Brandon Hendrix

***WHO WANTS TO TRY THE LATEST BUSINESS AI TOOL, RIGHT NOW, FOR FREE?*** Tough Guy Sales and Marketing is now selling an AI solution for the CPG/cannabis/hemp space to take websites to another level. You know those ole "chat bots?" Well try the new AI version of the chat bot. Just drop your URL in demo field and press run. Let me know if you're interested in adding AI to your website. It's a great sales and marketing tool, captures data, and closes on customers like you've never seen! Even tells jokes! #cannabis #cannabisindustry #cannabiscommunity #marijuana #marijuanaindustry https://lnkd.in/e6dj7e-2

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Hot take: selling in B2B is actually easier than DTC. (My B2B team is probably rolling their eyes right now). In DTC, the brand is selling and communicating to the buyer directly. That buyer's decision making is non-linear and subjective: • Do I want this thing • Do I even need this thing? • What about these 5 other things? • Will it actually make me feel better / happy? This is where a lot of the concept of "brand" comes from. There's a status association with certain products and the network effect of that individual buyer's psychology with all of their other "inputs." In B2B, it's actually super simple. A product or service needs to do one of two things: 1. Make the company money 2. Save the company money Really highly valuable products do both. If you -- as a seller in a B2B context -- can demonstrate to your prospective client justification for why it will do one or both of those things (make or save money), then it's an "easy" decision. The difficulty in B2B comes in from the nature of the buying committee, high contract values, budgets, and long decision cycles. You have to do the convincing at multiple points of the organization, and those stakeholders might have different priorities, might not believe you, etc etc. But again, if your pitch is clear and credible, and the scenario that you present is pretty undeniable, why would any organization refuse you? (Note: this doesn't really apply to true enterprise sales because enterprise is more like dealing with a small country than an actually functional and coherent organization). But if you're, like me, selling services for 5-6 figures a month to brands that are sub $1 billion in revenue, it's straight forward: "Here's how I'm going to make you more money than I cost." "Here's how I'm going to save you more money than I cost." If you want to see my pitch first hand -- reach out and I'll show you how we can pay for ourselves easily. #b2b #sales #revenue

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So now that school’s out: Beside observing and commenting on Amazon and advertising and business (and sometimes all three at once), I manage Amazon PPC and ads for quite a few brands. Two huge parts of running my agency well are constant learning and effective networking. ASGTG is one of only a few events that manages to check off both boxes really well…and in a few weeks ASGTG is going to be adding an AI-Focused event to the calendar. On July 31st, ASGTG-AI will be happening in Brooklyn, and if you’re in town or close, it will absolutely be the best place you can be that day. Ephraim Rosenberg always puts on great events with great lineups, but for me there’s three elements that take make this day noteworthy: - Perry Belcher - There’s a few people that I consider super smart in the world of business, and when it comes to both Marketing and AI, Perry is amazing. I’ve heard him multiple times, every time his content has been new and different, and he’s DRIVEN when it comes to innovating. Every peek in his head is worth it. - Ritu Java - Ritu is one of the best minds in the Amazon space, and when it comes to applying AI in FOCUSED ways, she’s amazing. So many AI bozos simply say “oh look you can make an AI Bot that will do everything for you” and then go on to say vague mumbo-jumbo that’s entirely forgettable. Ritu is the exact opposite - her AI thoughts are exact real-world applications for sellers and advertisers. Definitely worth hearing her whenever you can.  - Foooooood - Ed’s events have the reputation of the best event catering for as long as he’s been running ASGTG. Amazingly, even though plenty of people will mention the food as a reason to experience ASGTG, no other event has managed to come close. I could write a whole post about the food alone, but a quick search should show you plenty, including pictures. As a rule I don’t love writing too much at once because the average person doesn’t read anything, so I’ll wrap this up by recommending you attend ASGTG on July 31st. Link is below, and there’s actually a couple of stacking promos to take advantage off: - 20% off - 2 for 1  Both are automatically in the link, and the deal is so good that a nice dinner for two in NYC would cost you more than this and feed you far less. See you there! https://lnkd.in/eC5baESB (Ed's co-host Izabella and the rest of the lineup are just as amazing!) Izabella Ritz Paul Baron Max F Hofmann Victor Rosenman Jamie Davidson

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The Profitable Growth Index of NRR:PP is a powerful tool to monitor the growth and profitability of your retail business. In this newsletter, I am reviewing PGI and the components of Net Revenue Retention and Payback Period and why it's critical to brands who are struggling today. https://lnkd.in/e24KBkpk

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22 Rules For Reliable Profitable Growth on Amazon 🔥💯🔥 To become a confident Amazon seller, you need to be adaptable, reassured, and creative in your Amazon growth strategy. In this ebook, we lay out the eCommerce rules that will help give you the confidence in your process and systems to grow margins and sell more — saving you from heartache and headaches. Follow our rules across these 4 quadrants: 1. Content: All the listing optimizations for high-converting content, 2. Pricing: Maximize your sales and profit through auto, dynamic price changes, 3. Advertising: Leveraging automation to dominate your category, 4. Analytics: Digital shelf and purchase behavior insights at your finger tips. https://lnkd.in/g8FAPBmv

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Have you seen Walmart's new virtual shopping platform? 3D influencer storefronts and gamified experiences. Yes. It's buggy and feels disconnected today. But it won't stay like this for long. Walmart is betting on this consumer trend: We're moving from transactional ecom to -> experiential ecom. That's why TikTok shop has earned so much traction. People want a connected shopping experience. When your brand gets it right? Consumers will want to enter your brand's world. This shift could have massive implications. Product pages will become more like social media profiles. Checkouts will feel more like in-game purchases. Influencers will become your virtual shopping companions. The brands that master this blend of: Commerce, content, and community will dominate. They'll create shopping experiences so engaging that people want to hang out there even when they're not buying anything.

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btr media | Adam Mellott "We're spending more money at a higher ACOS. How is it possible that our TACOS is improving?!" Here's a scenario: ▶ New brand coming into season in Q2 ▶ Strong brand presence in respective categories, products in retail stores ▶ Brand's Ad Sales% of Total OPS is VERY high ▶ SP, SD CVR% exceptionally high vs. Sponsored Brands What does this suggest? ▶ We can assume branded SV is heating up due to seasonal demand ▶ Opportunity for efficiency cleanup via SB ▶ Opportunity for proper Defense campaign segmentation ▶ Possible significant % of SD budget to VCPM Views Remarketing What did we find? 🛑 Heavy budget allocation across Auto 🛑 No Rank strategy utilization 🛑 Improper branded negation across nonbranded strategies 🛑 Heavy % of budget into SP Defense strategies 🛑 Competitors owning SB TOS across high SV category keywords, top converters What adjustments did we make? ✅ Immediate brand negation across all nonbranded strategies ✅ Immediate pausing of SD VCPM (93% CVR... 😒) ✅ Breakout of SP Defense, which included all brand products + heavy budget decreases, drawing a line between branded vs. nonbranded ✅ Isolated TOS strategies (SP, SB) across high SV top converting kw's to remain top-of-mind in the category + general brand equity & education + organic rank improvement ✅ Extraction of converting ST's via Auto, relaunched across SP broad/phrase/exact with profitability-focus Short-Term Results: 🏆 +$316 increase in avg daily spend MoM 🏆 +$2,014 increase in avg daily ad sales MoM 🏆 +$7,143 increase in avg daily total sales MoM 🏆 -$1.09 DECREASE in ROAS MoM due to Rank, TOS utilization 🏆 -15% Ad% of Total OPS improvement MoM 🏆 -10% decrease in TACOS MoM Evaluate, Identify, Explain, Strategize, Execute, Educate. ☑ Evaluate account ☑ Identify issue or opportunity ☑ Explain reasoning ☑ Strategize & craft solution ☑ Execute properly & thoroughly ☑ Educate through data 🚀 #amazonads #amazonadvertising #amazonppc #ppctips #btrmedia

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Retail Media is passive income. When you hire us to do it. :) Kidding, been in all seriousness. It is probably the most MEASURABLE velocity tool. It is probably the most FLEXIBLE velocity tool. Here’s your go-to retail media platform list: -Kroger: 8451 -Ulta: UB Media -Target: Roundel -Costco: Costco Media -Best Buy: Best Buy Ads -Most Grocery: Instacart -Convenience: DoorDash -CVS: CVS Media Xchange -Walmart: Walmart Connect -Macy’s: Macy’s Media Network -Dollar Tree: Chesapeake Media -Sam’s Club: Sam’s Member Access -Home Depot: Home Depot Ad Center -Ahold (Food Lion, etal): AD Retail Media -Albertsons: Albertsons Media Collective -Walgreens: Walgreens Advertising Group -Chew.com: Chewy Retail Media (dotcom bonus) Citrus and Criteo can give you access to almost any other major retailers. There you have it. There’s your cheat sheet. Now, if you want it to be passive income… Or you want it to be passive velocity… Hit me up. :) ——— 🔹 We grow brands on Amazon. 🔹 We grow brands in Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, CVS, Macy’s, Instacart, etc. #ecommerce #retailmedia #retailmedianetworks #cpg #cpgbrands #retailstrategy #founderlife #instacart #ShopperMarketing #walmart #wholefoods

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DTC Companies with AOC's lower than $100... focus on bundles to increase your cart value. Change your shopper's habits to buy more at a time. For better or worse, this is becoming the only way to negate the avg. acquisition cost of a new client. Requires a little creative thinking but it can be done.

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Measure brand marketing impact using Amazon Brand Lift Amazon launched Amazon Brand Lift in GA for Amazon DSP campaigns in all 5 locales previously available in open beta, including the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Amazon Brand Lift is an easy, insightful, and privacy-safe way for advertisers to quantify the impact of upper and mid-funnel campaigns. Reporting shows how campaigns are influencing key performance indicators so advertisers can adjust campaign settings to drive long-term market share or customer loyalty. https://lnkd.in/eF9u3h3t

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Instacart not having negative keywords as an option is the best example of what "machine learning" actually costs brands to support. The best solution I've found? Take their auto applied keywords and make their bid the lowest possible (30 cents). I built a really solid ads structure supporting each of our Target sku's and woke up to us bidding on "Ben and Jerry's" as a "optimized auto applied suggesition" for our Vanilla Ice Cream Whey. Gee, I wonder what sophisticated dev team decided "auto bid on product title". Yeah, in the world of CPG there could neeevvverrr be issues with that. Who leads this team and how much do you make. (Hint: too much). Happy Friday to everyone except overpaid leadership that don't actually understand what they're building and get paid boat loads of money for it.

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Ecommerce businesses I would NOT start in 2024: - Single SKU with no recurring revenue component. Too much pressure on first purchase and will crush your MER as you scale - AOV below $35. Too much pressure on CPA. - Anything in the game category. Board games, card games, etc. Too many copycats, Amazon-dependent, and the lowest quality customers in ecomm - Sexual health/wellness. All the restrictions on ad platforms as THC/CBD, without the astronomically high LTVs - Any brand with >10 SKUs that is NOT apparel/accessory. It's a drag on your P&L and overcomplicates your acquisition strategy/forecasting tenfold - Anything seasonal or gifting-driven (flowers, holiday, etc). Makes media buying a nightmare. - Any business where your average gross margin is less than 65% - Any non-vertically integrated "marketplace" style business where you aren't making the product yourself (see above) - Anything liquid. Shipping costs are too much of a drag on gross margin, and the beverage category is a nightmare to stick out in Do you disagree? Am I missing anything? Stay tuned for my next post, ecomm business I WOULD start in 2024 😀

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Time for part 2... Ecomm businesses that I WOULD start in 2024: - Supplements in underserved categories with massive TAMs and a demo that spends time on Facebook (think: cholesterol, menopause, etc) - Visually driven apparel (streetwear, escapewear, graphic tees, hats) is still the best category to scale on Meta if you have design chops. Low CPMs and unbelievably forgiving of poor website experiences - THC/CBD brands are well worth the compliance headaches thanks to their insane LTVs. You're literally selling drugs. - Anything in telemedicine/telehealth. Go after the long tail prescriptions that Hims & Hers/Ro haven't dominated yet. - Anything with a genuine R&D moat or a new form factor that isn't a liquid in an existing category ("the world's first _____" is compelling for ads, landing pages, and PR) - Anything in the pet category (zero price sensitivity, still growing) - Anything made-to-order or personalized, like astrology jewelery or personally inscribed products (this is a massive acquisition lever) assuming margins aren't terrible - Anything where you have a competitive channel advantage. Are you a paid search/SEO wiz? Launch a line of niche, high-priced chandeliers and dominate the search landscape - Any creator-led business where you're partnering with a celeb with a built-in, relevant audience who understands their role as a content creator for the biz

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9/10 eComm brands I talk to struggle with attribution & don’t know if their ad spend drives an incremental impact on their store. This is something we’ve been battling with for the better part of 2024. It’s especially important for our brands that spend over $5000/day. Looking at the Facebook or Google ads manager has proven to be pretty unreliable... So one way to solve this issue is using post-purchase surveys which we try to set up for every client we work with. Asking people how they first heard about you will give you probably the most accurate representation of which channel is working best for you and which channel is wasting your ad spend. We track responses daily and use internal spreadsheets to track the total New Customer CPA which you can monitor while scaling the ad spend on 1 channel and maintaining your ad spend on every other channel. 3 questions I advise every eComm brand to include in their PPS are: ✅ How did you first hear about us? ✅ How long have you known about us before deciding to purchase our product? ✅ What are you most looking forward to from your purchase today? You have to do everything in your capabilities to understand the customer journey otherwise you might be easily lighting your money on fire.

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The Director of Marketing for a $500M merchandise retailer internally reviewed their CDP. Here are 2 things she says the vendor aced and 2 that might get them fired: 🏆//1 Great at Unifying Data She’s faced difficulties integrating past CDPs with the many 3rd-party tools her company uses. It always led to site slow-downs that limited their conversion rates. But her current vendor has seamlessly unified all their customer data across channels. No site slow-downs, no integration issues. And she loves how much it’s helped her better understand customer interactions. She’s also thrilled by how it’s made it easy to craft more relevant, compelling, and effective marketing in real-time for her customers. 👎//2 Not User-Friendly This CDP starts running into trouble with content creation and audience segments. She says, “It’s unnecessarily complex and difficult to manage.” Plus: - Navigating the platform is challenging - And its segmentation tools aren’t as intuitive as they could be - Causing friction in leveraging the CDP’s full range of capabilities 🏆//3 Effective Identity Resolution “We have a high number of customers using different platforms,” she says. So she needs a tool with strong identity resolution (IDR) capacities. The good news: She’s been thrilled with her CDP’s IDR. She says it’s significantly improved their reach “by uncovering an extra 20% of users across different devices!” 👎//4 Lack of Actionable Insights Despite the CDP’s effectiveness, she’s frustrated at how little guidance the vendor offers. “I’ve found myself guiding our CDP more than it’s been helping us,” she says. “It’s not ideal.” She’s hopeful though, as the platform has teased an upgrade that promises enhanced actionable insights. But if the vendor doesn’t deliver — this is going to be a big sticking point for her. She’s felt similarly irritated by a lack of actionable insights in other tools… Like their: - A/B testing AI tool - Personalization tool - Product recommendation tool She doesn’t want to have to waste hours digging for actionable insights. She wants platforms that make it easy for her to get the main points and quickly act on them to drive market growth. ___ Tl;dr A few *amazing* features won’t make up for others that constantly frustrate your clients. MarTech is a competitive market – if you don’t offer the full enchilada, buyers will find a competitor who will. Thoughts?

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I've audited hundreds of ad accounts for ecommerce brands the past 5 years. Here are the 5 most common mistakes I've seen, whether a brand is at $1M, $10M, or $100M in revenue: 1. Improper attribution: 7DC vs. view-through attribution 2. Creative stagnation: low refresh frequency 3. Untapped creatives: inactive/archived campaigns 4. Above CPA spend: not using cost controls 5. Stale content: poor diversity/variety Check out the slides for a deeper breakdown:

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Optimizing the digital shelf is key to brand success at leading retailers, but has proved challenging due to the complexities involved. To learn how to navigate these challenges, tune into this exclusive webinar on June 11 to hear from Kristin Wall and Emily Baynard on how to drive success on the digital shelf. RSVP link in the comments 👇 #DigitalShelf #eCommerce #growth #CMO #Marketing

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🔍 Exploring lead funnels and conversion tactics: uncover how an ecommerce funnel with a checkout glitch caused drop-offs and how Wyldsson tackled the issue, plus other fascinating funnel insights. Dive into this eye-opening article: [link here] #FunnelOptimization #ConversionRate #DigitalMarketing https://lnkd.in/ecFCQQRJ

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