AMAZON TRAFFIC BLITZ 21/945am... · • Even though you do NOT need it for a traffic blitz, there is absolutely NO reason not to have an eCommerce website setup for your business

AMA ZON TRAFFIC BLITZ 2.0

B Y M I K E M C C L A R Y

I HAVE A BIG CHALLENGE

• I have to successfully do 3 things:–Educate–Entertain–Encourage

I HAVE A CHALLENGE FOR YOU TOO

I HAVE A CHALLENGE FOR YOU TOO• Every time you see this man this week, I challenge you to buy him a

drink!

I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE

• I tossed out my presentation this past weekend–Why? You guys are too advanced

• I then completely redid my Amazon Traffic Blitz presentation to include more advanced topics• I added in a list of my top 20 Amazon Hacks & Tips

that help boost sales during and after blitzes

MY TOP 20 AMAZON HACKS & TIPS

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THESE HACKS & TIPS

1. AMAZON TRAFFIC BLITZ – 2.0

WHY “2.0”?

Two reasons:1. We’ve received a ton of great feedback since the course first

launched2. Amazon has released some new “features” that we can now

incorporate and make the traffic blitz even better!

A LITTLE TRAFFIC BLITZ HISTORY

• Should actually be thought of as a “Traffic & Sales Blitz”• Been around for decades (over 75 years)• I learned about it at my very first job 25 years ago with

Benjamin Moore & Company

WHAT IS A “TRAFFIC BLITZ”?

• When a company focuses all of its resources on a specific geographic region over a short period of time – usually a few days to a week – in order to dramatically increase sales• Why do they do this?

– It works!• Why does it work?

– During the days, weeks, and months after a Sales Blitz, both businesses and consumers have been made so aware of the product that sales for it increase exponentially as everyone is talking about or hearing about it.

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO AMAZON AND THE ONLINE WORLD?

• The exact same strategy works incredibly well online, only your geographic region is “Amazon” and your sales forces are the various sources of traffic all leading to Amazon!

HOW WELL DOES IT WORK?

REALITY CHECK!

• While this strategy works for any product, the more competitive your product the more aggressive your Sales Blitz will have to be• For example, if you are selling Garcinia Cambogia, Silicone Spatulas, or

Cell Phone Cases don’t expect your product to jump to the first page immediately after giving away a few dozen products• There’s one thing your product MUST do to continue selling well…

SO WHAT REALLY HAPPENS DURING AN AMAZON SALES BLITZ?

• Traffic: Over a 4 to 7 day period you inundate your product detail page on Amazon with traffic

• Diversity: You get that traffic from multiple sources – Social Media, Paid Traffic, News Sites, Email, Etc.

• Sales: During that “traffic blitz”, you also send a large number of customers to purchase your product at a steep discount

• This blitz of traffic, diversity of visitors, and rush of sales activate certain “triggers” on Amazon in order to push your product up through both the sales and search ranks, leading to continued sales even after the blitz is over***

WHY DOES THIS WORK?

Here’s my theory:1. Amazon is a huge data aggregator and it’s one of their number one assets – they track

everything2. Because they process so much data, some of their ranking algorithms can’t keep up with

reality3. There is also a natural delay between when a customer first visits Amazon and makes a

purchaseSo what does this mean?• Amazon’s “logic” gets overwhelmed during bursts of intensive traffic and sales and they start

making predictions about how to promote products

4 PHASES OF A TRAFFIC & SALES BLITZ

• Planning• Preparation• Execution• Follow Up

PLANNING

Step 1 - Get your Social Media Accounts setup• Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram• These will all be used during the blitz, and the longer they have been

around the better

PLANNING, CONTINUED

Step 2 – Product Research• A key component of a blitz is to give away a certain number of products at a large

discount (80%+) over a period of 4 - 7 days• In order to do that, you need to know approximately how many sales a day your

competitors are doing• Jungle Scout is a great tool

PLANNING, CONTINUED

How many should you try to sell each day?• I prefer to use the average daily sales of all products on the first page of sales results –

much more realistic to go forCan’t afford to sell that many at a steep discount?• Sell less!• It still works, just not as effectively of course

PLANNING, CONTINUED

Step 3 – Determine your discount• MUST be an awesome deal (80% or higher at a minimum)• Do NOT make your product free!

PLANNING, CONTINUED

Step 4 – Create your promotions• Create one promotion for EACH day of your blitz• If you are running your blitz for 5 days, have 5 separate codes setup that each work for

one 24 hour period• Do NOT make your codes visible on your page! Use the “Single Use Claim Codes”• Create an additional promotion that runs the entire time – but keep it secret. This will

be for people who lost their code or say it doesn’t work

PLANNING, CONTINUED

Promotion Examples:– Promotion 1 – Starts at midnight on Day 1 and ends at 11:59 pm of Day 1– Promotion 2 – Starts at midnight on Day 2 and ends at 11:59 pm of Day 2– Promotion 3 – Starts at midnight on Day 3 and ends at 11:59 pm of Day 3– Promotion 4 – Starts at midnight on Day 4 and ends at 11:59 pm of Day 4– Etc….

PREPARATION

• By far the most time intensive part of the Blitz• Blitzes succeed or fail based upon how well you prepare

PREPARATION, CONTINUED

Step 1 – Product Detail Page Optimization***If your product listing is not optimized and does’t convert well, no blitz nor any advertising in the world will make you successful and you will not be able to sustain your sales after• Get good reviews

– Doesn’t have to be a ton, but I shoot for 10 at a minimum• Graphics need to be great• Make sure your keywords are optimized

– Title/Bullets/Search Terms– Since we are not specifically targeting any keywords during a traffic blitz, it’s the keywords you are

optimized for that will be the most affected by your blitz’s results


Product Optimization Continued• Title needs to be compelling and not look keyword stuffed• Product description – try and use basic HTML (bold, breaks, paragraphs)• Price needs to be competitive – if you are charging more, why should someone want to

pay more?• Final Review: Ask someone you trust who does not know your product to compare

your product listing to the top competitors and see if they would buy it over theirs

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #1 – PRODUCT PRICING OPTIMIZATIONCreate an FBM offer for your product and list it at “MSRP” price• Not only will it make your FBA offer look really good, you will occasionally get a sale

at that price• Bonus: This can also help with price increases down the road since Amazon

recently started letting you lose the buy box if you raise your FBA price too fast – even if you are the ONLY seller!

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #2 – PRODUCT OFFER OPTIMIZATION• Some of the most valuable space on your listing is in your “Special Offers and Product Promotions”

section• Create multiple tiered discounts

• This has multiple benefits:– Increases the likelihood that the customer will buy more than one product– Keeps the customer from seeing other products being advertised by Amazon– These offers get indexed by Google and picked up by other deal sites

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #3 – PRODUCT OFFER OPTIMIZATION• Create Buy One Get One (BOGO) Offers (maybe even multiple ones)

• This also has multiple benefits:– This is a GREAT way to get your other, lesser selling products to start showing up in the “Frequently

Bought Together” section– Also keeps the customer away from other products listed below yours– Contains that magical word “Free” that everyone loves!

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #4 – PRODUCT OFFER OPTIMIZATION• Make use of the seldom used “External Benefit” offer

• This is FREE AD COPY For your product and company plus shows up in two places:– Once on your product detail page in the Special Offers and Promotions Section– Once on your checkout page at the very top

• Idea – What if you had a “Lifetime Warranty” offer and at the top of your customer’s checkout page it said:

“Important: Please be sure to register your product for full warranty details once it arrives. Details for registering are located in your instruction manual.”


Step 2 - Simple brand website– WordPress– Wix– Web.com– Use Fiverr.com if you don’t know how to make one

• I prefer WordPress because it’s easy and there are plugins you can use to help with your blitz

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #5 – WEBSITE TIP• Even though you do NOT need it for a traffic blitz, there is absolutely NO reason not to have

an eCommerce website setup for your business• You can get a Shopify site setup for $30 on Fiverr.com• Start by just copying your product listings from Amazon over, but once it’s setup you want to

optimize them. Remember: you do not have to follow Amazon’s rules when you own the site!• Once your site is setup, setup Google PLA (Product Listing Ads). The ROI for these ads is

much better than normal Google “paid search” ads and they almost always pay for themselves.

• Is this the same site you use for your blitz? No.


Step 3 - Get Brand Graphics & Video Intro/Outro– Fiverr.com– 99 Designs– Look for graphic artists who can specifically create your graphics for your social media

accounts (FB Cover Page, YouTube Banner, etc.)

Step 4 - Start posting on your Social Media accounts– Doesn’t have to be anything too detailed. Just make your accounts look older than a few

days!


Step 5 - Gather Customers for Sales!– This is the most critical, and often times most difficult, part of the blitz– These are the customers that you are going to ask to purchase your product at an extreme

discount

• How do you do this?– Facebook is most popular method– Create a compelling ad announcing your product launch and “practically free” product– Target people in your niche and who buy online– Send them to a landing page that captures their email address and gives them their coupon

code

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #6 – FACEBOOK TIPS• Your image is the most important part of your Facebook Ad• Your image gets their attention, your headline gets their click

– In the world of Amazon and their amazing retargeting campaigns, the click is everything

• Your image does not have to do anything with your product!

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #6 – FACEBOOK TIPS


Other methods for gathering customers• Current customer email list• If you don’t have one but have been selling on Amazon, you can use an email append

service to build one (Manage by Stats, Melissa Data)*• If you have any extra customers you captured during your “Review” gathering process,

include them in the sale!• Don’t forget friends and family!


Landing Page/Coupon Delivery• WordPress users can use the “Amz Coupon Server” plugin• There are several services that will now host the coupons for you and you can send

traffic to them• You can always do it manually if you are not tech savvy


Step 6 – Create and Submit Press Release• Do these yourself or hire someone (Fiverr anyone?) You can link to your website, social

media accounts, and video you created (if it’s done…but not critical)• Try and schedule at least one to go out on the first day of your sales blitz. If you are

feeling up to it, feel free to have a different one go out on each day of your sales blitz!• Press Release Services:

– Webwire, PRBuzz, PRWeb, even Fiverr• Don’t stress about the content of these

EXECUTION – THIS IS WHERE THE FUN STARTS!• Start these steps the night before since some of the ads you will be setting up need to be

approved• Create Amazon Promotion

– Make it a good & realistic one such as 30%– Let it show up on the product detail page– This is NOT the promotion used for your “blitz” customers

• Google Adwords– Use two to three word phrases related to your product. I like to use the “broad modifier” that includes the

plus (+) sign in front of your keywords: “+silicone +spatula”– Bid and budget low – you don’t want to capture all of the traffic...just some– Send it straight to your product detail page using your most basic product link:– http://www.amazon.com/dp/ASIN

http://www.amazon.com/dp/ASIN

EXECUTION, CONTINUED

Pinterest• Create a new pin or use or use an existing one and create an ad going straight to your

product detail page• Bid lower than they suggest – their suggestions are usually higher than they need to be• Keep your campaign daily budget low - $5 - $10 max• Pinterest Tip – You can promote someone else’s pin and send it to your listing!


Facebook• Easy method: create a post that you can promote using the “Boost Post” feature• Target people who like your fan page plus their friends• If that doesn’t get you a big enough audience, just target your ideal customer:

– They are in your demographic market– They shop online– They have enough disposable income to buy products

• Tell them about your Amazon promotion you created for 20 – 30% off. This is a realistic sale and should get some traffic – maybe even a sale

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #7 – FACEBOOK TIPS• Don’t know how to create really great images nor want to pay a lot for them?• Facebook has you covered. They recently (and rather silently) launched “Free Stock

Images” by Shutterstock that can be used for free in any Facebook Ad• Pick out up to 6 images and let Facebook optimize. You’ll be surprised which ones

work the best!

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #7 – FACEBOOK TIPS


Twitter• If your account has been approved for ads, create a promoted tweet about the product

launch and the same 20 – 30% off promotion• If your account is not yet approved, still create a tweet about your promotion


YouTube• You actually use Google Adwords to run a YouTube Ad• If you created any videos on Fiverr.com, promote that. If you don’t have one, you can

create one very easily within YouTube itself• Very small budget - $5 max


Instagram• Since Instagram is now tied into Facebook, you can simply create an advertisement in

Facebook• It can just be some type of interesting photo related to your product that goes to your

Amazon product


Amazon Sponsored Ads• Turn on auto campaigns for your productAmazon Marketing Services• If you have an AMS account and your product has enough reviews, you can also setup

a few low budget AMS ads and let them run during the blitz• Don’t have an AMS account? Check out Advanced Product Marketing on Amazon in

the membership site• (shameless plug)

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #8 – AMAZON MARKETING SERVICESThe most successful AMS advertising campaigns are those that complete the “Triumvirate” for a specific search:1. Your product shows up as the Headline Search ad2. Your product shows up in the Sponsored Search results3. Should the customer still pick a different product (blasphemy!), your

product shows up on their product detail page as a Product Display adYou get three chances to get a customer, but you only pay for one click

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #8 – AMAZON MARKETING SERVICES

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #8 – AMAZON MARKETING SERVICES


Last Step:• Check your search and sales rankings• You will want to keep track of them each day if you are not already doing so• There are tools out there that can help with this, but a spreadsheet works totally fine

EXECUTION, LAUNCH DAY 1

• Make sure that all of your ads are turned on and running• Send out reminder email to all of your customers who are scheduled to purchase your

product today• Watch your product’s sales to make sure nothing is going wrong – such as accidentally

having one of your promotions show up on your product detail page

EXECUTION, LAUNCH DAY 2

• Check and track rankings• Send out reminder email to all of your customers who are scheduled to purchase your

product today

EXECUTION, LAUNCH DAYS 3, 4, ETC..

• Repeat same steps!• On Final Day, do NOT turn off all your ads (Google, FB, Pinterest, etc.). This can look

unnatural to Amazon.• Let them run for a few days then determine if you want to turn them off or begin

optimizing them• I suggest optimizing them!

PUTTING THE “2.0” IN THE TRAFFIC BLITZ – TIPS #9, 10 & 11• Sometimes, even just a few sales scattered throughout the traffic blitz from friends or

previous customers who search for your product before buying can really improve your search results

• Don’t forget about going local! Facebook launched last year and they can be used for traffic blitzes! *Be sure to check with group admins first.

• If you choose to use review groups to get a few sales for your blitz, try choosing the option where a link to your product is not provided so they have to search for it

PUTTING THE “2.0” IN THE TRAFFIC BLITZ – TIPS #12 & 13Amazon has recently given us two awesome tools to extend and dramatically increase the results of your traffic blitz:• Lightning Deals

– If you have the ability to schedule a lightning deal near the end of your traffic blitz, do it!– This is great for relaunches of products and provides a boost of nearly full price sales

• Amazon Giveaways– We now incorporate a giveaway into our traffic blitzes – preferably the day after our Lightning

Deal– It’s a burst of full price sales for up to 30 different customers!

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #14 & 15 – LIGHTNING DEALS• Make your Lightning Deal price end in “.00”. Don’t know why, but for us

this seems to be working better than the typical “.99” or “.95”• Always take the minimum number suggested for the deal even if you

are tempted to try and sell more. Why?– The faster is appears your deal is sold out, the faster it will sell out– You can always increase the number available on the fly once you are sold

out!

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #16, 17, 18, 19 & 20 – AMAZON GIVEAWAYS• Make use of the Welcome, Winner & Loser messages to try and get your

entrants to sign up to your VIP list• If you are sending them to Twitter, be sure to tweet about signing up for your VIP

club• If you are sending them to a video, use that video to either sell them a product or

get them to sign up for your VIP club• Always announce/advertise your giveaway via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & Email• Still not getting any takers? Tweet and mention #AmazonGiveaway in your tweet

AFRAID OF HIJACKERS?

Afraid that “Hijackers” will get your discounted/giveaway products and resell them? Don’t be!• Amazon handles the giveaways and it would be nearly impossible for one or even just a

few people to “win” them all• Most “hijackers” are actually people who only have 1 or 2 of your product and will be

gone shortly• Every time someone resells your product that you already sold to them, your product

gets credit for two sales (not just one)But, what if you really get hijacked?

AMAZON HACKS & TIPS #21 – AMAZON HIJACKERS• The only true form of “hijacking” that should concern us are counterfeiters• Guess what: Amazon hates them too and once given the right info, via a test

buy, they will get rid of them• How do you take advantage of this situation?

– You get to buy your own product, so make it count!– Before making your test buy, search for your product using your most sought after

search term…then make your buy from the hijacker.– You’ll get your money back, the hijacker will get kicked off, and you’ll get a ranking

boost for any search term you want!

WHAT DOES A SUCCESSFUL TRAFFIC BLITZ LOOK LIKE – REAL RESULTS


June 17 – Small giveaway for reviews only


June 21 – Traffic Blitz Starts


June 26 – Traffic Blitz Ends after 5 days


June 29 – Another burst of sales post blitz


- How many giveaways since June 29th? Zero.- 150 units in total were given away, 800 total sold.- Product now does over $12K month in sales with a 44% profit margin and very limited advertising

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

• If you are hesitant to spend a lot of money on a traffic blitz, try going small first. Sometimes a small traffic blitz has a better ROI than a large scale one

• If your traffic blitz doesn’t get the results you want, you can always run one again at any point in time. Just be sure to check your product listing optimization and conversion rate.

• You must take into account seasonality, holidays and large sales events (i.e. doing a blitz during Prime Day is not a good idea)

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

• Check out my Amazon Traffic Blitz course on Amazing.com. Updates to include “2.0” topics coming soon!

• Want to protect your brand and drive more targeted traffic? Learn how to get access to Amazon Marketing Services in my Advanced Product Marketing Course.

• More Courses Coming Soon!– Lightning Deals– Amazon Giveaways– Vendor University

Documents

AMAZON TRAFFIC BLITZ 21/945am... · • Even though you do NOT need it for a traffic blitz, there is absolutely NO reason not to have an eCommerce website setup for your business