Mike Rome’s Post

🚀 Audited ad accounts for a high-growth, $30M Ecom. 10 recs we gave to scale faster & profitably ➡️   Google:   1. Use Blotout or Elevar to maximize conversion signals sent to ad platforms.   2. Pass micro-conversions (not only purchases) to better train ad algorithms.   3. Don’t fight PMAX. With 1-2, it blows the doors off manual media buying.   4. Optimize Merchant Center Feed:   - Analyze high-vol, AOV, & margin SKUs - Ensure impressions reflect top performers - Fix feed errors & warnings - Test titles, images, & descs for growth   Meta:   5. Shopify CAPI isn’t enough. Implement Blotout or Elevar to improve signal.   6. Reduce reliance on ABO. Test CBO & Adv+ for better results.   Data & Attribution:   7. Enhanced conversion tracking will boost key email flows by 20%+.   8. Pass Elevar to GA4 to find best/worst CVRs & fix. E.g., Home > Browse > PDP > Cart > Checkout > Order   9. Implement Northbeam for more effective spend allocation.   10. Use media mix modeling & holdout tests for growth post-#9.   #ecommerce

Here's the cold hard truth about startup growth no one is talking about.   For every startup doing is well, 10 do it wrong:   💡 Most growth happens during iteration.   -Want to tap a new acquisition channel? Iterate.   -Want to find high-performing ad creative? Iterate.   -Want to nail fast "time to value" & activation? Iterate.   -Want to find the features that drive retention? Iterate.   The fastest growing startups build first-class process for iteration.   B/c they’ve accepted a hard truth about startups that win ➡️   Good things take time.

Startup growth is hard, but most make it harder. You only need 3 things to win:   1. Acquire customers 2. Retain them 3. Master margin   - “Meh” teams do 1. - Good teams do 1 & 2. - Great teams do all 3.   But theres also a kicker…   If you want to scale into a defensible biz, the order matters…A LOT.   - 1st, Retain - 2nd, Margin - 3rd, Acquire   If you acquire w/o strong retention or margin, you’re lighting money on fire.   Hurts to hold off since it’s the easiest of the 3, but it won’t end well.   Success is in the sequence 👊

I wish I applied this policy years ago to boost productivity. Only a slight tweak to my routine, but far more effective: Take 1 week off per quarter. 1 week/quarter ≠ 4 weeks/year I used to take 4 weeks/year, but experimenting with 1 week/quarter changed everything. Knowing I’m never more than 3 months from a serious break is a game-changer. Way easier to go hard for a few months than half-a-year w/o a proper recharge. In business, stamina is undervalued... Build habits that promote it and you build a huge edge. -- 👋 For my best biz advice ➡️ moonwater[dot]studio/scale-mba

Most ecom & startup ad dashboards are totally wrecked. There’s only 10 Ad KPIs for Profitable Growth:   The Basics 1. Spend & Rev: to check basic ad boxes 2. Customers, AOV, & Freq: to explain rev 3. Regressions: to understand ads’ impact on rev 4. LTV/CAC or Payback: for more sophisticated spend strategy   Ad Profitability 5. ROAS: for timely in-platform optimizations 6. MER: to honestly assess spend effectiveness 7. CM (lite): to ensure ads drive incremental profit ➡️ Calc: Gross Profit – Ad Costs   Goals (for ecom) 8. GM: 50%+ 9. CM: 30%+ 10. Net Income Margin: 15%+   Throw out the rest, you don’t need ‘em.   Measure less. But measure better.

🎉🚀 BIG NEWS I've kept on the d/l. But it's now time to share it:   I've worked across enough cos. to know a co-founder secret:   Sometimes 1 + 1 = 10   This Jan, Robert Jack (Robbie) & I got to talking about a better way for 7-9 fig brands to run ads.   Over 15 years, we'd worked with 50+ agencies. Some were good, but never the parter we truly wanted.   I'd ran growth for startups scaling to $50M+. And others to $1M+ rev per employee. All b/c of paid acquisition.   Robbie started, scaled, & sold a VC-backed startup (3-15X to investors). Paid ads were also the backbone.   Through years of honing our craft and trial & error, we bonded over a better way:   A future-proof ads playbook for profitable growth. And one we were uniquely qualified to run. So we dogfooded the whole thing ➡️ - We shut up and started executing. - We booked $30K rev in 30 days. - We obsessed over quality. - We relentlessly talked to customers. - We failed a lot, but fast.   In under 6 months, we’ve booked $65K/month in rev. With no employees. While running other businesses.   I cringe as I write that. B/c I hate being loud.   But this platform has been helpful for growth.   And we're now going ALL-IN.   So a post felt warranted.   Thanks for all the support. Wouldn't be here w/o you.   --   👋 If you want us to build in public, comment below. We're on the fence, so let us know.

Found the most incredible productivity tool of 2024. Hands down, nothing else comes close: Do less.

Ad agencies will torch me for this. But CEOs & CMOs deserve the truth.   Every agency owner I’ve talked to told me this was a bad idea ➡️ *Charge clients a FLAT-FEE vs. the typical percent of spend agency model.* They said we’ve be leaving money on the table. And we are. But when Robbie & I were scaling cos. as founder & CMO, we hated percent of spend. B/c spend can have nothing to do with marketing performance & profits. Nor does the agency’s workload scale proportionally with spend. It’s a bad deal for brands…even if it means more money for the agency. 🚫 We’re not here to nickel & dime. 🚫 We’re not here to punish growth. 🚫 We’re not here to be status quo. ✅ We’re here to bleed quality at a fair price. End of story. #digitalmarketing

ROAS isn’t the best ad metric, but you’ve got to see this:   ROAS is a good leading indicator. It’s helpful for fast optimization.   But MER & CM are better metrics to keep yourself honest on profitable growth.   But here’s the best ROAS we’ve seen for a client we took over:   It’s a $50M consumer brand. Lots of scale.   - We 3x'd Meta ROAS. - We 2x'd Goog ROAS. - We did both while 2x'ing spend. - We did it all in 3 months.   It’s how we knew our ad playbook was different and better.   ✅ Yes, it’s our best outcome. ✅ Yes, some stars aligned beyond our control. 💡 But we’ve also outperformed every ad partner we’ve won clients from.   If you’re a 7-9 fig brand running ads, there’s a window right now to tap.   DM me to learn more.

If someone's running your startup or ecom's ads, beware of “growth cowboys." I’ve worked with dozens of agencies, and I know hundreds. Too many still run the broken, growth cowboy playbook: - Come in over-confident. - Don’t listen to the brand. - Run generic playbook w/no edge. - Migrate ads too quickly. - Throw the algorithms into disarray. - Get fired b/c they made things worse. The ad partners for profitable growth do it different: - Are confident but ask questions. - Listen first b/c you know your customers. - Integrate your insights into their strategy. - Migrate w/o hurting performance, but no faster. - Balance optimizing & getting out of the way. Sounds simple, but you’d be surprised. Beware of growth cowboys.