Process To Ecom Profits Podcast

Rising shipping costs, supply chain issues, and shaking consumer confidence can deeply impact your Amazon business.  In this episode, Cyndi and Robyn take a deep dive into how inflation affects Amazon businesses.  Also, what you can to ensure you best weather this recent inflation storm.

Links Mentioned

Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com

Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com

Skip to:  

00:50 - How inflation is impacting sellers 

02:15 - Ways to manage your finances better 

04:10 - Fundamental to the Flow of Products and the Flow of money with your money 

05:45 - Profitability and Advertising costs 

08:50 - What affects the supply chain 

11:15 - Taking out loans for business 

13:20 - Price Competitiveness 

19:00 – Advertising 

26:00 – Ways to Reduce your Complexity 

30:25 – Involving Employees 

33:50 – Identifying things that help your team members feel engage in their work

Anthony shares how they have quickly grown a brand that has avid followers and a very quick rise in total revenues.  They focused on just one platform and one product and have used that focus to find healthy market share in a very competitive space.  Anthony shares some of the choices they made that he thinks made the biggest difference in their successful launch. 

Links Mentioned

Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com

Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com

Anthony at Manmadebrand.com

01:00 How did four guys from finance start a DTC underwear company?

07:50 How did you set up roles with four partners to work well together?

10:45 How did they ensure that everyone had enough savings until the business could support payroll?

15:54 How have supply chain issues impacted your business?

21:00 What product research or focus group testing did you do before launching your product?

27:32 What are you doing for your customer journey to help build brand affinity and re-orders?

41:32 FMF: Forecasting for Q4

Often Robyn will have potential clients come to her frustrated.  They feel like they followed all of the best practices and still, their listing is not selling on Amazon. In this episode, Cyndi and Robyn go through some of the specific metrics you should be looking for. Having a great listing is no longer enough, now you need to make sure you are also causing the conversions needed to rank well for your most important keyword phrases. 

Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com

Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com

 Search Engine Journal Article "Why Aren’t My Products Selling On Amazon?" 

Skip To: 

01:25 Proper Use of Keywords 

02:36 How to do a proper keyword research 

08:30 Write a compelling copy 

10:44 Spend time in knowing your customer 

11:47 What is indexing and its importance 

13:51 Are images important? 

17:24 How to make sure you are getting good reviews?  

18:38 What is the Amazon Vine Program? 

20:28 Product Testing Overview 

22:53 Traffic Problem vs. Conversion Problem 

27:00 How many keywords need to show up on page one? 

28:59 Setting ad to success 

This is part two of our episode with Navah Hopkins.  Navah shares from her experience as digital marketing and advertising expert on what you need to know before you start your ad campaigns off Amazon.   Navah shares thoughts on minimum budgets, creative requirements, and even using an agency versus software to run your search and social media campaigns off Amazon.

This is the second part of a two-part interview.  

Links Mentioned

Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com

Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com

Navah Hopkins- Navah Hopkins.com

01:00 Why Google Shopping campaigns have been doing so well lately? 

03:36 How much should you budget for your off Amazon advertising? 

05:30 What do you need to know before starting ads on or off Amazon? 

06:52 Will moving off Amazon give you more control over your sales and advertising? 

10:14 How much creative is involved in off-Amazon ads? 

16:19 At what budget should you use and agency vs. software? 

21:00 What do you need to know before reaching out to an agency or freelancer to run your off Amazon ads? 

Have you ever wanted to ask one of the foremost experts in the Google and Facebook advertising space about what you need to know before taking your Amazon products to your own website?  

Navah is world-renowned for her extensive knowledge of advertising off Amazon, including on Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, and more.   Navah will share with us what you need to know about advertising off Amazon so that you can increase your profitability and strengthen your overall strategy. 

This is the first part of a two-part interview.  

Links Mentioned

Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com

Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com

Navah Hopkins- Navah Hopkins.com

Jump To:

01:30 Introduction to Navah and her background

03:58 What do you need to know before you approach paid search off Amazon?

06:44 Understanding the importance of product feeds for Google and Microsoft.

07:51 Understanding assessing margins for your ads. 

12:48 Options for products that have thinner margins. 

14:15  Understanding timelines for launching advertising campaigns. 

17:36 Considering Amazon fees when reviewing TROAS and ROAS for ads across platforms

18:42 How to investigate CPC’s for your most relevant keywords.

21:00 Understanding audience targeting.

23:10 Changes in remarketing off with advertising off Amazon

Running a physical product business is cash flow intensive.  After auditing hundreds of sets of books, Cyndi Thomason shares how understanding and managing your gross margin is essential to keeping your Amazon or eCommerce business healthy.  Learn exactly what gross margin percentage Cyndi sees healthy online business owners have and how to increase your gross margin and cash flow. 

Links Mentioned:

Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com

Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com

Gross Profit Margins and Financial Health

Why Gross Margin is the Bottom Line for Ecommerce Sellers

01:05 What is gross margin and how does it impact scaling?

04:55 What is the minimum gross margin Cyndi recommends for e-commerce businesses

08:16  What can someone do if their margins are lower than 30%?

13:22 How using cash method accounting can hide potential gross margin issues.

15:20 How reviewing your books regularly can help you identify potential issues early.

18:00 Understanding the importance of reconciling inventory regularly.

20:30 What should you do if you expect you might have an issue with your gross margin?

28:00 The importance of taking a paycheck from your Amazon business. 

31:35 Five Minute Fix: When should you start to prepare for your peak season?

In this episode, Ash explains his journey into TikTok advertising and gives us some insight on why and how you should use this platform to grow your brand and expand your advertising strategy.

2:14 Creative ways for advertising and different approaches to build brands

6:03 Determining key metrics, language, and target audience by testing ads

8:12 Substituting focus groups with social media engagement testing

10:38 How to approach social media advertising on TikTok

15:06 How to make TikTok work for your brand

17:28 Outsource or make your own TikTok videos?

21:48 How much time and cost do TikTok videos require?

24:42 Where to find tactics for getting into TikTok advertising videos

27:03 Beginners need to publish and iterate to grow on TikTok

28:23 Metrics or Engagement, what to focus on?

30:06 Sales and data tracking

32:04 No one likes to be on camera

36:25 Five Minute Fix: AB testing for Amazon listings

Colin Dougherty of Camskins shares with us his journey of growing his brand over the last few years.   Colin shares what has played the biggest role in his ability to grow his company and overall revenue and profitability.   

Links Mentioned:

Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com

Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com

Colin Dougherty- Camskins

1:21 About the Camskins Story

05:08 What was the most unexpected roadblock in ramping up an e-commerce brand? 

07:24 How the changes to Facebook have impacted media buying for Amazon.

10:30 Influencer marketing vs. paid media to drive growth- which has been performing best.

12:30 How did your previous experience help you grow your business?

14:07 What helped you to realize the importance of understanding your numbers?

20:00 How Colin focuses on customer LTV (Lifetime Value) can increase his organization's overall profitability and growth.

21:50 Discussing some of the mental challenges of growing an eCommerce business.

33:20 Managing customer lifecycle products and product obsoletion. 

39:56 FMF- Understanding Click Through Rate for Advertising on Amazon

Cyndi and Robyn share about their journeys of starting businesses as mothers.  Cyndi is the author of “Motherhood, Apple Pie, and all that Happy Horsesh*t- Business is Personal.” Balancing being a mother and a business owner isn’t always easy, but it is possible to do both and live a healthy life with both a healthy home and business life. 

Links Mentioned:

Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com

Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com

Motherhood, Apple Pie, and all that Happy Horseshit on Amazon

1:56- What causes Cyndi to think about starting her own business?

3:54- Think about outsourcing the parts of your business you don’t enjoy or are not good at. 

5:26- There is research that if you spend 20% of your time on something that really fulfills you, you can be in a position to love what you do!

8:56 Balance is bullsh*t; why work-life balance is nonsense.

15:34 Building a social support system.

17:09 Creating a sacred space.

23:42 Comparison is the thief of joy, not comparing your progress to others. Be clear on your true mission.

29:23 About Cyndi’s new book!

In this episode, Dan Saunders, the inhouse Amazon Manager for Black and Decker UK shares his experiences transitioning from an agency working as in-house talent.  Dan and Robyn discuss when to bring in an agency or hire in-house and when it could be a good move to take an in-house position for another company.  

 Links Mentioned:
Cyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.com
Robyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.com
Dan Saunders -  @DanSaunders86

5:04 Moving from the agency mindset to working in-house for one company

7:53 Working with smaller companies vs. bigger brands

10:32 Differences between managing your own account vs. handling several client accounts

12:19 Advantages of having an agency background when moving to an in-house position

13:50 Hiring an agency vs bringing someone in-house to handle your Amazon business

21:43 Tips for small to medium size companies coming into Amazon and how to maximize what agencies offer them.

25:35 Setting expectations and establishing metrics that are important for your company

28:37 Adapting to new Amazon advertising and optimization strategies

33:29 Dan´s tips when looking for an Agency

38:45 Making the move from an agency to in house

40:34 Amazon is its own unique ecosystem   

45:31 Five Minute Fix: Price Elasticity on Amazon