Amazon marketing strategy with Dana Derricks - a podcast by Michael Veazey

In Amazon marketing strategy, "most big course makers don’t talk about this because they don’t do it!" Learn more about Dana's strategies on marketing.



Dana Derricks is the author of “The truth about business”.



When you sell a product on Amazon, you’re not looking to sell ONE product - you want to sell a product LINE. 



So you need to stop trying to make money from just one thing. Everyone else is trying to do that - but then it just becomes a price war. 

Sell the thing that sells the thing! - matcha bowls

Eg on Amazon - Dave Lindenbaum does this. 



He sells matcha bowls - that’s a thing that you mash up the tea in before you make your tea.



He sells those - but it’s his thing that sells the thing. 

Dave’s real thing - matcha tea

So he sells matcha tea! That's THE thing. 



This is a consumable - like pet supplements - so they buy more. 



So about ? of customers came back - so it’s like a compounding thing over time. 

Sell at breakeven at the front

He would sell the matcha bowls for nothing (breakeven) in Amazon marketing strategy.



He undercut EVERYONE else selling match bowls. Because they were trying to make money. 



But he made his money selling matcha tea!

Pet supplements - 1 oz bottle upfront

Dana did a similar thing with pet supplements



 Sell 1 oz bottle



in an insert, buy 4 oz bulk version - buy 3, get 4th free

Off Amazon sale! - cut amazon out of the equation and sent to his store

Didn’t put a label onto big bottle - no labelling costs



It’s not your fault

It’s not your fault if you haven’t heard about it!



Most big course makers don’t talk about this because they don’t do it!



But in the end, it comes down to basic maths! In Amazon marketing strategy.

Front end

On the front end - Dana’s rule is it has to break even at least. 



If you can acquire a customer for free (you break even on it)



Then it’s just scaling - conversion into the next thing as much as possible in Amazon marketing strategy. 



Eg spends $0 to acquire customers. 



25% buy the next thing -that means that 25% of all upfront customers buy. 



That’s how you can forecast cash flow/profit. 



It must be highly scalable - it won’t break stuff if you sell a lot of it. 

Ways to increase conversions

For Dana, product inserts were really valuable. They got a lot of business from that. 



They got a lot of people to the Shopify store from that. 



Early 2018 this was the biggest thing. 



One reason that worked was premium packaging - a little bottle that supplement came in.



99% of supplements come with a bottle inside a plastic bag in a padded envelope.



In a burlap sack, inside a jewellery box with padding. With a nice label on top, and stickered shut. 

Making sense of numbers post-launch and making a kill or go decisions

If you use the “thing that sells the thing” strategy, there are 2 things that matter: 



Can you acquire a ton of customers upfront?



Will the front end thing take off? (The critical number - predicts the health of your business)

NB assuming `you Can acquire customers with the first thing at least breakeven?

You should be able to do a lot of volume on your front end product. 





Are people ascending from the front end to the back end? Say 10-25% cVRW



If that isn’t working, you might need to



Try a different backend product



Dana’s book “The Truth about business” 

Dana’s other books used to be VERY expensive - of...

Further episodes of Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners, and other e-commerce sellers and digital entrepreneurs.

Further podcasts by Michael Veazey

Website of Michael Veazey