Colby Bauer has personality.  He’s a half-pipe skating, snowboarding, former collegiate athlete who turned a simple idea into a thriving eComm business.  He and his wife McKenzie started Thread Wallets with just a single product idea.  Simple, functional, minimalist wallets with personality.  That initial product took off and Thread quickly grew into a team of 22 that now boasts an expanding product line including lanyards, phone cases, and more. While there’s a lot to be impressed about with Colby and McKenzie, and their team I really wanted to key in on Thread’s culture and the unique steps they took to grow.  I think you’ll find a ton of good lessons here: How the key to scale might be engaging in activities that DON’T scale How financial intelligence (or lack thereof) can make or break startups How to hire for culture first and is the “hire slow, fire fast” mantra really the way to go How installing a half-pipe at the office lead to a fight amongst the thread founders, but lead to mental health as a focus for the company A good CEO is a non-busy CEO…what does this mean and how is it the key to effectiveness

Conversational commerce.  What is it?  Basically, it’s taking the in-person shopping experience of asking questions and talking to retail sales staff and moving it into multiple online channels seamlessly.  Today shoppers want to interact with you in a variety of ways and they want near-instant feedback.  Messenger.  SMS.  Chat.  Facebook comments.  Your customers expect you to be everywhere they are when they need you.   In this interview, Phil and I talk about some of the foundations of conversational commerce - both strategies and tactics.  This will help guide all of your conversational commerce efforts. Here’s a quick look at what we discuss.   What components of conversational commerce should you consider? What impact can conversational commerce have on conversion rates? How to look at the dashboard and KPIs related to conversational commerce. How this impacts your paid acquisition efforts. Lots of real-world examples Plus more

Very little about 2020 has been normal - including Prime Day.  This year’s Prime Day was in October vs. Amazon’s usual July time frame.  What did this mean for 2020 Prime Day vs. 2019 Prime Day?  Would this year’s Prime Day make the official launch of holiday sales?    In this episode, I bring back OMG Commerce’s Amazon Director Chris Tyler to discuss what we noticed this year during Prime Day with our clients.  Here’s a look at what we discuss: Total prime day sales grew 70% year-over-year in 2019 vs. 2018, but only grew 45% year-over-year in 2020 compared to 2019 (Statista report).   $3.5 billion of the estimated $10 billion in total sales on Prime Day were from 3rd party sellers, but the most popular item on Prime Day was Amazon’s deeply discounted Echo Dot.   What categories of products we saw perform the best for our OMG clients. 62% of Prime Day purchases this year were for gifts for someone else according to Digital Commerce 360.   Why we didn’t see as dramatic of a list for 2020 Prime Day vs. 2019 Prime Day, but sales immediately after prime day this year have been strong. The impact of Prime Day on Sponsored Brand Video Ads and overall ad performance Interesting Amazon DSP trends during Prime Day and since Plus more!

Khierstyn Ross is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to launching products on Kickstarter.  She’s experienced the highs of multiple 6-figure product launches, plus she’s endured the heartache of a launch gone bad.  She knows what to do and, just as importantly, what to avoid. In this podcast, we talk about the keys to building a 6-figure crowd-funded product launch including: What products work best for a Kickstarter launch Why audience building is so important, how to do it, and why so many people underestimate it. What kind of targets to set for your first day of your Kickstarter launch What to consider when it comes to shipping Top mistakes to avoid How storytelling fuels crowd-funding launches Plus more! 

What do six-packs, successful pilots and 2020 have in common?  No, it’s not a drinking game.  We’re talking data here people! Do you know your data…like really know your data?  Do you have a feel for it?  Do you look at the right numbers daily?   Let’s talk pilots for just a second. If you’ve ever seen a cockpit, it looks kinda like most eCommerce dashboards - an overwhelming amount of buttons, data, dials, and meters.  But pilots actually focus mostly on just a few key instruments.  The rest is there to help if there’s trouble.  The same should be true for the dashboards you use to run your business.   I absolutely loved this interview with Dan LeBlanc at Daasity.  We cover some really important topics to help you really get a handle on managing your business.  Here’s a quick rundown: Is your data accurate?  Seems like an easy question.  Not always an easy answer.   Do you know what your metrics mean?  It’s all in the definition.  If you don’t have the right definition, you can’t make good decisions.   How you should look at your Lifetime Value (LTV) and why Cohorts matter Why contribution margin is super important plus an easy way to calculate it Knowing your RFM - Recency, frequency, and monetary value.  Here’s how to look at this and why it matters.

There are two different types of sponsored YouTube influencer videos: An integrated sponsored video and  Stand-alone sponsored video. Stand-alone sponsored influencer videos are what most brands use and what most people think of when they hear “YouTube influencer marketing.” Stand-alone videos are typically an influencer providing a quick review or endorsement about a particular product.  So the video is titled “Widget 12 Pro Unboxing and review.” An integrated sponsored influencer videos is an ad put inside of video on a separate topic.  The video might be about fortnite or camping, or whatever, but inside the video is a 30 second ad, read by the creator, for your product. These integrated video ads are Ridge Wallets secret sauce.  Here’s a quick look at what we uncover on the show: Why integrated sponsored videos are so great and why they scale better than stand alone influencer videos.  How to approach influencers Why subscribers on YouTube is largely a vanity metric How to spot a dead channel vs. an active channel How to measure the impact of your influencer videos  What to pay influencers and how to think about CPMs (cost per thousand) How to achieve scale in your outreach and deployment of influencer videos Plus more!

During a pandemic, marketing for a travel company isn’t easy.  Kevin Urrutia and team at Chester Travel are getting creative and hustling to drive sales now and set themselves up for success in the future.  In this episode, we talk about the perfect combination of short term and long term growth strategies.  Using influencer marketing for short term growth and SEO for long term traffic and growth has proved to be a winning combination for Chester Travel and their line of modern luggage.   Here’s a look at what we cover in this episode: Leveraging returns and unsold inventory for influencer marketing. Understanding the value of your product in influencer marketing. Simple outreach for influencer marketing….you’re probably overthinking it.  Try this one sentence approach. How a solid Instagram account is a necessary prerequisite for influencer marketing. Leveraging your homepage to rank your blog posts Combining remarketing and SEO to drive sales.

In a word, Chris Lynch is cool.  So is his brand Everyday California.  It’s not a surprise then, that what started as an adventure tour company also became a super popular apparel line.  But Chris and the Everyday Cali team didn’t stop there… The brand has now grown to include flip flops, beer, CBD and even a line of sunscreen.  So what separates a solid business move into new products vs. an unhealthy distraction?  When should you partner, license, go on your own, or scrap an idea?  Here’s what we dive into on this episode:  When to lawyer up and why it’s sooo worth it Be patient - speed in some instances almost guarantees that you land on your face. One of the best questions to ask about adding a new product is “does it feel right?”   How Chris and team partnered with a brewery on a California IPA and a CBD company to make a CBD product all while strengthening their core brand offering. Lessons learned from a few license deals How and why Everyday Cali is launching a brand new sunscreen - if you’re considering a line extension, you’ll love Chris’ advice. 

Mission meats is just a few years old, but it’s gobbling up market share in the red-hot meat snack category.  Peter Awad is a long time eCommerce pro.  He started selling auto parts on eBay in 2000.  Now he and his co-founder Nick have built a meat snack store with a mission.  They’re using profits from eCommerce to help fight deforestation, educate children in Africa, and support homeless women and children.   But they don’t just have big hearts, they have some serious marketing chops too.   In this episode, we explore the challenges and opportunities of marketing a product that could literally appeal to anyone.  We also explore how to maintain the balancing act of growing your own store AND growing on Amazon.  How to treat Amazon from a merchandising perspective.  Prospecting for new customers - Is this and Amazon first or Shopify first strategy How to increase repeat purchases in a fun way How pride or ego can limit growth with any paid ad channel Crazy CRO tests and the practice of asking “what if the opposite were true?” Important mindset issues that help fuel successful entrepreneurs

CPAs that suddenly double overnight. Skyrocketing CPMs. Winning ads that suddenly turn into losers. Data changes that impact how ads are being run now. The list of potential issues, potholes, loopholes, and blackholes for online advertising goes on and on. So what’s an eComm store owner or media buyer to do? Call in Molly Pittman and John Grimshaw from Smart Marketer.   These are two of my favorite people to interview and today I have them both with me for the same episode. And it’s a doozy. Here’s a look at what we cover: How to have the right mindset for navigating volatility (this is more important than you think) What to do when ad performance tanks Where you should tinker to improve performance and where you shouldn’t Why this is still the greatest time in history to be a marketer - volatility and all. 3 Spot checks to make sure you are ready to scale traffic The impact of the California Consumer Privacy Act and new changes coming to iOS 14….the good, the bad, and the scary.