What do you do when you grow 25% YoY but realize you’re losing money? How do you adjust when what has always worked in the past stops working? What steps do you take when your cost to acquire a new customer is skyrocketing, and nothing is bringing it down?If you’re like some brand owners, you keep doing the same stuff but try to do it better. Sometimes, you need a larger shift that starts with asking better questions and understanding what problem you’re trying to solve. This interview with Anthony Mink, CEO and Co-Founder of Live Bearded, was super fun and energizing to record. Live Bearded is an 8-figure brand that experienced something pretty dramatic but also not uncommon in eCommerce. Their new customer acquisition ads stopped working across ALL ad platforms. We know the brand well; we’ve been running Google and YouTube ads for them for years. Seeing their CPA skyrocket across all channels (Facebook, IG, YouTube) and then helping it come down to the lowest it’s ever been was inspiring and insightful. Especially while spending more than ever on top-of-funnel efforts. Ultimately, they discovered they had a fundamental positioning and messaging problem. Their offer was good (basically a free sample), but the way they positioned their product had taken them as far as possible. They needed to reposition! In this episode, we uncover that journey, and it’s PACKED with valuable lessons.Here’s a quick look at some of what we cover:How you first have to clearly define the problem before you can solve it. (This is a step entrepreneurs usually want to skip.)How positioning is likely the most powerful lever you can pull in your business.The power of Stories, States, and Identities in your marketingThe power of Brand and how Nike has it, but Hyatt doesn’t.The concept of Better Your Best (and NOT Better Your Meh).The messaging that cut Live Bearded’s CPAs in half.Plus more!

In some ways, we know everything and nothing about our customers at the same time. We have mountains of data at our fingertips for every customer interaction. But we can’t see our customers. We don’t really know what they love, why they buy, or what they’re into—even insights into why they bought from us or how they first learned about us are muddy. Even when we think we know, our view is incomplete. That’s where KNO Commerce comes in. Sure, you have a few different attribution tools. They can be helpful but also confusing. And they have biases. Sure, you know conversion rate optimization best practices, but every brand and every customer is slightly different. Getting customer insights through post-purchase or abandon cart surveys can provide clarity into what your attribution or CRO data is telling you…or, more importantly, what it’s NOT telling you. The good news is you don’t have to use KNO to get great customer insights. Any survey tool can work. In this episode with KNO Founder and CEO Jeremiah Prummer, we discuss the following:40% of your shoppers buy in less than 1 week of learning about your brand. 60% take longer than 1 week. (This probably contradicts what GA and your attribution tools tell you).The biases in surveys and how to work around them?The biases in the attribution model.How abandoned cart surveys can be a game changer in addition to email flows.What questions to ask your customers for the most actionable insightsAnd More!

Download The YouTube Ads Checklist HereYouTube offers TREMENDOUS scale opportunities.Just ask Dr. Squatch, Purple Mattress, Organifi, and Manscapped.But it's NOT the easiest platform to scale with. We're one of the top spenders on YouTube ads. We've spent more than almost any agency our size on the platform and learned what works and what doesn't.In this episode, I break down the 11 factors that determine YouTube's success.Here's a sneak peak:What has to be true about your landing pages before you can fully accelerate on YouTube?When should you launch a YouTube ad campaign?How to approach YouTube ad performance measurement.What creative elements need to be in place?What role do email, search, and shopping play in your YouTube success?How to think about remarketing and YouTube.Plus, much, much more.

Few DTC brands have been as polarizing or as successful as Chubbies.The Chubbies story is a wild one. It started with humble beginnings, selling shorts one by one in parks around the Stanford campus, leading to an IPO.Four Stanford college students had 3 things in common: 1. They were tired of working for the man. 2. They didn't fit the "Abercrombie" fashion mold of the late 2000s and 3. They loved shorter shorts - BEFORE the short shorts trend. And so, Chubbies was born.  This is a deep dive with Co-founder Preston Rutherford on what Chubbies got right, what they got wrong, and how to think about building a brand.Here's a look at what we cover:Feedback loops. This started when the co-founders were selling their shorts in person. They could immediately read customers' reactions and hear what they liked, what they didn't like and what needed to be tweaked. As the company grew, this shifted to digital and online feedback loops tied to ad creatives, social posts, and user experience.Downplaying vanity metrics. We all want to brag about ROAS and revenue. But, these metrics can be misleading. If you maximize ROAS, you sacrifice long-term growth for a sale today. And you get into a trap that squeezes profits and becomes hard to break. Obsessing over core metrics. We should focus on metrics like contribution margin, total profits and branded search growth (as a sign of a growing, healthy brand).Building a brand. Want to have a big exit? Want to charge a premium? Want to drive consistent demand? It's all about brand.  

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”“The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.”Not sure where I first heard these quotes, but they definitely apply to this week’s episode.I firmly believe that to grow like no one else is growing, you must do what no one else is doing.In this episode, I walk through 5 growth opportunities that you’re likely under-leveraging or completely missing.This is the recording from a recent talk I gave in Austin, Texas, to a group of 1,200 eager Amazon Sellers and DTC brand owners, where I unpacked these 5 growth opportunities.  While there are a few cases where seeing the video might be more helpful (watch it here), the audio should still be helpful! I hope you enjoy it.

How can you make the most of the Cyber 5?It all comes down to strategy, planning and execution.Ideally, you’re planning all year and working on the perfect strategies to attract new customers and inspire existing customers to buy more. But planning is only part of the success equation. Making adjustments and tweaks based on what’s working and what’s not is also crucial.On this episode, I’m bringing on a star-studded cast of OMG experts. We talk about Black Friday and Cyber Monday success from essentially every angle. We talk about successful email and SMS promotions. We cover do’s and don’ts for maximizing Amazon profits and share insights for getting the most from Google, YouTube and other channels. My guests:Bill Cover, Google StrategistNick Flint, Email StrategistTrenton Bodenbach, Amazon Growth StrategistWhat we discuss:Top BFCM mistakes merchants make.What you need to plan ahead of time and lock in vs. what you can change on the fly during the Cyber 5.Or favorite Cyber 5 growth strategies.Protecting margin while still driving purchases from customers who expect deals. Can you make a 10% off deal irresistible?

I believe in the who, not the how, for more business problems and opportunities.Want to grow faster?Need to solve a nagging problem?Rather than thinking about how to solve it, you might want to start with who.But that only works well if you have strong leadership skills. As your business grows, you’ll be doing less and leading more. My buddy Peter Awad joins the show today. He’s an eCommerce vet. He launched his first online venture in 2000 and co-founded Mission Meats, an online snack company, in 2015.Now, Peter’s passion is coaching and building great leaders. I’m a big believer that culture and leadership will trump strategy any day of the week.Here are a few of the things we discussed:What’s it like on the other side of me?Knowing yourself first.Radical candor or ruinous empathy.The nothing to lose, nothing to prove, nothing to hide approach to discussions.The fact that the life you want, the business you want, is on the other side of a few hard conversations.How to lead vendors, freelancers, and agencies better.How to have better meetings.

Are you dabbling with generative AI or using it to gain a competitive advantage? Are you getting better at using AI or staying the same? If you're like some professionals I know, maybe you've gotten frustrated with only slight gains using AI, so you've moved on.I'll admit, I'm still just dabbling compared to my buddy Fred.Fred Vallaeys is one of the smartest dudes I know. His perspective on AI is inspiring and sure to get your wheels turning. But first, take a peek at Fred's resume! One of the first 500 employees at GoogleHe was on the team that acquired Urchin, the precursor to Google Analytics He was on the original Quality Score teamHe was one of the original 6 people who built the AdWords editorNow, he's the co-founder and CEO of Optmyzr and the author of 2 amazing books.Here's a look at the taste AI morsels we chew on in this episode:Practical ways to use Generative AI that you might be missing.How to ground the AI so it doesn't "hallucinate."Understanding the best LLMs and how they impact generative AI.How generative AI is different from Machine Learning.Embedding, vectors, and chain promptingReady to step up your AI game? I am!

Price. It’s an emotional topic for shoppers and for brands. As shoppers were more influenced by price than we care to admit.As brands we’re often afraid to change our prices. And our current prices were probably created a long time ago. It’s almost a certainty that they price for at least some of your products is wrong right now.Byron Myer’s is a super smart dude. He started Inogen, a med-tech business, while in college and took it public in 2014. Now he runs Glimmer Wish with his wife and daughters. He used price theory and price strategy to add tens of millions in sales at Inogen. He’s also used it to scale Glimmer Wish from 0 to over 7 figures in less than a year. And this isn’t a “let’s raise prices a bit and see what happens” approach. This is a scientific, mathematical way to find the optimal price to maximize profits.Why is your pricing wrong:It’s likely based on flawed strategies like competitor benchmarking or cost plus. Both strategies are ok to start with but do NOT produce your optimal price for total profits.You’re following old customer psychology that states you should always charge $19.99 instead of $19.97 instead of $20 or $22. Often this is incorrect.You haven’t changed the price in over a year.In the current environment if you’re not changing price or running tests quarterly, your pricing is probably off.This topic will make you Cold. Hard. Cash. Give it a listen!

Why does one hook work and another flops? Why does one offer get customers clicking and buying and another offer get’s only a shrug? How can you know BEFORE you spend money on an ad if it’s likely to convert?Today’s episode is a recording from a recent talk I gave at Ezra Firestone’s Blue Ribbon Mastermind. I break down 7 ad tests guaranteed to make ANY ad better. Follow these tests and your ads will have more stopping power, more engagement, and drive more ACTION. The visuals do help with this one, so watching on YouTube might be a good idea, but the audio sill captures most of the value.Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll learn:How to tell if your ads differentiate your product ENOUGH from the competitionA test that great standup comedians use that applies to your ads as well A test that’s best illustrated using a cat, and one that’s best identified using a donkey. Any guesses what these tests might be about?How to handle lingering objectionsHow to tell if your ad has the power to motivate your prospects to take actionPlus more!This presentation was super fun for me. Hopefully you’ll find it entertaining and helpful!