Growing DTC brands to 7 & 8 figures. $50M spent on Meta & Google Ads. Ecommerce Marketing Coach & Consultant. Webtopia Founder (now acquired). 1X Exit. Podcast host - Ecommerce Impact Podcast. Ex-Etsy.
The harsh reality is that 9 out of 10 eComm brands fail. Dreams dashed, hard work and hard earned cash down the drain. 😭 But what makes me SICK is that a good number of these brands could have been saved. They may even have been huge success stories. But they took a wrong turn and couldn't pull themselves back up. The most common 'wrong turn' is being screwed over by incompetent agencies. Here is how it plays out: The early stage of eComm is really really hard to crack. So the founder finds an agency to help them crack it. But the problem is, most agencies just aren't set up to help during this part of the journey. They'll happily take a founder's cash, knowing that it might not work. They put a junior on the account because it's low-value to them. The ads don't work and the junior doesn't know what to do. And the poor founder is hemoraging cash and doesn't know where to turn! Well now there is a place - I have made it my mission to serve this part of the market. The small brands that agencies don't want to work with, that are too hard, or too early stage. I have put together a team of experts who know how to crack new ad accounts, and a programme that gets you access to some of the smartest minds in eComm, looking at your business and helping you solve what feels like an impossible puzzle. We won't run your ads for you, we won't push the buttons. But we will help guide your strategy with the best ideas, applying marketing psychology and our knowledge of ad account set-up, and give you a repeatable testing methodology that you can apply with confidence. With my help - instead of an agency - brands can be a success story instead of one of the 90%. If this resonates comment below!
I do not think agencies screw over brands. I think founders need better mechanisms of finding and filtering out bad agencies. A bad hire is only the founder's fault and nobody else's and while its very easy to pass the buck, increasing one's own education and awareness is key to making better hiring decisions.
Very weird fact that when business performs- all credit goes to product or brand and when it fails to perform all blame goes to agencies. A mindful business owner always work in all horizons to make a brand successful in terms of product, marketing campaigns, RTO, Pricing and margins, fast shipping and best customer experience pre/post sales. It’s not always agencies that are at fault but lack of root cause analysis that make businesses fall.
I think the issue is people think there is a magic bullet and that agencies are magicians. While they can be really helpful. They really amplify more than have the ability to really save. Saving them implies they werent in a good position. The early stage of ecom is hard. Especially if the products aren’t very good. It’s also often cashflow related issues that seem to get businesses at this stage. Agencies could definitely be helping them allocate advertising capital better. There are definitely some really bad agencies out there.
My take is that founders often mistake agencies as being creators instead of facilitators. The DNA of the brand (and what I would argue as the essential creation itself) lies with the leadership. It's the role of the agency to then define, develop, and express that vision across the customer experience surface area.
Unfortunately, it is easy for agencies to scam a new founder and take their money. But as entrepreneurs, it's our duty to help each other.
You're filling a real gap in the market Brands at this stage usually have some issues with things like conversion rate, site design, product market fit, lack of creative/reviews, etc. that really hamper ads. At the same time, it's not profitable for most ad agencies to help them to work through these issues at the price point they are able to pay as they're starting out. Really cool that you're working on a creative solution here!
Bad agencies screw brands. And founders don't trust internal resources and make bad choices outside. All the best with your mission Jessie Healy
This is so needed! It's heartbreaking to see so many eComm brands fail. Your mission to help small brands is truly inspiring! 👏 Jessie Healy 🎨
That would be so helpful for founders who are starting out
Digital Agency Founder | Marketing Strategist | Comms Champion
5moRunning any business means covering a lot of bases. eCom has it's own pluses and minuses. Getting good support is part of the decision making lottery and mistakes will be made. Shop around, take references and have some target metrics to work to. I agree strategy is key. Cracking search, SEO and PPC, has got to be a main foundation for eCom success - along with product, price, brand, fulfilment, retention, finance, people etc. Hats off to eCom entrepreneurs sweating the data to make % gains and constantly optimising. I've seen some in-house teams who are all over it and don't need agencies and/or use agencies to supplement their skills gaps. Our best clients understand what they're buying from us.