Copy of Copy of 10-06-23
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to the retail initiative podcast. I'm so grateful that you're here. So I just wrapped up the manifest workshop, the 2023 manifest workshop. And it was crazy. Like we had a ton of amazing speakers and then Tara and I really brought everything that we possibly could to make it a valuable event.
[00:00:18] And if you're listening to this and you were there, I'm grateful that you were. If you're not, if you weren't there, I want to share one of my favorite things that we covered. So a lot of us were obsessed with growth and we [00:00:30] want to build up and so we're, we're getting into all these social channels and we're doing this work on our site and all of these things.
[00:00:35] And those are good things. And we're trying to still, like, build a skyscraper and go as high as we possibly can. But then if you think about a skyscraper. A lot of times what you'll, what you've learned, like if you ever looked into the construction of how they actually build is they go so deep into the ground, they build a foundation that makes the skyscraper, not something that can easily be knocked down.
[00:00:58] And if you, in your [00:01:00] business, you don't do the exact same thing, what ends up happening is you have a fragile business. A fragile business is one that if you took away this core piece, let's say it was your ad account and your ad account goes away. It's likely that it would just destroy the business. You know, a lot of businesses, like there's days where Instagram goes down and it destroys a launch.
[00:01:23] So how do we prevent our business from being so fragile? And I love to think of this kind of like a castle. [00:01:30] So if you think about a castle first, where do attacks come from? Well, there's two places. They come from the inside and then they come from the outside. And so what does that look like? Well, first there is the ground.
[00:01:45] There is the ground that the castle itself is built on. And this is made up of you as the CEO. And then your mission and your vision, the impact that you want to make on the world, how you want to show up and [00:02:00] serve your customers like that's what it's built on. And if you build on the wrong thing, it's like building on on the beach.
[00:02:08] You would never build a castle on the beach because as soon as the tide comes in, it's going to get torn down. And you never want to have something like that. So we want to build it on the right mission and vision. A lot of times what we see is when I'm feeling burnout, a lot of times I realize is because I'm busy, but I'm busy not working towards [00:02:30] my impact, not working towards the thing that I want.
[00:02:33] I'm just busy. Being busy. And so what would it look like to actually start to build out? Like, okay, this is what I want to do in the world. This is why my business is going to make this world better. Having a strong vision and mission for what your business will do in the world, in your team and in your life.
[00:02:55] So then we have the actual castle. Well, first there's like, what goes in the [00:03:00] castle? Well, people, people go in the castle and that is why it exists. It doesn't exist to just be, it exists for something. And at the heart of it is your brand and your customer. Think of it like they were people and they have a connection with each other, a relationship with each other, their best friends.
[00:03:19] And a lot of times what we do is we put product at the center of our castle. And we say the things that I sell, I have the right product. And so because I have the right products, my online sales are going to [00:03:30] grow. But that isn't necessarily true. It's about the way that your brand can serve people everywhere, no matter how your customer comes, your brand is able to serve them.
[00:03:39] And then the relationship it has with it, with your perfect customer that is at the heart of the castle. And then. We have the castle itself. What make, what builds that up? Because if we, we have it and it's not built the right way, ultimately, like it's going to fall, [00:04:00] and so there's four things and think of these like bricks that build the castle up and make it strong or weak.
[00:04:06] Number one is your inventory. These are the products that you sell. This is your ability to buy your ability to forecast your sales and get the right inventory at the right time to stay on trend and understand how your customer shops and the way that your product can show up to solve a problem in their life.
[00:04:26] You have operations, how your business operates. [00:04:30] Are you protecting yourself, whether it's security and the things that you need to have in place there, the way that you are receiving inventory and tracking these things. If we have bad operations, our castle becomes weak. Our finances are we on top of the money that is going in, going out of the business and what that looks like.
[00:04:49] And then you have your team, you know, if we have a team of C players that we're, we're trying to make work, it won't because a players can do one. [00:05:00] A player can do as much as like 4 C players ever could. So do we have the right team and processes? And are we showing up as the leader that they need? And so when we focus on those bricks, that's what makes a strong castle.
[00:05:13] And so when you're curious, like, okay, where do I start? That's where I would say to start, if you want to build a healthy business, focus on getting the right inventory, the right operational rhythms, your finances in order, and then the right team. And these [00:05:30] things are intertwined with one another. And when those things are in place, that's how you are protected from attacks from within the castle.
[00:05:38] But then you have things on the outside. And I hope you're following me here. I know that when we get into like analogies like this, they can seem a little all over the place. But I think this one is true. And it's so valuable is what's the next thing you do when you want to protect a castle? Well, you build a moat, you, you put a water, water around it.
[00:05:57] That keeps people from getting to it easier. [00:06:00] And the moat number one, like the first line of protection for your business is your retention plan. It's your list. It's the way you're getting people who already are in your world to shop with you. Now, why is this the first moat? I didn't say traffic. I'm saying retention.
[00:06:16] Why is that the first mode? Well, if you lost your Instagram, you lost your ad account, you lost your Pinterest account, your Tik TOK account, what would keep your business in business? It's the assets that you own and the [00:06:30] only thing that you own that is not controlled by somebody else is your list. And so if Instagram goes down and you have a launch, who are the only people that are going to go and buy from that launch?
[00:06:41] It's the people on your list. And so if that terrible day comes where you lose access, yes, you're probably going to let some team go. Your business will not fade when you have a strong retention plan. And so this happens through email, through SMS, through email automation, getting these things in place.
[00:06:58] That is moat number one. [00:07:00] And then we move out one layer, and this is your content strategy. How are we getting people into our world? And my advice here is if, when you're getting started, when you're in these first stages of growing online sales, A lot of people out there would say you need to be everywhere.
[00:07:17] You need to have a strategy for all of these different channels. But what a lot of us are doing is let's say we're on a football field and we're trying to run the full length. Well, we start and we run 10 yards out on [00:07:30] Instagram. And then we come back and we run 10 yards out on Facebook and we come back and we were 10 yards out on tick tock, we come out and we run 10 yards on Pinterest and we're never actually gaining any length down the field because we're spreading our sprints so thin.
[00:07:47] So when you're getting started, focus on 1 primary traffic channel. This might be instagram. This might be facebook. This might be tick tock, whatever those pieces are. Pick the channel that your perfect customer [00:08:00] is most likely to engage with you on and be all in on that channel. Perfect it. Gain traction there.
[00:08:07] Figure out what works, what doesn't. And then the other channels, I'm not saying don't be there, but syndicate the strategy that you're doing on that main channel to the others. So if Instagram's your deal, Take your reels and post those as Tik Toks. Will it be as effective as building out a Tik Tok strategy?
[00:08:24] No, it won't. But what it will do is let you gain traction in what will [00:08:30] likely be your primary channel. And then as you grow, you can then start to add additional channels, add in paid ads. And it isn't until you are like this full fledged e com operation that you start to actually have a strategy around each one.
[00:08:45] And so pick that channel and show up there fully instead of trying to be everywhere, pick one, put all of your energy there. This is how we make a business less fragile. One that can't be torn down when they can't be [00:09:00] taken away from you by algorithms, by accounts being shut down. You name it. This is how we build that business that can last.
[00:09:07] I hope this is helpful for you. If it was, I have a favor to ask. Can you leave a review? Let us know what you think of it. That is how you help us reach more retailers and make the impact that we want to make in the world. So grateful that you're here. And I can't wait to see you next week.
