The Founders Forum

In this conversation, Ike Armstrong from Huckberry discusses the unique marketing strategies employed by the brand, particularly in relation to their customer acquisition. He emphasizes the importance of creating funnels for house brands, leveraging influencer marketing, and utilizing YouTube for customer engagement. The discussion also covers retention strategies, customer lifecycle management, and the significance of measuring success through CAC and marketing efficiency. Key Takeaways How retention strategies make up a crucial ingredient for breaking even on first purchases. Why Huckberry chose to focus on lifestyle branding to connect with their customers. How Influencer marketing and UGC has become a bigger part of their creative strategy Why this often ignored platform has become a powerful tool for their customer engagement. The two metrics Huckberry focuses on most when driving growth. Why Huckberry leaned into more memorable gifting experiences for the holidays.  The most valuable insights Huckberry has learned engaging with their customers face-to-face. To Learn more about Ike & Huckberry you can follow head to at https://huckberry.com/ To lean more about the Foxwell Founders Community head here: https://Foxwelldigital.com/membership

In this conversation, Max Langlois, founder and CEO of Hype 10, discusses the rapid growth of his performance marketing agency, the strategies behind driving quality leads, and the importance of client retention. He emphasizes the significance of building strong relationships with clients and referral partners, as well as the innovative approaches Hype 10 is taking to enhance their service offerings, including forecasting and whitelisting. Max shares valuable lessons learned from his three years in business, including the significance of patience and effective hiring practices. The discussion also touches on future trends in digital marketing, emphasizing the need for brands to focus on profitability and individual brand identity. Key Takeaways:  Why this one thing is crucial for lead generation. - How referrals should be a significant portion of new business. - How these types of services can lead to longer client retention. - Why you must regularly evaluate this 1 thing for growth. - How forecasting accuracy can unlock huge value for your clients. - Why managing this newer social tactic can be an under-appreciated strategy in marketing.  Why you should prioritize this over growth in our current market conditions. - Where you can be implementing AI and where it should not be replacing humans. To Learn more about Hype10 head here. To Learn more about Max you can follow him on X  To lean more about the Foxwell Founders Community head here.

Trace Crawford, brand manager of Supply.co, shares insights on focusing on what works and how he avoids excessive testing in their account. Trace discusses the strategy of running one campaign with multiple ad sets and using CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization) to let the ads compete for spend. He also highlights the need to trust yourself as a marketer and focus on creating the best possible assets(even when we may feel imposter syndrome setting in). He then moves on to sharing a few of the breakthrough moments in growing an eight-figure shaving brand, including the success of their founder story ad, which didn't come without it's fair share of challenges. Key takeaways: The importance of focusing on what works and avoiding excessive testing Why Brands need a clear message  How Supply will run one campaign with multiple ad sets as a CBO  The one thing every marketer should do to create the best possible assets  How focusing on these two internal things lead to successful strategies  Why these two offers worked best to manage Supply's inventory and in crease AOV  The landing page set-up that has helped Supply engage customers, capture leads, and provide personalized recommendations To Learn more about Supply razors head here: https://supply.co To Learn more about Trace you can follow him at https://x.com/BubbaDoesEcom To lean more about the Foxwell Founders Community head here: https://Foxwelldigital.com/membership

Austin Dandridge joins the podcast to discuss running an agency with his wife and the challenges that can arise when working in business and life with someone. Austin shares their strategies for generating new leads and the vision on how he and his wife are growing their agency. (Hint: it includes the use AI in their advertising and agency operations.) Key Takeaways: How running an agency with a spouse can have its challenges and rewards Why referrals are such a valuable source of new business How podcasts can be a powerful marketing tool for agencies The AI tools that can help with persona building, data modeling, and personalization in advertising Why regular creative refreshes are important in marketing How landing page testing can also improve performance of this one thing. The one thing that cannot be replaced by AI when it comes to marketing. To learn more about Austin and his team go here. To learn more about the Foxwell Founders Community or to become a member join here.

Oliver Kenyon, co-founder of ConversionWise, a fully qualified chef who has spent over 20 years working online, and has built the largest affiliate community in the world! With a team of 60+ members, this powerhouse CEO is leading ConversionWise to generate $400-500k in MRR while working with over 3,500 brands globally. In this episode you'll learn from one of the the best (literally) in the industry regarding conversion strategies, landing page design, and affiliate marketing. Oliver specifically shares his thoughts on conversion rate optimization (CRO) and the importance of focusing on revenue per session rather than just conversion rate. He also discusses the challenges of benchmarking CRO results, as it varies depending on factors such as price points and brand uniqueness. Key Takeaways: The importance of focusing on revenue per session How to avoid doing this 1 thing without testing first Why this testing is crucial for identifying and removing conversion funnel distractions. How a trust policy bar can showcase trust indicators and a testimonial to handle objections your brand may encounter  Why Social proof, is essential for increasing conversions.  How the use of countdown timers, inventory timers, and seasonality can rapidly drive sales.  Why you should prioritize quality over quantity when running A/B tests To learn more about Oliver and his team at Conversion Wise head here: www.cnvrsn.co/conversionwise  To connect with Oliver follow him here on X: https://x.com/oliverkenyon To lean more about the Foxwell Founders Community head here: www.Foxwelldigital.com/membership

In this conversation, Danil Saliukov, CEO of Incense, joins Edwin & Tris to explore the evolving landscape of User Generated Content (UGC). They discuss the impact of Gen.AI on UGC creation, the differences between UGC and influencer content, and the importance of finding the right creators. The conversation also delves into the performance of UGC across various verticals, the significance of creative briefing, common pitfalls in UGC campaigns, and how to measure success and ROI. Daniel emphasizes that UGC is evolving and that a well-structured creative strategy is essential for effective campaigns. Key Takeaways: How UGC is evolving and remains a vital part of marketing. How Gen.AI can enhance the creative process for UGC. Why Differentiating between UGC and influencer content is crucial. Why finding the right creators requires a clear understanding of objectives. Why UGC performs best for these types of products. The one thing to not sacrifice just to save money on ad creatives Why knowing this one thing will help you effectively target your ads How soon results can be seen from a UGC campaign How this one thing can significantly enhance ad performance. How this platform shop is revolutionizing e-commerce by unlocking new audiences. The reason your UGC might not be working Why you should be focusing on social commerce in 2025 Book a 1-2-1 strategy call by Nov 8 and get $200 for your first UGC campaign To get Insense's Ultimate eBook for A Successful Q4 head here:  To learn more about Danil and his team at Insense head here:  To learn more about the Foxwell Founders community: https://Foxwelldigital.com/membership

In this conversation, Abir from UpAccounting.com discuss the key financial metrics that e-commerce brands should focus on. He highlights the importance of contribution margin ( the money left over after deducting variable expenses from revenue) along with emphasizing the significance of operating cash flow as the ultimate measure of a business's financial health. The conversation shift to the challenges of forecasting revenue for events like Black Friday and provides advice on managing cash flow and inventory during peak seasons. Abir also cautions against common financial pitfalls, such as over-investing in fixed expenses and not maintaining financial discipline during periods of success. Lastly, he highlights the significance of robust historical data and reliable revenue projections as a brand (or agency) prepare for an exit. Key Takeaways:  The 4 key financial metrics for e-commerce brands  The importance of forecasting revenue for events like Black Friday How to avoid common financial pitfalls, such as over-investing in fixed expenses Why accurate historical data and strong retention numbers are crucial for businesses The importance of NOT relying solely on first-order profitability How different acquisition channels can impact customer retention Why you need to understand your numbers and build good relationships with banks What to consider with revolving lines of credit for scaling businesses To learn more about Abir and the UpAccounting team head here: https://upcounting.com/ To learn more about the Foxwell Founders community or to join, head here: https://www.foxwelldigital.com/membership

Rahul Issar, head of paid digital at Reach, shares his experiences as a serial entrepreneur and discusses his current venture in the menopause supplement industry. He talks about his previous ventures in dropshipping and print-on-demand, including the challenges he faced in building customer personas, conducting market research and the impact of COVID-19. Rahul goes on to discusses the process of testing different offers for brands and the importance of creative strategies in driving revenue. He explains how they analyze cart analysis and customer behavior to identify product bundles and determine the gross margin. Rahul also shares the offers that have worked well for their clients, such as discounts, buy one get one, and subscription offers. Key Takeaways Why entrepreneurs should have backup suppliers and manufacturers to mitigate risks. How selling a business can become a complex process How business valuations have been affected by COVID-19 Why customer personas should go beyond demographics How market research can be conducted through platforms like Listener and other feedback platforms The one thing that is crucial for optimizing customer acquisition costs Being able to add this one service to your agency can play a significant role in client retention and revenue growth. To connect with Rahul, you can head here: https://linktr.ee/therahulissar To learn more about the Founders community or to join you can head here: https://www.foxwelldigital.com/membership

In this episode of the Founders Forum, the "big cheese" himself, Andrew Foxwell, sits down post Founders meet-up with Edwin and Tris to talk through his thoughts about Q4/BFCM and trends he's seeing in our industry. The guys share on some of their most favorite takeaways during the educational presentations held at the Amsterdam Founders meet-up and highlight the value of having the right offer for success. (IE 20% off might not cut it this year). They round out the episode with a few hot takes and while Andrew doesn't quite call them "Twitter beefs" he shares on what might be truly holding us back when it comes to learning and growing in the DTC community.   Want to learn more about the Foxwell Founders or become a member? Head here.

Molly Nutt, founder of Acorn Digital Strategy, discusses her experience in serving e-commerce brands and the importance of email marketing. She emphasizes the need for a comprehensive email strategy and dispels some of the bad advice many brands have been given about email marketing. Molly highlights the 4 essential flows for e-commerce brands before getting into the nitty gritty of what's changed for email marketing with the recent iOS changes.   Key Takeaways: The importance of having a comprehensive email strategy The 4 essential flows for e-commerce brands How recent iOS changes have impacted email marketing Why email warming and using a branded sending domain are now more important for brands What you benchmarks for measuring the success of email marketing should include Why you should be implementing a list cleaning strategy to remove unengaged users from your lists How you can grow your email list faster by optimizing these specific conversion rates. How you should be segmenting your email list to send targeted and personalized content   If you'd like to connect with Molly and her team at Acorn Digital Strategy, you can find them here: https://acorndigitalstrategynw.com/ To learn more about the Foxwell Founders Membership, head here: www.foxwelldigital.com/membership