eCommerce Evolution

Chris Brewer is an agency veteran, marketing expert, and former golf pro. Not to mention my business partner and OMG Commerce’s co-founder. Each year, Chris has the privilege of talking with hundreds of DTC brands, both big and small. He hears about their goals, struggles, plans, and more. As a strategist, I also consult with large-scaling eComm brands. Through our perspectives, we’d like to highlight ways in which great brands get in their own way and offer some candid advice when it comes to working with agencies.  We love the brands we talk to and the clients we serve. But, like anyone else, brands can sometimes overlook how they inadvertently hinder their own growth. Here are a few topics we cover that we hope you’ll find helpful: Having goals that aren’t battle-tested. Still thinking like it’s 2020 in some areas of your business. Prioritizing automation and tools over strategy. Shooting for perfect data and ignoring actionable data. Stopping short of getting results. When you shouldn’t hire an agency. How to get the most from an agency relationship. Plus more!

Jeremy Horowitz is one of my favorite follows on LinkedIn.  He recently dropped some brilliant (and terrifying) posts about the economy, the impending debt crisis, and what DTC brands should focus on now. Jeremy and I go way back. In fact, this is our 4th podcast together over the years (he used to host a show too). Jeremy has been in the DTC SaaS space for years, having previously managed marketing for a large DTC brand. Jeremy is now the Sr. Partner Manager at Gorgias, and he and his team run the DTCX events, which have become some of my favorites to speak at and attend.  Here's a look at what we cover. Some of it's heavy, but it also speaks to the amount of opportunity on the horizon:  What keeps Jeremy up at night? A potential consumer debt crisis? More at this link. 64% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Those making over $100k per year are in the same boat. What you can learn from Liquid Death.  Understanding how and where your customers want to buy. Avoiding the discount doom loop. Getting your inventory as close to "just-in-time" as possible. A different way to look at your marketing budget and performance. 

At one time, Charles Tichenor was a top 100 advertiser on Facebook.  On the platform, he frequently manages 7 figure budgets per DAY!  In the early days, he managed FB ads for Apple, New Balance, major automotive brands, and more. Facebook gave him test budgets ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 per day to test new features and Betas. In this episode, Charles and I dig into what’s working now, what mistakes he’s seeing, and a bit of his framework for success.  Here’s a look at what we cover: How Facebook Advantage Plus ads give you an unfair advantage - and what you should do about it right now. If you want to win more customers, you have to BE your customer.  How chasing “what’s working now” with Facebook creatives is likely to make you a second-rate advertiser - and what to do instead. The AI Charles was using before Chat GPT and how you should use it. Creative ways to use Chat GPT to speed up your marketing process.  How TikTok is different from all the other platforms. How to win with TikTok organic and paid ads. How to land on the right creatives for your brand. Plus MORE!

This episode of the eCommerce Evolution podcast is truly unique.  It's not uncommon for us to talk about branding, storytelling, and entrepreneurship. But in this episode, we also discuss faith, family tragedy, chasing your dreams, and nerd out a bit on basketball legends like Michael Jordan and Steph Curry. Ashton Owens is living many kids’ dreams…but more importantly, he’s living his own. He works directly with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and other pro athletes. He runs Triple Threat - a creative agency specializing in branding and storytelling for pro athletes.  Ashton and I have a lot in common. We go to church together (how we met), share an affinity for professional basketball, lost a parent when we were teens, and experienced some fun and wild entrepreneurial journeys.  Here’s what we cover: How growing up in an entrepreneurial family and losing his father as a teenager shaped Ashton’s faith and professional accomplishments. How inviting Michael Jordan to his birthday party as a child influenced Ashton’s belief that the world is full of possibilities. The crazy story of Ashton’s first meeting with Steph Curry and Under Armor.  The meaning behind the Steph Curry logo and how it relates to storytelling. Ashton's belief that most people count themselves out before they start and how to shift their thinking. Plus more!

According to Chad Rubin, there's a lot of reckless advice from "gurus" when it comes to pricing on Amazon. Just raising your price because of inflation, might not be your optimal move. In some cases lowering your price, improving sell through, improving BSR can raise your total profits. But lowering your price could have devastating impact to your profits. So should you raise or lower your price? The short answer is - it depends. The key is to test, watch the data, and optimize. Chad Rubin recently exited Skubana, Prosper Show and his own agency. He’s now the founder of Profasee a dynamic AI repricing tool for Amazon sellers to help you maximize profits without hurting your ranking on Amazon. Here’s a look at what we cover: Prepping your business to sell and how Chad successfully exited Skubana. The fallacy of managing your Amazon ad spend to an ACoS goal. The art & science of Amazon pricing. How to price on other marketplaces so you maximize sales on amazon and preserve margin. Product assortment strategies on and off Amazon and where Chad would launch a new eComm brand if he started today.

In this episode, you’ll hear Rick Watson’s unfiltered hot takes on the latest changes coming from the “Big 2” in eCommerce: Shopify and Amazon. Rick Watson is an eCommerce influencer, former software CEO, and the host of The Watson Weekly podcast. Frequently speaking at large retail events like ShopTalk, NRF, and IRCE, he knows his stuff!   Here’s a look at what we cover: How Rick grew from 0 to 45,000 followers on LinkedIn in a few years (fun side notes for anyone wanting to grow their social following). The recent Shopify rate increases - people are complaining, but no one is leaving. Headless Commerce and Shopify Components - it’s new(ish), it’s sexy, and everyone is talking about it. Is it right for you? Amazon FBA changes related to IPI - this shows that Amazon is smarter than the rest of us. Buy with Prime - what is it, when does it make sense vs. when does it not?  Walmart, Target+, and the other marketplaces - should you care?

Bear Handlon is a former Yale football player, Naval Officer, and the Co-Founder and CEO of Born Primitive, one of the hottest brands in the fitness, athleisure, and outdoor apparel space. Bear’s story is truly unique and full of valuable insights.  Bear had a simple idea, $4,000 in the bank, and was about to ship off to officer candidate school, but he decided to launch a company anyway. He parlayed the success of his initial product, custom-made compression shorts, to build a large and diverse brand with a wide array of products. Here’s a look at what we cover: When to focus vs. when to expand your product offering.  Born Primitive’s 3 keys to building a growth flywheel. How to turn mistakes into extreme customer loyalty. How getting the product right fuels everything else.  Why being face-to-face with customers is the key to product innovation and marketing.  While products can be replicated, a strong and unique “brand identity” cannot.

Rabah Rahil has done it all when it comes to marketing.  Rabah is the CMO for one of the hottest and fastest growing SaaS companies in the DTC world - Triple Whale. Prior to that, he worked on the digital marketing team at Whole Foods, was a part of an agency that managed traffic for Oprah, and owned and operated his own agency. Triple Whale is a leader (and one of my favorites) in the world of 3rd-Party Attribution tools. Triple Whale helps you make sense of what channels, campaigns, and ads are moving the needle. It also brings all of your important data from Shopify, Amazon, and your ad channel into a single dashboard.  In this episode, we talk about attribution from a high level and what platforms are getting the most ad spend right now.  Here’s a look at what we cover: Why trying to get perfect attribution data is impossible (and why it’s not the point). A "party" analogy that could shift the way you view your ad channels.  With data from 6,000 Shopify stores, where are most advertisers spending their ad budgets?  Is TikTok where you should focus your time and budget in 2023 (the answer may surprise you)? Is Facebook slipping?  Where should I prioritize Snapchat?

Brendan Bannister, the CEO of Naturalabs.io, is one smart marketer.  We first met in 2018 when he was the CMO and Creative Director at William Painter. After taking my YouTube/Google course, he scaled ad spend on YouTube from $2k per day to $100k per day!  We decided to start meeting and swapping ideas, war stories, and things we were testing. We soon realized the value of sharing this knowledge with others and decided to record a session and bring it to the world!  In this episode, we dive into CRO, creatives, data-driven marketing, R&D for marketing departments, and the golden years for YouTube and Facebook Ads and how they achieved 13x growth for William Painter.  Here are some highlights:  How the famous da Vinci quote, “Simplicity is Ultimate Sophistication” should be a guiding principle for marketers. Is media buying dead? If so, what is taking its place? How good brands are sort of like algorithms. “Design is hack” and what that means for your marketing efforts. The role “brand” plays in your ability to scale. Why Brendan is now living and working full-time in Dubai. Plus more!

Retention marketing is crucial for any business.  When the economy is thriving, you need retention marketing to cut through the clutter and help you stand out.  When times are tough, as they may be in the near future, retention marketing is essential. During a recession, it’s critical to get the most out of your marketing efforts.  The most effective way to accomplish this is to maximize your Lifetime Value (LTV) through retention and loyalty marketing. That’s why, at OMG, we launched email and SMS marketing as a service last year. (email growth@omgcommerce.com to find out more).  In this episode, I had the pleasure of hosting Daniel Budai, a retention marketing expert and the founder of Budai Media.  Here’s a look at what we cover:  The mindset shift needed to impact how you approach retention marketing and loyalty.  Why you are likely not emailing your list enough and how emailing LESS has the opposite effect.  How to maximize your results by combining SMS and email marketing. How to create a user-friendly loyalty program that incentivizes desired actions, such as referrals.  How to use postcards as part of your retention and loyalty efforts.