Threading The Needle

Influencer Marketing that actually works? We've never done anything like it, but as we take the next steps to grow our brand 31 Bits, influencer marketing will play a key role. Cody Wittick, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Kynship, joins us on this episode as we lay out the influencer strategy. You can reach out to Kynship by emailing info@kynship.co or reaching out to Cody on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Cody_Wittick

Unleashing Vision by Common Thread Collective

This week, we're talking about the biggest problem we have to solve right now in our business and the steps we're taking to fix the top of the funnel. We've had this problem before, and this time around, we'll need some more magic.

We won't delay, Black Friday & Cyber Monday went below average for the six brands we operate this year... Here's why, plus five takeaways we learned.

As we head into Black Friday again, the same sentiment holds true: "this strategy has to work". Andrew Faris gets transparent on the impact of what a win and (more importantly) what a loss would mean for business during BFCM. Here's how we are preparing for both options.

We're gearing up for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and it's natural for the business anxieties to sink in. To face the uncertainties, root yourselves in the certainty that comes with building a data-backed strategy. Host Andrew Faris, talks us through the holiday strategy for each of the six brands under the 4x400 umbrella and how they're planning for success.

We're back with the monthly installment of "One Topic with Taylor". This week on the show, we're going to do a thought-exercise about how to extend brand success beyond Facebook advertising & build an organic marketing flywheel. Shownotes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F2yzttpbgE

You don’t have time to read this episode description, because Black Friday is right around the corner! So, we'll be quick – today's episode will teach you five holiday marketing tactics it’s not too late to try.

We’re diving back into the story of 31 Bits, one of our newly acquired ethical jewelry brands. From its acquisition to proving viability, the growth journey has been a struggle. This week, we’re taking a whole new approach – making changes that center in part on talking less about the brand’s impact in the world, and more on how great the product is. Here’s how we’re approaching this new strategy.

This episode, we have an exciting announcement to make…

Back by popular demand, is the second monthly installment of “One Topic with Taylor” series on the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast. CEO of Common Thread Collective, Taylor Holiday and host, Andrew Faris get together (*socially distant) to talk about a highly debated subject: whether or not your brand should discount. Shownotes: - ​DigitallyNative’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/digitallynativ/status/1315290781679325185?ck_subscriber_id=942738930 ​- CTC's Analysis Of Great Brands’ Discounting: https://commonthreadco.com/blogs/coachs-corner/holiday-campaigns-successful?utm_source=ecommerceplaybook&utm_medium=podcast

A short message and a notice of a one week break from the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast

The ongoing narrative of what it’s like to run a new ecommerce business goes something like this: 1. Trying to prove brand viability in the early stages 2. Failing and learning post-launch 3. Then finally, growth If you’ve been following along on the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, then you’ll know that our brand 31 Bits has been hovering around “step 2” on that list. And if there’s any indication on how it’s going, host Andrew Faris’s quote from this week’s episode says it all – “I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to do an episode like this.” If you can relate, then ... listen now.

You read that title correctly – we have signs of life in the ad account of our newly acquired brand 31 Bits. We've had some bumps in the road getting the brand off the ground, but this week we may have finally solved it's problems. Here's how.

From acquisition, to relaunch, to this episode. Every weekly episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast up until this point has been leadup to this moment. Our newly acquired brand, 31 Bits, is a fully-built player in the ecommerce space. But, even though this is one of our favorite growth phases – brand redesign, supply chain locked down, etc – that doesn’t mean scaling it through ads going well. Actually, it’s going badly. Here’s why.

The first in a new monthly episode – CEO of Common Thread Collective, Taylor Holiday and host, Andrew Faris each bring one topic they've been wrestling with over the last month and talk it through. Shownote Resources: 1. QALO "Mark Of A Maker" Quality Campaign: https://bit.ly/2ZodSJZ 2. QALO "Mark Of A Maker" Quality Campaign Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5f7-ObdsvQ 3. Western Rise "Wear From Anywhere" Campaign: https://bit.ly/2Zk1dHN 4. "Mud Bogging" Facebook Group: https://business.facebook.com/theMudBog/?business_id=1514355852207761

The episode title pretty much says it all … But, when we started this podcast, we committed to sharing it all – the raw numbers, struggles, and growth. And after our brand relaunch for 31 Bits did not go as planned, there’s an emphasis on the “struggle” piece of our podcast title. Here’s what happened.

We finally relaunched our newly acquired brand, 31 Bits. After months of planning and research, we share how it went. Plus, get the exact strategies we used, so you can replicate what worked for your own business.

Our brand, Slick Products, just had it’s biggest. win. ever. That’s because we (finally) solved the problem of customer retention. How? This Richard Thaler quote — a Nobel Prize winning economist — from our new episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast sums it up: “If you want someone to do something, then make it easy.” Seriously though, this realization may have unlocked the account for us. And we’re still grasping what just happened. P.S. These are the exact assets we used in the campaign discussed in the episode. Feel free to check them out and follow along as you listen: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3z5ylequ3hhl5ag/Ecommerce%20Playbook%20Podcast%20-%20We%20Solved%20Our%20Brand%E2%80%99s%20%231%20Problem.zip?dl=0

On this week’s episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, we talk about the challenge of sorting out profit vs. growth. Truthfully, it’s something we battle with for our own brand (Bambu Earth), but we know we’re not alone. It's a live issue for many operators. Knowing that, we get really transparent and talk a lot about the numbers – so that you can take these learnings and apply them to your own brand.