CJ Forse, Founder and CEO of Vulgar, began his love-hate relationship with the ad agency space over a decade ago in creatives and direct-response work. He soon became disillusioned with it, and turned his back on the space to grow his own e-commerce business. However, as his new business scaled, a small marketing team and a mediocre selection of agencies presented a number of challenges that he had to overcome in order to grow. Finding solutions to his problems, and observing how much other brands struggled with the same issues, helped CJ realize that there was immense opportunity in re-entering the agency space to help brands like his with marketing.

There are plenty of agencies out there to help you with ads. But CJ has learned that as you scale, you need far more than ads. Emails, testimonials, review programs, and much more all become necessary pieces of the puzzle, but pieces that many ad agencies simply aren’t capable of providing.

From CJ’s experience in e-commerce, most agencies don’t come without considerable sacrifice. Ad and strategy-focused agencies couldn’t design or do creative well, while design-focused agencies lacked the strategy necessary to help him scale. And anytime he came across a full-service agency that had all he needed, the overbearing price tag forced him to turn elsewhere.

With no other option, CJ put his knowledge and experience to the test, optimizing--in-house--the processes behind ads, emails, landing pages, and creatives; the four things he needed done often and done right.

Nowadays, CJ uses his expertise to run Vulgar, a digital marketing agency that helps e-commerce brands scale. Their ideal client is a marketing team that looks like CJ’s did: lean, savvy, and limited solely by their small team size. Their mission? Help those clients execute in marketing, to scale while staying lean and under-budget.

Vulgar does four things: creatives, paid media, landing pages, and emails. From CJ’s experience, these are the cornerstone tools for growth online. They use a credits-based system to allow clients to allocate their monthly allowance of service in different places as needed. One month may require building a giant email funnel, while the next may be centered around handwritten win-back outreach, so flexibility is key to keeping everything affordable.

No matter what task Vulgar completes, they make sure to keep one principle in mind: Everything communicates.

Think of the last brand that truly impressed you with their user experience. What details stood out the most? Was it the custom-stamped packaging, clean design, or professional-looking website? Or the handwritten thank-you card waiting inside the box?

For a brand to truly impress, there must be a continuous, high-quality air that extends past the product into every single touchpoint the brand has with customers.

To customers, poor or low-effort appearance can be a dealbreaker. Grammar errors and unsightly packaging will always leave a bad taste in a customer’s mouth, no matter how good your product is.

According to CJ, this doesn’t have to be expensive. Instead of just spending more money, focus on putting more thought into your user experience. As long as customers see that you care, CJ says you’re golden.

One look through Vulgar’s website will show just how much CJ values creating a user experience he’s proud of. At IgnitePOST, we couldn’t agree more with his philosophy. Handwritten notes are our take on creating the same high-quality, thoughtful appearance that Vulgar prioritizes in its work.

And since our notes can be triggered directly from Shopify, Klaviyo, Zapier, or any other marketing automation platform, integration with the rest of Vulgar’s repertoire has been seamless. We’re sure Vulgar’s clients will love the service.

If you’ve got a to-do list a mile long, need to scale by yesterday, or just want to geek out on marketing, you can chat with CJ and his team anytime at hellovulgar.com.

Or browse their resources section - Vulgar’s free ebooks are a must-have for any online business.

LEARN SOMETHING COOL

It’s amazing to be working with you, CJ! We’re excited to see what the future holds.

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