Ezra Firestone: How To Build Audiences, Grow Sales, And Stand Out In An Ultra-Noisy Marketplace #BrandBuilderPodcast

Ezra Firestone’s business spent 13 million in advertising and generated 50 million in revenue from one brand in the last 30 months.   He has learned what it takes to scale an offer, which differs from building a brand to 6 figures.   Want to know the commons problems 6 figure + entrepreneurs face and what to do about it? Tune in!   Key Takeaways [4:21] Ezra introduces himself and Ryan “Ice Cream” Moran!   Mo’ money mo’ problems [5:50] The 5 common problems of 6 figure + entrepreneurs: 1. Scaling ads profitably 2. Funding 3. Hiring, sourcing and training 4. Diversification of traffic 5. Growth plateaus (1, 5, 10 and 20 million) Grow your back end [8:21] The game is won or lost on the back end: if you look at what any brand that has scaled really big has done is add more products. There will be about a 15% increase in COA year over year — so you need to get more from every customer you have. - Add at least 2 new products a year. - Go all in on email — gifs in emails get higher clicks! - Run an email sale every 6 weeks. - Aim for 20 to 40% of your revenue from email. Teachings from private equity [13:01] What Ezra has learned from his experience in venture capital consulting. 1. People who have grown brands to 9 figures think differently: your advertising revenue should always be reinvested. 2. The closer you get to a 50/50 customer mix of repeat to new, the higher your multiple. 3. User generated content — there is no better conversion asset. Paid amplification [19:20] Ezra’s decade of experience running online advertising, gives him insight he freely shares on where the opportunities will be over the next 24 months. - Instagram is projected to double (to 22 billion) between now and 2021. - 90% of Facebook’s ad revenue comes from mobile for 6 to 8 seconds, Instagram is even shorter. Considering the battle for video between YouTube and Facebook, this is where you need to go all in: - Super short form videos — 5 to 15 seconds long. - Content sequencing The sales cycle has gotten really long: about 60 to 90 days so make sure all of these areas are tight to maximise your sales channels: - Adjust your retargeting. - Provide images for images for every available outlet. - Focus on the story and only follow up with the product. - Do some snail mail. - Cross sell. - Upsell on the checkout flow - Bundle your products - Price tier order bump (size up options 4oz, 8 oz etc.0 From driver to navigator [36:50] if you only drive you can’t see the mountains in the distance, or what is coming up. You need to free up your time to make it to events, meet people and stay at the forefront. You can’t do that while driving your business. How are you to work for? [38:13] Ezra invites everyone to check themselves as employers: 2 people can get to low 7 figures 3-7 people can get to mid 7 figures 5-12 people can start to see those 8 figures Do you give good benefits? Do you have a comfortable work environment? Are you investing in your employees? If you want to scale you have to get good at human resources. Mobile site on point [39:42] 85% of web traffic is mobile, you need a good looking mobile website. The header of your head site on mobile is worth 10% of your conversion rate — update it make it nice and easy to use on mobile. Like going to the gym [41:36] advertising is like going to the gym: will you see any results if you do it intermittently? No. Same goes for advertising, be consistent. 15 to 30% of your top line revenue should be invested in paid advertising all throughout the year. The Halo effect [42:34] The 8 figure mark often happens in years 4-5-and 6. Because you spend money to amplify your brand, you generate brand assets: customer emails, people who have bought before, pixeled audiences, etc. Be premium [43:35] It’s just as hard to sell a cheap product as a premium one, and the premiums often have better profit margins. The grind [44:32] it’s not about how much you work, it’s about what you produce: don’t burn yourself out, and make room for what’s important to you. Business will fill the amount of time you give it, so it’s important to set a container on it! And finally repetition creates mastery: be consistent — keep at your business. Thanks for listening! Mentioned in this episode Max@brandbuilderstrategy.com