Latest / Skin Anarchy / E.312: How do Beauty Brands Succeed on AMAZON’s Storefront ft Laura Meyer

Transcript

E.312: How do Beauty Brands Succeed on AMAZON’s Storefront ft Laura Meyer · Skin Anarchy

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, so I just wanted to recommend that you guys go check out the Heart Company on Amazon.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: This episode is actually all focused on Amazon and This episode is brought to you by Bonnet.
• 0:13
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• 0:15
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• 0:21
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• 0:38
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• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: How to really get your voice off the ground on Amazon.com.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Now the Heart Company is a perfume company and they are some of my favorite perfumes.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um they literally make perfumes that can be layered with every other brand that you own.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're somebody who is truly um really into having a beautiful collection of perfumes and fragrances, this is going to be a huge and phenomenal addition to your collection.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: So check them out.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Go to Amazon.com, type in the heart company, and they will pop right up.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm so excited to share this interview with you guys before I should such an expert such a uh just a guru when it comes to Amazon selling.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: So all of you young entrepreneurs out there that are launching your businesses on Amazon, definitely, definitely check out this episode and really tune in and listen in to what she has to offer at the slides because she's truly just the master of um you know retail on Amazon.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, stay tuned, and definitely go check out the heart company, please.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: They are so wonderful.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: And they're fully woman-led, and you know, just all of the great things we want in a company, right?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: So check them out.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Let me know what you guys think.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, hi guys, welcome back to Skink Care Anarchy.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: I am so excited about our guest because this is a little bit of a different take on um my usual episodes, and I'm really excited to learn from her.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to Laura Meyer, who is the um founder of uh Envision Horizons.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome to show Laura.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited to host you.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pleasure to be here.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's so lovely to have um you on board.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I like I said, I really want to um get to know, I guess, a different side of the industry a little bit from you.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't get the chance to host a lot of executives.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: So um I would love to get started by you telling us about your career and just everything that's really led up to Envision.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you could get us started.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: My backstory is that I used to work for Amazon Corporate in New York City.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: I worked for their media group, and I'm so thankful for that time and that experience because I was in my early 20s and I joke that it was like getting a free or actually paid MBA in e-commerce and Amazon in general.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and then I left Amazon and worked for another ad company where I actually brought Amazon on as an advertiser for this firm, which was one of the biggest deals in the history of that company.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then a little over five and a half years ago, I started Envision Horizons because while I was working at Amazon back in 2015, it was very clear to me, selling their advertising solutions, that there was a real need to help businesses with the retail side of Amazon.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I launched Envision Horizons with the mission to make Amazon a less stressful and more profitable channel for businesses of all sizes.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I come from small retail.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up working in my dad's local hardware store in Michigan.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I really wanted to set out and building a business that would help businesses, you know, whether they be emerging or even larger, uh, embrace the change that was coming and that we've seen now with Amazon being such a powerhouse.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think it's very easy to label them as like this big, bad business.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: But in reality, there's been so many microeconomies that have sprouted as a result of the Amazon opportunity itself.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: No, absolutely.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's the thing I see a lot of is that there's so many um small businesses that launch on Amazon and then they've become like huge, and you know, um, so you know, that's very interesting to me.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, this angle of looking at e-commerce and you know, looking at how um companies like Amazon play a role, you know, and and like in terms of like launching brands, but also like help uh entrepreneurs grow their businesses, you know.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think Amazon has definitely shifted their mood uh in terms of being a bit more supportive of sellers.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: There are still frustrations that can occur.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: They're a gigantic organization.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And once again, I think Amazon can sometimes get a bad rep of not being very supportive of their sellers.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: But in many cases, it doesn't matter what retailer you work with.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a smaller business in their total catalog, uh it, you know, the retailers are gonna do what's in their own best interest as well.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And they have to prioritize with what are going to with tasks that are gonna be aligned with their shareholders.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: No, that makes sense.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I want to actually get um, you know, just like really what what what do we need to know, you know, when it comes to like really like marketing, I guess, and just um, you know, in terms of just launching this business side, right?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Whether you mentioned ads and um I I want to get your opinion on your advice for small business owners.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's really what I'm trying to say here, you know.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, so first of all, given you know the nature of your listeners, um, I should disclose so 53% of my active portfolio that I manage on Amazon is within the beauty sector.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So not only do I know Amazon really well, but I know Amazon Beauty very well.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a very competitive category, which is no surprise uh at all.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: But what's unique about Amazon in the last few years, especially in this post-COVID world, is before a lot of bigger beauty brands were hesitant to sell an Amazon.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: They saw Amazon as this discount retailer or this retailer that wasn't going to be a great partner for them.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then they also had other retail engagements, say with like Ulta or Sephora, where they were giving great merchandising opportunities to these businesses.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: And these businesses therefore weren't actively selling on Amazon themselves, which then created a huge opportunity for what I would like to call Amazon native beauty brands that I would say launch anywhere between you know 2010 and 2019, that were able to become leaders in facial serums, facial moisturizers, various products within the beauty sector on Amazon.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: But what's happened now is that after what happened with iOS 14 and cost of customer acquisition getting even more expensive through Instagram and Facebook advertising, a lot of these businesses that have kind of snubbed Amazon for the last handful of years are now or have already come to the platform.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: So now we have the very savvy Amazon native beauty brands, and then we also have the more traditional or sophisticated beauty brands coming onto the platform as well.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does this mean for a smaller or emerging beauty brand that's trying to cut through all the noise?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the first thing that I like to say is you really have to know what your hero product is and leaning into that product.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you are, in the example, selling this night serum or anti-aging serum, you really have to know what that story is and the unique differentiation of that product.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And from there, just like you do on Amazon but other channels, you can really start to build on that.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: But the other piece of advice I like to give business owners and marketers as it pertains to Amazon is that you can't think of Amazon as a traditional retail partner.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: You have to think of Amazon as a giant shopping search engine because they're not merchandising their feed.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's an algorithm that decides what products are showing up when customers are making their searches in that search bar.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Ah, interesting.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like Google almost.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're like you're searching for a product, but then it's it's not going to automatically direct you to like, you know, a specific brand.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's just gonna give you a lot of options that fit in.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's exactly like Google in that sense.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And like I have a whole SEO uh department of my company because SEO is so important to the success of your Amazon business.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the advice I like to give a lot of founders who are exploring going on Amazon or business leaders is there's so many wonderful resources out there to start to learn about the technical side of Amazon.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, you can you can check out Envision Horizons blog or you can go on YouTube, uh, or there's awesome podcasts out there as well that really go into how do you build a keyword strategy and how do you make sure that you have an adequate SEO strategy for your Amazon business.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's so cool.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you, you know, you have these resources because yeah, I have a lot of, you know, people that want to come onto the show or that I actually hosted a company, um, they're called the Heart Company, and there's an amazing um perfume brand, you know, and they like literally sell exclusively from Amazon, um, their storefront on Amazon.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so interesting because, you know, I always thought I never knew about like the benefits of being on Amazon as like a an entrepreneur, you know, other than obviously, you know, you can get really good shipping and you know, just like the basic stuff that I know about.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: But um, that's what I always wondered is like, how do you really make your brand pop up in terms of like, well, when I go on there and I search fragrance, right?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how do I know that what I'm gonna see is like the brands that I really care about?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really interesting to me.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what you just said about the search criteria and stuff.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I want to ask you though about Envision a little bit.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and leave back oh go ahead.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, but what would you like to know about Envision?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: I want to know about Envision, like in terms of like if um entrepreneurs, like before we even like say somebody's like interested in launching on Amazon, but they want your help, you know what I mean?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, how do they work with Envision?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how can we like work with you guys to optimize that?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Great question.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, in terms of our full service agency, uh, you know, we typically look to work with brands that are already doing um a certain threshold on Amazon.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so we really look to work with brands that have a trajectory or the momentum to be doing$2 million or more a year on Amazon.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: But as I shared earlier, you know, I always want to give resources and opportunities for smaller businesses to be successful as well.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's why I launched My Horizons, which is the software that we built for our own internal agency.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: We've now released at very reasonable price points uh for smaller businesses to leverage our resources and leverage our technology to manage their own Amazon business, similar to how we would manage it ourselves.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, tell me more about that uh technology.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what exactly does it do?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: And like um, you know, just so people know, um, for everyone listening that wants to like take advantage of this and and really sign up for it.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: So Amazon is a complicated animal.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: And there's this great gift I keep seeing on LinkedIn or similar iterations of it, where it's like Spongebob SquarePants with like seven different arms coming out of his body, and it's like what it is to be an e-commerce manager, and there's like creative, advertising, logistics, SEO, like all of these things that either owners or brand managers or e-commerce managers have to juggle.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And what we've done with My Horizons is we aggregate over 80 Amazon reports and we bring it all together in a very cohesive, easily digestible platform.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: But we take it a step further and on the home page, we actually have an actuals insight or actual insights tool where if say your sales are down and we identify it's because you're out of stock on one of your products, we then make a recommendation and how much inventory you should then be sending in, or giving you those alerts if your top sellers are at risk of going out of stock based on your sell-through rates to send that in.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it goes much further than that because we have our inventory piece, we have the general reporting and performance metrics that we're tracking, things like new to brand customer acquisition, your average order values, your repurchase rates on Amazon.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's one thing to look at the immediate ROI of your advertising, but what especially beauty brands should be looking at is what's the, you know, what's the lifetime value of those customers on Amazon, and how much can you actually afford to spend to acquire those new-to-brand customers?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, like our whole vision is there's so much data out there that it's overwhelming, and very few people in this space have the time to manually go through and digest all of it on a daily or even weekly basis.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: So we've set out to save that time and really help speed up the process in automating either problems or anomalies or growth opportunities for businesses.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's so cool.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you really brought up this idea of like looking at data in a more meaningful way, because I think that really is where a lot of business owners get stuck, is like figuring out where do I need to change things or augment to make sure that I'm I keep growing, you know, and that's that's a huge point because you know, there's a lot of small entrepreneurs out there, and they definitely, you know, if you go onto Amazon, like you I'm not gonna lie, I even explored it, you know.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: I I explored like selling, like, for example, I was coming up with some sort of a journal and I wanted to go to Amazon, you know, or like for a book, and I was like, I can't even navigate like how to figure out how to, you know, really run my business here.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a huge area I feel like that we need to learn about.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: And the fact that you've created a whole company to help people figure this out is amazing to me.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and look, the thing that I always like to say too is I've been in the Amazon selling, you know, fear um for almost the last six years, and I've still learned something every day.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a forever changing animal, excuse me, which is a it's a plus or it's a pro and it's a con, right?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you're really on top of it, it's a pro because when new things come out, being an early adopter can be one of your competitive advantages, but it's a con if you neglect it.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, just because you had a thriving business in 2020 doesn't mean that you'll have a thriving business on Amazon this year.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: Now, how does how does marketing really work with Amazon?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because I I I really don't get like, okay, so if you're a business, you start your business on Amazon, right?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then you um say I'm working with your software as well, you know, I'm I'm learning about all the data that you, you know, you guys really think is important through the software, but I'm still thinking, I'm still like struggling with getting my name out there, you know, as a brand or like really generating more buzz around me.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, how do I really approach that?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what are some of your tips or you know, advice for for that aspect of it?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Amazon today is absolutely a pay-to-play platform.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: There are only so many businesses out there that can successfully launch on Amazon without investing in Amazon advertising.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Going back to the concept of Amazon being a giant shopping search engine and being a, you know, you have to work within Amazon's algorithm.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: So we already spoke about the first pillar, which is having a strong SEO strategy.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: But then you do need to work on what is your advertising strategy.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the first pieces in that puzzle is making sure that the keywords that you're targeting for SEO are the same keywords that you're buying on your paid media.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: You want to make sure that that those two pillars are working together.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: The piece with Amazon advertising is you definitely want to start slow and build up.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Where I see a lot of businesses waste money is when they go and launch Amazon auto campaigns or even just all types of campaigns, and they're buying really generic keywords.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, for example, moisture, you know, say you sell a really nice moisturizer.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you go out and you buy face creams and moisturizers, and that's where you're starting, you're going to waste a lot of money.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: What you should really focus on in the beginning is long-tail keywords that are very specific to your product to start to build that momentum.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: So if you sell a moisturizer with vitamin C and hyaluronic acid, maybe those are some of the longer tail keywords that you should start with and building it up from there.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Amazon now has a ton of new ad units.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like Amazon themselves are becoming a media powerhouse, and they're taking ad dollars away from Google and Facebook.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's almost overwhelming now.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: And this could be a whole nother podcast of what are good Amazon advertising strategies.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're just starting out, my recommendation is sponsored product ads are typically the most efficient.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: But we have seen if you're a more luxury-priced brand, we've in some cases actually seen and you have a larger catalog.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: We've actually seen in some cases better ROASs or ROIs with sponsored brand ads, which can drive traffic not just to a product detail page, but to your custom Amazon storefront.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, like any type of advertising, you want to make sure that the landing page that you're sending that traffic to is an optimized user experience.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And this goes back to My third pillar as it pertains to Amazon's algorithm is Amazon rewards you for having high converting pages.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And as an owner, as a marketer, I challenge you instead of getting caught up in the day-to-day or knocking out your to-do or checklist, just spend five, 10 minutes going through the user journey, searching for keywords that you should be showing up on, finding your product, looking at your product detail page and asking yourself, honestly, you know, take your blinders off.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Would I buy this product or am I inclined to click on something else?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And just going through those simple exercises, and this is something we do internally with our agency, can really you can have those epiphany moments that can change your business tremendously.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's that's huge.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a lot of people don't like that's the thing, right?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm asking you all these questions because I think people genuinely don't know like what the right approach is and what are the right like habits to form as a small business owner.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you like that's that's what really gets me about, like um, you know, when people launch a business on Amazon, they're like, oh, well, I should have more sales by now, or I should have this by now.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, well, you know, those are the kind of things that I always wanted to learn was how do you sift through the plethora of options on this, you know, on this platform.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's like, you know, just because you have like a new beauty product coming out and you're saying this is the best serum in the world doesn't mean anyone's gonna notice it.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you you have to really Yeah.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, that's that's the thing, is like um one of the biggest problems, I think, with the especially with the beauty industry these days, is that you know, there's so much innovation, there's so many great founders, so many great brands.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but unfortunately, you know, getting noticed is the issue.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: And like with all of the ad campaigns and you know, Google ads, I won't live in use Google ads for the podcast, you know what I mean?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like having like what you were saying earlier, like the little things like this applies to, I feel like every major ad platform is like finding those keywords, you know, seeing if they're really hitting the audience that you want.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, those are really hard things to do.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I lit I love that you have a company, like I said, that's focused on helping and really analyzing these things because I don't think people, like a lot of entrepreneurs know where to invest their money.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's one of the biggest issues that I see as just somebody running a podcast.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they'll pay like these huge PR firms that are like, well, get me in this magazine or get me in this magazine.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm sitting here thinking, like, well, if I were you, I would be more focused on who can help you sell more products, right?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and that means get your name out there, like get people to go on if they search for you, they can find you, like that kind of thing.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where I feel like you know, what you're doing is is so amazing, you know, with Envision.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think this is a huge service for so many brands.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I I'm a broken record on this concept, but it's something I bring up a lot with my clients, with my team members, uh, and with general business conversations I have is you as a business leader or owner, you need to carve out time to focus on your business, not in your business.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: And this is it sounds like an easy concept, but it's so, so hard.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it applies to Amazon because once again, there's so many things that you could potentially be doing, but what's actually important?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: And can you have these epiphany moments or light bulb moments that can set you apart versus just chasing the day-to-day activities that you think are gonna keep your business afloat?
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're building this ship, this business, you don't want it to just float, you want it to sail across the ocean, right?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: And be successful.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think that that's the thing that um, you know, I I always wonder about too, is because a lot of brands, like, for example, you know, I'll give you an example.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, somebody reached out to me the other day.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: They're like a brand new entrepreneur, you know, she's gonna be launching a beautiful line.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: I can't tell you guys who it is, but um, you know, and she was asking me about this kind of stuff.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, honestly, I don't know, you know, I don't know what the best strategy is in terms of, you know, where you should go and what you should be investing your money in.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm not gonna lie, I love the PR community.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: I love the community of marketing um professionals out there, but it's very hard for young entrepreneurs and new entrepreneurs to really figure out how do I make my boat sail the long distance?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, how do I get off this idea of like immediate gratification as a business owner where I'm saying, okay, well, I just want to sell 5,000 units of my product and I'll be happy?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, no, like you you need to start thinking in the long run.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this concept is so important to like keep addressing, especially for beauty entrepreneurs, because we get, you know, we get small companies, right?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: But then how do you compare to something like L'Oreal or Estee Lauder, where you're having, you know, people come back over and over and over and over again and buy your products?
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really, I think, goes back to what you just said, which is really figuring out how to make your boat, you know, sturdy for that long sale, you know.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I yeah, I I love that we're even talking about this.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I and I think as a new business owner, right, you're trying to figure out every way possible to grow revenue.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds contradictive, but saying no to things and postponing initiatives so that you can focus on your core business and your original initiatives is how you can make more money.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a general business uh piece of advice, but it once again it pertains to Amazon is like, you know, don't go launching on Amazon until your original channel is in a really good place.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a mistake I've seen a lot of times, where whether a founder just you know sees another shiny object and they they read on Amazon or they read about Amazon being this channel of high growth and it's so exciting, or they have investors pressuring them to increase their revenue.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you go onto Amazon before you're ready, it you are going to have the success that you should, because you won't be able to allocate the time and the resources required to be successful.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: And my other piece of advice, and this may sound contradictive given my business model, but this is a mistake I've seen small businesses make, and I've even made myself in my earlier years is don't expect to just hire an agency or some external vendor and have them be the ones that revolutionize your business.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: As the business owner, you should be the one who's revolutionizing your business, right?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like I actually typically advise brands to start on Amazon first and I give them resources to be successful because it's very hard to manage an external vendor if you don't understand the business yourself.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then you're fully entrusting someone else.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, there's great agencies out there.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not to say, you know, it's not to say that you shouldn't fully entrust your partners, you should, but in order to get the most out of your partners and for it to be a really well-working relationship, you know, it can't just be like, here, take this over because I don't want to deal with it.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have some level of interest because at the end of the day, it's your business that you want that you need to grow.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: And the agencies or other vendors or even consultants, you know, a lot of them are great people and they have their they have great intentions, um, but they also have their own businesses that they're running as well.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: No, I completely agree with you, and I think that is so, so crucial what you just said.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I cannot back you enough on that.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think that definitely, you know, with all the respect in the world for all the executives in this industry, but you know, when it comes to truly, you know, taking control of your own business, yeah, a hundred percent.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, just through this podcast, I've seen so many brands that are like, you know, not as big yet, but they've invested so much money into like one outlet, right?
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: And they're just hoping that this one company or this one person or firm is gonna take them from being a small brand to like a huge brand.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, well, you know, everyone has their capacity, everyone has their, you know, the threshold that they can reach, everyone has like a limitation of what they can bring to the table.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so when you are completely invested in just one outlet, I feel like that's really, really detrimental, right?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, am I wrong?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Or because like that's that's what I see them do.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: I look, I agree with you.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: I I think the only one who's gonna make a business a success is the leaders within the organization.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: The vendors are there to enable that success, to execute on that success, but they're not going to be the ones fully generating it.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, in my earlier days as an agency owner, you know, I would have these entrepreneurs come to me and be like, oh yeah, we'll just give you a higher percentage of sales and like you'll be super motivated by this, right?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, I don't have control over the product.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: What if you go out of stock and I've done all this work for nothing?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like it doesn't work that way, in all honesty.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the most successful partnerships I've had are where they really think through the operations, they really think through the work streams first, and they bring on my agency to come and be that partner in absolutely, you know, taking them from doing$50,000 a month to a million dollars a month on Amazon.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's why, you know, just being fully transparent, that's why, as for at least our full service agency, we have that threshold of wanting to work with brands that already do between$50,000 and$100,000 a month on Amazon, because at that point the organization knows what to expect with Amazon.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um or, you know, maybe they're doing a similar amount on their own D2C and Amazon, like they have that in order.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: So now they have the capacity to take on Amazon.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: But you gotta have your ducks in a row before you take on a massive retail opportunity like Amazon.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, if you just go and you throw up some product detail pages, you're gonna end up on like page 100 and no one's ever going to see you.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then you'll be like, oh, why is this not a successful channel?
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: No, that that makes total sense to me.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, now one question I do have for you, um, Laura, is about this idea of, you know, for example, somebody gave me advice a long time ago saying that, you know, your email list or the list of consumers you have for your product or whatever you're doing is like the holy grail for you.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you want to build that as much as you can so that you have immediate contact with the people who are interested in your whatever it is you're doing, whether it's you know, a virtual product or an actual physical product.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: Now, how does that work if you're an Amazon um business?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, do you get some sort of like a list or like can you generate your email list through that?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, when people buy your product, or how how is how is all of that working?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: The community element of Amazon is a tricky one.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we have in some cases when we do work with brands that would be considered net new to Amazon, meaning they've never sold on Amazon before, but like I said, they have a really solid business elsewhere.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: We will sometimes encourage them to announce to their loyal customers via email marketing, social media, et cetera, that they are now on Amazon.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: But there is no way to try and remarket your Amazon customers to your own D2C.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: It is actually against Amazon's terms and services to try and poach an Amazon customer.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there are some new tools.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you go to Amazon, any Amazon storefront, you'll see a button that's probably about two years old now where a customer can opt to follow a business.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: You can do email marketing to those followers.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: But we've done some testing on this and we haven't seen it really be a needle mover yet.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: It could, but it's not quite there yet in terms of the adoption.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's that's really interesting because yeah, email like whenever whenever I get emails, I'm usually deleting them.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I can't see that being a huge uh push either.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's interesting.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because you know, someone I I remember like when I was asking about just my podcast, you know, I was getting some advice, they were like, Yeah, your email list is like the biggest thing in the world.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, uh, okay, you know, so I always wonder about um, you know, if your business is through a retailer like Amazon, how do you really generate that?
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: But that's that's good to know.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but so you know, I really want to, Laura, I want to wrap up this interview because I I know there's so much I could ask you, but I would love to have you on multiple times just so that we can, you know, stay stay up to date with the newest and greatest of Amazon.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: Really like a dive into like even more, you know, of all these topics because there's so much to learn.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, the idea of like e-commerce or like just all of this like selling online, it's so huge, you know.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_02: And right now, um, I'm seeing, you know, so many beauty brands coming out of the woodworks, and they're just all curious about how do I get people to see me?
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_02: How do I get people to understand that I have the best moisturizer and all this?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, when I think of Amazon, I'm like, yeah, that's a great opportunity.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: But then it's like, again, you know, if you don't know what you're doing and if you're not being guided, it's a huge waste of your time.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, that's where I'm like, you know, I was so excited when you said yes to coming on the show because I'm like, finally, we're gonna get some answers.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I would love to have you on anytime.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Lovely.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it yeah, and I think I think with that concept as a new beauty brand, uh, I think my advice is to really get started, you kind of need one of two things, and ideally both.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you either need to have a very innovative product.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: This may sound a little harsh, but like having natural organic ingredients now is no longer viewed as innovative, it's standard at this point, right?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: So really challenging yourself and your product development is so crucial for your long-term success.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you do have like really high quality product, but there's similar products in the market, then you need the other thing, which is capital, to advertise the heck out of it.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and doing that brand awareness and building that sexy side of the beauty industry.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, like I said, and then ideally you have both.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I think that there's been some amazing businesses out there that launched with great innovation, or at least they were early movers in a product category.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, like I really admire what Supergoop did, like they were really early on in having reef-friendly sunscreen that smelled really nice, that was cleaner ingredients, but they also had that foam concept, uh, hero cosmetics, like what Ju did was amazing.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: And they actually were Amazon native to begin with, and then leveraged that to grow well beyond the Amazon ecosystem.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: But like once again, she had an emerging category that then she was able to use that as her hero product, and now she has a much larger catalog.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's really a huge piece now with how competitive and saturated beauty has become.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many, there's only so many moisturizers you can sift through before you realize not much of, you know, there's not much difference.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and and look, there's so much.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: If you really go down the rabbit hole, there's so many tools now where you can start to research emerging or trend, like not, I don't want to say trending, but I'd say more emerging beauty trends uh that you want to start to incorporate into your product development.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, CBD obviously has been fake for many years, but what are some other like I know mushrooms is like this a potentially emerging category.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's already been some things that have come out with it, but I I think that that's like an interesting ingredient segment that I will put money on that will become a lot more popular in years to come.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think especially with the products category, there's always new ingredients coming out.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I always like, you know, one thing I, you know, since you brought it up, like and for everyone listening, if you're thinking of starting a beauty brand, I mean, especially with skincare, go on to PubMed, you know, go on to journals, like, you know, and figure out like what are the key ingredients that are really being uh talked about in the research community too, because that's where you're gonna get leverage, I think.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm I'm I'm not a marketing executive and I'm not somebody who knows like, you know, obviously Laura, what you know, but I I do know that in the terms of science, like you can't you can't, you know, go wrong with science.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_02: So if you find like a mushroom extract, like you mentioned, Laura, or like, you know, there's some sort of a a new emerging natural remedy, definitely get, you know, on top of that.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: And the one of the best ways, I think, even before trends, is to go and read some journals, you know, figure out because that's really where the trends come from.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like an editor, she'll read something about it, you know, in a scientific journal or somebody will mention it, like a doctor, and then it just becomes a trend.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's where I always try to tell consumers, like, you know, you you need to understand, and as well as entrepreneurs need to understand, and I think that could be a huge benefit if you're trying to launch a line in skincare, for example, you know, where you really get ahead of the game before everybody else figures it out because the scientists know what's working and what's not, you know.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm yeah, that's a whole different.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and that's so true.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think just to go off of that, like there's having the unique products, but another angle you can approach it is having a unique target market as well.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: So we've obviously seen a lot more inclusive marketing from a lot of brands.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's been a lot of beauty that has come out where it's more specialized for people of color, or um, but now like you can even start to market towards specific lifestyles as well.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I just think that there's a lot of ways to cut the cake of either product innovation where you have a broader uh group that you're marketing towards, or have a smaller group, but then be very, very specific to their needs.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: No, absolutely.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, that's I I completely agree with you.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I if I ever launch a line though, I'm not gonna lie, Laura, you're gonna be the first person I talk to.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like we're done.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I I I'm always here to soundboard.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_02: But thank you so much.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: And and thank you so much for coming on the show, you know, uh, for this initial episode.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: And like I said, I'll probably be bugging you a lot about more niche topics that we can really cover because, you know, I never stop getting emails about these kind of things, especially with Amazon, because it's it's a great place, you know, for people that are new in in entrepreneurship.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it's something that I think people naturally gravitate towards when they think about where do I want to sell my products?
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I would love to, you know, invite you back on and we can do like more niche topics because yeah, I mean, the more advice I think that we can get from professionals like you, the easier it's gonna be for so many entrepreneurs and the less money they're gonna waste.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_02: So that's always a good thing.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's been a pleasure.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for coming on and everyone listening.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going to uh tag all the information for Envision Horizons on the podcast art for this.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely go check out the company, you know.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_02: Even if you're a small brand, it's good to get to know them and also uh check out the software that Laura mentioned.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's a great place to start.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, even if you're not meeting the quota yet where, you know, Envision can work with you in full capacity, you can definitely get started.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, to be able to work and understand your business.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this sounds like a great tool.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna tag all the information there.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions for Laura's team, definitely leave them in the comment section or reach out to us through whatever avenue you feel best, and I'll pass them along to our team.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, thank you so much for tuning in and I will be back next time.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
• 44:41
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• 44:46
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• 44:48
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• 45:24
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• 45:45
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