☠️ Finding Lost Treasure in Jamaica…

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

•  ☠️ Finding Lost Treasure in Jamaica [True Story]

• 🚨 5 New Features to Help Customers to Find Their Amazon Products

• 🗞️ Latest Amazon News and Updates

• 🔍 Oct Prime Day 2024: Predictions, Trends, and Fun Facts

• 🚀 Masterclass to Branding with Janelle Page

Don’t forget to catch up on this week’s Marketing Misfits here

☠️ Buried Treasure On The Beach of Jamaica [True Story] 

When I was a teenager, my family decided to go to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

At the time, Jamaica’s tourism really wasn't developed.

There were only a handful of resorts.

We ended up staying at this all-inclusive resort, which turned out to be pretty nice.

At this resort, if you wanted to get a drink, or grab some food, you had to pay with these little bananas.

You basically had to make a necklace or a bracelet with these small yellow tokens or you’d lose them.

Everybody at this resort was walking around with these stupid bananas.

During one of our last days, my dad mentioned that my uncle was coming down to the same resort in a couple of days.

So I thought it would be fun to hide a beer bottle somewhere at the resort.

I gave my uncle a treasure map with some directions on it.

I’m sure he was very eager for his lukewarm, sandy bottle of Red Stripe (the local caribbean beer)

I headed to a palm tree by the beach and dug a hole for the beer bottle.

A week later, I was excited to hear that he found his beer.

My uncle called me after finishing his vacation.

He said he couldn't find that dang beer bottle anywhere.

I was disappointed.

I thought to myself, maybe someone else found it?

I wrote out the directions and everything.

Four years later, I decided to go back to Jamaica to the same resort for a vacation.

They still had those stupid bananas.

Back in the seventies, resorts were very different.

There was no Expedia to check reviews.

I wasn’t going to test my luck at another resort on the island.

When I got to the resort, I decided the first thing I was going to do was look for this beer bottle.

I went back to the same palm tree, and started digging.

Sure enough, I found the bottle of Red Stripe beer.

So I guess my uncle couldn’t follow directions, or maybe I couldn’t give them.

Either way, if your instructions aren’t clear, you'll never get the reward.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Norm

🗞️ AMAZON NEWS & UPDATES 🗞️

5 NEW FEATURES TO HELP CUSTOMERS BUY ON AMAZON

1. Visual suggestions

When customers search for an item with a visual description such as “flannel shirt,” Amazon now shows descriptive image suggestions while they’re typing. Customers can select the image that best describes what they’re looking for and browse Amazon’s selection of relevant products.

2. Add text to your image search

Customers can now add text to any image they upload to Amazon Lens to make their search even more specific. For example, if they upload an image of a beige three-seat sofa, they can add text to specify a brand, color, material, or desired dimensions. Amazon’s search results will surface items similar to the original image, with the parameters set via text.

3. More like this

If a customer loves a dress that appears in their search results, but wants it in a different length or with sleeves, they can simply tap “More Like This” on any product image in Amazon’s search results to find similar products and speed up their search.

4. Videos in search

When searching in the Amazon Shopping app for home items, appliances, toys, or electronics, customers can now watch product videos within the search results without clicking on a product, creating an even more seamless shopping experience.

5. Circle to search

When customers are looking at an image and spot an item they’re interested in, they can now isolate the item and search for it specifically using our circle feature. Upon uploading the image to Amazon Lens, they can draw a circle around the item they’d like to search, change the size of the bounding boxes, or move the boxes to focus on a different item in the image.

Read the full article here.

All credit to Amazon for the information.

Send free products to Micro-Influencers using the platform Stack Influence which automates Micro-Influencer collaborations at scale (get thousands of collabs per month) and increase your Amazon growth, generate UGC, and boost up your brand awareness like never before.

Top Amazon brands like Magic Spoon, Unilever, and MaryRuth Organics have been able to get to #1 page positioning on Amazon and increase their monthly revenue as high as 13X in as little as 2 months. 

• 🤑 Pay influencers only with products (stop negotiating fees)

•  🚀 Increase external traffic Amazon sales (get to top page rankings)

•  📸 Get full rights image/video UGC (build your brand with authentic content)

•  🤖 100% automated management (don’t lift a finger to get influencer collabs at scale)  

Don't believe it? 

Check out the results from the Blueland Micro Influencer campaign which generated a 13X ROI scaling up influencers on Amazon. After successfully raising investment on Shark Tank Blueland turned to Stack Influence to boost their Amazon sales and become a top selling listing using Micro Influencer marketing.

Increase your Amazon listings ranking for targeted keywords before the holiday season is upon us! Get 10% OFF signing up in October.

OCTOBER 2024 PRIME DAY INSIGHTS & PREDICTIONS

Online sales across U.S. retailers during 2024 Amazon Prime Day reached a record-breaking $14.2 billion, marking an 11% year-over-year increase and cementing Amazon Prime Day as one of the summer’s tentpole shopping events.

But what about October’s Prime Big Deal Days?

Here are some key trends you should know:

• Early Promotions Drive Traffic: Retailers like Walmart and Target began their promotions a week before Prime Day, influencing shoppers' behavior and giving them a head start.

• Category Shifts and Strategic Discounting:

  • Apparel, home & kitchen, and electronics were top categories, but average discounts were shallower this year, indicating a shift toward broader product variety rather than deeper discounts.

  • Health, beauty & personal care categories saw notable sales increases, suggesting a rising demand for wellness products.

• Focus on Competitive Pricing: Retailers offering sitewide or full-price discounts performed better year-over-year.

• Planning for October Prime Event:

  • October’s Prime Day event is forecasted to see a 14% YoY growth.

• Impact of Holiday Timing and External Factors:

  • The upcoming U.S. Presidential Election may disrupt marketing calendars and early Black Friday deals. Sellers should consider early and agile promotional strategies to capture consumer demand before the election.

• Strategic Use of Prime Day:

  • July Prime Day remains more aggressive than October’s event in terms of discounts and promotions.

Download the full report from PMG here

Amazon Prime Day Fun Facts

• 2015: 34.4M items sold, 398 items/second in 9 countries.

• 2016: Small business orders tripled year-over-year.

• 2017: App orders doubled from 2016 in 13 countries.

• 2018: 100M+ items purchased in 17 countries.

• 2019: Sales exceeded Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

• 2020: Moved to October due to the pandemic.

• 2021: 2M+ deals offered across all categories.

• 2022: 300M+ items sold, biggest Prime Day ever.

• 2023: July 11 became Amazon's single largest sales day in history.

• 2024: Small businesses sold 200M+ items.

Read more here

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

Finding the Easy Button in Your Marketing | Rachel Miller

Here’s 7 Takeaways From This Episode:

1. Leverage AI Tools to Automate Content Creation:

   • Use AI tools like PageWheel to automate the generation of viral content ideas. Input your brand’s top-performing posts into AI tools and have them generate new content ideas that are aligned with your audience’s preferences and behaviors.

2. Start with Engagement-Driven Content:

   • Create content that engages your audience first, such as memes or questions that generate comments and shares. This will build up an engaged audience that is more likely to respond positively to later sales-focused content.

3. Create Memes Relevant to Your Audience:

   • Develop memes or humorous posts that resonate specifically with your target audience. Share these memes in relevant Facebook groups or online communities where your ideal audience hangs out to get initial engagement.

4. Use the Heartbeat Question Strategy:

   • Ask simple “heartbeat” questions that are easy to answer and encourage people to comment. Examples include: “Who else hates when XYZ happens?” or “What’s your go-to solution for this problem?” These types of questions encourage participation and help identify active community members​.

5. Follow Up with Expert Positioning Posts:

   • After generating engagement, share an expert positioning post that subtly showcases your expertise without hard selling. For example, share a personal story that demonstrates how you solved a common problem your audience faces​.

6. Use Lead Magnets to Capture Emails:

   • Offer a valuable lead magnet (e.g., an ebook, guide, or checklist) related to your audience’s interests in exchange for their email. Use these emails to create lookalike audiences on social platforms like Facebook and Google Ads​.

7. Retarget Engaged Audiences with Tailored Ads:

   • Use retargeting campaigns to show ads specifically to people who have engaged with your content before. This strategy increases conversion rates as these audiences are already familiar with your brand.

Watch the full episode here

 THIS WEEK’S EPISODE!

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

Wednesday - Cyber Security 2024 - Is Your Amazon Ecom Business at Risk? | Chase Norlin

Chase Norlin is the CEO of Transmosis, a nationally recognized cyber security workforce developer that enables American workers to develop new careers in the rapidly growing information security industry. Transmosis is the creator of eSure.AI, a next-generation cybersecurity platform that protects consumers and small business from cyber attack with integrated financial liability protection.

Norlin is a serial technology entrepreneur that founded the Internet's first online video sharing platform, video search engine, and photo sharing service.

In this episode, find out:

1. Why should Amazon and eCommerce businesses care about cybersecurity?

2. What is ransomware and how does it affect your online small business?

3.   What can you do right now to fully protect your online business?

Join us us 12 pm ET on Wednesday! 😎

Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here

MEMORY LANE

This is me at Shannonville, driving a Formula 1600.

Im in the front and the guy I’m racing was my old business partner, Dave Reeves.

DON’T MISS THIS WEEK’S MARKETING MISFITS!

THE MASTERCLASS TO BRANDING

Excerpt from Janelle’s interview:

Go with what sounds exciting right now.

Go where you can give your whole heart and give your best because that's where you start to climb in the world.

People recognize energy and passion and hard work and commitment and integrity.

You take those things with you, doors will open.

Check out Janelle’s inspiring episode below 👇

🚨 Watch the full episode here

  🌎 UPCOMING EVENTS

MARK DOWN THESE EVENTS! 

Unboxed

October 14-16 - Austin, Texas - Virtual [free]

Elite Seller Society Mastermind

Oct 21 - 25 - Shenzen, China - Must Apply

Innovate

Oct 29 - New York - Starting from $495

Cross Border Summit

Nov 3 - Chiang Mai - $595

Prosper Show

Mar 25 - 27 - Las Vegas - Starting $399

→ 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

Interested in sponsoring the Lunch With Norm Newsletter? Reply back to this email for more details.