Nick Grant

So much of the marketing advice on LinkedIn is about short-term conversions. People are telling you to focus on tactics for that quick sell and "fast revenue". I don't blame you, its hard to do anything else when you have shareholders breathing down your neck for that fast revenue. But-what are you giving up in return? Recurring revenue and long-term profitability. Like Sam's experience, we find when we focus on LTV, the companies we work with become more profitable in the long term. Why? Because they offer an exceptional user experience, its less spend, and overall generates more profit. I find this to be true in both the B2B, B2C, and DTC space (yes, with over 22 years of experience, we've worked in all three spaces and yes, what works in DTC can translate to B2B when you focus on the customer experience).

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“It’s between you and one other vendor.” After years in MarTech Intelligence, I know nothing fuels as much anxiety for vendors as a potential client uttering these words… So when you’re neck and neck for the contract, how do you edge out the competition? I recently sat down with the Operations Director at a $500M apparel and accessories retailer making this exact decision on a new CDP for one of their brands. Here are the factors he’s considering:  (Hint – save these insights to ace your next RFP!) >> CDP Option 1 << He likes how: - Easy to use - Straightforward - And effective it is And he loves its functionality: “It tags all the site stuff to help record customer interactions even if they’re anonymous. Then it works to de-anonymize them!” All in all, “it’s a great product for tracking and pushing data to the data warehouse,” he says. “Plus it’s at a great price.” But while he loves Option 1, the brand’s team is leaning toward a second option… >> CDP Option 2 << The brand’s team likes its: - Ability to test content across their site, - Collect effective data on consumer behavior, - And create a cohesive and compelling site experience. Because this brand is 100% D2C, the team cares less about de-anonymizing data and more about creating a compelling site experience with testing and customer insights. >> Bonus Considerations << Most of the retailer’s other brands are just 5-10% D2C and could all leverage CDP Option 1. Plus, one of his top goals for 2024 is to identify and quantify customer data in offline channels. So he naturally prefers Option 1. But Option 2 might be a better match for this brand’s unique CDP needs.  ___ How will this buyer decide? Ultimately, it’ll come down to the priority that takes first place for the brand and the overarching company. Tl;dr — Make sure you invest time in truly understanding your prospect's goals. Then use those insights to frame your MarTech’s value prop so it’s personally relevant to them. After working with 100s of buyers, I can tell you firsthand this is one of the best ways to win their RFP.

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I attended a great panel this morning at Denver Startup Week called "How Hiring Fractional Talent Can Drive Quick Wins for Small and Medium Size Businesses." I'm about to hit my one year anniversary of becoming a fractional SEO Director, and a lot of what the panel discussed really resonated with what I see as the value I bring to my clients every day. Some of the key advantages of working with fractional talent include: - You are able to hire higher caliber talent than you may be able to afford if you were to hire a full-time employee. - You get a brutally honest voice in the room. We aren't politicking or angling for a promotion. Your success is our success too. - You get quicker execution from fractional talent. Onboarding is shorter, meetings are fewer, and there is more intentionality around our goals and work because our time is more limited. - Your organization benefits from us working with other clients. We will get you out of the "we've always done it this way" mindset and provider fresh perspectives on how others have approached your challenges. If you're looking for fractional SEO or content strategy help, or you are interested in getting into the fractional world, my DMs are open! #denverstartupweek #fractionalleader #fractionalhiring #fractionaladvantage

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The latest Rebll blog about leveraging micro-influencer’s is out now: https://lnkd.in/eskS-Czp These pied pipers have loyal bands of followers that hang on their every word, and they are a powerful tool for affiliates. Learn how to turn their followers into your customers with our fresh guide. #microinfluencer #rebll #affiliatemarketing #influencer #affiliatesguide

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All aboard the attribution train because Chapter 3 is steam-rolling your way 🚆 Chapter 3 of the Fairing Attribution Academy dives deep into the channels you plough your hard-earned money into: Podcasts, Paid Media, TV, and Direct Mail. How does attribution truly work on those platforms? As we kick things off with Podcasts, we have articles from industry experts from ADOPTER Media, A Podcast Advertising Agency and Podscribe who'll guide you through the basics and details of all things podcast attribution related.

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💸 Have some pricing pains? The avg. profit margin for a US agency is roughly 16%...combine that margin with the sum of your total costs & labor, and you may have just calculated a pretty good jumping-off point for your pricing journey 📈 . Dive deeper into some effective strategies you can customize for your agency services. ⬇

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The RIGHT Way to Optimize Your Google Ads Campaigns Struggling to make your campaigns more efficient and profitable? Here's what you’ll learn in our latest video: ✅ Key Metrics Demystified: CTR, CPA, and Quality Score—what they mean and why they matter. ✅ Cut Wasted Spend: Pinpoint where your money’s going and optimize for better returns. ✅ Balance CPA & Volume: Find the sweet spot between cost per acquisition and conversion growth. 🎥 Watch now for practical strategies to optimize your campaigns step-by-step, link in the first comment!

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Probably an unpopular opinion, but aggregating viral content to your company's social media platforms isn't a winning strategy. For some companies, content aggregation is great for brand awareness. If you look at groups like Funker530 (Ronnie Adkins), who aggregates and commentates on combat footage, or North American Rescue, LLC, who aggregates and provides comprehensive write-ups on trauma medicine, it's a great strategy. The ticket here is that the brands who do this well and thrive are adding value to the content that they're aggregating. If you're just posting the flavor of the day with very little additional value, or jumping on the next viral trend or video in the hopes that you'll get more eyeballs than the next video in the infinite scroll, you're going to have a rough go of things. Instead of aggregation, build your own team of motivated in-house content creators. People who can connect with your customer in a personal way. Provide them with the freedom of movement, tools, and time they need to create engaging video and copy that provides value to the individual's time spent scrolling endlessly through social media. This will help you stand out and above the static noise of infinitely scrollable short format content. If that's not an option for your business, then connect with groups like Clandestine Media Group or one of the many independent photographers and videographers like Collin Perryman and let them do the work for you. And, if your business can't afford that yet, solicit more user-generated content by adding in cards to your packages asking customers to tag you on social media or send out an email with a photo contest that ends in a giveaway so that you can, at the very least, aggregate relevant quality content. I would love to hear what unique things your business is doing for creative content strategy down below. I know it can be a struggle, especially for a young business with one owner/operator trying to do everything from running machinery to building out the marketing strategy, but you can do this. Feel free to reach out if you need help or advice. My DMs are always open. I'm always happy to chat and share ideas.

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CMO: Our demographic targeting is perfect, but our conversions are terrible. Our CAC is through the roof, and I can't figure out why. Agency: The truth is, traditional targeting strategies aren't performing like they used to. CMO: What? But we know exactly who our ideal customer is... Agency: When customers see "this product is for working moms who like yoga," they think, "That's nice, but it doesn't apply to me.” CMO: (Aggressively opens demographic data dashboard) Agency: We’ve seen it a million times... brands create detailed personas, invest heavily in targeting them, and then watch their return on ad spend decline. It's a case of right audience, wrong moment. CMO: Yeah, our ROAS has definitely been steadily declining.... Agency: Then companies typically panic and think, "We just need more first-party data!" while their competition pulls ahead. CMO: This is painfully accurate. Please continue. Agency: What if we shifted focus from WHO we're targeting to WHEN we're targeting them? CMO: (Closes LinkedIn audience targeting tab) Agency: Your detailed personas are valuable, but they're missing a crucial element—the moment of need. CMO: That might explain why we have 90% awareness but a 2% conversion rate. Agency: Exactly. We need to move beyond thousand-page persona documents. CMO: But understanding our customer avatar has been central to my entire strategy! Agency: That knowledge is still important, but let's add timing to the equation. Agency: First, isn't someone more likely to buy when they're actively feeling the problem? CMO: ...of course Agency: And don't your highest-performing ads all tap into specific situations? CMO: Well, yes... go on Agency: In fact, haven't your highest-converting campaigns already been tapping into specific moments? CMO: (Quietly closes quarterly targeting report) Agency: So maybe you're overthinking the WHO. CMO: WAIT! I'm having a moment! Let me break this down... CMO: Every major win we've had wasn't about perfect demographic targeting—it was about perfect timing. We've been so focused on audience segments that we forgot people don't convert just because they match our target demographic. They convert because they're experiencing a specific problem at a specific moment. We need to map moments, not just markets. No wonder our media budget is burning faster than my morning coffee. Agency: That was chef's kiss. Now, let's build a strategy around it.

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How do you *really* know if podcast ads are bringing in net new customers? Sure, pixel attribution can capture 70% more podcast-attributed conversions.... But how many of those are truly incremental? Well, Podscale® partnered with Podscribe to find out... "For the large brands we work with, understanding the net-new impact of podcast ads has always been a challenge—especially when they’re spending big on other channels, too." - Natalie Kovac, CEO Podscale® Using Podscribe’s “always-on” incrementality testing, Podscale® was able to finally measure which podcast ad conversions were incremental. Meaning... They wouldn’t have converted without hearing the podcast ad. The Findings? INSANE!  ➡ 58% of conversions driven by podcast ads were incremental, meaning these customers were genuinely net new.  ➡ Up to 2.56x Incremental ROAS, securing over two and a half times return for every dollar spent on ads from net-new customers. ➡ Podcast ads drove a massive +$3.9 million in incremental revenue for some of the fastest-growing DTC brands. Want to see the full story? Check out the case study to learn how Podscale® and Podscribe made it happen → https://lnkd.in/g8_cp4v4 #podcastadvertising #incrementality #dtc #podscribe

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Multiple Shopify stores had a rough Monday-Wednesday this week. After spending thousands $$$'s in team resources, we found out the issue... Crowdstrike patches impacted browsers + Cloudfare (Shopify's distribution network). Users had latency issues and difficulty with checkout. Was I frustrated? Yes. Lose sleep? Yes. Take it out on my team? Yes. Their fault? Yes. My fault? Yes. No one's fault? Yes. The fact is, even when these things happen (and they do happen in the world of digital), it may not be our FAULT, but it is our responsibility. There's always a way we can improve. Processes, communication, management (patience), all get sharpened when there's a "fantom" issue. Doesn't mean they won't happen again, but how we can recognize the pattern faster. Appreciate the diligence and, more importantly, the patience of the Everything Bagel team with me. #cloudstrike #shopify #digitalmarketing #management

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Sending up the bat signal... You would have to be NUTS to go into 2025 without a revamped digital ad, Google, and SEO strategy. Everything has changed with Google's new AI search experience. Advertisers are not seeing the ROI they once did. Companies that once enjoyed top organic search status are buried under paid ads and click bait. #CodeSquirrels can help. https://codesquirrels.com/ I've been working so closely with my web developer Nahid Bin Zahangir to navigate the "Dead Internet" that we've decided to team up and help other companies apply what we have learned through testing, trial and error, talking to dozens of clients and reading through Google's docs. If you want a powerful campaign that generate results and revenue, reach out. #seo #marketing #google

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I’m gonna mix a little bit of info with a lil sharing. If you know me this is pretty standard behavior. I was chatting with someone about programmatic direct mail and incrementality. When I think of incrementality I think of stickiness vs reach. Showing your ad to a new person is dope, but the data shows that channel diversification is more about breaking through the noise then unlocking a new audience. If you’re spending in the millions there’s a pretty good chance you’re hitting a lot of your target demo on digital channels. Tell me the last 10 meta ads you saw? 5? Tell me one meta ad you saw today? (This brings up another convo of frequency in this evolved digital age but Idk best practices) it takes a lot for something to stick so if you’re going to a new channel for incrementaltiy choose channels that are going to stick. Hence programmatic DM. When you start testing I’d think of it as a lift channel. Part of your lifecycle nurture flow. Test with unconverted audiences and see if it lifts. Then use the lifted to lal for prospecting. Ok the other thing. I was chatting with a brilliant marketer who complemented my posts and it gave me the biggest imposter syndrome ever. I thought about it a bit and I think it’s because all of these posts are the results of failures, experiments, and learning from other great marketers. Plan A has worked so rarely I could count it on my hands. The speedy pivot to plan B, C, & D is the real gold. I’m learning new stuff constantly because I care about marketing (I’m learning about social media right now). I’ll probably suck at it for a bit and then I’ll get good and write something about it if I think it can be helpful. Idk just thought I’d share.

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The Klaviyo agency business model is dead - face it without crying. In the next 2 years, you're going to see a massive exodus of email agencies in the DTC space that serve clients in the $1-10million revenue range and just a sprinkling of skilled freelancers serving this market segment. Here's what's happening and what you can do to prepare. BACKGROUND I own a Klaviyo Elite Agency. We've worked with over 130 brands and audited over 400. I've been in eCommerce for 17 years both on the brand & agency side and have enough context on how brands think & agencies grow at this point to see what I believe is an irreversible trend. HOW WE GOT TO THIS POINT Klaviyo has been the runaway market leader in the SMB space for Shopify businesses running email. Their brilliance has been in delivering powerful features with a small learning curve, eradicating the complexity associated with ESPs in the past which made it difficult for DTC brands to leverage email. But Klaviyo's success is also its bottleneck: it's now a public company and can't continue to grow catering to this market segment. It has to go enterprise, and many smaller brands are begrudgingly paying their bills waiting for a viable competitor. CURRENT LANDSCAPE The days of cheap META ads and Covid growth are over. DTC as a business model is losing its allure. The margins are shrinking, CAC feels like a battle that can't be won and the commoditization of products is destroying the value prop of 80% of brands. This leaves Klaviyo's main market segment fighting an uphill battle with razor-thin margins for paying agencies. These companies don't have serious retention problems: they have brand equity issues that can't be solved by sending more emails. Combine this with the fact that AI-enabled tech is aggressively cutting out the middlemen to deliver more value to merchants and you have the perfect storm for agency death. Lastly, the agency ecosystem is saturated. Klaviyo has over 9k partners and around 100k paying customers. The maths doesn't support scale. HOW CAN AGENCIES SURVIVE? I see 2 paths to survival (and growth) for agencies built exclusively around Klaviyo. 1: Increase your skills & hedge your bets on Klaviyo penetrating the enterprise market segment Cookie-cutter strategy & design templates are rapidly becoming worthless. These will be out-of-the-box features very soon in most ESPs that brands in the $1-10m range desperately need to reduce agency fees. To combat this you'll have to increase your skillset & learn to work with bigger brands. The volume will be less, but the retainer model significantly higher. 2: Leverage a Migration Model It's no secret that there's a war heating up for that compressed $1-10m market segment. Yotpo, SendLane & others are circling these brands aggressively and trying to achieve feature parity to migrate them. The financial rewards for striking a partnership with the right SaaS could be EXTREMELY lucrative CONT'D IN COMMENTS...

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Agencies (good agencies, at least) have a three-dimensional perspective that a full-time hire simply doesn't have. In-house testing: “I heard from someone at a marketing dinner that we should try to test this.” Agency testing: “We’ve seen very good results with this with other brands in this vertical. For our other clients, we've been able to see a pipeline lift of 5-15%. I suggest we set aside some budget to test for a few weeks to test. I’m sending the link to our testing doc so you can see how high we’d recommend prioritizing this idea.” You get the point - New ideas and tests are the lifeblood of good marketing campaigns, and a great agency doesn’t just know what to test; it knows how to assess and archive the results for long–term growth gains. If you’re weighing bringing on an agency vs. bringing on an in-house resource, find an in-house marketer and ask about some of the recent tests they’ve run. Do the same thing with an agency or two. A great CRO expert, Jeremy Epperson, often says that testing velocity is the key to growth and performance. Through that lens, who’s the better deal for your bottom line?

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EXPOSED: The Silent Drain on Your App Marketing Budget Most mobile marketers obsess over CPI and ROAS, but there's a critical threat lurking beneath the surface: SDK spoofing. What you need to know: - SDK spoofing simulates real app installs and user activities - Your marketing decisions are based on compromised data - Real user acquisition suffers as budgets go to waste The reality? This isn't just another fraud type. It's a sophisticated attack that's costing the industry millions. At Apptrove, we're changing this narrative. Our enterprise-grade solution: → Detects fraudulent patterns in real-time → Provides actionable intelligence → Protects your marketing investment → Ensures your budget reaches real users Think your campaigns are immune? The data might surprise you. Interested in a fraud exposure analysis for your app? Let's talk. #MobileMarketing #AppGrowth #MarTech #DigitalMarketing #FraudPrevention #Apptrove #AppSuccess

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