Fluency Firm

Growth & finance - a difficult but important marriage. If you run marketing and don’t have regular chats with finance, you need to start ASAP. When I ran DTC at Anine Bing, I worked closely with CFO, Paul Courell. I came to the role with a growth at all costs mindset, but exited focused on profitable growth. It didn’t come easy. We had many debates. Those debates shaped me into the marketer, operator, and leader that I am today. Growth & finance should align regularly in 6 areas: 1️⃣ Forecasting Forecasting is a beast in fashion. Raw materials are ordered 12+ months in advance to match projections. The forecast needs to support inventory purchases, and the inventory needs to support the forecast. We worked on a 15-month rolling forecast, hard to maintain but worth it. Forecast using new & repeat customers. This is KEY to understanding your business and informing buying decisions. 2️⃣ Inventory planning We drilled into what was selling and what was not – and allocated  inventory accordingly. For instance, we’d invest a healthy amount in core evergreen styles and double down on SKUs that were trending and “hopeful heroes.” That spread also covered power SKUs that drive 1st purchases & upsells. 3️⃣ Hiring Having the right team to power the business is crucial. But each hire requires a biz case and should have positive ROI. It’s a delicate balance of not hiring too fast OR too slow. 4️⃣ SG&A These are overhead expenses that will impact your bottom line. → SaaS costs: a huge part of the ecom playbook. → Creative, warehousing, customer experience, office, salaries, benefits, etc. Finance was a counterpart to help us evaluate SaaS, measure ROI, and sweep the deck on “shelfware.”  5️⃣ Customer Experience A strong marketer knows that retaining a customer is more important than acquiring a new one. Good CX is table stakes these days. And to do that, it costs time, resources, tech, and budget. Think: unboxing experience, nice packaging, samples, surprise and delight. Unchecked, every parcel would get fancy paper and handwritten notes. Every website would have True Fit and TryNow.com Customer service agents would be available via text and phone 18 hours/day Loyalty and rewards would be plentiful. A good finance counterpart will help you deliver a great CX without blowing the budget. 6️⃣ Shipping Shipping is a can of worms. → How do we go international profitably? → Do we cover some portion of international shipping? → Domestically, can we pay extra to do Fedex when UPS doesn’t deliver on Saturday? A good partner in finance understands shipping rates and 3PL costs across vendors and geos. — This is just a glimpse of the fun and at times difficult conversations I had with Paul. Today, I am a better marketer & operator for it. Thank you Paul! #growthmarketing #finance #growth #profitandloss

Don’t make these two classic international expansion mistakes (and how to fix them). Many brands want to go international BUT make two common mistakes. ❌ Going international without demand. Some people think international is something that you just turn on. But going international only works when you have brand recognition and traffic. ❌ Going INTL with a one-size-fits-all experience. On the other hand, there are brands with international recognition and traffic but don’t have the ops or logistics to support an international business When foreign customers have a poor website experience and pay full freight for long ship times, it is NOT a winning combo. — The solution to both problems is simple - LOCALIZATION. It’s different in every market, but a few things need localization. 1️⃣ Language You might get away with English in some countries, but the local language is ideal. If you are not translating the entire site, you should at least think about localizing checkout. 2️⃣ Currency & Transparency Next, you should localize the buy box starting with currency. In many foreign countries, product pricing includes VAT and duties. 3️⃣ Marketing Next, you can look at the CAC of customers from different geographies. You might see that foreign customers have higher CACs and lower conversation rates This can be a byproduct of a poor web experience, bad pricing, confusing language around what is and is not included in the price, shipping times, etc. That’s where you might start building targeted and localized campaigns that communicate your offering better. 4️⃣ Seasonality & Forecasting Depending on the geography, you might have to plan for two sets of spring, summer, fall, and winter. Because if you are a bathing suit line and you run out of inventory after summer in the U.S., your sales in Australia will tank. 5️⃣ Preferences Preference, style, and taste can be wildly different. For instance, in parts of Asia, being tan isn’t fashionable, so your most popular bathing suit styles might be a flop, and you may need to adapt to market tastes. Similarly, skincare tastes are different – Asian audiences seek different colors, foundations, and creams. 6️⃣ Regulations Make sure you know the rules and regulations of the countries you are selling in. This pertains to your product and also your website (i.e., GDPR, VAT, etc.). If you are a skincare brand and want to move into the EU, there are different rules for SPF and how you market it.    —— Long story short, you don’t just “turn international on.” It takes a significant investment in planning and strategy to pull off. One solution: You can tap a partner like Global-e, which streamlines much of this process. if you want to get serious about international, reach out to my good friend Matthew Merrilees. #international #ecommerce #localization

📹 The Meta Ads playbook for BFCM Success At Fluency Firm we are deep in BFCM prep mode right now. Check out the video where I break down 4 tips for success on META this November 📊 📖 1️⃣ Leverage recent promo wins to inform your offer and creative strategy 2️⃣ Customize for every Funnel stage - take a full-funnel approach 3️⃣ Bold, High-Contrast Visuals will drive more engagement and conversions 4️⃣ Nail the first 3 seconds - spell your offer out quickly in your video content Shout out to Alana Bierbaum & Rachael Gorder for help on this one. #BFCM #meta #metaads #blackfriday #cybermonday

66 Days Until BFCM And only 39 days until November 1. We started planning BFCM with our CRM & Lifecycle brands in June. Now we are going over prep, plans, and best practices with our paid and acquisition clients. The team put together a 30 slide brief to review with clients, so this is the first of 4 posts covering best practices and deep dives for Meta, Creative, and Google. But lets start with a BFCM road map on how to play your cards over the coming months and what to expect. 📆 September September starts with Labor Day sales, and many brands extend those sales after Labor Day.. Last week, most brands returned to full price, so it’s not uncommon to see conversion rates decline and some softer performance. It’s time to transition to your new collection, and seasonal SKUs; and creative from the hot summer vibe to a cozy warm fall. Outside of seasonality, this is a great time to focus on testing evergreen concepts. CPMs are seasonally low now, so start building your funnel, email lists, and retargeting audiences. 📆 October October is going to be a funky month. Most brands are not discounting and buyers are primed to wait for BFCM deals. But they are still window shopping and putting items in their cart. Sales may be soft, so it’s tempting to hold back spend. But now is the time to ramp up the top of the funnel. CPMs are going to be way higher in November, so use your budget to aggressively build retargeting and email lists. 📆 BFCMber People think Black Friday and Cyber Monday literally happens on Friday and Monday after Thanksgiving. It’s been starting earlier and earlier and for some brands BFCM is running the entire month of November, hence the name “BFCMber!” This year, we might see some pricing spikes leading up to Election Day (separate post to come this). CPMs always increasein November and spike over BFCM. This can be offset with a discounting and sale strategy. 📆 December This year will be unusual because Cyber Monday falls on December 2nd. This  impacts brands in two ways. 1) One less week to advertise before shipping cutoffs. Be sure to message key shipping cutoffs leading up  ~12/15 (ground) and ~12/19 (expedited). 2) Revenue predictions and YoY comps will be with 2 keys sale days in December. Plan & budget accordingly! We may see a longer Cyber Week due to Black Friday being 5 days later this year. CPCs will decrease after Cyber Week. Pull back budgets and focus on self-gifters and gift card shoppers. Refresh your CRM lists post BFCM, because it’s not over til the fat lady sings. Increase budgets post-holiday and reengage shoppers with customer match. Because 64% of holiday shoppers make a purchase between 12/26 - 1/3. — That’s our plan for the remainder of year. If you found this useful, give me a follow, ring the 🔔 in my profile and stayed tuned for 3 more BFCM related posts!

🚨 Job Alert 🚨 Job: Marketing Coordinator Location: Remote (US-based) Fluency Firm is looking for a social media savvy, hungry individual that has a couple years of experience and wants to learn about marketing, work at an agency, and work with some awesome brands. If you are that person, or you know someone that is, DM me ASAP! #hiring #job #newrole #career #marketing https://lnkd.in/guWWKa4e

🔔 JOB ALERT 🔔 The Fluency Firm team is growing. We are hiring for two roles, immediately. 🎨 Graphic Designer 📨 Lifecycle, Email, & SMS Strategist More info here: https://lnkd.in/g46qjQda #career #hiring #newjob #jobalert #graphicdesigner #emailmarketing

Join the Fluency Team! We’re seeking a Graphic Designer who has 3+ years of agency or brand experience who can bring creative concepts to life through thoughtful, effective, and engaging design. Apply here or feel free to share: https://lnkd.in/gfBXfWZs

🚀 Join the Fluency Firm team! 🔍 Searching for a Graphic Designer Looking for a Junior-Mid Level designer with 2+ years of agency or brand experience who can bring creative concepts to life through thoughtful, effective, and engaging design. If you are interested, or know someone who may be, shoot me a message!

In an interview with our very own Alana Bierbaum, Fluency's Paid Media Lead, we ask her about one of the most critical topics in marketing today: attribution and why it’s important. Check out Alana's insights here: https://lnkd.in/gCJ77Ni5

How ONE BONE increased Revenue by 60% with the help of Fluency Firm. OneBone is an apparel brand that specializes in basics (and more) for big, tall, and all men.   The brand was founded by a DJ who is 6’4 and was frustrated by how his t-shirts were fitting.   Anything cool and trendy was too short and didn’t fit. And if he found stuff that fit, it definitely wasn’t cool.   He’d flash his belly to the crowd every time he waved or fist-pumped (as DJs do!). He went to a fabric store and was literally sewing shirts with a friend’s mom, who was a seamstress until he met his co-founder. We started working with ONE BONE a little over a year ago to help them solve a key problem. They knew there was a big market out there.   And that consumers of extended sizes (big & tall) were underserved. Incumbents simply size up core sizing, which was often too tight or too short. In a few years, they captured low-hanging fruit on Meta.   However, when they tried to scale spending, their CAC would rise to unsustainable levels. They were looking for a partner to help break through that ceiling.   They partnered with Fluency Firm, and over the past year, we have made the following changes:   1️⃣ Rebuilt their Meta campaigns to focus on net-new customers (actual prospecting) We completely ripped out the old campaign structure and created a new one that was highly segmented and embedded with proper exclusions.   The new structure was broken up by how we approach the customer funnel: new customer acquisition, retargeting, and retention.   2️⃣ Extensive testing We started with bid, campaign, and audience testing to understand where we could find the most efficient mix. To understand the associated CPA and ROAS. 3️⃣ Creative This was one of the biggest unlocks.   Most fashion brand ads grow off newness and coolness; “I like the way that looks.”   We rebooted ONE BONE’s creative strategy around functionality and solving the fit problem for big & tall.   We developed hooks, angles, and creativity for “I’m 6’6, 350 lbs. and I can’t find a t-shirt that fits.”   We also tested new products with different models and messaging hooks. — The results after one year. 📈 Revenue up 57% 📈 New customers rev up 48% 📈 Spend up 26% 📈 MER up 23% 📉 CAC down 25% 📉 Spend to net down 18% If you work in common, you know that these numbers, especially over the last 12 months, are really nice. Way to go, ONE BONE!   And shout out to the Fluency Firm team for crushing it yet again. #performancemarketing