1.
8 Figure Content Marketing
Alex Brown - eCommerce Rockstars
CoFounder - Dollar Beard Club
IG - @eh.brown

2.
Why am I here?

3.
Why am I here?
Narcissism
I am here to share some of the most important
lessons that I learned in bootstrapping an 8-Figure
eCommerce business by building a global brand
with content marketing

4.
My Promise to You..
If you apply what I am about to share today, you will
create wildly successful content and build a great brand
This presentation will complement and add value to
nearly every other presentation you’ll see this week

5.
But I need share a really Important story
Mine

6.
A bit about me...
Started early in entrepreneurship in
construction
Went to college...couldn’t get a job
Tried network marketing and other
business opportunities

7.
Changing Course
I started to work (or even volunteer) for
startups and gain actual skills and
abilities and network with legit business
builders
I found my business partner and we
started launching Kickstarter campaigns

8.
Failures and Flops
I slept in a freaking garage
But I learned a lot

9.
$10M in our first year
300M video views
2+ million packages shipped
THEN…. It Worked! - Brand Home-Run
NO email marketing
NO Affiliates
Worst Website Ever

10.
I’ve been featured in

11.
Kevin Harrington Dan Bilzerian

12.
Taylor Swift Jack Black

13.
Those are just my IG photos
tho…
We didn’t really know how to build a business…
so…
We scaled ALL of our problems with our business -
it was a disaster...like really

14.
“The Gods of Viral Video”
We started to believe our
own BS
Content marketing guru
fallacy – just another
video away

15.
The Video View Fetish
Guess who cared most about how many views our videos
were getting?
We were obsessed vanity metrics
We fully lost connection with what our brand was

16.
After a while
Nobody gives a SH*IT

17.
The Acquisition Fetish
We were acquiring a ton of customers, but they
weren’t sticking around long
Our organic reach was shrinking
If we turned off our ads, we stopped making money
(sound familiar?)

18.
The Crossroads
Just because everyone knew who
we were and we were crushing it
with sales…
...Didn’t mean we had a real brand,
or a sustainable and sellable
business

19.
Content Marketing is POINTLESS
Unless…
You are building a BRAND

20.
A Brand Drives Content
Not the other way around

21.
Building a brand means building a business
If your business is built on weak foundations, even the
best content in the world won’t save you
Also note…A REAL brand is a REAL
Business

22.
● Magic Pills don’t exist – sorry if my presentation title fooled you
● Ads are going to get harder to run and more expensive
● The recession is coming – you need brand equity
● The planet is in crisis mode
Why you HAVE to build a brand

23.
The Brand Litmus Test
Repeat customers
is 25% + of your business coming
from repeat buyers?
Ezra Firestone - Absolute Legend

24.
● Getting off the acquisition hamster wheel
● Stacking cash while not feeling like a dick
● More time to spend doing what you love
● Enjoying the present moment
● Creating real impact on the world
● Building an incredible team that you love
● Falling in love with the game of business
Real Benefits of Building a Brand

25.
Are you ready for the good sh*t?

26.
The Branding & Content
Marketing Process

27.
Why does your brand exist?
Why are you building this brand and not something else?
Why do you care?
Why should someone else care?
Start with WHY????

28.
Beard Club Tattoos

29.
You have to connect with a greater Why than making money
If that is where you are starting from, that’s cool, but you need to evolve
Great brands have great purpose, and all founders have passion
More Than Making Money

30.
Start with a Vivid Vision
Your brand’s compass
You can move mountains
It tells the world what you are up to
Bring on or avoid the right people - align your team
And MUCH more

31.
People want to feel like they are a part of
something bigger than themselves
“Come with us and don’t be normal” -
People want to feel like they aren’t just another
number
They want to be a part of wicked tribes
Be Bold & Stand Out from the Norm

32.
Who is this for? (avatar)
What do they care about?
How do you want them to see themselves?
What are they like? What do they want to be like?
WHO?

33.
We started making videos for
ourselves
We connected with the important few
The “kings of viral” content marketing
fell flat on their faces when they tried
to manufacture it
Minimum Viable Audience - Seth Godin

34.
They are the hero, you are their guide
Help them discover what they have
been all along - guide them on their own
journey
Be the Guide, not the Hero

35.
What are the underlying currents and
connections within your customer communities
What would make someone tag their friend
that this applies to???
Hijack it! - ride the wave, or modify an existing
one until you can stand up on the board
Find the “Motorcycle Wave” – Existing Intimacy

36.
Immediate familiarity with the concept
Humor to overwrite and hijack that
memory
Call to action
Familiarity and Parody

37.
What can you provide for them to accomplish their
goals?
What kind of content do they consume?
What do you want them to say about your experience?
WHAT?

38.
Not usually what you think you’re selling!
People don’t want a drill bit, they want a
hole…actually, it’s the shelf - or using the
shelf OR... the recognition of hanging the
shelf
Whatare you Really Selling?

39.
Experience bridges Acquisition, Retention and Branding
Prioritize building a customer community / media
channel component
Focus on Residual Influence - the ability to retain the
attention trust and loyalty of your customer community
over a longer horizon
In the next few years, you will not be able to compete
without an amazing experience
Craft an Incredible Customer Experience

40.
Where to apply these
Principles
Relationship Building Content
Acquisition Content
Retention Content

41.
Relationship Building Content
Create SOP’s and systems to manage content production and syndication
Prepare cross-channel distribution strategy – leverage all channels possible
Create channel specific content – leverage your production
Optimize the content for each particular medium
Use paid media to reach new people
Ezra Firestone’s “Smart Social”

42.
Acquisition Content
Commercials & paid media ads
Produced specifically to make a sale
Introduce and explain how your “who, what and why” help your customers achieve
their goals

43.
Retention & Win Back Content
For customers:
“Indoctrination” & education
Bring them into your tribe
And….
Send content to past purchasers
Send content to abandon carts (few people get creative here)
Send exclusive content
Send sales offers

44.
Prioritize Relationships

45.
This is a Feedback Loop

46.
This is not Rocket Science
Get EXCITED about this process
Have FUN with this process
Get BETTER at this process
Be HERE in this process

47.
Do something you’re proud of
Don’t just build stuff for the money
There is enough Junk in the world already
Marketers won the last US election – do NOT take this power
lightly. If you are watching this, it means you are more influential
than the vast majority of humans on the planet

48.
Being happy…
Right here, Right NOW
The #1 Reason to build a Real Brand

49.
You can’t be happy and build
something great if you don’t care
about it
I was not happy
Connecting the Dots

50.
Your Brand is not your identity
You can change paths at any
time
Your why will change
My Personal Realignment

51.
Don’t lose sight of what got you there
WHEN you are successful

52.
Thank you for listening!
@eh.brown
eCommerceRockstars.co
info@ecommercerockstars.co