#123 Matt Edmundson: Scale and Sell Your Business In These 7 Steps

08/25/22 • 28 min

#123 Matt Edmundson: Scale and Sell Your Business In These 7 Steps

Hey Budai Nation!

Welcome to The Ecom Show. If you’re new here, The Ecom Show is a weekly e-commerce podcast series hosted by Daniel Budai where he invites new speakers each week to talk about their experiences and share their expert insights on trending ecommerce topics. This show is sponsored by Budai Media, a retention marketing agency that helps customer obsessed e-commerce brands grow with email and SMS marketing.

If you’re a regular, welcome back! We have an exciting episode lined up for you. We’ve got Matt Edmundson, a serial e-com entrepreneur, founder of a successful e-commerce agency, and e-commerce coach, here with us today to talk about his 7-step strategy to successfully scale and sell a brand.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✅ Matt’s eCommerce Adventures

✅ The 7-Step Guide to Scale and Sell Your Business

✅ How Livestreaming Can Help You Stand Out

Let’s jump right in!

Matt’s eCommerce Adventures

Matt was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug at an early age. His first venture began while he was still in school. He started a candy shop and was so successful that he was asked to stop because his school decided to start their own candy store.

But it was back in the last nineties when he properly got into e-commerce. Matt was working as a salesperson for a company that designed and installed saunas when he was approached by a friend that needed some help with building a website for their church. He offered to help his friend build this website in exchange for his friend sponsoring the software required to launch it.

Matt taught himself how to code and built a functioning website using Dreamweaver. He then thought about taking his knowledge of building a website to create his own ecommerce store, but he had one problem, he didn’t have a product to sell.

Matt approached a business that sold tanning lotions and started selling their product through his ecommerce store. This worked out fairly well, and he ended up selling the website to the business he sourced the products from. That was twenty years ago.

Currently, he’s the founder and CEO of Aurion Digital, a group of e-commerce services companies dedicated to helping companies grow online. He’s also an e-commerce coach, serial entrepreneur, an avid podcaster, and a pastor.

The 7-Step Guide to Scale and Sell Your Business

Matt Edmundson has generated over $50,000,000+ in sales revenue through his combined e-commerce ventures. He’s set up, built, sold, or failed at 19 e-commerce websites in various forms, and has decades of global experience in the world of e-commerce. All his years of mastering the world of e-commerce has helped him devise a 7-step guide to help scale and sell businesses.

Here are the seven steps:

Step 1, The Story: Before you start your business ask yourself what your brand is all about. Do a thorough research of the market you’re entering, and figure out how you plan to position yourself.

Step 2, The Product: Make sure that you understand the product you’re trying to sell before you hit the market. Anticipate the demand for the product you’re trying to create or sell, and ensure that you’re knowledgeable enough to be an expert in that field.

Step 3, The Website: Research on which platform fits your needs the best and create a website to start selling your product.

Step 4, Marketing: Figure out your go-to strategy for digital marketing and create a presence on platforms that your target audience are the most active on.

Step 5, Engagement: This stage focuses on how you can maximize your investment by generating more value out of your leads. How do you get a customer to keep coming back to your brand? It basically talks about how businesses can formulate a strategy to continue selling to their existing customers.

Step 6, Customer Experience: One of the most important steps that most big businesses struggle with. In this stage, Matt talks about all the tiny actions that create a lasting impression on customers, and the steps that businesses can take to elevate their customers’ shopping experience.

Step 7, Growth: In this stage, Matt shares how businesses can scale and repeat the success they received from the previous six stages to grow their business. He deep dives into what gives successful businesses the cutting edge over the rest in the market.

How Livestreaming Can Help You Stand Out

Live Streaming is a great way for brands to engage with customers in real-time. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow businesses to engage ...

#123 Matt Edmundson: Scale and Sell Your Business In These 7 Steps

Hey Budai Nation!

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✅ Matt’s eCommerce Adventures

✅ The 7-Step Guide to Scale and Sell Your Business

✅ How Livestreaming Can Help You Stand Out

Let’s jump right in!

Matt’s eCommerce Adventures

The 7-Step Guide to Scale and Sell Your Business

Here are the seven steps:

Step 3, The Website: Research on which platform fits your needs the best and create a website to start selling your product.

Step 4, Marketing: Figure out your go-to strategy for digital marketing and create a presence on platforms that your target audience are the most active on.

How Livestreaming Can Help You Stand Out

Live Streaming is a great way for brands to engage with customers in real-time. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow businesses to engage ...

Previous Episode

#122 Alex Bortoluzzi From Krakatoa: How to Build an Apparel Brand From Scratch

Hey Budai Nation,

Welcome to The Ecom Show! A place where you can discover a new e-com story each Thursday. This podcast is sponsored by Budai Media, a growing retention marketing agency that helps e-commerce businesses boost their sales with email and SMS marketing.

This week, chief underwear specialist, Alex Bortoluzzi, will be joining our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai. Alex will be getting personal about his personal wear brand Krakatoa’s story. Krakatoa is a unique men’s underwear brand that’s won over customers with its honest approach and attention to detail.

Tune in to learn more about:

✅ How Alex Founded Krakatoa

✅ How to Win Over Customers Without Discounts

✅ 4 Product Design Takeaways From Krakatoa

How Alex Founded Krakatoa

Alex’s entrepreneurial journey began after he left college. He studied computer science in Brazil and then got a job working with computer graphics back in the 80s. He was always inclined toward computers, and he started two companies early in his career. First, he had a motion graphics and advertising and broadcasting company. Needing a new challenge, he relocated to the USA and searched for game designing jobs. He worked with several big gaming companies like Treyarch and Activision and even ventured out on his own to create mobile games from scratch.

However, Alex wanted a change from the tech industry and was looking for a fresh project to dive into. He’d always struggled with finding the perfect pair of underwear and realized there was space for innovation in the men’s personal wear industry. He began researching patterns, fabrics, and the male anatomy and eventually started Krakatoa.

Krakatoa is named after the world’s most powerful volcano that’s located in Indonesia. Alex connected with the name because he felt that his underwear line was the perfect blend between power and beauty, and he believed that a name that connects with eruptions and loud noises would resonate with his male audience.

Alex built Krakatoa without any prior experience in the fashion industry. He put a lot of work into finding what the existing market was lacking and created a superior product by testing out various fabrics, cuts, and styles with multiple prototypes. He’s majorly a one-man show that’s done everything from creating the website to photographing his products. He’s very personally involved in the brand’s story and growth which has helped him create a strong bond with all his customers.

How to Win Over Customers Without Discounts

Krakatoa is a unique brand because they don’t use discounts or sales to attract customers. Alex has always believed in creating a strong brand identity and feels that his community might feel cheated if they see the products they’ve bought go on a clearance sale just a few months after their purchase. This is why he keeps his pricing consistent.

Alex found his target audience and has designed all his marketing to fit what resonates with them the best. He realized that his core audience were men between the age of 30-60 year old. Everything from his product design to the messaging he uses in his ads and emails is catered to them.

He developed his product after testing other underwear from brands across the world. Alex approached different manufacturers from different parts of the world and created various samples before landing up with the perfect prototype for his product. His goal from the start has been to create underwear that delivers the ultimate level of comfort.

His collection consists of solid colors with minimal print because he’s catering to an older audience. His brand’s advertising and tone of voice have always been educational to highlight the advantages of shifting to Krakatoa in a straightforward manner, and it’s worked really well for him because he now has a community of loyal customers. He frequently engages with this community through weekly email campaigns that he works on himself.

While Krakatoa doesn’t offer discounts, their products are very competitively priced, which attracts customers all year round. The secret behind Alex’s success with Krakatoa is his attention to detail and commitment to his brand. He’s consistently working towards improving his product and is very personally involved in most aspects of its growth. The way to create a successful brand without relying too much on discounts is through knowing your target audience and personalizing everything to build strong brand loyalty.

4 Product Design Takeaways From Krakatoa...

Next Episode

#124 Michael Muscari From NanoNutra: 3 Strategies To Market A Supplement Brand

Did you know that 77% of Americans take at least one supplement? The supplement industry is booming, it’s valued at over $163 billion in 2022, and it’s predicted to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.4% in the next eight years.

Supplements are great for your health, and running a supplement business can help you generate immense wealth! In this episode of The Ecom Show, we’re going to be scratching the surface on how you can create a name for yourself in this extremely lucrative and competitive industry.

Michael Muscari, the founder and CEO of the premium Liposomal Vitamins and Dietary Supplements brand NanoNutra will be joining our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, to share some proven strategies that can help you market a supplement brand.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about:

✅ Michael’s Journey With NanoNutra

✅ 3 Strategies To Market A Supplement Brand

✅ Michael’s Advice To New Entrepreneurs

Michael’s Journey With NanoNutra

Michael worked as a financial advisor for a couple of years but he wasn’t too happy working a job where everything depended on the market’s volatility, so he started venturing out and landed a gig with an ad agency. At the same time, he was also working as a freelancer for a supplement company who were in the diet and weight loss space.

That’s where he got his first introduction to the world of e-commerce. Around the same time he stumbled upon the famous book, The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Determined to live by the four-hour philosophy, Michael decided to take control of his own life and started his own e-commerce venture.

Michael’s first venture was called ImmunitySport+ where he focused on creating a niche in the supplement market with his single green immunity tablet. By the time he got this brand up and running, he’d become an expert at SEO and selling on Amazon. He then launched his second fitness and wellness brand called Healthy Start. Healthy Start focused on a wider range of products. His business now exhibited over a dozen supplement products. He realized that he had cracked the code with his research on nanotechnology and liposomal supplements, and decided to go all in.

He sold off all the other assets and moved his sole focus to building NanoNutra.

NanoNutra is a premium Liposomal Vitamins and Dietary Supplements brand. Most oral supplements are unable to help human bodies retain 80% of the nutrients they consume through the pill. Michael’s research on liposomal technology helped him find a solution to this problem which led to him starting NanoNutra. They now sell a full line of supplements, all using liposomal technology.

3 Strategies To Market A Supplement Brand

The supplement industry is highly competitive and diluted. There are a ton of new brands springing up everyday and making a name for yourself requires strategic brand positioning and effort. We asked Michael to share the marketing secrets that he’s picked up over the years of working in this industry.

Here are the three strategies that he’s used to grow NanoNutra:

Focus on Education: NanoNutra uses a combination of technology and natural nutrients to create supplements that aid your fitness journey. Since they’re an early adopter of the Liposomal technology they focus heavily on educating consumers about the benefits and real life value of their products. They’re extremely transparent about what goes into their supplements, the results that customers can expect, and the process of how their supplements work. Michael also sends out a lot of high value emails to his subscribers to share credible information that can help them enhance their fitness and wellness journey.
Get Endorsements: NanoNutra focused on getting doctors, nutritionists and fitness coaches to endorse their supplements. They prioritized creating high-value content from credible fitness and wellness personalities over spending on influencer outreach. This has helped them build trust.
Create Subscriptions or Value-Packs:Supplements are something that you require on a cyclical basis. NanoNutra recognized this and created subscription packs that have helped them create a base of returning customers. They also provide discounted prices on variety packs to encourage customers to test their wide range of supplements.

Michael’s Advice To New Entrepreneurs

We asked Michael what his advice would be to new entrepreneurs. Here’s what he had to say:

“You have to have a lot of passion for whatever it is you choose to do or sell. You know, if you're just trying to make easy money, it's going to be very short lived if you find it at all.”

Find something that aligns with you and you...