Agency X

Sean McGinnis is President & Integrator at KURU Footwear (https://www.kurufootwear.com). Sean has been a digital marketing leader since 2006 and has led customer acquisition and lead gen for Fortune 50 and Startup companies across a breadth of products and services. Sean is currently focused on meeting the growth targets of KURU Footwear, a  rapidly scaling D2C eCommerce company focused on building stylish shoes to fight foot pain.  

In this episode of Agency X, John and Sean discuss   

2:00 EOS and using a paid implementor  

6:00 Changes in digital marketing over the years and getting started in law, home theatre, and DVD reviews and keyword stuffing on long running pages 

16:25 Challenges within the business of growing (Magento 2) 

20:00 Going from being an IT business with Magento to an ecommerce business with Shopify 

25:45 Impact of iOS 14.5  

33:00 Impact of Google changes on SEO  3

7:00 Growing your affiliate and content network with a product that solves a problem

Tim is the founder of Fern Studios - a consultancy focused on reframing the way agency leaders think. Before that, he was a founding member of We Make Websites, a Shopify Plus agency acquired by the Born Group in 2021. In his spare time, he hosts the Your Basket Is Empty podcast and does a little angel investing.

In this episode, Tim and John break down:

- What agencies need to reframe, and the way that they think. 

- Building We Make Websites with his cofounder and former guest Alex O'Byrne 

- Growth Strategies that always work

Jon Bausman is the former Director of Marketing at Vitality, a booming athleisure brand headquartered in Denver, CO.  His 15+ year marketing career and portfolio of several outdoor brands such as Cabela’s, Columbia Sportswear, Airhead, as well as Eli Lilly & Company, DowAgro Sciences, and Super Bowl 46.  In a past life, Jon served as an Entertainment TV Host, starred in Walmart commercials, and was on several episodes of Parks and Rec. He enjoys snowboarding, hiking, camping, and believes quoting movies is his second language.  

Key moments in this episode. 

3:00 starting out as an actor and moving into marketing through the lens of a social media marketer. 

5:30 Moving into Vitality from other brands and the lessons Jon brought. 

7:50 Building community and brand 

12:30 The importance of founders communicating with customers 

 16:15 The challenges of building a community 

21:00 DTC Brands shifting their expectations with rising costs of acquiring customers 

30:00 SEO and fundamentals pay the bills 

32:00 Vitality’s approach to data driven analysis 

36:00 Is selling wholesale and in market places inevitable?

42:00 Shifting strategies to win when there is no right or wrong answer

John and Lucas do a quick post-op of Unite this year. Some faces were missing, and it was smaller than in years past, but it was still a great reunion overall.

Alex O'Byrne is the co-founder and managing director of We Make Websites, the Shopify Plus Agency for International Brands. He joins John Surdakowski on Agency X, part of the DTCX Podcast Universe.

In this episode, John and Robin talk about planning your integrations on Shopify.

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We'd like to thank Gorgias for sponsoring this podcast. They combine all your different communication channels and messages (email, SMS, social media, live chat, phone, etc.) into one platform. Learn how to level up your customer support and get a month free by speaking to their team here: https://gorgias.grsm.io/avexoffer6592

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This podcast is hosted by Avex Designs: a design, development, and growth e-commerce agency specializing in Shopify Plus.

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Connect With Us: Robin H. Smith, John Surdakowski

In this episode, John and E.M. talk about how ReturnLogic can help merchants use returns as a way to grow, rather than seeing returns as something they always want to avoid. 

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We'd like to thank Gorgias for sponsoring this podcast. They combine all your different communication channels and messages (email, SMS, social media, livechat, phone, etc.) into one platform. Learn how to level up your customer support and get a month free by speaking to their team here: https://gorgias.grsm.io/avexoffer6592

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This podcast is hosted by Avex Designs: a design, development, and growth e-commerce agency specializing in Shopify Plus.

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Connect With Us: E.M. Ricchini, John Surdakowski

In this episode, John, Chris, and Mark have a conversation about Enjoy Life's rebrand, how they made it into big-box stores, and the future of marketing for CPG brands. Check out the highlights and episode transcription here.

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We'd like to thank Gorgias for sponsoring this podcast. They combine all your different communication channels and messages (email, SMS, social media, livechat, phone, etc.) into one platform. Learn how to level up your customer support and get a month free by speaking to their team here: https://gorgias.grsm.io/avexoffer6592

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This podcast is hosted by Avex Designs: a design, development, and growth eCommerce agency specializing in Shopify Plus.

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Connect With Us: Chris Mahoney, Mark Stanczak, John Surdakowski

Get your eCommerce news in under 5 minutes with our weekly updates, created by John Surdakowski, Avex Founder and CEO. This week he talks about ongoing issues with the supply chain, how iOS updates are affecting paid ads, and the Netlify platform's new feature, Netlify Graph. View the episode transcription here. 

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Subscribe to hear all things eCommerce every Monday.

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Contact Avex here or connect with John on Linkedin.

Get your eCommerce news in under 5 minutes with our weekly updates, created by John Surdakowski, Avex Founder and CEO. This week he talks about Shopify's Future of Commerce report for 2022, Yotpo's new collection of NFTs, and our upgrade to becoming a Klaviyo Platinum Partner.

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Subscribe to hear all things eCommerce every Monday.

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Contact Avex here or connect with John on Linkedin.