10 critical lessons learned in the last 60 days
Time flies, and it has been almost 2 months since I started consulting collabs with ECOM brands.
I have seen so much in the last 60 days, and these days, I did a retrospective for the TOP lessons from working with different companies that range between 2 – 35 Mio yearly revenues.
I believe you will get a lot of value while going through them:
1) Reporting and tracking is a mess
I have analyzed over 30 brands in the last 60 days, and I can honestly say that less than 10% had clear reporting.
Really, were there only startups?
No, most of them have been 7- and 8-figure brands, still following the metrics on a certain ad platform to analyze success.
WRONG ❌
If you are not doing it yet, NOW is the time to switch to brand-oriented metrics. My FAVs:
- Marketing efficiency ratio (MER) // Blended ROAS
- Revenue and Profit
- Total Marketing investment vs. ratio per channel
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
- Cost per order (CPO)
- New customer acquisition cost (NCPA)
- % returning vs. New customers
- Average Order Value (AOV)
- Conversion rate (CR)
- Lifetime value (LTV)
Start in sheets, move to automated reports (like Looker Studio), and later, you can introduce a tool for profitability tracking, like BeProfit, Lifetimely, StoreHero, and others.
2) Most companies don’t have a plan
I started all the conversations with companies with the question:
“How do you plan to grow?” 🤔
Most of them didn’t have an answer. Instead, they complained about how Meta is not working as well as in the last 3 years, offers are not scalable anymore, and so on …
If you don’t have a plan, how will you get there?
Investing the time to plan your growth and analyze your team, processes, and approaches will create a stronger ECOM brand.
I have seen it over and over again.
3) Creative strategy is still underrated
Although I spent the majority of my career in media buying, I can confidently say that:
Media buying is overrated 😬
Creative is underrated 🦄
Only rare companies invest their resources into creative strategy, but those who do are crushing it.
I still see some brands effectively scaling in 2023, and one of their significant success factors is creative strategy, production, analysis, iterations, and scalable processes.
4) It’s hard to hire the right people
People produce the results. PERIOD.
I have seen it while I was leading 30+ people multiple times in my career.
You need a strong internal and external team to succeed.
It starts with hiring the right talent, freelancers, consultants, or agencies.
One of the biggest struggles my clients have is hiring.
So, we are building processes for hiring, distribution, and onboarding.
5) Most ECOM brands abused offers during the year
I wrote a post about this. Check it out here! 👀
This is a REAL problem that some of my clients also face, and we are slowly solving it.
6) Ask for feedback I had a very personal conversation with one of the CMOs I am working with, and she shared with me that she doesn’t feel that the team is following her as a leader. She spoke about how it impacts her self-esteem and her decision process. 😣
It happens to all of us. As a leader, you really get feedback, so I suggested that she do 1-on-1 with team members and ask for feedback.
After she had done it, it turned out that the team believed in her 110% and trusted their leadership🎊, but they lacked personal communication with her. She got her drive back and developed a schedule to work with the team and gather feedback consistently.
Sometimes, you only need to ask for feedback to get directions for the next steps.
7) Being creative with messaging can create HUGE wins Read the 🏆 success story – here.
8) Processes create success Most companies ignore the power of processes, project management, and having a framework to deliver better, faster, and more predictable results.
My mindset here is: 🛠️ Repeating the right process creates success
One of the main 3 areas I am working with clients is PROCESSES. It’s the perfect time as I am more important than ever in marketing, running through the biggest sales, product launches, or opening new markets. |
9) Stay FOCUSED
There are always many shy things that distract us, keep is stuck, or prolong our journey to the desired results.
I have seen multiple founders overwhelmed with everything they need to do.
They told me:
“Jure, I have no idea where to start! 🤷”
My advice was to
(1) create a prioritization sheet,
(2) list down all the “projects” that have been rolling up their minds
(3) score it based on factors like time, money investment, people needed, and the likelihood that it will work
(4) Pick 1-2 HIGH prios and START
It helped a lot to have a list, but we didn’t stop there.
We introduced the GSD time (Get 💩 Done), where they daily focus on up to 2 crucial areas and execute them.
So they can move faster and perform.
10) Document your journey and build your personal brand
Last but not least, I want to express my gratitude for the decision that I made 9+ years ago to
– document my journey across social media platforms
– share knowledge on different events and podcasts and
– advise a lot of people on their entrepreneurial journey
By doing that, I built a “personal brand,” so when I announced that I was starting consulting, I got 30+ companies reaching out, ready to work with me.
This goes beyond launching a new service; it helped me with hiring, sales, networking, expanding my knowledge, and much much more.
So I highly recommend that if you haven’t, start documenting the journey.
It opens up so many opportunities.
THANK YOU 🙏
_________
And … That’s my TOP 10. 🙌
I really enjoy the journey, sharing the knowledge, and working with amazing teams I am able to work with.
Stay tuned for more growth lessons on my journey.
If you want to connect with me and discuss something about growth, the best way to reach out is via LinkedIn.
Happy scaling!
Bests, 🚀
Jure (JK) Knehtl
Founder @ JK GROWTH
P.S. Fly high during this BFCM days and don’t forget about your margins.