E28: Holly, Jess, Carrianne, Phoebe and Skye

Carrianne:
Hello and welcome to another episode of eCom@One. Today we have a very special episode. The ladies are taking over the podcast.
Group:
Hi.
Carrianne:
So first we're going to introduce ourselves. So I'm Carrianne. I'm the host. I joined eComOne on the graduate fast track, so I got into marketing from doing my degree. I absolutely loved it. I now manage the marketing and it's so much fun.
Holly:
Hi. My name's Holly and I'm distro/marketing apprentice at eComOne. So I work with the SEO team and I've been here for nearly two years. My career started when I was leaving college and I was really unsure what to do with the whole of my life, really, so I was kind of at a standstill. So I looked at creative roles that were out there and eComOne came to me. And since then I've been working through SEO, PR and loving every minute of it.
Skye:
Hi, I'm Skye, I'm an account manager at eComOne. I started here about two years ago, but I've been in marketing for around five years now. So my marketing journey started really when I was 17. Originally I was in retail and although I loved it and I did want to be a merchandiser going forward, there was one time I was on the shop floor in New Look and I saw a woman walk in with kind of a suit on and a briefcase and I thought, "Actually, I more want to be in business, sales and marketing rather than more retail." And that's kind of what inspired me to make the career change. So I worked at a couple of agencies over the five years and then a couple of years ago I joined eComOne and I've loved it ever since.
Phoebe:
I'm Phoebe. I started with the agency five years ago. So, when I left college, I decided I wanted to do an apprenticeship. So I was really into content, so I found eComOne and then I've done my apprenticeship now, and then I'm now also the project coordinator.
Jess:
Hi. So I'm Jess. I'm one of the account managers at eComOne. I've kind of been in the marketing world for about 10 years now, which makes me feel really quite old, but it's changed a lot in that time and it's been really exciting. I remember getting into it when I was in my Year Eight work experience, which again was definitely a long time ago now and it was the very beginning of coding. I've then worked both in-house and agency-side and now at eComOne I'm really enjoying working on lots of exciting clients.
Carrianne:
Fabulous. So now you know a little bit about everyone today, so let's get started. So our first question is, what eCommerce brand would you most like to work with? So, I'll start. So mine is Seasalt Cornwall. They are a premium women's clothing store. I worked there for a couple of years, a few years ago. The brand, the message, the heart, the mission, everything about it. The quality is incredible and the way that they're really customer-centric really means a lot.
Holly:
So if anyone knows me, they know how much I love makeup. So the one brand that I love is very local to us, literally down the road, and it's Beauty BLVD. So I found them out about a year ago, realized them on Dragon's Den and went up from there. And they've just inspired me and I love all their content. Everything about them is just amazing.
Skye:
The one that I'd love to work with now, I'm sorry if there's any French people listening to this podcast, but I think it's pronounced Manière De Voir and it's a clothing brand which I actually found on Instagram. And they've got a gorgeous website as well, but the clothing pieces they do are quite different to anything else you'll see online, quite unique and quite edgy. And they're also quite affordable, so I would absolutely love to work with them.
Phoebe:
So I would love to work with Gymshark. They're such a big brand now and their story behind it is really interesting. I go to the gym myself so I do have quite a lot of Gymshark clothes as well, so I think it'd be really good to work with them.
Jess:
So, as anyone who would know me, I've spent the last year studying for a diploma in wine, so it's quite apt that my ideal customer would be The Wine Society. They have a really good message. They kind of get wines that you're not going to find in your supermarket, but they still get it at similar prices to your supermarket, but it is much better quality. So they would definitely be my ideal customer. And hopefully they'd give us some free samples because that'd win over the whole team at eComOne, I'm sure.
Carrianne:
We would have a great time, wouldn't we? Fabulous. So what is one quick trivial change that you have seen a client make that has had a huge, positive difference to their business?
Phoebe:
So, a lot of our clients have had positive impacts to their business, but a big one for us more personally is on eComOne. So when we launched eComOne, we had a goal in mind that we would love to bank for the keyword, Google Shopping Management. So over the last couple of months, we've really worked on this keyword and now it is actually ranking first position on Google.
Carrianne:
Wow, that's amazing. So what did you do to achieve that?
Phoebe:
So it was a lot of unpaid SEO, so a lot of work on the meta and on the content. And also when we launched the podcast, we was obviously promoting a lot of Google shopping podcasts. So I think when it linked back to the pages, it's also helped that way as well.
Carrianne:
Oh, that's amazing. So that's a fabulous little tip for everyone. So the next question is, so how do you feel about the digital services tax and what should clients consider now there is a 2% hit?
Skye:
So, the government bought this in... Well, it's actually due to be bought in on the 1st November, I believe. And what they've basically done is they've realized that a lot of companies such as Google are based overseas, for example in Ireland. We all know it's no secret that they are paying less tax than a lot of the companies based in the UK. So what the government have done is they've charged digital businesses overseas 2% extra on their tax. Now these businesses such as Google have filtered it down to their customers. So a lot of people that run search ads and shopping ads on Google will notice a 2% increase on their final bill. Now there's a lot of ways where you can kind of prevent this really affecting your results. So although 2% doesn't seem like a lot, if you're spending huge amounts on Google, this could be quite a lot of money based on your spend.
Skye:
So there's just a couple of things that I would consider if you are advertising on Google. So recalculating your return on ad spends, there will be a lot of opportunities to reduce spend without sacrificing conversion value. Something else I would consider is using a CSS partner. So one of the many benefits of using a CSS partner can be up to a 20% reduction on cost of clicks, but please bear in mind this is only for shopping ads and shopping campaigns, so it wouldn't actually apply for search ads.
Skye:
We would also recommend looking at opportunities to reduce costs on unprofitable parts of your account to compensate for the additional fees. So, like I said, although 2% doesn't seem like much, it depends really on your ad spend, but there are a lot of things you can do to make sure this doesn't impact your business as much as it could.
Carrianne:
That's fabulous, Skye. I think, following on from what Skye said, I think it's more important than ever that you have the expertise or work with someone that has the expertise to really drive your ROAS further. So if you've got any questions about digital service tax, feel free to reach out to any of us on the team, on LinkedIn-
Skye:
We're happy to give some free advice, really, to anyone that is concerned or worried about it or wants to know some next steps they can take to make sure this doesn't hit them.
Carrianne:
Yeah. Wicked. So the next question, it's quite a good one, but I thought it was quite hard to actually come up with an answer, but our beautiful Jess has a fabulous answer for this one. So what products do you think will never be sold online?
Jess:
So, it's a bit of a tricky one, as you've said. I think nowadays, especially with everything that happened with the pandemic, a lot more people were shopping online who normally wouldn't. I know there are a lot of grandparents out there who started doing their home shopping, getting it delivered by Tesco, and now they are sticking with that and they love seeing their Tesco delivery driver.
Jess:
However, I think two main things. One I'm very expressive about is that you can't really buy love online. It's not going to be sold online, is it? It's not a product you can go and purchase. It's not an item you can feel or you can touch. And although it is a service, there's a lot more to love, your love languages. There's a lot more to your personality. I know you can get Tinder Premium, don't get me wrong. I know you can do it, but I still don't think it's the same as finding love or finding that love at first sight. You've got to kiss a lot of frogs on Tinder and sometimes that's not worth it. Whereas if you've got that love at first sight, that moment of true "I know they're the one," you can't, you're not going to be able to buy that online, are you?
Jess:
And the other one is happiness. I know there's a lot of "money doesn't equal happiness" and there's a lot of quotes like that, that are always been pushed around LinkedIn. But it isn't something that, again, you're going to be able to buy online. You might be able to buy a new pair of shoes or you might be able to buy a really nice designer handbag or even the brand new Apple Watch. But is that actually going to give you happiness? You'll get that instant gratification, that instant shopper's delight, but actually, is that going to give you happiness? I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that will debate me on both of these, so please find me on LinkedIn and I'll speak about it all day long because you can't buy love and you can't buy happiness.
Carrianne:
Jess, I am about to cry over here. That was beautiful. So now we go into a bit of the broader questions. So who is your biggest influence from the world of digital marketing and why? So I'll start with this one. So this is a guy that I just started following recently, and I really have quite an admiration for his journey. So it's Joe Glover. He's the founder of The Marketing Meetup. So he brings the marketing community together, provides webinars to educate, brings in different expertise. So marketers can really be on top of their game because in marketing you never stop learning and what is hot today might not be hot in a week, so you really just need to keep on top of it. And his emails are so funny. They're really personable and just a really good laugh. So I always open them and obviously with email fatigue, you need to have that subject line or content that just makes your reader want to look forward to the next email.
Holly:
So my next one is actually local again. So my biggest influence is actually Kate Strawson from Shooting Star. Shooting Star are a PR company in Lincoln. And in January, I went to the first expo ever and she did a talk about PR and how she implements it. And I love how simple she made it and how easy she made PR seem, because throughout eComOne are now looking now at outreach and PR, so with the advice she gave, it's really helped me to carry on doing well in that sector.
Skye:
Mine isn't really a person but it's more of a company and how I've watched them grow. So I'm sure we've all heard of Klarna now. A couple of years ago I was at a marketing expo in Birmingham and they had a stand there, which was really quite small and they weren't getting too much interest. And that's where I first heard of them and since then, they've absolutely bloomed and I think it's based on them knowing what customers and what people shopping online actually really want. So people, anyone, wants to purchase something but they don't want to pay the full price, and it's just a way to split payments, especially with the economy and COVID hitting and how people are becoming more redundant and it has affected a lot of people's jobs. And I think it's just their whole strategy and how they've bloomed in two years or three years, or however long, is absolutely amazing to see and they have adapted their whole digital strategy to what they know people want, which I think is always the best thing to do. And they are an inspiration, I think, to a lot of people.
Phoebe:
So an inspiration to me is Carrie Rose. She's the founder of Rise at Seven, which is a digital marketing agency. And she started the agency at quite a young age and in just over a year they've built their brand massively. They've now got Missguided as a client and their social media is just incredible. I follow them on social media on all the channels and the stuff that they post, it's just so different and unique. So I'd say they're quite inspirational.
Jess:
I would say my biggest influence in digital is kind of his life has gone the polar opposite to how I want my life to be. So it's Gary Vaynerchuk and he actually started with a wine YouTube channel. This was 10, 15 years ago before YouTube was anywhere near the size it is now. And the quality of some of his early day videos is really funny to watch back with the editing and the video adverts that he did. In some of them they were just not something you'd ever see now. But now he's become this absolute kind of all-encompassing person when it comes to digital marketing. He's started agencies, podcasts, YouTube channels, and he has this presence everywhere that can be felt online. But he also really supports other people and that's something that I'm trying to add more, is actually helping other people become their best, rather than just thinking about it as a one-person journey. So I'm a big fan of his.
Carrianne:
Fabulous. So we all love a cocktail here at eComOne. We have some beautiful bars around and we've just got The Botanist, which we seem to live in. So we had, I'd call it, a funny question. So if you were a cocktail, what cocktail would you be and why?
Jess:
I'll take this one first, because I am an absolute coffee fiend, so I think it goes without saying that my blood is probably 50% coffee, 50% wine. So I can't really class a wine cocktail, but I'm definitely an espresso martini. And if it was acceptable to wake up and have an espresso martini instead of just an espresso, I would possibly do that.
Phoebe:
If I was a cocktail, I would be a pink gin fizz. Basically, I just love pink gin and I can't go a week without having at least one or two glasses a night. And also, I do have pink hair so it kind of matches it up.
Skye:
If I were a cocktail, I'm not sure, I can't really think what cocktail I would be. So I'm just going to have to give a cocktail which I love and is my go-to, really, which is a mojito, because it doesn't taste too much like alcohol, which is always a good thing, and it's super fresh and minty and I just love mojitos. So if anyone ever sees me on a night out in a bar, please purchase me a lovely mojito, thank you.
Holly:
I wouldn't say I would be this cocktail, but I wish I was in one of these cocktails. So mine is blue lagoon. So I wish I was somewhere sunny right now, in the sea, but you know, I'm on a podcast.
Carrianne:
Holly, I'm trying not to cry. That is fabulous. So when I saw this question, I was like, "I have no idea." So I did a quiz online, because apparently there's a quiz online for everything nowadays, and mine was a sangria because I'm unpredictable and tasty.
Jess:
Perfect. Perfect.
Holly:
I think we can all agree with that.
Carrianne:
So basically it showed I was very spontaneous and open to opportunities and new plans, which is me, to be fair. So it was quite a good quiz, I thought. So, what is everyone's favourite Netflix show?
Holly:
I don't want to be too controversial because I don't really watch Netflix. I know, I'm so-
Skye:
Agreed, Hol. Agreed. I don't really watch it.
Holly:
I'm not really a binge watcher, but one that has stood out to me is Sex Education. So it's really funny and actually quite relatable to 16-year-old life. So if you want to watch it and get a bit of nostalgia, I'll definitely recommend Sex Education.
Skye:
And like Holly just said, I'm not really a big Netflix binger or any TV show binger, really, but the last thing on Netflix which I did fully watch the season was Hollywood. I don't hear many people talking about this, but it's basically a season, it's post-World War Two and how actresses and actors in Hollywood are trying to climb the ladder. It's a lot to do with racial equality. For example, it's got an actor which was the first black film writer in it, and it's got a lot of positives of homosexuality and how a lot of high-up people in Hollywood came out and were very accepted for it. I just think it's great for drama and also really looking into the history as it is, partially based on a true story.
Phoebe:
I'm the complete opposite. I love Netflix. So, my favourite Netflix show at the minute is Gotham. So I didn't really think it was going to be my thing and then my boyfriend made me watch it a couple of weeks ago and I'll probably watch an episode a night now. I can't get enough of it.
Jess:
So yeah, I'm the same as Phoebe. I am the Netflix payer in my family, kind of got five people using it, so I am well into the-minute Netflix shows. My favourite was actually the thing that got me through the pandemic, which was Money Heist, which was originally Spanish and then they dubbed over the language in English and it was so addictive. Every episode was on such a cliffhanger and there are about five seasons, maybe four, and I'm not ashamed to say that I probably watched them all in about a few, three weeks, maybe, maximum. And it was amazing and I recommend it to everyone that I speak to. And if I meet someone and they've watched it, instantly I can be their best friend because we can just relate to all the characters and it is just so good.
Carrianne:
I am just like Phoebe and Jess. I love a good binge. Literally 10 hours, get home on Friday til early Saturday morning, I'm there binge-watching a series on Netflix. So mine, recently... See, mine seems to change every week from what I watch. So at the moment it's The Fall, which it's quite... It's a very good story, but it's quite graphic at the same time, but it's a really good watch if you like criminal, crime, sort of murder mystery. But every time I watch it, I do make sure all my doors are locked, all my windows are closed, so that I am fully safe in my house. Yeah, so that's my favourite Netflix show. The next one is a bit more marketing-based. So what is your favourite free digital marketing tool?
Jess:
So, for me it's got to be Yoast SEO. This was how I was actually introduced to the world of SEO. And it's a free plugin for your website, so you can help. Actually, it simplifies how to use SEO and how to make a website and specific web pages ranked for their keywords. And it helps you really understand what you need to do to that page. And it does give you a traffic light scoring system, so it's really simple, really easy to use and it does just help you understand the basics.
Phoebe:
My favourite digital marketing tool is SEM Bush. So they've got a free version and a paid version, but on the free version you can do all the basics, so you can check the keyword rankings, you can check the organic traffic of pages. And it's just great for when you're doing that initial audit on the client.
Skye:
My favourite free digital marketing tool, which I use on an everyday basis is called WMS Everywhere. If you listen to a lot of SEO podcasts or you are into SEO, or you know about it, you will always hear the term keywords and keyword research and I do get a lot of questions, "How do you do keyword research?" Now, WMS Everywhere is a Google Chrome plugin. It is obviously free. As soon as you input a search term into Google, it'll pop up underneath the search bar what that keyword volume is and the cost per click, if you're more interested in the ad side. So it's super easy to perform keyword research really quickly and really efficiently.
Holly:
The day this was introduced was the day that my life was saved. So Jess introduced me to Hunter.io. So I do a lot of outreach and PR, like I said, and Hunter.io helps you to find a contact really easily. So instead of having to manually search through the website, you literally just have to click on the little ad that you download and they're all there for you.
Carrianne:
Fabulous. That's some really good tools there. I think my favourite has to be Grammarly because I literally spend all my week writing content and it can get quite hard. But you've got to be careful relying on a tool like Grammarly, that you still made sure you proofread rigorously to make sure that the content does flow and make sense.
Carrianne:
So this one is a good fun one as well, girls. So, what is your go-to Meal Deal?
Holly:
Finally, my time to shine. So I actually had a chat with Ben and it turns out I'm frugal, but also have good taste in food. So the main that I'll pick is Breakfast Triple, which is literally the best thing ever. And then salmon sushi. I don't get vegetable, but then. And if I have no energy, it's a Red Bull or if I'm feeling better about myself, it's a smoothie.
Skye:
So, mine sounds really boring now, but my favourite Meal Deal and go-to meal that... Hol, what's the price of yours, firstly?
Holly:
Three pounds, Tesco.
Skye:
Three pounds. Okey-doke. So mine's 50p more. Bit of competition there. But mine is the Morrison's medium salad. So a lot of people don't know this, but you can actually get a Meal Deal and the salad bar is part of it. So you can get a medium salad, it is included within the £3.50.
Jess:
This podcast is not sponsored by Morrison's.
Holly:
Or Tesco.
Skye:
So, Morrison's medium salad, not much greenery on it and mainly pasta. An Innocent Smoothie, because they are very expensive so you've got to get your money's worth, and either a Pepperami, or if I'm feeling sweet I'll get a strawberry and cream pot. If you go to Morrison's, you know the one that I mean.
Phoebe:
So, my go-to Meal Deal is from Tesco. So to be healthy, I have a chicken Caesar salad, but then I also have a bottle of Coke, full fat, and loads of sweets.
Jess:
So I don't know why everyone's acting healthy. You should see our sweet collection. Mine is also Tesco, £3.00 Meal Deal. Coronation chicken, which is so rogue, but is something that I'd never make myself. McCoy's salt and vinegar because, I'll fight you on this, there is no better salt and vinegar crisp. And then a cocoa cold brew coffee, as I've said. I'm addicted to coffee.
Carrianne:
So that was quite an amicable debate, guys. I'm actually very impressed. So, again, mine is Tesco. Can't beat Tesco, pure value. So mine is the tomato chicken pasta. Not the circle one, the square one, because you get more money and you get lots of chicken in it. Maltesers, if I'm feeling unhealthy, which is 95% of the time. Or I might get some crisps, which are a bit healthier. And then an Oasis, again, feeling unhealthy, but if I want to cut down my sugar, I have flavoured water. So yeah, that is my favourite Meal Deal. So, we all work in different areas in the business and we've all done a lot of cracking work. So what advice would you give to someone wanting to do digital marketing?
Jess:
So I think my first bit of advice would be, you know your business best. So it is actually worthwhile having a chat with us. We're never going to know your business as well as you do. We're never going to know your best sellers as well as you do, but we want to know. So we offer completely free consultations to run through everything with you. We like to understand exactly what it is that your business does, and we love to spend time with you and your brand. So if there are any questions, we can help with it. I think a lot of the time it is just getting the ball going. So it is just a case, give us a call, we'll have a consultation, but the majority of the time it is actually really worthwhile just having a big discussion.
Skye:
So I think if you are considering digital marketing, you first need to know what kind of digital marketing you want, whether you want the whole lot or whether your budget's a little bit smaller and you want to do maybe paid shopping, SEO, PR. So firstly know what your main aim and goal is for your business as a whole and what budgets you've got. Obviously the world's going online so everyone at the minute, especially with lockdown happening and could possibly happen again, hopefully not but maybe, it's best to have a very strong online presence. I like to say that being on page one of Google is like having a shopfront on Oxford street. So yeah, super important to make sure your online presence is up to task with all of your competitors.
Phoebe:
So my top tip would be to make sure you really do delve into your competitors. So obviously you're going to have competitors locally and nationally. So it's important to make sure that you are outranking them and doing everything you can to be that little bit better.
Holly:
So my bit of advice is actually more personal. So if you're looking into marketing and you're a really big introvert like me, then try and go for it, but also take your time. So, two years ago, I struggled to talk to a bus driver and now literally I'm on a podcast. So I'd recommend going into an agency or go somewhere you feel comfortable and just keep going. Don't push yourself too hard because you'll just turn into a mess like I was before. But take it slow, take it on your own terms, and if you feel uncomfortable doing anything, then just tell someone. Since I've been at eComOne, I've realized that people are there for you and there is jobs where you go at your own pace, but you can also challenge yourself at the same time.
Carrianne:
That is all great advice. So mine on sort of a personal level as well is to have a growth mindset and to literally be a sponge. Absorb everything you can in marketing and try and learn as much as you can. There's a lot of free resources out there. But as well, if you're a business as well, if you ever need any advice, there's so many people at agencies that are willing to give you it. So also reach out to them because, like Skye said, and Jess, we do look after our clients and we do really like to understand them. So our final question of the podcast. So what book have you enjoyed in the last year?
Jess:
So I actually set myself a target as one of my New Year's resolutions, which was to read a book a week. I'm almost there. I think we're on week 37 or something and I am actually on book 33. Most of it is fiction, so I'm not going to pretend I'm some big business mogul, but actually one of my favourite books was Becoming by Michelle Obama. I've never really been that into politics, either British or American, but actually it was a book that really resonated with me because it's... You don't realize a lot of her story and everyone groups her as Michelle Obama, but actually she was her own person first.
Jess:
And it's really good for women empowerment, which I think is a massive movement right now anyway. But actually, this is a bit of a fun fact and if anyone out there has read the book, you'll know this, but actually Michelle Obama worked in a law firm first and actually Barack Obama came and he was her assistant. So it's actually, Michelle was the person with the job first. He always knew that he could get into politics, but she is a very well educated woman. She has been her own boss. She knows what she's doing and actually she is, you know there's that famous saying that "behind every great man is a woman" and she is that person for him.
Jess:
So I think it's really interesting to get that perspective that women can do anything and women empowerment is massive and I think we all need a reminder of that every day. And this is a woman's podcast, women in marketing and women in business sometimes need that pat on the back, and it was that book for me. It really made me feel definitely like I could do anything.
Phoebe:
So I don't really read books unless they're to my baby sister, but what I always make sure I do is keep up-to-date with the latest market and industry. So reading articles such as Search Engine Land and Marketing Land and making sure that the information's being passed around the team.
Skye:
My favourite book that I've read in the last year is also kind of business-related. So it's Mindset by Carol Dweck and it's all about a fixed versus growth mindset. I'm just going to read out one of my favourite bits of the book that really made me think. So, "George Danzig was a graduate student in math at Berkeley. One day, as usual, he rushed in late to his math class and quickly copied the two homework problems from the blackboard. When he later went to do them, he found them very difficult and it took him several days of hard work to crack them open and solve them. They turned out not to be homework problems at all. They were two famous math problems that had never been solved."
Skye:
So I think this just resonates because, because he wasn't told that they were two of the hardest math problems that had never been solved, he managed to solve them. So I think it's certain things can get into your head, that certain things that people say can make you think and act differently. So I think just always follow what's going on in your own head and don't, unless you're being a positive re-influence, don't be badly influenced by other people and your surroundings.
Holly:
My book recommendation is Everybody Writes by Ann Handley. So I'm actually still currently reading it, but I'm about halfway through and it's just basically showing how much time and effort, and too much time, people put in to try and cramming in important words, and words that people don't understand, to try and make content sound good, when actually it doesn't. You need to be truthful and you need to actually write like you mean it and find an audience that you want to write to that will understand.
Carrianne:
So my book, it's not my favourite book over the past year, but it's the book that really started me getting into reading. So it's Dan Brown, Angels and Demons. So it's a bit of a thriller ish sort of book, and it's a good story of sort of twists and tales. And obviously you might have seen the film, but I think the book is a lot better than the film. So I want to say a massive thank you to all you ladies here. You have been absolutely incredible. So yeah. So that's the end of the ladies' takeover podcast. Thank you all for listening. So next week Richard may be back, but if you want to hear more from us then, please let us know.
Skye:
Let's take over forever.
Jess:
Yeah.
Carrianne:
Let us know on social. Goodbye.
Skye:
Bye everyone. Thanks.