⚾ 3 Strikes.... And You're Out!

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

• ⚾ 3 Strikes… And You’re Out! [True Story]

• 🔍 My 10 Favorite Stories From This Year

• 🗞️ Latest Amazon News and Updates

• 🔥 My 5 Favorite Tips of the Year

• 🎄 Lunch With Norm Christmas Special

I’m a few days early but I wanted to squeeze in a Happy New Year to all the Beardos out there! I was trying to think of the best way to share what has happened this year so I included my 10 favorite stories and the top 5 tips I featured in the newsletter this year. I’d post more but the newsletter can only be so long… See you in 2025!

 ⚾ THREE STRIKES… AND YOU’RE OUT! [True Story] 

As part of launching the new company with Kevin King, we’ve been reviewing a lot of our SOPs—from human resources to day-to-day operations.

One thing that always bothered me was the wording of our "three-strike policy." 

It felt harsh and outdated, and honestly, I’d never been comfortable with it.

So, we decided to take a fresh look at it.

Here’s how the old system worked:

When someone new joined, they’d go through training with a senior project manager.

The PM would train them, walk them through the process, and then let them try it on their own.

The idea was that they’d learn through hands-on experience.

But here’s where things often went wrong.

In some cultures, like in the Philippines, people can be hesitant to ask questions because they don’t want to appear as if they’re doing something wrong.

This creates a gap—where the person gets stuck because an SOP is unclear or a step is missing.

That’s where the first strike would come into play.

It wasn’t a big deal; we’d just review what went wrong, fix the SOP if necessary, and help them try again.

The second time it happened, we’d assess whether it was a training issue, a platform update, or something else.

If it was their mistake, we’d document it as a second strike, but it was still treated as a learning opportunity.

The third strike, though, was where things got uncomfortable.

At that point, if the same issue happened again, it was time to part ways—or, in some cases, try to find a different role for them within the company.

The whole "three-strike process" just felt negative.

Emails and messages saying, "This is your second strike," sounded more like punishments than opportunities for growth.

It wasn’t the tone we wanted for our company.

So, I reworked it.

Instead of the "three-strike process," we now call it the Progressive Improvement Process. 

The first instance is framed as an opportunity for training and education, recognizing that there might be various reasons for the mistake.

The second instance is handled in the same way, with additional support if needed.

The third instance is where the tone really changes.

Instead of saying, "This is your last chance," we frame it as a moment of reflection: "A recurring issue may suggest a mismatch between the role and the team member’s strengths."

At that point, we explore whether there’s a better fit for their skills elsewhere in the company.

If not, we mutually decide to part ways.

It feels more collaborative and respectful, and it aligns with our values of constant improvement.

It’s not about punishing mistakes—it’s about learning, growing, and finding the right fit for everyone involved.

The real lesson here is to never stop questioning your processes.

Even something that seems to work can probably be improved.

For me, sitting down to rethink this policy was about more than just rewriting words—it was about creating a culture that reflects who we want to be as a company.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Norm

🔍 TOP 10 STORIES OF THE YEAR

1. 💰 My $35,000 Investment - Read Me

2. 😱 My Wife Did WHAT!?!?! - Read Me

3. 😱 Mugged in the Streets of New York... - Read Me

4. 😮 My Amazon Origin Story - Read Me

5. 🤼‍♀️ My Double Life as a Pro Wrestler - Read Me

6. 🔥 My First Vacation Was Hell… - Read Me

7. ☠️ The Day I Almost Died… - Read Me

8. 😱 There’s a Thief Among Us… - Read Me

9. 🥊 The Day I Fought Back - Read Me

10. 🌴 Hijacked to Holiday -  Read Me

🗞️ AMAZON NEWS & UPDATES 🗞️

🔥 5 FAVORITE TIPS OF THE YEAR

1. OPTIMIZING INEFFICIENT SPENDING ✅ 

This a great little tip on how you can optimize inefficient spending.

🟠Go to the Targeting Tab.

🟠Filter by Active Status: Enabled.

🟠Orders: Less than or equal to 0.

🟠Timeframe: Lifetime.

Now sort Clicks by highest to lowest.

You'll now get keywords that have accumulated many clicks over the years, but you haven't negated them because they never had enough clicks during a 30-60 day timeframe.

Now go ahead and negate them or lower their bids.

You’re all set!

🚨 To read more visit → here

2. KEYWORD RESEARCH MADE EASY

DID YOU KNOW…

The Product Opportunity Explorer Is an underrated tool for keyword research 🤯

Until recently, we never had a download button to easily get this data…

But now there is NO EXCUSE not to use it 🙅‍♂️

When doing keyword research, I'm a big believer in using 1st party data straight from Amazon.

Here is how I use it for keyword research:

• ✅ Take an ASIN and paste it into Product Opportunity Explorer. You'll then see all the niches this ASIN appears in.

• ✅ Click into each niche

• ✅ From the Products Tab, download all in order to then use in ASIN Targeting campaigns.

• ✅ From the Search Term Tab, download all search terms to use for Keyword Targeting campaigns. (You can use the top 3 clicked ASINs for for ASIN Targeting campaigns as well)

In the Search Term tab, you can also see how search volume is trending for the past 90 and 180 days so you can set a different strategy for those search terms if you want.

Check to see the conversion rate on each keyword (Search Conversion) which gives you an idea of how strong the buying intent is for each keyword.

Grab a free PPC audit here from IG PPC 🔥 

3. USE A/B TESTING TO BOOST YOUR AMAZON SALES!

The brand Onkata was able to use A/B testing with “Manage Your Experiments” to refine content and optimize listings.

 The Focus:

• High-quality graphics and text for A+ Content

• A/B tests for visuals and keywords

Case Study:

• Experiment: Split test a new image featuring a razor blade in the foreground using Manage Your Experiments

Image A:

Image B:

Which image do you think performed better?

Yep, the one with the blade…

✅ The Results:

• Sales multiplied 5x after A/B testing!!!

• Graphic changes improved sales of razor blade refills from $15,000 to $122,000 in one year

Applying Testing Across Brands…

• Using the same strategy, they applied this to other brands like Onkata

• Example: Adding "front door" to the product title improved conversion rates by 8%

“Even when there were low moments with our most popular item, other items would take its place because we used the same strategy across the board,”

Read the full case study here

4. GETTING AMAZON SPONSORED BRAND VIDEO ADS TO ACTUALLY WORK

I've run over 400 different PPC video ads on Amazon, and my team and I spin up new ones every week.

Here's how I do it profitably:

One of the best ways to transcend the Amazon PPC algorithm game of constantly adjusting bids and budgets is to master the art of running profitable video ads and custom image ads. 

The problem is, with Sponsored Brand Video, the options are limitless, and there is an upfront time and $ commitment to produce the video asset.

All without any kind of guarantee that it will work.

So how do you make a video ad that will convert at a healthy ACoS?

THE 3 SECOND RULE ✅

A vast majority of the Sponsored Brand Video ads we've run that were successful had one thing in common:

They got to the action in the first three seconds.

They didn’t waste time with the logo, and intro, b-roll, or anything else, they just got right to showing the product being used actively by it's ideal customer avatar. 

The first 3 seconds determine 90% of the success of the whole ad.

So when planning out your ad, spend 90% of your energy planning out the first 3 seconds, and the remaining time planning out the other 27 seconds (SBV ads should be about 30 to 35 seconds long).

WHAT IF THERE'S NO ACTION???

If your product doesn’t have action, then the type of ad to do instead is a UGC (user generated content) - style testimonial ad.

A knife can be shown doing what a knife does - that is an example of a product you can show in action.

But a supplement you just swallow and wait for it to work.

There's no action.

For these kinds of products, find an attractive character to do a testimonial ad, add captions, create 3 variations to test against one another, and run them against one another to find out which will perform. 

SPLIT TEST ✅

Whether you go with the action style video or the UGC style testimonial video, create 3 to 5 variations of it to run against one another.

The difference doesn’t have to be major.

If I’m selling a knife I might try one where the first three seconds is me cutting through paper, another where I’m curing a tomato, and another where a hand is pulling it out of it’s holder and then chopping carrots.

For the UGC video, you can split test what is said in the beginning of the video, what static image of the product is imposed over the video, or just try a different person saying the same thing.

The important thing is that you start off with testing multiple hypotheses. This gives you a greater chance of getting one of them right. 

OPTIMIZE THE CAMPAIGNS OVER TIME ✅

Once your Amazon PPC video ads are live, you will want to maximize their performance over time by optimizing them twice weekly.

5. AUDIT YOUR ASIN FOR AMZ COSMO 🗞️

Amazon COSMO is Amazon's new search ranking system.

Rather than the traditional A9 methodology of ranking primarily on keywords, it comprehends user intentions from vast amounts of behaviour data, creating detailed knowledge graphs that reflect how customers think and interact.

By integrating these insights into search and recommendation systems, COSMO helps make e-commerce platforms more intelligent and user-friendly, providing more accurate and personalized search results.

AMZ COSMO Audit is a FREE specialized GPT built designed to review Amazon ASINs for their compliance with the COSMO algorithm.

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!

🚨 WHAT YOU MISSED LAST WEEK!

Lunch With Norm Christmas Special

Here’s 3 Takeaways From This Episode:

1. Consistency Builds Trust:

   • Stay consistent with your content schedule, even during holidays, to show your audience that you value their time and engagement.

2. Optimize Seasonal Returns:

   • Avoid returns being mishandled by Amazon by handling returns directly. Offer extended warranties or guarantees to build trust with buyers.

3. Repurpose Content for Maximum Reach:

   • Use podcasts, blog summaries, and newsletters to distribute content across multiple platforms. Tools like Notebook LM and Simplified can help streamline this process.

🚨 Watch the full episode here

🚀 CATCH UP WITH THE MARKETING MISFITS!

Here are 5 TIPS from this episode!

1. Use AI to Simplify Business Solutions: Offer AI tools like web chat or voice AI to small businesses (e.g., spas, lawyers, plumbers) to automate sales and customer service. Focus on making these solutions easy to adopt and implement without technical expertise.

2. Target Specific Niche Markets: Identify underserved groups with unique challenges or needs, such as people balancing caregiving and careers. Tailor your products or services to provide flexibility and efficiency.

3. Remove Barriers to Technology: Provide pre-built solutions like funnels and workflows that save time and eliminate the need for technical expertise. This allows entrepreneurs to focus on selling and customer interaction.

4. Build a Consulting Business Around AI: Train yourself or others to sell AI tools and services, like customer automation or lead generation, to local businesses. Focus on solving tangible pain points to demonstrate clear value.

5. Adopt a Long-Term Growth Mindset: Think of your business as a growing entity rather than chasing immediate results. Start with small wins, refine your strategies, and focus on sustainable growth over time.

🚨 Watch the full episode here

MARK DOWN THESE EVENTS! 

ASGTG

Mar 20 - New York - $161.69

MDS Inspire

Mar 24 - Las Vegas - $1495

Prosper Show

Mar 25 - 27 - Las Vegas - Starting $399

BDSS 2025

April 4 - 9 - Reykjavik, Iceland - Starting at $5497

Amazing Days

Apr 28 - Sofia, Bulgaria - Starting at €99

→ FULL CALENDAR ←

And that’s it, Beardos!

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

See you next Monday!

- Norm

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