Why Trump Might Have Done Us All a Favour
How to Build a Future-Proof Ecosystem That Protects Your Brand
Alex Murton
May 16, 2025
By Alex Murton | Read time: 4 mins
Hey, it’s Alex.
In today’s issue:
My favourite links from the week.
How to build a future-proof ecosystem that protects your brand.
13 CRO recommendations to implement on your cart today.
and much more…
BEST LINKS
My favourite finds this week
🤖 AI
🔮 Design
Figma Config - new tools - Buzz (bye bye Canva).
Pentagram new website (Pentagram).
📘 Books
Mistborn (Trilogy) (wiki) - I read this a few years ago - whenever they turn this into a TV show, it will be better than GOT, Harry Potter HBO, and Lord of the Rings combined - yep, I said it.
DEEP DIVE
How to build a future-proof ecosystem that protects your brand
The last few years have been carnage.
And if business wasn’t already hard enough, there is a madman in the White House with his finger over some big red buttons - and he’s been playing whack-a-mole with them recently.
The crazy part?
Trump is actually doing us all a huge favour.
Let me explain.
A Reminder of What Is Coming
Disruption and the unknown are as certain as death and taxes.
If competitors, the economy, algorithms, and everything in between weren’t enough to handle, we’ve got a tidal wave of AI on the horizon, and it’s going to be as significant as the invention of the printing press.
The way I see it, it’s not enough to just build a brand anymore.
You need to build a moat around it.
So, thanks for the reminder, Donald.
An Ecosystem = Your Future-Proof Moat
Anyone can copy an idea, but not an ecosystem.
An ecosystem is your moat. It’s what insulates you from market volatility, algorithm shifts, and platform control.
If you Google or ask ChatGPT how to build a moat around your ecommerce business, you’ll get the usual list:
- Brand loyalty and community building
- Diversified revenue streams
- Superior customer experience etc
And yes, these are important. But in my eyes, this isn’t enough.
Most businesses doing a few million a year already have these. A moat should make you untouchable - and the above alone won’t do that.
What Does a Moat Look Like in 2025?
A true moat is about owning the entire ecosystem.
The real power is in audience access, data ownership, and community lock-in.
Why do you think Facebook and LinkedIn spend billions to keep you on their platforms?
If you don’t own your audience, you don’t own your business. And if you’re renting attention from Facebook or Instagram, you’re building on borrowed land and borrowed time.
The Pillars of a Modern Moat
1. Audience Ownership
Create an audience, provide value indefinitely, and design products and services that serve that audience’s needs and ambitions.
Notice I’m using the word ownership. A rented audience is one you have to pay for - like those eyeballs on social media. An owned audience is different. It’s the ultimate moat.
Here’s why: your audience is more engaged, they’ve already made a choice to listen to you, and there’s no algorithm standing in the way.
I would rather have the ability to grow a newsletter for my ideal customers than a social media following any day. Take away my website, take my ad budget, and I’d make it work with just a newsletter.
Combine them all - and you’ve got the start of a serious ecosystem.
2. Data Ownership
Data isn’t just valuable - it is the business. If you don’t own your data, you’re renting your customers.
Measure everything - open rates, click-throughs, conversion windows.
Lean into data-driven retention. If you know when and why your customers churn, you can intervene before it happens.
Action Tip: Set up first-party data capture at every touchpoint. If you’re relying on Facebook’s pixel to know your audience, you’re on borrowed time.
Every man and his dog are building communities - aka me and Harvey
3. Deep Community Engagement
Every man and his dog (me and my puggy Harvey) are building communities - and for good reason. They’re sticky. They’re resilient. But here’s the kicker:
You don’t need a forum or a Discord channel. Create "access plans" and loyalty structures directly within your Shopify store. Make your brand the community hub.
The goal isn’t just to sell. It’s to create advocates who do the selling for you.
Action Tip: Launch a members-only experience directly on your site. Think of it as a club, not just a store.
4. Direct Access Channels
Dan Kennedy always said, "The money is in the list."
Email is the only channel you truly own.
If you’re only attributing 20% or 30% of your revenue to email, you’re leaving money on the table.
Some of the brands we work with are seeing 50% and rising.
If you take away just one thing from this - it’s that your email list is a goldmine, not a checkbox, ignore it at your own peril and prepared to be crushed by those who invest in its growth.
Action Tip: Start sending emails that aren’t just promotions - send value, insights, and exclusives. Treat your email list like a paid membership.
5. Evergreen Content Engines
Alex Hormozi understands that real value is in content that never dies.
Most brands are running on campaign-driven marketing - it’s here today, gone tomorrow.
What you need is evergreen funnels. Content that drives traffic and converts, month after month.
Think long-form + short-form mix, like deep dives on YouTube, quick hits on TikTok. Ownership (again), not renting: blogs and YouTube videos are assets. Instagram Stories? Not so much.
Action Tip: Create pillar content around your products. Syndicate it everywhere. If you can drive traffic without paying for it, you’re winning.
Don’t let the vest fool you - Alex Hormozi is one of the smartest operators in the world.
The Ecosystem is Your Moat
An ecosystem insulates you from platform changes, price wars, and algorithm updates. If you own the audience, the data, and the distribution - you’re unbreakable.
Most ecommerce brands are building websites. The smart ones are building ecosystems.
Ready to Build an Ecosystem, Not Just a Store?
If you’re serious about building a real moat - one that insulates you from competitors and algorithm changes - it’s time to build your own ecosystem.
🚀 CAMPAIGN INSPO
Exclusive Bundle & Points Rush
Offer exclusive bundles to loyalty members, while giving points instead of discounts to maximise sales.
Tactics:
Exclusive Bundles for Loyalty Members
Loyalty Points Instead of Discounts
Seasonal Bundle Promotions with GWP
We have prepared for free, the campaign execution steps here, as well as both the announcement email copy, AND the ending soon email.
Also access all of the previous campaigns ideas.
🔎 UX INSIGHT
13 CRO tips to boost your cart conversion
Today, we’ve got some recommendations for your cart - bring on the CRO!
Mini-cart is displayed immediately on Add to Cart to signal to the visitor that their action has been confirmed.
Urgency triggers are displayed (order within X for next day shipping)
Cart contents remain indefinitely.Progress bar for free shipping or other incentives is on display
A detailed product summary is provided in cart such as product title, price, discount, and options/variants selected
Customers have the option to Save For Later when they attempt to remove a product from cart.
If the order is already eligible for free shipping this is clearly displayed on the cart
An estimated delivery date is provided
Quantities can be updated within the cart
Scarcity triggers such as stock levels are shown in cart
Each product shows the relevant primary image for it
Shipping, returns and refund policies are all available on the cart
Discount code function is visible but not too prominent in a way which might encourage browsing for one
Cart offers easy customer service contact such as a phone number of live chat (immediate options are preferable, not email or contact form).
We are currently working on a new cart framework that will be available to all our website clients at our company Studio Almond - free, forever, as well as to all members of Roadmap and any other Almond Labs products.
Why free? Well, it’s part of our ecosystem 😉
🤖 AI INSIGHT
AI in ecommerce
Why You Need to Be a Creator, Not Just a Consumer
Where AI is reshaping everything we know about business, there’s one clear divide: creators and consumers.
Most brands are doing the latter - scrolling, reacting, consuming - but not creating. Not enough to be heard, and certainly not enough to be found.
If you want your brand to cut through, you need to be seen, heard, and your vision adopted.
Are You Even Being Found?
Think back to the last time you typed something into ChatGPT. Was it a question you’d normally Google?
You’re not alone.
This shift is happening everywhere.
And it highlights a blindspot for almost every brand out there: you need to be found - not just with paid ads, but with organic SEO, but more importantly, by LLM (Large Language Model) indexing.
If AI engines are going to be the gateway to information, your brand needs to be in the results.
Introducing Lexi - our AI Agent for the few who know
At Almond Labs, we’ve built Lexi—our AI agent that’s only available to subscribers of this newsletter.
There will be no paid ads to promote Lexi.
This is something we’re using ourselves at Studio Almond and Almond Labs to build our own ecosystem.
This is about total visibility:
Audio
Video
Imagery
Content
White papers
Blog articles
All created, optimised, and search-friendly - tapped into Google’s clickable and trending API, with LLM indexing to match.
We are not talking about a content calendar.
We are talking about an ecosystem of assets - designed to be found, ranked, and seen.
Jump the Queue: Limited Slots Open for Lexi
We’re only opening slots for Lexi every odd month.
Right now, we have 3 spots available.
If you’re in, here’s what we’re doing with you:
For a few hours work each month, we will help you create - and then run yourself - your own content agents that produces:
15–20 short-form videos with subs for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn
20 LinkedIn posts
4 Newsletters
8 LLM and Google-ranking blog articles (~1000 words)
2 white papers (4000+ words)
This isn’t marketing. This is ecosystem building.
We’re not aiming for just impressions - we’re building foundations that rank.
Want In?
We’re building our own ecosystem with Lexi - and we’re taking a handful of you with us.
📣 HAVE YOUR SAY
How did we do?
What did you think of today's newsletter? |
Thanks for reading!
See you next week.
Alex Murton
Shopify for Lifestyle Brands
Co-Founder @ Studio Almond & Almond Labs.