Up Arrow Podcast

Luke Schneider is the Founder and CEO of Fire Dept. Coffee, a certified veteran-owned coffee company. Fire Dept. Coffee gives back to and supports injured firefighters and has been named to the Inc. 5000 list three years in a row. Luke is also a retired firefighter, paramedic, and US Navy veteran. In 2023, he received the Leadership award for Citizenship from the Specialty Food Association.  In this episode…  In a business environment dominated by duplicate products, brands must employ creative measures to stand out and capture consumers’ attention. This requires more than having a widespread presence on popular social media apps. How did a community-focused coffee brand gain recognition in thousands of Walmart locations? Former firefighter and US Navy veteran Luke Schneider credits his coffee company’s growth to a robust community presence and a resonant mission. He emphasizes building a local community to convey your mission and cultivate a brand identity. For a broader reach, you can communicate your message on various social media platforms by targeting audiences who align with your mission to differentiate your products in the market. Luke maintains that a motivated team and influential culture can promote your community efforts and amplify your mission.  In today’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris chats with Luke Schneider, the Founder and CEO of Fire Dept. Coffee (FDC), about building a robust community and team to scale. Luke discusses social selling, FDC’s subscription offers, and how the company received its first publicity and navigated a trademark lawsuit.

Andrew Gerrie is the Founder of Mend, an independent public relations and communications agency for outdoor and active lifestyle brands. With nearly a decade of experience in PR and communications, he has built media strategies for brands, including Tecovas, Sims, Filson, and Costa Del Mar, helping them craft and amplify their unique brand stories. Before founding Mend, Andrew held several roles at Backbone Media, including Senior PR Account Manager and PR Account Coordinator.  In this episode…  Modern PR methods have become inauthentic, making it challenging to maintain genuine brand narratives. As the influencer culture evolves and the digital landscape becomes oversaturated with sponsored content and poor storytelling, how can brands cut through the noise to tell their authentic stories? According to media strategist Andrew Gerrie, building relationships with writers and journalists is the first step to improving storytelling quality. This may involve offering these media professionals free products as gifts, allowing them to understand your mission and product initiatives to craft authentic messages. When expanding locations or launching new products, you can partner with local media outlets to generate a regional community presence and stand out in the market. If you want to reach a broader audience, consider integrating current trends into your PR campaigns, ensuring they align with your brand voice and story. In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris sits down with Andrew Gerrie, the Founder of Mend, to discuss PR strategies for e-commerce brands. Andrew shares why products are the secret to effective PR campaigns, how to measure results from your efforts, and how to appear in popular holiday gift guides.

Mike Robinson is a Founding Member and the Head of Retail Solutions at The Eighth Notch (T8N), a technology platform enabling sustainable e-commerce delivery for shippers and carriers. With 30 years of executive experience, he has driven an $8 billion P&L and interfaced with the board of directors of a $27 billion public company. Mike also serves as an advisor and board member for several nonprofits, public companies, and startups. In this episode… Consumer deliveries are often made in multiple trips, with various delivery vehicles fulfilling orders at the same houses numerous times a day. Consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental impact of these deliveries. One study found that 87% of people are willing to wait longer for eco-friendly shipping. How can brands minimize deliveries to improve profitability and environmental sustainability? As an eCommerce executive, Mike Robinson advocates for fewer delivery trips by having the two major carriers — the Postal Service and Amazon — consolidate packages for each household. This condensed delivery method reduces packaging, shipping, and delivery costs for brands, saving the e-commerce industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year while reducing carbon footprints. Brands can offer eco-friendly box options at checkout and incentivize customers to select them by promising and fulfilling one delivery date for multiple packages. This also allows consumers freedom of choice and the ability to make a positive impact on the environment. In today’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris welcomes Mike Robinson, the Founding Member and Head of Retail Solutions at The Eighth Notch, to discuss delivery density and optimizing last-mile delivery. He talks about delivery route optimization, the emerging role of automation and robotics in logistics, and his perspective on social media addictions.

Nancy Harhut is the Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at HBT Marketing, a consultancy that applies human behavior to marketing. As an internationally recognized creative director, she blends best-of-breed creative with decision science. Nancy is an international keynote speaker and has been named a Top 40 Digital Strategist by Online Marketing Institute, a Top 100 Creative Influencer by Ad Club, and a Top 50 Email Marketing Leader by Social. She is also the best-selling author of Using Behavioral Science in Marketing. In this episode… Some marketers today are so immersed in numbers and metrics that they often neglect the customer. Others may focus excessively on visual ads, distracting customers from the overall message. Yet 95% of purchasing decisions are made in the subconscious mind. How can you tap into these behavioral insights to influence purchasing decisions? Behavioral science researcher and innovative marketer Nancy Harhut says the key to driving purchasing decisions is persuasive messaging. Creative marketers can leverage unconscious behavior drivers like the endowment and Zeigarnik effect, social proof, the uncertainty reward, and autonomy and reciprocity bias. For instance, the endowment effect involves generating urgency and scarcity through limited-time offers, whereas the Zeigarnik effect can be used to spark customers’ memories about abandoned carts. You can also offer customers purchasing and discount choices to harness autonomy bias while generating a desired result. When utilizing social proof, Nancy recommends featuring testimonials that begin with skepticism to increase credibility and reach uncertain customers. Tune in to today’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris chats with Nancy Harhut, the Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at HBT Marketing, about behavioral science tactics for e-commerce marketing. Nancy shares customer decision-making shortcuts, the true drivers of purchasing decisions, and why you should optimize for lifetime value rather than one-time purchases.

Will Haire is the Co-founder and CEO of BellaVix, a full-service Amazon and Walmart marketing agency. He has managed over half a billion dollars worth of sales on e-commerce marketplaces. Will specializes in helping brands dominate their categories. In this episode… Many sellers understand the competitive and cutthroat nature of Amazon’s marketplace but may miss the more technical aspects like fees and pricing policies, making profitability and sales growth a recurring challenge. What tactics can you implement to maintain steady growth on the platform? With deep insight into Amazon’s e-commerce marketplace, Will Haire has witnessed brands triumph and fail based on their knowledge of the platform’s nuances. For instance, if you don’t develop and enforce a firm Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Policy, your brand may become vulnerable to unauthorized resellers, which decline sales significantly. To avoid sales decline or stagnation, Will proposes optimizing your product listings with quality photos, catchy titles, and compelling copy that includes key features, a description, and a brand story. You should also diversify your ad spend both on and off the platform to drive traffic to your listing and familiarize yourself with Amazon’s fees to structure your budget accordingly.  In this week’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris chats with Will Haire, the Co-founder and CEO of BellaVix, about optimizing sales on Amazon. Will explains Amazon’s fee structures and pricing requirements, the importance of building an audience, and the key differences between Vendor and Seller Central.

Kristian Alomá, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of Threadline, a brand-building agency. He is also a lecturer at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management, where he teaches branding for nonprofits, donor stewardship, storytelling, digital fundraising, and behavior design. With over two decades of experience applying narrative psychology, identity, and behavioral economics to marketing and market research, Kristian has helped some of the world’s largest brands, including Coca-Cola, Harley Davidson, and FedEx, improve their narratives. He is also the author of Start with the Story: Brand-Building in a Narrative Economy. In this episode… Advertising and marketing have poor reputations for deceiving customers, often stemming from brands that position themselves as the heroes of their campaigns to manipulate consumers into making purchases. In an economy that relies on stories to make sense of experiences, consumers are the primary drivers. How can you craft a brand story that strengthens your customer relationships? According to behavioral marketer Kristian Alomá, every brand-customer relationship must begin with a story encapsulating your unique value proposition (UVP). To identify your UVP, it’s essential to define your target audience’s main struggle, your solution to the problem, your company’s objective, and the reward customers receive from engaging with you. However, the UVP should only form the basis for your story rather than dictate how it’s conveyed to consumers. Instead, you should view your organization from the customer’s perspective, informing your approach to storytelling and services.  Tune in to this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris chats with Kristian Alomá, the Founder and CEO of Threadline, about building a brand story to foster authentic customer relationships. Kristian explains the seven elements of a customer-brand relationship, how to market ethically, and the significance of the narrative economy in brand building.

Anthony Ciavirella is the Co-founder of Manmade, a boxer briefs brand. He manages the brand’s online community and works with content creators to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Before co-founding Manmade, Anthony worked in the finance industry as the Co-founder and Director of Business Development at RIISK, the Senior Relationship Manager at B2Billing Payments Inc., and a Financial Advisor at TD. In this episode… If you’ve plateaued at the $10 million mark, you may have become complacent in your growth. Yet you’re limiting yourself by not striving for that next level. You must identify and align your “why” to achieve results for your business. What growth strategies can you harness to elevate your brand? Having built a brand by identifying a market need, two-time entrepreneur Anthony Ciavirella emphasizes remaining dedicated to your mission and consistent in your efforts to reach your goals. This requires aligning your team with your “why” and disciplining yourself to reach your maximum potential. Anthony also notes the role of Meta Ads in his growth, explaining that creating consistent content in-house allows you to communicate your brand’s story and generate value for the customer. You must also measure campaign performance by identifying key costs and metrics like AOV, LTV, CPA, and COGS.  In this week’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris chats with Anthony Ciavirella, the Co-founder of Manmade, about building and scaling a purpose-driven brand. Anthony shares his company’s early days and how he acquired his first customers, how to produce content in-house, and the innovative stunt that kick-started his brand’s awareness.

Justin Mares is the Co-founder and CEO of Truemed, a payment tool that allows health and wellness brands and providers to harness consumer tax-free funds. He is also the Founder of Kettle & Fire, the Co-founder of Surely and Perfect Keto, and an investor at Long Journey Ventures. Justin strives to make health accessible and sustainable and create a food system that heals rather than harms. In this episode… Nearly 90% of the US population is at risk of chronic disease. While health accounts like HSAs and FSAs give consumers access to tax-free healthcare, they can only use them to cover qualified medical expenses. DTC wellness brands can offer the option to pay for products with these funds. How can these brands optimize this payment method to drive conversions and growth? Health and wellness serial entrepreneur Justin Mares capitalized on a market need for affordable chronic disease prevention. Health, wellness, and supplement brands can integrate one-click HSA and FSA payment options into their Shopify sites. Consumer drop-off rates between add-to-cart and check-out are 30-50%, so when provided with alternative payment methods, consumers can save 30-40% a year on wellness products, increasing brands’ AOV, LTV, and conversion rates. Consumers can even make interest-free monthly payments on more expensive products. Join William Harris in today’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as he interviews Justin Mares, the Co-founder and CEO of Truemed, about his tax-free solution for consumers with chronic illness. Justin also talks about his experience bootstrapping a brand, including transitioning from DTC to retail, his methods for scaling and gaining brand awareness, and how he became a serial entrepreneur in the health and wellness space.

Dr. Christine B. Whelan is an author, professor, speaker, and thought leader guiding organizations like the DeBruce Foundation and AARP’s Life Reimagined on self-improvement strategies. She is the best-selling author of the ten-lesson series Finding Your Purpose and five additional books, including The Big Picture and Generation WTF. As a Clinical Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Human Ecology, Dr. Whelan teaches classes on happiness, finance, and family and directs the MORE: Money, Relationships & Equality program.  In this episode… We’re often told that money can’t buy happiness, yet companies market products to target our basic needs and desires. This consumption-driven economy teaches us that we can choose how to expend our resources to fulfill our innate purpose. How can business owners identify their purpose to allocate resources toward a meaningful outcome? When surveyed on happiness levels, Americans often rank themselves lower than people from other countries, holding themselves to an unrealistic standard of happiness based on the false perception of others. Human ecology researcher Dr. Christine B. Whelan maintains that your journey to happiness and fulfillment should depend solely on your personal and professional core values, which determine your ultimate purpose. To identify these values, you can engage in a purpose statement exercise that involves identifying your unique strengths and leveraging them to make a positive impact personally and professionally. Accordingly, each action and decision should align with your core values and propel you toward your ultimate goal. Tune in to this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris chats with Dr. Christine B. Whelan about harnessing your purpose to achieve authentic happiness in a consumption-driven economy. Dr. Whelan talks about the etymology of thrifting, the benefits of purposeful living, and how to balance your personal and professional endeavors.

Eric Bandholz is the Founder and CEO of Beardbrand, a men’s beard care company. He started Beardbrand after leaving a corporate role to pursue his passion for men’s grooming and beard care. Eric is also the host of Practical Ecommerce’s podcast Ecommerce Conversations, in which he interviews startup founders and founders of brands valued at $100 million. In this episode… What does it take to be recognized by strangers on the street for your brand? You don’t have to compete with big-name brands to get widespread recognition; you just have to relate to your customers. How can you scale your brand’s reach while honing your entrepreneurial skills? While traveling, Eric Bandholz is often recognized as the charismatic face of his brand. He attributes this acknowledgment to his natural storytelling abilities and maintains that this factor sets independent brands apart from large retailers like Amazon, which doesn’t connect with consumers authentically. Eric doesn’t invest in paid ads and instead recommends creating organic content that showcases a distinctive brand personality. Developing this personality may also involve giving your products unique and memorable names that capture consumers’ attention and entice them to purchase from you. In the latest episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, Eric Bandholz, the Founder and CEO of Beardbrand, joins William Harris for a discussion about charismatic leadership and brand storytelling. Eric explains the importance of persevering during tough times, how to identify a work-life balance that aligns with your core values, and his presence on DTCX.

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. In this episode… 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. In this episode… 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 this episode… 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. In this episode… 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 this episode… 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 this episode… 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. In this episode… 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. In this episode… 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.

Will Leach is the Founder of Mindstate Group, a behavioral research and brand consultancy that specializes in identifying the unconscious factors driving consumer behavior. As the world’s leading expert on subconscious mindstate research, he works with innovative brands to uncover actionable consumer insights. Will is also the best-selling author of Marketing to Mindstates and is a Behavioral Design Instructor at the Texas A&M Human Behavior Lab. In this episode… Have you ever been captivated by an ad that seemed to read your mind or wondered why certain products make their way into your shopping cart almost without thought? Behavioral psychology plays a huge role in consumer purchasing decisions. So how can you leverage psychological mindstates in your marketing? According to passionate behavioral marketer Will Leach, mindstates are emotional motivations that make consumers susceptible to influence. In these moments, they’re more likely to make rash, subconscious decisions that satisfy demands. Marketers can leverage these mindstates to influence purchasing decisions and drive brand awareness. Behavioral marketing techniques include employing visual cues to increase your ads’ stopping rate and developing a frame of reference to give your product a competitive edge. However, these strategies only capture short-term attention. To sustain brand loyalty, you must shift from emotional allure to demonstrating your products’ rational benefits. In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris converses with Will Leach, the Founder of Mindstate Group, about the practical applications of behavioral marketing. Will talks about the influence of the environment on purchasing decisions, how brands can harness psychological cues to create persuasive marketing campaigns, and why brands struggle with rapid growth.

Phillip Jackson is the Co-founder of Future Commerce, a media company helping retailers and e-commerce companies understand the future of commerce and culture. With an engaged global audience of over 100,000 executives, his reach spans seven retail and digital commerce-focused content realms. As a writer, speaker, and marketer, Phillip has spent decades shaping brands and e-commerce businesses, guiding them from $10 million to $100 million and beyond. In this episode… Brands are vying for consumer attention online, but trends have become relative to specific audiences. As consumers are overwhelmed by purchasing choices and brands seek differentiation, holidays and other cultural events have become perpetual marketing campaigns. How does this relentless pursuit of relevance impact culture and commerce, and how can brands contribute to this discourse? With diverse cultural experiences under his belt, Phillip Jackson recognizes the relationship between culture and commerce, maintaining that e-commerce brands shape societal culture and consumer behaviors. He says to embrace this fusion by incorporating cultural motifs into your branding strategy to resonate with consumers and foster a stronger connection. You can also leverage archetypes to craft engaging brand narratives. Since culture has become commoditized, structuring marketing campaigns to align with societal changes and cultural movements is crucial to expanding your influence.  In the latest edition of the Up Arrow Podcast, Phillip Jackson, the Co-founder of Future Commerce, joins William Harris to discuss the dynamics of commerce as an integral part of culture. Phillip shares how to maintain relevance in a trend-driven market, how e-commerce can reignite the humanities discipline, and how Buy Nothing groups impact consumerism.