Lunch With Norm
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[LWN] 🚨 Stand Out 99% of The Time...

[LWN] 🚨 Stand Out 99% of The Time...

Lunch With Norm's Weekly Newsletter - My Personal Branding Case Study

July 08, 2024 • Estimated Read Time: 13 minutes

🎅🏻 The Origin Story of My Beard…

This newsletter is proudly sponsored by:

What you’ll find in this week’s newsletter:

🤦‍♂️ The Origin Story of My Beard [True Story]
🔥 Looking For a 3PL / Warehouse? [Apply Today]
🗞️ Amazon News and Updates
😮 Customizable A+ and Storefront Templates in Seconds
🎙️ Branding Case Studies From Kevin King

🛒 If Shoppers Search For Your Product, Will They Find It?

Every month, millions of people shop on Walmart.com looking for products just like yours.

Make sure you’re the one they find. There’s no better time than right now to start selling with Walmart. Why now? Because they’re running an exclusive offer for new sellers. 👇

Start selling now and get up to 50% off referral and fulfillment fees. *

*Conditions apply

🤦‍♂️ The Origin Story of My Beard [True Story]

People often ask me if I've always had my beard…

Fun prank at the Titan Network Event in San Diego

Back in the day, even up to the early 2000s, it was heavily frowned upon to have a beard.

Large corporations would NOT take you seriously.

Even moustaches had to be groomed very carefully.

If you wanted to do business, you pretty much had to be clean-shaven.

It was only in 2012 when I started to first experiment with my first beard.

And even then, our bookkeeper actually complained about my beard.

It sadly didn’t last long.

But times were changing and a lot of people were starting to grow beards.

I think this started when Duck Dynasty came out. There was also the whole hipster beard trend happening during this time.

When I first started getting involved with Amazon, I was clean-shaven.

I started going to more and more events, and I wanted people to remember me.

How many times have you introduced yourself to someone, and they’ve said “Oh… We’ve actually met before.”

That was happening to me far too much.

I was doing my best to meet and talk with as many people as I could but nobody would remember me.

I was just another person in the crowd.

One day, I was with my friend.

I had a little bit of a beard at this point. I think it was the NHL playoffs.

In Canada, you don't shave during the hockey playoffs.

This is Brent Burns, one of the most famous beards in hockey.

My buddy said, “If you're going out to all these events, you’ve gotta have something memorable about yourself...”

We started talking about Roy Orbison and his famous sunglasses.

Then it clicked… “What about a beard?!”

So I started growing it out.

Soon enough, people started calling me “The Beard Guy”.

I’m not kidding.

Speakers would even come up to me after their presentations and say they saw me in the audience.

Even in airports, random sellers would say “Weren’t you at [random Amazon event]…”

I’ve learned a lot from this beard. It’s one of my favorite case studies.

Personal branding is just like a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of a product.

I’d like to think I’m more than a beard obviously, but it is the thing that initially makes me stand out from 99% of other sellers… Except for maybe Abe Chomali.

Abe Chomali during my April Fools episode this year

But what did I look like before the beard?

The picture below was taken back in 2007. I'm much younger here obviously but you get the idea.

Ever since that day with my buddy, I never looked back.

Now I can’t imagine not having the beard.

Although my wife would probably think that would be a good idea…

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Norm

Who Has The Best Beard?

How do you stand out? Share with me after you answer!

🗞️ AMAZON NEWS & UPDATES 🗞️

What’s happening in the world of Amazon today…

🚨New Jersey Senate Passes Bill to Rightsize Shipping Boxes.
This would prohibit large online and major retailers in the state from shipping products to consumers in cardboard or corrugated boxes that exceed two times the volume of the product being shipped - Read More
📈 As Air Cargo Demand Rises, Shein and Temu Put Upward Pressure on Rates - Read More
💰 Amazon is Inching into the Luxury Goods Market in Search of High-Quality Data - Read More
🛑 TikTok Implements Restrictions on Ads Targeted at Teens, New AI Disclosure Requirements - Read More
🤦‍♂️ Amazon’s Reported Temu-like Discount Store Likened to ‘Slap in the Face’ by Sellers - Read More

⛰️ LOOKING FOR A 3PL? ⛰️

HONU Worldwide is announcing the grand opening of their new warehouse and 3PL!

Full transparency: I am a Co-Founder of HONU Worldwide.

I wanted to share with everyone today that we are now accepting new customers for our brand new warehouse! It’s been something we’ve been working on for years now.

I’m very excited to see it come to life.

🚨Warehouse features:

10,000 Pallet Storage Capacity
Located in Wind Gap, PA 18091
Only 90 Minutes from New York / New Jersey Ocean Port
Customs Bonded Potential
FDA Registered

If you are interested, please email my partner, Afolabi at [email protected]

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE BEARDED GUY?

Can you find Norm in the picture below? Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see the answer!

WHAT YOU MISSED LAST WEEK

👇 Highlights from last week’s Lunch With Norm podcast episode👇

Creating Custom Amazon A+ Content In Seconds

Watch the full episode here

7 Key Takeaways:

Create a Comprehensive Style Guide:
Develop a detailed style guide that includes fonts, color palettes, iconography, and other design elements to ensure consistency across all content.
Implement Pre-Defined Templates:
Use pre-defined templates from resources like AMZ Design Kit to quickly create A+ content and storefronts without starting from scratch.
These are a few of the many templates of AMZ Design Kit
Edit Templates through Figma:
Use Figma to build and maintain your design system, allowing for easy updates and consistency across all assets.
Optimize for Mobile:
Design with mobile users in mind, ensuring that all content is easily viewable and navigable on mobile devices.
Regularly Update and Refine Designs:
Periodically review and update your designs to ensure they remain fresh and aligned with current trends and customer preferences.
Leverage Customer Feedback:
Use AI to analyze customer feedback and reviews to identify common themes and incorporate these insights into your design and content strategy.
Stay Updated on Trends:
Keep up with the latest design and e-commerce trends to ensure your content remains relevant and competitive.

DON’T MISS THIS WEEK’S EPISODE!

You can watch all episodes on YouTube or on my Facebook page at 12 pm ET on Wednesday!

Guests and topics are subject to change*

Wednesday - THE BIGGEST MYTH IN SEO…

About Joshua George:

Joshua George, is a leading SEO thought-leader and the founder of ClickSlice.

His team generates over £1M+ in organic revenue every month for clients, thousands of leads, and millions of dollars in sales by applying the latest SEO strategies and tactics.

Josh was recently hired by the UK government for SEO training.

His work has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Agency Analytics, and London Post, just to name a few.

What We’ll Talk About:

How to get your Shopify store onto the first page of Google through eCommerce SEO
The myth that SEO takes 12 months to kick in
5 E-commerce SEO mistakes that 99% of brand owners are making

Join us us 12 pm ET on Wednesday! If you have a question for Jake, email me and I’ll make sure we ask it on Wednesday 😎

Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here

The Latest Marketing Misfits Episode

Kevin King and Norm Farrar, AKA the Marketing Misfits, talk about their very real stories and experiences of branding and marketing over the last 35 years. In this episode, Norm and Kevin discuss the customer experience of opening your product, the perceived value of a product and how it can positively affect your margins, and standing out from your competition.