Podcast: Download
BOOM!! by Cindy Joseph provides natural skincare products for women who want to reveal their beauty with an honest and realistic approach. Former makeup artist turned supermodel, Cindy Joseph created BOOM! with longtime friend Ezra Firestone after realizing there was no pro-age cosmetic line for women. Ezra joins us this week to talk about building a community as the core foundation for future E-commerce businesses.
Topics Discussed:
- 01:30 – How Ezra went from internet marketer to E-commerce store owner
- 04:00 – Story of Cindy Joseph’s career as a fashion model at age 49
- 06:00 – Society’s perception of value in men and women
- 07:30 – Finding a community and hitting the emotional points of a customer
- 10:30 – Standing above the noise in the next generation of E-Commerce
- 12:00 – Diversity of marketing channels for your online store
- 13:00 – How to build and find a community for your online store
- 14:30 – What is the collective experience and message of your community?
- 16:00 – Should you build a community or product first?
- 17:30 – Tweaking the message as you get feedback from the community
- 21:30 – E-Commerce sales as a % of all retail in the USA
- 24:30 – Guerrilla branding and messaging for a business
- 25:30 – How do you reach customers when they are not on social media
- 27:30 – PR and how to find a good PR agent
- 31:30 – Finding your community offline and becoming the leader
- 34:45 – The internet just makes everything more efficient
- 35:15 – Logistics of setting up a Meetup event with your community
- 36:30 – Managing contacts and people you meet at events
- 38:00 – Email marketing 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0
- 40:00 – Being in constant contact with your community
- 41:00 – How video marketing worked for BOOM by Cindy Joseph
- 42:00 – Natural-quality video blogs without fancy production values
- 43:30 – Converting social media traffic into sales via Facebook
- 45:00 – Long-term viability of community-based E-commerce businesses
- 46:30 – “Can It Be Made” v.s. “Should It Be Made?”
- 48:30 – Platform won’t be the deal breaker for a business
- 49:00 – Conversion theory and understanding parts of the funnel
- 50:00 – Homepage conversion tips for an E-commerce store
- 52:00 – Google Analytics goal flow methodology and setup
- 54:00 – E-Commerce conversion analysis case study
- 55:00 – Should you tweak the top or bottom of the funnel?
- 57:00 – Importance of tracking your internal website searches and product development
- 59:00 – Website header and page conversion elements
- 60:00 – Creating scarcity with time-based discounts on your online store
- 61:30 – Main banners, tabbed featured products by category, and more
- 62:00 – Media: Pictures, welcome videos, FAQ videos, quick views
- 63:00 – Scarcity: Everything should be on sale, featured items, bundled deals
- 65:00 – Product pages: getting rid of navigation, tabbing it up, cross-sells, Q&A plugins
- 67:00 – “You might also like”, features, benefits, security logos
- 70:00 – Checkout page: Congruency, progress bar, shipping calculator, guarantee, trust symbol
- 73:00 – Future of BOOM by Cindy Joseph and spreading the message
Mentions in the Episode:
- Think Act Get
- BOOM by Cindy Joseph
- Ezra Firestone
- James Schramko
- Dolce & Gabbana
- Zappos
- PR Web
- Office Autopilot
- Nanacast
- Own The Racecourse
- Addora Live
- Seth Godin’s Startup School
- PDG Shopping Cart
- Crate and Barrel
Episode Length: 78:35
Download Options:
- Direct Download: Or right-click here and click “Save As” for a direct download
- iTunes: Listen and subscribe on iTunes for free!
- Android: Listen via Stitcher Internet Radio streaming
- Blackberry: Listen via the Blackberry Podcast App
- Zune: Listen via Zune
- If you enjoyed this episode, leave a positive review on iTunes!
Comments
This episode is rocking as I am an e-commerce store owner whose business launched just last week.
Loved the parts about press releases, events, and about building communities around your brand. Going to definitely be using some strategies and ideas from here.
Awesome to hear, Ezra has a lot more in the bag so I gotta get him back on again in the future!
Thanks Jeremey! Add me on facebook and let me know how you go with it!
Thanks Ezra will do!
I’m on my 3rd listen trying to write notes as fast as you talk lol.
Fantastic stuff Ezra and thanks Terry for bringing Ezra on! I´d love to get the graphics you mentioned Ezra. pls mail me on: ph6969@hotmail.de – thx a million.
Hey Peter! Please shoot an email over to ezra@smartmarketer.com with specific requests! (i mention a lot of stuff so Im not sure what exactly you want). thanks
Thanks Ezra, sent you a mail. Much appreciated!
dude you need to have a link in the text to their store
Whoa, can’t believe I missed that – added!
Hey Terry, I know this is an older episode, but wanted you to know that I really get alot out of your podcast. Thanks for all you do!
Robb
Thanks Robb!