 Eric Bandholz
CEO Beardbrand Klaviyo Boston Boston Convention and Exhibition Center While some brands choose to sell their products on Amazon, others decide to buck the trend and chart their own course. Join Eric Bandholz, founder of men’s grooming company, Beardbrand, to hear how he bootstrapped his six-figure business with just a $30 investment in his ecommerce platform. He’ll share the marketing strategies that helped him scale his brand and discuss how embracing owned marketing helped him build a thriving business off Amazon. Beardbrand took an investment of $8000, organic promotion, storytelling, backlash against an anti-masculine ethos and a compelling mission to "make men awesome," starting with grooming, and created an 8-figure revenue stream. Because they had no money, they focused on what they did have: time for story-telling. Initial buzz earned a successful spot on Shark Tank and best-to-date 2015 Christmas sales, but neither prevented the typical post-Christmas downturn and entrepreneurial fears of the end. In response, Beardbrand decided to insource their Amazon store presence but noticed that sales increased after Amazon store was removed. Eric realized that Amazon, besides creating platform dependence, actually hurts business because customers will often research products on your website and then purchase via Amazon which steals trust and offers competing products. From then on, Beardbrand has owned their own marketing and growth has never been better. He closed with a reminder that business is about prioritizing and solving a series of problems and that business only stops when you give up on problem-solving.
2 Comments
 Reza Khadjavi CEO, Shoelace Klaviyo Boston Boston Convention & Exhibition Center The 2010s were the golden era of paid advertising. But as platforms like Facebook and Instagram have matured, paid ads have become an increasingly expensive way to acquire customers. Reza Khadjavi, CEO of Shoelace, will share how retention, storytelling, and brand equity are becoming critical components of any marketing strategy. Reza began by explaining "the paid marketing arbitrage of the 2010s." He said it was a philosophy that brands could cut out retailers as a middleman no longer necessary. There was a short window of time where brands (like Movement Watches which went from $0 to $90M in a few years) could scale phenomenally exclusively on Facebook or other performance-based platforms. Then venture dollars pour money in, other companies jumped on the bandwagon and advertising costs rose steeply. Daniel Gulati of Comcast Ventures expressed this by saying "CAC (Cost of Acquisition) is the new rent." Google and Facebook essentially became the new landlords replacing brick-and-mortars, but raising prices at least as much. Customer Retention is more important than ever. The difference between 5% and 10% repeat business is expressed below.  Raz cited Lululemon and Outdoor Voices as brands who create strong community through messages that resonate deeply with their audiences and, therefore, inspire great loyalty. CAC is rising, so while in 2010 the answer was to get on the paid-advertising train as it was leaving the station, the answer today is storytelling is the most cost-effective way to build brand equity. In addition, media and commerce must be aligned with an understanding of "linear commerce," the spectrum between ecosystem dependent (paid advertising) and ecosystem independent (storytelling) brands.  In this "brand-first" era, we can no longer devote most efforts to top-of-funnel exposure. When Facebook advertising was cheaper and less competitive, the answer was to expand reach as much as possible until customers bought. Then "retarget the heck out of them" with little thought given to how monotonous that was for consumers who have already visited the site.
Instead, we need to focus on the lower end of the funnel through retargeting customer journeys, like Rhone which tells different stories to influencers, suspects, prospects and returning customers. |
AuthorTom McClintock is the owner and founder of Relationship Martech. Archives
January 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
Relationship martechThe Power of Marketing Technology to Deepen Relationships.
Colorado Springs, CO
|
|
© 2018 – 2019 Relationship Martech. All Rights Reserved.