💰 How a Beach Day Taught Me the Secret to Winning Customers

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

• 🤦‍♂️ This 1 Mistake Almost Ended a Friendship... [True Story]

• 🗞️ Latest Amazon News and Updates

• 🔥 Does TikTok Shop Actually Impact Sales on Amazon

• ✅ 2 Tools to Make Cashflow Easy [100% Free Resource]

• 🚨 Grubhub’s Genius SEO Strategy [Deep Dive]

• 🌍 Upcoming Amazon Events

💰 Know Your Audience [My True Story]

When I was living in Hawaii, I would always hang out with a buddy of mine, named Mickey.

We hung out quite a bit, especially on the weekends.

He knew every hot spot that no tourists were going to at the time.

One day we decided we were going to go body surfing.

One of the best places in all of Kona was this place called Magic Sands, which just so happened to be about a hundred yards from where my house was.

So Mickey came over and yelled into the house, “Yo, are you ready?”

And I replied, ”Hold on, Mickey. I just have to put my bathing suit on.”

And he said, “What did you say?”

I repeated myself, “Yeah Mickey, just a sec, I have to put my bathing suit on.”

He was dumbfounded.

He said, “If you ever say that again, not only will you never meet my friends, I will not come back here. Learn the lingo, buddy… It's slap on your board shorts.”

And I laughed and said “Sure, Mickey, I’ll slap on my board shorts.”

All he said after that was, “You live here buddy. Get to know the lingo.”

Anyway, I thought it was funny.

If you think about it, it may seem small but it’s part of the culture.

This experience reminded me of why it’s so important to understand your customers in business.

You’ll stick out like a sore thumb if you can’t craft your product messaging around your target demographic.

You need to know their lingo, their phrases, and their pain points.

Here’s another quick example — CrossFit.

In the world of CrossFit…

It’s not a gym → It’s a box

It’s not a workout → It’s a WoD (Work out of the Day)

It’s not interval training → It’s EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute)

Know your audience.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Norm

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🗞️ AMAZON NEWS & UPDATES 🗞️

DOES TIKTOK SHOP ACTUALLY IMPACT AMAZON SALES?

EXCERPT FROM JUNGLE SCOUT

Read the full blog here

THE POWER OF VIRALITY

When a product gains traction on TikTok, consumers often turn to Amazon to find it, leading to an uptick in search queries and sales for the same items.

This trend indicates that success on TikTok Shop can undoubtedly spill over to Amazon, benefiting brands in multiple sales channels.

FOR EXAMPLE

This Vitamin D3+K2 supplement started to see an uptick in sales around February and March of 2024. This is around the time videos for Micro Ingredients products were starting to go viral on TikTok.

Then, in April, multiple videos reached over 20 million views a piece, and you can see the massive spike in sales in April. (JungleScout)

To maximize this cross-platform potential, brands can implement several strategies.

• Consistent branding. Ensuring that branding, product descriptions, and images are consistent across both TikTok Shop and Amazon helps maintain a cohesive identity, making it easier for consumers to find and recognize your products.

• Engaging content. Brands should continue to produce engaging TikTok content that resonates with their target audience to convert viewers into buyers, whether on TikTok Shop or Amazon. 

• Utilize affiliate marketing. If you sell products on TikTok Shop, make sure you enable affiliate commissions as you will then have top affiliates creating videos about your products. This is what drives the majority of sales and traffic on TikTok Shop. Pay a desirable commission around 10-20%, and watch how many affiliates create quality videos to drive traffic and sales to your products. 

Read the full blog here from Jungle Scout

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE BEARD GUY?

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

 2 TOOLS TO MAKE CASHFLOW EASY

Help understand the impact of ROAS and Ad Spend on your operations with this free Google Sheet - No sign up required.

How do you use it?

Learn how to use this cashflow tracker sheet with the instructional video here.

Here's another powerful Google Sheet…

This is to track the potential net income for a given Ad Spend and MER.

Here’s how to use the tool here.

This video first teaches people how to use it on "basic mode" then teaches people how to level up!

These sheets were provided by Matt Putra from EightX - Thanks Matt!

GRUBHUB’S GENIUS LINK BUILDING STRATEGY

In 2004, Grubhub enters the scene as a food delivery service in Chicago.

By 2007, they had raised $1.1 million and set their sights on expanding to New York.

SEO became a key strategy for this expansion.

With thousands of Americans searching for food delivery on Google, ranking at the top could drive significant traffic.

To tackle this, Grubhub hired their first marketer, Casey Winters.

Casey’s initial task was to structure the website effectively.

He created a main page for New York, followed by child pages for specific food categories.

Whether New Yorkers searched for food delivery, pizza, or vegan options, Grubhub had an indexed page with aggregated restaurant listings ready to serve.

Next came the challenge of building backlinks.

For the new pages to rank well, they needed to be recognized by Google as authoritative.

Casey's approach was straightforward: “We reached out to local press, offering their readers $10 off their first order, and all they had to do was link to our /new-york page.”

Over time, that page gained enough links to secure a top spot in search results.

The "link juice" flowed down to individual food category pages, helping them rise in the rankings.

Today, food delivery is dominated by DoorDash and Uber Eats, both using similar site structures.

Yet, Grubhub’s organic traffic remains 50% higher, thanks to Casey’s early SEO work, which continues to pay dividends.

That’s the power of smart SEO—plant the orchard, and you'll enjoy the fruits for years to come.

The long game is the shortcut.

WHAT YOU MISSED LAST WEEK

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

5 Hacks That Will Help Your Brand Scale | Josh Hadley

Watch the full episode here

1. The 1-3-1-1 Process for Decision-Making:

   • Reduce unnecessary decision fatigue from your employees.

   • What is it?

     • State the problem

     • Provide three potential solutions

     • Recommend one solution

     • Explain how to prevent the issue from happening again.

   • This method pushes employees to think critically and take ownership of decisions.

2. Create Role Profiles and KPIs:

   • Every role in the company should have a role profile that outlines key responsibilities and 3-5 core KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

   • This provides clarity on expectations and ensures each team member is accountable for their leading indicators​.

3. Use Quarterly Performance Evaluations:

   • Use quarterly performance evaluations where employees rate themselves on how well they live up to the company’s core values and KPIs.

   • This allows for regular check-ins and provides an opportunity for employees to develop an action plan for improvement if needed.

4. The Credit Card Cash Flow Hack:

   • By increasing the Amazon ad spend limit before billing and strategically using multiple credit cards, businesses can extend their payment terms by up to 90 days.

   • This allows companies to launch products or run heavy ad campaigns without immediately depleting their cash reserves.

   • Listen to Josh here explain it in full.

 THIS WEEK’S EPISODE!

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

Wednesday - The 2 Things You Need to Thrive in the AI World

Our guest is the former President of DigitalMarketer.com, a $10 million marketing education development platform that has helped over 120,000 marketers and companies to learn everything necessary to succeed in marketing online.

He has worked with over 2,000 business owners and content creators to develop hundreds of successful brands, companies, and marketing campaigns. 

In this episode, find out:

1. How to use AI to improve marketing and processes

2. How branding is the biggest missing piece of your marketing

3. The only 2 things you can do to prepare for an uncertain future

Join us us 12 pm ET on Wednesday! 😎

Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here

DON’T MISS THIS WEEK’S MARKETING MISFITS!

🤫 What is Your Success MNSTR?

Ashley shares the secrets behind her success, including the importance of visualizing a growth engine and systemizing operations to achieve massive growth.

She dives deep into the strategies she used to scale her businesses, the power of leveraging affiliate marketing, and how she harnesses her "Success Monster" mindset to overcome obstacles and achieve her goals.

Your Success MNSTR® is your status symbol, the fuel for your fire.

But don’t let your success devour you.

Ashley introduces nine unique Archetype personas illuminating your motivations, reactions, and strategies.

Take the quiz

Check out this short clip👇

🚨 Watch the full episode here

  🌎 UPCOMING EVENTS

MARK DOWN THESE EVENTS! 

BDSS Market Masters

Sept 12 - Austin - $2997

Amazon Accelerate

Sept 17 - Seattle - Now $499, Regularly $599

Innovate

Oct 29 - New York - Starting from $495

Cross Border Summit

Nov 3 - Chiang Mai - $595

→ FULL CALENDAR ←

And that’s it, Beardos!

Let me know what you’d like me to feature in the newsletter by replying back to this email.

P.S. Make sure you don’t miss any updates by joining our community here.

See you next Monday!

- Norm

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