COVID-19 Retail Pulse Live

In episode 17 of the Marketing Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe were joined by Ovadia Labaton, co-founder of The Perfect Jean, a Brooklyn-based performance denim brand. The main focus of our conversation was around content creation and engagement. Ovadia came prepared with tons of ideas around content and how to approach your contribution margin, how to deal with people trolling your comment threads, and how to get content featuring customers with your products for free. Aligning your marketing team on key business metrics to get the most out of your budget How to open up and direct dialogue with your customers through engaging comment feeds and an active social media presence How to engage and incentivize your audience to create world-class UGC Using low inventory as an opportunity to capture emails How to approach product pages as content to further engage buyers during a purchase To sign up for the next Marketing Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s Marketing Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s Marketing Pulse dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/ https://within.co/ https://www.bouncex.com/ https://theperfectjean.nyc/

In episode 17 of the Marketing Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe were joined by Jarrad Berman, Vice President, TZP Group, a private equity firm focused on investments in lower-middle market business services and consumer companies in the United States and Canada. We spoke with Jarrad on Blackout Tuesday, not long after the murder of George Floyd, and our conversation focused mainly on what brands and individuals can do to put an end to systemic racism and its ripple effects.  How to support your employees who join in the protests and social media takeover in one of the most critical political moments of our time. Why you should pause all media spend even if you’re tempted by the low CPMs (which are a result of brands and advertisers the world over pausing their media spend).  Why you should postpone all product launches — because not only will your product launches go largely unnoticed, those who do notice will find it insensitive to the moment. What you could do versus what you should do — be more than a BLM advocate, be a BLM example.  To sign up for the next Marketing Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s Marketing Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s Marketing Pulse dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/ https://within.co/ https://www.bouncex.com/ https://www.tzpgroup.com/

In episode 16 of the Marketing Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe were joined by Matt Gehring, SVP of Growth at Rothy's, the San Francisco-based direct-to-consumer fashion company focused on creating sustainable, fashionable products from recycled material. Our discussion with Matt covered a wide range of topics, including: Maintaining your content cadence with user-generated content Testing content types — channels, messaging, visuals — to find what grabs your audience’s attention How taking small steps when experimenting with new marketing initiatives or optimizing existing ones will ensure the greatest insights and long-term growth Focusing on authentic product imagery to capture attention in the infinite scroll of social channels Building up-sell opportunities into the checkout experience without seeming sleazy Segmenting and testing against audiences to learn how your audience has changed since early March — and rest assured, we’ve all changed.

In episode 15 of the Marketing Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe were joined by Laura Joukovski, President of Global Fashion Brands at TechStyle Fashion Group. Our discussion with her today covered a wide range of topics, including: Behaving opportunistically in the media landscape Approaching LTV in a way different way Leaning into the channels that your customers spend time on Leaning into current events, but doing so respectfully To sign up for the next Marketing Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s Marketing Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s Marketing Pulse dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/ https://within.co/ https://www.bouncex.com/ https://techstylefashiongroup.com/ https://www.savagex.com/ https://www.justfab.com/ https://www.shoedazzle.com/ https://www.fabkids.com/ https://www.fabletics.com/

In episode 13 of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with Rob Schutz, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Ro, the family of health companies that include Roman, Rory, and most recently Zero, a smoking-cessation health company that combines medicine and telehealth to support people in their effort to quit smoking.  The three discussed how to support the mental health and overall functioning of teams and individual employees during this crisis, touching on topics like: Alter your communication based on the channel Address areas of conflict  Equally focus on internal teams Create empathizing branding for your company  Don't stop your marketing efforts To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/ https://within.co/ https://www.bouncex.com/ https://ro.co/ https://www.getroman.com/ https://www.hellorory.com/ https://quitwithzero.com/ https://ro.co/pharmacy/ https://www.getroman.com/plenity/ https://www.getroman.com/health-guide/

In episode 13 of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with Divya Gugnani, co-founder of beauty and makeup brand Wander Beauty, a line of multitasking beauty essentials, to keep women everywhere gorgeous on the go.  The three discussed places to look to test out new strategies for your business, such as: Investing more in Facebook & Instagram while CPMs are down Leveraging real people to help you create content now Changing your messaging based on the channel Red teaming everything that you’re doing Testing, testing, & testing again To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/ https://within.co/ https://www.bouncex.com/ https://www.wanderbeauty.com/

In episode 11 of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with GM of DTC for Clorox, Jackson Jeyanayagam to discuss strategies for driving sales and engendering positive feelings in teams that may be feeling isolated. The three discussed the following tactics and strategies for navigating the ongoing lockdowns — some with timelines, some without — across the country: Being where your customers are with Amazon Testing every channel you can with widespread lowered ad costs Leveraging influencers from expected and unexpected sources Engaging with your team empathetically Bringing that empathy into your marketing messaging To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

In episode 11 of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with Clifton Vaughan, who cofounded Natural Baby Shower with his wife Victoria Hampson to discuss driving new business growth as cities, states, and countries around the world see glimmers of light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel.  The three discussed the following tactics and strategies to tackle now in order to be optimally positioned for economic re-opening: Focus on your email strategy Maintain a relationship with your best customers Explore new content channels Reassess your merchandising approach Leverage influencers in your campaigns To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

In episode 10 of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with Tracy Heller, CCO of Universal Standard, the world’s most inclusive fashion brand, operating under the maxim that “style should be the only filter. Sizes 00 - 40.”  The three discussed the following strategies as food for thought as the world adjusts to the new normal of seemingly endless lockdowns: Shift promotion cadences to maintain brand credibility Adjust onsite merchandising and messaging to serve current lifestyles Align offerings with your charitable programs To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

In episode nine of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with Terence “Terry” Kajawa, founder of LUMA partners, a strategic advisory firm with a singular focus on digital media and marketing. At LUMA, Terry advises both established media and technology companies as well as digital growth companies. He is a recognized expert in the Internet and digital media sectors and is a popular speaker at leading industry conferences. The three discussed how brands can thrive in the new normal by adopting best practices like: Looking for arbitrage opportunities in paid media Using customer LTV as a North Star (though perhaps with shorter lookback windows) Increasing payment opportunities to reduce bottom-of-the-funnel friction for customers To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

In episode eight of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with Spanx Chief Digital Officer, Cricket Whitton to better understand what top retail marketers are doing to reorient themselves to accommodate what customers need today, not what brands would like them to need.  The three discussed how brands should use this moment to enhance engagement by meeting customers where they are, both digitally and in their homes (figuratively): With stimulus checks being distributed over the past week and coming weeks, email has become the channel of choice for getting out the word about the Cyber Monday-level deals you should be running right now How Spanx reoriented their merchandising and UX to highlight leisure and at-home wear to accommodate current customer trends.  The 3 key considerations for running a great promotion during a global pandemic! To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

In episode seven of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with Stephen R. Collins, a decisive and energetic high-growth oriented business leader with extensive management expertise in developing, disruptive, and rapidly growing markets.  Collins’ experience ranges from Big 4 audit to consumer products in emerging markets in Eastern Europe and to the early days of online advertising. For the last twenty years, Collins has been a C-level leader and board member in the software industry. Most recently, from August of 2018 to October 2019, Collins served as  President & CEO for marketing technology provider Monetate leading its successful sale to Kibo Commerce and Vista Equity Partners in October 2019. Currently, Collins is focused on building Luca Partners a strategic, finance and operating advisory services firm focused on venture and private equity funded technology businesses. The three discussed how brands should use this moment to take more granular steps to success, including: Maintaining brand voice while reaching out with empathetic messaging Letting the most up-to-date data guide you instead of relying on gut instincts that influenced by what worked in a pre-COVID world Focusing on what’s working now versus what used to work or what you think should work, in both the sense of what marketing strategies are working and what products are selling To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

In episode six of COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with Justin Yoshimura, CEO at CSC Generation. During the conversation, Justin, Joe, & Ryan touched on three key strategies to help ensure you spend money smarter during times of economic downturn like COVID-19.  Cut costs by adjusting your affiliate compensation strategy Test for incrementality in your approach Change your merchandising to reflect the times To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

On episode five of COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe welcomed Charlie Cole, the new CEO of FTD—a floral retailer and wholesaler. Prior to FTD, Charlie served as both the Chief Digital and Chief eCommerce officer for TUMI & Samsonite respectively. With his wide breadth of eCommerce experience and international focus, we were able to pull together brand new tips for how to recoup the most lost profit for your business during this time.  Some key takeaways from our talk today were: How to focus on regionality when assessing marketing channels for national and international campaigns. Why constant evaluation is key in the ever-changing economic landscape How to assess attribution to accurately weigh the value of each channel across the customer journey.  To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

On episode five of COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe are joined by Ryan Babenzien, CEO of Brooklyn-based luxury sneakers company GREATS, a WITHIN client.  Some key takeaways from our talk today were: How to maximize your cash flow by focusing on metrics other than CPA or ROAS to increase profit without more spend How SMS has become a top channel for GREATS during the outbreak even though only 1/4 of marketers use it Ways to adapt your messaging for COVID-19 authentically and effectively Giving back through initiatives like BRANDS X BETTER To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/ For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/

On episode three of the COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe sat down with ConversionXL founder Peep Laja to talk about what these three data-obsessed founders have seen across industries and what successful brands are doing to overcome challenges and create real connections with customers.  Some key strategy takeaways include: Why you should extend your marketing promotions or start running new ones By how much should you increase the numbers of emails you're sending How to present promotions and offerings to get the biggest response Why branded content is more important than ever When and where to feature promotional messaging versus personal-feeling communications To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/ For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/

On episode two of COVID-19 Retail Pulse: Live, Ryan and Joe welcomed Trade Coffee CEO Mike Lackman to discuss key strategies for surviving and thriving in the new retail landscape. Together they elaborated on and pulled examples for the following key takeaways: How to approach your marketing strategy with your new revenue stream in mind How to assess conversion rate on a traffic-by-traffic basis How to keep promotions, front, center, and easy to find How to keep messaging sensitivity in mind How to stay engaged with your community How to take advantage of ways to negotiate deals To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/ For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/

On March 4, WITHIN started tracking the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on its clients’ ecommerce revenue, conversion rates, and ad spend. They used the pre-COVID period as the benchmark to compare YoY performance before and after COVID.  Meanwhile, WITHIN’s friends at BounceX launched a similar project that tracked daily website visits vs resulting revenue, daily email engagement vs resulting revenue, site visits, conversions by state, and more.  Following two incredibly volatile weeks of reporting and working in the trenches with retailers across verticals, WITHIN and BounceX teamed up to present the performance insights, strategies, and tactics that retailers were employing to protect their revenue.  In this inaugural webinar, cohosted by WITHIN Founder & CEO Joe Yakuel and BounceX (soon to be Wunderkind) Co-founder & CEO Ryan Urban, the duo dive into easily implemented shifts to streamline retail marketing efforts for maximal ROI. The duo is also joined by PetFlow General Manager Andrea Barsk-Roberts to learn what the pure-play retailer has done to maintain growth.  To sign up for the next Retail Pulse Live podcast, visit: http://covidretailpulse2020.splashthat.com/w For BounceX’s COVID-19 dashboard, visit: https://www.bouncex.com/covid-19/ For WITHIN’s COVID-19 Retail Pulse dashboard visit: https://covid19.within.co/covid-19retailpulse/