to advertise going forward. It helps to throw a few bucks into several different ad sets getting started, so you can have “skin in the game” while also learning what works best and what doesn’t work at all.

Bringing in traffic can be done in various ways, but the biggest takeaway is that no one channel should be carrying the load. You must integrate and connect and overlap to make an omnichannel strategy so you can flourish on all platforms and confidently pull in new customers all the time.

View Details

Incorporating SMS Into Your Omnichannel Marketing Strategy and Sharing Data Between Platforms for Maximum Personalization SMS marketing is one of the most overlooked marketing channels for the time being, but did you know it averages over 40x ROI?

On this episode of The Ecom Show with our host Daniel Budai, we get to hear from Elena Kostova, one of the marketing masterminds behind SMSBump, a company we are proud to partner with!

SMSBump is part of the Yotpo ecosystem, which has great marketing tools like loyalty programs, review apps, and more, which is why it’s more important than ever to make sure your tools are integrated and ready to share data with one another and ensure customers have the most personalized experience possible.

Tune in and hear Elena and Daniel discuss:

✔️ Implementing SMS for the first time
✔️ Collecting subscribers from different channels
✔️ Mixing channels together synergetically
✔️ Big things in store for SMSBump and Yotpo
✔️ Best tips for succeeding with SMS marketing

Getting Started Unsurprisingly, our knowledgeable guest is quite familiar with getting brands started in SMS. Elena says most people aren’t aware that SMS marketing is a viable channel and one of the most lucrative ones with the best ROI.

If you’re just getting started, it helps to know who you are speaking to, local and national regulations (there are many laws in Europe and the USA), and start with the most successful automation like Abandon Cart first.

Build Your SMS Subscriber List “You’re only as successful as the number of customers you can reach,” according to Elena, and this rings true especially for SMS marketing. If you put out quality content and highly personalized messages, it won’t matter if your subscriber list is small.

It’s recommended that you have several platforms to bring in SMS subscriptions, pulling in different audiences from TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc. You can use special offers to entice people into signing up and tailor that offer to the average demographic on any given social media channel.

Synergetic Integration By itself, SMS marketing won’t accomplish much. It works much better alongside several other potent marketing channels like Facebook Ads, loyalty programs, email marketing, etc. Fortunately, Yotpo has a whole arsenal of excellent tools that all integrate with SMSBump, so you can share data between all of them to learn as much as you can about your customers.

Suppose you can apply what you learn about your audience on SMS and plug it into Shopify or Klaviyo. In that case, you’ll be that much better at personalizing, segmenting, and ultimately bringing in more revenue.

What’s Next for SMSBump? Since SMSBump now operates in the Yotpo ecosystem, it helps them offer a complete “360” all-encompassing tool that allows marketers and brands to succeed in all areas. They are getting better at sharing data and creating strong customer profiles that can be used on any channel. If you can connect 1-on-1 with a customer and make them feel appreciated and noticed, there is no limit to what your brand can accomplish!

Best Tips for SMS Marketing Elena could indeed talk all day about sharing advice, but she mainly mentions focusing on a few select things. For instance, you should get comfortable with delivering your messages with as few words as possible. There is a character limit!

Also, study up the regulations of each country. Some require double opt-in confirmation, and there is a vast cultural difference between the USA and Europe when it comes to receiving SMS marketing messages.

The key theme we’re seeing this year with all our guests on The Ecom Show is personalization is the next big thing moving forward. Elena mentions that conversion rates jump up 54% with more personalized messages, so capturing data and leveraging it between all channels is critical!

Feel free to check out more great resources, tips, templates, and content at SMSBump.com or send Elena a message at elena@smsbump.com.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Finding a Winning Product, Scaling Up and Adapting to Facebook Ads Updates All the way from Scotland is ecommerce growth hacker Fraser Brien! In just 3 years, Fraser has gone from an inexperienced marketer to one of the industry’s most knowledgeable accelerated growth marketers, specializing in Facebook Ad buying and horizontal scaling to other countries throughout Europe.

It doesn’t matter which country or culture he’s appealing to. Like a real marketer, Fraser can adapt and find a way to communicate with any audience.

On this episode of The Ecom Show, Daniel Budai, our multitalented CEO and podcast host, talks shop with Fraser Brien about:

✔️ How to know when you have a winning product
✔️ Common problems when scaling too fast
✔️ Adapting to the Facebook Ads updates
✔️ Knowing your market
✔️ The best tips and tools for growing and scaling horizontally

Finding Your Product and Brand Great marketing won’t save you from a bad product or brand. When choosing the item you plan on selling, you should always consider the lifetime value of each customer. If they shop with you one time and have anything less than a stellar experience, you can assume they won’t return. Having a problem that allows customers to keep buying is key.

It’s also essential to give people a powerful brand because all the marketing in the world won’t help if you don’t have a following, an audience, or a soul underneath it all. He can’t choose a product for you, but Fraser does note that if your core concept and product are solid, you’ll make it a lot easier on yourself when you market it!

Growing Pains If you want to expand to other countries, there are plenty of things you need to consider. If you’re going to sell products in Canada, for example, you’ll need to account for the customs and taxes on an item because people won’t leave great reviews if they need to pay expensive fees on top of the money they already spent.

It also helps to know the legality of selling in other countries and do your due diligence when it comes to admin. The “under the road” infrastructure, as Fraser calls it, is the foundation for a successful move to another market!

Weighing in on the Apple vs. Facebook War The IOS update from Apple was thought to have crippled Facebook Ads, but the marketers can adapt and overcome! Ultimately, Fraser doesn’t think the update will be a bad thing, but for now, people have to get used to finding a new way to collect data and track their spending on ads.

You also can’t expect to throw a lot of money at ad buying on Facebook and hope to see results anymore, so it pays to capture your data and know how to use it properly!

Catering to Different Cultures and Countries Fraser noted that expanding into other countries is trickier in some than others. If you want to hit the Danish or Dutch markets, you can feel it out with English copywriting due to local language proficiency. However, French, German, and Spanish people are less likely to engage, so it helps to have a translated website and copy that isn’t just translated word for word.

It’s important to know what the local culture is like, what social media platform they like best, how they engage, what is ok or not acceptable to say, and other cultural differences that could come into play. Some cultures are more diverse so studying your market is critical.

Advice for All Marketers With significant IOS changes, it’s more important than ever to learn how to compile data, form a hypothesis, and test it. Google Analytics is one of the best tools a marketer can know how to use, and it’s completely free! Knowing how to use this proficiently could make a whole world of difference, especially in the post-IOS update world.

There are, of course, many platforms at your disposal when it comes to marketing to your audience, but it is necessary to know what roles they can play and where your brand’s customers typically hang out. Some younger brands may resonate more with TikTok, while Pinterest takes longer to grow but pays off with much more quality leads.

Find Fraser on LinkedIn:
Fraser’s LinkedIn

You can also follow Daniel Budai here:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

The Importance of Owned Data, Attribution Models and Omnichannel Marketing to Scale Up Your Ecommerce Brand How does someone who got into ecommerce “by accident” become one of the most respected and successful ecommerce business owners in the entire industry?

On this episode of The Ecom Show, we have the privilege of hearing from Colin McGuire, the CEO of Boomn, a phenomenal group of marketers that does whatever it takes to incubate ecommerce brands and accelerate their growth.

Listen in as our agency founder and podcast host Daniel Budai sits in with Colin McGuire as they harken back to the olden days of ecommerce and recount how the industry has changed rapidly over the last ten years.

You can also hear from Colin about:
✔️ Ecommerce in 2011 vs. 2021
✔️ Attribution models and owned data
✔️ Importance of omnichannel marketing
✔️ What it takes to go from 7 figures to 8 or 9 figures
✔️ Valuing and purchasing an existing ecommerce brand

From Taboo to Dream Job Early on, Daniel and Colin discuss the early days of ecommerce, back when “dropshipping” and “print-on-demand” weren’t even a thing yet.

Colin began buying stuff from overseas and shipping it to his apartment, where he would package and send it out himself. Not many respected his line of work, and he says it even felt taboo at times, but now the script has flipped, and everyone wants a piece of the ecommerce pie.

Competition has also increased dramatically, but that isn’t a problem for innovators and early adopters like Colin and his company!

Data is Your Friend Numbers may not lie, but we sure as heck can misread them! In some instances, you can get away with doing something “good,” but in this case, good is the enemy of great, as Colin likes to put it. Big companies crush the competition because they have a profound understanding of their attribution models and have organized it down to a T.

With recent Facebook updates, it’s harder to track where traffic is coming from, which further adds to the importance of owning your data. If you have to rely on other channels and platforms to keep track of your acquisition numbers, it’s a lot more complicated.

Marketing on One Channel is a Thing of the Past There’s no sense in throwing all your money into one channel these days. You simply won’t make a splash.

To compete with the big dogs, you’ll need to construct a fully-integrated cross channel strategy on multiple platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. Boomn owes a lot of its success to its ability to master any channel with its expert crew of marketers.

It’s even better if you can build them up alongside one another to complement each channel and help capture people from vastly differing audiences and areas of the web.

How to Grow a Brand Beyond 8 Figures Making mistakes is always a big thing in the beginning. How you use these mistakes will guide your future going forward, so be ready to learn from them and move on. Again, data is the secret to unlocking extra zeros at the end of your revenue, and you have to get creative when it comes to deploying new strategies.

Colin mentions being one of the early movers innovation-wise over the years, adopting Facebook and Google Ad spend way before anyone else thought to. He even attributes 30 percent of his revenue from SMS marketing last year, which is quite impressive in its own right!

Don’t Overpay Boomn is planning on buying a few existing brands this year, as it is “easier to get off the ground” if everything is established. Colin prefers poorly run brands with great winning products because his team can slip right in and clean it up.

One thing he warns of is overpaying for a brand. If you are getting into ecommerce and want to buy a brand, make sure to do your due diligence and remember that many people are overcharging. Try offering a deal to companies that aren’t for sale, and only go for companies that are a few years old.

It may not be easy to get to the level that Colin is at currently, but it is easy to reach out to him on:

Colin's LinkedIn

Colin's Instagram

You can also follow Daniel Budai here:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

The 10 Commandments of High-Converting Email Campaigns We’ve got a special guest lined up for this episode of The Ecom Show, and you might have heard his name before…

If you were hoping for a crash course on how to build out your email marketing strategy for an ecommerce brand, you’re in luck!

Our founder and CEO, Daniel Budai, is taking a break from being the podcast host this time around and instead joins us as a featured guest with lots to share.

You can hear the sacred Ten Commandments of Emails and other fascinating stuff like:

✔️ Automated flows vs. Email campaigns

✔️ Why segmentation is an integral part of ecommerce email marketing

✔️ Defining your brand’s voice and style

✔️ Finding a balance of content and sales promotions

✔️ Winning big with monthly sales events

Know the Difference The two major types of email categories are automated flows which are triggered by actions like purchases or abandoning a cart, and email campaigns which can be sent out manually at any time for any reason.

Daniel chose to focus on campaigns because brands usually create them on an ongoing basis. Flows are the backbone of your retention marketing strategy, while campaigns raise the ceiling and provide people with relevant information all the time.

Segment! Segment! Segment! Segmentation is your best friend. It doesn’t matter if you are splintering your lists based on language, country, gender, purchase history, email open rate, or anything else.

What does matter is that you know how often to send emails to certain subscribers. Limit yourself to one email a month for your least engaged subscribers, and make sure you take note of repeat buyers and include them in special events, deals, and discounts.

Know Your Voice, Find Your Style If you don’t know your brand, you can’t expect graphic designers and copywriters to know it. The best thing you can do is figure out what really makes people listen. Do your customers pay more attention to well-written copy, or do crisp photos of products drive them wild?

Once you get a handle on the situation, keep rolling with whatever voice, content, photos, or anything else resonates with your community! A clearly defined brand guide works wonders, especially if you plan on working with others to build your brand’s marketing strategy!

The Golden Ratio Short term or long term? That is the question…

You should plan according to your budget, but it usually is advantageous to think ahead and build your brand early. However, most new companies can hardly afford to focus on anything other than sales.

Laying off the sales promotions and offering up content can help warm up your community and build trust, helping in the long run and making you more money. That being said, there is no real wrong way to do it, although everyone should be wary of burning out their email lists and scaring off potential customers with too many sales pitches and not enough substance.

Every Month Deserves a Sales Event Whether it’s the saturated month of November or the relatively uneventful month of January, there is always a reason to have a sale!

We’ve seen brands get pretty creative and hold sales on random holidays, with some companies completely inventing their own holiday to have an event. It doesn’t matter why you hold the sale, but it does matter that you build hype and give your community reason to celebrate each month! A happy customer means more revenue down the line, so it’s in your best interest to drum up excitement for your subscribers!

When Budai Media founder Daniel isn’t busy guiding brands to the retention marketing promise land, he’s happy to connect on social media:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Daniel's presentation

View Details

Personal Videos, Connecting with Customers, and Boosting Lifetime Value On this episode of The Ecom Show, podcast host and Budai Media founder Daniel has an intercontinental call with Matthew Barnett, the “Papa Bear” over at Bonjoro in Sydney, Australia!

Bonjoro is an innovative SAAS company specializing in personalized videos for customers, which has proven to provide a massive boost to all major KPIs in all areas, including ecommerce.

It’s getting more and more competitive in the online world each day. Since Bonjoro has changed the entire industry for ecommerce brands, it made sense to pick Matthews brain and get some helpful insights about:

✔️ Connecting with customers
✔️ Figuring out which high-value customers to target
✔️ Acquiring customers with your reviews
✔️ Lifetime value and subscription services
✔️ The importance of utilizing your own data

Keep the Connection! Bonjoro works well because it utilizes one obvious principle. People want to feel special, and that is exactly what they feel when they receive a personalized video during their customer journey.

Studies have shown that sending a personalized video like you can with Bonjoro has tripled conversion rates and lifetime value, thanks to the data they collect and send to their clients. Delivering a stellar customer experience will encourage people to come back again and tell their loved ones about your brand.

Work Smarter Not Harder Despite the success that Bonjoro has found, Matthew acknowledges that no business can afford the time and energy it would take to send a video to everyone. If you want to retain that authentic feel, you can target specific customers that bring lots of value, make groups of people to send videos to or even send new videos each day that feel real and special.

You don’t even need to mention people’s names or locations in the video to make them feel like they are part of something special. Some companies even hire video representatives or pay their warehouse staff to make personalized videos each time an order is placed!

Reviews are your Friend Personalized videos don’t just help with making sales. Matthew was kind enough to mention his review platform strategy that helped one client of his become the number one rated men’s fashion brand in Denmark on Trustpilot.

Depending on your niche and location, some sites work better for others, but you should always encourage happy customers to leave you a review. This will only make it easier and cheaper to bring in new customers down the line!

Focus your attention on a significant site and try to overcome the odds, or target up and coming, less competitive sites where it is a lot easier to rank higher early on.

Bringing the Value Both Daniel and Matthew notice that too often in ecommerce, attention is given to the wrong KPIs. Lifetime Value is arguably the most critical for success.

Understanding that a customer who buys your most expensive item isn’t necessarily better than a customer buying a cheap or mid-tier item is a concept most don’t understand. It makes more sense to target customers that will keep buying from you for ten or more years rather than a wealthy customer that will buy one thing and never return.

Your churn rate relates to the fact that any non-repeat customer is essentially a lost customer, which sounds bad when you put it that way. Figuring out how to not lose customers is half the battle, but that’s where personalized videos and retention marketing work wonders.

Trust the Math Without data, none of Bonjoro’s techniques would be as effective. The longer you are in business, the better your data gets. It’s essential to figure out what the numbers are telling you and building your strategy around it!

Listen to the data you gather, and fic wholes in your customer journey or sales funnel accordingly. A customized video can be the best thing to get it done!

Follow Matthew:

Bonjoro.com

Verbate.com

Matthew “Papa Bear” Barnett’s LinkedIn

Follow Daniel:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Preaching the Supply Chain Gospel: Winning with Better Products at Cheaper Prices We were lucky to score a 2-for-1 special for this episode of The Ecom Show, with Nick Christie and Nick Andreas from Stacked SCMS, who got their start in ecommerce several years ago when they both operated successful stores on eBay and Amazon.

Now both Nicks leverage their knowledge of targeted ads, customer retention, and most importantly, the magic of setting up a winning supply chain to rake in money for their own businesses and the ecommerce brands of their clients!

From logistical breakdowns and broken supply chains to vertical integration and a massive network of ecommerce owners, it’s incredible to hear the story of Nick Christie and Nick Andreas.

These two have lots to share with our The Ecom Show’s host Daniel, like:
✔️ What to focus on once you hit six figures a day in ecommerce
✔️ The power of networking
✔️ Ecommerce trends of 2021
✔️ How supply chains can make or break your business
✔️ Understanding ecommerce from all angles

To Each Their Own When you scale up your revenue, you also scale up your problems too! One mistake that might cost you a few hundred dollars, in the beginning, could end up costing you a hundred thousand dollars once you grow much larger.

Logistic problems are a nightmare for ecommerce business, which is why both Nicks preach winning through your supply chain! At a massive scale, every penny you can save on sourcing products is thousands of dollars in potential profit.

Network = Networth Right from the get-go, these guys realized how important it is to surround yourself with like-minded entrepreneurs. You can learn a great deal from others doing the same thing after all!

When both Nicks put their heads together and started living with several other brand owners, they found seemingly obvious solutions to their problems and were able to grow their businesses more.

A strong network reaching around the globe also means great connections with manufacturers, suppliers, shippers, and ultimately, happy customers.

2021 for Ecommerce With big changes to Facebook algorithms and analytics, brands have to change the way they advertise. Ultimately though all the headaches of the algorithm changeover, Nick and Nick believe the new Facebook Ads will help better brands reach their warm audiences easier.

Since the guys at Stacked SCM have always practiced the “vortex approach” when it comes to the top and bottom of their funnels, they won’t have a painful transition like many other ecommerce businesses. Engaging people on a multitude of channels and tracking their movement between them all is key to targeting and retargeting customers.

May the Best Supply Chain Win It’s funny how a logistical nightmare for the Nicks turned into a business idea. Leverage their combined volume of orders for themselves and others in their network to bring down product sourcing costs. Now they help others dominate their niche with the cheapest, highest quality products.

Once they have found something that works and tweaked it, they can scale up and outspend everyone on advertising. Having vertical integration with fulfillment, manufacture, and advertising means lots of success!

Knowing the Entire Industry Our friends at Stacked SCM have a massive advantage with their business since they are also ecommerce brand owners. They understand each facet of the industry so well that they can truly put themselves in their customer’s shoes.

During the pandemic, any logistical supply chain problem has been no sweat for them since they’ve seen it all before and managed to find a solution for most issues plaguing other brands. It goes to show how important it is to branch out and learn different areas instead of just sticking to what you are good at.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Nick Christie and Nick Andreas:

Stacked SCM

View Details

How to Scale Up Your Ecommerce Business in 2021 Our very first webinar is also an informative, action-packed episode of The Ecom Show, thanks to Budai Media’s founder and podcast host Daniel, and his lovely guests:

Allie Guertin, Channel Customer Success Manager at Klaviyo
Ben Erdelyi, Senior Account Manager at Budai Media
Erik Huberman, CEO & Founder of Hawke Media
Kevin Urrutia, Founder of Voy Media
Soma Arnold Toth, CEO & Founder of Recart

We wanted to host a learning opportunity for all community members and beyond to evolve our understanding and learn new methods that will help us Scale-up Businesses in 2021.

Pull up a seat and listen as we discuss:

✔️ SEO and how it helps you control the brand narrative

✔️ The cost of retaining customers vs. acquiring customers

✔️ Exciting developments with Messenger and other channels in 2021

✔️ The skyrocketing price of ad spend during the rise of ecommerce

✔️ Building a community and getting better lifetime customer value

What is Your Story? As an agency owner, travel luggage merchant, and cleaning company founder (and a former podcast guest on The Ecom Show), Kevin Urrutia says that SEO is how he is able to find success. Paid Ads can help, but SEO truly puts the power of “controlling your brand narrative” in your own hands.

This goes for Instagram, Google, Youtube, or affiliate bloggers/reviewers too. Put as much content as you can online because people are already searching for your brand, whether you know it or not. Make it easier for them!

Retention is a Theme in 2021 Allie knows better than most just how important it is to retain customers due to her work at Klaviyo. In 2021 it will be more important than ever to make sure your automations are in place to “make you money overnight.” Got a coffee brand or food product you are selling? Why not send an automated flow after seven days to ask them if they need a refill at 10% OFF?

You should make your customers feel like more than customers. It costs 7x more to acquire new customers than it does to retain the ones you already have!

More Ways to Engage Recart’s CEO, Soma, mentioned some exciting developments happening this year, as the combining of the Facebook Messenger and Instagram DM platforms along with their potent backend analytics.

On another note, there are so many new channels to utilize in the coming year, especially for automations, shipping details, and customer service flows, that can be integrated in various ways both on and off your website.

Change the Way You Do Business After the pandemic hit in 2020, Baby Boomers spending online jumped 300%. Ecommerce is here to stay, and as it gets more competitive, Erik says customer retention grows more important. With ad spend skyrocketing, it is crucial to focus on merchandising, customer satisfaction, and your business’s foundation.

Solid companies were able to weather the storm just fine in 2020, while the pandemic crushed lots of bad companies that weren’t set up sustainably. You want people to keep buying with you, so what are you doing to make that happen?

Convenience and Community Our own senior account manager Ben was quick to point out the recurring theme of the webinar. “How can you keep customers coming back for more?”. Content emails did better than ever over the last year because, as Allie suggested, people were “inside and bored and willing to read anything.” Ben thinks that building a community has been crucial for email marketing, with some of Budai Media’s most successful clients really thriving with their new content emails.

He also suggests utilizing the subscription model, which all but ensures that customers come back on a monthly basis while using helpful software like Recharge to smooth out the process.

Best in the Industry We’re genuinely proud to call these companies our partners, and we’re excited to see what they have in store for 2021. In the ever-changing, rapidly evolving ecommerce industry, it’s more important than ever to stay on your toes and adapt to the times. Each of our guests gave some solid wisdom for how we can scale up businesses in 2021 and take advantage of the situation rather than just “make do with what we have.”

Above all, our webinar was a big hit with those that we’re able to RSVP a seat, so we are incredibly excited to promote and organize more in the future!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Allie from Klaviyo:

Allie's LinkedIn

Klaviyo website

Follow Ben from Budai Media:

Ben's LinkedIn

Ben's Facebook

Budai Media website

Follow Erik from Hawke Media:

Erik's LinkedIn

Hawke Media website

Follow Kevin from Voy Media:

Kevin's LinkedIn

Voy Media website

Follow Soma from Recart:

Soma's LinkedIn

Recart website

View Details

How to Explore and Make the Most of Ecommerce Email Marketing in 2021 What’s better than hearing from one retention marketing and email expert that founded their own agency? Listening to a discussion between two of them!

In our latest episode of The Ecom Show, friends and “friendly competitors” Mark Milutin and our host Daniel Budai talk about how they employ the newest retention marketing methods to drive results and make their clients happy!

Learn the secrets of both Bread Loaf and Budai Media in addition to:

✔️ Running and organizing an agency

✔️ The most valuable assets a business has

✔️ The importance of client education

✔️ Building passionate communities

✔️ How to take Q1 from boring to exciting

To Each Their Own While Budai Media and Bread Loaf essentially operates in the same way, there are plenty of noteworthy differences. Bread Loaf has both an American office with an in-house creative studio and a European office in Ukraine. At Budai Media, we have people from every continent collaborating remotely.

Both agencies can agree on how to structure each project, with any given client working with a specialized copywriter, designer, account manager, Klaviyo expert, and quality assurance agent.

Data is Everything If you want to sell your business, you have to ask yourself, “What is your biggest asset”? Most people think it’s the product or the personnel, but really your subscriber list and your data bring the most value. People don’t care about your logo or copywriting when they are looking to buy. They just want to know what they are getting with your analytics and all the email addresses, phone numbers, and statistics you have fought so hard to collect.

You can never predict platforms like Facebook or Google, so it makes sense to own your own data! Don’t rely on other websites to collect this data. Email is the best channel for this because it lets you control your platform without having to answer to anyone!

R.E.S.P.E.C.T Daniel and Mark have both worked with demanding clients, and while everyone wants to see good results, sometimes there are disagreements. Expectations and boundaries should be set in the beginning, and agencies should position themselves as coaches and collaborators instead of servants. Educating clients is half of the job because it’s up to an agency to convince the client that they know what works and what doesn’t, or else they wouldn’t hire you!

Mark also mentions that if he detects a lack of respect for himself or his team, he will quickly cut ties with a client. There is no room for this!

Find the Soul and Build a Community Large companies with countless shareholders are at a significant disadvantage, and small businesses are starting to capitalize on it. When you start small and organically, you can cultivate a community of people and build trust easier. If you sell wetsuits, create a surfing community. Selling offroading parts? Start a Jeep owners community. There is even a way to monetize this if you want people to join an exclusive club tailored to their passion.

You always want that passion and soul to shine through in everything you do and in every channel you use. People are taking notice, and this is undoubtedly set to become a big trend soon!

Surviving and Thriving in Q1 Sure the first three months of the year might feel dreary for some, but this is the time to innovate, test, and set the foundation for the year. Even the slower months can provide value down the line, and it’s up to you to build habits and create a strategy for the entire year ahead.

Work harder earlier, and challenge your customers to create a product launch/promo calendar so you can plan with a purpose! Take the opportunity to learn and innovate while you have time to breathe in January!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Mark Milutin:

Bread Loaf's website

Mark's website

Retention Lab's website

View Details

Copywriting is one of the core skills associated with marketing, so naturally, we had to invite one of the best copywriters we know to The Ecom Show!

Both our host (and Budai Media’s CEO) Daniel, and this episode’s guest, Dennis Demori, got their start in copywriting before evolving their skills and adapting to the changing landscape of marketing.

In addition to being a fantastic copywriter, Dennis has mastered the art of promotion, engaging his subscribers, selling courses, building strategies for his clients, and picking up new skills every day!

Skip the episode if you don’t want to hear from two direct response marketing experts as they discuss:

✔️ The key ingredients to becoming a great copywriter
✔️ How ecommerce brands can build more tempting offers
✔️ The magic of preselling
✔️ Thinking like a consultant and picking up skills
✔️ Being patient and thinking strategically

Do You Have What it Takes? It’s a recurring theme on our podcast, but just about every copywriter never imagined becoming a copywriter until they sort of “fall into it,” as Dennis puts it. Dennis started several years ago in content writing before shifting his focus to the email marketing realm. He never shied away from asking questions, seeking out mentors, or joining Facebook groups to learn from others.

He suggests reading marketing books before you ever think about copywriting. Having that background is so important in the long run. No B.S. Marketing by Dan Kennedy and The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib are some of his favorite books to recommend to beginners.

How Ecommerce Brands Can Improve Ecommerce brands have a lot to learn about marketing, especially from other industries like SAAS, info products, and coaches. When you have a product like sunglasses, you know what you will get when you order a pair, and you are aware of the competition.

If you stop relying only on discounts that destroy your margins and instead become more creative with how you present, bundle, and package your product, you can better stand out from the crowd. Software and ebooks are more abstract, so you have to market them as such and do a good job representing the value it can bring to people that buy them!

Preselling 101 Preselling is “just another word for marketing.” Far too often, ecommerce brands drop a promotion the day before or the day of a product release, when it’s too late to do anything. You should think more strategically, at least 30 days ahead, to deliberately promote a product and start selling it before it’s even finished!

Authors and Hollywood directors have no problem promoting a book or movie years before it ever releases, so why not do the same for new products in your pipeline?

Don’t Limit Yourself If you want to succeed in the long haul as a marketer or even a copywriter, you need to adjust your mindset. Many people can write basic copy, and AI is already starting to get the hang of subject lines for emails. If you can position yourself as a consultant and handle more than the writing of an email, you will become priceless to a company. Learn to make a strategy, don’t be afraid to ask tough questions, and collaborate with clients instead of just working for them.

Dennis recommends studying for at least 30 minutes a day and get used to picking up skills to bring added value to both you and your customers all the time!

Patience is a Virtue One big mistake most brands make is rushing a sale. The experience from beginning to the end of a sales funnel is delicate, and sometimes people need time to do their own research, figure out they have a problem, and actively search for a solution. Copywriters who can figure out what stage of the sales process their audience is in will be best at what they do!

For those interested in learning from, speaking to, or working with Dennis Demori, you can Google him and find him on most social media channels or his website. Be sure to subscribe to his email list, an invaluable source of knowledge for everybody!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Dennis Demori:

Dennis' Newsletter

Dennis' Telegram Channel

Dennis' Facebook

Dennis' Instagram

Dennis' Twitter

Dennis' website

Dennis' books and courses

Work with Dennis

No B.S. Direct Marketing: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd

View Details

TikTok and Pinterest Marketing: Why You Should Care More About These Channels in 2021 Everyone’s heard of Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram, but are there other lucrative channels your ecommerce business is forgetting?

In this exciting episode of The Ecom Show, our friendly host and Budai Media founder Daniel meets with Joanna Szewczyk, a brilliant marketing guru from Poland!

Before leaving her job working in IT at a big bank in New York City, Joanna had plenty of free time in her office and not enough work. She searched for side projects and business ideas before realizing just how promising the Pinterest platform could be in the right hands, and she never looked back.

If you’ve ever wondered about alternative ways to promote your brand and drive huge web traffic, you’ll enjoy hearing Daniel and the CEO & Founder of PinMeApp discuss:

✔️ The difference between social media and search engines
✔️ Who should use Pinterest, and how it can drive web traffic
✔️ Going viral on Tik Tok and why it’s different than the rest
✔️ The right and wrong time to worry about conversion rates
✔️ Staying ahead of the curve and adapting

Know the Difference To understand how Pinterest works, Joanna says it’s critical to change your understanding of the platform. Pinterest works more like a search engine in the vein of Google or Youtube, with incredible search mechanisms and recommendations. Facebook and Instagram are for people to consume media and promote themselves, while Google only shows you what you search for.

Pinterest combines the best of both social media and search engines, giving you a feed for those you follow, ads, and recommendations for trending media.

Is it for You? Most people don’t even consider Pinterest when building their brand, but they might not realize how much potential money and exposure they are missing. Joanna was first inspired to work with Pinterest when she saw a travel blogger earning over 100k a month with affiliate marketing and advertisements thanks to a robust influx of traffic from Pinterest.

If you put in the work and post to the right public boards, you can build a following on Pinterest and leverage it to whatever service, coaching, or product you provide. Joanna also mentions that any business can benefit from Pinterest and Tik Tok accounts to build trust and exposure.

It’s Easier than Ever Building a following on Instagram or Facebook can be frustrating, even with top-notch content and some algorithm luck. To even see your content on Instagram, you have to have a certain amount of followers already.

Tik Tok has revolutionized the game according to Joanna, who had a simple video of her apartment go viral despite only having a few hundred followers. Tik Tok is more democratic and allows most people to follow trends and make their mark no matter their audience, which is great for new brands.

Forget What You Know About KPIs Online marketers are obsessed with their metrics like conversion rates and impressions, but Joanna says you have to ditch this way of thinking on Pinterest or Tik Tok.

You don’t “walk through a city looking at billboards and go right to the store once you see something you like”. The same might ring true for Pinterest, which is meant to introduce you to products and build exposure. Ultimately the conversion rate cannot be truly counted on, so Pinterest and Tik Tok work best to gain exposure and build an audience.

Ready to Adapt Marketers also know that you need to be quick on your feet. You can have Facebook Ads, or Instagram algorithms figured out, and you’re on top of the world, and the next day it all comes crashing down when they tweak some metrics or codes.

Joanna created her own app, PinMeApp, to help people automatically build a massive presence on Pinterest, and for a few years, it worked well. Now Pinterest has excluded third-party apps like hers, so she has morphed her business into a Pinterest Management firm that offers courses for those wanting to learn her secrets of the trade.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Joanna Szewczyk:

Joanna's Facebook

Joanna's Pinterest firm

View Details

How to Build an Elite Team of 50+ Ecommerce Marketers In this episode of The Ecom Show, Daniel reconnects with Bostjan Belingar, a fellow agency owner and master of email marketing!

Not only is Bostjan a great mind to pick when it comes to retention marketing and growing a successful agency…

Daniel and Bostjan are good friends and former flatmates at the Hustle House since meeting at a Klaviyo Conference in Boston a few years back, and now they are “friendly competitors.”

If you’d like to learn from the respective founders of Budai Media and Hustler Marketing about how to grow a successful marketing agency of your own, listen in and hear these successful business minds speak about:

✔️ Knowing when to build a team
✔️ Where to find the right people
✔️ Creating an efficient hiring system
✔️ Building a healthy work culture and limiting employee turnover
✔️ Questions to ask yourself when you own your own company

Is it for You? Both Bostjan and Daniel hardly expected to start their own agencies back when they both got their start as copywriters. They wrote and learned from mentors before feeling the need to take on additional team members to lighten the workload. Before Bostjan knew it, he had 10-15 people working for him and over 60 people currently employed at Hustler Marketing.

At a certain point, you have to choose between scaling up and building a company or charging more money and becoming a highly paid specialist that works alone. Creating an agency is a lot of work, but it pays off in the long run if you are patient enough to wait.

In Search of Talent After initially recruiting his first hires through Facebook and Instagram, Bostjan moved on to Upwork, where he found limited success. The quality of people on there was all over the place. Linkedin Hiring became his new best friend, and now his appointed “Head of Culture” uses it for every hire they make.

Linkedin Hiring is relatively cheap, and it lets you filter by country, experience, and more when looking for the perfect candidate. It doesn’t hurt to have a handy hiring/HR consultant to help guide you through interviews and the hiring process!

What’s Your Hiring Process? Bostjan wisely says that “the quality of your work and employees is directly proportional to the quality of your hiring process.” You should leave emotion out of it, and don’t show up to an interview without any questions for your potential hire thought out already.

You should implement a funnel system and enter candidates into an excel spreadsheet. Ask them questions before you ever speak to them, make them take a competency test, and meet with the 5-10 best candidates that make it that far.

Keep Your Team Happy It isn’t enough to hire the right people… You want to keep the right people working with you too! Talk to your employees, give them great feedback, see what your team thinks of each other with 360 feedback sessions, and develop a way to keep track of team morale and satisfaction if you can.

You should also find a way to track data like hires, resignations, employee turnover, and any other stat you can think of to make your company more efficient. Bostjan even employs a therapist to run workshops and help his team cope better during the week, which is quite revolutionary in this day and age.

What is Important to You? The most important thing you can do as a business owner is to keep your goals and your dreams in sight at all times. Would you rather make a modest sum of money each month while working 25 hours a week, or make much more but have no free time and no weekends off?

Bostjan is happy to offer equity to his employees as long as he stays the majority owner. He prioritizes growth over money in his pockets because he is playing the long game. It isn’t all about revenue after all! It’s also essential to keep that winning mindset to stay motivated long-term with your business!

Most businesses fail, so take pride in what you are doing, work with the right people, and enjoy what you do. If you can’t enjoy what you do, find something you like to do better!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Bostjan Belingar:

Bostjan's website

Bostjan's LinkedIn

View Details

Everything You Need To Know About Video In Ecommerce We’ve touched on it before in a previous episode, but video creation for ecommerce is just too important to ignore!

In this episode of The Ecom Show, we’re honored to welcome Allan Glanfield from Canada, an accomplished video marketing strategist at Bellwether X.

If you take a look at their website, you’ll see impressive visuals, engaging content, and top-notch music to go with it as it becomes increasingly more apparent that these guys are damn good at what they do!

Sit in as Daniel and Allan discuss what it takes to craft a story and everything you need to know about video in ecommerce in addition to:

✔️ The importance of storytelling

✔️ Evolution of video advertising

✔️ The right time to start thinking about videos for your business

✔️ How to get started in the video marketing world

✔️ Subtle differences and helpful hacks for creatives in Q4

It’s All About the Story We heard it from our good friend Ian Garlic a few weeks back, and Allan drives the point home this time. You can have the best equipment and actors, but if your product and your story aren’t good you won’t succeed even with the best in the business. It can even be frustrating when a simple concept out-performs a “million-dollar idea,” but that's the nature of the trade!

Don’t get caught up in the best technology. Just learn lightning basics, help people learn about the product so they can make an informed decision, and above all else, tell a compelling story!

The Times are Changing Back in the day, a room full of writers would painstakingly develop a winning idea for a television commercial, with one shot to make it work. These days, it makes more sense to create lots of videos and test them to see what performs best.

You could even argue that the conventional advertisement has been completely replaced by “viral videos,” unboxing videos, customer video testimonials, and simple videos. People also think these videos are only suitable for social media, but you can find them on landing pages, product pages, and even email flows post-purchase!

Are You Ready? People often wonder when they should start thinking about creating engaging video content or hiring someone to do it for them. Allans says that you should worry about that right out of the gates! It’s never too early to start thinking about content, and without beautiful images, captivating videos, and other content, your website will be just an unremarkable framework!

You actually save yourself a headache in the long run if you map out your creatives early on, even if you have a tight budget to start.

Breaking Into the Industry Video marketing gurus come from all different backgrounds, so there’s no wrong way to get going if you think it might be your calling! Allan mentioned that comedians make for great writers, and having a sense of humor is a must if you want to create compelling advertisements that move people to action!

You can also start as a videographer or photographer like Allan and build up years of experience learning strategy, marketing, data analytics, and the other essential aspects of media buying, but it takes time.

Q4 vs. Rest of Year Surprisingly, the story takes a back seat this time of year to more concise, simple product-focused videos. It’s buying and gifting season, so people are more worried about seeing a product and learning about it and less about the brand it comes from.

It’s also important to capture attention in the first few seconds of a video because there is lots of competition during November and December. Use nifty camera angles, engage the audience directly with gestures, and make sure you get some eyes on that video you’ve worked so hard to create!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Allan Glanfield:

Bellwether X website

Bellwether X Instagram

View Details

How to Retain the Customers you Acquired in 2020 In this episode, Budai Media’s founder Daniel hosts a round table discussion for Budai Media’s 30th Episode of The Ecom Show, featuring some of the titans of marketing, including one of our own account managers and some former podcast guests too! Take a listen and hear from some of the best minds in the industry like:

Ben Erdelyi, Senior Account Manager at Budai Media
Charlie Lawrance, Founder & CEO of Gecko Squared
Fiona Stevens, Head Of Marketing at LoyaltyLion
Martina Cronin, Agency Partnerships Manager at Octane AI
Mihail Stoychev, Founder & CEO at SMSBump

Join up and take part in a Retention Marketing Panel and learn about:

✔️ How this year’s Q4 was different from any other year

✔️ Most and least successful ecommerce niches of 2020

✔️ What ecommerce trends to expect in 2021

✔️ Tips for retaining customers next year

✔️ What’s next for these incredible companies?

One of a Kind Year Everyone can agree that this year’s Q4 was the strangest in recent memory, with a pandemic affecting the ecommerce landscape. Black Friday and holiday sales started much earlier, and brick-and-mortar businesses focused on building an online presence.

Facebook Ads became much more competitive, and people mainly opted to stick with companies they were familiar with rather than jump at the best discounts.

Thrivers and Survivors Due to the year’s volatility, companies have had to adapt or risk falling by the wayside. The niches that performed the best this year were childcare products, household items, health and wellness gear, art/hobby supplies, and home appliances.

Food, consumables, and skincare products also did quite well this year, but one noteworthy casualty of COVID was the outdoor gear/survivalist industry, which has fallen on hard times. Major companies also took some time to worry less about sales and more about their community building and audience engagement!

What’s Happening Next Year? Aside from obvious developments in 2021, like the subscription model’s continued growth and success, there are some other trends you can bank on. Fiona and Martina both agree that the focus on the customer journey will increase, with personalized messages and heavy segmentation to engage the right people.

Charlie mentioned that Facebook ads would become a lot less expensive next year due to becoming a lot more difficult to use! The way Facebook Pixel captures data will shift drastically, so ad agencies are scrambling to get their back-end analytics figured out to brace for the coming changes.

Answering the Biggest Question... The reason we rounded up this group of experts was to figure out and share the best ways to keep our hard-earned customers in 2021, and the answers did not disappoint! Ben mentioned that delivering on expectations and promises like shipping times and refund policies was critical if you want to keep your customers long-term.

Engaging with customers and asking them what they are looking for or sending them useful content was another helpful tip shared by Mihail. Charlie mentioned cross-selling, upselling, and syncing ads with email campaigns to build brand unity, while Martina kept stressing the importance of personalization. Fiona brought up an interesting point that being authentic practicing what you preach will attract people who believe in the same causes.

Cutting Edge Ideas From Our Partners Each of the five companies involved has big things in store for their customers in 2021, like Budai Media’s new CRO service, for instance. SMSBump and Octane AI will work on their products and improve their integration with other apps. At the same time, Loyalty Lion has an eye on building a more comprehensive data analytics system to further help their clients. Charlie and Gecko Squared are hard at work focusing on in-house creative production and DIY training programs for brands seeking to run their own Facebook ads.

We’re leaving the gift of wisdom and experience under your tree this Christmas, so don’t forget to unwrap it!

View Details

How Succesful Dropshipping Companies Grow in the Long Term Anyone can start a dropshipping store online, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out in a highly-saturated industry these days…

Which is where our next guest on The Ecom Show, Joseph Ianni, comes in!

Joseph is a podcaster extraordinaire from Canada, and a brand ambassador for one of Budai Media’s partners, Debutify. Debutify touts itself as the world’s best free Shopify theme, but it’s so much more than that!

Joseph and The Ecom Show’s host Daniel sit down and discuss what it takes to succeed in ecommerce these days along with:

✔️ The perks of using Debutify

✔️ How important it is to build a community in any niche/business

✔️ The ever-changing world of Podcasting

✔️ Is Dropshipping dead?

✔️ Long-term goals for dropshippers

Debutify = Game Changer Debutify is much more than a template, essentially allowing busy ecommerce store owners to focus their attention on marketing while they handle the conversion rates. With 28 add-ons and counting, it’s constantly adding more helpful tools to convert better and make more money.

Joseph mentioned that aside from the friendly free trial that you can test right now, there are multiple plans, with the most basic costing $19 a month. The highest tier plan gives subscribers access to product research for winning items, a community to bounce ideas off, and a mentor to help you evolve!

Community Building 101 Whether you are crafting customized email campaigns or launching your podcast, Joseph says you need to cultivate your community. The best podcasts and brands have in-jokes, community discourse, and audience engagement to let people know they are part of the process.

Aside from that, people in ecommerce and dropshipping come from all different backgrounds with even more personal interests, so it’s up to us to figure out our specific audiences and learn how to talk to them.

How Podcasting has Changed Joseph always enjoyed video game podcasts, but he never imagined that his love of video games would catapult him towards his true passion: hosting his own podcasts!

Since he first got started several years ago, the landscape in podcasting has changed dramatically. It was once seen as an extension of radio and only audio-centric, but now there are podcast videos, and it has become more mainstream in general. His own podcast for Debutify, Ecomonics is a fantastic resource for aspiring ecommerce business owners, with knowledgeable guests (like our very own founder Daniel) covering various topics!

Dropshipping is Alive and Well “Is dropshipping still alive?” The answer is an emphatic YES. According to Joseph, the only thing that has changed is that dropshipping is more saturated with a lot more competition now, which is why it pays to have services like Debutify on your side.

You can still compete these days, but you need to evolve with the industry and do a better job than your competitors. He says that nothing really dies. Radio never died despite what others believe, it just adapted and evolved, and that is precisely what we are seeing from dropshipping now.

Life After Dropshipping From everyone Joseph and Daniel have spoken to, it seems that no one ever wants to stay a dropshipper for the rest of their life. Some get burnt-out, some go on to open marketing agencies to capitalize on their self-taught skills, and some opt to start ecommerce brands with their own products.

Most people just dropship to raise some capital for future endeavors, while others like to kick back, automate, and travel the world while the money comes in each month! The point is that you can learn lots from dropshipping and ecommerce, even if becoming a merchant isn’t your endgame!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Joseph Ianni:

Joseph's LinkedIn

Joseph's podcast

Joseph's website (Debutify)

View Details

How to Create High-Converting Ecommerce Videos For Different Channels There are many ways to engage your audience and build enthusiasm for your brand, but nothing comes close to videos!

It doesn’t matter the audience, channel, or product, our next guest on The Ecom Show, Ian Garlic, can figure out a way to make a high-converting marketing video for anything!

This video guru from Florida has launched several websites (like AuthenticWEB.media and Storycrews.com), and worked with some of the biggest names in marketing, with no sign of slowing down!

Take a seat and listen in with Budai Media founder, Daniel, and master “storyteller” Ian to learn about:

✔️ Why videos are the most engaging form of marketing

✔️ Hiring and working with video creators.

✔️ The formula for great video ads

✔️ Knowing the different video ad channels

✔️ Q4 advice, tips for beginners, and inspiration

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words… Even a short video contains hundreds of captured images, and some even say that one minute of video is as good as well over a million words. While great copywriting or audio can do the trick, video is still the king (until we have 3D hologram marketing, that is!).

According to Ian, color, sounds, movement, and voices all trigger a different part of our brains, and that’s why video remains the most efficient way to tell a story.

Video Creators vs. Videographers Ian is quick to distinguish between the two terms, noting that videographers can only do their job if they are handed a script, storyboard, and a whole bunch of information. If you are looking to take your agency to the next level, you need a videographer with a marketing background.

Ian has seen some of the most captivating and visually pleasing videos from others, but if it doesn’t call you to do something or buy something, it isn’t doing its job! The world’s best novelist might struggle to write excellent sales copy for the same reason, so no matter who you hire or work with, it’s crucial to get someone with a knack for marketing.

Creating the Perfect Video Ad Despite what we’ve heard, the script is not the most essential part of a video. Ian claims plenty of effective ads don’t have a script, like “man on the street” interview videos or Apple’s famous iPod and iPhone commercials that have no dialogue in them at all.

Instead, the format and the storyboard are critical elements of a great ad. Still, the ability to tell a story is the single most crucial part of making a high-converting video. They are the most engaging way to work the algorithms on Facebook or Instagram, and they are much better at keeping attention than any other form of advertising!

Intention vs. Attention Not all video channels are the same, according to Ian. For instance, Facebook and Instagram are attention-based, designed to capture your attention while doing other things, and reel you in to begin your customer journey. Linkedin or Youtube is more intention-based for people aware of their problem and actively searching for a way to remedy their situation.

Knowing who you are talking to and making videos for them will help you choose the right video length, marketing channel, and format for maxim success!

Tricks of the Trade and More Ian wants to remind people interested in learning the trade not to stress buying the best camera on the market. Learn proper lighting, sound, and basics before you get that new camera.

It also pays to study marketing, read books, and think like a marketer. For example, in this Q4, people feel isolated more than ever, and he recommends creating hyper-personalized videos for certain buyers or customers to help them feel connected. It will cheer people up and increase conversions!

Follow Daniel Budai:
Daniel's LinkedIn
Daniel's Facebook

Follow Ian:
Ian's YouTube channel
Ian's LinkedIn
Authenticweb.marketing
Storycrews.com

View Details

Perfect Copywriting Formulas for Your Email Marketing For this episode of our podcast, The Ecom Show, we’re focusing on one of the essential cornerstones of great marketing... copywriting!

This week we’ve got the privilege of speaking with one of our own all-star copywriters at Budai Media, Nick Marshall from Bournemouth, England!

From teacher to content writer, and then journalist to copywriter, Nick has plenty to share with aspiring writers. And ecommerce business owners alike. He likes to focus more on marketing psychology and how people behave in groups to get great results and perfect his craft.

Have a listen as Budai Media’s founder, Daniel, and self-proclaimed “behavior economist” Nick discuss:

✔️ How to get started as a copywriter

✔️ AI and copywriting automation

✔️ Tried and true templates vs. experimentation and creativity

✔️ Who should hire a copywriter?

✔️ Great resources for understanding how to write compelling copy

Where to Begin Ten years ago, Nick had no idea what copywriting even truly was. He didn’t know any of the overused abbreviations like CTA or what a sales funnel was!

People often misunderstand what it means to be a copywriter, and there is no correct way to set yourself up to become one. Nick spent most of his professional career as a journalist and a content creator, which he says often involves presenting information “as clearly as possible.” As a copywriter, he’s learned to shift his focus to evoking an action or response, whether it be a sale or a page visit.

Humans vs. Machines There’s plenty of careers being automated in this day and age, but Nick says that “creativity is the last great advantage we have.” For example, automated software algorithms programmed to scan and replicate content can sometimes strike gold, especially with things like email subject lines. But they will never understand the deeper context, according to Daniel, or create something unique and original.

In a career where you’re supposed to connect on a human level with your audience, it feels like copywriter’s jobs are safe for now!

Learn the Rules to Break the Rules Nick has read plenty of books, taken courses, listened to lectures, but he thinks this will only take you so far. To be a true copywriter, you need to venture off on your own and experiment. If you do what is statistically proven to work every time, you might lose your audience’s attention!

It pays to break the rules once and a while. So long as you stick to the brand’s character and voice, there is truly no limit to what you can do as a copywriter or advertiser.

Get Yourself a Copywriter If... People often think they can write websites or email copy themselves and are surprised when their conversion rates are awful. It can be hard to relinquish your brand and enlist others to help serve as the “custodian of the brand,” as Nick puts it, but if you have a 5-star restaurant and your menu is riddled with spelling mistakes, will anyone actually take you seriously?

If you manage to have the budget for a copywriter, the product pages and basic email flows are a top priority! Leave it to a professional, and don’t assume copywriting is easy, just like you wouldn’t assume graphic design or coding is easy.

Top Resources for Copywriters Nick thinks it’s best to have 2-3 resources you check every day, and even if you learn something, you always have to go back and rehash it every so often. He recommends sites like:

Copy Hackers
Very Good Copy
Marketing Examples
Have a Word
Game of Conversions
DaveTrott

The best thing Nick recommends is simply to become more aware of the copy all around you. You’re bombarded by advertisements each and every day, and Nick believes you can even learn something by sifting through your spam inbox and picking apart the worst emails you can find!

We try to focus on a different aspect of ecommerce and advertising each week, and there is no denying how valuable copywriters like Nick are in this industry!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Nick:

Nick's Facebook

Nick's email

View Details

How has Facebook Advertising Changed During COVID and Further Through Q4 At The Budai Media, we specialize in retention marketing, but on this episode of The Ecom Show, we get a chance to sit down with an expert in customer acquisition!

Just in time for Black Friday, we’ve got the scoop from Arthur Freydin, the CEO and Owner of BASIC Creative. This impressive Facebook & Instagram Ad agency offers ROI Driven Social Media Advertising for ecommerce brands, with in-house creatives for their clients and comprehensive ad strategies to scale them up.

Take a seat and have a listen while The Budai Media founder Daniel and this week’s podcast guest Arthur take on lots of topics and answer your questions about:

✔️ How to cope with Facebook Ad shutdowns and account bans

✔️ Latest trends for Creatives

✔️ What niches are perfect for Facebook and Instagrams Ads and which ones aren’t

✔️ Tools, apps, and automation for ad creation

✔️ Social media advertisements in Q4

Know the Difference Don’t fret if you’ve ever had your Facebook Ads account shutdown. “It’s practically a right of passage” for ad agencies, according to Arthur! It’s essential to understand the distinction between having your account shut down vs. banned, with the latter of the two far more severe (and harder to come back from).

Regardless of what happens, it’s normally Facebook’s mistake 9/10 times, and there is a way to reinstate your account in most instances. Facebook’s customer service is not very helpful or responsive, but there are ways around even an account ban (if Facebook doesn’t like your company, business model, or product).

Creating the Perfect Creative It’s part of Arthur and his company’s job to stay ahead of the latest trends in creatives, and he notes that in 2020 video ads have taken a back seat to static images and GIFs. He mentions that 2020 has been a very dynamic year, with new trends surfacing each month. Between the elections in the US and the COVID-19 pandemic, different brands have thrived and suffered at different times of the year depending on lockdowns, shutdowns, and other current events.

The key takeaway is that every brand has different things that work for them, so it’s important to test everything!

Is Social Media Advertising Right for You? It’s really not for everyone, and Arthur will be the first to tell you that certain stuff simply won’t work on Facebook, like CBD oil or firearms. Even if your product doesn’t violate Facebook’s terms, you will find that heavily commoditized items won’t ever perform well on Facebook because these sorts of ads work differently than Google Ads.

On Instagram or Facebook, you disrupt the scrolling experience, so you have to keep it visually appealing and relative. Food, supplements, subscription boxes, and fashion; all of these things do quite well!

The best tools for ad creation On the ad-running side, Arthur prefers to keep it simple. You can’t truly automate ads because the ever-changing Facebook algorithm is unforgiving. There are a few tools you can use, but Facebook normally buys them out and adds them to their backend anyway.

On the creative side, BASIC Creative uses tools like Canva, Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, and VideoLeap. He even lets us in on the secret that all you need is a dependable phone and great lighting to get high-quality photos and videos for your creatives!

Crushing in in Q4: Advice from the Experts Arthur isn’t shy about giving his advice for Q4; it’s the most crucial time of the year for him and his team too!

The most important principle he preaches is: Stay Agile. Things are constantly changing throughout the year, and even more so during Q4, so you have to be alert and ready to switch it up at a moment’s notice. Pre-approve your ads ahead of time, don’t ever increase or decrease spending by more than 30% in one day, spend according to your previous day’s revenue, and stay flexible with

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Arthur:

Arthur's email

BASIC Creative's website

View Details

Why Website Conversion Optimization Is The Hidden Gem Of Ecommerce For this week’s podcast episode, we’re joined by Conversion Rate Optimization expert Justin Christianson from Texas, who’s been in the digital marketing realm for over 20 years!

Now he’s a bestselling author and co-founder of his own agency, Conversion Fanatics. Despite only offering CRO as a service for the last seven years, he’s truly seen everything there is to see with regards to ecommerce.

Sit down and listen in to learn about the biggest mistakes business owners make with their websites, so you can skip the suffering and find your own success much quicker and much easier!

You can gain insight into:

✔️ The best tools and apps for CRO

✔️ Qualitative vs. Quantitative approach to Conversion Rate Optimization

✔️ Last-minute CRO tips for a successful Q4

✔️ The best ways to set up your Shopify store

✔️ Avoiding gimmicks, listening to the customers, and thinking long term

Tools of the Trade Everyone has their preferences, but Justin has been in the game a lot longer than most. Over the years, he’s preferred to use Convert.com as his primary diagnostic tool. Google Optimize doesn’t play so nicely with Shopify, so he appreciates Convert.com’s data and its arsenal of tools.

As far as apps go, Justin thinks simplicity is critical. If he had the time, he would custom code his own programs to avoid the pitfalls of popular apps that overcomplicate things. Too many apps can crash a site or do more damage than good, but he does mention that Justuno and Klaivyo are two notable exceptions everyone should use.

One Size Does Not Fit All If you own a brand making six-figures annually, you shouldn’t be deep-diving into the data just yet; there simply isn’t enough to study early on! Justin recommends taking a qualitative approach early on instead, focusing more on the customer experience. Listening to your customers can be the most valuable thing you ever do. Exit polls, surveys, and heat maps are your best friends!

If you are making seven or eight figures per year, you can start thinking about optimizing your website to bring up conversion rates and increase your Average Order Value. CRO is only effective for brands with lots of traffic and over 300 orders per month, the bare minimum to start taking a quantitative approach.

CRO Tips for Q4 Simply put, CRO is not like any other form of marketing. Buyer behavior and buyer experiences change drastically in Q4, so Justin says you can throw everything you know out of the window. Your best bet is to make sure your site is ready to take on heavy traffic, help it run smoothly, and trust in the process.

Justin also notes that if you want to build trust, don’t try to make a quick buck with gimmicks or “grey hat” tricks. Customers will be scared off by fake countdown timers and lies about product scarcity.

Simplicity is Better Justin stresses the importance of simplicity, opting to use powerful imagery rather than wordy texts. When people ask him what the best Shopify theme is, he says the free one you get right out of the box, of course!

Daniel and Justin also mention that the product page is the most important part of your store, and it’s where brand owners tend to lose most of their traffic. Since most ecommerce shoppers are browsing on mobile, you really only have six inches of screen to impress them, so don’t waste space with credit card logos, security icons, or other unhelpful items.

Think Long Term Conversion Fanatics won’t even work with shortsighted ecommerce owners hellbent on making a quick buck. He rolls his eyes when he sees countdown timers or overused discounts being offered. It’s not easy to see the big picture, but your business will benefit from it if you can think long-term. Be patient, trust your product, and above all else, listen to your customers!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Justin:

Justin's Social Media

Justin's website

View Details

How to Master Retention Marketing for Q4 Sales Events Q4 is here, and we wanted to dedicate a whole podcast episode to it!

Join in on the fun as Budai Media founder Daniel discusses various topics with two of our own agencies’ rising stars, giving us the lowdown on how to maximize potential profits during November and December!

We can’t help but get excited for this week’s episode of The Ecom Show with our hard-working, superstar account managers Zsófi and Ben. These two have already been featured before, but they always have some valuable information to contribute!

Tune in and learn about:

✔️ Key differences between Black Friday/Cyber Monday and Christmas promotions

✔️ Pre-launch email campaign series for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

✔️ Figuring out the best time to have your Q4 sales events

✔️ Taking charge of your retention marketing using the 80/20 principle

✔️ Subscription business models and the best Shopify apps for it

Knowing the Difference Dan, Ben, and Zsófi spend a decent chunk of time differentiating between the different holiday promotions and shopping opportunities you have probably heard of by now. Ben notes that Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions usually only occur for one day because these days are known for their discounts in anticipating the holiday season.

On the other hand, Christmas promotions can be held anywhere between Black Friday and the end of December, depending on your product, shipping times, and strategy. You can also opt to have two sales during December for Christmas!

Preparing for Success in Q4 Both Zsófi and Ben highlight a few excellent ways to warm up your audience and get them ready for the shopping season. One technique is to let your best customers know a day early that you are holding a promotion or extending it by one day. People love to feel like insiders, and this is a tried-and-true tenant of marketing psychology.

This time of year also allows businesses to use scarcity to their advantage because it is entirely believable that inventory could possibly run low with so many potential shoppers. Letting customers know that they shouldn’t put off shopping for another day and miss out on an item they want is a powerful incentive. Zsófi also mentions that you should be offering a better discount than you usually do during Black Friday or Cyber Monday to highlight how special the occasion is.

Choosing the Right Time to Strike Ben, Zsófi, and Daniel know quite well by now when to hold holiday promotions, after years of studying, testing, and perfecting the art of holding sales events. If you have a product with a ten-day shipping period, you should be offering your best discounts more than ten days before Christmas, so people get their gifts on time! You don’t want to disappoint your customers or have them leave for more reliable companies.

Zsófi even recommends adding a week for delayed shipping times because logistics companies are overloaded with shipments during November and December.

Take Charge and Utilize the Pareto Principle Ben is a massive fan of the Pareto Principle, which basically states that 80 percent of the consequences come from 20 percent of the causes. If you aren’t already working with a retention marketing agency like Budai Media, you can still take matters into your own hands for now!

By putting in a little work and making some simple email campaigns for Q4, you can see significant results. You can use Klaviyo to send out 3-4 emails between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, at least until you can afford to hire professionals to handle it for you!

Is the Subscription Model Right for You? The subscription model is the next big thing, and with a little creativity and Recharge app Subscriptions, you can upgrade your bus iness to utilize this strategy. Daniel suggests combining your product with some sort of service that you can offer as a subscription, pointing to the massive success of Amazon Prime.

If you are serious about making money during Q4 of 2020, take our advice and reap the benefits down the road!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Ben:

Ben's LinkedIn

Ben's Facebook

Follow Zsófie:

Zsófi's LinkedIn

Zsófi's Instagram

Zsófi's website

View Details

How to Build a Subscription-Based Fashion Business from Scratch We don’t want to brag, but this is one of our best episodes yet on The Ecom Show!

This week our new friend Matt Bird from the UK dishes out some helpful secrets while telling us his story and how it helped him develop his formula for success in the fashion industry!

From moderately successful ecommerce menswear brand to a massively successful subscription-based fashion company, you can listen in and learn about Matt Bird and the success of his company The Shirt Society while he sits down with Budai media founder Daniel to discuss:

✔️ Building a fashion brand from scratch

✔️ The beauty of subscription-based businesses

✔️ Learning from your customers

✔️ Finding loyal customers for life

✔️ When to look for outside investors

What it Takes to Make it in Fashion Although Matt has seven years of experience in the men’s fashion space, he says anyone can develop an idea and run with it. Sure it helps to have the experience, but in the world of ecommerce, anything is possible.

Matt never had aspirations to own a physical retail shop for men’s clothing. Ecommerce and online shopping have enabled him to become a business owner with almost nothing to start with (aside from an idea, a basic Shopify store, a logo, and a well-written organic post on Linkedin).

Subscription Models are the Future Daniel and Matt both agree that subscriptions give you the peace of mind and stability you won’t find with regular ecommerce shops. Matt first dreamed up The Shirt Society when he realized that people were only buying shirts one or two times a year, so sales were not consistent enough.

He thinks it’s better to have 3000 customers paying 20 pounds a month for a new shirt than having 10,000 customers purchasing a shirt one time and never returning. It helps to plan for the future and scale up accordingly.

Customers are the Key It might come as a surprise that The Shirt Society was the brainchild of Matt and his first businesses’ customers. After reaching out to people who purchased shirts from him, he realized people’s pain points in the industry. Men don’t want to shop for shirts, they don’t like figuring out where to shop, and they were the ones to suggest a subscription model!

If Matt hadn’t listened to his customers, he would have never known how to improve his services and retain his customers longer! You should never be too stubborn to listen to the people supporting your business because you would have nothing without them.

Customer Lifetime Value vs. Revenue Everyone has their favorite metrics to serve as a barometer for their business, but Matt is a keen advocate for Customer Lifetime Value. You can have months with big revenue, but the next month you might disappear. Some brands look tremendous and fall apart in the blink of an eye because they aren’t inconsistent.

Matt’s business isn’t just about selling shirts. They seek to make their customer experience better, listen to what they have to say, and keep them engaged, so they stick around. That’s the real product!

Finding Investors that are a Good Fit Once you have proof of concept and you organically grow your business, you might attract investors. Matt says that after a twenty-minute meeting, he secured an agreement to inject capital into his business and help with connections and expertise. Having passion, enthusiasm, and a multi-year vision for where you want to go is essential if you dream of bringing in investors.

It is also important to note that you shouldn’t do this lightly and sell too much equity right off the bat to raise funds. You are better growing slowly and taking your time!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Matt:

Matt's LinkedIn

View Details

How to Design Your Shopify Store to Make It High-Converting In this episode of The Ecom Show hosted by our own Daniel Budai, we get a chance to learn from another master of retention marketing in the ecommerce world!

Blended Commerce co-founder and CEO Adam Pearce tells us of his journey, bouncing around between management, consultant, and even teaching jobs before realizing he was interested in ecommerce (and pretty great at figuring it out too!).

Both ecommerce shop owners and marketers can learn a whole lot from Daniel and Adam this episode, with great topics like:

✔️ The best Shopify apps

✔️ Expert design tips for ecommerce stores

✔️ Beautiful aesthetics vs. conversion rates

✔️ Latest Shopify design trends

✔️ When you should consult a design expert

The Tools Experts Trust Every great marketer has their trusted apps, and Adam is no exception. He mentions Klaviyo taking the crown from Mailchimp a few years back to become one of the very best apps you can use. It does much more than set up email campaigns, essentially giving business owners complete control over their valuable data!

Recharge is another prominent app, great for recurring purchases and subscriptions. Octane AI is an exciting quiz app for ecommerce shops to personalize the experience and pitch specific products to shoppers. At the same time, Reviews.io is the perfect way to get user-generated video reviews, which can boost your sales!

Three Crucial Design Tips What Adam and Blend Commerce can be pretty complicated at times, but he gave us a few simple tips for all businesses to utilize. While getting started, he recommends having a large budget for product photos and videos, as quality videos and 360-degree photos can up your conversion rate by 70%!

Being consistent with color, shapes, fonts, and photos goes a long way to build trust with prospective customers. Having your “Call to Action” prominently displayed at the top of the landing page is more effective than a large, flashy hero image or text. Be sure to put social proof, mentions of free shipping, and other vital information close to the CTA to make a choice even easier.

Beauty Does Not Equal Sales If it were just about making beautiful ecommerce landing pages, it would be a piece of cake for Adam and his agency. But he says knowing your audience is the most critical part of owning an ecommerce brand.

Some of the top-performing pages are quite ugly, while some of the sleekest, futuristic designs yield hardly any sales! Both Daniel and Adam mention websites catered towards older crowds needing to be less flashy, more informational, and less distracting. In contrast, sites catered towards younger demographics can go with more aesthetic designs. “Make it beautiful for the type of people you want to attract!”

Ecommerce Trends of 2020 Ecommerce is exploding right now, with 54% of traffic attributed to new shoppers since COVID-19 started. Although the traffic was once evenly distributed between desktop and mobile users, Adam says that around 80% of traffic comes from mobile these days.

People are also prioritizing web speed more lately, with studies showing that improving your loading speed by just 1 second can net you 7% higher conversion rates! There has even been an increase in Shopify stores with digital products as well.

Do it Yourself or Ask an Expert? Lots of the stuff Blended Commerce does for their clients, you can also do for yourself. Adam says, don’t worry about hiring someone when you have less than 1000 visitors per month because there simply isn’t enough data to sift through and come to a conclusion.

You can use design templates, Google Analytics, Hotjar (a helpful heatmap to analyze your site), and more before consulting an expert. It is a lot more useful to tell them precisely what you want rather than saying, “make my shop beautiful, please.”

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Adam:

Adam's LinkedIn

Adam's website

Adam's podcast

View Details

The Secret Sauce of Salesgenomics to Grow an Ecommerce Brand from Zero to Hero October is rolling along, and The Ecom Show is staying strong!

For our 21st episode, we welcome SalesGenomics co-founder Matt Panek for a sit-down.

Despite wanting to be a scientist who would one day discover a cure for aging, fate had other plans for Matt. Now he heads an Ecommerce Growth Hacking Agency that works with brands to maximize their potential, eliminate costly inefficiencies, and scale up to become a significant force in the digital marketplace!

Cozy up with a cup of coffee and listen in as Matt and Budai Media’s founder Daniel talk about:

✔️ Holistic business model approaches

✔️ How to scale efficiently scale your ecommerce business up

✔️ Choosing the right time to hire and the best possible people

✔️ The best performing creatives for ecommerce brands

✔️ Learning to crunch the numbers before making a strategy

Everything is Connected SalesGenomics brings a holistic approach to every client they take on. What works for one business might not necessarily be the best for another.

Matt’s agency has worked with Facebook Ads, Google Ads, email marketing, SMS, social media influencers, creatives, and they have lots of other tools at their disposal. After screening a potential client and auditing their business, Matt can figure out how to address pressing issues and scale up the company quickly using any of the channels and tools available to his team.

Grow Your Ecommerce Brand If you have an ecommerce business making 4 or 5 figures per month, what are the best ways to grow your revenue?

Matt says there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this question, but the first thing one should consider is the amount and quality of website traffic. If most of your traffic is organic, you are poised to do well and scale considerably. Focusing on product development, delegating to the right people or agencies, and budgeting the right amount of money to scale up are crucial parts of any ecommerce journey.

Surrounding Yourself With the Best Finding the right people for a company is vastly important for any business owner. Matt mentions the two main questions he asks himself when hiring: “Do they have the right attitude to be part of this team?” and “Do they have the aptitude for learning quickly and growing as part of this team?”.

You can even hire an HR representative or a consultant to advise you, or as SalesGenomic calls it, a Head of People and Cultures. Cultivating the right atmosphere for your team to mesh together and bring innovation from every level is key.

Create the Perfect Creatives The four essential components to making the ultimate creatives are organic, uniqueness, virality, and the principle of direct response. Your ad should look as if it is just an average social media post, so people will let their guard down and willingly look at the advertisement. The creative should also stand out while fitting in, so it remains memorable.

Each advertisement should have the potential to go viral, whether that means it tells a great story, offers helpful information, makes people feel like insiders, or is newsworthy. Finally, you need a strong call to action, ownership benefits, and information on how the product is used to make the ideal ad!

Dive Into the Data SalesGenomics doesn’t just offer to dive into the data for their clients; they make it a non-negotiable part of their contract.

If you ignore the treasure chest of data at your disposal, you won’t succeed in the ecommerce game. Matt also says it helps that he has started three ecommerce companies to understand how it feels to manage an entire brand. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, his company even made 1.6 dollars in 56 days selling face masks!

This fascinating discussion is full to the brim with musings from an ecommerce expert who knows the industry from all angles.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Matt:

Matt's LinkedIn

Matt's Facebook

SalesGenomics Facebook group

SalesGenomics YouTube channel

SalesGenomics website

View Details

How to Skyrocket an Ecommerce Business We are proud to welcome the founder of several companies this week on the 20th episode of The Ecom Show.

From New York City, Kevin Urrutia started as a programmer, moved to Silicon Valley, started several ecommerce businesses, developed his own marketing skills, and now runs a marketing agency and several successful brands!

Gather round and listen in as Budai Media founder Daniel and Voy Media founder Kevin discuss a wide variety of topics like:

✔️ Getting started in ecommerce

✔️ The link between product development and marketing

✔️ Becoming more than a one-product ecommerce store

✔️ Importance of organic marketing strategies

✔️ Learning from your setbacks and failures

Build An Ecommerce Brand From the Ground Up It can be tricky in an already saturated online marketplace to get started, but the product is what you should focus on first. Kevin says he came up with his company Chester Travels, just by researching popular keywords on Google.

By letting the market tell him what it wanted, he was able to create a popular luggage company for travelers even though he never considered selling luggage bags before. It is also crucial to have a strategy from the beginning, whether that means Facebook Ads, Amazon listings, or collaborations with social media influencers.

The Evolving Connection Between Product Development and Marketing “I used to think that if you made an awesome product, people would somehow find it eventually,” says Kevin.

He now knows this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, he has come up with several solid business ideas only to see them fall apart due to a lack of digital marketing strategy. You can have the best product in the world, but you can’t sell a thing if no one knows about it!

Now you can piggyback off marketing and figure out your next product idea based on what other people are searching for, so never before has product development and marketing been so closely linked together.

From One-Product Shop to Ecommerce Empire Most ecommerce brands start out with one tried and tested product. It is so rare to find success if you stay a one-product shop that leans too heavily on your “hero product.” Never stop innovating and questioning how you can improve or make more revenue.

Kevin pitches some great ideas, like creating online content such as classes or loyalty programs, to keep money flowing in. If you can have recurring payments or subscriptions, it’s even better! Remember that Amazon started selling books, and now they have a listing for every object you could possibly imagine!

Organic Marketing 101 If you think Facebook Ads or Google Ads will do all the heavy lifting for you from the getgo, think again! Kevin mentions excellent tips like contacting influential bloggers and reviewers to send them your product for review or reaching out to influencers and giving away products in exchange for brand awareness photos (which really come in handy down the line!).

Reviews are the most important thing you can have initially, so start the conversation about your product as early as you can!

Every Mistake is a Lesson Learned Don’t ever be afraid to fail. Kevin started several businesses before he got one to stick, but he learned some valuable information to begin future business endeavors each time.

Experience truly is the best teacher, and that’s how Kevin has learned how to market, what products sell the best, or why you should always have someone working during the holidays in case a website goes down (Don’t lose out on millions in sales during Black Friday Sales!)

If you are looking for an intellectually stimulating interview jampacked with goodies, don’t forget to take in the latest episode of The Ecom Show.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Kevin:

Kevin's LinkedIn

Kevin's Twitter

Kevin's email

Kevin's website

View Details

How to Beat Your Competition in the Facebook Ads Game Charlie joins us from the UK, sharing with us all the most significant secrets of Facebook Ad Strategy, and how you can make or break your ecommerce business.

This week Budai Media founder Daniel and Gecko Squared founder Charlie Lawrance talk about fascinating topics, such as:

✔️ Questions that all ecommerce business owners should ask themselves

✔️ The four temperatures of audiences

✔️ Ad testing and avoiding ad fatigue

✔️ The two most important facets of a great Facebook Ad

✔️ Focusing on brand awareness vs. revenue

Let's dive further into this.

What You Need to Know Before You Spend on Ads Don’t just dive in without knowing your objective, audience, or budget. These variables are so crucial to consider because you can blow all your hard-earned money without a strategy.

Charlie’s agency, Gecko Squared, has a brilliant quiz for prospective customers to figure out the quality of their website traffic, what part of the funnel they should focus on, and the best strategy for ad spending going forward.

Are They Cold, Warm, Hot, or Super Hot? Charlie says that knowing the four possible temperatures of an audience is vital in figuring out what to do next. If you are a small business just starting, chances are you have a cold audience and not much engagement. That’s ok! You can begin from scratch and build brand recognition and pull in customers with “cold ads.”

Suppose you have an engaged audience and website traffic (hot leads) and repeat customers (super hot leads). In that case, you can focus more on retargeting and retention rather than pulling in cold leads like a freshly started ecommerce brand.

Keep on Testing to Succeed Lots of companies get impatient, and they either don’t test their audience out before launching an ad campaign, or they don’t stick with it long enough to get any clear information about how to improve.

Figuring out your target CPA and your budget is crucial, and it is also essential to keep successful ads running until they start to decline. Don’t switch up your ads with new ones until you need to, but be sure to steer clear of ad fatigue by running the same tired ads for more than six months.

The T.O.C.C.O method is an excellent way to remember the five most commonly tested facets of an ad.

High-Quality Creatives and an Unbeatable Offer Charlie says that having high-quality imagery, videos, and creatives are underrated. You can scale up and spend on ads all you want, if the quality of the copy, images, and videos aren’t right, you’ll waste your money.

Gecko Squared started to make creatives in-house because it realized that an ad’s success was intertwined with the creatives’ quality so that he would rather build the brand image and control everything for better results. Charlie also mentions there is no clear cut best ad type, but carousels, short videos, and clear lifestyle imagery are the best (no more boring images with white backgrounds). The offer is the most critical part of an ad, and without a strong ad, the best creatives can still fail!.

Revenue vs. Brand Awareness Any marketer knows that they should strike the right balance between focusing on sales and brand awareness. Charlie says it’s all about “putting the right message in front of the right people at the right time!”

Gecko Squared is happy to build brand awareness, but the explicit goal is to have tangible results (money in the bank!).

If you want to talk to the Facebook Ad guru himself, work with his agency, or learn from him on his excellent blog, check Charlie's social media and website below!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Charlie:

Charlie's LinkedIn

Charlie's Facebook

Charlie's website

View Details

Winning Mindset to Stay Motivated Long-Term as a Business Owner The Peak Performance coach Killian Markert is back again for the second of a two-part episode of The Ecom Show, and our very first live stream video!

Killian and Daniel sit down again to remind us why health, nutrition, sleep, and exercise are so crucial for a productive lifestyle, and what you can do to stay focused. Study up and learn from a genuine expert about:

✔️ Resources for learning what you need to know

✔️ The 4 Degrees of Consistency

✔️ How to effectively manage your time

✔️ Staying focused while you work

✔️ Separation of work and personal life

At Our Fingertips 40 years ago, one would have to walk down to the library, search the archives, hope a book was in stock, and then digest the information in a short time just to learn something. With the rise of the internet, we have more information than we could possibly realize yet we are overwhelmed by the choices and the distractions of the world.

Sitting down and actively studying something you want to learn is hard to do but incredibly rewarding, especially when you can shut out distractions and take notes.

4 Degrees of Consistency These proven categories were shared by Killian to describe the different stages of consistency that are required to improve yourself. The lowest degree is finding the motivation to do something, which you can rely on only for a short time before you revert back to your normal practices.

You can discipline yourself to reinforce these motivations and stick to a plan, but you won’t find much success until you begin to build habits! These habits don’t happen overnight, they are set in stone after countless repetitions so you can do what you need to without even thinking about it!

The fourth and most powerful degree of consistency is realizing your identity. If you are an athlete, you train because it is part of your identity not because someone is telling you to or because you have to force yourself. It’s just what you do!

Time Management = Attention + Energy Killian asserts that time management is incredibly easy to figure out if you realize the connection between energy and focus. You can have all the energy in the world but if your phone is ringing off the hook, you won’t be able to put that energy to good use.

On the other hand, if you are focused but neglecting your sleep routine and lacking energy, you also won’t get anything done. Killian argues that time management sort of falls into place once you account for energy and focus, although he still opts to use time scheduling to be more efficient!

There is Plenty of Day for Work and Play Respect your work hours, and respect your personal time. Let clients or customers know when they can reach you and when you are not available. Even the most successful business owners cannot succeed when burnt out from exhaustion, and that is guaranteed to happen if you don’t set a boundary between your personal time and your work time.

Killian recommends setting ad blocker software and turning off notifications during the workday to avoid distractions, but he says you should do the opposite for your clients and emails when work is finished. A nice little daily “end of work ritual” is nice to remind you that work is over for the day, giving you peace of mind to enjoy your life.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Kilian:

Kilian's LinkedIn

Kilian's Facebook

Kilian's website

Killian's checklist

View Details

How Good Habits Can Help You Succeed With Your Business This week’s guest has so much helpful knowledge to share, we had to split it up into 2 weeks!

Join us as Budai Media founder Daniel has an eventful chat with Killian Markert, a Peak Performance Coach.

To provide our listeners with a well-rounded assortment of colorful guests from all walks of life, we invited Killian to share with us a bevy of tips about how to improve your health, nutrition, sleep, exercise habits, and more.

Most people are unaware of how profoundly important these essential habits and choices we make on a day-to-day basis really are when it comes to our health and our business. Take a seat, grab a pen and paper, and listen in as Daniel and Killian discus:

✔️The link between health and business

✔️Tips for better sleep

✔️ Nutritional advice for business owners

✔️Staying active to balance yourself out

✔️ Meditation and mindfulness

It’s All Tied Together Think it’s sustainable to eat fast food, get less than 8 hours of sleep, and spend all day sitting down? Killian says think again! There is a reason he is highly successful in his business life because he has realized the crucial link between treating you remind and your body right first and foremost.

Cleaning up your lifestyle and setting simple, micro habits is key to setting long term goals and building motivation!

Sleep Hygiene: The Most Overlooked Health Issue From how many hours you sleep and how much light is in your room, to your mattress firmness and your sleeping position, sleep is influenced by lots of decisions you make throughout the day.

Killian says that when you wake up, you are already preparing yourself for your next night’s sleep without knowing it. He shares with us some tips on how to choose the best sleeping position, stretching and relaxing before bed, and avoiding working or bright screens too close to bedtime.

Eating the Right Way Daniel and Killian walk us through several different dietary choices, weighing the pros and cons of things like intermittent fasting. Killian recommends ditching coffee before it becomes an addiction, and instead of using it sparingly when you absolutely need it!

He also stresses the importance of what you put into your body, saying to cut down on refined products and sugar and instead opt for a mostly plant-based diet. You can still eat meat and dairy but aim for making at least 80% of your diet unrefined and plant-based.

Your Body is a Temple Killian likens business owners to athletes, saying it has never been more competitive for business owners ever. We must strive to keep our minds sharp and motivated, and one way of doing this is ensuring we hit the gym or stay active throughout the day.

Even if you hate sports or working out, there is something out there for everyone to stay active like rock climbing or hiking. It’s also important to note that sitting more than standing can negate the gains and positives of working out, so be sure to spend more time on your feet rather than your backside!

5-10 minutes will make a huge difference Killian says meditating has greatly improved his mindfulness and quality of life. There are lots of ways to meditate, but spending time undistracted and unstimulated is crucial if you want to balance your mind and put your best foot forward throughout the day.

Keep you remind sharp, read books, listen to podcasts before bed, and amaze yourself with the wonders of what just 5-10 minutes of any activity can do for you in the long run!

Tune in for Part 2 of Killian and Daniels chat next week for the next episode of The Ecom Show!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Kilian:

Kilian's LinkedIn

Kilian's Facebook

Kilian's website

View Details

Scale Up Your Ecommerce Business: Proven Digital Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Store This week Budai Media founder Daniel sits down with Deividas, a brilliant digital marketer that helped co-found the Sugatan, a leading marketing force in the ecommerce industry!

Although originally hailing from Europe, he now spends most of his time in the Digital Nomad hotspot of Dubai!

Listen in as we talk about:

✔️When you should focus on scaling up your business

✔️ How to hit the next level in monthly revenue

✔️ The most effective channels for online marketing

✔️Developing new products for your ecommerce store

✔️ Ecommerce difference in Europe vs. America

Let's dive deeper on these topics.

The Right Time to Grow Deividas provides some valuable tips for scaling businesses, coming from his experience growing major ecommerce brands to 8-figure giants. He recommends not getting ahead of yourself and being patient in the beginning.

As time progresses, you can start to make changes in how you advertise, who you hire, and how you look through your data. Deividas and Daniel even agree that you should wait until $300 thousand in monthly revenue to expand your marketing from one channel to multiple utilizing Facebook, Google, Youtube, Instagram influencers, and more.

Set Revenue Goals and Beat Them! Epic ecommerce brands aren’t built overnight. Deividas describes the different steps it takes to reach certain milestones like $1 million in monthly revenue.

His process is to make a plan for every new revenue tier, and strategically scale up marketing, hire specialists, find new avenues for marketing, and more. You can also afford to buy more expensive tools and spend more money on advertising the more profitable your business becomes!

Facebook, Google, Youtube, Tik Tok, and More! Digital marketers must get creative when it comes to building brand recognition. Deividas mentions that all ecommerce stores should start right off the bat with email marketing as it is a simple and cost-effective way to begin your growth.

The Sugatan Agency utilizes Facebook Ads and Instagram influencers normally, but they are looking for a third heavy hitter for their lineup. Tik Tok is a rapidly emerging channel to consider for younger audiences, but Deividas prefers to look more into SEO (a great long term investment) and Youtube, although this has proven more difficult to scale.

Focus on One Product or Many? There is a time and a place to expand your offering of products, but oftentimes people disagree on when you should do so. Deividas suggests only investing in new potential products when you have the available time and cash flow to. Otherwise, it’s best to focus on your main products and scale up accordingly.

If you develop new products in-house like Sugatan’s clients, then it can take a long time for new quality products to hit the market.

Starting an Ecommerce Business in the European Marketplace One particularly interesting wrinkle discussed this week, is the appeal of the European market. Deividas think that it is a lot less competitive, and you can essentially take what works in America and apply it to Europe which is practically ripe for the taking.

It is more difficult to break the language barrier with so many different countries, but you only need to focus on France, Italy, and Germany for instance to hit that $100 million dollars annual revenue for example.

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Deividas:

Deividas' LinkedIn

Deividas' website

View Details

Automate, Delegate, and Eliminate: How to Improve the Workflow of your Ecommerce Business Straight out of Athens, Georgia in the United States, we sat down with Will Christensen for a productive and insightful chat about the wonders of automation!

Will is the founder and CEO of DataAutomation, one of the industry’s premier automation experts, and who better to speak with about what should or shouldn’t be automated. Together with Budai Media founder Daniel, this week’s edition of The Ecom Show is a tasty treat for all ecommerce shop owners, entrepreneurs, data nerds, marketers, and quite frankly, anyone else hoping to learn about an often overlooked facet of the business.

Join in on the fun and learn about:

✔️How to communicate with automation experts

✔️ The 15-1-1 litmus test

✔️ Best ways to hire new workers or find a knowledgeable mentor

✔️ Most commonly automated ecommerce tasks

✔️ Who should focus on automation within a company

Let's jump further on the content of this amazing episode!

Create a Roadmap for Automation It is best to figure out 4 different components before you ever hire someone to automate a task. What is the origin, the destination, the transformation process between the two, and finally, the trigger action that sets the automation process in motion? Once you can create a visual guide for what you want to accomplish, it is virtually impossible for a real data automation expert to mess it up.

15 Minutes a Day, 1 Hour a Week, 1 Hour a Month This fascinating litmus test could be the key to your ecommerce woes. Just taking note of time or labor-intensive tasks can be helpful for you to focus your time elsewhere.

Keep a log of actions that take more than 15 minutes of time per day, or an hour either each week/month so you can identify a way to automate it and free up your time/attention. DataAutomation’s podcast is actually called Automate, Delegate, Eliminate because it is a catchy and handy way to prioritize while organizing your time more effectively.

Best Things to Automate in Ecommerce These days you can essentially automate everything (even copywriting, design, and customer feedback). This doesn’t necessarily mean you should automate everything!

According to Will, the three most commonly automated tasks in ecommerce are order transfers, inventory transfers, and tracking information transfers. He explicitly states that some things can actually cause more harm when automated, like any instance where you can miss out on vital customer feedback. People trust other people more than automated chatbots!.

Who Should Automate? In any given company, CEO’s normally pushing new innovation or evolution within, but when it comes to automation, Will believes that the people in the trenches should be the ones driving this sort of change. Higher-ups and C-level managers will appreciate the efficiency and initiative, but they also need to make it easier for workers to do this by allocating resources, money, and tools to automate everything possible.

By freeing up money to hire outside agencies or freelancers in Fiverr or Upwork, you can save your company time and money in the long run. If a task passes the 15-1-1 litmus test, it will provide real ROI guaranteed!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Will:

Will's LinkedIn

Will's website

Will's email

View Details

How to Properly Analyze the Analytics of Your Ecommerce Business Tune in as Budai Media founder Daniel chats with Rumen Dimitrov, an expert in Shopify Speed and Conversion Rate Optimization!

It’s clear right from the beginning that both Daniel and Rumen are passionate about numbers and data, and they discuss the biggest problems, areas of concern, and solutions for ecommerce store owners to focus on.

Rumen says that lots of people would be shocked at how little even the largest and most successful ecommerce brands focus on their data, and with a little fine-tuning, you can iron out all the kinks and make a successful and profitable sales funnel for your store.

You can also learn more about:

✔️ The Good Clicks vs. Bad Clicks concept

✔️ The difference between leading metrics and lagging metrics

✔️ Shopify Analytics vs Google Analytics

✔️ Trusting the sales funnel and not trying to convert early on

✔️ Listening to your customers

Hit play and enjoy the full episode now!

Are You Getting Quality Clicks? Daniel and Rumen talk about the misleading numbers associated with conversion rates, and how you can best figure out what is going on because every click is different.

Simply measuring click-through rates alone will never help you gain insight into how your website is functioning, and if you are generating lots of attention but making no sales, you are getting “bad clicks”. You can see this as an opportunity and not a problem, however, and figure out where you are losing people during the process.

Leading Metrics and Lagging Metrics Leading metrics are predictive tools used to calculate sales and conversion rates. Generally speaking, leading metrics look forward to future events, while lagging metrics are used to figure out what has already occurred.

Understanding the relationship between your store’s leading and lagging metrics is necessary for success if you want to smooth out any problems and set yourself up for higher conversion rates.

What Data Analysis Tools Are Available? Shopify Analytics and Google Analytics are the two most commonly used tools on the market, and both offer their own features. Shopify’s tool is easier for the average person to figure out, but lacks the tools, filters, and specific details that serious data-driven business owners want.

Google, on the other hand, offers enhanced ecommerce tracking, but can sometimes be overwhelming for people. The sheer offering of tools, metrics, and other data on Google Analytics is why it reigns supreme in the online data marketplace.

Let the Sales Funnel Do Its Job Another important tip you can glean from this episode is to not try and convert sales to early. Rumen mentions that it is much better to bring someone to your site, offer them something of value while collecting contact information, and slowly warming them up to your brand.

First-time visitors rarely make a purchase, but building a rapport with them over time can be the best strategy for generating sales down the line. Let them warm up to you and trust your brand instead of pouncing right away!

The Customer Knows Best It may seem obvious, but listening to the customer is actually the best thing you can do as a shop owner. Rumen discusses the many ways you can do that, like checking out customer service inquiries or offering a discount for helpful feedback.

If you have a hypothesis that is based on data or customer feedback, test it! There is a science to optimizing your website shopping experience, and you can even observe friends or family members testing your website to note inconsistencies or bugs that can be avoided.

Both Daniel and Rumen agree it’s best to take the time now to optimize your website rather than waiting until mid-November because Q4 and the winter holidays are fast approaching!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Rumen:

Rumen's LinkedIn

Rumen's website

View Details

We are keeping it in-house in this episode as we speak with two of our very own specialists at Budai Media!

Ben is our Senior Account Manager who was a guest for our inaugural episode of The Ecom Show where he spoke to us about life as a digital nomad in Bali and his expertise in ecommerce.

Zsófi is an account manager and an SMS/messenger guru with a knack for learning quickly!

Listen in as Daniel, Ben and Zsófi discuss:

The unique backgrounds of people working in ecommerce
Building your own ecommerce store in any niche
Owning an ecommerce store during the times of COVID-19
The importance of SMS/Messenger marketing
Different tools you can use to engage your audience and keep them interested

Both Zsófi and Ben bring their unique skillsets and knowledge to the table and discuss with Budai Media founder Daniel, for a productive and fun learning opportunity that is guaranteed to help you improve your situation.

Be Your Own Boss Both Zsófi and Ben are business owners on their own, having created companies that bring value to customers. Zsófi mentions that she decided to work for her own if she couldn’t find a perfect fit company to work for, and last year she opened her own ecommerce brand in Hungary.

With all the potential struggles and setbacks associated with owning a business, there is nothing like the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want!

Adapting Your Ecommerce Brand to the Age of COVID-19 With her own fitness niche ecommerce brand up and running and a great deal of success selling the entire inventory of fitness gear, COVID-19 significantly disrupted the supply chain for Zsófi and many other ecommerce shops around the world.

Adapting is a crucial skill for ecommerce owners, and Zsófi explains how she had to secure another supplier to meet the increased demand for fitness products while people were stuck at home and unable to go to the gym.

What Tools and Softwares Should you Work With? Ben and Zsófi run us through their favorite companies when it comes to software, and they discuss Octane AI, Recart, SMS Bump, OptinMonster, Facebook Ads, and Klaviyo among other industry-leading tools.

Knowing the pros and cons of all the potential resources you can work with is another key component to figure out when you own your own ecommerce brand.

SMS, Messenger, Email Marketing, and More! All of these important strategies revolve around enhancing the customer experience. Zsófi mentions that the most fulfilling part for her in her time as a business owner has been tailoring the experience to be more enjoyable. Carefully designed packaging, responsive customer service, and intelligent marketing strategies are how she succeeds.

Don’t reinvent the wheel, just find something that works and make it your own! Make sure to balance your use of these tools and strategies, and remember that people want to feel like part of something, not like they are being constantly bombarded by campaigns, discounts, and messages about sales!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Ben:

Ben's LinkedIn

Ben's Facebook

Follow Zsófie:

Zsófi's LinkedIn

Zsófi's Instagram

Zsófi's website

View Details

Building an Authentic Brand from Scratch, Starting Retail beside Ecommerce, How to Find the Right Influencers Join us as we sit down with Arron Coote, the CEO of BAUSELE, a premier luxury watch brand in all of Australia.

Starting with handmade sign painting and digital printing, Arron began exploring new business ideas. His most successful venture was growing a massive beauty product empire that sold products in over 100 countries and 4000 stores all around the globe.

After selling the company, he moved onto his next big challenge. He was approached by the founder of BAUSELE to leverage his expertise in marketing and business to scale it up while making it a household name. On this episode we talk about:

✔️ Finding your ideal lifestyle without feeling like you are “working”

✔️ Surrounding yourself with the “best-in-class” people

✔️ Starting a business and scaling it up into a global powerhouse

✔️ The challenges of being a CEO for a major brand

✔️ Retail vs. Distribution vs. Ecommerce

Don’t Work to Live, Live to Work! Many people are unaware that you can make money while having fun with something you are passionate about at the very same time. Arron mentions that he works every day, yet he never feels like he is working.

It is a joyful experience to build a company from the ground up, to learn from mistakes, and to see the fruits of your labor. Finding something you love to do and figuring out a way to make a living should be a fun challenge, not a daunting task!

“Let the Experts be the Experts” It can be terrifying as a business owner to entrust someone with your baby, but delegating to the right people and trusting proven professionals in their field is a massive part of being an entrepreneur. Arron mentions that micro-managing actually stunts the growth of a company.

Finding the best people and giving them the creative freedom to learn, grow, and do their thing is crucial. He also mentions Who: The A Method for Hiring as a fascinating resource for those wondering how to improve their companies by hiring the right people.

Building and Scaling a Business There are many different ways to create a business, whether you offer products, services, or some combination of the two. Figure your strategy out early on as well as your target audience, niche, and marketing plan.

Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions, like when Arron and his wife (who also works with him at BAUSELE) decided to offer equity to a beauty niche video blogger on Youtube with 2.5 million subscriptions. Giving away an ownership stake in a company you own shouldn’t be taken lightly, but in this case, it helped massively expand the business for a relatively low price.

Find your Inspiration! Arron mentions the delicate nature of “wading through the passion” of BAUSELE founder Christophe Hoppe, trying to strike a balance that preserves his initial vision and dream, while reaching as many customers as possible.

By rebranding the company and catering more to Australians rather than tourists, Arron and BAUSELE earned the trust of retailers and were rewarded with a 346% boost in sales. Building connections with celebrities, major retailers, and brands like Sydney Opera House have also helped catapult the company onto the world stage.

Retail, Distribution, and Ecommerce The single most valuable piece of advice Arron offers us is a tried and true principle to live your life by. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

The recent pandemic is proof that you cannot account for everything that will happen. Retailers got hit hard in the first half of 2020, but ecommerce stores have enjoyed record sales. If there are major computer viruses, on the other hand, that threaten the security of the internet, perhaps it would be the other way around.

Diversifying your business and how you make money can insulate you from risk and bankruptcy!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Arron:

Arron's LinkedIn

Arron's email

View Details

Why Copywriting Is The Number One Skill to Ecommerce Marketing? Give it up for Csaba Borsazi, our guest for the 11th episode of The Ecom Show.

Csaba is Hungarian, (hence the difficult-to-pronounce name), but he is originally from Transylvania in Romania. After studying the psychology of business in university, his desire to learn everything he possibly could at marketing and sales was left unfulfilled.

Now Csaba is a brilliant marketer, copywriter, and content creator specializing in the email marketing niche. Having worked with major brands like Oberlo, he now spends a great deal of his time teaching people the secrets of crafting concise and exceptional copy on his website, or his rapidly growing Youtube channel.

On this episode, we discuss topics and issues like:

✔️ How to break into the copywriting field

✔️ Importance of learning copywriting basics for ecommerce business owners

✔️ Lots of strategies for finding new clients

✔️ The best books, authors, and learning resources for teaching yourself copywriting/marketing

✔️ The future of AI and headline generators for copywriting

Getting Started as a Copywriter Just like anything else, copywriting is a skill you can learn, although some are born with some natural gifts for persuasion. Csaba was fascinated by learning the relationship between psychology, emotion, and sales, but he learned more while attending workshops with industry leaders than he did in university.

Copywriting requires you to be more than just a writer. You must think like a scientist, a data analyst, a salesman, a psychologist, and a business owner, among other things, so writing is only a small part of what a copywriter does.

Where are the Clients? Csaba runs through some great strategies for picking up customers, often thinking outside the box. After initially starting on Upwork, he then moved to Linkedin with a newly polished profile, although it is not his preferred method.

You can find customers through word of mouth advertising, cold lead emails to companies, offering advice in Facebook groups, or creating a Youtube channel sharing advice and wisdom (his favorite method).

What is the Secret of Copywriting? The trick is to figure out the mindset of your customers and how to appeal to them emotionally. Everyone wants to be successful and make money, but only by getting to the core of these desires can you genuinely sell to someone.

You want to appeal to the emotions of your audience because people rarely purchase anything based on logic. Copywriting has a learning curve, but understanding both the scientific and artistic aspects of the craft surely helps!

Find your Inspiration! Among the more exciting references made is the 5 Levels of Awareness Method pioneered by copywriting legend Eugene Schwartz. Figuring out how much information you need to share with your target audience revolves around understanding what level they are on.

Some people are unaware they have a problem and are the hardest to target. Others know they have a problem but are unsure of what it is. Then some know their problem but are unaware of a proper solution. If they know the answer, then perhaps they don’t know what product will best carry them to that solution.

Put Words on the Page One of the most obvious but overlooked lessons to draw from this week’s episode: just start writing. Don’t let a crippling fear of making a terrible first draft delay you. Start writing and worry about cleaning it up after!

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Csaba:

Csaba's Facebook

Csaba's LinkedIn

Csaba's YouTube Channel

Csaba's website

Books & Marketers mentioned in the episode:

Breakthrough Advertising

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation

Ramit Sethi

Gary Halbert

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation

View Details

How a Few Technical SEO Techniques Can Change the Course of Your Ecommerce Business We would like to extend a warm welcome to Benjamin Strusnik for the 10th episode of The Ecom Show, an expert in all SEO related strategies.

Since the ripe age of 12 years old, Benjamin has remained fascinated by the online world and its vast potential for growing businesses and making money.

Starting with Youtube and eventually learning how to code and build websites, Benjamin noticed a large problem with his business model and found an excellent new strategy to address it.

Now he has emerged with his agency, Golden Web, as a leading force in the online marketing game, utilizing the wonders of SEO wizardry to help his customers enjoy great deals of success.

This week Budai Media founder Daniel discusses with Benjamin a variety of SEO and online marketing topics such as:

✔️ Technical SEO and how it can drive new website traffic and increase conversion rates

✔️ Full SEO website audits and the hundreds of problems that can sabotage Google ranking

✔️ Different types of affiliate marketing (Youtube, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram)

✔️ The 3 most common SEO mistakes website owners make and how they can be easily fixed

✔️ SEO for niche sites vs. authority sites

The Unspoken Problem with SEO Strategies Most agencies focus on two things while improving SEO for their customers. Content and link building. This is a proven strategy but it leaves lots of money on the table and fails to address the main problems that plague most ecommerce sites.

Performing a detailed audit can cut down on easy to fix mistakes like duplicate content or slow website speeds, both of which are relatively simple to remedy. You can find and remove duplicate content with helpful tools like Siteliner, which will ultimately help your ranking.

This is Just the Tip of the Iceberg The internet and ecommerce are still relatively young in the grand scheme of things, and the algorithms and rules that govern them are essentially rewritten daily.

Ten years ago Youtube was still a limited platform with a small chunk of the population utilizing it. Fast forward to the present day and social media dominates many of the facets of our lives.

Experts like Benjamin think the possibilities are only now being realized, while ecommerce, affiliate marketing, and social media are poised to keep growing and growing.

Figure out your Niche, Research your Competition, Boost your Ranking Not ranking on the first page of Google can be essentially a death sentence for your business, but don’t panic. There are ways to make it to the promised land!

The top three rankings for any Google search are where you want to be, with 50% of web traffic going to the 1st listing, 35% percent to the 2nd, and an exponential drop off after that.

Highly competitive niches are harder to rank in, but this can be counteracted with efficient use of longtail keywords and organic content to answer the questions your ideal customers are asking. Non-competitive niches are even easier to rank in with a little bit of work and planning.

Best Advice for Ecommerce Entrepreneurs Benjamin believes that before you build a business, you should have done extensive research in your industry, and select an amazing product that will perform well/serves a purpose.

Run some ads to garner interest and reach out to affiliate marketers for free exposure commission deals. This is perhaps the best time in ages to purchase PPC or paid ads as prices won’t be this low again for a long, long time.

Lastly, consult an SEO specialist like Benjamin at Golden Web for some top-notch advice from a tried and true agency, so you can bring in organic traffic with your shiny, new website.

Follow Budai Media:

Budai Media's LinkedIn

Budai Media's Facebook

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Benjamin:

Golden Web website

View Details

How to Grow as a CBD Ecommerce Business Our guest for this week’s episode is Sumeet Harish, out of San Diego. Sumeet is a bonafide expert in CBD, an industry that has become increasingly popular over the last few years.

Noticing just how unhealthy the world has become, Sumeet found a great opportunity to heal people with CBD. Listen in as Sumeet and our company founder Daniel Budai explore a variety of topics this week such as:

✔️ The difference between CBD & THC

✔️ What to expect from this industry over the next few years

✔️ The secret molecule of the future

✔️ Advertisement strategies for CBD stores

✔️ Influencers & CBD

CBD vs THC CBD is a non-cycle activity that helps you calm down; it makes you feel good and helps regulate your body processes. THC has the psychoactive component to relax you more while impairing your functions and putting you into an alternate mindstate.

CBD is considered safe in the United States and in dozens of other countries already, and it is becoming increasingly popular for people who want to control their anxiety and live a functional life.

CBD is a $20 Billion Market Now Visionaries like Sumeet see the opportunity in this rapidly emerging market to bring recognition and awareness to a product most people are unfamiliar with.

Erasing the misconceptions and promoting its grand possibilities all but ensures that CBD will be around for a long time!

Offering THC products for recreational users is a way to make additional money, and it is also important to note that the massive amount of tax revenue brought in through both CBD and THC sales is a convincing argument to support full legalization in the future.

Cannabinoids Can Continue to be Explored When we wake up in the morning, many of us usually drink coffee. The major acting component of coffee is caffeine, which acts to stimulate your central nervous system.

As for CBD, it is already available in many different products. It is in creams, it will also activate the cannabinoid-system.

Once the market understands this, there are going to be products everywhere utilizing this incredible molecule according to Sumeet.

After you educate healthcare providers and your customers to understand your product, there are definitely even more possibilities to explore to expand your sales.

Where to Start with a CBD Company For Sumeet, you need to understand what you want to offer to your customers, why you want to be in this industry, and how to study it.

Next, you should book an appointment with a reseller, and understand what the minimum order quantity is.

Get in touch with a merged account to understand how you can process payments. Then you are free to explore the market and figure out the best copywriting/advertisement options, or innovative new strategies to promote your products!

Advertisement for CBD Sumeet uses a 3-tier approach. He starts with social media and then moves to Klaviyo in order to get people interested. Emails are sent out each day. If it makes sense, Sumeet also adds SMS. There is a large focus on retargeting to bring back repeat customers.

The idea is to get traffic as soon as possible and work hard to retain customers using email marketing, which changed the game for the CBD industry over the last few years.

Email is great for personalized messages, education, sales, and more. Traffic from emails is more engaging than social media/ads, and this the biggest difference when it comes to CBD stores.

The Right Approach for Influencers to Promote your Product Influencers are people, and their goal is to make money advertising for their clients. You must start with this mindset and understand the influencer you are trying to reach.

Have a contract in place and make sure you are protected. Learn from your strategy to improve and grow your business in the long term.

Follow Budai Media:

Budai Media's LinkedIn

Budai Media's Facebook

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Sumeet:

Sumeet's Linkedin

View Details

How Strategic Thinking Wins Over Simple Tactics Josh Boone is our guest for the 8th episode of The Ecom Show. Helping companies with SEO and development of their business. Daniel and Josh went together on a conversation talking about the importance of strategic tactics and even SEO.

✔️ The difference between the consulting and the agency model

✔️ Profit margin vs revenue: what is the best to evaluate the finance healthy of your business?

✔️ Leveraging your business in the long run

✔️ How SEO can help you integrate with your audience

✔️ What comes next, after Covid-19?

Consultancy vs agency modeling The biggest issue is the incentive. On the agency model, there is a step where you need a lot of clients. Your big experience talent. Junior staff.

For Josh, the biggest issue is that the incentives are not aligned with the client. And the agencies are not incentivized for optimization.

Budai Media has been flexible and working a hybrid model. And we are a big fan of consultancy as well.

Change your KPI and test new strategies If you focus on revenue, then probably growth will be in your head. But if you set profit margin or customer satisfaction, you will think differently.

At the moment our main KPI is the extra revenue we generate for our clients. And that has been very interesting and an opportunity to focus on client satisfaction mostly.

SEO connected with your audience Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will help you understand even more your audience. And everything should be integrated, with your email tone, SMS, or Messenger marketing as well.

Make sure your SEO is related to your brand voice and what products or services you offer to your clients.

The e-commerce after Covid-19 Leave behind your assumptions and test new strategies as soon as possible. Also, make your decisions based on stats, not on assumptions.

Do not be driven by fear, it most likely stops you from improving your business in the long run.

Book talked during the podcast:

The Supernova Advisor

Follow Budai Media:

Budai Media's LinkedIn

Budai Media's Facebook

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Josh Boone:

Josh's LinkedIn

The Supernova Advisor: Crossing the Invisible Bridge to Exceptional Client Service and Consistent Growth

View Details

What Are The Right Steps to Scale From 6-Figure to 8-Figure Per Month in Ecommerce Today’s guest is Darius Kunca, who owns an e-commerce agency to help businesses to grow fast and efficiently using omnichannel approach.

Here is what we covered on this episode:

✔️ What is important to have at first on your store

✔️ Combining different marketing channels

✔️ You can get good with creative, but you should know how to leverage it

✔️ The things that took you to this level, won't take you to the next level

A good landing page is the best start Darius mentioned the importance to have a good landing page to start your business, then focus on Facebook Ads. You need to focus on one channel to make the difference. Some e-commerce owners started with 5-6 channels, and you are splitting your attention between too many channels.

You have to A/B test on your landing page as well, like button color, for example.

We have seen in the past that it is important first to focus on acquisition. In the beginning, you should focus on the landing page to acquire your customers accordingly.

The combination of traffic, conversion, and retention The first step is Facebook Ads for one month. Darius’ company develop an advertisement strategy and then go for other channels.

It is important to track the return on each channel. The main things happen on your website.

But you shouldn’t focus on ROAS and CPC only. The order should be focusing on Facebook Ads right after the website conversion and KPIs.

Creative and leveraging Your creativity should be one of your focus. But you also need to be aware of a way to leverage it to the next level.

Because, most likely, there will be a time where you will find perfect creativity for your audience and it will require ongoing maintenance with minor editing.

At the same time, leveraging your business to the next level while maintaining your creativity on a high level is important, and something you need to have in mind.

The next step Once you have a good brand and product, after 50-80k you can start thinking on emails, but depends on niche and business.

Play around with channels, invest money, and never rely only on one channel. The things that took you to this level, most likely will not make you reach your next level with your business.

It is important, for example, to have celebrity marketing in mind as well. Influencers are also a good investment for you to aim while scaling up your business to 8-figures.

After a while is putting out your name, building a reputation. But that's another level.

Darius' final advice: Understand what you have to change from one level to another.

Follow Budai Media:

Budai Media's LinkedIn

Budai Media's Facebook

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Darius Kunca:

Darius' LinkedIn

Darius' Facebook

AdKings Agency

View Details

Who should work with an agency and what are the two major factors why you don't grow as a business? Tim Kilroy is back again! The 5th episode was such a success that we decided to bring him again in the 6th episode. In this episode we explored:

✔️ Which are the most common issues regarding business and personal growth

✔️ Measuring the understanding your customer metric

✔️ Which companies should work with an agency and which not

✔️ The stuff you know how to do doesn't work anymore, and this happens

The Internet makes it look so easy According to Tim, if you follow the x system you will hit 9 figures or whatever. It looks like starting a business is clicking in the right place and everything will magically come true.

That's not true. Building a business is hard. Success is not inevitable. Success is something you have to be in the purpose of and understand that it happens despite you, not because of you.

The mindset of the earliest day entrepreneur is that, if I have the right system, it will work. And this is not true.

You need to have the right team and know how to deal with your customers and potential customers.

Systems are an engine. You have to put something in place for that system to work. It is not a great vision that creates great companies.

The product/service market fit If you are not having success, there are two main scenarios: you've got the right audience, but you are selling the wrong product/service. Or you've got the right service/product, and you are selling to the wrong audience.

And the other scenario, you don't have the right product or the right audience.

What makes sense is understanding your customer. How do you measure the return on understanding?

If you can think about ways to increase your level of understanding the needs/desires of your customers, that will bring the most significant return you have ever made.

Does an agency fit your business? There aren't external signs to show you that your business needs an agency. It is more like your ability/availability to source/train and invest on in-house talents versus hiring an expert.

Most ecommerce companies hire agencies because they either don't have the staff or the ability to manage a staff that performs the desired activity.

If you can't manage the top-performing professionals in your team, that's a sign an agency might be the best way to achieve the best results.

Not everybody can manage everything. And money-driven decisions are not well done as well, most of the time. You need to work with an agency because they are better, not because they are cheaper.

Working with an agency also makes you avoid failure to learn, because agencies already face issues and failures, which prevents you to lose sales because of your own mistakes that you didn't learn before because you didn't make it.

It doesn't work anymore Sometimes things you are doing are going really well. And all of a sudden, it all goes really bad. This happens. The first thing you should do is think about the last time you thought "oh, everything is working well" and about what you were doing.

Likely you were doing something different. And now you are a little bit bigger. You need to go back to the last thing that worked and reevaluate it. You need to check what you are putting and what you are getting from it.

So, revert back to the last thing that worked. And reevaluate the consequences you did not consider.

Books talked about during the podcast:

The Road Less Stupid: Advice from the Chairman of the Board

The Consulting Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Expand a Seven-Figure Consulting Practice

Follow Budai Media:

Budai Media's LinkedIn

Budai Media's Facebook

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Tim Kilroy:

TimKilroy.com

Tim's Facebook

The Consulting Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Expand a Seven-Figure Consulting Practice

View Details

What changed in ecommerce since 1997, what trends are emerging today and what didn't change The guest of our 5th episode is Tim Kilroy. He started working on ecommerce world in 1997. Then went to digital marketing, opened his own business, and now is providing consultancy service for ecommerce business all around the globe with acquisition specifically.

Here is what we covered in this episode:

✔️ What trends he saw since the beginning

✔️ Communication quality

✔️ What changed in the world after Covid-19

✔️ The entry-level of ecommerce increased?

✔️ Key trends right now in the market

What changed The tactics and channels have changed, but the intensity has not. People wanted to be your homepage in the past.

People spent too much time with acquisition instead of also focusing on retention as well.

The customer experience is far for perfect for most ecommerce, which are mostly focused on acquisition and lead generation.

It is easy to measure sales. Tim thinks that’s why people do that.

Communication quality It is important to understand who you are to your customer. This is not mechanical, but more likely emotional feedback you need.

By understanding the emotions you know what you represent to your customers. While small companies usually focus only on numbers, instead of the whole activity.

The difference between a small and big company for Tim is patience. Try to figure out what the brand is to customers and this interaction between your company and the customer.

Covid-19 and the recent changes We’ve taken down the fever pitch of business and realized that commerce is part of our life, it is not the biggest part of our life, according to our guest, Tim.

Communication matters today more than ever. It could be communication about the brand, reactions, whatever. But it is significantly more important.

Customer experience as well is also something you need to keep in mind to be successful these days.

The entry-level for ecommerce There are different ways to source products. The bar raised because things are now more uncertain. You need to earn more trust for 5 or 6 months ago.

You might be worried about macroeconomics issues, but you need to worry about microeconomics behaviors as well, which can counterbalance those macroeconomics issues.

What will be trending Mobile experience since we are going into the mobile direction more than the PC direction. You also need to know new payment methods and be aware of how it works.

To be a great digital marketer, you need to have enormous empathy and understand where your customer is in any transaction. Put yourself on their shoes and think as they do.

As technology gets better and data flow is more seamless, we are in human-driven marketing more than ever.

Tim’s final advice: keep perspective. While growing your business is crucially important, you should realize that your business is part of something bigger. And you need to think about how your business is contributing to something bigger. Follow Budai Media:

Budai Media's LinkedIn

Budai Media's Facebook

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow Tim Kilroy:

TimKilroy.com

View Details

How great communication helps your business and why personality tests are crucial In the first episode of The Ecom Show, we invited John Hill, the founder of Adapted Growth. An excellent consultant at habits, sales, efficiency martial arts and entrepreneurship.

This is what you will learn in the new episode:

✔️ What and why DISC is the best personality assessment to help you in real-life situations

✔️ The key to great communication: awareness of your personality and the personality of others

✔️ What extreme ownership really means in leadership

Explaining and exploring DISC Dominance, Influence, Compliance, and Steadiness (DISC). DISC breaks people in 4 different quadrants. Growth happens outside your comfort zone. Business owners can figurate exactly which quadrant the person you are working with is.

Creating a groundwork helps you organize your daily tasks and see which characteristics you have when you are on "task mode".

Communication is a huge skill and we don't give enough credibility for it accordingly. The is also important to help you organize daily tasks with your team.

People-driven vs task-driven If you are successful it doesn't mean other coworkers following you will be successful as well. You should understand yourself and other people as well.

DISC is easier to use, then you can have the conversation that will help the person using what is needed to. And you can also approach that person using the correct way.

As a business owner, It is hard to find good people when we talk about hiring. When it doesn't work, it is more on the owner, instead of the person. The owner needs to think if he/she can work well with that person.

Before going into a hiring process, the most important is to understand which personality would work better in that position. Then you can focus on searching for someone with that personality.

Clean feedback loop Build a team that know what is expected from them and what is a success for the whole business. Once you have that clear, your team will most likely act like a fanatic group focused on a common goal: the success of the business.

The importance of communication does not stay only for your business, but also for your family interaction and day to day tasks.

Follow Budai Media:

Budai Media's LinkedIn

Budai Media's Facebook

Follow Daniel Budai:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

Follow John Hill:

John's website

John's podcast

John's Facebook

View Details

Building a local brand, and shifting from dropshipping to brand building On the 3rd episode of our podcast, we receive another Daniel (not Budai's Daniel). To avoid confusion, let's present him: Daniel Varga!

Key points from this episode:

Make sure you are ready to develop your business in a new market
Building a brand from a niche and scaling it up to the local market
People are important, not only numbers

Adapt to the world If you are doing well in your country doesn't mean it will work outside your country.

Make sure you adapt your business and you are ready for the challenge to start in another country.

Building your brand You can select a niche and start from there. That's the first step for some business owners.

But you can also open a general store and go after the trends. You always want to surf on the wave.

Have experience in the local market you are selling or aiming to sell, will help you know what your audience wants.

Numbers are not only numbers Most marketers focus only on numbers. But it is important to remember that, behind numbers, are people.

So having an actual knowledge of what your audience is talking about you will definitely help to improve your business.

You shouldn't be patient with your actions, but you should be patient with the results.

Follow Budai Media:

Facebook

Follow Daniel Budai:

Facebook

View Details

How To Combine Branding With Direct ResponseIn this episode, Roop Singh, CEO at FifthWeapon, talks about corporate advertising and 7-8 figure marketing.

Stop focusing only on numbersYou need to measure numbers to understand how a strategy is performing. It is undeniable that metrics are important.

People need to think there are customers behind the numbers. And focus on the creative behind the metrics.

All about KPIsOne of the cold journeys of your customer will be: see the add, go to the landing page, add to cart, initiate checkout, purchase.

For each different step there will be specific KPIs. And all of them should be measured accordingly to make sure the goals are being met.

Be creativeAs a final thought, if you are creative, your results will most likely go beyond the goal you established.

Follow Budai Media:

Facebook

Follow Daniel:

Facebook

Follow Roop:

View Details

Ecommerce Mindset and How to Win at PokerUnderstand today how eCommerce entrepreneurs succeed in their business. The stages most eCommerce business passes all over the globe. And know how to use dropshipping well.

Some topics covered on this podcast:

How most eCommerce business owners start their online store;
What dropshipping and poker have in common;
Successful entrepreneurs: best practices most eCommerce owners need to have.

We demystify all of this in this podcast with the Senior Account Manager at Budai Media, Ben Erdelyi.

Starting with an eCommerce businessThe business needs to adapt new best practices and keep following the marketing trends to reach and retain customers.

Most online store owners started selecting a few products they would like to promote. After a while, they saw what product performed the best and they hit the next stage, which is building an online store to make their customers have their experience.

Once the store has a good number of customers, the business owner starts to implement the retention marketing strategy. But this all takes too much time and previous knowledge. That's why some online store owners prefer to hire an agency, to build up their marketing strategy, which is an even better option.

Is Dropshipping Bad?A recent article about dropshipping made some people think twice about this way of doing online sales. The truth is that dropshipping is a way to start your journey on eCommerce.

If you ever played poker, you know how is to take risks. In dropshipping you are also taking risks. And that's the common thing between poker and dropshipping. But, if you know how to dropship, what is the problem in doing that?

Some really successful eCommerce business owners started as dropshipping. And then they hit the stage of building a brand, creating an inventory, and manufacturing their own products. And if you can use dropshipping as a step to succeed with your eCommerce, there is no reason to be ashamed of it.

Best Practices for eCommerce Business OwnersDuring his career, Ben had the opportunity to have his own eCommerce and tried different strategies. By hitting the marketing place, he met great people from the online business world and noticed the issue of micromanagement.

Efficiency is the key and this will have a direct impact on your ROI. You should care about the results, always.

As a final insight, Ben said: focus on the right thing!

Follow Ben:

Ben's LinkedIn

Ben's Facebook

Follow Daniel:

Daniel's LinkedIn

Daniel's Facebook

View Details

Welcome to my podcast, The Ecom Show!

Budai Media sponsors this weekly podcast to bring you the latest business advice from the brightest minds in e-commerce.

If you’re an e-commerce owner looking to scale your business, this podcast is for you.

Enjoy the show!

The Ecom Show: Recent Episodes

Daniel Budai

163 Brett Curry From OMG Commerce: Killer Tips & Strategies To Nail Your E-Com MarketingHey Budai Nation,

162 Ameka Coleman From Strands of Faith: How Ameka Built a Unique Hair-Care Brand From ScratchHey Budai Nation,

161 Scott Moller From Year 5: How to Grow Your eCom Business on Amazon Hey Budai Nation,

160 Paul Farago From Ace Marks: How to Make Your Brand Stand Out in a Saturated Market Hey Budai Nation,

159 Juan Garcia Mansilla From Unit 1: Disrupting the Urban Mobility Space With Smart Helmets Hey Budai Nation,

156 Jake Tannenbaum From Craftmix Inc: How This Modern Cocktail Mix Brand Crafted Its Way to SuccessHey Budai Nation,

155 Jennifer Edmonds From Rx Candles: Building A Business Out Of Your PassionHey Budai Nation,

154 Sadie Redinger From CKK Home Décor: Boost Your eCommerce Sales With a Multi-Channel ApproachHey Budai Nation,

153 Zachary Lipari From Superare: How This NY Based Fight Shop Built a Global Brand in the Last 12 YearsHey Budai Nation,

152 Itzik Polnauer from Leibish: The Art Of Selling High-End Jewelry OnlineHey Budai Nation,

151 Clive D’Souza From Vvegano: How Vvegano Is Disrupting India’s Food IndustryHey Budai Nation,

150 Frank & Brett From Sheets & Giggles: Branding Tips From an Inc5000 CompanyHey Budai Nation,

149 Jimmy & Grace From Dwarf Lab: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding CampaignHey Budai Nation,

148 Craig Leslie From the Bean Coffee Company: Serial Entrepreneur’s Advice to Selling on Shopify & Amazon

147 Steve Appleton From Really Good E-Bikes: How To Start A High Ticket Dropshipping BusinessHey Budai Nation,

146 Justin Frank Polgar From Yes Cacao: Healthy Eating Just Got Tastier With Botanical ChocolatesHey Budai Nation and Willy Wonka Fans,

145 Anthony & Rodney From Munch Addict: Retention Strategies For Subscription Box OwnersDo you love snacking but hate having to stock up? If yes, then you’ll love the guests we have on today’s episode.

144 Sarah Saputra From Belle Fever: The Key to Keeping Your Customers Happy

143 Kai Klement From Bonaventura: The Secret to Selling Successfully in Different CountriesWelcome to The Ecom Show!

142 Jeff From the Atomic Bear: How This Survival Gear Brand Built a 7-Figure BusinessHey Budai Nation,

141 Greg Meade From Crossnet: How Crossnet Invented a New Sport & Scaled It Using eCommerceThis is the first time ever in the history of The Ecom Show that we’ve got an inventor of not just a product or a brand but of a whole new sport joining us as a guest on the show.

140 Jodi and Keri From Prolong Lash: The Story Behind Prolong Lash’s Global SuccessWelcome to The Ecom Show - your space to discover new and exciting real-life e-com success stories. This week we’re diving deep into the world of beauty and personal wellness.

138 Chad Rubin From Profasee: Valuable Business Lessons From a Serial eCom EntrepreneurHey Budai Nation,

137 Brian Kurtz Author of the Bestselling Novel Overdeliver: 3 Golden Rules of Direct MarketingHello and welcome to The Ecom Show. We’ve got Brian Kurtz, the king of direct marketing joining us for today’s episode.

135 TJ Gamble From Jamersan: How To Choose The Right Tech Stack For Your E-Com BusinessHow’s it going, Budai Nation?

134 Lawrence Ingrassia Author Of Billion Dollar Brand Club: How To Build A Disruptive BusinessWelcome to The Ecom Show!

133 Jitendra Vaswani From DigiExe: SEO Tips That Actually WorkWelcome to a brand new episode of The Ecom Show! Today we’ve got the SEO wizard, serial entrepreneur, international keynote speaker, and bestselling author, Jitendra Vaswani, here with us today.

132 Karl Lillrud, Global Gurus Top 30 Speakers: How AI Is Shaping The Future of E-CommerceHello and welcome to The Ecom Show!

131 Hayden Brass From Zea: How to Create a Brand That Stands Out in a Saturated MarketHey Budai Nation,

128 Brian Roisentul from BSR Digital: Brand Marketing Strategies Using Third-Party DataHello Budai Nation,

127 Rasmus Barfred from TheMagic5: Business Lessons From A Shark Tank BrandHey Budai Nation,

123 Matt Edmundson: Scale and Sell Your Business In These 7 StepsHey Budai Nation!

122 Alex Bortoluzzi From Krakatoa: How to Build an Apparel Brand From ScratchHey Budai Nation,

120 Sarah Vezina: How Octopied Mind Grow Their Sales 3X Each YearHey Budai Nation!

119 Tyler McCourt: Wearable NFTs and eCommerceHave you hopped onto the NFT bandwagon yet? If not, would the idea of being able to wear your NFT persuade you to purchase one?

118 Steve Dennis - Retail vs. eCommerceHey Budai Nation!

117 JB Kellogg: These Tips Have Helped Over 20,000 Small Businesses GrowHello Budai Nation!

1 Advice For Small Business OwnersWe asked JB Kellogg what’s the number one advice he would give to small business owners in 2022. Here’s what he had to share:

106 Adam McDonald: 3 Things Every E-Com Business Needs For Success Hello Budai Nation! Your favorite e-commerce podcast is back with a brand new episode on how to create a successful e-com brand.

115 Rakefet: Outsource Your Marketing With MaypleThis podcast is about marketing, but it isn’t about marketing techniques, SEO, paid ads, or any of that other technical stuff. Instead, it’s about how you can and should outsource your marketing.

114 Joey Coleman: Build Lifetime Customer Loyalty In 100 DaysWe're back, and we're in conversation with Joey Coleman, the famous author of the bestselling novel "Never Lose A Customer Again."

112 Boyuan Zhao: E-Commerce Agency CEOs Share Their Best TipsWelcome back to The Ecom Show! Today's discussion is special for anyone with their own e-commerce store because we've got the founder of not one but two e-commerce agencies to talk about everything Ecom!

111 Antoine Gagné: Media Buying Secrets To Achieve Hyper-Growth!TGIT! Thank god it’s Thursday because that means it’s time for another new episode of The Ecom Show!

110 Alvin From Relab Studios: Designing The Perfect WebsiteToday's episode of The Ecom Show is special because it's the first time we'll be diving into the intricacies of product design.

109 Shep Hyken: Building A Memorable Customer ExperienceWe’ve all heard that the customer is king, but today let’s hear from the king of customer experience himself! We’re honored to welcome Shep Hyken as a guest on this episode of The Ecom Show.

107 Steven Van Belleghem: Best Customer Experience Strategies For E-CommerceWe’re delighted to welcome Steven Van Belleghem, bestselling author, YouTuber, and co-founder of nexxworks, to this episode of The Ecom Show.

106 Hannah Gardner: Etsy Is Like E-Commerce For BeginnersWelcome back to The Ecom Show! Let’s talk about Shopif, no wait! Today, we’re going to focus on the niche marketplace Etsy for a change!

105 Jason K Williamson From E2 - SMS Marketing Can Blow Up Your E-Commerce SalesWe’re beyond thrilled to welcome Jason K Williamson, the founder of E2, as our guest for this episode of The Ecom Show.

103 Adam Brown from Sircle Media: How To Organically Build Your Brand Using Social Media

102 Greg Howlett from Cobblestone Trade: How Logistics & Fulfillment Affect Your Customer Experience

100 Ezra Firestone from Boom, Zipify, and Smart Marketer: Wealth Strategies for Creating Wildly Successful Businesses

99 Cale Owen From Gym Launch & Prestige Labs: The Secret Sauce to Building a Multi-Million Dollar Business

98 Adam Kitchen From Magnet Monster: Stop Telling Your Customer What to Do

97 Andriy Boychuk from Flowium: Using Email Marketing to Boost Customer Loyalty

96 John Terry from Ketonia: Diving into the Deep End of E-Commerce

95 Josh from LampHouse Films: How to Sell with Commercial Filmmaking

94 Juliana from CXL: We Need to Rethink Customer Lifetime Value

93 Neha and Bryan from SwitchGrocery: Building a Brand from the Ground Up

91 Ronnie Teja from Branzio Watches: Scale Your E-Commerce to 8 Figures with SEO

90 Francis Nayan from Stories & Copy: How to Use Storytelling to Make Your Brand Stand Out

89 Dale Bertrand from Fire&Spark: How to Increase Your Reach with Authority First SEO

87 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 More Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

85 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: Scale Your E-Commerce With These 3 Digital Marketing Tools

84 Valentin Radu from Omniconvert: How to Scale with CRO and Retention Marketing

83 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 More E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

82 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

81 Ben Parr from Octane AI: Zero Party Data - Strategies for Collecting Data and Increasing Sales

80 Florens from Monkeys.Digital: Unlocking Your Growth with Data-Driven Conversion Rate Optimization

79 Chris and Miriam Bair form Keto Chow: How to Build a Community Focused Keto Brand in 7 Years

78 Roshelle from Yotpo Talks Engagement - The New Way to Improve Customer Lifetime Value

76 Alan Chen from FreeCashFlow.io Shares the Top 3 Tax Deductions All E-commerce Owners Should Know About

74 How to Increase Conversion Rates Using Embedded Videos - Without Slowing Down Your Website

68 How To Turn Your Brand Into A Household Name

66 Crack the Code: Facebook Video Ads