eCommerce Brand (Rick Cesari 1 of 2) - a podcast by Michael Veazey

On today's instalment of Amazing FBA, I'm delighted to bring in a heavy hitter in the marketing world, Rick Cesari of RickCesari.com. He's launched, among others, Sonicare, OxiClean, The George Foreman Grill, and GoPro. Rick's story is as impressive as his resume. His marketing career began almost by accident after he graduated from college with a degree in biology. Rick took some time off after school, got into real estate, and started learning about direct to consumer marketing by promoting real estate seminars; this led to Rick's first business, Trillium Health Products. Today he'll be talking about building a big ecommerce brand.







Trillium Health Products developed the Juiceman juicer and Breadman bread machine. Rick and his team taught people about how to eat a healthier diet through their marketing of these products. The market conditions, marketing strategy, and product niche were perfect for Trillium Health Products, and the company grew from zero to $75 million in only four years. Rick sold his company to a retail consumer company in Chicago called Sultan Housewares–best known for developing the George Foreman Grill. Next, Rick and his team took on the task of marketing the George Foreman Grill for Sultan Housewares, and the rest is history.

How Direct Response Marketing Differs from Traditional Brand Marketing

One of the differences between direct response marketing and brand marketing is that in direct response you're able to measure every single advertising dollar that you spend. You can then quickly see whether that advertising is paying for itself. With direct response marketing, you try to create a climate in which each dollar spent in advertising produces two dollars in revenue regardless of distribution channel.



The distribution channel in question for today's discussion is obviously the Amazon marketplace. The marketing channels, however, could be anything from Amazon PPC to Google Ads or Facebook Ads; all of these fall under the umbrella of direct response marketing.



For those looking to grow their sales through marketing, the more you learn about direct response marketing, the better. The principles of direct response marketing developed decades ago when the primary mediums were print and mail still apply today; the human psychology side of the model still applies. It's only the conduit through which the marketing channels run that has changed.



For More on Direct Response Marketing, Check out Rick’s book Buy Now

The Principles Direct Response Marketing

One of the most important ways to differentiate your products on Amazon is to establish a unique selling proposition. What makes your product different and better than everyone else? If you make a product that can provide health benefits, focus on those benefits. If your product has a feature that none of the others do, say so. Educate your consumer base about what makes your product special.



If there's one consistent theme for every successful product Rick has launched or marketed, it's consumer education. From the George Foreman Grill to the Sonicare Toothbrush and everything in between, informing the consumer was paramount in selling the product. Often the biggest hurdle was finding the best distribution channel pre-internet. Now with tools like Amazon, Facebook, and YouTube, and ecommerce solutions like Shopify and Weebly, the distribution platforms have come to the masses.



Take one of Rick's clients Pluggable for example; they've become the number one seller of docking stations on Amazon. What they did, from an education standpoint, was build their website and optimize it for video distribution designed to educate their consumers about the Pluggable ...

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