Dayne Hepner is the Founder and CEO of Candeeze, a freeze-dried candy company. He is also an Advertisement Specialist at TikTok, where he works with over 4,000 companies and produces 120 weekly ads. Dayne began as a content creator on TikTok before launching Candeeze on TikTok Shop.

TikTok is the Wild West of e-commerce, with its selling platform still underway. Many brands have found success selling their products on live streams. How can you optimize TikTok Shop to build your brand?

At just 22 years old, Dayne Hepner has become the #1 food and beverage seller on TikTok, and it all began with a broken cell phone camera lens. He discovered that the keys to engaging, high-performing live streams are energy and storytelling. You can measure performance and engagement by analyzing your enter-room rate (ERR) and sell-through rates, which can be increased through creative set designs and offers like free giveaways and discounts. Dayne suggests promoting your live streams through video content to boost viewership, build your brand, and drive sales.

Tune in to this week’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris invites Dayne Hepner, the Founder and CEO of Candeeze, to talk about building a brand through TikTok live-stream sales. Dayne shares the importance of consistency, how to leverage ads to promote live streams, and how to create unique content to boost sales. He also delves into his personal life, including touring with faith-based bands, growing up in Serbia, and being expelled from school.

Sabri Suby is the Founder and Head of Growth at King Kong, Australia’s fastest-growing direct-response digital marketing agency. The company has generated over $7.8 billion in sales in over 1,000 industries. As an author and thought leader, Sabri wrote the international best-selling book Sell Like Crazy and has been featured in publications, including Forbes and Entrepreneur, where he contributes articles on entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and business growth strategies. He was one of five investors on the 2023 season of Shark Tank Australia.

The secret to brand growth isn’t experimenting with various popular hacks and hoping something works. In reality, many brands focus on the wrong metrics. For instance, 80% of people spend 80% of their time reducing customer acquisition costs and 20% of their time increasing AOV and customer LTV. These numbers should be reversed, as nurturing your existing customers leads to lower acquisition costs. How can you uplevel the customer experience to scale your brand beyond $100 million in revenue?

With experience generating over $7 billion in revenue for various e-commerce brands, Sabri Suby maintains that you can’t scale sustainably without generating value for your customers and creating exceptional experiences. This requires garnering their attention and convincing them to purchase from you through compelling brand stories and messaging. However, you can’t just distribute a catchy slogan and logo across various social channels and expect to build your brand and audience. You must identify your target customer, market and develop messaging around their central problem, and determine a product differentiator to craft a brand story.

Join William Harris for another episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as he interviews Sabri Suby, the Founder and Head of Growth at King Kong, about his $7.8 billion growth strategies. Sabri shares what DTC brands can learn about luxury brands’ customer experience strategies, the worst pitch he’s ever witnessed on Shark Tank Australia, and how he built a $500 million sales machine for MrBeast.

Ross Simmonds is the Founder and CEO of Foundation Marketing, a content marketing agency that strategizes, distributes, and optimizes content. Foundation has worked with some of the most successful SaaS and publicly traded cloud companies in the world. Ross has been named one of the most influential marketers in the world by multiple marketing publications and firms like BuzzSumo and Semrush. He is also a sought-after public speaker, an angel investor, and the author of Create Once, Distribute Forever.

In today’s fast-paced and content-rich online landscape, simply sharing links to a piece of content on various platforms is not enough. This approach is outdated; instead, you must repurpose engaging content to build your brand. What content distribution strategies can you leverage, and how can you maximize value in your campaigns?

Many entrepreneurs fear judgment and don’t want to seem overly promotional, especially if they don’t recognize the value in their content. As a shy kid who spoke an average of five words a day, renowned content creator Ross Simmonds understands the fear of judgment, rejection, and public presentations. To overcome this fear, he recommends shifting your mindset to recognize how your content benefits your audience, allowing you to promote it on as many channels as possible. Widespread content distribution and amplification requires creating a pillar asset like an informative and engaging YouTube video or podcast that you can repurpose into highlights, reels, or moments.

Tune in to the latest episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris welcomes Ross Simmonds, the Founder and CEO of Foundation Marketing, to discuss content amplification and distribution strategies. Ross talks about evaluating content engagement, his book Create Once, Distribute Forever, and how to use AI to accelerate content creation.

Jay Myers is the Co-founder of Bold Commerce, which builds flexible and customizable e-commerce apps for online stores. Since its launch in 2012, over 780,000 merchants have installed Bold apps on their Shopify stores. Jay has managed online stores since 1998 and has won awards like EY Entrepreneur of the Year and Deloitte Fast 50.

Ten years ago, brands that integrated subscription apps into their online stores were considered revolutionary and far ahead of the competition. With customer acquisition costs rising rapidly, nearly every brand selling household products offers subscription models since an existing customer is five times more likely to purchase an offer. How can you optimize your in-app subscriptions to turn every customer into a loyal subscriber?

As a pioneer of in-app Shopify subscriptions, e-commerce innovator Jay Myers understands how to increase brand valuation through subscription models. With these models, members save more yearly yet spend more than non-members, making them an asset for brands. Jay maintains that every customer has the potential to become a subscriber, so positioning your product as a beneficial part of their daily routine can influence purchasing decisions. You can segment your customers into subscribers and first-time customers to personalize incentives, like offering free first-month orders for new subscribers and discounts for loyal customers.

Tune in to the latest episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris welcomes Jay Myers, Co-founder of Bold Commerce, to discuss the subscription e-commerce model. Jay talks about the brands that benefit from this model, how subscriptions influence purchasing behavior, and the benefits of partnering with other subscription platforms.

Neville Medhora is the Owner of the Copywriting Course, a community that helps businesses improve their copy and conversion rates through blogs, videos, tutorials, and copywriting sessions. As an Advisor for Sumo Group, his copywriting skills helped propel the rapid growth of AppSumo. Neville is also the best-selling author of This Book Will Teach You How to Write Better.

In a world where consumers are bombarded with content and spammed with emails and other marketing messages, brands must ensure their targeting efforts capture audiences’ attention. Compelling copywriting can make or break your messaging and secure conversions. How can you differentiate your copywriting in the market to influence purchasing decisions?

Copywriting master Neville Medhora says consumers often gloss over complex concepts or long, drawn-out topics, so your messaging should be concise and straightforward. How you leverage words in your storytelling influences each aspect of the customer journey. Neville recommends employing the AIDA formula in your copywriting, which captures consumers’ attention, interest, and desire, influencing them to take action. This involves demonstrating various use cases, educating the consumer on practical benefits, and positioning your brand as an attractive option through precise branding and design.

Tune in to a new episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris speaks with Neville Medhora, the Owner of Copywriting Course, about driving conversions through compelling copywriting. Neville shares his view on the sales process as educational, how the copywriting medium can sway consumers, and his approach to mentoring emerging copywriters.

Tiffany Wilburn is the Fractional CMO at Clever Disruption, where she helps food and beverage brands, agencies, and tech companies scale. She is also a Business Mentor and Coach at The DEC Network, which pairs entrepreneurs with business veterans who can identify emerging opportunities. With over two decades of global marketing leadership, Tiffany has transformed CPG and hospitality businesses through her expertise in brand management and strategy, product innovation, retail merchandising, and consumer insights.

In a crowded market overflowing with identical products, brands must tailor their product marketing strategies to various consumer demographics. Some of the world’s most iconic brands have fully repositioned themselves while maintaining customer loyalty. What can e-commerce brands learn from their efforts?

CPG brand marketer Tiffany Wilburn has driven revolutionary brand repositioning and product launch strategies for renowned companies like TGI Fridays, Fresh Direct, and Southern Comfort. These approaches included refining marketing messages for new consumer demographics, launching unparalleled bespoke products, and optimizing operations for sale. Tiffany emphasizes conducting ethnographic research to observe consumer behavior for insights into purchasing decisions, enhancing targeting and marketing efforts. You should also allocate funds across both brand and performance marketing to foster a lifelong relationship with consumers.

In this week’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris chats with Tiffany Wilburn, Fractional CMO at Clever Disruption, about creatively disrupting and elevating brands for the modern consumer. Tiffany shares how to balance the marketing flywheel, how she identifies optimal positioning in a crowded market, and her advice and philosophies on presence and non-attachment.

Braxton Manley is the Co-founder of Braxley Bands, which makes comfortable Apple Watch bands using an innovative elastic material. He is also the Co-founder of Mystic Gum and the CEO of Peace Love Hormones. His entrepreneurial journey began as a college project and became Braxley Bands, which he has since scaled to over $6 million in revenue. Braxton's creative and strategic approach to business has led him to successfully manage three unique brands simultaneously. With a deep understanding of e-commerce and a drive for continuous learning, Braxton excels in marketing innovation and product development. His journey showcases a blend of creativity, managerial excellence, and adaptability in the fast-paced world of digital commerce.

How can one adapt to the shifting tides of e-commerce, find joy in the journey, and still achieve remarkable success? Could economies of scale be the secret sauce for a successful e-commerce empire?

Having scaled a college project to a multimillion-dollar empire, DTC expert Braxton Manley reveals his strategies for thriving in the e-commerce sector. He shares lessons from starting his longest-running business while managing two other DTC businesses under a single brand umbrella. By focusing on each brand’s strengths and scaling them individually, entrepreneurs can navigate the challenges and opportunities of managing multiple brands. He dives into his strategic approach toward business, adopting a Profit First mentality, leveraging motion product pictures, tackling leaked discount codes, and his novel approach to first-purchase subscriptions.

Tune in to this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris chats with Braxton Manley, Co-founder of Braxley Bands, about scaling DTC brands beyond traditional growth metrics. Braxton explores the resilience and ingenuity required in business, the essence of staying true to one’s goals, and the value of preparation, creativity, and flexibility. Braxton's story is a testament to the modern entrepreneur's journey.

Tyson Drake is a fractional CMO for eight- to nine-figure DTC brands, helping them scale profitably. As a self-taught affiliate marketer, he became the CMO of The Oodie, where he trained an in-house team of over 25 people across performance marketing, creative, and e-commerce, scaling the company to nine figures across eight markets.

As an e-commerce brand, expanding into international markets can skyrocket profitable growth in multiple areas, and a robust marketing strategy is crucial to this expansion. What strategies can you harness to penetrate new markets for exponential growth?

Global marketing powerhouse Tyson Drake scaled to $200 million in yearly revenue by diversifying in multiple international markets. He attributes this achievement to his progressive internalization strategy, which involved having complete visibility into his business operations and regional trends to allocate budgets effectively across channels. This omnichannel distribution is essential in targeting your total addressable market and identifying growth opportunities. When measuring ROI for your efforts, focus on contribution dollars rather than profit margins for a more accurate growth measurement.

In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris chats with fractional CMO Tyson Drake about allocating your marketing budget to scale into international markets. Tyson talks about targeting new demographics, how to launch into new channels and promote new products during global expansion, and how to navigate a saturated market.