📦 - Show Up On Amazon Search

DTC 501 - Amazon Search, Website Blunder, and Brand Value Monday, February 26, 2024 Convince us otherwise: Getting emoji reactions in Slack is a top-tier feeling. 🔥 Good morning, Ok ok ok, we recognize that we’ve mentioned Ridge (or Sean Frank) for the past two newsletters, annnnnnd we’re not quite ready to break that streak. 😂 Last Thursday, Ridge announced that they’ve paired up with YouTuber Marques Brownlee as an in-house content creator, advisor, and partner. Brownlee brings his personal 18.5M YouTube followers with the hopes of marrying Ridge into his content while also creating content for Ridge directly. Will we be seeing a trend of big-time creators moving brand side? We think it’s very probable. If you want to read more about the partnership, check out the link in the news section. 📰 🔌 P.S. Shameless plug: This seems like a good time to mention that DTC is looking to add a full time direct-to-camera content creator to our team. Checkout the toolkit section for more info! 👀 Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: - So you want to show up on Amazon search… We’ve got two oversimplified ways to get there. - Is this really a website blunder or a clever marketing move? - And, how searching for greener grass may make you realize how much you already have… You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Tiny Ghost Press, Polished Bookkeeper, and Kumon. 👋 SMS 📲 Sending Generic Texts Is So 2021 * It's sad but true... Nearly 40% of your customers are literally frowning at your texts 😒 Why? Because you’re texting them discounts on fishing rods...while they're in the Sahara. Because you're texting them about two-for-one swimsuits...while they're scaling Mount Everest. Your [SMS marketing strategy]( may lack the perfect personalization that customers expect in 2024. It’s time to wipe away that customer frown with a better approach to SMS marketing. [Meet your frowners](, and learn what's possible with personalization... [Watch The Full Series]( DISCOVERABILITY ✌️ Two Oversimplified Approaches to Show Up on Amazon Search Most brands with an established customer base will consider launching on Amazon at some point. And why not?! With over 310 million active users, it’s the most popular e-commerce marketplace in the U.S. AND chances are a lot of your customers frequent Amazon already for online shopping and may even be wondering if your brand has a presence there. For brands that don’t have an Amazon storefront, two things can happen if a customer searches for your products on their search engine: - Customers who can’t find your brand on Amazon will return to your website and purchase. - Worst case scenario: They end up buying a competing product from Amazon instead. To battle these issues, the [Pilothouse Amazon team]( sees a lot of brands take these two approaches when selling on Amazon: 👇 1️⃣ Focusing on branded keywords Build it, brand it, and forget it. A lot of DTC brands will create an Amazon storefront, target only branded keywords in their ad campaigns, and then leave it at that. To do this, you’ll need to build an optimized Amazon listing, send in some inventory, and add some advertising dollars on branded keywords so you show up first in search results. Branded campaigns are a great way for your existing customers to find you with ease — Just make sure your competitors aren’t stealing away your customers! This can be a viable option for brands at a decent scale who don’t have the bandwidth to take a more comprehensive approach to Amazon selling. While this can add some profit to your bottom line, with this approach your Amazon revenue will only ever be as large as your branded presence. This means you're: - ✅ Only targeting customers who are aware of your brand and products - ❌ Not acquiring brand new customers 2️⃣ Focusing on generic keywords Now let’s talk about generic keyword advertising. A generic term is a non-branded term. For example, if you are selling a Nike Pegasus Trail Runner, “trail runner” would be a generic term and “Nike trail runner” would be a branded term.. Ranking well for generic keywords is a major win since these shoppers are net new customers for your brand with a strong intent to purchase. 💰 This approach is an investment at first but has the potential to result in huge gains. Here are two ways to achieve growth: - Slow Profitable Growth In addition to branded campaigns that generate a high return, generic campaigns are built slowly and consistently on long tail low volume keywords that generate a profitable ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sale). Minimal budget is invested into ranking (high volume generic terms) in order to maintain a target-ACOS that is profitable to the brand. 2. Fast Unprofitable Growth Allocate the bulk of your budget to campaigns that are designed to generate rank and combine this with an aggressive discounting and pricing strategy to boost CVR. Purposely running the account below a profitable Total Advertising Cost of Sale is the fastest way to achieve sales volume. Once volume and rank is achieved, the account is shifted to a profitable position. This is a cash investment approach and can generate great results, (provided the business is in a position to invest). Ultimately how and when you approach Amazon depends on the current goals of the business, the current cash scenario, and the long term goals for the Amazon channel. For some businesses the [Pilothouse Amazon team helps scale](, Amazon will always be a secondary channel, for others it becomes the primary source of customer acquisition and growth. 🏆 If you never try, you’ll never know. 👀 FOUND REVENUE 🗣️ Real Talk: You're Missing Out if You're Not Adding Upsells * Ad costs are rising, consumer confidence is shaky, and there's never been a better time to [make more money from every sale](. Where’s this extra revenue hiding? 👀 If you’re a Shopify merchant, in plain sight — Upsells. One click + a few minutes of your time = an extra 10-15%+ more revenue for your bottom line. Here’s what some of the 15,000 Shopify merchants already winning with[OneClickUpsell]( are saying: - “$788,000 in extra revenue…” - “AOV went up 50%...” - “Literally printing free money…” Together, OneClickUpsell users have added a staggering $670 million in extra revenue! Don’t lose another dollar in free upsell revenue… Change your trajectory in just one click. [Try OneClickUpsell For Free]( OOPS 🫢 Faking A Website Blunder Looking to drive more traffic to your website? 📈 Here’s a creative and easy marketing technique to try. Dog accessories brand [Waggs & Bone]( did an excellent job of driving clicks to their website through their TikTok account with this humorous video that quickly went viral and got over 3.4 million views in just three weeks. 🐶 [Waggs & Bone’s TikTok hilarious video about discovering a website blunder] Why this content works so well: - There’s a great hook. The text reads: “The way I just died when I realized this was on my website for weeks.” is engaging and makes the viewers curious to learn more about what happened. - Great use of what we like to call The Stall. The ‘Wait for it’ prompt is commonly used on TikTok videos to stop viewers from dropping off since they expect a payoff at the end. - The punchline is worth it! The last photo in the photo carousel is not a dog bed but a candid shot of a take out burger. 🍔 😂 The reaction? It didn’t take long for the comments to come flooding in as users went along with the joke. Why this marketing technique works so well: - Viewers feel compelled to check out the website and see if the photo is really there. And by getting them on the site, they also get an introduction to the brand. - This type of video content is highly relatable. Who hasn’t made a typo or accidentally uploaded the wrong photo to their website? - It doesn’t feel like a sales pitch but more like behind-the-scenes content that is candid and relatable. This was a very creative way for the brand to promote its premium luxury car bed for dogs, and get a boost in website traffic, all while sharing a laugh with their target demographic. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE Sometimes, you spend so much time searching for greener grass that you don’t even realize that yours is already plenty green… 💚 We came across this X post from Mike Beckham, Co-Founder and CEO of Simple Modern, discussing whether a sale would be popping up in the brand’s future. He goes on to explain how the brand (and the community along with it) drives a sense of purpose greater than its monetary value and that a sale would mean searching for those things he’s built all over again. This post is a great reminder to take into consideration what you already have (and sometimes may not even realize) before you go searching for greener pastures. [Read the full post here](. Can't view the image? [Click here]( 🧰 THE TOOLKIT 🧠 Reviews grow trust and trust grows sales. Reviews and ratings massively impact your conversion rate. Learn how fast growing brands are using personal experiences in reviews to boost sales in 2024. [Grab the report to get more reviews.](* ⚙️ The AI Profitability Flywheel for Shopify Merchants. Get more leads, personalize shopper experiences, and drive more revenue with Black Crow.[Book a demo and qualifying brands ($2M+) get a $100 gift card.](* 📸 Hey hey! If you’re here from the intro looking for the DTC direct-to-camera short form video content creator posting, you can [find it here](! 📰 NEWS - In a ‘great signal for creators,’ [YouTube star Marques Brownlee]( adds a corporate gig to his résumé at accessories company Ridge. [See Sean’s X post here](. - Live-stream shopping platform NTWRK, backed by Universal Music Group, [acquires Complex Media]( for $108 million. - Google Ads [introduces “Recently Used” CTA]( for Performance Max campaigns. SPONSOR DTC 📥 Got a B2B biz? Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 160k brand leaders and founders this year. [Talk to our team to learn more](. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 🧦 Streamlining Success – Outway's Taylor Fraser on [Simplifying to Scale Ecommerce]( - 👀 [AKNF 379:]( TikTok Shop Affiliates: The Time Is Now - 🔗 Ezra Firestone on [Proactive SEO and Brand Acquisitions]( - 📈 [AKNF 377:]( Spilling our Performance Max Google Ad Secrets - ⭐ Niclas Bornling on [the Art of Brand Storytelling]( Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight]( and [Frances Du](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. NEED MORE DTC? 🚀 [Advertise]( in DTC Newsletter. Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. 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