eCommerce Evolution

Content is King. Regardless of the platform. Want to scale on TikTok? You’re only as good as your content. Want to step up your IG game? Content, baby. Want to finally scale on YouTube? Hire OMG (ha!) and create great content! Today I’m interviewing Danil Saliukov, CEO and Co-Founder of Insense. I met Danil when we both spoke at Geek Out in San Diego a few months ago. Insense is a marketplace that connects creators with brands and facilitates the creation of great content. Creating great content comes down to 3 things: Find the right creator for your brand Build authentic content that highlights why your product is great Create content specifically geared toward the platforms you want to run on Here’s a look at what we breakdown on the show: Where brands go wrong when creating content for marketing - Not every creator is an influencer, and not every influencer is a creator. What separates brands that do really well from the rest? The key to finding creators that best fit a brand. How brands can help creators create great content. How brands should approach TikTok. Actors vs. content creators vs. real customers for UGC.

Dr. Travis Zigler knows a thing or two about the entrepreneur’s journey.   Sometimes the path you end up taking as an entrepreneur is NOT the path you had in mind when you set out.   Travis and his wife, Jenna, are both optometrists by trade, but they had an itch to build an eCommerce business. They started with sunglasses, then landed with a dry eye product, but what began as a product-focused company shifted to a customer-focused business.   Here’s a look at what we cover: How to cultivate raving fans. How Travis and Jenna shifted from selling plastic to serving a person. How and why they built a YouTube channel. How they almost sold the business for nothing but then turned things around. His most important lessons from success and failure.

My guest today is a longtime friend and colleague, Jon MacDonald.  Jon is the CEO and founder of, The Good. He and his team help brands like Nike, Xerox, and The Economist turn more visitors into customers.  He’s one of the best conversion rate optimization specialists I know. In this interview, we wanted to go beyond the typical hacks and quick tips and look at principle-based optimization or optimization as a way of doing business. This approach will yield far greater results over the long haul than just trying the CRO-hack “flavor of the day.” Here’s a look at what we cover:  Why best practices are for beginners and how you should think about CRO in general. What most eComm brand owners forget about the scientific method and why chasing “silver bullets” is killing your results.  New visitors are at your site for two reasons, and it’s not just to hang out or learn all about you. How Jon’s simple yet effective “Trust Trifecta” will help you earn more conversions.  What Kim Kardashian’s assistant can teach you about "surprise and delight" user experiences. How discounting isn’t optimization; it’s margin drain. And what you can do instead of discounting. Plus more!

Long-time fans of the show might remember me saying that SEO was the first online marketing skill I learned and was also the first service OMG offered.  We got out of the SEO game years ago, but I still love it. And I believe it's a massive area of opportunity that most eComm brands are missing.  I first heard my guests speak at Geek Out in San Diego. Their talk was so good I asked them to come on the podcast. Kevin is the CEO of GR0, and Jon is the Chief Growth Officer. Both are wicked smart. In this episode, we bust SEO myths and misunderstandings and talk about how they've helped eComm brands 10x their organic traffic through consistent SEO practices.  Here's a look at what we cover:  The most common SEO mistakes or misunderstandings from eComm brands. Where in the funnel does SEO fit? How SEO is just storytelling in a lot of different ways. Content must haves when creating content for organic growth. Favorite SEO tools. How someone could get started with SEO.

Email marketing is the ultimate money maker for eCommerce companies. When you have email marketing dialed in, EVERYTHING else gets better. Your product launches improve, you can spend more on top-of-funnel marketing efforts, convert more abandoned carts, and give your customers a better experience. The list goes on and on. Nick Flint is the lead Email Strategist here at OMG Commerce. He took his knowledge from building his own eCommerce brand while in college and scaled that into successfully running email marketing for brands for the past 6+ years. Here’s the deal. Even if you think you’re doing pretty well with email marketing, there are at least a few things you can improve on. Grab your pencil if you know you have holes in your email game. You’re about to unlock some serious growth for your brand. Here’s a look at what I cover with Nick in this episode. Three simple ways to make any subject line better. What to do with your winning email tests. The paradox of sending more emails. How to properly combine email and SMS marketing for better results (without bugging your customers). Two super-fast email hacks that you can digest and implement tomorrow. A simple, no-brainer way to improve your flows. Plus more!

My guest today is Krik Angacian, the co-founder of Candy Can. Krik’s background is first as an investment banker and then as a founder of a protein popcorn business that he sold a few years ago.   Candy Can is a phenomenal product (full disclosure - I am an investor) and somewhat addictive. If you’re like me, you’ve been known to snack on children’s gummy vitamins (it’s actually a pretty common vice, it turns out). The trouble is, that’s not so healthy.   Enter Candy Can, the keto-friendly gummy snacks packed with vitamins (but not too many) and free of junk like gelatin and nasty fillers.   Candy Can is on a tear of growth right now, but it’s not from the traditional channels like Google and Facebook. It’s from affiliate marketing.   Here’s a look at what we covered in the interview: Where to get started and where to learn affiliate marketing. Should you hire an affiliate agency or go it alone (most charge $10k per month or more)? Why landing page is everything and what Krik has learned through testing. How fraud is a real issue and what to do about it. Why starting with low-quality traffic and then upgrading could be a good strategy for you (or even a must). Top affiliate marketing tools. Understanding the metrics behind affiliate marketing.

What’s the secret behind the runaway success of Dr. Squach, Manscapped, William Painter, Ruggable, Lume, and more?   Product design that people love is part of it.They also leveraged FANTASTIC creatives. They didn’t just create ads that converted; they had ads that viewers loved.   This allowed for scaling. They entered the rare space of being able to scale profitably to 10 million, 20 million, several hundred million views - profitably.   Dr. Squatch rode the wave of incredible creatives from a $3 million annual run rate to hundreds of millions in yearly sales.   How did they do it? They tapped into Raindrop’s creative genius and its CEO Jacques Spitzer.   Raindrop is one of my favorite creative shops and the creators of the videos for brands listed above, plus Native (also an OMG Client), Worx, Happy Egg, and more.   Here’s a look at what we cover in the episode: Why you shouldn’t start a video project by deciding what YOU want to say. Follow Jacques advice instead. How you’re likely assuming way more attention than your prospects are giving. How ads that scale can completely change the game. What people are really buying when they buy your product. Do shoppers actually care about your why? What branded performance creative is and why it makes scale and brand lift so much easier.

What if you could cut your lead costs in half? What if you could shorten your sales cycle from several weeks to just a few hours? What if you could leverage organic and paid traffic for better connections, delightful customer interactions, and more sales?   That is what Chatbots can create for you.   I heard Natasha Willis speak at Blue Ribbon Miami a few months ago, and I loved her presentation so much that I invited her to be on the show!   In this episode, we unpack her $30 million Instagram DM funnel.   Here’s a look at what we cover: How to use IG DMs to run quiz funnels. How to combine bots and human creativity for outstanding results. How Natasha helped cut lead costs in half for companies like Foundr. Top mistakes people make with Chat marketing. Misconceptions about Chat marketing.

Should you build a brand from scratch? Or buy an existing brand and apply your genius to scale or improve it?   Mike Jackness is one of my favorite eCommerce pros to talk to. He’s a podcast host. He’s built, bought, and sold multiple brands. And he has a heart to teach.He’s currently running a successful eComm brand that I’m an investor in, and it’s in the process of selling.   We wanted to hop on the podcast and talk about the process plus the pros and cons of buying vs. selling.   Here’s a look at what we cover: What you’re actually buying when you buy an existing business. How Mike looks at brands, he wants to buy or invest in. How to approach due diligence as a buyer or a seller. Surprises to look for in the due diligence process as a buyer or a seller. How getting your business ready to sell now will make your business better regardless of if you sell it or not. The good, the bad, and the ugly of M&A. Plus more!

I’ve always believed that writing good copy is one of the most profitable skills you can have as a marketer. And even if you don’t want to write copy yourself, understanding the process that your team should go through to create great copy is super important. Recently I spoke at Nick Shackelford’s Geek out in San Diego and I met Brandon Ham there. Brandon used to work for Agora Publishing, the multi-billion direct marketing behemoth that was built on great copy.  Whether you want to write better email subject lines, create more engaging video ads, craft display ads that drive conversions, or improve your landing page conversion rates, this approach can really help. Here’s what we cover: Brandon’s 3-step research process for powerful copy. How to spy on competitors and see what’s working and what’s not.  The biggest mistakes to avoid when watching competitors. How to “tell your story better”. You sell with your ears, not with your mouth and what that means for copy. How to speak your customer’s language. Plus more!