This Commerce Life

The guys answer questions, talk about when to outsource email automation, Kenny starts forecasting for next year. The importance of running numbers for next year to make an educated guess on what's to come.

Kenny gets overloaded and takes on more. (naturally) The boys talk about privacy, social networks and Linkedin. The guys are all over the place this episode. Philly theorizes on the war of search and how Amazon is winning search from Google, what the next social network might look like. What Kenny looks like out of control....

Carrie Doyle makes an appearance. She talks about leaving her big job at a big company and what's next. Philly gets excited to connect two of his favorite people. Kenny becomes a Doyle fan (like Phil).

Philly and Ken make good on their vacation promise. How to tell if you should be looking for a new job. Philly does email automation and what the heck that means. Some of the email automation platforms we were talking about: Marketo, Hubspot, and Pardot Philly and Ken also looked at https://www.tryenerc.com/ when they were talking about insights. (in case you want to follow along)

The guys talk about working while on vacation. Do it or don’t do it? How to do it to remove stress and still get a vacation. Philly talks about email automation and how to go about setting up. The guys give Linda new job. Phil explains SEO in layman terms, and spills the beans on how Kent Fenwick is a voodoo magician at SEO.

Shnane has arrived. Vive Social in the house, the boys talk PR, social and digital representation, and what small/medium businesses should be doing on awareness. You can reach Shnane and Vive Social at info@vivesocialpr.com or https://www.facebook.com/vivesocialpr/ on Facebook.

The boys are tired but not complaining. When you're happy, tired is a good sign. Kenny talks about gap analysis - finding the right places to optimize your business. Philly makes a prediction about the demise of iPhone. They break in and out of watching game 6 of the Raptors vs Warriors Championship finals. Phil talks marketing numbers and conversion rates.

These two guys bicker over Apple and Android, Kenny tells Phil he's full of poo poo. Philly gets excited and talks content, why to have it, how to keep all the keywords together, how to outrun old content.

Marketing and the pressure to bear fruit early. Philly and Ken talk about getting the right information to make the right content

This one episode is longer because of the complexity of the conversation. Price increases is part of everybody's business, but they seldom talk about it. Phil and Kenny get into and talk about different approaches you can take to introduce a price increase, what to expect as pushback from retailers, why you should be thinking about a price increase every year.

Kenny celebrates his wedding anniversary with Amelia. Barry comes on the show. More on transitions and how he made the jump from corporate life to entrepreneurship. Philly wonders how Barry put up with Kenny for 29 years! To reach Barry, you can find him at : barrygmark@mac.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-mark-3b01182a

Ken wants Philly to get in touch with his feelings but can't take a compliment. Laurie continues to haunt Kenny. The guys talk about when "good enough" is really good enough, and how to strike a balance in getting things done.

We follow up and bring Life coach Laurie Shopland on. How to power through the things that are blocking your way. Laurie Shopland https://shoplandhealth.ca comes on the show and coaches Ken and Philly on how to power through blockers.

Philly talks about not doing things that aren't in his wheelhouse, and that prompts a discussion about what to do when you need to change what you're working on. Kenny talks about adapting for change, the guys confirm that they're not normal. Ken picks on Philly.

You'll want to check her out. https://www.facebook.com/thegranolagirl/ Philly and Ken walk through April's journey from cake maker to hobby granola maker turned entrepreneur. She's gone from giving out samples at local markets to selling in 300 stores.

Websites, merchandising and experiential oh my! Philly and Ken be their ADD selves and range on a series of topics. Philly talks about research and how finding facts to build a plan isn't different from small companies to big companies. They talk website builders and style guides. They talk CRM - https://www.zoho.com, https://www.hubspot.com/, https://www.marketo.com, https://www.zendesk.com/

Philly looks inside Ken's head to find out what a buyer sees when they do store visits. Kenny spends time in liquor stores and comes out sober. Philly finds out why, and what he's looking for. They talk retailing and retail strategy, and pet peeves about their shopping experience.

Marketing spend....it's not enough. Make sure you measure what you spend on to get the right return on investment. (ROI) Be clear on what your goals are. Philly talks about #marketinggoals and loading up the funnel with opportunities for sales to convert. #mathtomarketing Philly and Ken talk about the vitamin company that they're working with. What happens when you build a plan, and they change th...

The guys talk Global Pet Expo, Kenny plays career counsellor. Philly talks about creating content in the middle of the night. Work hard, play hard - Philly also talks about the talks that he did at the show. You can find them here. https://retailphil.com/presentations Ken and Philly talk about what to call Kenny. Owner operator guidance counsellor? If you have an idea - send us a note!

Philly gets ready for #GlobalPetExpo and the two sessions he's teaching there. (https://globalpetexpo.org/buyer/seminars.asp) He's teaching "Like. Follow. Share" and "What's Your Time Worth?" Ken and Philly get into how and when you do your own thing versus hiring out work to people to keep yourself moving. Shout out to Sara Carvalho (http://sarasunshine.com/) for her magical g...

What happens if Ken and Philly go to the same show? Ken guests from the Natural Expo West

Kenny gets dressed up, everyone gets confused. The value of knowing your 'why' and how that helps the team around you.

Kenny the Amazon guy. A plus content. Philly lives breathes and dreams about brand stories.

The famous Linda Webb makes her debut. First of many (we hope) Tips on what you need to do to get to production. Linda Webb talks through ingredients, packaging, order quantities, and all sorts of things that first time product people encounter.

Philly rants on why everybody needs to look after their own careers. Kenny plays nice guy. To quote or not to quote a job? Philly and Ken talk through launch decks, the nuances of selling B2B and how it's different from B2C marketing. When you figure out your audience...things get easier.