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Cris Bucknall join us from Ecochic to share the story of starting an online Eco-friendly furniture and home-wares business, way before the movement caught on in recent years. One of the first e-commerce vendors in this niche, Ecochic is now one of the leading players in the Australian market.
Topics Discussed:
- 03:00 – Background of Eco-friendly products
- 05:30 – Version one is better than version NONE
- 06:00 – Early marketing blunders in finding customers
- 07:00 – Nailing on-site SEO from day one
- 10:30 – PR, SEO, and re-purposing content
- 11:30 – Getting your first order cancelled
- 13:30 – Power of customer service and word of mouth
- 16:00 – Synergy of photography-based products and Pinterest
- 19:00 – Having a content publication calender
- 21:30 – Magazine editorial endorsements, paid advertising, and PR
- 25:00 – How Pressloft works and creates effective PR outreach
- 30:00 – Starting a business in an economic downturn
- 37:00 – How long did it take to get profitable?
- 40:00 – Don’t let the competition distract you
- 42:30 – First mover advantage and proving the business model
- 45:00 – Dealing with haters, criticism, and confrontations
Mentions in the Episode:
Episode Length: 49:26
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Comments
I just found your podcasts yesterday through Andrew Yuderian’s blog post, and this is the first one I listened to. The content was perfect for me. I’m a few weeks away from the soft launch of my online store, Rustic Artistry, which is also home furnishings and decor. So many of Chris’s tips are things I’ve been planning as well, especially Pinterest. And the tip about making sure every photo is properly named to include the keyword is great. Of course, now I have several hundred photos to check on…
Yes, the infamous tag in images….
Episode #22 and #33 should also be helpful to you in a big picture/strategy perspective so check it out when you get a chance!
Another really amazing episode!
These interviews really stand apart from other podcast’s because the people being interviewed are in so many different stages of business, whether a little new, a couple years, or experts in their fields. So when I hear someone, like Cris, talking about how their business isn’t crazy profitable for them yet because they pump their money right back into the biz, I feel I can relate.
Also, since most interviewees are into product sales and ecommerce stores, I can relate so much more than some other IM-type material.
I’m always trying to find where some of the IM stuff can work for my biz, and where some of it I have to trash.
Like the PR mention, such great material, and not something I would hear on an IM or more general podcast. For example, I’ve recently figured that around 80% of my sales on my site have come from around 20% of my efforts, which have been getting featured on blogs (1 specific blog actually that gave us most of those sales). So now it got me thinking where are more of the same blogs as the one that gave us so much success, and where are the readers of those blogs at? Where do they go online? How can I access them?
Cris, a question about PR and the companies you use…
Being new in my business we are generating 1-2k a month in revenue. We’ve found that 80% of sales have come from blog features and press.
At what point would you recommend someone start thinking about hiring a PR firm, or signing up for something like Pressloft? We are in fashion and women’s clothing niche so I think PR could be very successful for us.
Can you give any tips or thoughts on focusing on PR, as opposed to something like hiring an SEO company, or trying to master adwords and product ads? We have time and finances available for maybe one of these options and we are trying to figure out what would be the best choice.
Thanks!
Jeremy
Hey there, great podcast. Learned a lot. Does Press Loft have any traction in the USA??? I’m thinking of signing up.
Think it’s only UK/EU/AUS unfortunately just looking at their website!
Hmmm. It would be great to know of a similar service in the U.S.. To be honest, I don’t know if the U.S. media works the same??? I’ll let you know if I find anything.
Hi Matt,
Fiona here from Press Loft. We’re continually rolling out the service into other countries so drop me an email and I’ll keep you on file for when the US site is under way – fiona@pressloft.com.au
Thanks!
Fiona