Ben Zettler is an eCommerce, digital marketing, and social media consultant who is a certified Shopify Expert and Facebook Marketing Partner.
He has his own consultancy called Ben Zettler Digital Media and he has worked with over 100 brands, athletes, and public figures on optimizing their eCommerce and digital marketing strategies.
We asked him about his services and how he helps Shopify store owners establish a strong online presence.
Let’s find out what he has to say!
1. What was your journey like until you started your own consultancy?
My first digital marketing/eCommerce experience came through a brand that I started called Brooktide Sunglasses. This was back in 2013. I ultimately chose Shopify for building the website and it was store number ~41,000 or so at the time.
Of course, now there are well over 1 million merchants on the platform. I was fortunate to sell Brooktide in 2018, but that business was a springboard for building a client portfolio.
When I started working with various businesses I first offered to build websites and then other services like social content management, email marketing, Facebook and Instagram advertising, Google advertising, etc.
I was invited to Shopify’s Partner program in 2014, the Shopify Experts program in 2017, and earlier this year named one of 16 global Shopify Plus Consulting Partners.
In addition to owning my own business, I also worked at a brand called Steiner Sports for over five years. Prior to the company being bought out in 2019, Steiner Sports was the largest autographed sports memorabilia company of its kind in the world.
There I first headed social management and within my first two years, we grew our cumulative social presence from 50,000 to 2.5 million cumulative followers.
My role expanded to overseeing all aspects of digital marketing and eCommerce for the business.
As of June 2019, I have been a full-time consultant and have been very fortunate to work with many incredible clients–athletes, retailers selling luxury goods, jewelry, consumable products, and more.
2. How do you help Shopify store owners to set up their business? What services do you offer?
I offer a full suite of services for businesses of all sizes.
Whether a company maybe someone out of college, starting a business in their parents’ basement like I did with my sunglasses company, or a Shopify Plus business doing seven or eight-figures per year in sales, I’m equipped to serve clients across the board.
I offer website development, organic social content strategy, email marketing, Facebook and Instagram advertising, Google advertising, search engine optimization, and other areas that tie in to the digital marketing presence of any business.
3. Tell us about eCommerce optimization. What does this service mean?
There are ultimately many steps any company should be taking in establishing their presence online.
I often see a lot of companies making the same mistakes in terms of how their website is formatted, how they have merchandised their products, what email communications they do (or don’t) put out, how they aim to acquire customers, etc.
Optimizing not just a website, but the entire digital presence of any business is important because you have to be able to answer the question, “Would someone actually buy from this website?”
Very often that’s a question that a lot of new online business owners are not as focused on as they should be. I help businesses answer that question.
4. What are some marketing tips you’d like to give new eCommerce business owners?
I would ask someone that is starting a new online business 5 questions:
- Who is your ideal customer? Don’t say, “Everyone should buy this.” Really think about who you are trying to serve.
- Who is already doing what you plan to do?
- How do you plan to acquire customers?
- Do you have a content strategy?
- Would you buy from your website?
5. What are your future plans?
I’m looking forward to growing my business further with the great clients that I have been fortunate to work with over the last several years.
I don’t have full-time employees by design, but I have built a great network of specialists that I work with by pulling folks into various projects based on the needs of clients.
I’m always open to expanding the team.
