Selling on Amazon and Growing Your Brand Outside Of It

Why are you selling on Amazon? 

If you pose this question to other sellers, among the top reasons are because Amazon is a trusted eCommerce platform and because it is the largest online marketplace in the world. When you sell your brand on Amazon, customers will also trust you because they associate you with the Amazon marketplace. Thus, the customers you gain from Amazon are NOT your customers, rather, they become Amazon’s customers. 

It’s a sad reality, but it’s true. However, don’t think that selling on Amazon is a futile effort. You also gain a lot from selling on Amazon. 

In a previous blog post, you learned about the pros and cons of being an Amazon seller. For start-ups, Amazon offers you low-cost marketing tools plus more visibility and traffic across the marketplace. You can even expand your business globally without worrying too much about logistics, thanks to Amazon FBA. 

How to Leverage Selling on Amazon

As an Amazon seller, you should focus on the top 3 parts of your listing which are the product images, bullet points, and product reviews. 

The first 2 are easy since the seller can proactively update the images and bullet points as they please. However, for product reviews, this is where you cannot affect the reviews. You can just proactively encourage customers to post reviews via an automated review tool, but you cannot ask them to give good reviews. 

Once you have improved the top 3 areas, you can now slowly take your business outside of Amazon. As an online seller, you should not limit yourself to selling on Amazon. Remember, the customers that you gain on Amazon do not become your customers but Amazon’s. 

Instead of driving your traffic directly to Amazon, you can drive them to your social media accounts, Facebook community, YouTube, your website, and on your email list. This way, customers will recognize your brand and will differentiate your identity from Amazon. 

Social media is also the perfect venue to leverage social proof. Word-of-mouth is a brand’s best marketing tool because it’s free and most people rely on the opinion of those who have used your product. Thus, when people see that people are sharing photos of how good your product is, they really see it as something good enough to share. 

Strategies to Support Selling on Amazon

If you don’t have a website yet, don’t worry, you can still market your brand outside of Amazon. This means that you leverage your social media platforms to direct prospects to your Amazon store. Yes, you are still directing traffic to Amazon, but in this case you are using your brand name. 

Here’s how:

1. Create Facebook ads.

You don’t need a website to run Facebook ads. You simply need a business account for both your Facebook and Instagram accounts. You also need a landing page where you can collect emails or offer coupons before directing them to Amazon. This strategy allows you to filter those who really have an intent to buy. Plus, you can send them marketing emails even if they don’t purchase. 

2. Email Marketing

As mentioned earlier, gaining leads will allow you to expand your customer base. Create lead generation Facebook ads and offer a freebie or a coupon to encourage your prospects to provide their email. In the future, you can send a monthly newsletter or inform your email list of Amazon deals and sales. 

3. Influencer Marketing

Perhaps the most effective strategy nowadays is influencer marketing. Why? Popular social media influencers have a good following and people look up to them. Imagine Selena Gomez sporting a cool jacket from your store. People trust influencers because they are popular. Having your brand shown on an influencer’s social media account is the best way to extend your reach. 

Amazon also has its own influencer program courtesy where influencers can post on their storefront. They can even post photos and videos that demonstrate the use of your products. Learn how you can start with influencer marketing through our blog. 

Conclusion

As a start-up seller, you should not limit yourself to selling on Amazon. Utilize your social media platforms to extend your audience reach and make your brand well-known outside of Amazon. You can also tap into influencers who can market your products to a wider customer base. If you need help in expanding your reach, we can help you out not just by selling your products but your brand. Connect with us now and we’d be glad to help you out! 

“You need to spend all of your time and energy on creating something that actually brings value to the people you’re asking for money!” 

– Gary Vaynerchuk