The official podcast of Budai Media hosted by Daniel, the founder of our team. Great discussions with the most successful eCommerce people, from owners to digital marketers. Let's grow your business together.
#159 Juan Garcia Mansilla From Unit 1: Disrupting the Urban Mobility Space With Smart Helmets Hey Budai Nation,Welcome back to The Ecom Show! Unit 1 is a smart helmet startup that is disrupting the urban mobility space with its innovative and advanced tech helmets. Apart from protecting your head, these helmets also have integrated LED lights that allow riders to give turn signals and life-saving tech that detects falls and allows for micro-rotations to better protect your head. These smart helmets are a perfect blend of safety and style and are one of the best of their kind. We've got Juan Garcia Mansilla, the co-founder of Unit 1, joining us for today's episode to walk us through the inspiration behind this innovative startup, its e-commerce journey so far, and the exciting plans they have for the future. Before we ride off, I'd like to quickly take a moment to introduce myself and the show to any new listeners tuning in. I'm Daniel Budai, your host for the show. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast sponsored by my agency Budai Media. We have over 150 episodes and release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands grow with the help of email and SMS marketing. In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 120+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Our goal is to help over 1000+ businesses in the coming few years. We're very passionate about learning and sharing knowledge, which is why we started The Ecom Show. Speaking of helping e-commerce businesses, my team and I have created a special 50-point checklist to help e-commerce businesses audit their Klaviyo account. Join Juan and Daniel as they discuss: ✅The Inspiration Behind Starting Unit 1 ✅How Smart Helmets Make Travel Safer ✅How Unit 1 Used Kickstarter to Raise Funds & Test Their Product ✅Unit 1's Customer Acquisition Strategy ✅Juan's Advice to Entrepreneurs With Unique Products If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please spare a moment to leave us a nice review! Click here to learn more about Unit 1.Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me: Find me on LinkedInFind me on YouTube Click here to learn more about Budai Media. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.Check out some previous episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hey Budai Nation, Welcome back to The Ecom Show! It's the first episode of 2023, and we want to kick things off with some advice for everyone looking to build a timeless brand. Join Kyle Koster, the CEO of Range Leather, and Daniel Budai, podcast host and CEO of Budai Media, as they discuss everything that goes into building a distinctive and long-lasting leather e-commerce brand. Range Leather is handcrafted leather goods store that crafts premium leather products designed to wear in, not out. What makes them unique is their excellent emphasis on customer experience. They offer a “forever guarantee” on all products sold by offering customers the choice to get anything they purchase replaced, repaired, or fixed. Kyle Koster started Range Leather as a passion project to fuel his interest in making handmade leather wallets, but the brand has grown tenfold since its humble beginning, and now boasts an impressive and diverse line of premium leather goods and accessories. Before we dive right in, here's a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there.The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast show started by Daniel Budai, the show host and founder of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning. Tune in to this episode to learn more about:✨How Kyle Built a Handcrafted Leather Brand From Scratch ✨How Range Leather Differentiates Itself From Other Brands ✨How to Identify Good Quality Leather ✨Enhancing Customer Experience Through the Emphasis on Product Innovation and Quality ✨Range Leather Marketing Strategy✨How to Build a Strong Online and Offline Brand Presence Do leave us a review if you enjoyed this episode! Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it. Visit Range Leather to view their collection. Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me: Find me on LinkedInFind me on YouTube Click here to learn more about Budai Media. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.Check out some previous episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#157 Meg Smith From Love, Lexxi: How This Lingerie Start-Up Nails Marketing & BrandingWelcome to the last episode of The Ecom Show for this year! We've got an inspiring story of a lingerie start-up that's built a growing community around its brand using a unique and creative marketing approach headed your way today.We're pleased to share that Meg Smith, the founder of Love, Lexxi, is joining us for today's episode. Meg Smith started her career working for several D2C brands; she then dipped her toes in entrepreneurship by launching a virtual marketing agency. However, she kept finding herself troubled by the lack of options for lingerie that was both comfortable and sexy. Determined to find a fix, Meg decided to take the matter into her own hands and launched Love, Lexxi after conducting a focus group and talking to over 500,000+ women.Love, Lexxi is a lingerie brand that aims to empower women by advocating body positivity. The founder Meg's struggles with body positivity fuel the brand's mission. Love, Lexxi has been focused on creating a positive space for women to feel celebrated from Day 1. They've created an online sisterhood through their safe and exclusive community LiveLoveLexxi. Their blog, The Harli Effect, focuses on sharing stories and tips highlighting body positivity, acceptance, and holistic wellness. Join us in this episode to learn more about how small brands can create a great customer experience and build a community from Day 1.Before we get started, here's a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners!Budai Media is an e-commerce retention marketing agency founded by our podcast host, Daniel Budai. We help businesses hyper-scale with the help of personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. In the last 4 years, we have worked with over 125+ companies and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue.Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with; we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs.We've also got a special 50-point checklist to help e-commerce businesses audit their Klaviyo setup. Click here to download it.Tune in to this episode to learn more about:✨ The Inspiration Behind Starting Love, Lexxi✨ Love, Lexxi's Plans for 2023✨ How Love, Lexxi Uses Technology to Guide Customers Through the Fit Process Online✨ How Love, Lexxi Created an Authentic Community Around Body Positivity✨ How Meg Started Love, Lexxi From Scratch✨ Meg's Advice to Entrepreneurs Creating a Fashion Brand✨ Love, Lexxi's Marketing Strategy✨ Meg's Tips for Creating a Strong Brand CommunityThanks for listening, if you enjoyed this episode please make sure to leave us a review.We'll see you back next year!Click here to visit our website to learn more about us.Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:Find me on LinkedInFind me on YouTubeSubscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.Check out some previous episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#156 Jake Tannenbaum From Craftmix Inc: How This Modern Cocktail Mix Brand Crafted Its Way to SuccessHey Budai Nation,Keeping in tune with the holiday theme we've got a brand that'll help you mix things up at your next house party. We'd like to welcome Jake Tannenbaum, the CEO of Craftmix Inc to The Ecom Show.Started by a former bartender, Craftmix is an all-natural cocktail mix that comes in a dry blend! They make cocktails that are delicious, convenient, and guilt-free! Their better-for-you cocktail mixes have only 25 calories and 5g of sugar per drink! Plus Craftmix comes in small packets making it easy to enjoy happy hour anywhere!In just two years since its inception, Craftmix has been featured on Amazon, QVC, Wegmans, Kroger, TMZ, and Yahoo Small Business. They also successfully raised over $1.2M in seed funding just two weeks ago. Check out this episode to learn more about their journey to success.Visit Craftmix to learn more about them.Before we dive right in, here's a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there.The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast show started by Daniel Budai, the show host and founder of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning.Join us for happy hour to learn more about:
#155 Jennifer Edmonds From Rx Candles: Building A Business Out Of Your PassionHey Budai Nation,Happy Christmas week! Keeping in tune with the festivities, we've got an exciting and inspiring story of an e-commerce brand that sells scented candles headed your way today.We'd like to extend a warm and peppermint welcome to Jennifer Edmonds, the co-founder of Rx Candles. Rx Candles is a homegrown candle brand bootstrapped by Jennfier and her sister Jocelyn. Their story begins in 2013, back when Jocelyn started making DIY candles at home as gifts for her loved ones. These quickly gained popularity, and Jocelyn soon began taking and fulfilling orders out of her home. She even managed to raise an initial round of funding through Kickstarter to launch the brand. Jennifer soon joined in, and the two of them made their way up by working the local markets in and around LA and launching their own e-commerce brand. The brand has been going strong ever since and now has both a flourishing B2B and B2C clientele. Rx Candles managed to create a niche within this extremely competitive industry with their line of 100% soy candles designed in unique neutral shades.Here's a quick recap about The Ecom Show before we get started:The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast show started by Daniel Budai, the show host and founder of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning.Join Daniel and Jennifer in this episode as they discuss:✅ How Joceyln and Jennifer Turned Their Passion Into a Brand✅ How to Know if You're Ready to Quit Your Job to Run Your Brand Full-Time✅ How Rx Candles Manages to Stand Out in a Crowded Industry✅ Selling on Amazon vs. Etsy vs. Shopify✅ Rx Candles Retention Marketing Strategy✅ Jennifer's Advice to Entrepreneurs Looking to Ditch Their 9-5 to Pursue Their BusinessThanks for tuning in! See you again next week.Do leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode!Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it.Click here to visit Rx Candles.Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me:Find me on LinkedInFind me on YouTubeClick here to learn more about Budai Media.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz.Check out some previous episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#154 Sadie Redinger From CKK Home Décor: Boost Your eCommerce Sales With a Multi-Channel Approach Hey Budai Nation, Welcome back to The Ecom Show! I'm Daniel Budai and I've got Sadie Redinger, the Vice President of Online Sales and Marketing of CKK Home Décor here with me today. CKK Home Décor is a home decor brand that designs, distributes, and wholesales home decor products. They have two boutique lines, Top Shelf Barware & Stonebriar Collection, that concentrate on the smaller mom-and-pop stores. Top Shelf is CKK Home Décor's higher-end boutique glassware line that features unique hand-painted glasses. And the Stonebriar Collection is CKK Home Décor's higher-end boutique line, featuring artisan-style craftsmanship, rich finishes, and bold colors. While CKK Home Décor may have initially started out as wholesalers and distributors, they've now successfully expanded into the B2C market with their two boutique lines. Their B2C success can be credited to their multichannel sales approach. CKK Home Décor is easily and widely available to customers through popular websites like Target, Home Depot, Walmart, and Amazon. They also have their own Shopify storefront. Join us in today's episode to learn more about using a multichannel approach to sell your products. Before we dive right in, here's a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there. The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast show started by Daniel Budai, the show host and founder of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning. Tune into this episode to learn more about: ✅Sadie's Journey Into eCommerce Marketing & Sales ✅How CKK Home Décor Expanded From Retail to eCommerce ✅An Overview of Selling Through Amazon FBA ✅Tips for Selling on Walmart, Target, & Home Depot ✅Sadie's #1 Tip for Professionals Getting Into eCommerce Marketing Thanks for joining us, please leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode. Click here to check out the Stonebriar Collection. Click here to check out Top Shelf's beautiful collection of glassware. Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it. Click on the links below to connect with me: Find me on LinkedIn Find me on YouTube Click here to learn more about Budai Media. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. Check out some previous episodes.
#153 Zachary Lipari From Superare: How This NY Based Fight Shop Built a Global Brand in the Last 12 Years Hey Budai Nation, I'm Daniel Budai and I have Zachary Lipari, the founder of Superare joining me for this episode of The Ecom Show. Started in 2011 out of love for combat sports and grown into a leader in the industry, Superare has the best gear and apparel for the gym or the streets. They've got retail outlets in New York and LA, and they've got a killer online presence which makes them the go-to brand for fight apparel for fighters across the world. Superare has had a very interesting journey over the last 12 years. They didn't start out as a brand, they started as a sports shop selling fight gear and apparel. After spending years understanding what their customers love and prefer, they started developing their own product line, and there's been no looking back ever since. Superare has built a cult following by developing a creative line of fight products and apparel that draw inspiration from pop culture, and athletes. Their excellent customer service, innovative marketing, and versatile range of products have made them a go-to brand for fighters from across the world. Visit Superare to learn more about them. Before we get started, here's a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners! Budai Media is an e-commerce retention marketing agency founded by our podcast host, Daniel Budai. We help businesses hyper-scale with the help of personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. In the last 4 years, we have worked with over 125+ companies and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with; we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs. We release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Tune in to this episode to learn more about:
#152 Itzik Polnauer from Leibish: The Art Of Selling High-End Jewelry Online Hey Budai Nation, Welcome back to The Ecom Show! This episode is precious and by precious we mean really precious because we're going to be uncovering the world of luxury e-commerce jewelry. We've got Itzik (Isaac) Polnauer from the legacy high-end jewelry brand Leibish. This world-renowned jewelry brand was founded back in 1979 and has customers from around the globe. Started by Itzik's father, this business originally catered to a B2B clientele. However, the business made the brave and innovative move of adopting a B2C strategy by launching an online storefront in 1998. This close-knit family business is a leading supplier of colored diamonds to retailers, distributors, and clients from around the world. In the last 33 years, this business has managed to create a stellar mark for itself. Click here to visit Leibish and learn more about their story. Before we dive right in, here's a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there. The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast show started by Daniel Budai, the show host and founder of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning. Tune in to this episode to learn more about:
#151 Clive D'Souza From Vvegano: How Vvegano Is Disrupting India's Food Industry Hey Budai Nation, Today we've got a food e-commerce store from the land of the food itself! We'd like to extend a warm welcome to Clive D'Souza, the founder of Vvegano. Vvegano is India's #1 Vegan Marketplace, and in today's episode, we're going to uncover more about how the vegan trend is disrupting the Indian food market. India's got a population of over 1.3 billion people, making it a huge market for any business. Clive noticed that there was a growing interest in the vegan lifestyle in India, and he realized that there was a clear need for food businesses that cater to it, which led him to launch Vvegano. Vvegano sells a host of vegan items like protein, mock meat, groceries, and even pet food through its online marketplace. Their goal is to decrease the overall animal consumption in India by providing vegan alternatives to mainstream consumables. Through their marketing initiatives and diverse product line, they've been able to appeal to both vegan and flexitarian markets and have created a big mark in India's growing vegan industry. Visit Vvegano to learn more about them. Before we dive right in, here's a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there. The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast show started by Daniel Budai, the show host and founder of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning. Join Daniel and Clive in this episode as they discuss:
#150 Frank & Brett From Sheets & Giggles: Branding Tips From an Inc5000 Company Hey Budai Nation, Welcome to our 150th episode!
#149 Jimmy & Grace From Dwarf Lab: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Campaign Hey Budai Nation, Welcome back to The Ecom Show! This is the first time that we have guests from China joining us on the show. Jimmy and Grace work at Dwarf Lab; an extremely fascinating brand that creates smart telescopes. Dwarf Lab is a technology-driven optical team with an obsessive compulsion for innovation. Their journey started four years ago when they created microscopes for mobile phones. Inspired by this success they were keen to innovate further and ventured into the space of creating portable smart telescopes. Dwarf Lab has raised over $1.7M+ since they started, and with over 5000+ backers they've managed to collect 500% of their initial goal. They've not only successfully rolled out their first portable telescope, but they've also collected the feedback they've received from their first launch to improve their product and released their new and improved second version. Before we get started, here's a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners! Budai Media is an e-commerce retention marketing agency founded by our podcast host, Daniel Budai. We help businesses hyper-scale with the help of personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. In the last 4 years, we have worked with over 125+ companies and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with; we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs. We release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. We've also got a special 50-point checklist to help e-commerce businesses audit their Klaviyo setup. Click here to download it. Tune in to this episode to learn more about: ⭐How Dwarf Lab Raised Over $1.7M+ Through Crowdfunding ⭐Difference Between Indiegogo and Kickstarter ⭐How to Retain Your Crowdfunding User Base ⭐How Dwarf Lab Promotes Their Product Campaign on Social Media ⭐The Biggest Challenge for Technical E-CommerBusinesses ⭐Dwarf Lab Advise to eCommerce Businesses Looking To Raise Funds Through Crowdfunding Thanks for listening, if you enjoyed this episode please make sure to leave us a review. We'll see you back here tomorrow with our super special 150th episode! Click here to visit Dwarf Lab. Click here to visit our website to learn more about us. Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me: Find me on LinkedIn Find me on YouTube Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. Check out some previous episodes.
#148 Craig Leslie From the Bean Coffee Company: Serial Entrepreneur's Advice to Selling on Shopify & Amazon Skincare, Food, Coffee… No, I'm not just naming the three most booming industries in the e-commerce world, I'm actually listing down all the industries that Craig has managed to find success in. Welcome to The Ecom Show, our guest for today is Craig Leslie the Director of Ecommerce at San Diego Coffee, Tea, & Spice, the parent company of the brand, The Bean Coffee Company, an e-commerce store that provides organic, micro-roasted coffee beans straight to your doorstep. Craig is a serial entrepreneur that's started and provided consultancy to several businesses in the food, restaurant, skincare, and now, coffee space. He has experience in building both offline and e-commerce brands. He's an experienced and proven entrepreneur with a lot of valuable lessons and effective strategies to help startups grow. Before we dive right in here's a quick recap of The Ecom Show for all our new listeners out there. The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast show started by Daniel Budai, the show host and founder of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning. Join Daniel and Craig in this episode as they discuss: ⭐Craig's Entrepreneurial Journey ⭐How Social Consciousness Helps Brands Appeal to Customers ⭐The Nuances of Building a Sustainable Coffee Brand ⭐Craig's Advice for Sellers Selling on Both Amazon and Shopify ⭐Tools That Have Helped Craig Grow His Shopify Store ⭐Craig's Advice for New Business Owners Thanks for tuning in! Remember: We now release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Do leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to this episode! Before you go, we have a special 50-point checklist to help you audit your Klaviyo setup. Click here to access it. Click here to visit The Bean Coffee Company. Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me: Find me on LinkedIn Find me on YouTube Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. Check out some previous episodes.
#147 Steve Appleton From Really Good E-Bikes: How To Start A High Ticket Dropshipping Business Hey Budai Nation, Welcome back to The Ecom Show! Our guest for today is Steve Appleton, the founder of Really Good E-Bikes. Steve is a living example of how great business ideas can come at any age. Steve left his full-time job in real estate development, and ventured into entrepreneurship in his mid 50's by starting his very own dropshipping business selling e-bikes! Most of our guests on The Ecom Show sell daily consumer products. However, Steve's business is unique. Steve is in the high-ticket product niche of the e-commerce world as his average order value is over $1500! His business model and approach to e-commerce is very different as his focus is not on volume but rather the value of each sale. Watch this episode to learn more about the nuances of running a high-ticket dropshipping business. Before we get started, here's a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners! Budai Media is an e-commerce retention marketing agency founded by our podcast host, Daniel Budai. We help businesses hyper-scale with the help of personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. In the last 4 years, we have worked with over 125+ companies and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with; we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs. We release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Apart from this, check out my $37M 50-point email marketing cheatsheet, and learn how we helped more than 100 e-commerce businesses make more profit. Join Daniel and Steve in this episode as they discuss more: ✅Steve's Inspiration Behind Starting Really Good E-Bikes ✅How to Dropship a High-Ticket Product ✅How to Set Your Dropshipping E-Com Store Apart ✅Steve's Advice to Entrepreneurs Looking To Start a High-Ticket eCommerce Brand Thanks for tuning in! If you're keen on learning about retention marketing, we recently released a three-hour mini-course containing all the information you need to get started. This mini-course comes packed with real-life case studies, proven strategies, and many helpful resources from experienced email marketers. Find the mini-course here. Visit Really Good E-Bikes to learn more about Steve's store. Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me: Find me on LinkedIn Find me on YouTube Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. Check out some previous episodes.
#146 Justin Frank Polgar From Yes Cacao: Healthy Eating Just Got Tastier With Botanical Chocolates Hey Budai Nation and Willy Wonka Fans, We've got a super exciting and tasty product that we'll unravel in today's episode of The Ecom Show! Justin Frank, the founder of Yes Cacao, is here with us to talk about how his brand is revolutionizing the chocolate industry. Yes Cacao is the world's first chocolate brand that uses organic, raw, wild-harvested Cacao from Ecuadorian Jungles and infuses it with the goodness of botanicals to create healthy chocolate bars that boost your endurance, increase your brain-power, and help you relax. Click here to try their deliciously healthy chocolates at 20% off. Or, copy paste this link in your browser's address bar: https://www.yescacao.com/discount/BUDAI20 Justin's always been fascinated by how different kinds of food and herbs can affect specific parts of your body. He got the idea to start Yes Cacao while learning about Chinese medicine. He observed how many people failed to stick to natural medicine because it involved taking multiple pills and was determined to find a more accessible and more fun solution to this problem. That's when he began experimenting with something that everyone loves- chocolate. The rest was history! Justin and his wife are both co-founders of Yes Cacao. Together they've managed to get this business crowdfunded through successful Kickstarter campaigns, brought their brand in over 170+ retail stores, and pivoted it in a completely new direction by moving entirely online. Watch this episode to learn more about their journey. Before we get started, here's a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners! Budai Media is an e-commerce retention marketing agency founded by our podcast host, Daniel Budai. We help businesses hyper-scale with the help of personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. In the last 4 years, we have worked with over 125+ companies and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with; we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs. We release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Apart from this, we've even got a mini-course that teaches you the A-Z of email marketing! Click here to sign up for our mini-course. ✅How Justin Got the Idea Behind Starting a Botanical Chocolate Brand ✅How to Crowdfund Your Business Using Kickstarter ✅How Yes Cacao Pivoted From Selling in 170+ Retail Stores to Building Their Own eCommerce Store ✅Selling on eCommerce vs. Selling in Retail Stores ✅Yes Cacao's Marketing Strategy ✅How Yes Cacao's Product Range Supports Different Wellness Needs Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed listening to this, remember we have a new episode headed your way tomorrow! If you're keen on learning about retention marketing, we recently released a three-hour mini-course containing all the information you need to get started. This mini-course comes packed with real-life case studies, proven strategies, and many helpful resources from experienced email marketers. Find the mini-course here. We have a special surprise for all our listeners! Get your hands on Yes Cacao's deliciously healthy chocolate bars at 20% off by using the code: BUDAI20. Visit YesCacao. Click on the links below to connect with my agency and me: Find me on LinkedIn Find me on YouTube Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. Check out some previous episodes.
#145 Anthony & Rodney From Munch Addict: Retention Strategies For Subscription Box Owners Do you love snacking but hate having to stock up? If yes, then you'll love the guests we have on today's episode. Anthony and Rodney are the founders of Munch Addict --- a snack subscription box service that ensures you're never left hungry with an empty pantry by sending you a variety of International snacks and candy on the regular. What makes their service even more unique? They also have a store service that lets you order extra units of your favorite snacks. In today's episode, Anthony and Rodney share the story of how they started Munch Addict, and walk us through all the different retention strategies that they've used to grow their subscription-based brand. Before we get started here's a quick introduction of us for all the new listeners out there! In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Helping e-commerce businesses grow has always been a cause that Budai Media has strongly resonated with, in fact, we have several initiatives that help us pursue this cause by making valuable, verified, and actionable resources readily available to e-commerce entrepreneurs. Our founder, Daniel Budai started The Ecom Show to create a platform where e-commerce owners can share their success stories with other founders. We release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Apart from this, we've even got a mini-course, several case studies, an active Youtube channel, newsletters, and blogs to help anyone and everyone interested in e-commerce retention marketing learn through their preferred channel Visit our website to learn more about us. Here are a few highlights from this episode: ✅How Munch Addict Started ✅What Are the Challenges of Entering the Food eCommerce Industry ✅How Munch Addict Subscription Box Stands Out ✅Navigating Corporate Gifting ✅How Google Knowledge Panel Can Help Grow Your Reach ✅Munch Addicts Marketing Strategy ✅How Email Marketing Boosts Retention for Subscription Boxes ✅Creating a Rewards Program for Your Subscription Business If you're keen on learning about retention marketing, we recently released a three-hour mini-course that contains all the info you need to get started. This mini-course comes packed with real-life case studies, proven strategies, and a ton of helpful resources from experienced email marketers. Find the mini-course here. Visit Munch Addict to learn more about the brand. Click on the links below to connect with me and my agency: Find me on LinkedIn Find me on YouTube Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. Check out some previous episodes. Thanks for tuning in. Please remember we release new episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday!
#144 Sarah Saputra From Belle Fever: The Key to Keeping Your Customers Happy Did you know that a study by Hubspot found that over 68% of consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from a brand known to offer good customer service experiences? Our guest for today's podcast knows all about creating great customer experience and she's got over 22,000+ happy customers that'll vouch for it. Join Sarah Saputra, the founder of Belle Fever, and our host and founder, Daniel Budai, as they discuss building a successful brand by using customer happiness as a key metric. Belle Fever is an Australian personal jewelry brand that uses hypoallergenic metals to create lifetime heirlooms for individuals. Their affordable jewelry and exceptional service have played a huge role in their success over the last ten years. Sarah discusses everything from how she created a product differentiator in a highly competitive space, to how her customer-first approach translates into her brand's approach to digital and retention marketing as well. If you're new here, here's a quick recap of The Ecom Show. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast hosted by Daniel Budai. Daniel Budai is also the founder of Budai Media- a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce brands grow with personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Budai Media is committed to helping e-commerce business owners grow in every way possible, and this podcast is one of the many initiatives by the agency to work towards this goal. Here are a few highlights from this episode: ✅Sarah's Inspiration Behind Starting Belle Fever ✅How to Differentiate Your Brand in a Competitive Market ✅Belle Fever's Digital Marketing Strategy ✅Belle Fever's Approach to Retention Marketing ✅What Were the Biggest Challenges Sarah Faced While Building Belle Fever ✅Sarah's Advice to Other Business Owners Visit Belle Fever to learn more about the brand: https://bellefever.com.au/ Follow Sarah on LinkedIn to learn more about her: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-saputra/ Click on the links below to connect with me and my agency: Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you back here next Tuesday.
#143 Kai Klement From Bonaventura: The Secret to Selling Successfully in Different Countries Welcome to The Ecom Show! Today's episode is one that will interest all e-com entrepreneurs. We're going to be diving deep into what it takes to sell your product in a global market. We've got Kai Klement, the Managing Director of Bonaventura joining us for this interesting discussion. Bonaventura is an Italian leather store that's captured the interest of both Asian and European markets. Born in the fashion capital of the world, Bonaventura's first physical store is based in Milan, Italy. Since then, they've launched 10 other physical outlets across Japan, with a huge flagship store as well. Before we get started, we'd like to quickly introduce ourselves to all the new listeners out there! The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by the email retention marketing agency, Budai Media. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, who is also the founder and CEO of Budai Media. The Ecom Show is a place for anyone interested in the world of e-commerce to learn more about the world of e-commerce from leading entrepreneurs, and experienced professionals from the industry. If you're keen on learning about retention marketing, we recently released a three-hour mini-course that contains all the info you need to get started. This mini-course comes packed with real-life case studies, proven strategies, and a ton of helpful resources from experienced email marketers. Find the mini-course here. Join Kai and Daniel as they talk about Bonaventura's journey from starting out as an artisanal Italian leather brand to building a cult following in the Japanese market. Here's a preview of what's to come in this episode: ✅Kai's Professional Journey Before Bonaventura ✅How Kai Started Working as the Managing Director at Bonaventura ✅Selling in Asia vs Europe ✅Bonaventura's Sales Focus: Amazon vs Shopify ✅Tips for Selling in European Countries ✅Tips for Selling in Asian Countries ✅Bonaventura's Hero Product ✅Bonaventura's #1 Marketing Channel ✅Kai's Advice to Ecom Entrepreneurs for Crushing It This Black Friday and in 2023 If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to let me know by leaving an honest review. Click here to visit Bonaventura: https://eu.bonaventura.shop/ Follow Kai on LinkedIn to learn more from him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaiklement/ You can find my agency and me by clicking on any of the links below. Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you back here this Thursday.
#142 Jeff From the Atomic Bear: How This Survival Gear Brand Built a 7-Figure Business Hey Budai Nation, Welcome back to The Ecom Show. I'm your host Daniel Budai, and today I've got serial entrepreneur Jeff from The Atomic Bear joining us for a tell-all about how he managed to bootstrap his survival brand business and scale it to a steady seven-figure money maker. The Atomic Bear is an e-commerce store that supplies safety gear ranging from tactical pens to survival bracelets and outdoor survival tools. They specialize in creating portable safety tools that help everyday folks prepare to survive the outdoors. If you're new here, here's a quick recap of The Ecom Show. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast hosted by Daniel Budai. Daniel Budai is also the founder of Budai Media. (The agency that sponsors The Ecom Show.) Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce brands grow with personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Budai Media is committed to helping e-commerce business owners grow in every way possible, and this podcast is one of the many initiatives by the agency to work towards this goal. In this episode, Jeff shares what the behind-the-scenes of running a seven-figure survival gear brand looks like. Tune in to learn more about: ✅Jeff's Decision to Shut His First Business ✅The Idea Behind Atomic Bear ✅Why Jeff Wants to Downsize His SKUs ✅Atomic Bear's Acquisition Strategy ✅How to Educate Customers About a Product in the Survival Gear Space ✅Jeff's Advice to eCom Entrepreneurs Looking to Scale Their 6-Figure Business If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to let me know by leaving an honest review. Visit Atomic Bear to learn more about its products and the story behind them. https://www.theatomicbear.com/ You can find my agency and me by clicking on any of the links below. Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you back here next Tuesday.
#141 Greg Meade From Crossnet: How Crossnet Invented a New Sport & Scaled It Using eCommerce This is the first time ever in the history of The Ecom Show that we've got an inventor of not just a product or a brand but of a whole new sport joining us as a guest on the show. Crossnet is the world's first four square Volleyball net. Crossnet gives a fun spin to the classic beach game Volleyball by splitting the net into four sections. Not only does this allow for more players to participate individually, but it also increases the difficulty of the game by adding an element of surprise as to where the ball will land. Today we've got Greg Meade, the co-founder of Crossnet, joining us here to share the idea behind how they got started and their journey ever since. The idea behind Crossnet came when brothers Chris and Greg reunited with their childhood best friend Mike and started reminiscing about their favorite childhood memories of playing four square and Volleyball. Drawing inspiration from both games, they decided to create a whole new sport and quickly developed a prototype that was well-received by their friends and family. There's been no looking back after that. Since then, they've expanded into two new verticals of Crossnet soccer and a Crossnet that's pool compatible. Before we get the ball rolling on Crossnet's story, here's a little about us: The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency helping brands grow their revenue with personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional revenue for the clients. The agency is also proud to be associated with Klaviyo as a Platinum Partner. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder and CEO of Budai Media. Join us in this episode as Greg walks us through the following: ✅The Story Behind How Crossnet Invented a New Sport ✅How Crossnet Uses eCommerce to Skyrocket Their Sales ✅Crossnet's Retention Marketing & Loyalty Program Strategy ✅The Platforms Crossnet Uses Grow Their Brand ✅Crossnet's #1 Customers ✅Crossnet's Vision for the Future If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to leave us a good review. Want to get your hands on Crossnet? Visit their website: https://www.crossnetgame.com/ You can also follow Greg to know more about their journey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmeade/ To learn more about Daniel and Budai Media: Find him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Follow him on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you back here this Thursday.
#140 Jodi and Keri From Prolong Lash: The Story Behind Prolong Lash's Global Success Welcome to The Ecom Show - your space to discover new and exciting real-life e-com success stories. This week we're diving deep into the world of beauty and personal wellness. The personal wellness and beauty industry is one where the scope to go viral and create a global cult following is immense. Today, we've got Jodi and Keri, the CEO and founder of Prolong Lash, here with us today to talk about the story behind how they grew Prolong Lash from a small business to a global brand with a presence in over 80+ countries. Prolong Lash is a pioneer in the world of lash care. They were the first brand to launch a lash aftercare solution that helps lash professionals maintain the quality of their lash glue. What started with one product has now developed into an extensive line of lash aftercare products. Join us in this episode as Jodi and Keri get candid about the work culture, social media strategies, and business mindset that has helped them grow their global footprint. Before we get started, here's a quick introduction for all the new listeners: The Ecom Show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder, and CEO of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that works with e-commerce businesses to help them achieve hyper-growth and better engagement. In the last four years, we've helped over 125+ businesses generate over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. In this episode, we're going to talk more about: ✅Prolong Lash's Origin Story ✅How Prolong Lash Created a Global Network for Lash Professionals ✅Prolong Lash's Social Media Approach to Targeting a Global Audience ✅When Should You Hire a CEO to Help You Grow Your Business? ✅Prolong Lash's Advice to New eCom Business Owners If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to leave us a good review. Visit the website to learn more about Prolong Lash. https://prolonglash.com/ Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well! Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you back here next Tuesday.
Shopify - A word that's become almost synonymous with e-commerce. Shopify has enabled every entrepreneur the dream of starting their own business with an easy-to-build storefront. However, their work doesn't stop there. Shopify is a platform that grows with you. Welcome to The Ecom Show! This episode is dedicated to Shopify Plus, an enterprise-level solution that enables e-com giants to ditch their legacy platforms for new-age stackable e-com tech. Kray Mitchell from Shopify will be joining Daniel Budai, our podcast host and the founder of Budai Media, for this episode. Kray Mitchell joined Shopify in their early days and has been with them for the last six years. He works as a launch engineer at Shopify. He's a launch consultant that works with plus merchants that are coming onto the platform to help evaluate their tech stacks and basically provide guidance and solutions to get them moving as quickly as possible. Enterprise-level businesses have complicated tech systems and require a lot of money, time, and resources when it comes to shifting their operations. Shopify launch engineers help simplify the onboarding process by cutting down the time it takes them to make this switch down by as much as 50%. Safe to say that there's no one better than Kray to walk us through how Shopify Plus works. A little about The Ecom Show. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses accelerate their growth with personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. In the last four years, Budai Media has helped over 125+ businesses from across the world grow their e-commerce brand and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue for their clients. Our goal is to empower more entrepreneurs to grow their e-com brands by adding value to their lives. The Ecom Show is our way of creating a space for e-com business owners to learn from real-life success stories and proven strategies. Now back to the show. Tune in to this episode to hear more about: ⭐How Covid Accelerated The Growth Of Shopify. ⭐The Core Audience For Shopify Plus. ⭐How Shopify Fulfillment Can Help Businesses Compete With Amazon's Prime Shipping. ⭐The Difference Between Shopify Plus and Shopify. ⭐How Shopify's Work Culture Promotes Entrepreneurial Spirit. We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode; we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday! Follow Kray Mitchell on LinkedIn to stay in touch with his journey with e-commerce and business: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kraymitchell/ Kray also has his own monthly talk show known as FailureTV: FailureTV podcast - https://anchor.fm/failuretv FailureTV YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpgMHx-U6DtdxzDhH9NxepQ Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well! Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in.
#138 Chad Rubin From Profasee: Valuable Business Lessons From a Serial eCom Entrepreneur Hey Budai Nation, Welcome to The Ecom Show, your friendly neighborhood bi-weekly e-commerce podcast that uncovers new strategies, tips, and stories in the world of e-com. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder, and CEO of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses increase their revenue through email and SMS marketing. Budai Media has worked with over 125+ businesses in the last four years and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. This show is sponsored by Budai Media. The Ecom Show was started as a way to build an open space for hungry and ambitious e-com entrepreneurs to gain real-life value through experiential learning. We've got the serial e-com entrepreneur Chad Rubin joining us for today's episode of The Ecom Show. Chad's journey is really interesting. He ventured into the world of e-commerce by expanding his family business online after he saw a vacuum in the online space in the industry for vacuum cleaners. Taking his online success from his first venture, he decided to pivot into creating services for other e-commerce businesses. His second venture focused on helping businesses seamlessly integrate all their operations with the help of technology. He successfully exited from that a couple of years later and is currently the co-founder of Profassee. Profasee uses data and analytics to predict the perfect price point for businesses looking to sell on Amazon. Chad has successfully been involved in over five businesses in the e-commerce space; he's also the author of a bestselling novel titled “Cheaper, Easier, Direct.” In this episode, Chad shares some valuable lessons for e-commerce entrepreneurs. Join this conversation to learn more about his journey and to gain his advice on how to manage multiple businesses. Here's a glimpse of what this episode covers: ⭐From eCom Store to eCom Service - Chad's Serial Entrepreneurial Journey ⭐How Profasee Helps eCom Businesses Predict the Perfect Price for Selling on Amazon ⭐How to Find Balance as a Serial Entrepreneur ⭐How to Distinguish Between a Cash Flow Business and a Business to Sell If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to leave us a good review. You can also learn everything you need to know about email marketing in just under four hours by checking out my mini-course. This mini-course comes packed with real-life case studies, proven strategies, and a ton of helpful resources from experienced email marketers. https://course.thebudaimedia.com/ Follow Chad to keep up with his entrepreneurial journey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itschadrubin/ Get a copy of Chad's bestselling novel: https://www.amazon.com/Cheaper-Easier-Direct-Marketplace-Commerce-ebook/dp/B01HP76WHU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well! Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you back here next Tuesday.
#137 Brian Kurtz Author of the Bestselling Novel Overdeliver: 3 Golden Rules of Direct Marketing Hello and welcome to The Ecom Show. We've got Brian Kurtz, the king of direct marketing joining us for today's episode. Brian is the author of the bestselling novel, Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing. With over four decades worth of marketing experience, Brian is an expert at what he does, and his book Overdeliver is a must-read for marketers from every generation because it contains golden rules that stand the test of time and trends. Before we start, here's a little about The Ecom Show. This show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by the e-commerce retention marketing agency, Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands succeed with the help of personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 100+ e-commerce stores and generated over $35M+ in additional sales revenue for them. At Budai Media, we've always believed that experience is the best way to teach anyone about e-commerce. The Ecom Show aims to make real-life e-commerce experiences more accessible to all business owners out there. With over 137+ episodes, this show aims to unravel one new and interesting e-commerce story each week. The Ecom Show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder and CEO of Budai Media. Enough about us, now let's get back to this episode! Direct marketing is timeless. Every business needs it to survive because it's the only way to get a specific return on your investment. In this episode, Brian shares with us the golden rules of direct marketing and teaches us about the importance and way to practice measurable marketing. Join Daniel and Brian as they talk about: ⭐ Brian's Personal Background ⭐ 3 Golden Rules of Direct Marketing ⭐ The Formula to Finding Your VIP customers: Recency + Frequency + Monetary Value ⭐ The Value of Downselling Your Product ⭐ The Importance of Segmentation ⭐ Testing Your Customer Service with Secret Shoppers If you enjoyed listening to this episode make sure to leave us a good review. Click on the link below to grab a copy of Overdeliver. https://overdeliverbook.com/ To stay in touch with Brian, follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-kurtz-a1934/ Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well! Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in.
Starting an e-commerce store is not difficult. Thanks to e-commerce platforms, individuals have all the tools they need to build a website right at their fingertips, making it easy to get up and running. However, scaling your e-com store is a whole different story. As your business grows, your needs from the platform you use will as well, which is when you might consider shifting your e-commerce store to a bigger platform. I'm Daniel Budai, the founder of Budai Media and the host of The Ecom Show. I'd like to invite you to join James Gurd, the founder and CEO of Digital Juggler, and me as we discuss everything an e-commerce business owner needs to know about e-commerce re-platforming. James is an eCommerce strategy and re-platforming consultant with more than 16 years of experience working with B2C and B2B brands, including House of Fraser, Mars, Samsung, The Wine Society, Victoria Beckham, RSPB, and Dr. Barbara Sturm. He helps organizations deliver e-commerce growth based on realistic plans and budgets. Before we kick off, I'd like to quickly take a moment to introduce the show to any new listeners tuning in. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast sponsored by Budai Media. We have over 135+ episodes and release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands grow with the help of email and SMS marketing. In the last 4 years, Budai Media has worked with over 120+ businesses and generated over 35M+ in additional sales revenue. Our goal is to help over 1000+ businesses in the coming few years. We're very passionate about learning and sharing knowledge, which is why we started The Ecom Show. We've even released a 3-hour mini-course to help businesses learn everything they need to know about email marketing. This course includes tried and tested strategies, real-life case studies from actual businesses, and a lot of additional learning material. Click on the link below to check it out
#135 TJ Gamble From Jamersan: How To Choose The Right Tech Stack For Your E-Com Business How's it going, Budai Nation? Welcome to a brand new episode of The Ecom Show. I'm Daniel Budai, the CEO and founder of Budai Media and your host for today's episode. I've got e-commerce tech expert TJ Gamble joining me today to discuss e-commerce platforms. This topic forms the very foundation for every e-commerce store. TJ Gamble is the Founder & CEO of Jamersan, an e-commerce agency that arms businesses with the tools they need to increase their conversion, optimize their marketing strategies, and ultimately grow their business. TJ Gamble has a lot of knowledge and experience working with e-commerce tech stacks like Magento and BigCommerce. In today's episode, he will share with us everything that an e-commerce business needs to know to choose the right platform to build and scale its store. Before we jump in, I'd like to take a quick moment to tell you about The Ecom Show. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency I started about four years ago. Over the years, Budai Media has worked with over 100+ businesses and generated over 30M+ in additional revenue for stores from different niches worldwide. This journey has been a great learning experience because I have the privilege to work closely with other motivated and inspirational entrepreneurs. So, I wanted to find a way to give back and share my learnings with other businesses out there. The Ecom Show is my way of sharing my e-com experiences and the wonderful stories I come across with the rest of the world. Speaking of sharing my learnings with e-commerce websites. I'd like to invite you to check out my 50-point email marketing cheat sheet to audit your Klaviyo account. https://www.thebudaimedia.com/email-cheatsheet Tune in to this episode to learn more about: ✅TJ Gamble's journey with the world of e-commerce ✅How Jamersan helps e-commerce businesses build a scalable business model using Magento and BigCommerce ✅How to pick the right e-commerce tech stack ✅Shopify vs. Magento vs. BigCommerce ✅Pros and Cons of using Shopify ✅New and Emerging E-Commerce Software Solutions Thanks for taking the time to listen to this episode. I come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday! To learn more about TJ Gamble, Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tj-gamble-95a8b67/ Visit his website: https://jamersan.com/ We also have over 100+ episodes with guests from around the e-commerce world. Check these out by clicking on the link below: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast I'd love to stay in touch with you. Find me on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Before you go, please take a moment to leave us a review or comment and let us know how you felt about this episode.
#134 Lawrence Ingrassia Author Of Billion Dollar Brand Club: How To Build A Disruptive Business Welcome to The Ecom Show! I'm Daniel Budai, and in this episode, I've had the pleasure of interviewing bestselling author and esteemed journalist Lawrence Ingrassia. Lawrence Ingrassia is the author of the famous book Billion Dollar Brand Club. The book talks about how disruptive startups are creating digitally-native consumer products and challenging long-dominant companies to build successful empires. In this episode, Lawrence talks about the strategies businesses like Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, and other disruptors use to get their consumers' attention in a competitive market. He also gives us insight into the kind of mindset that billion-dollar businesses use to drive success through all their endeavors. Before we start, here's a little about me and my show. I'm Daniel, the founder and CEO of a retention marketing agency called Budai Media. My team and I specialize in helping e-commerce brands hyper-scale their revenue, and build better relationships with their clients through personalized email and SMS marketing strategies. We've been doing this for the last four years, and we've worked with over 120+ e-commerce businesses. The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly podcast that talks about e-commerce tips, strategies, and real-life stories of success to inspire our entrepreneurs and creative geniuses. Now back to the show. Tune in to this episode to hear Lawrence and me talk all about: ⭐How Dollar Shave Club inspired him to write this book ⭐How to build a disruptive business in a competitive space ⭐How to leverage technology to create a competitive advantage ⭐How to find the "one thing" that attracts customers to buy your products ⭐How to use data to give customers what they want We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode; we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday! Check out Billion Dollar Brand Club by clicking on the link below: https://www.amazon.com/Billion-Dollar-Brand-Club-Disruptors-ebook/dp/B07R7KHPH4 Follow Lawrence on LinkedIn to stay in touch with his journey with e-commerce and business: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence-ingrassia-a60659140/ Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well! Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in.
#133 Jitendra Vaswani From DigiExe: SEO Tips That Actually Work Welcome to a brand new episode of The Ecom Show! Today we've got the SEO wizard, serial entrepreneur, international keynote speaker, and bestselling author, Jitendra Vaswani, here with us today. Jitendra is an expert at SEO and affiliate marketing, and in this episode, he very graciously shared the strategy that has helped him earn over 1.5 million clicks on his website. Jitendra's journey has been extremely insightful and inspiring as he taught himself SEO from scratch. Give this episode a listen if you're someone interested in learning about how to get started with SEO, affiliate marketing websites, and CRO. This episode also goes beyond the technical learning as Jitendra opens up about his personal journey of being a self-starter. Before we get started, here's a quick recap: The Ecom Show is an e-commerce podcast sponsored by Budai Media. We cover everything from e-commerce retention marketing to website optimization, customer engagement, and everything else related to e-commerce. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder, and CEO of Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that's helped over 100+ e-commerce stores hyper-scale their business through personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns. Join Jitendra and Daniel in this episode of The Ecom Show to learn more about: ⭐How Jitendra Has Received Over 1M+ Clicks On His Website Using SEO. ⭐How to learn SEO from scratch. ⭐SEO and CRO Tips That Actually Work. ⭐Content Strategy Advice For Creating An Affiliate Marketing Website. ⭐The Mindset Needed To Build A Successful Empire. ⭐Jitendra's biggest business mentor and his advice on how to upskill yourself. We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode; we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday! Keep in touch with Jitendra: Visit his website: https://jitendra.co/. Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jitendravaswaniseo/?originalSubdomain=in. Check out his podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/34YT8hBIjVFhXCh658TBWO. Follow him on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jitendravaswani. Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well! Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in.
#132 Karl Lillrud, Global Gurus Top 30 Speakers: How AI Is Shaping The Future of E-Commerce Hello and welcome to The Ecom Show! I'm Daniel Budai, your host and e-commerce buddy, and I'm here to invite you to be a part of today's episode. Come join Karl Lillrud and me as we talk about how artificial intelligence and technology are changing consumer interaction and reshaping the world of e-commerce. Karl is an e-commerce expert, a well-reputed business advisor, and a professional keynote speaker that's been voted as one of the top 30 speakers by Global Gurus. Follow Karl on LinkedIn to learn more about him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karllillrud/ If you're new here, here's a gist of what the Ecom Show is all about: The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast that uncovers the latest trends, strategies, and inspirational stories in the world of e-commerce each week. This show is sponsored by Budai Media, a leading e-commerce retention marketing agency that's helped hundreds of eCommerce stores grow with personalized SMS and email marketing campaigns. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the CEO, and founder of Budai Media. Coming back to the episode now, artificial intelligence has been the buzz in every industry, and it's already started to change the way we shop online. It's thanks to AI that we're able to receive and send out targeted ads, receive personalized product recommendations, and even segment our audiences. However, the future holds a lot more promise. AI and machine learning are spaces that are constantly evolving and improving. In this episode, Karl and I talk about how AI will transform e-commerce interactions with a focus on customer experience and internal processes. Here are a few of the questions that this episode will answer: ✅What are Machine Learning and AI? ✅How will AI change the face of e-commerce in the next five years? ✅How to navigate business needs based on customer preferences? ✅How to reduce e-commerce return rate using artificial intelligence? ✅How to treat each customer differently? ✅What kind of leadership do e-commerce businesses require to scale? If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a review/comment sharing your thoughts. It would genuinely mean the world to me. Also, you can stay in touch with me by following me on other social media platforms as well! Find me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, that's packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out my $37M 50-point email marketing cheatsheet, and learn how we helped more than 100 e-commerce businesses make more profit: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in.
#131 Hayden Brass From Zea: How to Create a Brand That Stands Out in a Saturated Market Hey Budai Nation, We're back with another episode of your favorite e-commerce podcast, The Ecom Show! Have you ever held yourself back from starting a business because you feared how competitive or saturated the market for it is? If yes, then you need to tune in to today's episode. Our guest for today's episode is Hayden Brass, the founder, and managing director of Zea, a family-owned sustainable health and wellness brand. We promise you that his story will give you all the push you need to persevere through competition. Before we dive right in, let me quickly introduce myself and the show. I'm Daniel Budai, the host of The Ecom Show and the founder and CEO of Budai Media, the agency that sponsors this podcast. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency specializing in email and SMS marketing. Over the last five years, we've generated over $35M+ in additional sales revenue for over 100+ e-commerce stores from across the globe. Having worked with several brands in the health, wellness, beauty, and skincare space, we know that sustainability itself isn't enough of a competitive edge to help a brand stand out from its competition. In this episode, Hayden walks us through how brands can stand out in a competitive market through his own personal experiences of growing Zea. A little about Zea and what makes it so different: Zea is a family-owned Australian health and wellness company founded on a love for Kunzea. Kunzea is a special Australian plant that has several healing properties. Hayden and his family have put in years of research to see how they can make the amazing healing properties of Kunzea readily and easily accessible to the world. Their solution was to launch four distinct brands for health, wellness, and lifestyle - Zea Relief, Zea Gourmet, Zea Essentials, and Zea Active that specialize in a diverse range of natural products, including pain management, skincare, 100% pure essential oils, Australian Honey, and sports recovery. Visit Zea to learn more about their products and brand story. https://www.zea.com.au/ Tune in to this episode and join Hayden and me as we discuss: ✅ Hayden's journey with starting Zea. ✅ The struggles of establishing a business in a competitive market. ✅ How to introduce customers to try and test new ingredients. ✅ Hayden's advice for entrepreneurs. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to support The Ecom Show by leaving a review/comment sharing your thoughts. One last thing before you go, make sure that you find and follow me so we can stay in touch! Find me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, that's packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out my $37M 50-point email marketing cheatsheet, and learn how we helped more than 100 e-commerce businesses make more profit: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you again this Thursday with a brand new episode and a brand new brand story.
#130 Staci L Wells From Zen BooTique: How To Build An International Fashion Brand Through Shopify Hey Budai Nation, this is your host Daniel Budai and I'd like to welcome you all to a brand new episode of The Ecom Show. If you're new here, The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast where I invite inspirational professionals from different walks of life to share their e-commerce journey and some expert strategies and tips that they've picked up on the way. This show is sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a leading retention marketing agency that specializes in personalized SMS and email marketing campaigns for e-commerce stores. Budai Media has helped over 150+ businesses generate over 30M+ additional sales revenue through their unique strategies and detailed execution. Visit the website to learn more about the agency. https://www.thebudaimedia.com/ My guest for today is Staci L Wells, the co-owner and CEO of Zen BooTique. Zen BooTique is a sustainable fashion brand with a successful international presence. Staci is the true embodiment of turning your dream into a living and in this episode, she lets us in on her secret to success. Staci grew up with the dream of one day owning her own boutique and decided to follow her passion when she stumbled upon a sales listing for an online boutique on Facebook Marketplace. Staci used the customer list from the business she bought to start Zen BooTique, a sustainable fashion brand that now sells to customers in the US, Canada, and Australia. Apart from Zen BooTique, Staci also runs her own lifestyle management course where she helps professionals find the balance between work and their personal life. Click on the link below to visit and shop from Staci's website: https://zenbootique.com/ I'd like to invite you to check out this episode to discover more about: ✅ How Staci turned a brand she bought from Facebook Marketplace into a successful e-commerce business ✅ The tools and marketing channels Staci uses to manage her e-commerce store ✅ Starting a business from scratch ✅ How to grow as an entrepreneur Before you go, find and follow me so we can stay in touch! Find me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter that's packed with the latest e-commerce buzz. https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Check out my $37M 50-point email marketing cheatsheet, and learn how we helped more than 100 e-commerce businesses make more profit: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for listening in; don't forget we come out with new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday! If you enjoyed this episode please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.
Welcome to The Ecom Show! If you're looking to discover e-commerce entrepreneurs and learn the latest industry secrets from their success stories, you're in the right place! Joining us today is Alex Volodarsky, the founder and CEO of Custom Caricatures. Alex is a very special man because he's got the superpower to make you a part of your favorite fandom. His company Custom Caricatures owns a line of personalized gifting e-com stores that take your pictures and turn them into a unique piece of art that makes you look like a character from your favorite fandom. Tune in to today's podcast to know more about how Alex acquired the popular e-com store TurnedYellow and used its growing success to launch multiple other custom caricature e-commerce stores. But before we jump in, here's a little about us! The Ecom Show is a bi-weekly e-commerce podcast sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses hyper-scale their revenue through email and SMS marketing. This show is hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder, and CEO of Budai Media. Visit our website to learn more about us: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/ Now let's get back to the episode! Back in 2020, Alex decided to set out on an adventure to acquire a business. That's when he stumbled upon TurnedYellow, a custom caricature e-com store that takes your pictures and turns you into a Simpsons character. Drawn by the quirkiness and fun behind their business model, Alex decided to come on board. Seeing the success of this memorable and unique gifting store, Alex had the brilliant idea of leveraging the existing database of artists and customers they had acquired through TurnedYellow to branch out to other fandoms as well. He created an LLP called CustomCarciatures and now has two other stores that cater to Potterheads and Star Wars fans as well. Find his journey interesting? Then tune in to this episode and learn more about: ⚡ How Alex acquired TurnedYellow. ⚡ The secret to building a personalized gifting store. ⚡ The reason behind TurnedYellow's wild success. ⚡ How Alex used the success of TurnedYellow to launch several other print-on-demand businesses. ⚡ The advantages of having a lean team. ⚡ Alex's advice to investors looking to invest in e-commerce stores. (There's more, but you'll have to tune in to find that out!) Find Alex on: Twitter https://twitter.com/volodarsky?lang=en LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-volodarsky-b96ab87/ Buy a unique and memorable piece of art by visiting: TurnedYellow https://turnedyellow.com/ MakeMeJedi https://makemejedi.com/ TurnedWizard https://turnedwizard.com/ You can also find us on: Daniel's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Our weekly newsletter that's packed with the latest e-commerce buzz straight to your inbox: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Our previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Thanks for listening in; we release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday!
#128 Brian Roisentul from BSR Digital: Brand Marketing Strategies Using Third-Party Data Hello Budai Nation, Today we're welcoming Brian Roisentul, CEO and founder of BSR Digital, a social media marketing agency specializing in paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads. The successful agency is managing over $3.6M/year worth of ads for different e-commerce brands. Besides his position as CEO, he's also the host of the Fit Growth Machine podcast which treats customer acquisition strategies for e-commerce brands. Brian will share with us his success story and journey in the world of social media marketing, but also some pretty valuable strategies for e-commerce brands to scale their businesses quickly and more effectively. Welcome to The Ecom Show! Your go-to weekly e-commerce podcast for uncovering new stories, strategies, secrets, and everything e-commerce. This podcast is sponsored by Budai Media, a retention marketing agency that's helped 125+ e-commerce businesses generate over $35M+ in additional sales revenue. Join Daniel Budai (our host and the founder of Budai Media) and Brian Roisentul in this episode to learn more about: ✅ Brian's Success Story in the Digital World ✅ Marketing Strategies for Fashion and Apparel Brands ✅ The Use of Third-Party Data to Scale Your Online Business Let's jump right in. Brian's Success Story in the Digital World Brian comes from a background in computer science. He used to work as a software developer for a software factory, based in the US. During the 2008 recession, they closed their doors, like many other companies in the USA back then, which lead him, along with other partners, to start a brand new venture, with which he will keep working in software development, until 2010. He then started his first solo Software Factory to raise its capital shortly after, evolving into a startup with 40 collaborators. A few months of existence later came the “boom” of social media, when everyone was looking to grow their organic prospects online, trading trucks, cars, and all the crazy stuff for fans and followers. That's when Brian decided to surf the digital marketing wave and offer viable solutions to their clients, generating leads and sales through social media, shifting from software engineering to leading a pure social media marketing agency, specializing in scaling e-commerce brands in a specific industry he loves: Fashion and Apparel. Marketing Strategies for Fashion and Apparel Brands Brian Roisentul, through his own personal experience, breaks down the process of going from the product idea to the end customer into 3 simple, yet very complex phases:
#127 Rasmus Barfred from TheMagic5: Business Lessons From A Shark Tank Brand Hey Budai Nation, We've got a celebrity joining us for this episode of The Ecom Show! You may recognize Rasmus Barfred and his company TheMagic5 from the huge splash they created with their show-stealing speech on the popular business reality show, Shark Tank. Their pitch threw all the sharks into a feeding frenzy, and the co-founders walked out of the tank with a deal from Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec. He's here with us today to share the business lessons that helped him land the deal, and of course to get candid about his experience in and beyond the tank. Join Rasmus Barfred and our founder/podcast host Daniel Budai to learn more about: ✅ The Story Behind TheMagic5 ✅ How To Prepare For Shark Tank ✅ TheMagic5's Marketing Strategy Let's dive right in! The Story Behind TheMagic5 TheMagic5 is a made-to-measure swimming eyewear brand co-founded by Bo, Niklas, and Rasmus. All three of them were swimmers that struggled with finding a good long-lasting pair of swimming goggles. United by their passion to solve this issue, the three of them set out to create a brand new technology that completely revolutionized this space. TheMagic5 uses optimal fitting technology to map a customer's face and then creates a completely customized pair of swimming goggles. Their technology is so precise and advanced that they have a return rate of only 1%. TheMagic5 was founded back in 2017, and soon after Rasmus moved to the USA to expand their business further. Magic5 has spent a lot of time researching and developing its product. They started out by surveying over 450 athletes, swimmers, and triathletes to understand the core issues that people faced with swimming goggles. They then purchased all the different kinds of swimming goggles available in the market to understand the design aspect better. After their primary research, they were clear that they needed a customized product to solve this issue properly, and hence put all their resources into developing the technology they needed. And all that research paid off well for them as TheMagic5 has successfully sold over 100,000 pairs of their personalized swimwear, and has two wonderful sharks as investors to help them scale their business to newer heights. How To Prepare For Shark Tank It's impossible to watch Shark Tank without visualizing how you would go about pitching your business to the Sharks. Rasmus got candid about his experience on and beyond the tank. Here are some of the highlights from this episode: Why did you decide to take your business to Shark Tank for an investment? There were two things that drove Rasmus and his co-founders to pitch on Shark Tank. The first was awareness: “Our customer base is everyone from top Olympic athletes, to regular swimmers that swim once a week. We wanted to reach that audience through a mass consumer television show that was super interesting.” The second was the need for a strategic partner. The optimal technology TheMagic5 uses can be adapted to work with other products as well, but expanding to new verticals requires some strategic guidance which drove Rasmus and his partners to approach the tank. They were particularly interested in getting a deal with either Mark Cuban or Robert Herjavec for their expertise in technology, and they were fortunate enough to walk out of the tank with investments from both the sharks. How did you prepare for the tank? The key thing is to know your numbers. If you don't know your numbers the sharks will see right through you. Secondly, have an explanation to justify any questions that may arise after you share your numbers. Prepare and practice your pitch several times before you go in. Run yourself through all the different scenarios before walking in, and make sure that you discuss how low you're willing to go during negotiations beforehand. This makes you look more decisive. Who should go into Shark Tank and do you have any advice for them? Shark Tank gives you access to an audience of 5 million viewers on primetime US television. All the press, tension, and visibility surrounding your business make Shark Tank the ideal show for several businesses. Especially those that have a consumer product, tangible product, something that's easy to relate to and can be easily bought online. But the tank has also worked great for transactional websites, apps, and vending machines in the past. The key is to go in if you know your numbers, strengths, and weaknesses. You need to know your business in and out before you go in for a pitch because only the first minute of your time on Shark Tank is uninterrupted, post that the sharks question you on all the aspects of your business, and depending on their interest this can last from anywhere between ten minutes to an hour. TheMagic5's Marketing Strategy TheMagic5's main focus has been on getting their Facebook, Instagram, and Google PPC ads in order. They focus a lot on SEO and have used their Shark Tank fame to compete for better keywords as well. They're also very building their social media presence on multiple channels like Pinterest, Tik Tok, Facebook, and Instagram. Apart from this, they're exploring how traditional marketing channels like offline advertising and strategic partnerships with swim clubs can help them gain more visibility. Their main goal is to reach the customers while they're experiencing issues with their current swimming goggles to drive instant conversion, and in order to do so, they need to increase their visibility and awareness. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure to be back here next Thursday for our next episode. Meanwhile, you can check out some of our previous episodes of The Ecom Show to uncover other interesting e-commerce stories. Visit TheMagic5 to order your own pair of custom swimming glasses: https://themagic5.com/ Follow Rasmus Barfred to know more about his journey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasmus-barfred-38a5b636/ Follow Daniel Budai Daniel's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Daniel's YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Daniel's Newsletter https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup The Ecom Show https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast
Juan Chavez From JMC Equipment: Business Secrets From an Inc.5000 Company Hey Budai Nation, We're honored to share that Juan Chavez, the CEO of the successful automotive business JMC equipment, is our guest for today's episode. JMC equipment has been holding the title of an Inc.5000 company for the past 4 years now. They have a successful B2B e-commerce store that you'll learn more about in this episode. Welcome to The Ecom Show! Your go-to weekly e-commerce podcast for uncovering new stories, strategies, secrets, and everything e-commerce. This podcast is sponsored by Budai Media, a retention marketing agency that's helped 125+ e-commerce businesses generate over $35M+ in additional sales revenue. Join Daniel Budai (our host and the founder of Budai Media) and Juan Chavez in this episode to learn more about: ✅ Juan's Journey With Jmc Equipment ✅ A Business Lesson That Juan Learned the Hard Way ✅ Juan's Advice for New eCommerce Owners Let's jump right in. Juan's Journey With JMC Equipment Juan is the second generation to be leading the team at JMC Equipment. The business was founded by his father, and Juan joined in after he decided to call quits on his first venture. JMC equipment is an automotive parts distributor to repair shops and retail stores. Before Juan stepped in, his father would approach stores in New York one at a time, and find leads door to door. Juan helped launch JMC into the world of e-commerce by setting up a website and letting customers approach them instead. JMC is a unique company because their team is based out of Medellin, Colombia, but their sales are focused entirely on the US market. Juan E. Chavez is based out of Medellin, Colombia. He has another successful business venture as well. Juan runs his own travel and real estate company that helps clients based out of New York find their dream apartments in Colombia. Back to the Inc.5000 company though, JMC equipment has a solid team of skilled professionals that take care of the SEO and e-commerce side of things. They've also invested in building a strong team of salespeople, and customer-care executives that make sure that their leads get the information and push they need to purchase. JMC Equipment sells high-ticket products with their average orders running anywhere between $2000 and above. In order to close a deal, they're very active with their email marketing and even go a step beyond by calling their abandoned cart to close the sale. Their paid marketing efforts include a combination of Google ads, Facebook ads, and email marketing. For organic marketing, they also have an enriched library of educational blogs. A Business Lesson That Juan Learned the Hard Way Juan has over a decade of business experience under his belt. We asked him what's the hardest thing that being in business has taught him, and here's what he had to say: “The hardest thing I've learned goes beyond business, it's basically about how to pick yourself up from a failure.” I have been in that position where I thought that I might have to shut my business down. But the resilience to push forward despite the difficulties is what helped. Every other skill is a skill that you could probably just learn, you know if you put in the work, and if you put in the hours, but actual experience of like, you know, the experience that you go through when you make a mistake, and you lose money, or whatever, maybe you're or you're thinking about quitting is not something easy to understand. But if you stick with it, you will eventually come out the other side a lot stronger with tougher skin. So the biggest lesson is not to give up when failure is knocking on your door. Juan's Advice for New eCommerce Owners The best way to start an e-commerce business is by finding a good product that you have knowledge about, and that you're motivated to sell. Ideally, find a way to sell this product without having to start with production. Dropshipping is a great way to escape inventory management. Once you have your e-commerce storefront, and marketing taken care of you can look into expanding into starting your own production. This gives you time to focus on taking your business off. The second piece of advice would be to know your industry. Research and talk to your potential customers, it's the best way to grow your business. That's all for this episode of The Ecom Show. If you enjoyed it please make sure to be back here next Thursday for a brand new episode. Click on the link below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter and receive actionable tips, strategies, and resources to help you grow your e-commerce store.
#125 Brandon Higginbotham from Vintage Gentleman: How To Use Social Media To Launch Your Brand It's no secret that social media applications have taken over the world we live in. Every business owner is now a creator too. In fact, we've spoken about how important story-telling and social media can be in creating a strong brand identity in today's world in several of our previous episodes of The Ecom Show. But we've turned the tables around for this episode. Join Brandon, the founder of Vintage Gentleman, to learn more about how a social media creator/influencer can use their platform to bootstrap a brand from scratch. Before we begin, here's a small recap of what this show is all about for all the new listeners. The Ecom Show is a weekly podcast hosted by Daniel Budai, the founder and CEO of Budai Media. Daniel invites e-commerce business owners from different industries to share their experiences, learnings, and expert tips to highlight the latest trends, hacks, and best practices for all e-commerce stores out there. This show is sponsored by Budai Media, a retention marketing agency that's helped over 130 businesses scale their e-commerce stores with personalized email and SMS marketing. Now that you're all caught up, let's continue with the show! Tune in to learn more about: ✅ How Brandon Started the Vintage Gentlemen ✅ 3 Things That Have Helped Brandon Build a Successful Business ✅ Brandon's Advice to Creators Looking To Start Their Own Brand How Brandon Started the Vintage Gentlemen Brandon has benefited from having an early adopter advantage. He began using Instagram in 2015 when he started noticing how the application helped create trends. He noticed an opportunity to build an audience and created the Vintage Gentlemen, which back then was just a simple lifestyle account that offered suggestions for men's lifestyle products. Since men's lifestyle was a new niche he quickly gained traction and built an engaging community of about 20-30,000 followers. He started getting offers for brand endorsements and became a popular influencer. Brandon knew that there was scope to build something bigger using the community he had created, this is what led to him launching his own e-commerce store. Brandon began by dropshipping products from the artisanal brands he had previously done endorsements with. After seeing how well that worked he slowly expanded to creating his own range of products. Currently, about 70-80% of Vintage Gentlemen's range of products are manufactured in-house. 3 Things That Have Helped Brandon Build a Successful Business With a following of over 240,000 followers on Instagram, Vintage Gentlemen has grown immensely since it began. What was once an influencer account is now a fully functional e-commerce store that manufactures most of its in-house products. Here are three key factors that have helped Brandon fuel Vintage Gentlemen's growth: Reinvesting money back into the business: Despite the success of Vintage Gentlemen, Brandon has still retained his job in the insurance industry. His job allows him to fund his own lifestyle without needing any money from Vintage Gentlemen enabling him to reinvest all the profits into growing the business. Leveraging organic social media platforms to build a community: Vintage Gentlemen might have gone from being a lifestyle social media account to a full-fledged brand but they haven't forgotten their roots. In fact, Vintage Gentlemen has expanded its social media reach by focusing on TikTok as well. Their strong social media presence and use of other social media creators to aid their growth has helped them build a community. Finding a balance between paid and organic content marketing:Since Vintage Gentlemen already had an existing community of followers that supported the brand from its inception, Brandon spent the first few years focusing on fine-tuning the e-commerce operations. He set up other paid marketing channels like Google Ads to drive more leads, and email marketing to convert/retain these leads. His end goal is to create a brand that has both strong paid marketing as well as an enriched library of content that's engaging enough to build a community in the men's lifestyle space. Brandon's Advice to Creators Looking To Start Their Own Brand We asked Brandon what his main advice would be to content creators looking to start their own brand with very little capital. Here's what they had to say: Have a strategic approach to starting your business. Consider drop shipping to save initial start-up costs, invest in a basic Shopify plan, and look at low-risk methods of bootstrapping your business. Your initial focus needs to be on grabbing user attention and creating a community around your brand. The key is to find creative ways to build your business. Catch Brandon and Daniel's entire conversation by listening to this episode. To know more about Vintage Gentlemen check out their website: https://www.thevintagegentlemen.com/ Follow Brandon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-higginbotham-031118197/ Follow Daniel Budai Daniel's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Daniel's YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Daniel's Newsletter https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup The Ecom Show https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast
#124 Michael Muscari From NanoNutra: 3 Strategies To Market A Supplement Brand Did you know that 77% of Americans take at least one supplement? The supplement industry is booming, it's valued at over $163 billion in 2022, and it's predicted to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.4% in the next eight years. Supplements are great for your health, and running a supplement business can help you generate immense wealth! In this episode of The Ecom Show, we're going to be scratching the surface on how you can create a name for yourself in this extremely lucrative and competitive industry. Michael Muscari, the founder and CEO of the premium Liposomal Vitamins and Dietary Supplements brand NanoNutra will be joining our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, to share some proven strategies that can help you market a supplement brand. Tune in to this episode to learn more about: ✅ Michael's Journey With NanoNutra ✅ 3 Strategies To Market A Supplement Brand ✅ Michael's Advice To New Entrepreneurs Michael's Journey With NanoNutra Michael worked as a financial advisor for a couple of years but he wasn't too happy working a job where everything depended on the market's volatility, so he started venturing out and landed a gig with an ad agency. At the same time, he was also working as a freelancer for a supplement company who were in the diet and weight loss space. That's where he got his first introduction to the world of e-commerce. Around the same time he stumbled upon the famous book, The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Determined to live by the four-hour philosophy, Michael decided to take control of his own life and started his own e-commerce venture. Michael's first venture was called ImmunitySport+ where he focused on creating a niche in the supplement market with his single green immunity tablet. By the time he got this brand up and running, he'd become an expert at SEO and selling on Amazon. He then launched his second fitness and wellness brand called Healthy Start. Healthy Start focused on a wider range of products. His business now exhibited over a dozen supplement products. He realized that he had cracked the code with his research on nanotechnology and liposomal supplements, and decided to go all in. He sold off all the other assets and moved his sole focus to building NanoNutra. NanoNutra is a premium Liposomal Vitamins and Dietary Supplements brand. Most oral supplements are unable to help human bodies retain 80% of the nutrients they consume through the pill. Michael's research on liposomal technology helped him find a solution to this problem which led to him starting NanoNutra. They now sell a full line of supplements, all using liposomal technology. 3 Strategies To Market A Supplement Brand The supplement industry is highly competitive and diluted. There are a ton of new brands springing up everyday and making a name for yourself requires strategic brand positioning and effort. We asked Michael to share the marketing secrets that he's picked up over the years of working in this industry. Here are the three strategies that he's used to grow NanoNutra: Focus on Education: NanoNutra uses a combination of technology and natural nutrients to create supplements that aid your fitness journey. Since they're an early adopter of the Liposomal technology they focus heavily on educating consumers about the benefits and real life value of their products. They're extremely transparent about what goes into their supplements, the results that customers can expect, and the process of how their supplements work. Michael also sends out a lot of high value emails to his subscribers to share credible information that can help them enhance their fitness and wellness journey. Get Endorsements: NanoNutra focused on getting doctors, nutritionists and fitness coaches to endorse their supplements. They prioritized creating high-value content from credible fitness and wellness personalities over spending on influencer outreach. This has helped them build trust. Create Subscriptions or Value-Packs:Supplements are something that you require on a cyclical basis. NanoNutra recognized this and created subscription packs that have helped them create a base of returning customers. They also provide discounted prices on variety packs to encourage customers to test their wide range of supplements. Michael's Advice To New Entrepreneurs We asked Michael what his advice would be to new entrepreneurs. Here's what he had to say: “You have to have a lot of passion for whatever it is you choose to do or sell. You know, if you're just trying to make easy money, it's going to be very short lived if you find it at all.” Find something that aligns with you and your values that you feel comfortable selling to other people. E-commerce has gotten nuanced and you need to be able to completely get behind your product to be able to create a solid brand which is why you should chase something that you're passionate about. Michael even has a free course called, The Purpose Method, that helps individuals find their true calling. You can check it out by clicking here. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Ecom Show. Before we go, here's a special cheat sheet to help you audit your Klaviyo account. https://www.thebudaimedia.com/cheatsheet Follow Michael on LinkedIN. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmuscari/ Visit NanoNutra https://www.nanonutrausa.com/ Follow Daniel Budai Daniel's LinkedIN https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Daniel's Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Daniel's Newsletter https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup The Ecom Show https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast
#123 Matt Edmundson: Scale and Sell Your Business In These 7 Steps Hey Budai Nation! Welcome to The Ecom Show. If you're new here, The Ecom Show is a weekly e-commerce podcast series hosted by Daniel Budai where he invites new speakers each week to talk about their experiences and share their expert insights on trending ecommerce topics. This show is sponsored by Budai Media, a retention marketing agency that helps customer obsessed e-commerce brands grow with email and SMS marketing. If you're a regular, welcome back! We have an exciting episode lined up for you. We've got Matt Edmundson, a serial e-com entrepreneur, founder of a successful e-commerce agency, and e-commerce coach, here with us today to talk about his 7-step strategy to successfully scale and sell a brand. Tune in to this episode to learn more about: ✅ Matt's eCommerce Adventures ✅ The 7-Step Guide to Scale and Sell Your Business ✅ How Livestreaming Can Help You Stand Out Let's jump right in! Matt's eCommerce Adventures Matt was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug at an early age. His first venture began while he was still in school. He started a candy shop and was so successful that he was asked to stop because his school decided to start their own candy store. But it was back in the last nineties when he properly got into e-commerce. Matt was working as a salesperson for a company that designed and installed saunas when he was approached by a friend that needed some help with building a website for their church. He offered to help his friend build this website in exchange for his friend sponsoring the software required to launch it. Matt taught himself how to code and built a functioning website using Dreamweaver. He then thought about taking his knowledge of building a website to create his own ecommerce store, but he had one problem, he didn't have a product to sell. Matt approached a business that sold tanning lotions and started selling their product through his ecommerce store. This worked out fairly well, and he ended up selling the website to the business he sourced the products from. That was twenty years ago. Currently, he's the founder and CEO of Aurion Digital, a group of e-commerce services companies dedicated to helping companies grow online. He's also an e-commerce coach, serial entrepreneur, an avid podcaster, and a pastor. The 7-Step Guide to Scale and Sell Your Business Matt Edmundson has generated over $50,000,000+ in sales revenue through his combined e-commerce ventures. He's set up, built, sold, or failed at 19 e-commerce websites in various forms, and has decades of global experience in the world of e-commerce. All his years of mastering the world of e-commerce has helped him devise a 7-step guide to help scale and sell businesses. Here are the seven steps: Step 1, The Story: Before you start your business ask yourself what your brand is all about. Do a thorough research of the market you're entering, and figure out how you plan to position yourself. Step 2, The Product: Make sure that you understand the product you're trying to sell before you hit the market. Anticipate the demand for the product you're trying to create or sell, and ensure that you're knowledgeable enough to be an expert in that field. Step 3, The Website: Research on which platform fits your needs the best and create a website to start selling your product. Step 4, Marketing: Figure out your go-to strategy for digital marketing and create a presence on platforms that your target audience are the most active on. Step 5, Engagement: This stage focuses on how you can maximize your investment by generating more value out of your leads. How do you get a customer to keep coming back to your brand? It basically talks about how businesses can formulate a strategy to continue selling to their existing customers. Step 6, Customer Experience: One of the most important steps that most big businesses struggle with. In this stage, Matt talks about all the tiny actions that create a lasting impression on customers, and the steps that businesses can take to elevate their customers' shopping experience. Step 7, Growth: In this stage, Matt shares how businesses can scale and repeat the success they received from the previous six stages to grow their business. He deep dives into what gives successful businesses the cutting edge over the rest in the market. How Livestreaming Can Help You Stand Out Live Streaming is a great way for brands to engage with customers in real-time. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow businesses to engage with a live audience and are becoming increasingly popular platforms for brands to introduce their new collections, or even address their audience about upcoming news. Matt Edmundson's number 1 advice to e-commerce businesses this year is to pay attention to live streaming, and find a way to incorporate it with their website. He believes this could be one of the best ways for brands to stand out in the near future. Live streaming allows business owners to turn their own business into a QVC kind of set up, and has great potential to not only help businesses increase their sales but to also positively impact their engagement. That's all for this episode of The Ecom Show. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check out all our previous ones by clicking here. Follow Matt Edmundson Website: https://www.mattedmundson.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattedmundson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattedmundson/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/mattedmundson Visit Aurion Digital: https://auriondigital.com/ Follow Daniel Budai LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Newsletter https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup The Ecom Show https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast
#122 Alex Bortoluzzi From Krakatoa: How to Build an Apparel Brand From Scratch Hey Budai Nation, Welcome to The Ecom Show! A place where you can discover a new e-com story each Thursday. This podcast is sponsored by Budai Media, a growing retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses boost their sales with email and SMS marketing. This week, chief underwear specialist, Alex Bortoluzzi, will be joining our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai. Alex will be getting personal about his personal wear brand Krakatoa's story. Krakatoa is a unique men's underwear brand that's won over customers with its honest approach and attention to detail. Tune in to learn more about: ✅ How Alex Founded Krakatoa ✅ How to Win Over Customers Without Discounts ✅ 4 Product Design Takeaways From Krakatoa How Alex Founded Krakatoa Alex's entrepreneurial journey began after he left college. He studied computer science in Brazil and then got a job working with computer graphics back in the 80s. He was always inclined toward computers, and he started two companies early in his career. First, he had a motion graphics and advertising and broadcasting company. Needing a new challenge, he relocated to the USA and searched for game designing jobs. He worked with several big gaming companies like Treyarch and Activision and even ventured out on his own to create mobile games from scratch. However, Alex wanted a change from the tech industry and was looking for a fresh project to dive into. He'd always struggled with finding the perfect pair of underwear and realized there was space for innovation in the men's personal wear industry. He began researching patterns, fabrics, and the male anatomy and eventually started Krakatoa. Krakatoa is named after the world's most powerful volcano that's located in Indonesia. Alex connected with the name because he felt that his underwear line was the perfect blend between power and beauty, and he believed that a name that connects with eruptions and loud noises would resonate with his male audience. Alex built Krakatoa without any prior experience in the fashion industry. He put a lot of work into finding what the existing market was lacking and created a superior product by testing out various fabrics, cuts, and styles with multiple prototypes. He's majorly a one-man show that's done everything from creating the website to photographing his products. He's very personally involved in the brand's story and growth which has helped him create a strong bond with all his customers. How to Win Over Customers Without Discounts Krakatoa is a unique brand because they don't use discounts or sales to attract customers. Alex has always believed in creating a strong brand identity and feels that his community might feel cheated if they see the products they've bought go on a clearance sale just a few months after their purchase. This is why he keeps his pricing consistent. Alex found his target audience and has designed all his marketing to fit what resonates with them the best. He realized that his core audience were men between the age of 30-60 year old. Everything from his product design to the messaging he uses in his ads and emails is catered to them. He developed his product after testing other underwear from brands across the world. Alex approached different manufacturers from different parts of the world and created various samples before landing up with the perfect prototype for his product. His goal from the start has been to create underwear that delivers the ultimate level of comfort. His collection consists of solid colors with minimal print because he's catering to an older audience. His brand's advertising and tone of voice have always been educational to highlight the advantages of shifting to Krakatoa in a straightforward manner, and it's worked really well for him because he now has a community of loyal customers. He frequently engages with this community through weekly email campaigns that he works on himself. While Krakatoa doesn't offer discounts, their products are very competitively priced, which attracts customers all year round. The secret behind Alex's success with Krakatoa is his attention to detail and commitment to his brand. He's consistently working towards improving his product and is very personally involved in most aspects of its growth. The way to create a successful brand without relying too much on discounts is through knowing your target audience and personalizing everything to build strong brand loyalty. 4 Product Design Takeaways From Krakatoa As we mentioned earlier, Alex has a great eye for detail. He's managed to successfully create a men's underwear brand without any prior knowledge or professional experience in the garment industry. This has been possible only through thorough research and unwavering interest in wanting to improve. Here are four product design takeaways from Krakatoa that give it the cutting edge needed to thrive in the fashion industry: Experimentation: Alex isn't afraid to use products that his competitors haven't tried. He also prioritizes the quality of fabrics over their price. Product testing: Alex ensures that he personally tests out every new style or fabric that he's planning to launch. You're your first customer; if you're not satisfied with your product, no one else would be. He also gifts samples to people around him to get honest feedback on his products from people across different body shapes. Research: Alex makes it a point to consistently update himself with whatever's new and trending in the market. He not only researches his competitors but also keeps an eye out for new fabrics, styles, and designs to innovate and inspire his new collections. Feedback: Alex makes it a point to incorporate the feedback he receives from customers. His main goal is to solve the problem of finding comfortable underwear for men, and he's extremely open to feedback that can help him improve Krakatoa. For instance, he redesigned the underwear pouch in his upcoming collection as some customers requested roomier underwear. That's all for this week's episode of The Ecom Show. Make sure to check out Krakatoa. To learn more about Alex, follow him on LinkedIn. Thanks for tuning in! We release new episodes every Thursday. Meanwhile, if you feel like listening to some of our other podcast episodes, click here.
#121 Todd: This Brand Makes Millions By Helping People Breathe Better Running a business is stressful, Todd Steinberg, the guest of this episode of The Ecom Show is in the business of helping people deal with their stress by helping them breathe better. His business, Komuso, kills anxiety one necklace at a time. Komuso has created a huge splash in the health and wellness industry with their wearable breathing tool that's designed to help individuals cope with their anxiety. In this episode, our founder and podcast host Daniel Budai interviews the co-founder of Komuso, Todd Steinberg, about his journey to building a million dollar brand in the health and wellness industry. Tune in to this episode to learn more about:
#120 Sarah Vezina: How Octopied Mind Grow Their Sales 3X Each Year Hey Budai Nation! Welcome to The Ecom Show, your go-to weekly podcast series for inspiring e-commerce success stories. This week's episode is about Sarah Vezina, the co-founder of the Canadian apparel brand Octopied Mind. Sarah Vezina got the idea of starting Octopied Mind while working at Shopify. Octopied Mind is a gender-inclusive, ethical apparel brand that creates hand-drawn designs in small batches. In this episode, Sarah shares the story of how this fastly growing apparel brand has managed to grow its sales revenue by 3X each year. Tune in to this episode to learn more about: ✅ Sarah's Journey From Shopify To Octopied Mind ✅ The Secret Behind Octopied Mind's Steady Growth ✅ Sarah's #1 Advice For Entrepreneurs Sarah's Journey From Shopify To Octopied Mind Sarah dived straight into the world of e-commerce by landing a job at Shopify. She worked at Shopify for a little over a year, and during that time, she had the chance to speak with hundreds of business owners daily. This motivated her to research and start her own entrepreneurial journey. Shopify has an extremely nurturing culture that's perfect for growing entrepreneurs. While Sarah worked at Shopify, she had access to a free website, an extensive resource library to learn, and an allowance of $500 each year to pursue her entrepreneurial journey. She used these resources to start Octopied Mind, and within a year itself, she was able to pursue her vision full time. Sarah co-founded Octopied Mind with her best friend, Jill Davis. Their apparel brand focuses on creating meaningful conversations around mental health through hand-drawn art on apparel. Their vision has been to create a community built on acceptance and radical self-responsibility, which they've been able to successfully achieve and grow since their inception in 2018. The Secret Behind Octopied Mind's Steady Growth Octopied Mind started as a homegrown venture started by two best friends. Sarah and Jill would create hand-drawn art on preloved clothing items for each other and wear them to parties and other events. They noticed a lot of positive comments and decided to test selling these graphic shirts in small batches to friends and family. Their word-of-mouth marketing spread like wildfire, and this motivated them to go all in and launch their e-commerce store through Shopify. Octopied Mind is now celebrating four years. They've grown their sales revenue by 3x yearly and are now available in multiple countries. Sarah attributes most of this success to their Facebook ad marketing. Facebook marketing has helped them target customers in different parts of the world and helped them discover new markets. They also have an extremely high returning customer rate of 30%, which they've been able to maintain by creating a community around their brand. Octopied Mind has several automated email marketing flows that they set up using Klaviyo; these flows alone help them generate $30,000 revenue each month. Apart from this, they've also successfully created a community through their general brand ethos. At its core, Octopied Mind is creating a space for individuals to speak about mental health and positivity through their gender-fluid clothing line. Their commitment to providing fair wages to their workers, ethically producing their shirts in small batches, and attention to detail regarding quality, size, and fit is what's helped them resonate with their customers. In addition, Sarah and Jill actively share their journey with their community through social media. Sarah's #1 Advice For Entrepreneurs Sarah's number one advice for entrepreneurs just starting is to focus on building a website and getting it up and running. "Don't wait for the perfect website to go live. You can always make changes to keep improving your website once you go live, but it takes time to build a mailing list and get subscribers. Even a simple website is a great start because it allows you to start collecting data." Her #1 advice for existing business owners is to spend more time working on your business rather than in your business. "If you're spending too many hours in your business, you need to find somebody and delegate that to them. The faster you delegate, the faster you can just get back to working on your business, and that's where you see growth. That's where you see sales." Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Ecom Show. Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's YouTube Daniel's Newsletter
#119 Tyler McCourt: Wearable NFTs and eCommerce Have you hopped onto the NFT bandwagon yet? If not, would the idea of being able to wear your NFT persuade you to purchase one? Today's episode is all about what happens when the internet spills over into the real world. We've got Tyler McCourt, the founder of Dott, here with us today to uncover the world of wearable NFTs. Dott is an e-commerce company that enables you to create wearable merchandise using the NFTs and GIFs you own. It was founded by Tyler McCourt, who's a serial e-commerce entrepreneur and visionary. This episode is sponsored by Budai Media. Budai Media is a retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce stores increase their customers lifetime value through the power of email and SMS marketing. This episode of The Ecom Show talks about: ✅ Tyler's Journey As A Serial Entrepreneur ✅ The Easiest Way To Start A Customized Apparel Store ✅ NFTs And E-commerce Tyler's Journey as a Serial Entrepreneur Tyler double majored in college in marketing information systems and finance—and landed straight into a corporate desk job. Realizing that he wasn't passionate about a career in corporate, he shifted gears and found himself working with a small apparel company that designed clothes for wrestlers. Working there with a small team of just 5 employees helped him discover his interest in e-commerce and marketing technologies, and he left soon after to start his own venture. Tyler and a friend of his started a venture called Emblem Athletic, where they helped e-commerce apparel stores automate their systems. They were able to grow this to generate a steady 7-figure revenue in a couple of years, and Tyler then proceeded to sell his shares back to his co-founder to pursue other ventures. After exiting this space, Tyler pursued his vision of creating wearable NFTs and GIFs and launched his latest venture, Dott. He also launched Teamtime, a fully custom apparel store. The Easiest Way to Start a Customized Apparel Store Starting your own online e-commerce brand can be difficult when you don't have a big team. Between production, design, inventory management, marketing, sales, and accounting, there are a dozen different hats entrepreneurs need to wear to get the show-up and running. Tyler McCourt's latest venture, Teamtime, helps individuals get started with zero upfront costs. It gives users access to a free online store and custom designs. All they need to do is sign-up and fill out a form. Users can even outsource the logistics to Teamtime, as they offer free shipping. In short, Teamtime lets users build a fully custom, automated storefront with personal team designers and unlimited customization options. How do they achieve these goals? They use a combination of developers, designers, artificial intelligence, and Shopify to create your store and products. This enables them to quickly provide you with a store with up to 10 products. They're building a massive library of editable templates and an application that allows users to create their basic templatized custom design; users can then directly speak with the in-house designers to modify their products till they're satisfied. All of this is connected to Shopify using APIs, making it easy to set up and edit the store as the brand scales. NFTs and eCommerce NFTs have been taking the world by storm. It's already fusing technology, finance, and art together. Could it also find its place in the world of the apparel industry? Well, it already has! Tyler came up with this idea in college after attending several music festivals; he'd always notice people around him wearing cool shirts, which got him wondering as to why you couldn't wear a GIF. He started looking into products that could do the same, and the closest he came to this were bulky LED tee shirts. He saw an opportunity to create a new product that could reinvent wearable technology, but he just didn't have the funds to start developing it. However, he noticed the rising popularity of NFTs after he cashed out of Emblem Athletic, and he jumped at the opportunity to bring his old idea to life. That's how Dott was born. Dott is an e-commerce apparel store that connects with your wallet and allows you to create a personalized item of clothing with your NFT or GIF on it. Dott gives you the ability to wear your NFT out and then show off your NFT in a way that you couldn't before. It's also great for artists because they're able to promote the NFT in a way that they couldn't before. Dott is changing the way that customized e-commerce apparel stores work, and it could open a huge opportunity for artists, designers, and other NFT enthusiasts looking to fuse NFTs with a physical wearable product. Listen to this episode of The Ecom Show to learn more about Dott and the world of wearable NFTs. It also contains information on the best automation tools and systems e-commerce stores can use to streamline their operations. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out episode 96 of The Ecom Show to know more about another extremely innovative company called Ketonia. See you again next Thursday! Links for the companies and people mentioned in this podcast: Follow Tyler McCourt https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-mccourt/ Visit Dott https://weardott.com/ Visit Teamtime https://teamtime.shop/ Follow Daniel Budai LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Newsletter https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup The Ecom Show https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast
#118 Steve Dennis - Retail vs. eCommerce Hey Budai Nation! Welcome to episode 118 of The Ecom Show. This episode is a showdown between the world of retail and e-commerce. We've even got a celebrity guest on board to make things more interesting. We're beyond thrilled to share that the bestselling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, Steve Dennis, will be joining our founder and podcast host, Daniel Budai, for this incredibly stimulating and insightful conversation about the future of shopping in a rapidly evolving digital world. So, listen in to learn more about: ✅ Professional Journey of Steve Dennis ✅ #1 Reason Why Retail Businesses Fail ✅ Takeaways From Successful Retail Businesses ✅ Retail vs. eCommerce Professional Journey of Steve Dennis Steve Dennis is a consultant, keynote speaker, and author specializing in retail and innovation. He made a name for himself in the retail space after climbing up the corporate ladder and becoming a senior executive at two major Fortune 500 retailers. He's also the writer of the best-selling book—Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. He is also an esteemed consultant whose thoughts on the future of shopping are frequently shared in his role as a Forbes Senior Contributor. Let's backtrack to the beginning, though. Steve initially set out to pursue an education in law. However, he changed course after starting a small business with marketing guru Seth Godin during their junior year in college. Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Steve decided to pursue an education in business. After this, he started working for a big consulting firm where he developed a special interest in food companies, so he got a job working in retail for “Sears, Roebuck and Company” in Chicago. Ever since, he's continued to stay in the world of retail. Fascinated by consumer psychology, Steve has made a flourishing career for himself in the retail industry with over 30+ years of experience. He's currently the president of Sageberry Consulting, a strategic advisory firm that provides consulting services to the retail, fashion, and luxury industries. He's even got his own podcast called Remarkable Retail. #1 Reason Why Retail Businesses Fail We've shifted to a more digitally connected world which has greatly affected consumer behavior and the way we shop. In the past, consumers were used to going to a physical store, and you know, having to gather information largely from salespeople, or their friends, or maybe a magazine, but you know, very traditional media, to see what was available. This meant that consumers had to physically run around if they wanted to explore a lot of choices. But over the last 15 or 20 years, we've shifted to this world of abundance where there are almost infinite choices at the tip of our fingers. So, in a world of this abundance of choice, the abundance of information to be merely very good is no longer enough. Retail businesses need to be remarkable to survive. The number one reason for retail businesses failing is mediocrity. In other words, businesses that don't have a competitive edge or differentiating factor that makes them stand out often fail to succeed. This edge comes from offering competitive pricing, exceptional customer service, understanding the blend between the retail and digital world, and using it to enhance consumer interactions. Businesses that fail to actualize this and evolve are often stuck in the boring middle and lead to failure. Takeaways From Successful Retail Businesses There are a lot of wildly successful brands that are almost synonymous with the word retail. Here are some quick takeaways and learnings that Steve Dennis shared from observing these real-life retail champions: Apple: One of the most aspirational and popular technology brands in the market, Apple has succeeded by selling a lifestyle rather than a single product. They've built an entire community around their brand ethos, which shows how important community building is; and they provide excellent customer service, which shows the value of cultivating a nurturing customer experience. Restoration Hardware: They're not a very digitally driven company, but the lesson from them is to focus on solving problems for a niche. Restoration Hardware is really focused on a fairly narrow set of customers, and they try to meet their needs in a very direct way. This is one of the key ways to be remarkable. When a business can understand their customer and give them what they value, they're able to retain customers even if they're charging a premium price. Target: They're one of those brands that beautifully blend digital and physical in a much more profound way. Not only have they improved their e-commerce capabilities, but they've also recognized that there's really no such thing as the e-commerce channel and the brick-and-mortar channel. It's all just shopping. So, their focus has always been on how to best take care of the customer across a spectrum of needs and a spectrum of customer journeys. One of the main learnings from them is to try and blend both retail and digital as your business grows. This brings us to the last part of our discussion. Retail vs. eCommerce A lot of people say that the future of shopping is e-commerce and that retail is dying. This is only half true. While e-commerce and digital are the future, retail is far from dead! People still love the convenience and instant gratification that comes with shopping from physical stores. The customer experience that's provided through live shopping cannot be entirely replaced through e-commerce which is why both are essential for a business to grow. So, instead of focusing on e-commerce vs. retail, businesses should be asking how e-commerce and retail can work together to enhance the customer's shopping experience. Customer acquisition becomes challenging after a digitally native brand grows to a certain extent. Post a certain mark; businesses find it difficult to find new customers, which is where entering into retail and physical stores can help them grow further. Similarly, purely offline businesses are limited to smaller market sizes. Going online opens up the door to a much wider geographic market and makes it easier for customers to find exactly what they want. We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show. You can check out some of our previous episodes if you'd like to learn more about e-commerce. Thanks for tuning in. See you again next Thursday! Follow Steve Dennis: Steve's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenpdennis/ Steve's Website: https://stevenpdennis.com/ Steve's Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenpdennis The Remarkable Retail Book: https://stevenpdennis.com/remarkable-retail/ The Remarkable Retail Podcast: https://stevenpdennis.com/podcast/ Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Daniel's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Daniel's Newsletter: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup The Ecom Show: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast
#117 JB Kellogg: These Tips Have Helped Over 20,000 Small Businesses Grow Hello Budai Nation! Today's episode of The Ecom Show is for all the small business owners out there. Running a small business is not an easy task; there are always 360 different things you need to do and 360 different directions you're being pulled in. Which is why, we've got the co-founder of Marketing 360 here to give us his expert advice on helping small businesses scale. JB Kellogg is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Madwire, a tech company that's helped over 20,000 SMBs grow with this singular tech platform called Marketing 360. He founded Madwire when he was just 28 years old. In this episode, JB Kellogg and our founder and CEO, Daniel Budai, will share business tips, real-life success stories, and learning experiences. So, tune in and learn more about: ✅ JB Kellogg's Entrepreneurial Journey ✅ #1 Advice For Small Business Owners ✅ The Most Unique Thing About Madwire's Company Culture ✅ One Mistake Every Small Business Should Avoid Before we jump right in, we'd like to give a quick shout-out to Raj, the CEO of Bloomreach. He also runs a tech platform that helps small businesses grow. Make sure to check out episode 62 of The Ecom Show for some additional tips on scaling a small business. Let's dig in. JB Kellogg's Entrepreneurial Journey Like every good success story, JB Kellogg's journey starts with a humble beginning. As a young college student with some extra time on his hands, JB Kellogg was on the lookout for new learning opportunities. This is what drove him to approach a travel magazine asking for a job opportunity. The magazine needed a website, so JB Kellogg jumped at the opportunity and taught himself everything he needed to know to build a website. This is where he got his first taste of working in the digital world. He continued learning more about digital marketing and running ads and finally took a gamble by starting Madwire. In 2009, JB Kellogg teamed up with his father to start Madwire. A tech company that offered businesses help to grow. He founded Madwire when he was 28 years old and helped grow the company to a run-rate of over 100M+ in revenue and 500+ employees in under 10 years. Madwire is technically really one company, but they have a number of brands. Marketing 360 is their biggest brand, which enables small businesses to set up an account that takes care of all their business needs under one umbrella. They can have everything from managing their leads and customers with the CRM to sending emails to managing social media and beyond, so everything they need to manage and grow their business can be done through one login. However, a lot of these small businesses don't have time to do their own marketing or the resources to keep hiring experts to help them figure it out. This is why Madwire also offers additional services where businesses can hire expert consultants to help them with executing projects as well. #1 Advice For Small Business Owners We asked JB Kellogg what's the number one advice he would give to small business owners in 2022. Here's what he had to share: “I think the most important thing to think about is, what is the world going to look like in the next two to three years for your particular industry. And, you know, put a lot of thought and counsel into that, you know, get feedback from other people and then try to develop, you know, your vision for the next three years.” Once you've figured that out, you need to reverse engineer your way to build a strategy that helps you reach your mission. Basically, businesses need to figure out how their industry will evolve and find ways to adapt to these changes. This involves researching and adopting new systems and processes to help you achieve your goals. So if you're in e-commerce, you need to ask yourself, what are the new platforms or processes I can work on to improve my payment process? Or, how can I use AI to provide my customers with a better experience? This is essential because if you're not thinking of the future, you will get passed up. The Most Unique Thing About Madwire's Company Culture Building a business with over 500+ employees teaches a man a thing or two about hiring and people management. We asked JB Kellogg to share the most unique thing that's helped him create an inclusive and positive work culture at Madwire. Here's what he said: “Madwire has always lived by the motto, execution excellence. And what this means is that you don't, you know, try to make the same mistake twice; it doesn't mean that you're perfect. But it means that you're constantly trying to get better. And it also means you step outside of that job description.” So, if there's a piece of trash in the hallway, when you're walking down the hall, pick it up, if the sink is messy, clean it up, if your neighbor's phone's ringing, answer it, and don't let it go to voicemail just because it's out of the job description. Execution excellence basically fights the mindset that convinces employees to be married to their job descriptions. In the early days, Madwire didn't even have job descriptions! Everybody's description was the same, which was execution excellence with whatever is put before you. The idea was to hire people that are able to pivot and help the company scale with the same growth-minded attitude. One Mistake Every Small Business Should Avoid Every business owner goes through tough phases that teach them valuable lessons in the journey of entrepreneurship. JB Kellogg shared that the hardest thing that he learned was the realization of when to let people go. Firing people is never easy, especially when you're new to building a team. You want to give people enough opportunities, but it's important to realize the cost of these opportunities. Give your team members an opportunity, coach them, and give them everything you can. But also look at their attitude, effort, and performance. If a team member's performance is weak, but their attitude and effort are strong, keep them on a long leash and let them learn and improve. It's always better to have a team member with the right kind of attitude than a well-performing team member with a poor work attitude. It's best to let employees go when you notice a poor work attitude that matches a lack of interest in their overall job. These were some of the most interesting highlights from today's episode of The Ecom Show. Thanks for tuning in! See you again next Thursday. Click on the links below to follow and learn more about JB Kellogg and his venture Madwire: Madwire JB Kellogg's LinkedIN JB Kellogg's Website JB Kellogg's Youtube Click on the links below to follow and learn more about Daniel Budai: Daniel's Youtube Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's Facebook Click on the link below to check out some of our previous episodes: The Ecom Show
#106 Adam McDonald: 3 Things Every E-Com Business Needs For Success Hello Budai Nation! Your favorite e-commerce podcast is back with a brand new episode on how to create a successful e-com brand. This week we've got serial entrepreneur/growth strategist/angel investor/e-commerce genius Adam McDonald, with our founder and podcast host, Daniel Budai. Adam has successfully sold 4 businesses and is now investing in several e-commerce projects. His achievements include building the largest sport surface advertising company in Australia, producing a TV show that he sold to Disney, building Australia's largest outdoor event company, and investing in several e-commerce projects. In this episode, Adam will reveal the 3 things that every e-com business needs for success! So, tune in to The Ecom Show to find out more about: ✔ Adam's Entrepreneurial Journey ✔ How To Grow Your Business Without Returning Customers ✔ How To Improve Your Customer Experience ✔How To Nail Organic Marketing Adam's Entrepreneurial Journey Adam's been a serial entrepreneur throughout his life. He first dabbled into selling products online way back in the early 2000s by reselling American shampoo and conditioners in Australia. He did this for a while before the company expanded and decided to take their selling in-house. You couldn't really call this e-commerce, though—it was more of an online brochure to sell the products to other brick-and-mortar stores in Australia. Things changed when Adam received a call for help from his dad. Adam's father had run into some taxation issues, which led to him having to sell the business. Adam stepped in and managed to find his father a buyer who owned a big sports advertising agency. As a part of the contract, Adam worked with the buyer to revive the business. However, this contract was short-lived because Adam discovered that the buyer was involved in wrongful business practices and bought back his dad's business and all the equipment. He then continued growing the venture for the next 3-4 years. He managed to successfully grow it to an 8-figure valuation. He used his wealth from this venture to produce a TV show, which was acquired by ESPN. Since then, Adam has had a successful and colorful business journey, which ranges from building Australia's largest event company centered around fun to acquiring a physical pet collar business and growing it online. He's currently freelancing as a growth strategist, investing in several e-commerce projects, and building his own picnic rug e-commerce store. Let's move on to discuss the three things that have helped him find success in all these different ventures. How To Grow Your Business Without Returning Customers CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) and returning customers are pivotal in growing a sustainable marketing plan for your e-commerce brand. It's what ensures that your brand can survive and scale without solely depending on ad spends. But, what do you do if your product's lifecycle is too long to have returning customers? Adam faced this problem with his pet collar business, where his products often outlived the pets themselves! However, he discovered a great alternative to returning customers: referrals! If you're selling a product that doesn't have the scope of generating returning customers, focus your energy on converting your existing customers into brand advocates! When you provide an excellent customer experience, your customers are inclined to talk about your brand, which leads to organic word of mouth. Both returning customers and brand advocates have one thing in common; they need to be happy customers first! Customers will only trust your brand enough to keep purchasing or advocating for you if they are satisfied. So, focus on your customer journey, engagement, and referral programs to create a strong base of brand advocates. You know your brand is on the right path when your customers are willing to sell your product for you! How To Improve Your Customer Experience The one thing that can help every business become a brand is a genuinely strong network of brand advocates, which only comes when a business can provide a good customer experience. Between new technology, changing customer preferences, emerging trends, and competition, businesses have to constantly work on redefining their customer journey and experience to ensure that their customers are satisfied. Adam strongly advises every business owner to conduct a self-audit of their brand to help them consistently improve. He diligently orders through his own business to experience everything from the user experience on the website, to entering the flows, to getting the delivery. This activity helps him discover what needs to be tweaked. After one such audit, Adam realized that their shipping partner provided a terrible delivery experience; this pushed him to find a more reliable shipping service and helped him improve his customer journey. Conducting a self-audit even once every quarter can help business owners understand their customers' pain points better! Only if you go through everything will you realize what can annoy your customers. How To Nail Organic Marketing At the start of the podcast, we touched upon building a sustainable marketing plan for your e-commerce brand. This basically refers to finding organic ways to grow a brand. Anyone can generate 10 million in sales revenue when they're pouring in 8 million on ad spends. The skill is in being able to grow your business using a mix of organic and paid marketing efforts. This brings us to the third thing every business needs to succeed- a community. If you can build a community around your product, your organic side of things gets looked after. Not only because you end up with a big database, but because you have the power to engage with them. Your community can help you create user-generated content, get ideas on product development, and much more. The key to building a big community lies in giving. You must keep adding value to your customers' lives to earn that trust and build a community. Having customers sign up to your email list isn't enough. You need to leverage your email list to engage with your customers and work towards creating that sense of community. On that note, we'll wrap up this episode of The Ecom Show! If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow Adam, and check out his website for more stories to help you grow your e-commerce brand. Thanks for tuning in; we'll see you again next Thursday! Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's Facebook
#115 Rakefet: Outsource Your Marketing With Mayple This podcast is about marketing, but it isn't about marketing techniques, SEO, paid ads, or any of that other technical stuff. Instead, it's about how you can and should outsource your marketing. Today, we've got Rakefet, the CMO of Mayple, to talk to us about the easiest way to grow your business. Mayple is a vetted professional marketplace that connects marketing experts with businesses looking to build their brands. Tune in to this episode to hear our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai and Rakefet discuss: ✅ Rakefet's Journey With Marketing ✅ How To Hire The Right Talent ✅ Mayple Vs. Other Gig Marketplaces So let's jump right in! Rakefet's Journey With Marketing Rakefet has always been in the field of marketing. In fact, prior to Mayple, she worked as a marketing consultant for over eight years. She's assisted over 100+ CEOs, CMOs, and business managers with their business and marketing strategies. In addition, she's worked with various consulting firms and helped both B2B and B2C businesses grow with her strategies. However, Rakefet soon realized that building a strategy is only half the job. It's usually the execution phase that companies struggle with. She came across Mayple and realized that this business could help bridge that gap between planning and executing. Three and a half years ago, Rakefet took a leap and joined Mayple; the rest is simply history. Mayple began with the mission of solving all the trust issues that come with working in the marketing industry. But, they soon realized that this was a very broad statement to follow. So, they focused on one of the most common pain points: building a brand's strategy. Mayple connects businesses with marketing experts that build brand strategies and facilitates the team a business would require to execute this to achieve their desired result. They do all the groundwork so that businesses are able to find the perfect expert with the help of a simple click. How To Hire The Right Talent Marketing is a complex field. There are a dozen different platforms, all kinds of data, and a million other things to do, which is why it's never a one-person job. Businesses that want to grow need to hire a team and get an extra set of hands to help them create and execute strategies flawlessly and, most importantly, to keep up with ever-changing algorithms and trends. As a business owner, your execution is based entirely on the people you work with, and finding the right kind of people isn't the easiest of jobs. The industry is fragmented; with everyone claiming to be the best freelancer, the best agency, or the perfect candidate out of the lot, it becomes difficult to find the right fit. Especially because there's nothing stopping people from calling themselves an expert. And unfortunately, this leads to many businesses seeing bad results and losing trust in the marketing field. Conversely, the vetting process isn't easy on candidates either. Around 40% of anyone's time when you're a freelancer or run an agency goes into managing the account and maintaining your business rather than doing their professional work. So, there are a lot of pains for the marketer side as well. Vetting is the most critical process of hiring or finding work. Both professionals and businesses should weigh and assess their opportunities before starting any new project. A robust vetting process can help reduce the number of negative experiences and also streamline work processes. However, vetting can take time and cost businesses a lot of money. Mayple vets the experts so that businesses can get straight to work. Mayple Vs. Other Gig Marketplaces There are plenty of websites that connect businesses with freelancers and experts to help get the job done. What's so special about Mayple, and how is it different from platforms like Upwork or Fiverr? Platforms like LinkedIn, Upwork, and Fiverr connect businesses with freelancers or agencies, but the onus of vetting their work still lies on the business. Mayple isn't an open platform. They have a network of only 600 expert professionals. This is because they've taken the time and energy to interview, assess, and personally handpick the best of the best in marketing. Mayple not only offers a curated list of highly trusted and qualified professionals, but also guarantees satisfaction by acting as an intermediary between a business and the professional. Their alliance guarantees that businesses benefit from the strategies that professionals create. Mayple also has a vast network of experts from different fields of marketing, providing businesses with an agency-like roster to horizontally expand their marketing efforts in a seamless fashion. Interested in learning more about Mayple? Click here to check out their website. You can also follow Rakefet on LinkedIn by clicking here. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Ecom Show! We come out with new episodes every Thursday. Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's Facebook
#114 Joey Coleman: Build Lifetime Customer Loyalty In 100 Days We're back, and we're in conversation with Joey Coleman, the famous author of the bestselling novel "Never Lose A Customer Again." Behind every successful brand, there's an army of loyal customers, and Joey Coleman is an expert when it comes to turning any sale into lifelong loyalty. Joey has been helping businesses build customer loyalty for almost 20 years now. He's a bestselling writer, teacher, advisor, and incredible speaker. Tune in to this episode of The Ecom Show to hear Daniel Budai and Joey talk about: ✔️ Joey Coleman's Eclectic Career Path ✔️ The 8 Phases of A Customer Journey ✔️How to Analyze Customer Feedback Joey Coleman's Eclectic Career Path Joey had a unique career path. He studied international and national security law in college and went on to serve the nation by working in the United States Secret Service. He also worked in the Central Intelligence Agency and eventually made his way up to serving as counsel to the US president himself. From working as a salesperson to a criminal defense lawyer to teaching in a postgraduate class and eventually starting his own ad agency, Joey's worn several career hats over the years. But what's interesting is that he found a common thread that connected the experiences he gathered from all his jobs over the years. And the thread that connects all of them is, in each of those positions, the way you advanced or were rewarded was by having a keen understanding of the human condition. Why do humans do the things they do? What can we do to convince them or persuade them or encourage them to do the things we'd like them to do? And so as all of those experiences and kind of different career paths meld that together. Joey found himself really focusing on human psychology as it related in a business context to customers. He applied this to his own ad agency and began researching how he could help his clients retain the customers he worked so hard to acquire for them. This search led him on a decade-long journey in uncovering why customers leave and what can be done to convince them to stay. This search has formed the foundations for his book, business consulting, and speeches over the years, and he's now a well-renowned customer retention expert. The 8 Phases of A Customer Journey In Joey's bestselling book, "Never Lose A Customer Again," he talks about the 8 phases of a customer journey. These phases show businesses how they can convert any customer into a lifetime buyer. Here's a quick run-through of these phases and how they relate back to e-commerce: 1. Assess: This is when a prospect is assessing whether or not they want to become a customer. In common parlance, we think of this as marketing and sales. They're looking at your website and your marketing materials; they're in some sales conversations with you. They're in the decision-making process to figure out if they want to become a customer. What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase? E-commerce businesses need to ensure that their website checks all the boxes a customer would look for. Have ample reviews, product information, a variety of photos, links to social media, and helpful resources to make your customer feel comfortable with your website. 2. Admit: This is when a prospect admits that they have a problem or a need that they think you can help them solve. They sign on the dotted line, and they hand over their hard-earned cash. This is day one of the first 100 days process. What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase? This is where customers are on your checkout page. E-commerce businesses need to focus on providing an easy checkout process. This means giving customers a choice to sign up through social media, providing guest checkout, and making sure there are enough payment options available. 3. Affirm: In common parlance, we call this buyer's remorse, where they begin to doubt the decision that they just made to work with you. Now in most businesses, we're celebrating because we got a new client, we're really happy. Meanwhile, at the client's office or at the customer's home, they're saying, Ooh, did I make the right purchase? I was looking at a couple of options. And I chose this one. But what if it's not right? Well, I'd be able to get my money back when I get in trouble. How will I do this? And that difference in our emotional high in the customer's emotional low or uncertainty. If we don't address that, we're in real trouble. What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase? This phase involves keeping customers in the loop! It involves sending out order confirmations and shipping updates. 4. Activate: This is the first real moment of truth when they receive the product. We want to energize the relationship. We want to let them know that doing business with us is going to be unlike any business experience they've ever had. What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase? In this phase, e-commerce businesses need to start thinking of ways to engage with customers who have just received their products. 5. Acclimate: This is the phase where most businesses lose their customers. In the acclimate phase, our job is to hold our customers' hands to help them acclimate to our way of doing business to get used to our way of doing business. What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase? Find ways to make sure that customers are actually using the product they bought. There are a bunch of ways to do this! You could send them an email showing them how to use your product or even personalize it by sending customers a survey asking them about why they made the purchase. 6. Accomplish: This phase is all about helping your customers accomplish the goal that they had in mind when they did business with you. What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase? In this phase, e-commerce stores need to check in with their customers and see that their customers are actually making the most out of their purchases. It involves sending out recommendations based on their previous purchase or simply asking for feedback. 7. Adopt: This phase is where the customer becomes loyal to us and only us; they're not looking at the competition; they've adopted the relationship, and they're committed to continuing to do business with us in the future. And if and only if we've gotten through all seven of those phases, do we get to the last phase, the final phase, the holy grail Nirvana, the thing everybody's striving for, which is the advocate phase! What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase? E-commerce businesses need to continue the conversation and build a long-lasting relationship with their customers by checking in and providing them with value-based content to keep them engaged. 8. Advocate: When customers are loyal enough to go and refer your brand to people around them. Most businesses want to jump to that phase eight right away. They want to get the customer signed up and then say, Well, who else do you know that might need our product? Or, hey, there are some other things we want to sell you and have you join up and participate in it as well. We need to pace ourselves and take time to work through each of the eight phases to earn the trust and comfort of the customer before asking them to become brand advocates! What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase? This phase comes naturally after a customer passes through the first seven phases! A returning customer is more likely to be a brand advocate as compared to a new customer. They're easier to get referrals from and to upsell. It's important for businesses to value these customers by treating them to discounts and special deals. How to Analyze Customer Feedback Customer feedback is crucial, but it's hard to learn from feedback when your customers aren't being 100% honest. Customers might find it difficult to be critical if they have a personal relationship with your brand. This is why it's important to create honest spaces for customers to freely communicate how they're feeling. Here are Joey's tips for getting customer feedback: Provide multiple channels for feedback: Each customer has their own personal preference when it comes to communicating, which is why businesses should have multiple avenues to receive customer feedback. Give your customers the freedom to choose from sending you a message, filling out a feedback form, or directly speaking to you via a scheduled phone call. Ask for feedback at various stages: This is super important if you have a product that works on a subscription-based model or you deliver an ongoing service. Ask for feedback when you're halfway through your transaction, and at the end, that way, your customers have the opportunity to see how you improve based on their recommendations. Acknowledge their feedback: A lot of companies ask for feedback but don't bother notifying the customers about their next steps. It's important to show your customers that you respect the time that they've taken out to help you improve. Give your customers credit where it's due, and thank them for taking the time to give you feedback. Be specific: Asking broad-ended questions can get confusing and vague. Instead, be specific and ask your customers exactly what you want to know. Giving your customers direction makes it easier for them to collect their thoughts. Mix it up: Don't go fishing for compliments! Feedback consists of both positive and negative observations that can help you better your business. Keep it balanced and make sure to ask your customers what they'd like you to continue doing, what they'd like you to stop doing, and what they'd like your brand to start doing. That's all for today's episode. Make sure to check out Joey Coleman's website if you'd like to learn more about him. You can also check out his book, "Never Lose A Customer Again," to learn more about the 8 phases of a customer journey. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out episode 109, where Shep Hyken shares some more golden nuggets on creating a memorable customer experience. You can also click here to check out the rest of our episodes. Thanks for tuning in! See you back here next Thursday.
#113 John Burgess: Start Dropshipping With $0 Everyone thinks it takes a LOT to start your own eCommerce business. And it does take a lot, a lot of effort, creativity, patience, and perseverance! But thanks to dropshipping and businesses like Shine On, what it doesn't take is a lot of money to get started! John Burgess, the head of global accounts at Shine On, joins our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, in an interesting conversation about starting your eCommerce journey through dropshipping. Shine On is a dropshipping store that specializes in producing personalized viral accessories. They empower new businesses across the globe with their easy-to-sell platform that allows individuals to start selling with zero upfront payments. Tune in to this episode to learn more about: ✔️ John's Background With Dropshipping. ✔️ How Shine On Empowers Businesses ✔️ Scaling A Dropshipping Business ✔️ Expanding Your E-Commerce Store With Dropshipping. John's Background With Dropshipping John Burgess heads the global accounts team at Shine, a leading dropshipping business that enables thousands of sellers across the globe with their personalized viral line of products and easy-to-use platform. But his journey didn't start there! In fact, his story begins in early 2006. Right out of college, and having learned textile design and merchandising, John decided to take a leap and pursue his interest in the internet to see how he could make a career out of it. John combined his knowledge of merchandising with his self-taught skills of C plus to start his own consulting/print shop business. John basically helped businesses build their own e-commerce stores using the platform BigCartel, and also doubled up his services by providing them with in-house print-on-demand service to create graphic tee shirts. Unfortunately, due to the market crash, John was forced to sell his business. He then got into digital marketing and learned the ropes of paid advertising, social media marketing, and building e-commerce stores and apps using platforms like Magento. This experience gave John the exposure to working with brands of different sizes, which helped fine-tune his knowledge of the eCommerce industry. John eventually got an offer to join Shine On and decided to jump ship after seeing the potential in dropshipping. When John joined Shine On, they were fairly new and operating with a small team of only five employees. They've now grown and have a team of over 130 employees, with factories in both the USA and Europe. How Shine On Empowers Businesses Shine On is a dropshipping platform that removes the biggest barrier to entering e-commerce: dealing with products! Sellers can simply create an account, connect it to their own website, or sell using the Shine On the marketplace and start selling in under thirty minutes. The idea behind Shine On is that there are zero upfront costs. With Shine On, you can start taking orders and pay only once it's time to fulfill them. Basically, Shine On takes care of the manufacturing and supply chain so that you can focus on brand building and selling. Shine On attracts two kinds of customers. The first are new customers that need help starting from scratch. The second is existing eCommerce businesses that want to expand their product line or sales revenue. Since Shine On offers personalized accessories, brands can customize items based on their niche and still cater to a whole new audience with virtually no upfront costs for testing a new market. Shine On has over 10,000 active sellers in the US market alone, and they've also expanded with a new factory in Europe. Shine On caters to sellers across the globe and has helped generate over $152,500,914 worth of products to date. Scaling A Dropshipping Business There are a lot of people that say that dropshipping is a dead end. However, the truth is far from it! Dropshipping is simply a choice of how you choose to handle your logistics as a business. How well your e-commerce store does still lies in your hand and on how well you treat your customers. Dropshipping is a very viable and profitable business model for those that focus on brand building. A big part of this involves picking the right kind of suppliers/platforms to help you dropship. You need to move away from Chinese suppliers like Alibaba and find localized platforms that offer reliable and timely fulfillment and quality of products. Another important thing is to establish your own USP through your service by doing all the things that a brand does to be successful. This involves building lifetime value and brand loyalty. Advertising platforms like Google, Tik-Tok, and Facebook all have advanced algorithms that see how legitimate your business is, which is why it's crucial for dropshippers to focus on brand building. Another good way of scaling your dropshipping business is through a horizontal approach. You've got the products and the content ready. Research how local markets in different countries operate and expand your reach to other countries with similar audiences. You might have to modify your strategy in terms of language and pricing, but expanding your store to different regions opens you up to a wider market. Dropshipping makes testing and expanding to a global market easy since there are no upfront inventory or product development costs. Expanding Your E-Commerce Store With Dropshipping A lot of eCommerce stores that are doing well and have their own products also often have a giant email list. And just like every store out there, they might have times where they don't have products to offer during specific occasions like Mother's Day, for example. Here's an example that John shared with us in this episode: "One of our clients runs a golf shop, and he's got a huge database of emails, but he had nothing to offer them for Mother's Day. So, we spoke to him and convinced him to run an experiment by adding a personalized gift from our dropshipping collection at Shine On. All he had to do was send out one promotional email. He sent out that email and made over $10,000 in revenue. Just like that, he was able to create a bump in his sales on a promotional day that otherwise didn't exist for his store." The beauty of this is that it requires very little effort for existing eCommerce brands because all they have to do is sign up on an app, add the product to their store, and run ads. Dropshipping allows existing eCommerce stores to tap into the seasonal market and widen their pool with minimal effort. It also makes it easier for existing e-commerce stores to test out new products. And with platforms like Shine On, e-commerce stores have the freedom and creativity to customize the product to fit their brand's aesthetic. Check out their website to learn more about dropshipping and the services that Shine On offers. If you liked this episode, make sure to subscribe because we release new episodes each Tuesday and Thursday. Meanwhile, you can binge on our previous episodes by clicking here. We also send out weekly newsletters with some excellent tips on scaling your eCommerce business. Click here to subscribe. Thanks for tuning in, see you again next week! Follow Daniel: Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's Facebook Daniel's Youtube
#112 Boyuan Zhao: E-Commerce Agency CEOs Share Their Best Tips Welcome back to The Ecom Show! Today's discussion is special for anyone with their own e-commerce store because we've got the founder of not one but two e-commerce agencies to talk about everything Ecom! Our guest for today is Boyuan Zhao. He is the founder of the e-commerce email marketing agency PLTHORA. Apart from this, he also has his own Youtube channel where he shares tutorials on how to master Klaviyo, and he's got professional investments in cryptocurrency as well. In this episode, Boyuan Zhao and Daniel Budai, podcast host and CEO of Budai Media, will be discussing everything that goes into growing an e-commerce brand. Tune in to hear more about: ✔️The Key To Designing A Viral Product ✔️Be A Content First E-Commerce Brand. ✔️ Boyuan's Advice For E-Commerce Entrepreneurs. The Key To Designing A Viral Product This one's important for anyone that's looking to enter the e-commerce space or to even expand their product line. There are two things that can make any product go viral. The first is coming up with something quirky. Take the brand Oodie for instance. Oodie is an apparel brand that creates oversized hoodies that double up as blankets. This Australian apparel brand has built a nine-figure business by creating a unique and quirky product that stands out. In fact, one of our previous guests, Jason Williamson, runs an SMS marketing agency that handles Oodie's SMS flows, and he shed more light on this brand in episode 105. The second is to create hyper utility. Products that can find a unique solution to a very specific problem have the potential to go viral. The Shark Tank legacy brand, Scrub Daddy, is a perfect example of this. There is a sponge that helps clean out every corner of a dish. Similarly, any product that solves a specific problem has viral potential because those types of products are great for ads. You can create simple direct videos that drive customers to purchase your product. If you're looking to enter the e-commerce space with a new product, start by finding a problem and find a unique way to create a solution for it. A lot of people do it the other way round. They create their product and look for a USP after. However, the best way to beat market saturation is by creating a product that can easily stand out. Be A Content First E-Commerce Brand With the explosion of social media, everyone's a content creator! It's no longer enough to just have a good website. In order to create a successful brand, you need to have a great social media presence. This includes being omnipresent on channels like Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, or even Youtube; based on what you sell. Social media platforms help you build a community that can drive your sales even if your website isn't great! For example, there's this company called Ancestral Supplements. This company's founder markets himself as the Liver King. Their products sell extremely well despite having a simple website, high prices, and a high shipping fee. This is because they have great marketing in place. Being a content-first brand helps in building social capital in the form of trust. The more your customers trust you, the more they're willing to shop from you, despite your brand's shortcomings. Boyuan's Advice For E-Commerce Entrepreneurs E-commerce agencies interact with entrepreneurs from every walk of life and solve problems by coming up with innovative strategies on the regular. We asked Boyuan to share some of his biggest learnings and takeaways from his experience in the industry. Here's what he had to say: What has been your biggest learning from running a business? "My biggest learning has been understanding the value of time. People are constantly advertising how they achieved success in very quick timeframes; this can mess with your perception of how well you're doing something. But it's important to understand that things just take some time, especially if you're pursuing more high-leverage activities. For example, when I first started out, I was doing cold email outreach. So, it'd be about a two-week delay between me putting in the effort and seeing the return. But then, when I started pivoting towards content, it was actually like a three to a six-month time period before I got my first big client. But the thing is, cold outreach is linear in the sense that you just send the email, and that's it. And it's forgotten about, whereas content is more or less evergreen, so it's higher leverage. So, it took me a while to understand that exponential growth can take time to build." Hiring is extremely crucial for agencies because, in an agency, you're selling a service. And the quality of your service depends on the people in your team. Could you walk us through your hiring process? "I'm pretty proud of my team at the moment; I'm working with some really great people. I usually hire from within my own community. I get several inquiries about job openings from my YouTube follower base. The second has been through LinkedIn and extensive interviews. I outsource it to professional recruiters and try to find quality leads by filtering them out with good assignments and a detailed interview process. I also keep finding ways to retain my team by incentivizing team members when they accomplish good targets. This is usually done by rewarding them with a bonus when the project they're working on performs extraordinarily well." To sum it all up, the key to growing your brand lies in building a viral product, focusing your energy on creating a strong content strategy to market your product, being patient, and most importantly, surrounding yourself with the right kind of team to help your brand grow! Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Ecom Show. We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. You can check out our previous episodes here. Follow Boyuan: LinkedIn Youtube Instagram Twitter Follow Daniel: Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's Facebook Daniel's Youtube
#111 Antoine Gagné: Media Buying Secrets To Achieve Hyper-Growth! TGIT! Thank god it's Thursday because that means it's time for another new episode of The Ecom Show! In this episode, Antoine Gagné, the founder and CEO of J7 Media and Pure Commerce, joins our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, in an interesting conversation about media buying. J7 Media is a Facebook advertising agency that turns companies' growth into hyper-growth. This episode of The Ecom Show deep dives into: ✔ Antoine's Experience With Media Buying. ✔ Is Facebook Still Relevant For Media Buying? ✔ How To Take Your E-Commerce Business International. ✔ Antoine's Advice For E-Commerce Entrepreneurs. Antoine's Experience With Media Buying Antoine started J7 Media almost ten years ago. They started as an agency that helped businesses in the hospitality industry manage their organic Facebook and Instagram marketing. The change in the Facebook algorithm in 2017 is what pushed Antoine to shift his agency's focus on media buying. Since then, they've positioned themselves to take over media buying and focused on how to scale e-commerce agencies from growth to hyper-growth. Currently, J7 Media manages over $30 million a year in Facebook advertising for e-commerce brands and are experts when it comes to creating ad funnels for direct-to-consumer companies. J7 Media may have started from Facebook advertising, but they've grown immensely ever since. They expanded into Google Ads and other media buying avenues by acquiring a knowledgeable Google Ads agency. Antoine has also acquired several e-commerce brands, which has added to his understanding of what e-commerce clients want, as he is now on both ends of the spectrum. Antoine recently launched his second agency, Pure Commerce. Pure Commerce is a specialized e-commerce marketing agency that covers all the marketing needs an e-commerce brand would have. Is Facebook Still Relevant For Media Buying? The world of e-commerce keeps changing, and there are a ton of different avenues that business owners can choose to spend their money on. With the ever-changing Facebook algorithm, it can get hard for e-commerce businesses to nail down a strategy that works for their brand. And with other more economical options like Tik Tok Ads, a lot of e-commerce businesses have been wondering if Facebook is still a relevant medium for running ads? The answer is yes. Facebook is still relevant even despite hurdles like their stock going down, the iOS 14 changes, and the emergence of newer ad spaces. Because despite all these factors, Facebook is still a very powerful tool. The key to nailing your Facebook marketing is to keep testing. Facebook keeps changing its algorithm, which is why as an e-commerce business, it's important that you keep testing different campaigns and adjust your plan based on the results. You should also diversify your media spending. Focus on driving business through email marketing, SMS campaigns, TikTok ads, and Facebook. Don't just rely on one medium to drive your sales! Double down on different avenues to increase your customer's lifetime value, and use media buying to engage with your customers and build a community. How To Take Your E-Commerce Business International There are two key things that every business should keep in mind before taking their store international. The first is understanding trends and culture. It's easier to expand to countries that have similar trends and cultures. For instance, it's easy to run ad campaigns in England if you're already selling in US markets. This is because both countries have native English speakers, and trends hit the US markets first. The second is to align your expectations. There are several barriers to entry like language, price sensitivity, understanding of the local culture, and more that will affect the success of your campaigns in newer markets. Give your business the time to learn and adjust to newer campaigns. Also, research which markets would be easier for you to expand into. For example, it's much easier for American brands to enter any other global market, this is because their market is way ahead of the curve. On the other hand, it's far more difficult for international brands to enter the US market because of how crowded their existing market is. So if you're looking to expand your business globally, ensure that you do your research about different markets, test and adjust your ad campaigns, and align your expectations since expanding into any new space requires persistence and patience. Antoine's Advice For eCommerce Entrepreneurs We asked Antoine about what his biggest challenge as an entrepreneur has been, and if he could only share one piece of advice for e-commerce business owners, what would it be? Here's what he had to share: What was your biggest challenge? “My biggest challenge has been to actually learn what it means to be in business, which I think a lot of people don't understand. A lot of people think it's cool to be an entrepreneur. Like, it's great to put that on your LinkedIn or tell your friends during Happy Hour that you are a business owner, but when it comes down to it, it's 20 times harder to live the life of a business owner. Because it takes years to reach a point where you can finally start paying yourself a salary, this understanding has been my greatest learning.” What's your number one advice for eCommerce businesses in 2022? “I would say double down on email acquisition! In the past, you could just run ads and generate conversions straight away. It is not as easy anymore, so double down on running media to acquire more emails. Emails are a great way to maintain a community, and my personal experience as an e-commerce business owner has made me realize how valuable email marketing can be.” On that note, let's conclude this episode of The Ecom Show. We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday, so don't forget to tune in! You can also check out our website if you'd like to learn more about email marketing. Our mini-course is perfect for businesses that are just getting started with email marketing. We hope you enjoyed this episode. See you again next week! Follow Antoine: LinkedIn J7 Media Pure Commerce Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's Facebook
#110 Alvin From Relab Studios: Designing The Perfect Website Today's episode of The Ecom Show is special because it's the first time we'll be diving into the intricacies of product design. We have Alvin Hermanto from Relab Studios here with us today to talk about everything that goes into designing the perfect e-commerce store. Relab Studios is a specialized design agency that helps e-commerce businesses design products like websites and applications by combining design thinking with UI/UX capabilities. Daniel and Alvin met through YouTube as they're both YouTube entrepreneurs that share expert tips and strategies specific to their field. Daniel talks about his experience of running Budai Media, an e-commerce retention marketing agency, on his Youtube channel; he also shares tips and strategies to help other businesses scale. Similarly, Alvin Hermanto also has an active Youtube channel, where he teaches businesses about design thinking and product design. Tune in to this episode to find out more about: ✔ How Relab Studios Began ✔ The 6 Stages of Designing A Website ✔ Design Tips From Alvin How Relab Studios Began Relab Studios is Alvin Hermanto's first business. It's a design consultancy firm that provides digital product design and solves design problems for e-commerce clients. They build and work with websites, applications, and other portals. Growing up in Indonesia, Alvin had always been interested in design. Unsure about what to specialize in, he went to Malaysia and studied graphic designing since it was a broader field of study. His university gave him the opportunity to complete his course in Australia, which is where he earned his degree in graphic designing with honors. Alvin began offering his services as a graphic designer almost 15 years ago. He worked with several brands and transitioned to becoming a digital designer during the time of the e-commerce boom. It's been over nine years since Alvin started his own UI/UX design consultancy firm Relab Studios. They focus on an intersection between business and UX design or user experience design. Alvin's firm designs software websites and applications; they also share their expertise and techniques on their growing Youtube channel. The 6 Stages of Designing A Website Alvin has devised a six-stage design process to create the perfect website for his clients. These stages blend design thinking and agile design methodologies to create a website that truly represents their client's brand. The idea is to pay equal attention to strategy and user empathy to create a user-friendly experience through a collaborative process. Here are the six stages to perfecting your design: Understanding: Stage one is understanding the user, which is the end-user itself. But you're also trying to understand the business. And the way you would do this is by conducting interviews with different stakeholders of the business in the room. You do this to understand the vision of the business, future plans, needs, and expectations from the product. This is the most crucial step, as it forms a base for the rest of your decisions. Defining: You've understood the problem; now it's time to sit and define the goal of the product. This is done by outlining the premise to create a user strategy template, or a set of design principles, success metrics, the value proposition canvas, and solutions that will define all the needs established in the understanding phase. Ideating: This is where you start sketching solutions and start putting down ideas on what you want your product to look like. This stage is the most collaborative as it involves both the clients and the design team sitting together to put down ideas that they'd like to see in the product. It's basically a visual representation of all the thoughts and ideas that will frame the website. Deciding: The ideation phase involves jotting down all the ideas and thoughts that could go into the product. Stage four is where you narrow your focus down and shortlist the solutions you like the most. This stage involves voting on ideas and finding a winning solution. By the end of this stage, you usually have a blueprint of what your website would look like with your website flow and user journey outlined. Prototyping: This is the stage where you create your storyboard by sketching out what your product would look like on different screens. This can be done in a variety of ways. If you're comfortable with Adobe, you can create your entire prototype using tools like Figma or Adobe XD. If you're not a designer, you could use tools like Canva or even Powerpoint to illustrate what each page or part of your website would look like. This step helps you see what your end product will look like, and the perks of using Figma or Adobe XD is that your UI can directly be given to the UX designer to implement. Validating: The last stage is to conduct a round of objective user testing to weed out any kinks in your design. This step allows you to see how smoothly your user journey is in action and is an essential quality assurance step before you release your MVP for the world to use. Design Tips From Alvin Your product design is a true reflection of your brand's identity, and it's one thing that directly affects your relationship with your customers. Your user interface and experience shape the way your customers will interact with your brand as a whole; which is why it's important to remember to ensure that your digital product is in tune with your physical product. Here are some expert tips for Alvin. Do your research: Look at actual products you use in your everyday life, and observe how their digital presence ties back to their physical products. Find brands that you like purchasing from online, and observe how their design is creating a positive experience for you. For instance: Check out Herman Miller. They create high-end office chairs, but more than that, they serve their customers really well, from a customer service point of view. They've done this by creating well-segmented user flows to provide essential content in the form of videos and blogs. Create a holistic experience: Good design is something that goes beyond just looking or feeling good. It's about the holistic experience it creates for everyone that uses the design. So let's say we're designing a portal for a wine company, a wine distributor, then it also needs to work really, really well for their salespeople, customer service people, not just the end-user or their customers. So yeah, good product design is something that works seamlessly for every person that uses it. Try to be inclusive: Design is subjective, which is why it's best to have multiple opinions and make it a collaborative process. The ideal design team involves having a facilitator, a designer, and a decider. The facilitator is the person that holds the compass and navigates the direction in which the product design should be aimed at. The decider is usually someone who has a deep understanding of the brand and oversees all the ideas being suggested by the facilitator; the designer carries out the vision that's been laid out by the facilitator and decider. Hire someone who's empathetic: Ideally, a product designer is an individual who has a strong acumen for design thinking to back their experience in UI/UX design. They fuse their understanding of your business with design principles to create a product that matches the needs of your customers. If you can't afford to hire a product designer or product designing agency, look for user interface designers that have a strong understanding of how to solve problems. They should be able to understand and empathize with the needs of your clients to help you design a product that best caters to your needs. If you enjoyed this episode of The Ecom Show, make sure to check out Alvin Hermanto's Youtube channel for more design and user experience expertise. You can also check out his latest work on his website Relab Studios, or directly connect with him via LinkedIN. Thank you for listening! We release new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday, so stay tuned. Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's Facebook
#109 Shep Hyken: Building A Memorable Customer Experience We've all heard that the customer is king, but today let's hear from the king of customer experience himself! We're honored to welcome Shep Hyken as a guest on this episode of The Ecom Show. With over 39 years of industry experience and over eight bestselling books under his belt, Shep Hyken is a master at building a memorable customer experience, and today he's going to let us in on some of his bestselling secrets. Make sure to check out hyken.com to know more about him and get access to bonus research materials to enhance your knowledge of customer experience. This show is sponsored by Budai media , which is a fully remote eCommerce retention marketing agency. We, at Budai Media, have worked with over 100+ eCommerce clients and generated $30M+ additional store revenue in the last 3 years. In this episode, Shep Hyken and Daniel Budai, our podcast host and CEO, will talk about: ✔️ Shep's Journey With Customer Experience. ✔️ How To Win Your Customer's Confidence. ✔️ Finding Balance With Customer Automation. ✔️ 6 Steps To Master Customer Experience. Shep's Journey With Customer Experience Shep's story starts just like Harry Potter's, with a little bit of magic. Young Shep ventured into the world of business as a magician back when he was just 12 years old. He would book gigs performing magic for kids at birthday parties, and that's where he got his first lesson in customer service. His parents taught him all the basics like sending out thank you notes, following up for feedback and finding out areas of improvement, and basically just everything related to the art of talking to people. This art was finessed by a series of odd jobs that he'd picked up during his years in college. From nightclubs to corporate events, Shep had done it all. However, his true passion for building a career in the world of customer experience was fuelled by his time working in a gas station. "I was working in a gas station, and it was a very cold, cold day, and I pumped a woman's gasoline for her. And a very elderly woman, probably in her 80s, I didn't want her to get out of the car and get cold. And my manager actually yelled at me for helping her. I learned two things that day that has stuck with me ever since. Number one, people like me are all over the place; we want to take care of people. So when we're talking to our clients about customer service, and hiring people for the right experience in the right culture, just know that you need to find someone who likes taking care of people. The second thing I learned was that your experience of how to treat your customers comes from the people training you and the people in charge. But just because someone is in a high position doesn't mean they know how to treat customers right. You need to hire based on qualities that complement the role you're trying to fill." Shep started out working in customer service and soon started using the term customer experience to define his role because he was told that it's just a fancier term for customer service. But, he soon realized that customer experience goes far beyond customer service; it includes every touchpoint of a customer's journey that affects their perception of the brand. With over 39 years of experience, Shep is now a well-known keynote speaker and the bestselling author of several valuable books that talk about customer experience. How To Win Your Customer's Confidence In e-commerce solutions, you have to recognize that you won't always have the opportunity to interact and create a relationship with your customers. So, you need to find other ways to make that customer say, they are the ones I want to go back to again and again. Basically, find that one thing that drives your customer to keep returning. And that one thing is confidence! Creating confidence means the customer will refer to you with the word always followed by something ideally positive. You never want your customers to be confident about having a negative experience. Now, I'm confident when I do business with them; I will love what happens. That's what we're looking for. And this is what a confident customer would sound like: “You know what, it's always there when I log on, it's always easy. They always have what I want. They always answer my questions; they always get back to me quickly.” The key to gaining your customers' confidence is very simple. Focus on how you can create positive experiences for them throughout their customer journey. As long as the customer recognizes that whenever they reach out or interact, they're always going to have a positive experience, they'll keep coming back. You can create this positive experience by leveraging automation tools, creating self-service resource libraries, having a quick response team in place, and providing a seamless customer journey from pre to post-sales. Finding Balance With Customer Automation Automation is a great tool that can enhance customer experience if implemented in the right manner. Having an omnichannel customer support system is the ideal way to provide an excellent customer experience. The trick is to have a seamless handoff between automation and human experience. For instance: If your customer asks a question that the chatbot isn't able to answer, your chatbot should be advanced enough to hand over the customer's query to a human executive to take over. So, automation is really just one part of it. You can create an automated experience by having a smart resource library, a chatbot and by implementing automated flows in place. However, you shouldn't depend on automation for everything. Tomorrow, if your customer needs to speak to a human, they should have a medium to connect with and receive help from one. All the best companies find a balance between AI-infused technology and humans to create a wholesome customer experience. Shep Hyken recently conducted an in-depth survey to find out the ideal way that customers like to resolve their complaints when they run into an issue. This 30-page report gives a detailed outlook on customer preferences; you can check out the entire report here. This report revealed that 65% of customers would prefer to resolve their problems over a phone call with a customer service agent; now keep in mind that the rest, 35% prefer having a digital self-service solution which is why it's important to have both in place. 6 Steps To Master Customer Experience Shep Hyken had come up with a six-step checklist for brands that are looking to audit and improve their customer experience. This checklist takes you from the entire customer journey to reflecting and learning from competitors and brands that you love and use as an individual. Let's take a look at the different steps. Act like there's a problem and call and see how hard it is to get your problem resolved: This helps you figure out how smooth your customer journey is and what your areas of improvement are. Ask yourself why somebody chooses to do business with a competitor instead of you: Don't try to find your positives to answer this question; instead, focus solely on what your competitors are offering and find out what they're doing differently. This will automatically lead you to step three. What can I do that my competitor is already doing: Remember that you're not looking to do things exactly how your competitor does it. The point of this step is to find inspiration and alter it in a way that makes it your own. Identify brands that you love as a consumer that are outside your industry: Every professional is also a customer. Find brands that you love, regardless of their size or industry, and figure out qualities that make you loyal to that brand. Try to observe and understand the behavior of brands that you have a likeness for. See how your observations can better your brand: Say, for instance, you love Amazon because they're reliable with their deliveries. When you properly observe, you'll realize that the reason you love Amazon is not that you receive emails; it's because you receive information that makes you feel confident, which brings us to the final step. Take a look at all of the different reasons a customer does business with your competitor or the reasons why you love doing business with somebody even outside of the industry, and implement those: Once you've done that, you'll automatically find areas that you can improve on. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out episode 107, where Daniel speaks with Steven Van Belleghem, another customer experience wizard who reveals some of the best customer experience strategies for e-commerce. Stay tuned because we come out with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday! And if you'd like to see more, you can check out some of our earlier episodes here. Follow Shep Hyken: LinkedIn Website Latest Book- I'll be back Follow Daniel Budai: Daniel's LinkedIn Daniel's Facebook
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