Threading The Needle

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.

We are right on the cusp of rolling out all the work we’ve put in to get our newly acquired brand, 31 Bits, firing on all cylinders. That’s because we've just finished building out 31 Bit’s new homepage. For this week’s update, we’re taking a break from the numbers and focusing on the marketing substructure of our homepage – telling you the “why” behind strategic design and copywriting decisions onsite.

The challenge and beauty of our newly acquired brand, 31 Bits, centers on its mission of ethical manufacturing. While we’re always striving for ethical business decisions, it doesn’t mean business ethics are easy. When applied to the supply chain, a list of challenges can ensue, but the rewards are worth it. On today’s episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast – Andrew Faris interviews Rob Clemons, Director of Supply Chain at 4x400 – about setting up a supply chain that is “ruthlessly focused on caring for people well.”

C.S. Lewis said it first, and we’re seconding it today on the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast. Regardless of what the gurus say, jumpstarting revenue isn’t necessarily easy – especially coming off the back of a new brand acquisition. And, to be frank, revenue for our brand 31 Bits is getting destroyed right now. But, here’s why we’re not too worried about it ... [ BONUS: If you’re interested in diving into this story even more, here’s a link to what 31 Bit’s gameplan calendar looks like: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1024/1659/files/31_Bits_Calendar_-_Uganda_Close_Bali_Focus_Campaign.pdf?v=1595437790 ]

We acquired our fifth brand into the 4x400 ecosystem! Listen now to find out... Featuring: Taylor Holiday, CEO of Common Thread Collective

On today’s episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast we’re talking about the product development approach for 31 Bits. It’s built not just on what we think looks good – but, on what fits the unit economic approach we’re going after.

We’ve analyzed the problem, now it’s time to fix it. But, before we get to any solutions, we have one last question about conversion rate to answer… From website session to add-to-cart to initiate checkout to purchase – where did visitors drop off in the funnel? Once we determined the answer, we came up with a 4-step plan to fix conversion rate. As an added bonus, here's the Strategy Deck for 31 Bits: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1unKoo-tmjOC9BIx0YuFix4EAPdNGLqj8/view?usp=sharing