Aaron Orendorff is an eCommerce content legend, previous Editor in Chief of Shopify Plus, VP of Marketing at Common Thread Collective, and current Head of Marketing at the Shopify SMS Platform, Recart.

In this episode, we discuss the intersection of content and commerce, the 3 phase approach to building an organic content flywheel for any DTC brand to build, how to think about SMS marketing in 2023, why transparent SMS pricing is key, the 5 things that make Recart so special for Shopify brands, and Blake’s favorite SMS strategy for driving tons of traffic, Transactional SMS!

Aaron also stresses why consistency in marketing matters, bringing together organic brand building and performance paid advertising, and finding one's native content language.

If you are curious about what “great” looks like in SMS marketing in 2023 this one is for you.

👉 The TYCA Podcast is brought to the DTC community cost-free. If you’d like to support the show, please consider leaving us a review and subscribing to the show! 🙏

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Follow Aaron and Recart

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LinkedIn

Check out Recart SMS at www.recart.com

Timestamps

(0:00) Blake's High-Level Intro

(2:05) - Who is Aaron Orendorff & Recart?

(6:23) The worst piece of DTC advice Aaron has heard

(7:51) Where does Aaron derive his inspiration?

(10:38) Aaron’s #1 message to the eCommerce community if he could put it on a billboard

(11:45) The Aaron Orendorff view on the intersection of content and commerce

(13:54) The 3 principles of great content creation in any owned channel (SMS, email, social, etc…)

(24:00) 5 Ways Recart is thinking differently about SMS in 2023 plus good questions to ask your current vendor

(29:00) Reviewing campaign costs and why it can wreck your return on spend

(31:00) Why transparency in SMS pricing is key

(38:00) The power of restore links for conversions

(43:00)Transactional SMS and why it’s the #1 best-kept secret in SMS marketing

(50:00) Closing thoughts

Jake Karls is the co-founder of Mid-Day Squares, a functional and better-for-you chocolate snacks CPG company.

As you’ll learn, this “Resident Rainmaker” is full of inspiring energy and wisdom for anyone in the CPG or eCommerce industry.

Blake and Jake discuss customer retention strategies, the importance of authenticity, and the challenges of shipping perishable goods.

Jake emphasizes the importance of storytelling and building emotional connections with customers to drive organic growth and word-of-mouth marketing.

He also shares his motto of "get comfortable being uncomfortable" and advises current and aspiring CPG and DTC founders to invest in innovation and be true to themselves.

The TYCA Podcast is brought to you by Wonderment — the #1 platform loved by eCommerce support, operations, and marketing teams alike to deliver the most holistic post-purchase experience imaginable.

Wonderment is the retention iOS used by over 1000 customer-first shopify brands like Jones Road Beauty, Igloo, The Ridge, Simplehuman, and more. Check out www.wonderment.com today.

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Grab some Mid-Day Squares

Watch the video format of today's episode here.

Timestamps and Summary

(0:00) - Intro

(1:20) Who is Mid-Day Squares & Jake Karls

(2:39) Blake tries Mid-Day Squares Live

(4:24) Jake's best purchase under $100, his favorite hype song, and more

(5:31) Jake’s #1 message he wants to share with the world

(7:31) Building a Personal Brand and Community - How Mid-Day Squares Approaches It

(9:49) Mid-Day Squares approach to Creating a Reality Show on Entrepreneurship

(12:06) Wonderment, the #1 CX platform for Shopify

(13:58) The Growth Impact of Building a Personal Brand and Community on a CPG or eCommerce Brand

(14:44) How Jake Has Raised Money, Gotten Media Coverage, Attracted Retailers and More Through Building a Brand Story

(16:24) Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable And Why It’s Good For You

(19:38) Growing customer retention at Mid-Day Squares

(22:05) How Authenticity and Boldness Trump Anything Else

(24:58) How Mid-Day Squares Overcomes Shipping Challenges and Transparency with Perishable Goods

(28:11) Advice on Supply Chain and Retail… How to build relationships and save

(28:42) The Evolution of Customer Retention at Mid-Day Squares

(30:22) How to Talk to Customers to Make Business Decisions

(32:13) Jake’s Very Expensive Failures And What He Learned

(36:09) The Most Common Bad Advice Given in the CPG Space

(36:53) How Mid-Day Squares is Investing in Innovation [00:36:53]**

(38:47) Advice for Struggling Entrepreneurs - Being true to yourself

(41:12) Ending

Other TYCA Episodes You Might Like

Cracking CPG Retention — Will Nitze, Founder/CEO (IQBAR)

Shopify SMS Retention Playbook: Keeping Customers Coming Back with Postscript CEO Adam Turner

Immediately Improve Your Retention Marketing & CX / How Jones Road Beauty Creates Loyal Customers / Eli Weiss & Joanne Coffey

Will Nitze is the Founder/CEO of the CPG brand IQBAR.

Catch a deep dive into the secrets of customer retention in the CPG category. Will shares his insights on how to overcome the unique challenges and seize the opportunities of each channel (Shopify, brick & mortar, wholesale, etc...) to drive growth and loyalty for your brand.

Discover his innovative approach to customer retention, which involves post-purchase surveys and creating multiple touchpoints to build a loyal customer base.

And that's not all - the conversation also covers fundraising, investments, and the power of the “founder-led” brand. Get ready to be inspired and take your CPG brand to the next level!

The TYCA Podcast is brought to you by Wonderment — the #1 platform loved by eCommerce support, operations, and marketing teams alike to deliver the most holistic post-purchase experience imaginable.

Wonderment is the retention iOS used by over 1000 customer-first shopify brands like Jones Road Beauty, Igloo, The Ridge, Simplehuman, and more. Check out www.wonderment.com today.

Follow Blake

LinkedIn

Twitter

Get in touch with Will
LinkedIn
Try IQBAR

Timestamps

(0:00) Intro

(0:32) Will's journey and IQ Bar story — how he became interested in brain food, leading to the creation of IQ Bar.

(3:24) Rapid fire questions - Get to know Will better, including his favorite CPG brand and best recent purchase under $100.

(9:05) - How Will thinks about the intersection between brick and mortar retail and DTC in CPG.

(13:00) Wonderment — the CX platform that powers Shopify’s best CPG brands.

(15:00) Why DTC and brick and mortar are vastly different — and why brick & mortar is more profitable.

(16:30) Optimizing for Revenue vs. Gross Margin

The importance of optimizing for revenue in the early days of D2C and how it has shifted to optimizing for gross and net margin. The importance of considering the era and what you are optimizing for when deciding on a channel strategy.

(18:20) Customer Retention Strategies for CPG

Steps taken to grow customer retention at IQ Bar, including post-purchase surveys and focusing on creating a loyal customer base.

(24:15) Subscription offers, limited-time offers (LTOs), etc… and how that helps the DTC channel.

(26:00) Why Will is bullish on distributing to offices & other unconventional wholesale distribution outlets

(29:00) Education and Mass Marketability discussion

(32:15) Approach to DTC Retention

Importance of reducing CAC, increasing AOV, and increasing LTV, and how IQ Bar has leaned into the basics and been more scientific over time.

(35:30) What bad recommendations get made often in CPG/DTC

(37:45) Fundraising and Bootstrapping

Advice on fundraising and bootstrapping in the CPG industry, including the importance of raising money, being capital efficient, and valuing time.

(42:00) Investing in Internal Skills

The importance of investing in internal skill development and building redundancies in the team, rather than outsourcing everything too early.

(46:00)Founder-Led Brand

The impact of sharing your story and being on social media channels like LinkedIn on building a founder-led brand and creating an emotional attachment with the audience over time.

(47:00) Building Relationships and Networking

(48:00) The Ongoing Experiment of Sharing Your Story

(48:59)Where to Find IQ Bar