Hey, Ezra here behind the scenes at Blue Ribbon Mastermind.

Blue Ribbon is a group of 80-plus 7- and 8-figure ecommerce retailers who share advanced marketing strategies to help each other’s businesses grow.

In this video, you’ll find out where these experts are putting their attention in 2018, and it’s great advice for any size store.

(You’ll even hear from Purple Mattress’ Director of YouTube and Google Advertising!)

This video was shot in Nashville at our most recent Blue Ribbon Live, where we spent two full days focusing on direct response funnels, ways to win on Facebook and Amazon, how to grow your team, and more. It was the best mastermind yet.

So I thought it would be fun to sit some folks down and ask them about their plans for 2018, what they’re looking forward to, and what advice they have for other ecommerce retailers.

Here’s what they had to say:

Bryant Garvin — Director of YouTube, Search and Display Advertising for PURPLE mattress:

“2018 looks crazy. We have actually invented an acronym called B-S-C that stands for bat-sh*t crazy. People are like, ‘Hey, are you going aggressive?’ ‘No, we’re going B-S-C.’

And that’s really Purple as an example, right? How quickly it’s grown from zero to where it’s at today. Same thing with everything else that I’m working on. It’s just crazy growth. It’s stretching the limits of what we can do.

One of the most important pieces that everybody misses, especially when talking about YouTube advertising, is everybody tries to fit [YouTube] into the AdWord ‘square peg’ or the Facebook ‘square peg,’ but it’s really a round peg and it just won’t fit.

People that are going to YouTube are completely different than the people that are going to Facebook. They’re there to do one thing: watch a video. And you’re interrupting that experience. So the likelihood that they’re going to click on your ad and go to your site (like they may with a Facebook ad or a Google Display Network ad or even the search ad) is very slim.

But what does happen is it builds awareness for your brand.”

Vanessa Roberts — Blue Ribbon member and ecommerce expert:

“Founders in this space come up with an idea they developed in their kitchen or their garage, and the thing with the product-based business is that you can get going quite quickly, which leads to a lot of opportunity — but it also leads to a lot of challenges.

They’ll pivot too much; or they’ll try too many different tactics at too many times; or they won’t do it for long enough.

Developing the mindset in your business to keep that focus, and knowing when you should pivot, when you should persevere, or if this is something you actually need to stop to move forward.

In these businesses, because they are predominantly online, founders can work in a silo. And really putting yourself out there to ask questions and really develop a network and get the help that you need is something that I see a lot of founders struggling with as well.”

Michael LaHatte — Serial entrepreneur with an 8-figure Shopify store (and growing):

“Selling is selling, you know? I mean, the stuff it takes to sell our market has been the same things cavemen were doing… For thousands of years, people have been persuading each other.

Once I want to learn something, I study everything — I just dive off. I’m like a bulldog with a dirty sock. I just won’t let go until I figure it out.

So I start studying. I knew Adrian Morrison was doing ecom and that Ezra is the big daddy in ecom. So I just started following everybody, because I knew I needed to learn how they were doing it.

I knew how to sell, I knew how to market, but I didn’t know how to do it with a physical product online efficiently, effectively, correctly. And once I fit all those pieces together, that’s all I needed.

You know, you can’t be a one-man-show for long… When our company got to $1.5 million/month, I did everything on the digital side alone. But by that point, you’re like an octopus on roller skates. You can’t continue that.

You’ve gotta hire a team — you got to find your weaknesses, and hire and replace [those weaknesses] with better talent.

Our goal this year is actually $250 million total. I don’t know if we’ll hit it… But I know for sure, we’ll probably do $100 million online.

I think people are looking for an easy button. There is no easy button. You’ll get run over looking for an easy button.”

Will Mitchell — Amazon expert and Founder of StartupBros and Simply Organic Beauty:

“2018 for us is an exposure year. We have a message that we know resonates with people.

And I think when you have a message that’s resonating, that’s making an impact in people’s lives, the game becomes scales. The game becomes getting that message out to as many people as you can.

A business is just a way for me to communicate a message to someone.

If the message that I’m communicating is not having an impact on that person, if their core identity is not resonating with what I’m saying, no amount of marketing is going to fix that.”

Jonathan Volk — Blue Ribbon member and automotive ecommerce business owner:

“In terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), a lot of business owners are really sleeping on it — they’re focusing mainly on paid traffic.

SEO is one of those legs in a stool that’s going to help increase your valuation and also just be another platform for you to grow on.

Explosive growth has come from SEO strategies that we’ve implemented, but it’s just one layer. You really got to layer things upon each other.

There’s no one particular strategy that’s going to build you into an overnight success. It’s a long-term play. I think we’re all trying to build long-term income.

We’re not just trying to make cash and get out. We build quality products, and if that’s what you’re trying to do, SEO makes a lot of sense.”

While we’re talking about Blue Ribbon Mastermind, here are some details in case you’re interested in joining:

Blue Ribbon is the premier ecommerce mastermind, and we’re the only group out there of 80-plus 7- and 8-figure online retailers.

I believe there’s power in groups, and in this mastermind we share a ton and really help each other out.

I also believe that community is where it’s at in life. It’s a great feeling to get together with like-minded folks who are going to support you in your journey.

To learn more about what what it takes to join Blue Ribbon Mastermind, go to smartmarketer.com/mastermind.

Video Highlights:

2:20 Advertising on YouTube builds awareness for your brand

3:03 In these businesses, because they are predominantly online, founders can work in a silo

4:10 You can’t be a one-man-show for long

5:00 when you have a message that you know is resonating, is making an impact in the people’s lives

5:47 SCO is one of those legs in a stool that’s gonna help increase your valuation