“SELL TO BUILD YOUR BRAND, DON’T BRAND TO CREATE SALES.”
DAN KENNEDY
Up to this point in the book, the marketing methods and strategies shared have been concentrated on finding a winning product, researching the competition in a suitable category, then positioning a product to get ahead in the rankings on Amazon by creating a great listing, and finally driving traffic to it. When I first met Rick, I was more than a decade into my Amazon experience, and I had established myself as a Top 200 Seller because of my knowledge of how to navigate the Amazon.com platform. My product research techniques could be relied upon to consistently identify products with selling potential, and I was especially good at capitalizing on that potential because I paid close attention to the customer reviews and used that feedback to make key improvements that helped me leap-frog my products ahead of others in the same categories. My brothers would tell you that I was successful on Amazon because of my obsession with Amazon. But what I hadn’t fully considered, until I met Rick, was that I could be even better on Amazon if I got better off of it. Rick taught me to think more like an entrepreneur by expanding my game plan outside the Amazon ecosystem, where there are even more opportunities to tell my story and cultivate my own database of happy customers eager to learn about my next product.
The transition to developing a more robust off-Amazon marketing strategy was a lot easier than I imagined, and the impact of this more holistic approach was nearly instantaneous. Over the next few pages, Rick will talk about some of his favorite off-Amazon channels and how to leverage these other platforms to boost your performance on Amazon, starting with a quick overview of direct response marketing. Here’s Rick.
Before Jason ever dreamed of selling sports equipment online, I was selling products using direct response tactics I picked up selling sun screen to Florida sun lovers in the 1980s. While I wasn’t the first by a long stretch to use direct response strategies (think Sears, Roebuck and Co. direct mail catalog, circa 1893), I was the first to use the concept successfully in long-form TV advertising called infomercials in the early 1990s. The concept is simple: direct response marketing uses a Call to Action (CTA) to trigger an immediate response from a targeted audience. That action may be to buy your product from Amazon; or maybe it’s designed to get prospective customers to visit your website for more information. The title of my first book, Buy Now! pretty much sums it up, but I especially love Dan Kennedy’s quote at the top of this chapter. Dan was one of my most influential mentors and a true pioneer in the direct marketing business, authoring a series of books called the No B.S. Guides. The quote, “Sell to build your brand, don’t brand to create sales,” is from his book, The No B.S. Guide to Brand Building by Direct Response, and it truly captures the essence of DR marketing.
But selling is just part of the direct response equation. If you spend money on advertising, you need to be able to measure the amount of sales generated from that ad spend because all direct response marketing is measurable. This is sometimes called accountable advertising, which is tied to the concept of Return on Investment or ROI. Over many years in the business, I’ve developed a general rule for what your ROI should be, if you’re going to be in a position to build brand awareness. Regardless of the type of marketing you use, aim for a 2 to 1 ROI. For every $1 spent on advertising, expect $2 back. This simple advertising concept works across every platform, and it can be your most powerful tool for getting ahead. Many of the products I’ve worked with over the years had very modest ad budgets, if any. We made certain that the money spent made money back, a direct response mindset that powers all of my campaigns.
I’ve always loved working with businesses that are already selling their products through multiple channels, not just Amazon alone. This usually means the business is spending advertising dollars outside Amazon. Any money spent off Amazon for advertising will always help your Amazon sales. This is a crucial point to recognize and understand because always holds true. While, as Jason learned early on, Amazon is the very best place to start selling your products, I’ll show you how to boost your sales momentum off Amazon.
When a large Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods (CPG) company launches a new product, they’ll typically spend millions on a brand awareness campaign, hoping people will try their new product and create a buzz. But most inventors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses I know do not have marketing budgets like that. A good example of a small company using brand awareness ads and struggling to grow early on is a product called Powerizer. The company was founded by a good friend of mine, Max Appel, founder of OxiClean. Years ago, I helped Max with the initial marketing for Oxiclean and some of their other products. Max’s latest product, Powerizer, is an all-purpose cleaner designed to replace all of the other cleaners in your home.
Until recently, Max was using an agency that did not understand direct response marketing. Money was being spent across multiple channels, but the total sales volume wasn’t growing. The agency was also managing Amazon, generating around $7,000 a month in sales. Max called me to ask for help. By now you can probably guess my first move: I called Jason to review the product’s Amazon presence! He said they were doing a good job, with little room for improvement, so I took a close look at their website and at the advertising they were doing, and I recommended three simple changes.
Create your Unique Selling Proposition. The ads that were running for Powerizer were not delivering a clear, consistent message. They focused on how the product could replace all of the cleaners in your home and save you money. But that was hard for people to believe because there are so many specialty cleaners on the market. Powerizer was trying to be everything to everybody, but that’s not how marketing works. I went back to the beginning, drafting a very short list of this product’s best attributes. First, it truly is an all-in-one cleaner, something shoppers needed to better visualize. Secondly, it contains all natural ingredients, something more consumers want in their cleaning products. We created a new USP underscoring these two key points. It reads like this: “Powerizer cleans the toughest stains, but it’s safe for you and your family.” Our new ads showed five different cleaning demonstrations for the most common household spills and stains—and people started to respond.
Direct Response. Next, I changed the nature of the ads from a brand awareness campaign to direct response or conversion ads. In the earlier ads, there was no call-to-action. Our ads showed the product at work and we offered a 10% discount if you “order now!” This also drove up the response.
Target marketing. Finally, I focused all the brand awareness ad dollars being spent on multiple direct response ads on Facebook and Instagram. Once these platforms produce a positive ROI, then we can expand to others. The primary goal is to get Powerizer into people’s hands because once they’ve tried it they’ll be hooked!
Over the next few months, sales from the website began to increase on a daily basis until we were soon making money. Our targeted advertising “wins” allowed us to spend more each month. As these sales were growing, with very small changes to the Amazon listings, Amazon sales started increasing as well. Over the course of the next six months, Amazon sales grew from the original $7,000 a month to more than $40,000 a month as a direct result of the off-Amazon advertising we had employed. It bears repeating: any money spent off Amazon for advertising will always help your sales on Amazon.
Until Amazon came along, there was only “off-Amazon marketing,” so for me the argument for adding off-Amazon marketing seems flip-flopped. The way I see it, Amazon is just one more channel in the omnichannel universe. Today’s consumer has seemingly unlimited options for how and where to purchase products and services. In response, I believe Sellers should expand their reach to meet people where they are in a way that provides consumers with a seamless and integrated shopping experience from the first touchpoint to the last. To cast a wider net, you’ve got to use a multichannel, or omnichannel approach to marketing your products, with Amazon as just one of the many possibilities.
I like to use the analogy of an iceberg when I talk with new clients about selling on Amazon. Think of Amazon as the tip of the iceberg, its most visible part. For that reason alone it should not be ignored. But to think of what’s most visible as the most important part of your marketing strategy would be a big mistake, just like the dangers that can arise at sea from ignoring the even larger mass of ice below the surface. That mass is the foundation of the iceberg, just like the broader scope of your marketing plan provides the stability necessary for launching a successful marketing campaign. Losing sight of that can be a fatal error.
At the center of this diagram is your e-commerce website, from which traffic is pushed to and from numerous other channels. Amazon is regularly at the bottom-end of the funnel, where most shoppers go to purchase products. Where Amazon is not as strong, however, is in the area of discovery, where customers tend to rely instead on social media and other advertising channels to learn about a product or service, especially in the areas of clothing and beauty. This gets me back to my earlier point about meeting customers where they are. I call this being “sales agnostic,” something both Jason and I consider ourselves to be first and foremost. If shoppers are learning about brands like yours in other-than-Amazon channels, then that’s where you need to be. It really doesn’t matter at the end of the day whether your product is purchased on Amazon or directly through your website. The more discovery you can stir up around your brand, the better.
Another big benefit that comes from utilizing multiple marketing channels is synergy—when the forces of using multiple channels begin to play off each other and, suddenly, 2+2 is greater than 4. I first experienced this synergistic effect when I was running Trillium Health Products, maker of the Juiceman juicer. We had a robust public relations strategy, infomercials, live seminars, and a book about to come out. This multi-channel “buzz” created a word-of-mouth side effect that exceeded the marketing we were actually doing. This impact was reflected in exponential year over year growth in sales. I got to experience this same exciting phenomenon with marketing campaigns for Sonicare, OxiClean, and GoPro years after selling Trillium.
Assuming you’ve followed the steps in the previous chapters of this book, and you’re now feeling confident about the selling potential of your product, it’s not uncommon to feel uneasy about where to start your marketing campaign, especially in today’s marketplace hotbed. Considering the importance of getting off to a good start, both in terms of available resources and the pressure to create sales, I thought I’d take you through the same steps that Jason and I take our clients through, when we are helping them form their sales and brand-building strategies.
Building a great website is critically important, and it’s where I like to start with all of my clients. Amazon simply doesn’t offer enough real estate to effectively build the content required for expanding your business. You can invest a lot of time into creating A+ listings, with all the bells and whistles, but without a link to “home base,” where you’ve got the elbow room to tell the whole story, you’re business will likely fall short of the big homerun.
Earlier in the book, we talked about the importance of controlling the conversation about your brand. Jason mentioned one of the fundamental mistakes people make: They take their products off Amazon—even big brands like Birkenstock—usually because they become frustrated with the platform’s price-slashing tactics. The big problem with pulling out, as Jason explained earlier, is that you’re not there to control the narrative about your products. I think the Birkenstock story is a great example because, when they pulled their products from the Amazon platform, they interrupted the flywheel effect and surrendered control of their messaging on the biggest e-commerce stage in the world. As a direct result, the knockoffs now own the Birkenstock void on Amazon, and that degrades the Birkenstock brand.
In Chapter 7, I mentioned the sisters who created Puriya and the turn-around they experienced when they re-tooled their website to focus on the benefits of their wonderful products, with gorgeous photography to underscore their messaging. The Puriya website gave them room to spell out their authentic story, from where they are now building strong ties to their customer base, seeding that word-of-mouth bonus effect I referenced earlier.
Sign up with Shopify and set up your online shopChoose a theme or layout, then add your products to the storeTell your back storyEstablish your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)Include authentic product testimonialsI was a biology major in college, and I’ve always had a special interest in how the human brain works. I am fascinated by the ways in which we are open to suggestion as a factor of our psychological makeup. I learned somewhere along the way that the brain has the ability to process visual content 60,000 times faster than it can process written text. That stuck with me, and it influenced my early use of television and video as effective marketing tools. Today using video is easier than ever, with tools at our fingertips for making them quickly and inexpensively. In this video-first society, there’s really no excuse not to be putting video to work for you all of time. Here are the videos I recommend everyone have on their e-commerce website:
I guarantee that if you include the videos described above, both your sales and conversions will go up, and you will begin to foster the kind of brand awareness and customer loyalty that can take your sales even higher. Plus, all of the video content on your e-commerce site can be repurposed for use on your Amazon listings and Amazon Brand Page. For more in depth information about using video on your website (and on Amazon), please check out Video Persuasion, my third book on how to create effective high-level product and testimonial videos that grow your brand, listed on the Resources page in the back of this book.
Think about your website and database as two legs of a three-legged stool, with Amazon as the third leg. This trio forms a solid marketing base from which you can effectively drive traffic to and from Amazon and your website. One of the benefits of selling through your own site is that you now own customer information. Growing your database through your own Shopify site, for example, with a good email-marketing system, will add value to your overall brand, guaranteed. In my experience, email is perhaps your most important asset. If you have a good, active, growing email list, you can control the information from your customer base and use it to drive traffic to Amazon listings or to your own website. This is especially important because no matter how successful you are on Amazon, you’ll never know who is buying your products. That’s not information Amazon is ever going to divulge. And without the ability to build a relationship with the people who are buying your products, you can’t engage them proactively when your next product is in the queue.
Several years ago I was asked to join the board of advisors for a new Seattle-based startup called Natural Stacks, a brain-health supplement company. Founders Roy Krebs and Ben Hebert launched the brand by first appearing on several popular podcasts, including The Tim Ferriss Show, ranked #1 for business podcasts. This initial exposure gave people the opportunity to try the Natural Stacks products risk-free through a special offer. From the very start, they focused on building their database of inquiries into loyal customers, beginning with their main product, Ciltep (now called Neuro Fuel). Once someone became a customer, they would email new content nearly every day. Then, every 5-7 days, a new product promotion was emailed. Using this approach, the company grew its list of loyal followers and leveraged the data to grow their brand. As a result, they’ve enjoyed year over year growth and have been able to expand to retail chains nationwide. If you want to see email marketing done right, go to their website and sign up to receive their product offers.
Content marketing generally does not involve direct sales. Rather, it involves the creation of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) designed to stimulate interest and build rapport with your audiences. While it can be time-consuming to create, it can also be repurposed. A section of your blog post, for example, can be used on Facebook and/or added to your website. I’ve recently started converting blogs into online courses on topics you’ve been reading about here! If you’re a one-person business, you’ve got to pace yourself, but I guarantee your efforts will be rewarded with new business if you can spread your message further.
Write a Book! Writing a book is the ultimate in content marketing. Doing so can establish your credibility as an expert in your field, while also leading to surprising opportunities that can take you in new and exciting directions. I have concentrated my marketing efforts around building authentic brands through multiple channels—all of them focused on telling a story and fostering trust. But most marketing channels are limited in the amount of content you can include when developing your story. The aim instead is to grab the customer’s attention quickly, in as few choice words as possible, with a focus on the product benefits and a persuasive call to action. A book obviously gives you more room to expand. There are three ways to get published and in writing my first three books I’ve explored all of them: (1) traditional publishing, (2) hybrid publishing, and (3) self-publishing. They each have their pros and cons, depending on your resources and objectives for writing the book in the first place. The biggest marketing advantage of having a book, in my opinion, is additional traction you get through third-party press appearances, which provide yet another channel for telling your story and building your brand.
Public Relations: I’ve always been a big advocate of using PR to grow sales. Whether you do it yourself or hire a firm, there’s frankly no better way I know of for driving good, credible traffic to your website (or to Amazon) because people tend to believe a story from a credible third-party source. Strategic media publicity placement is about getting your brand on mainstream TV shows and into magazines and newspapers your target audience knows and trusts. This media exposure amps up all of your Amazon activities because people are seeing and hearing about your brand more often, and this “positive familiarity” perpetuates trust. Additionally, media publicity creates news that journalists want to report. Don’t fall for the trap that you only have news when you introduce a new product. Medical research, retail trends, fashion, celebrity activities, and seasonal interests all make good news. If you help journalists see and develop stories, they will report them, magnifying your message to prospective customers. These outside “endorsements” add to the believability of your brand and reinforce your customers’ decision to purchase your product. A great marketing campaign, when amped by publicity, generates millions more impressions of all types.
Podcasts: Relevant podcasts are one of my favorite ways to drive traffic. They don’t cost anything, and a podcast interview is an ideal format for introducing new people to your company. It’s a great way to build your email list, too, and drive traffic to your website and to Amazon. The long-form format of most podcasts (30-45 minutes) provides a unique “space” for talking about your products, your business, and your story, with a podcaster people trust. Podcasters always give you an opportunity to direct people to take a specific action, too, whether asking listeners to call a certain number, send an emailing to receive a special offer, or directing them to Amazon to make a purchase. The field is pretty unlimited in terms of the topics being picked up by podcasters, including business, entertainment, music, health, politics, and education, to name just a few. You can book them yourself or there are services that book them for you. Check out our Resources page at the back of the book for contact information that can help you get started.
Influencers: Influencer marketing is another growing category in social media involving endorsements and product placements from “people of influence,” usually people who have an expert-level of knowledge in their field and a large following on social media. Influencers are a great, usually inexpensive, way to drive traffic back to your website (or to Amazon). Many influencers have a website that they’ve turned into an affiliate page for Amazon, so when they drive traffic and sales from their website (or social media channels) to your Amazon listing, and it turns into a sale, not only does their influence grow in category, but they get paid by Amazon. The bigger the influencer follower list, the more expensive they may be to use. I recommend offering your product in exchange for their influence. The testimonials that come from these kinds of exchanges are priceless.
In Chapter 7, I talked about Jason’s role in giving Vesta Precision a huge sales bump on Amazon by re-working their product listings. I was involved with Vesta from a different angle. In Miami there’s a popular influencer named Guga, who has a YouTube channel with more than 700,000 followers. He calls it Sous Vide Everything! My team recently reached out to Guga to make some videos for the Vesta Precision products. Every time Guga does a video and releases it to his subscribers, sales of Vesta products—on and off Amazon—skyrocket. It may be worth noting that Amazon is now building its own influencer network on the Amazon platform. It’s still in the early stages, but they’re trying to get brands to communicate and work closely with influencers there. They obviously see the potential in driving sales through Influencers.
Google Ads: While 46% of most shopping-related searches begin on Amazon, the 35% that originate on Google should not to be ignored. Conversion rates or queries originating on Google will not be as high as those on Amazon, but this channel offers Sellers top-of-funnel discoverability that is too good to ignore. Google ads are excellent at matching keywords, images, and video, and they offer a wide-range of placements on their own properties, as well as on ad exchange networks. While Google’s Search Network can reach people who are actively searching products, their Display Network can help you capture attention even before they start searching for what you have to offer. Combine that with powerful audience targeting and remarketing and you have a winning formula.
Facebook & Instagram Ads: Facebook is all about communities and connections, so it’s not surprising then that their ads are geared toward targeting audience profiles, behaviors, and interests more than keywords. Since Facebook literally knows us through what we like, dislike, or ignore, it is perfectly suited for creating look-alike audiences that meet the specifications of our ideal avatars. A giant in its own right, Instagram is a great way to advertise products right in the feed. With the powerful data backing of its parent company, Facebook, reaching interest-based audiences is easier than ever. Creative marketers can also reach shoppers through influencer promotions, joint promotions, and takeovers.
TikTok: With 800 million users and growing, “addictive” is probably the best way to describe this short-form video app. While questions around safety of use from a data security perspective remain unanswered, Tik Tok continues to suck crowds in and keep them happy and engaged. This makes it a perfect environment for monetization, except that TikTok isn’t ready for that yet. Many brands are slowly beginning to jump on the bandwagon, ready for when advertising is available on this millennial-focused platform. After all, brands must follow their audiences wherever they go!
A great example of a simple product that has used off-Amazon ads to build its business and its Amazon presence is another client of ours called Clean Key. Clean Key is a small device that allows you to open doors, push buttons, or punch a key-pad without touching any of those surfaces with your hand or finger. It came to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they didn’t launch on Amazon. Clean Key experienced massive success with Facebook ads driving sales to a landing page. They hired me to help with a series of direct response television ads, and the success of these ads helped them get into both online and brick and mortar retail stores, like Walgreens, 7-Eleven, and GNC. They’ve done very well on Amazon too, mainly because of their off-Amazon ad spend. The key (no pun intended) to their success is being able to create ads that paid for themselves, then expand the business through multiple channels, just like we’ve been talking about in this chapter.