Episode Details

This week, Phillip talks with Ian Leslie, CMO at Industry West on topics that every CMO needs to know.

Show Notes:

Main Takeaways:

• Ian Leslie, the Chief Marketing Officer at Industry West, joins in on today's episode.

• The modern CMO goes beyond just driving awareness for your brand and relies on your knowledge of the tech stack and how to leverage that tech stack to reach customers that you need.

• Ian gives some insider perspectives on what is working and not working when it comes to marketing for a successful ecommerce brand.

• How can you best arm yourself to be a successful marketer in a world that is oversaturated with content and noise?

What's the Story?: Some Background on Industry West:

• Industry West is an eCommerce furniture company that has been around for about ten years and was founded by Jordan England and Anne England.

• Jordan and Anne were looking for chairs for their house and went straight to the manufacturer, where they had the idea to sell those products to consumers.

• Ten years later, Industry West has furnished many spaces owned by name brands, and you have probably sat on Industry West furniture without knowing it.

• Ian has been with Industry West for about five years now.

The Nuts and Bolts: What's Inside Industry West's, Tech Stack?:

• Industry West is running Magento 2.3, which is tied into Netsuite that pulls order in real-time into Magento.

• Salesforce is being added to the sales team very soon.

• On the eCommerce side, Industry West uses Nosto for personalization, onsite search functionality with Klaviyo, dotdigital for journey building and consumer-side email, ShipperHQ, and TaxJar.

• Now that they are breaking into brick and mortar, Industry West is using ebizmarts for its POS (which is just a skin for a Magento store).

The Modern CMO: How Times Have Changed:

• Ten years ago, CMOS did not have an in-depth knowledge of their tech stacks that is required to be successful in our current climate.

• For someone who was raised as a digital native, technology has become engrained in the language of an omnichannel marketer.

• Being on the ground with technology and genuinely understanding the functionality behind it is critical in knowing how to implement that technology best.

• How can you get to know your tech stack better?

The Trade Market: Acquiring Brands as Customers:

• The trade market uses a lot of the same digital platforms that are on the B2C side of the business.

• Primarily, trade customers shop as if they are a regular consumer and have a lot of the same questions regarding the products.

• Once the trade customer is acquired, the focus shifts to the retention of that client and getting the buyer to purchase for additional clients or locations.

• The trade market is still an old-school industry when it comes to the tech stack, and there are emerging companies that are serving this vertical.

New Ventures: InFavorOf.com:

• Industry West just launched a new venture called