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I am presently scaling a client on Shopify who started at a 30k a month ad budget. Today we scaled past $8,000 per day (So a little under 250k a month). I fully

by jsonne 6y ago

I am presently scaling a client on Shopify who started at a 30k a month ad budget. Today we scaled past $8,000 per day (So a little under 250k a month). I fully expect and we'll hit $500,000 a month in ad spend for them monthly probably in the next 2 weeks. The combination of increased screen time and major companies pulling ad dollars has cratered media prices, and in the process, created a once in a decade opportunity for DTC brands that have cash on hand and are ready to scale up production. This announcement from Shopify themselves surprises me not at all.

MuffinFlavored 6y ago
I'm seeing the opposite. I'm seeing clients who are able to turn off a $30k/mo ad budget and instead seeing sales double based on such an increase in organic traffic from strong SEO.
- chrischen 6y ago
  Yep, we also got a massive spike in organic traffic as well possibly due to stay at home orders.
mparr4 6y ago
What are they selling?
- jsonne 6y ago
  It's in the semi-custom home goods category. Can't get more specific than that.
  - mparr4 6y ago
    I sell wall maps: https://ramblemaps.com https://ramblemaps.com Just started 3/22. They aren't exactly flying off the shelves. We're getting good traffic but conversion rate is very low. Would you expect a business like mine to be doing well in this climate? Since we're a new business it's hard to tell if it's our product or the market that is our problem.
    - duck 6y ago
      Those look great, but it seems like that might be a tough market for a while. I think most skiers (at least the ones I know) are still really bummed about the shortened season and probably aren't looking to shell out some cash for something that just reminds them of that fact.
      - mparr4 6y ago
        Thanks for taking a look. I'm glad you like them. Yea, I was suspicious of how these would do so late in the ski season and that was before a global pandemic happened. The plan was never to just sell ski maps, so we're thinking expanding the product line is the next move. Hopefully this line does well once colder weather returns.
    - 1123581321 6y ago
      There is something about the aesthetic of the maps that doesn’t appeal to me, at least as they appear in the photographs. They almost look like they should be tilt-shifted models a la Game of Thrones intro, but they are flat, so maybe some dissonance there? I also don’t get what options I should be buying, and feel like I may not be the target market because I don’t appreciate the copy about the materials used (which I wouldn’t think would necessarily be the same people who like mountain cartography or are climbers.) Obviously, take a tire-kicker’s feedback with a massive grain of salt. And I can tell that a ton of effort and love has gone into these, which is appealing.
      - mparr4 6y ago
        Critical feedback is hard to come by and appreciated. Thanks!
    - mjayhn 6y ago
      This is purely anecdotal but I'm buying as little as I can to not overwork mail carriers. I just moved into a new place and I have no art and while it's not critical to me it's something I'd typically start buying right now but I've literally only bought necessities (plunger, detergent, soap) and haven't even looked at actual house stuff. Not sure how common my quarantine shopping style is but I doubt I'm a rarity. The art is super cool. Hopefully it gets more attention once this is all over.
  - chiph 6y ago
    If you're doing furniture, you should be in good shape. What I'm hearing from friends & family is that since folks are spending lots more time at home these days, plans for replacing old and tatty furniture are being made.
  - gjs278 6y ago
    yes you can. just tell us.
strooper 6y ago
I am not being judgemental, rather trying to understand how you get fish of that size with your far-from-well-designed website (from your profile), and far-from-rich marketing contents. Is that luck? Or, your lack of time to work on your own presentation? Again, I am seriously not being judgmental, I am curious.
- bowmessage 6y ago
  You are being judgemental, even if you claim not to be. GP, I think your website is well designed, fwiw.
  - strooper 6y ago
    Then the website must be breaking on my side, even though I cannot see any error (neither in Safari, nor in Chrome), only a couple of warnings. This is good for GP to fix the issue, I guess.
- gogi5 6y ago
  Incredibly judgmental.
- jsonne 6y ago
  You aren't wrong it's been on my list forever to work on my site. FWIW some of the best media buyers I know though literally don't have websites. I've been doing Facebook ads for 9 years. My team and I are a white label agency so we do the media buying for creative shops, designers, content marketers, etc. So I didn't land any client. I partnered with the folks that did. I got the partnership by putting out a ton of content on Youtube (Over 20 hours worth), through doing a 30 episode deep podcast on running an advertising agency, and being super helpful in a number of Facebook groups, Linkedin groups, etc. for years. Tl;DR Content Marketing + Networking
  - switch11 6y ago
    I actually like your website It's very direct and no nonsense I'll get in touch with you. Let's see if we can do some work together

by jsonne 6y ago

MuffinFlavored 6y ago

I'm seeing the opposite. I'm seeing clients who are able to turn off a $30k/mo ad budget and instead seeing sales double based on such an increase in organic traffic from strong SEO.

chrischen 6y ago
Yep, we also got a massive spike in organic traffic as well possibly due to stay at home orders.

mparr4 6y ago

What are they selling?

jsonne 6y ago
It's in the semi-custom home goods category. Can't get more specific than that.
- mparr4 6y ago
  I sell wall maps: https://ramblemaps.com https://ramblemaps.com Just started 3/22. They aren't exactly flying off the shelves. We're getting good traffic but conversion rate is very low. Would you expect a business like mine to be doing well in this climate? Since we're a new business it's hard to tell if it's our product or the market that is our problem.
  - duck 6y ago
    Those look great, but it seems like that might be a tough market for a while. I think most skiers (at least the ones I know) are still really bummed about the shortened season and probably aren't looking to shell out some cash for something that just reminds them of that fact.
    - mparr4 6y ago
      Thanks for taking a look. I'm glad you like them. Yea, I was suspicious of how these would do so late in the ski season and that was before a global pandemic happened. The plan was never to just sell ski maps, so we're thinking expanding the product line is the next move. Hopefully this line does well once colder weather returns.
  - 1123581321 6y ago
    There is something about the aesthetic of the maps that doesn’t appeal to me, at least as they appear in the photographs. They almost look like they should be tilt-shifted models a la Game of Thrones intro, but they are flat, so maybe some dissonance there? I also don’t get what options I should be buying, and feel like I may not be the target market because I don’t appreciate the copy about the materials used (which I wouldn’t think would necessarily be the same people who like mountain cartography or are climbers.) Obviously, take a tire-kicker’s feedback with a massive grain of salt. And I can tell that a ton of effort and love has gone into these, which is appealing.
    - mparr4 6y ago
      Critical feedback is hard to come by and appreciated. Thanks!
  - mjayhn 6y ago
    This is purely anecdotal but I'm buying as little as I can to not overwork mail carriers. I just moved into a new place and I have no art and while it's not critical to me it's something I'd typically start buying right now but I've literally only bought necessities (plunger, detergent, soap) and haven't even looked at actual house stuff. Not sure how common my quarantine shopping style is but I doubt I'm a rarity. The art is super cool. Hopefully it gets more attention once this is all over.
- chiph 6y ago
  If you're doing furniture, you should be in good shape. What I'm hearing from friends & family is that since folks are spending lots more time at home these days, plans for replacing old and tatty furniture are being made.
- gjs278 6y ago
  yes you can. just tell us.

strooper 6y ago

I am not being judgemental, rather trying to understand how you get fish of that size with your far-from-well-designed website (from your profile), and far-from-rich marketing contents. Is that luck? Or, your lack of time to work on your own presentation? Again, I am seriously not being judgmental, I am curious.

bowmessage 6y ago
You are being judgemental, even if you claim not to be. GP, I think your website is well designed, fwiw.
- strooper 6y ago
  Then the website must be breaking on my side, even though I cannot see any error (neither in Safari, nor in Chrome), only a couple of warnings. This is good for GP to fix the issue, I guess.
gogi5 6y ago
Incredibly judgmental.
jsonne 6y ago
You aren't wrong it's been on my list forever to work on my site. FWIW some of the best media buyers I know though literally don't have websites. I've been doing Facebook ads for 9 years. My team and I are a white label agency so we do the media buying for creative shops, designers, content marketers, etc. So I didn't land any client. I partnered with the folks that did. I got the partnership by putting out a ton of content on Youtube (Over 20 hours worth), through doing a 30 episode deep podcast on running an advertising agency, and being super helpful in a number of Facebook groups, Linkedin groups, etc. for years. Tl;DR Content Marketing + Networking
- switch11 6y ago
  I actually like your website It's very direct and no nonsense I'll get in touch with you. Let's see if we can do some work together