Latif Hamilton is the Founder and CEO of SpiritHoods, a leading fashion brand known for its festival-inspired faux fur products. Under his leadership, SpiritHoods has generated over $50 million in revenue and achieved top-three search rankings across major product categories by strategically aligning product development with SEO. A creative entrepreneur at heart and fractional CMO, Latif specializes in bridging operations and design to drive exponential growth. He is also the Founder of The Growth Operative, a consultancy focused on brand growth and business development.

Many ecommerce brands rely heavily on intuition and creativity when deciding what products to launch. While this approach can work, it often overlooks a valuable source of insight — how customers are actually searching online. Could aligning product decisions with search behavior lead to more consistent growth?

Latif Hamilton's answer comes from his experience as a creative entrepreneur and fractional CMO, where he connects product development with marketing strategy. He explains that instead of guessing what customers want, brands should use tools like Semrush or Ahrefs to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords — and then design products specifically to match that demand. He emphasizes focusing on depth within a single category to build authority, aligning product naming with actual search behavior, and prioritizing long-tail keywords to capture niche opportunities. Latif also cautions against overreliance on agencies, encouraging founders to develop a working understanding of SEO so they can guide strategy effectively. Ultimately, growth comes from intentionally combining creative direction with validated demand signals.

In this episode of Minds of Ecommerce, Raphael Paulin-Daigle talks with Latif Hamilton, Founder and CEO of SpiritHoods and Founder of The Growth Operative, to discuss SEO-driven product development. Latif discusses strategies for aligning product design with search behavior, how to build authority by dominating a niche, and avoiding common SEO mistakes like agency overreliance.

Heather Roach is the Director of Marketing at Original Footwear Company, a leading manufacturer of tactical footwear for military personnel, first responders, and outdoor enthusiasts. In her role, Heather has worked to evolve the company's approach to SMS from a basic, automated setup to a more hands-on, test-driven strategy centered on personalization and audience segmentation. Her approach emphasizes balancing promotional messaging with meaningful, human communication to strengthen customer relationships and drive performance.

SMS marketing has often been treated as an afterthought, with many brands plugging in basic flows and hoping for the best. But what happens when a company decides to truly invest in SMS as a core growth channel, making it a personalized, hands-on tool for customer engagement? Could a more thoughtful approach to SMS be the key to unlocking exponential returns for ecommerce businesses?

Heather Roach, an ecommerce growth strategist, explains that success with SMS entails intentional, hands-on optimization. Heather emphasizes A/B testing messaging tone, timing, and format to understand what resonates. She highlights the importance of building diverse flows, including abandoned carts, product recommendations, and review requests, while balancing promotional texts with meaningful, human communication. By segmenting audiences, personalizing outreach, and actively managing responses (instead of relying solely on automation), brands can increase ROI, loyalty, and long-term engagement.

In this episode of Minds of Ecommerce, Raphael Paulin-Daigle interviews Heather Roach, Director of Marketing at Original Footwear Company, about leveraging SMS for ecommerce growth. Heather unpacks segmentation strategies, balancing promotions with brand voice, and optimizing automated flows for higher conversions.

Jessica Kalichman is the Marketing Director at ASTR the Label, a Los Angeles–based fashion brand known for its contemporary, trend-driven designs. She brings over 12 years of experience in brand development and digital marketing, having previously driven high-impact campaigns in the toy and entertainment industries. Known for blending pop culture insights with data-driven marketing, Jessica has led the creation of over 160 commercials and digital campaigns, helping brands achieve global visibility through innovative storytelling and strategic partnerships.

Your biggest growth strategy may not be ads, but partnerships you're underutilizing. Many ecommerce brands invest heavily in paid media while overlooking the compounding power of affiliates, creators, and strategic visibility. How can brands actually turn affiliates into a scalable, revenue-driving engine instead of a flailing side tactic?

Marketing leader Jessica Kalichman draws from her extensive expertise in performance marketing and influencer strategy. She explains that successful affiliate programs are built across three key pillars: traditional platforms, media-driven affiliate PR, and performance-based creators — with the latter offering the most growth potential. By shifting from vanity metrics toward trackable affiliate links, brands can clearly see which creators drive the most revenue. Jessica also highlights the importance of aligning product selection with the right creators, planning gifting inventory, and leveraging emerging channels like AI-driven search visibility to stay competitive. Ultimately, it's about building a measurable, diversified system that prioritizes conversion without the guesswork.

In this episode of Minds of Ecommerce, Raphael Paulin-Daigle talks with Jessica Kalichman, Marketing Director at ASTR the Label, to discuss affiliate-driven growth strategies. Jessica discusses structuring affiliate channels, leveraging influencers for measurable conversions, and using AI search visibility to drive revenue.