ecom punishes 99% effort
The speaker argues against distributing effort unevenly across ecommerce fundamentals, asserting that 100% effort must be applied to ads, funnel, and research simultaneously. While identifying ads as typically most important and difficult, they emphasize that neglecting any component—even with maxed-out performance elsewhere—will cause the entire system to fail.
Summary
In response to a question about allocating 90% effort to a single ecommerce element, the speaker dismisses the premise as flawed. They advocate for committing full effort across all critical components rather than prioritizing one area at the expense of others. The speaker identifies three key pillars: ads, funnel conversion, and research. While acknowledging that ads are generally the most important and difficult element to optimize, and funnel conversion ranks second in importance, they stress that this hierarchy doesn't justify neglecting any area. The speaker illustrates this with a concrete example: even with ads performing at maximum efficiency (99/100), a poor funnel (1/100 conversion) will render the entire system ineffective. They further emphasize that research quality directly impacts creative output—attempting to create strong ad creatives without proper research will inevitably produce poor results. The speaker's final recommendation is to avoid overthinking the allocation question, instead encouraging practitioners to begin testing immediately, move quickly, and gain practical experience through hands-on execution.
Key Insights
- The speaker argues that even maximal performance in one channel (ads at 99/100 efficiency) cannot compensate for poor performance in another (funnel at 1/100 conversion), making the entire system fail
- The speaker identifies ads as typically the most important and most difficult ecommerce component to optimize correctly, followed by funnel conversion in priority ranking
- The speaker contends that poor research directly undermines creative quality, arguing that attempting to create strong ad creatives without proper research foundation will produce inferior results
- The speaker rejects effort-allocation frameworks in favor of applying 100% effort across all critical components simultaneously rather than choosing between them
- The speaker advocates for rapid experimentation and practical learning through testing and hands-on execution rather than extensive planning before starting
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] If I had to put 90% of my effort on one thing, where do I start it? With all due respect, this is a [ __ ] [ __ ] question. How about you put a 100% effort on all of them? If I had to choose, I'd probably choose the ads, but if you have 99% like you're maxing out your stats on the ad, but you have a one out of 100 funnel, it's not going to [ __ ] work either. So, you have to do all of them. I think the ads are going to be the most important and typically they're the most difficult thing to get right, funnel being second, but you shouldn't…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from Mark Builds Brands
google ads vs FB ads
Google and Facebook ads serve different purposes in the marketing funnel. Google excels at middle and bottom-funnel retargeting and should be implemented alongside Facebook for the halo effect, while Facebook is better for scaling cold traffic and demand generation/YouTube ads work well for top-of-funnel conversions.
The Real Role Organic Content Plays
The speaker argues that organic content is the only realistic starting point for e-commerce entrepreneurs without a budget, but paid advertising is ultimately a more valuable skill to develop. Learning paid ads requires developing direct response copywriting abilities, which the speaker compares to learning a new language.
is europe actually the shortcut to ecom succes
European markets can offer better CPAs and profitability for early-stage e-commerce businesses, but they're not a scalable shortcut to success. The U.S. market remains the dominant end-game for virtually all successful D2C and CPG exits, making it the inevitable focus regardless of initial market choice.
Is Being Happy With 1-2K a Month Actually Cope
The speaker argues that being satisfied with 1-2k per month is mostly self-deception and comfort zone avoidance rather than genuine contentment. They contend that life should be about pursuing one's full potential across all dimensions, and that claiming satisfaction with a low income is only justified after achieving significant wealth.
How to create S tier winners
To create S tier creatives, it's essential to understand your customer deeply and to analyze existing winning ads to identify effective variables that can be combined into new concepts. This iterative testing approach allows marketers to refine their creatives using insights gained from lower-tier ads.