by Catherine | Jul 21, 2020 | Podcast
Two of the toughest things in a product-based business would have to be growing sales and managing cash-flow.
Two of the best, most reliable ways to bring in sales fast are running a product launch or a promotional campaign.
But there are a number of essential ingredients that produce a successful product launch or campaign result.
Make no mistake – “winging it” will never give you as good results!
(As they say – if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!)
So, would you like to hear about a successful product launch strategy that addresses both of these issues at once?
Here’s what I cover in this episode:
- The 7 essential components of a successful product launch or promotional campaign, and
- A step-by-step ‘Pre-order’ launch strategy that has helped many of my clients to fund their production, shipping and customs bills by selling stock in advance.
Be prepared to take notes with this episode – it’s a meaty “how to” that you’ll want to execute in your own business!
Listen now.
And don’t miss the free ‘Campaign Planning Guide & Template’ download. Link is down below!
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course
Episode 13 – Building An Ecommerce Brand From Zero To 7 Figures, with Vicki from Bubblebubs
Episode 17 – How To Run A Successful Giveaway on Social Media
FREE DOWNLOAD – Campaign Planning Guide & Template
Free Rockstar Productpreneur community
Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:
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by Catherine | Jul 14, 2020 | Podcast
We all need to take a break every now and then, but us entrepreneurs often don’t.
We don’t take time off because we love what we do, right? We’re happy to hustle and we’re ambitious, so seeing the results is a bit addictive and makes us want to work even harder…
But the consequences of not taking time off, especially if you’re working long hours with high stress levels and not getting enough sleep, can lead to burnout. Which I can also speak about from experience, and it’s not fun!
How do you take time off without business grinding to a halt?
If you’re a solo-operator, it can be tempting to simply shut your online store. But I don’t recommend this. You’ll definitely lose traction with traffic and sales, which would be disappointing if you’ve been working hard on your marketing to generate that growth!
Luckily there are things you can do, whether you’re still running the show yourself, or you’re further down the road, to enable yourself to take a break.
Here’s what I cover in this episode:
- How to take a vacation from your business as a solo operator, without closing your online store
- What to do when your business has grown and you have a team of staff or contractors
- How to make sure your sales don’t drop and your team still get things done the way you want them to!
Listen now.
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course
Episode 18 – How To Systemise To Supercharge Your Online Store
Klaviyo email marketing platform
Episode 6 – How To Automate Your New & Repeat Sales In 3 Easy Steps
Free Rockstar Productpreneur community
Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:
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by Catherine | Jul 7, 2020 | Podcast
Today I want to talk through a topic that is really fundamental to eCommerce: choosing the best website platform to build your online store on.
I see these questions being asked in Facebook groups ALL the time!
“What’s the best website platform?”
“Which platform is better? Shopify or WordPress / Squarespace / Wix / Something else”
And then, there’s the myths that exist. Like, “I’m too big for Shopify”, or “Shopify is terrible for SEO.”
So what IS the best choice (for you)?
I see a lot of people making mistakes with this choice, either from poor advice or ignorance about what difference it makes, or thinking that all platforms do the same thing and choosing the cheapest one is a prudent decision.
Your website is the vehicle through which you do business.
Choosing well will enable you to grow your business efficiently and effectively. While choosing poorly is not necessarily the end of the world – it’s entirely possible to shift to another platform, people do this all the time, but this isn’t the easiest, fastest or cheapest exercise.
Listen as I share exactly how to figure out the best platform for your business.
I’ll share my experiences as an eCommerce brand owner, as well as my experience producing websites during my career in digital agencies.
From the core objectives of your eCommerce website, to the different types of platforms you can consider, to the specific functionality you need, we’ll cover all the factors you should consider before making your choice.
Listen now.
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course
Shopify
Free Rockstar Productpreneur community
Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:
Read the Transcript
Listen on iTunes
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by Catherine | Jun 30, 2020 | Podcast
There’s not a lot of information available that explains how to become a retail stockist or reseller of other brands.
How do you go about approaching brands?
What do they look for in a retail stockist?
How do you do a good job of being a stockist?
Often, if you’re new in your eCommerce business, you’ll start approaching your favourite brands that you want to stock and receive a lot of knock-backs.
It’s not uncommon to be told things like, ‘we only take brick and mortar stores’, or ‘we aren’t taking on anymore online stores’.
Sometimes that’s a genuine situation, as brands want to take care of their existing retail stockists and if your online store looks very similar to another one then they might perceive it to be a conflict of interest. Or, they might simply not have manufactured enough stock to be able to supply a new retailer just yet.
And sometimes it might be something they say to let you down gently if they don’t think you’re a good fit for their brand.
And if that’s the case, then listen in as we discuss some strategies for winning them over and approving you as a new stockist.
Here’s what I cover in this episode:
- The bare bones basics you need to have in place before approaching brands you want to stock;
- How to identify your business’ unique point of difference, and why that’s important;
- How to decide which brands to approach;
- What brands will look for in a retail stockist;
- And much, much more…
Listen now.
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course
“How To Identify Your Unique Selling Proposition” free template download
“Promotional Campaign Planning Guide & Template” free bundle download
Podcast episode 19, “How to identify your most profitable customers”
Podcast episode 15, “How to build an audience of raving fans”
Free Rockstar Productpreneur community
Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:
Read the Transcript
Listen on iTunes
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by Catherine | Jun 23, 2020 | Podcast
With Photographer, Prue Aja
Want to learn the fastest way to attract your ideal customer’s attention?
Well, I’m sure you’re all familiar with that old saying, “A picture tells a thousand words”. I mean, we all know that right?
Visual communication is as old as time. Our cavemen ancestors would communicate by drawing pictures on the walls. Even now, as babies we see and understand well before we can speak, let alone read or write.
The same goes for selling products online. Effective non-verbal communication is absolutely essential if you want to sell more products.
In fact – your images really do the heavy lifting when it comes to selling products online
Our brains process images many times faster than text.
Images quickly affect our emotions, and…
We make most of our purchase decisions based on emotion!
Today on the Podcast I’m joined with professional photographer, Prue Aja.
We discuss things like:
- What is a styled brand photoshoot?
- Why do you need one?
- How do you brief a photographer so you get the images you want?
- The difference between images created by a professional photographer and a brand rep.
- The different image formats you might need and where you’d use them.
- How to avoid disaster or disappointment with your photoshoot.
- Whether you need to be personally present at your photoshoot.
Listen now as we cover 10 practical photography tips that’ll boost your eCommerce sales.
Listen now.
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course
Click here to download my FREE Photography Briefing Template
Prue Aja Photography
Wink Models
A Perfect Space
Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:
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by Catherine | Jun 16, 2020 | Podcast
So. The average Ecommerce website converts at only 2%. That means, 2% of your website visitors will buy from you.
Yet, we have several clients whose websites regularly convert at between 3-7%!
Part of that comes down to having a well-designed website and a great product.
BUT there are several things that you can easily implement on your website today that will help you to improve your own website conversion rate.
For example…
Have you ever wondered what colour your “add to cart” button should be?
Or whether you should spend time putting an abandoned cart strategy in place?
Or tried to work out if it’s worthwhile getting Afterpay (and all the fees it entails)?
All your questions and more are answered today!
Listen as I share 9 easy (and mostly free!) tweaks you can make to your website to win more sales.
Listen now.
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course
Babiators
Who Gives A Crap
Birdsnest
Klaviyo
Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:
Read the Transcript
Listen on iTunes
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by Catherine | Jun 9, 2020 | Podcast
As we approach the end of financial year, you may be considering running a clearance or flash sale (affectionately known as an EOFYS).
There’s the temptation to reduce how much you need to count during your stock-take.
Or to get a few quick sales over the line before having to pay the tax man.
There are many benefits to running an EOFYS:
- You can sell off end of season or last season’s stock.
- Clear slow-selling lines or odd or less popular sizes.
- Encourage new customers to trial your products for the first time by retargeting people who have visited specific product pages in your online store.
- Or you can reward existing loyal customers or re-engage lapsed customers who haven’t bought from you in a while.
But to benefit from the enormous potential of this strategy, you need to avoid the common pitfalls and mistakes.
Otherwise you could end up digging yourself into a bigger hole with poor revenue and profit now and into the future!
Listen to this bonus podcast episode as I share the common pitfalls and mistakes, as well as best practices for running a successful EOFYS.
Listen now.
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Click here to register for our upcoming free Masterclass, “My 6 Figure Ecommerce Sales Formula”
FREE Marketing Campaign Planning Guide + Template Download
Click here to listen to the podcast about Giveaways & Competitions
Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:
Listen on iTunes
Listen on Spotify
by Catherine | Jun 9, 2020 | Podcast
Paid advertising can be absolute gold for driving traffic and sales in your online store. Once you nail the Facebook Ad Campaign that works for your target customer, you can almost have traffic and sales on tap!
You can convert new and repeat customers and transform them into raving fans that spread the good word about your biz far and wide.
That’s the aim, right?
But there is a big difference between creating an ad and creating a winning ad campaign that sells.
These are the questions I hear people asking all the time:
- How do I know if it is working?
- When should I increase the budget?
- Are those numbers good?
If you too are asking these questions, then you need to get to know your metrics – intimately!
Listen to this podcast as I share exactly how to make sense of your Facebook ad results.
Listen now.
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Click here to register for our upcoming free Masterclass, “My 6 Figure Ecommerce Sales Formula”
The One Thing All Successful eCommerce Business Owners Do
Read the Transcript
Listen on iTunes
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by Catherine | Jun 2, 2020 | Podcast
How would you like to add, potentially, another 20% to your revenue? And how would you like to do that at a potential 3800% ROI?
This, my friends, is entirely possible using Email Marketing.
In fact, as an eCommerce store, one of the highest-impact marketing strategies you can have in your toolkit is email marketing.
Yes, even now in mid-2020, this is still the case!
And believe me, when you master the art and science of using email to generate sales on your website, you will always be able to make money.
I know, I know… Most Ecommerce store owners just don’t know what to put in their emails!
Well, if that’s you – this episode’s for you!
Listen as I share my Ultimate Guide to all things eCommerce Email Marketing.
From how to design and format your emails…
To how to get people onto your list…
And what content you should put IN your emails…
So that you can generate consistent new and repeat sales in your online store.
Listen now.
Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Klaviyo email marketing platform for eCommerce stores
Click Here to download your free “Double Your Customers” Email Guide
Click here to listen to the podcast about Giveaways & Competitions
Click here to register for our upcoming free Masterclass, “My 6 Figure Ecommerce Sales Formula”
Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:
Read the Transcript
Listen on iTunes
Listen on Spotify
by Catherine | Jun 1, 2020 | Sales, Systems & Planning
& make the next 12 months your best year yet!
I love planning for the year ahead. I mean, I REALLY love it.
But, when I first started out in business, I was more of a ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ kinda operator.
And in a short survey I recently conducted, I learned that more than half of my audience also tend towards this method of operating.
It’s not that they don’t WANT to write a business plan, they just have no idea WHAT they should be putting in it.
Yet, the same people have also set themselves some very ambitious goals and dreams for their business.
Sound familiar?
And I have no doubt that those goals are entirely achievable. BUT it’ll be bloody hard to get there without knowing what activities to focus on and how to spend your time.
When I worked this out, my business grew exponentially!
Don’t waste a second on activities that don’t generate results
Figuring out what to focus on – what are the key drivers for your business growth – can be the difference between mediocre and exponential growth.
Here’s how…
Think big (but not too big!)
What would you do in your business in the next year if you couldn’t fail? You want to think about this now, so that your business plan will lead you to this outcome!
What products do you want to sell? What customers do you want to serve?
Do you want to be featured on prime time TV? Or stocked in a big box retailer?
Personally I like to keep my goals within the realm of possibility, whilst still being ambitious! That way, you can proceed with confidence and remove the fear of failure.
Fear of failure is a big one isn’t it? Too often, fear of failure holds us back and stops us from pursuing our dreams.
So let me give you a tip about setting a big (but achievable) goal:
People tend to over-estimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade.
What’s your number(s)?
Without thinking about the HOW just yet, set the following goals:
How much revenue do you want to make?
What % growth does this represent?
What is your goal average order value?
How many website visitors would you like to get each month?
What is your goal website conversion rate?
How many emails will you add to your email list?
Look back before you can plan ahead
Next, before you put pen to paper with your business plan, you need to review your past year’s performance.
I know this can be a bit tedious, and sometimes also a bit scary if you’re still in the early stage of your business and not turning a profit yet!
(Take heart – everyone starts like this, but with a good plan you’ll be able to get ahead!)
Dig into your website reports, your accounts, your Paypal, and your Google analytics, to find out exactly where you are right now.
How much revenue did you make in the last 12 months?
How much did you grow from the previous year?
What is your current average order value?
How many website visitors do you get each month?
What is your current website conversion rate?
How many email subscribers do you have right now?
Time to SWOT
Have you ever done a SWOT analysis? (Or am I now talking Greek to you?!)
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Basically, you want to get real with yourself here. No kidding yourself about how things really are.
Strengths and Weaknesses relate to your own personal abilities and that of your team. Are you fantastic at social media marketing, but suck at writing emails? Or brilliant at driving sales, but your order fulfilment or customer service really lags behind?
Opportunities and Threats relate to what’s going on in your industry. Are there any new competitors coming to market? Or have you identified a fantastic new product opportunity that you reckon would be absolutely killer?
Figure out the HOW
Now you know what you want to achieve, and you know your starting point. Next step is to figure out how you’ll get there and put this in your business plan.
So, what strategies do you need to employ to achieve these goals?
For example, to grow sales online, consider:
- If your website conversion rate is really low, work on website optimization
- If your website visitor numbers are low, work on SEO or paid advertising
- Up your game with more consistent email marketing
- Think about a promotional calendar so you have something for each month
- Sourcing or producing new products to sell more to your existing customers
- Working with bloggers, media or influencers to build your brand profile
There’s so many more strategies you could employ, I can’t list them all here. But you want to have a strategy to answer each of your goals and your SWOT analysis.
Make sure you ALWAYS have a strategy in place for these 2 things
Your business plan must always include strategies that:
- Attract potential new customers (such as influencers and paid advertising)
- Convert new and repeat sales (such as regular promotions, new products, special offers, and email marketing)
Without a constant stream of potential customers, and a mechanism to convert them into buyers (preferably who buy more than once), then you don’t have a business.
Use my FREE Planner Tool to Create Your Own Plan
Download my FREE Planner Tool that I developed to prepare business and marketing plans.
