Building an irresistible culture.  Creating raving fans. Treating your customers like friends of 10+ years.  These are some of the philosophies that’s taken LiveBearded from a single product lifestyle business to now a leader in the men’s personal care space.  The only thing more impressive than Anthony Mink’s beard is the culture of raving fans he and co-founder Spencer Bryce have built together.  Mink has gone from traveling to 30 countries in 7 years to now having a warehouse, office and an incredible team.   This episode is critically important to any eCommerce company.  Especially as competition heats up and more and more products are becoming commoditized.   Here’s a look at what we cover: Why culture is the most valuable asset you have How adding value should be your objective ...but this doesn’t always mean cash value.   Why every touch point matters and how to create memorable experiences How Live Bearded has created its own mottos and lingo that fans have adopted.   Treat your customers the way you would a friend of 10 years Your main job is to build raving fans Some crazy Live Bearded stories Plus more!

Kiri Masters is the founder & CEO of Bobsled Marketing and marketplace institute and host of ECommerce BrainTrust. Author of Amazon Expansion Plan and new book Amazon for CMOs.  We talk Amazon a lot on this podcast.  I wanted to have Kiri on to discuss her philosophy both in how to expand and how to manage growth.  We discuss some really interesting topics including: What CMOs of big brands know about Amazon that we don’t Who you need on your Amazon team How to assemble your own all-star Amazon team? How to take advantage of the full Amazon stack rather than just focusing on one area. Plus more!

Arri is a whizkid of sorts when it comes to messenger marketing and SMS marketing.  At the ripe old age of 22 he’s leading his team at Conversmart and has worked with some pretty impressive brands including Tuft & Needle, Poo-Pourri and the Beard Club just to name a few.      I know very little about SMS marketing for eCommerce so I was super excited to have Arri on the podcast to learn how he does it.  We both spoke at Ezra Firestone’s event in Seattle a few months ago. I was so impressed by his talk that we immediately scheduled a time to record the podcast.     Here’s a quick look at what we cover on this episode.     Some stats around mobile usage related to text messaging that are important to note? How does SMS marketing compare to email marketing What are some of the top ways eCommerce companies should consider using SMS marketing How to grow SMS subscribers Most common SMS campaigns and tactics with some real examples How to combine SMS + email + messenger for mind-boggling results

To date, this was one of my favorite episodes to record.  Partially because I love Amazon and love hearing behind the scenes stories from people who’ve worked there.  Brad does share a couple of great stories.  Mostly I love this interview because the advice shared is pure gold.  Brad Moss has a unique perspective on business and growth. At Amazon he served as the first business lead over all of Seller Central.  To say he’s had the inside scoop on seller central would be a gross understatement.    I met Brad at an event in Miami.  When I found out he was a former Amazonian I was eager to find out a few things - 1. A good Jeff Bezos story.  2. What is was like to work there. The stories he told when we met and the stories told on this episode did not disappoint!   In this episode we cover some pretty powerful lessons including: How Amazon thinks about and deals with areas of the business that stop growing.  As you might guess, they don’t have warm and fuzzy sentiments here. How Amazon looks at analytics…this is truly brilliant.  Understand how Amazon decides what data to measure, and what to change to get better results.  This is part of the key to Amazon's speed and their ability to scale successfully. Two mindset shifts that Amazon looks for in their employees that will help instantly make you a better entrepreneur. A few funny (and potentially painful stories) about how little Amazon celebrates successes.  These stories underscore the Bezos mantra that “it’s always day one.” Top mistakes Brad sees Amazon sellers making and how to avoid them. Plus more!

Paulina Masson is the founder of Shopkeeper and a longtime Amazon seller.  She has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to pricing products. She understands the competitive forces behind pricing decisions as well as the psychological factors.   Ultimately you want to price in such a way to maximize total profits.  While you should consider profit per transaction, that might not be the ultimate metric to try and maximize.  Here’s what we look at: How to run pricing split test and why it’s so complex. How to price your products at launch including a free margin calculator How to balance competitive price factors with consumer perception and psychology When to end your price in 99, or 97 rather than 00.  And how a premium product or your target market might influence this. 3 Types of Shoppers on Amazon and how to price for each When and how to use coupons - when to do a % off vs. a $ off How price impacts conversion rates Plus more!

Is AI coming for all of our jobs?  As agencies and marketers, are we on the road to irrelevance?  Probably not fully, but our roles and our perspectives better shift and shift quickly.  Frederick Vallaeys is a brilliant marketer and programmer. He was one of Google’s first 500 employees and was on the original AdWords Quality Score team.  In this episode, we discuss how agencies and marketers of the near future should think more like pilots or doctors, or coaches (my metaphor). Pilots increasingly rely on instruments and AI to do their job.  So do doctors. But, deep expertise, strategy, and a human element are still really important. Here’s a hopeful but eyes-wide-open look at the future with Frederick Vallaeys.    How Quality Score was yesterday’s black box and AI is today’s black box. Using Fred’s Two Levels of Automation - Leveraging things like AI and Machine Learning (ML) and then creating a layer of automation to keep the machines in check.   How is AI most impacting marketing now and how will it impact marketing in the next few years. What new changes to Google Ads is Fred most excited about. Some of Fred’s favorite Google Ad Scripts? Automation can be simple. AI and ML are cool but you can achieve a lot with the simple stuff

A few months ago I delivered a talk at Social Media Marketing World 2019 on how to create a full funnel with YouTube ads.  Feedback on the session was great so I wanted to share it here on the podcast.     Why YouTube ads? Watch time for “which product to buy” videos on YouTube doubled this past year. Nearly 70% of shoppers say they are open to learning about products on YouTube directly from brands. In this talk, we’ll explore 3 ways to utilize YouTube ads for growth. We’ll uncover 3 proven YouTube ad formulas to put the right video in front of the right prospect at the right time. We’ll also examine the best bidding strategies and winning campaign structures to implement for success.

Christian Zeron started selling vintage watches online in college.  We started mainly with some free time, a lot of creativity and a serious watch obsession (he’s a self-described watch geek).  He’s since leveraged that into millions of YouTube views, millions in sales and over 1.8 Million monthly page views… without running ads. I’m an ads guy so my experience with organic YouTube is minimal.  I wanted to have Christian on the podcast to walk through his story and to give us practical tips on how to succeed on YouTube with organic content. Here’s a look at what we cover: How Christian uses Gary V’s jab, jab, jab, right hook in his approach to YouTube content.   How he’s learned from and grown from his YouTube failures How he grew from 0 to 68,000 YouTube Subscribers and millions of views How he comes up with ideas for 3 shows a week that generates raving fans. How his new pivot was an epic failure and how he’s retooled to make it a smashing success. What watches are his personal favorite  Why selling a $10,000 watch is easier than selling a $300 watch

Casey Guass started Viral Launch as a broke 24-year-old college drop out.  The rest is history. It’s now one of the most beloved SaaS platforms for Amazon sellers.  Like most great companies it’s gone through some serious product evolutions. But, the core has remained the same - helping Amazon Sellers rank better on Amazon.   In this podcast, we cover a lot…and get pretty nerdy with data.  Here’s a quick look at what we discuss.  3 Amazon ranking factors you might be overlooking including considering your canonical url for better ranking on Google (we explain what this means in the podcast).  How conversion rate factors into organic rankings and what to do about it. Why you’re likely focusing on the wrong keywords and how to shift your approach. Casey’s 6-step road map for ranking a product on Amazon - this is pure gold.   Casey’s advice that he would NOT give to clients, but might try for selling his own products. Why you’re thinking about Amazon PPC is probably off a bit and how you should adjust.  How to use brand analytics data for some “blow your mind” insights.   Plus more!

In just a few short years Bill D transitioned from investment banker to single brand eCommerce store owner, to now owning and leading a portfolio of 10 eComm brands through his company, Elements Brands.    I wanted to pick Bill’s brain - one, because he’s just wicked smart, but, two, because I think all eCommerce store owners could benefit from his perspective. In this power-house episode we uncover:  How Bill went from investment banker to owning a portfolio of growing eCommerce brands.   What Bill looks for when he’s considering buying an eCommerce business (there are lessons here for you, whether you’re looking to sell right now or not). Why diversity of traffic is so important and what to consider here. What’s the metric to rule all metrics? No, it’s not conversion rate, or AOV, or Return on Ad Spend. (Hint: you’re probably ignoring it or not calculating it the way you should.) Why profits are sanity and revenue is vanity. How well document processes build value now and later. Plus much, much more!