The Andrew Faris Podcast

Is there anything more certain in digital advertising than the importance of regularly testing new ad creative? Most people (including me!) would usually tell you that the answer is a resounding "no." But this week on the podcast, I lay out the case for when and why you should quit the creative testing if you really want to get the most out of your ad account. Follow Andrew on Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email Andrew: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with Andrew: www.ajfgrowth.com Intro Music: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Outro Music: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

Bill D'Alessandro is the founder and CEO of Elements Brands, an aggregator that includes the rapidly growing Natural Dog Co. And while it's always too much to talk about "the secret" to someone's success, it's not an accident that Bill's success comes alongside his obsession with tracking & optimizing for contribution margin. In this episode we start by defining "contribution margin," talk about why and how Bill's team ruthlessly reports on it, and how it helps you get away from the deceiving ubiquity of revenue metrics. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [1:39] Bill's personal background [3:24] About Natural Dog Co. [4:51] What do you mean by contribution margin? [9:31] Contribution margin metrics [9:24] Peet's climate tech funding opinion [12:24] What Bill's digital marketers report on: contribution margin vs revenue [13:45] How do you report contribution margin in the organization? [18:40] Revenue is not how you value a business! [20:40] LTV impact in the Facebook dashboard [22:12] Other operational opportunities for contribution margin conversation in the business [26:37] Why are you making a move to 3PL? Places to follow up with Bill: Follow Bill on Twitter: @BillDA Bill’s Podcast: Acquisitions Anonymous (Apple, Spotify) Work with Bill: www.elementsbrands.com Places to follow up with me: Follow me on Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email me: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Intro Music: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Outro Music: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

Creative is the key to success on Facebook Ads, right? Right. But lots of brands aren't thinking strategically about the foundation underneath creative testing that makes it possible–which means they're REALLY not thinking about how to operationalize it into their business. That means they're leaving a lot of customers and profit on the table. In this episode I walk through what drives great creative testing, and therefore profitable customer acquisition. It's obvious once I say it, but the implications are massive. Follow Andrew on Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email Andrew: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with Andrew: www.ajfgrowth.com Intro Music: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Outro Music: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

Andrew Campbell sits in a unique position: he's the Head of Data Science at the most ambitious project in all of ecommerce, OpenStore, which means he's thinking about ecommerce data & how to automate operational processes from a perspective that no one else is. So I grabbed 40 minutes of his time to talk about what's happening at OpenStore, what it's like to row in the Olympics, and why you should be at least trying Bid Caps for your Facebook Ads. Follow Andrew Campbell on Twitter: @TheAndyCamps Sell your business to OpenStore: https://open.store Follow me on Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email me: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Intro Music: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Outro Music: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

"We need to diversify our ad spend away from Facebook!" That's one of the most common things I hear ecom operators & marketers say right now, and it's mostly a bad idea. In this episode, I'll explain to you why the better path is to focus more resolutely on the best opportunity for efficient customer acquisition at scale–Facebook–and only diversify if and when the conditions are right for it. Follow Andrew on Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email Andrew: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with Andrew: www.ajfgrowth.com Intro Music: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Outro Music: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

It's the last day of my weeklong BFCM special! This week I've got 5 very short episodes with super ecom experts giving you ONE (and only one!) tip to maximize Black Friday/Cyber Monday. The best part? They're ALL still actionable for your teams, even this late in the game. To close out the week, I just couldn't stay away from my business partner, friend, and former CTC & 4x400 colleague and boss, Taylor Holiday. Taylor's got one last tip for BFCM focused on making sure you understand your finances. As he's said elsewhere: the next DTC winners will be those who are operationally excellent, and he's got some help for you to do that here. You can follow Taylor on Twitter at @TaylorHoliday, work with Common Thread Collective by visiting their website, and/or click here to check out CTC's learning & early stage growth community, Admission. Follow me on Twitter at @andrewjfaris. Work with me at www.ajfgrowth.com. Email me with questions or thoughts at podcast@ajfgrowth.com. Intro & outro music: "Holiday" by The Devious Means

Day 4 of my weeklong BFCM special! This week I've got 5 very short episodes with super ecom experts giving you ONE (and only one!) tip to maximize Black Friday/Cyber Monday. The best part? They're ALL still actionable for your teams, even this late in the game. Today's episode might be the silliest Andrew has ever gotten on this show while still being loaded with ecom insight, both of which are thanks to the guest, Cherene Aubert. Cherene is currently the Head of Growth at Bobbie Baby and formerly the Director of Strategy at Common Thread Collective, where she and Andrew got to work together. You will LOVE this episode. You can follow Cherene on Twitter at @ChereneAubert (slide into DM's: she might even be willing to consult a little for your brand). You can also shop her incredible ecommerce store, Official Shoppe.  You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @andrewjfaris and explore working with him at www.ajfgrowth.com. Intro & outro music: "Holiday" by The Devious Means

It's Day 3 of my weeklong BFCM special: 5 very short episodes with super ecom experts giving you ONE (and only one!) tip to maximize Black Friday/Cyber Monday. The best part? They're ALL still actionable for your teams, even this late in the game. Today on the show it's Lauren Schwarz, owner of The Loft 325, a creative agency that does one and only one thing: makes you ad creative that actually sells product. Lauren's got great input on the simple truth about BFCM creative. You can follow Lauren on Twitter at @loft325 (www.twitter.com/loft325) or work with her and her team on either an ongoing creative retainer basis or just to get some well-crafted UGC by visiting www.theloft325.com. You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @andrewjfaris (www.twitter.com/andrewjfaris) and explore working with him at www.ajfgrowth.com. Intro & outro music: "Holiday" by The Devious Means

It's Day 2 of my weeklong BFCM special: 5 very short episodes with super ecom experts giving you ONE (and only one!) tip to maximize Black Friday/Cyber Monday. The best part? They're ALL still actionable for your teams, even this late in the game. This time we've got Sean Frank, founder and CEO of The Ridge, a 9-figure ecommerce brand run by absolute DTC marketing assassins. Sean has arguably the most actionable tip of the bunch for the week, and it caught Andrew totally by surprise. If you love what Sean says here, follow him on Twitter at @seanecom, and be sure to buy yourself and someone you love some products from www.ridge.com during the holidays this year. You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @andrewjfaris (www.twitter.com/andrewjfaris) and explore working with him at www.ajfgrowth.com. Intro & Outro Music: "Holiday" by The Devious Means

So begins a BFCM special: 5 very short episodes with super ecom experts giving you ONE (and only one!) tip to maximize Black Friday/Cyber Monday. The best part? They're ALL still actionable for your teams, even this late in the game. First up: Jess Bachman from Fire Team, an ecom agency that has seen a whole lot of Black Fridays. Jess has killer advice about how to think about the relationship between Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday and what kinds of customers you should be targeting with each. Reach out to Fire Team at www.fireteam.is and make sure to follow Jess on Twitter at @hirefireteam (www.twitter.com/hirefireteam). You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @andrewjfaris (www.twitter.com/andrewjfaris) and explore working with him at www.ajfgrowth.com. Intro & Outro Music: "Holiday" by The Devious Means