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Firing The Man
THANK YOU TO OUR 25,000+ LISTENERS! We are so thankful to be one of the TOP E-Commerce Podcasts delivering high-quality authentic content to you! Serial Entrepreneur’s David Schomer and Ken Wilson share tips, advice, and insider knowledge about all things Amazon FBA, Walmart WFS, and E-Commerce. Discover how you can create multiple income streams by selling physical products online so that you can have the time and freedom to do what you love - whether that is spending more time with family or traveling the world. Ken and David have successfully created several six and seven figure online business ventures. During the journey, they have had major wins, losses, and lessons learned. This podcast will teach you about selling physical products online through platforms such as Fulfillment by Amazon, building a team, outsourcing, listing optimization, pay per click (PPC) advertising, driving traffic to your listings, and productivity tips / life hacks that will provide a path to be successful in building your online business. It’s a mix of interviews, special co-hosts and solo shows from Ken and David you’re not going to want to miss. Hit subscribe, and get ready to change your life.
Firing The Man
Mastering Amazon Sales: Insights from Expert Kathleen kobel on Influencer Programs, Ad Campaigns, and Entrepreneurial Success
Curious about how to level up your Amazon selling strategy? In this episode, we chat with Kathleen kobel, a seasoned Amazon expert who’s been in the game since 2009, starting out by selling her grad school textbooks. Kathleen shares her inspiring journey from working with her entrepreneurial uncle to building her own successful Amazon business. Now, through her Amazon-focused agency, she’s helped launch over 1,000 brands and knows the ins and outs of what it takes to thrive on the platform. She also reveals how the Amazon Influencer Program can be a game-changer for your business.
Kathleen breaks down the key strategies for optimizing your product listings, running effective ad campaigns, and avoiding common pitfalls like launching ads too early. From mastering keyword research and creating compelling imagery to engaging influencers for maximum visibility, her tips are pure gold. Whether you're just starting or looking to refine your approach, Kathleen's insights will help you take your Amazon game to the next level.
We also dive into Amazon's influencer and affiliate programs how they work, how to get noticed, and how to build relationships with influencers that actually drive results. Kathleen shares her strategies for using tools like Creator Connections and brand attribution links to grow your brand while keeping costs in check. Beyond business, Kathleen’s passion for networking, playing classical piano, and her love for the book Chill and Prosper give this episode a personal touch you won’t want to miss. Follow her on YouTube and social media for even more tips and free resources!
Connect with Kathleen Kobel:
• www.kathleenkobel.com
Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast, a show for anyone who wants to be their own boss. If you sit in a cubicle every day and know you are capable of more, then join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income streams in just a few short hours per day. And now your hosts, serial entrepreneurs David Shomer and Ken Wilson.
Speaker 2:Welcome everyone to the Firing the man podcast. On today's episode we are joined by Kathleen Coble, now Ken. We just got done recording this and it was an outstanding episode. We took a really big, deep dive into the Amazon Influencer Program, learned a lot about that. What were some of your key takeaways?
Speaker 3:Yeah, for one very experienced selling on Amazon. She's been selling on Amazon since like 07, I believe, 09, like back when it was just books. So if you're selling on Amazon now, she has a lot of experience and she's been focusing on the influencer space for the last couple of years and I would say she's expert level and she kind of dove into two different aspects of it. One, as a seller how can you get more sales leveraging influencers and the second is, hey, on the influencer side, if you have a following and you want a side gig, she kind of explains and walks you through steps on that and so you know she kind of covers a little bit of everything. What was your big takeaway, david?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Just. Number one, just being very well-versed in Amazon, and I think that comes from spending 15 years on the marketplace, and so this is an outstanding episode that you're not going to want to miss. Kathleen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 4:Thank you guys. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to chat with you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. You have a rich background in all things Amazon. Share with us your journey that led to where you're at now.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I discovered selling on Amazon back in I'm going to date myself now, 2009, way back when, I believe it was only books that were being sold on there at the time, and so I just finished grad school, was looking for a way to make a little extra money and I decided to put my grad school textbooks for sale on Amazon, not really understanding how it worked, and you know, back then it was very easy to sell things. There was not a lot of competition and so my books sold very quickly. You know, just click the. Yes, I have one of those they sold. I shipped them off to the customer and was like wow, in three days I had like $500. And I'm like this could be a great way to make some money.
Speaker 4:At the time I was working for an entrepreneur who had small business, also my my uncle. So you know I was kind of being put into different places in his small business, kind of he's trying to see. You know I was kind of being put into different places in his small business, kind of he's trying to see. You know where I fit, and he had just recently launched a supplement company and while he was really focused on the direct mail side, the off, you know offline. Really, I'm like what if we brought you know your business onto Amazon and he didn't know too much about it. So I did a little more research after I sold my books, took a course, went to a conference and he eventually agreed like yeah, if you want to just handle Amazon, figure it out, I'll pay you a commission and you can sell my products. And so that's how it really started with my first selling experience on Amazon and how I kind of went into entrepreneur mode, utilizing the job that I already had. I used it to really learn more about Amazon and launch products on Amazon and kind of figure it all out on the way, or along the way, rather. And his company grew very quickly and Amazon was a huge sales arm of the company overall and I will say I made a lot of money doing it. It was very quickly and Amazon was a huge sales arm of the company overall and I will say I made a lot of money doing it. It was very exciting.
Speaker 4:And so when I saw the potential of selling on Amazon, I really just leaned into it. I started selling my own stuff, doing retail arbitrage and after a few years I left the company in order to do it on my own, to start my own brand, and then I ended up having a small agency. It starts with the first few clients, so I left working for him after I had my first child. Your time becomes so much more valuable when you throw a kid into the mix, and so I'm like I feel like I can do this for myself. I just really wasn't sure what should I be doing? How should I start my own business? And it turned out Amazon. Right, especially at that time that was back in 2015, when I left working the corporate world officially, and so I kind of put things feelers out there Like what am I good at? What can people hire me for? And it ended up being Amazon.
Speaker 4:And he said back then there were not all of the service agencies around Amazon that there are now. There are so many now, but you know, 10 years ago there were not quite as many. And so I had a lot of people coming to me like I don't understand Amazon. I've got this great ecommerce business, but I just don't understand Amazon. I've got this great e-commerce business, but I just don't understand Amazon. Can you help me?
Speaker 4:And so I ended up just getting a bunch of clients, I had to hire a team. We had a pretty big agency for a while and I mean my team and I helped launch over 1000 brands on Amazon over the years. And so Amazon is I like to say Amazon is my jam. I've been, I spend most of my days on Amazon looking at product listings, analyzing things. You know I'm a bit of an Amazon nerd, but that's really how it all got started. You know, oh, let's sell these textbooks, and it kind of just snowballed with the job I was in and eventually launched my own service-based agency and helped all these other businesses on Amazon too.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. So thanks for sharing your story. And, yeah, back at the time of selling books, that's pretty cool. Talk about early days, that's early there, so awesome. So what I'm curious? It sounds like you like helping others, which is a great thing, you know. It sounds like you like helping others, so, which is a great thing. But let's talk about so what inspired you to start your own business and how has that evolved over time?
Speaker 4:Sure, so well, thank you for saying that. I didn't want to start with that, but I love helping others. It's, you know, it's the female in me, the mom in me. I don't know what it is, but even before, you know, I had kids. I actually got my master's degree in clinical counseling, and so I was set to take, you know, my career, um, when I was going to be a therapist, and at the time, um, when I graduated, you know, grad school and you know, mental health funding was not amazing in my state, and so that's when I actually made the pivot and I went to go work for my uncle instead of leaning into my career.
Speaker 4:So I have always had this helpful, I guess, mentality. But what really inspired me to start my own business was, like I said, I have my daughter and I just felt like I was missing so much time with her being at work. Yes, we all go to work, whether we have the nine to five or we have our own business, we all still have to do some sort of work. It was just like too much with someone else constantly telling me what to do and how to spend my time, and so, for me, I've always been entrepreneurial, I'm a go-getter, I don't need someone to tell me what to do. I'm pretty self-motivated, especially when I have my why my kids, and so that was really the reason why I was inspired to start my own business.
Speaker 4:I felt like I had learned a lot about Amazon, and the more I talked to other people and realized how much they didn't know about it, it gave me a little bit more confidence to be like oh, I could do this for other people too. I've been doing it for myself and for my job, but I figured I can do this for other people and really help them, and I did for a long time. I really just helped the solopreneurs and the very small businesses get launched on Amazon, because they didn't have the budget to hire big marketing companies and things like that. So it was really the small business. I'm a sucker for small business. Of course I love Amazon, but I love seeing that small business badge when I'm buying stuff like small business yeah, I'll buy from you guys. So that's kind of how I got inspired to do my own thing but also be of service and helpful to others.
Speaker 2:Very nice, very nice. Well, as we talked before the episode, ken and I, our primary sales channel is Amazon and we're really looking forward to digging in on some nitty gritty details of selling on Amazon. So, for businesses that are new to Amazon, what are some common pitfalls they should avoid when setting up their marketplace presence?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think you know one that we constantly run into is launching their whole catalog at one time. I have, you know, a lot of brands that have started with me have expansive catalogs. Right, I love when they don't, because then it's very easy. Right, expansive catalogs, I love when they don't, because then it's very easy. But when they're clothing brands or toy brands and they have thousands of SKUs, where do you start? Well, let's look at your bestsellers. If they have never been on Amazon, what are your bestsellers from your website? What do people keep coming back and buying? So then we can really focus on getting those first 5 to 10 products launched, see how that goes, start getting some sales history and then start branching out and look to the other products in your catalog, because, especially for the smaller businesses, it also helps with the inventory and the cash flow and all that good stuff.
Speaker 4:But besides not launching their whole catalog, I would say and I don't think this is quite as common anymore but not using FBA. A lot of people are like do I really have to use FBA to be successful on Amazon? And my answer is mostly I mean yes, yes, you do. You have to use FBA, because if you don't. There's going to be customers that see your listing or see your brand and they're going. Well, you're going to charge me for shipping or I'm not going to get it in two days. Bye, you know, I'm going to competitor. So you know, I think those are two.
Speaker 4:If I had to pick a third one, I would say also starting ads too quickly. Of course we want to get ads out there, but without any sort of sales history, without any sort of customer reviews. Right, we need, like that, social proof, because if you're going to pay, you're going to be running paid ads. You want to make sure that your conversion rate is going to be decent before you start paying for those ads. So I always recommend you know you need at least you know 10 to 20 reviews before you start ads. Because some people are so like I have a marketing budget, like let's go, I need sales now, but they don't realize that they could be wasting their money very quickly without sales or reviews first.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. Now, kathleen, you had mentioned like kind of the first steps. Now let's say, you've, you know it's a new client and you've, you brought them in and then that you identified, hey, there's, you know, these four parent listings make up 80% of all your sales. So let's focus on these four listings. What are some things that you would do to those listings? Analyze them, what would you recommend to optimize them and increase sales?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think kind of, I have like like two thoughts here. The first one would be like keyword research and competitor research. I think, at least in my experience, a lot of business owners they don't always take the time to like go through the customer experience, right, and so you know if someone is searching for your top converting keywords, what else is showing up and how are you distinguishing yourself from all of the other search results that are coming up for those keywords, right, and then making sure that, of course, you have those high converting keywords in your listing and then we put those in the ads. Later on too, we're really looking at keyword optimization and looking at what is the competition doing as far as their listings, but also their offerings, their pricing. I get a lot of client pushback sometimes when they're like well, we want to do an ad where we're targeting these competitor ASINs and I'm like, well, but your product is so much more expensive and people are not necessarily Amazon customers. They want the best value, right, Not necessarily the best price all the time, but the best value. And so I would say, yeah, we really focus on keyword and competitor research and then after that, after we get through that, really the next.
Speaker 4:I think the most important thing is to look at optimizing your imagery and your videos, because as customers I'll just say it we're lazy, right? People are not going to read every single bullet point that you have in your product description. Some of them are going to scroll down to A-plus content, but many of them are not right. So some of the best prime real estate on the product listing is the images, and so, whether you need to make them more infographic, I always recommend people take their bullet points or their key features and benefits and incorporate them into the imagery, because as people are scrolling on their phone, it's like they get it. They only need a few seconds to really understand what your product is there to offer them.
Speaker 4:And I think one thing a lot of product listings are missing right now is that video component, which is so key for conversion rate just in general. But I know we kind of touched on this before we hit record, but Amazon has this influencer program right now, so you can only get influencers to come and create videos for your product listing If you have a video on there already. There are other placements where influencer videos can be, but the best real estate is in that upper carousel, in the video slot there, and no influencers are really going to take you very seriously or want to create content for you if you don't have that initial video which, whether you care about influencers or not, it's going to help with your conversion rate, because if a customer wants to see your thing and they want to see your product, just not in a picture of videos an amazing way to showcase it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's dive into that influencer program a little bit more and and and. First, like let's start with step one. Do you, how do you enroll and what are some of the best ways to engage with the influencers?
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, so I've actually been a very active participant in the Amazon influencer program over the last about three years or so now, which is pretty close to when they launched their on-site commission program, and so what that is is it's like being an Amazon affiliate. You're promoting Amazon products, you're creating your links and putting them out there, but with the influencer program, it's creators creating content that then lives on Amazon, which really takes away that huge marketing piece outside of Amazon. Of course, amazon wants you to promote your content off Amazon, but the nice thing about this program is, as a creator, you can make money just from your content that's living on Amazon already, so they're putting you in front of Amazon customers who are already considering the purchase. So I really started leaning into this after my. I had a big agency, I had a big team and just meetings after meetings all day, every day, I felt like I was going back to working for the man because of the structure of the business that I created, which was wonderful. The money was great, my clients were great, my team was great. It was just a lot. It was just a lot of time, and I like to have more flexibility and be more creative whenever I can. So I saw this program enrolled, started doing it and it really took off from there, but in order to get started.
Speaker 4:So if you guys just Google Amazon Influencer Program Sign Up or Amazon Influencer Sign Up, you will see the sign up page and really what they want you to do is link your Amazon account and then they want to see your social media. You get to pick. They have 4 options for social media. It's Facebook, instagram, tiktok and YouTube. So whichever of those 4, you have the, I would say, largest following. But it's really more about engagement, to be honest, um, cause they will go and check that. So wherever your highest engaging social media network is, that's the one you want to apply for. Um, it's open in all the international marketplaces that, uh, pretty much Amazon is selling on now. So whether you're in the UK, australia, italy, india, japan, they all have the influencer program now, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 4:But that's how you get started. You really apply and they want to see that you have some sort of presence socially off of Amazon, because ideally, they want you to be promoting the content off of Amazon. But once you get in and get accepted, then they want you to create three videos Amazon, as you guys know, being in the Amazon space, they have all their rules right, so they just want to make sure you're following the rules when it comes to content creation. To create your three videos. They approve it, they call it, you know, unlocked for onsite commission and then creators can hit the road there. You can create videos every day, every week, every month, but the beauty is that you get your videos and content placed on Amazon, so it's like little mini income streams all over Amazon that not only help you, but then they help the sellers as well, and I work with a lot of sellers and a lot of influencers and finding the right people I'm like creator connections does with Amazon. There's a lot that can be done outside of that too.
Speaker 3:Okay, so let's dig into this a little bit, because there's because you had, as you had mentioned, there's two, there's kind of two sides of this. There's one is like an influencer, right, and one is creating the content and videos, and then there's the seller and so, and then there's, you know, kind of um, uh, connecting them Right and so, on the uh, creator side, how so? How does how does the commissions work? How does it? How, how do the? How do you get paid? And and, um, yeah, can you kind of walk us through that, like, if someone's listening and they want to start a side gig, or or maybe they have a large following on one of those channels and they're like, hey, how can I monetize that? Can you kind of step through that?
Speaker 4:Definitely yeah, and I would encourage anyone that has a decent following off of Amazon to just apply, because the beauty of the program is you can apply a million times. If Amazon says no today, apply tomorrow. Grow your engagement, apply the next day, apply the next day. No today, apply tomorrow. You know, grow your engagement, apply the next day, apply the next day. So once you get into the program, your Unlock for Onsite commission. It works very similar to the associates or the affiliate side of Amazon where you have your commission rate card. They're slightly different than off Amazon but the commission is mostly between one and a half to four percent. So if you're in like kitchen and home stuff, that's the higher end, with 4%. Electronics and things like that is the lower end, with one to 2%. But basically, you know we we don't know exactly how long a customer has to watch a video in order for the influencer to get credit for the sale.
Speaker 4:Amazon calls it a qualifying purchase. So in Amazon's terms that doesn't really surprise me. But me and my students and my network, we've all asked Amazon well, what is a qualifying purchase Amazon? Do they have to watch the video for 30 seconds? Do they have to watch it for 50% of the time. So Amazon keeps moving the bar. I think it was just watching before. Now I really do think that customers have to watch at least half the videos, or that's what my analytics are making me infer and I look at other people's analytics too that I help coach. But so really, once the customer watches your video, they have to purchase the thing, and then you get your affiliate commission.
Speaker 4:Whether it customer watches your video, they have to purchase the thing, right, and then you get your affiliate commission, whether it's 1%, 2%, 3% or 4%, and so then your sales accumulate over the month and then you get paid out 2 months later. So everything that I earn in July will then get paid at the end of September, and so on. So you're creating constantly. You're earning every day, which is the beautiful part of this is that you know I don't think I've posted a video in a few days. It's been a busy week, but every day I'm earning. So I really love that about the program, especially if you have a business already. You have a decent following. You can very much apply with your business Facebook page or your YouTube channel, and if you buy a lot following, you can very much apply with your business Facebook page or your YouTube channel and if you buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. It's just, it's so simple. You already have all the things that you know you need to create content for.
Speaker 3:Okay, one, one follow-up question on that. Now are the videos green. I mean, do they just they're up for ever, or are there? Is there a time period that the video stay up?
Speaker 4:Yeah, oh, great question. So technically, they're on Amazon forever. It's just a matter of where Amazon decides to place them, where they appear on a particular day. So we really go like our target. My goal if I'm creating a video, is to get on the product listing page, and so in order to do that, I know that I need to shoot a horizontal video and I need to tag one ASIN. That's going to give me the best chance to get on the product listing page. If I tag 10 ASINs, amazon's never going to put me on any product listing page.
Speaker 4:I might show up on Inspire right the scroll through more like kind of TikTok Instagram reels, kind of part of the shopper app, but the content does live there forever. However, as new content comes in, it will rotate. So maybe today I'm at the top of the video carousel and tomorrow if someone else has converted more than me or if there's new content that was tagged for that ASIN that came in. Amazon is constantly testing, so I've seen videos rotate multiple times a day. I've seen my video stay in a certain place for three months at a time. We really don't know, but it's Amazon, so we know they're testing, we know they're tracking all this, and they have their algorithm as to how they're rotating things, but the content does stay there forever. It's just a matter of where. Does it show up today versus tomorrow or a month from now?
Speaker 3:Gotcha, so a lot of gray area, as usual on Amazon.
Speaker 4:Exactly, you nailed it, all right.
Speaker 3:Go ahead, David.
Speaker 2:I've got one more. So can we go over the economics of one getting the product in the influencer's hand? Are you giving that product away? And the kind of second part of this question is subsequent sales. So there's a video on your listing. You drive traffic to your listing. Somebody watches that video. Are you paying a commission, or is this included in your referral fee, or how does that work?
Speaker 4:Yes, so the commission that the influencers and the affiliates make, that's coming out of Amazon's pocket, which is the great news to sellers, right? Ideally that's your 15% or your 17%. If you're in an unlucky category, 15% or you're 17% if you're in an unlucky category. That's part of that referral fee that Amazon is then using to pay out to the influencers and the affiliates. What was the first part of your question? That was a two-parter, yeah.
Speaker 2:So sorry, it's kind of a confusing question.
Speaker 4:No, no, no, You're fine.
Speaker 2:The seller side? Yeah, do you give the influencer the product?
Speaker 4:The seller side. Yeah, do you give the influencer the product you know you can? That's really up to you. I think a lot of I mean a lot of what's going on right now is influencers are finding their own products. Or, at least you know, when I first started, it was here's all this I, you know, here's my order history. I'm going to go do a little research with my you know, jungle Scout and see what are the top selling items that I have that I've purchased in the last month that I'm going to create for that. However, now as the influencer program is growing, there's more people in the program.
Speaker 4:Sellers reach out all the time. As a seller, you can go find an influencer from their storefront. Amazon does actually let us have our social media links in there so you could reach out. You know, if you see an influencer uh, like a video and you click on their influencer name on there, it'll bring you to their storefront and you can contact them through their, their social accounts. But a lot of the times the influencers are just they're buying the things and they're using the things and then they're creating for it.
Speaker 4:With creator connections it's a little bit different. I would say. If you're going to utilize creator connections. Offering a free sample is going to set you apart from all the other 10,000 now campaigns that are in there, but you don't necessarily have to go shelling out free samples to influencers in order to get videos on your listing. I think if you do a good job marketing with your advertising on Amazon and with your product listing page, make sure you add a video on there. Influencers will eventually find you and come to you and you may just wake up one day and see there's an influencer video on your product listing page. That's literally how I discovered the program. I was working on a client's listing and I was like what is this video? This is. We didn't make this, you guys didn't make this. This person's earning commission, what is happening right now? And so that's kind of how I discovered the program just because other people were already creating content for my client's product listing pages.
Speaker 3:Okay, so just a couple of things to clarify. So there's kind of two so Amazon's got an influencer program and so there's like you can independently reach out to them or use software or find an expert. Like Kathleen, there's a creator connections for sellers to go in and kind of use that. Can you speak about both of those and like kind of what's the difference between them?
Speaker 4:Sure, yes. So with Creator Connections you're going through Amazon. Amazon is facilitating the interaction, I guess, between you as a seller and the influencer, Because with Creator Connections you're creating your campaign on your terms, right? You're saying I'm going to give you 10% commission for these product listings and for this long of a time period, and then influencers can go and decide to opt in, accept that campaign, especially if they already have the product. That's an easy win-win for both parties. You can also offer a free sample.
Speaker 4:So one thing I do really like about Creator Connections is that Amazon allows us to message each other back and forth, right? So, as they don't give us alerts when people send us messages, so you do have to be proactive and go, look at that. But as a seller, I've had sellers reach out to me as an influencer saying hey, if you want to opt into our campaign, we'll send you a free sample. And then I've also been on the other side of that, where the sellers have a hard time getting the influencers in there because maybe their campaign wasn't as descriptive enough or they weren't offering a high enough commission or anything you know, kind of anything like that. That is probably one of the most regulated ways, I would say, to kind of connect the sellers and the influencers. But then you know you as a seller can always, like I said, you can go if you find someone on social media or again, if you find someone who's already creating content for your brand. I've had multiple sellers reach out to me saying, like, we saw your video on our listing. Would you be willing to like work with us and do another one, or would you be willing to update this, because now we have a new version and so you know, for me that's an easy yes, especially if they're gonna send me the product. And again, you can reach out via, I would recommend, social media.
Speaker 4:I always tell influencers, like, check your, you know, message requests, because that's where the sellers are going to be finding you, Cause you know Amazon won't let us um put our email or our phone number or anything. So, um, it's very possible to get, to get in touch with influencers off Amazon, Um, but if you want to start with, you know, a creator connections campaign, you um it's. You know you have to pay the extra percentage, but you're very much in control of that, right, you can. You can stop the campaign whenever you want. Um, I've, you know, discovered right, you can say this for a year and then cut it off at three months if it's doing really, really well, right, and you don't want to keep paying that extra commission. I've also had people using their brand attribution links to give to influencers. So then you are not, you know, then you're more net neutral with that extra commission too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was a. That's a good pro tip, pro tip there. So if you're listening, rewind it 30 seconds to listen to that. It really helped you out. My next question would be for, like cause, you've seen it from a lot of different angles. You and an influencer have been a seller and helping and doing all that. And so for the sellers that are listening, and what are a couple of besides the one you just mentioned, what are a couple of other kind of pro tips to help scale sale, like what, if they're having issues doing this, like what are a couple of ways to, um, I don't know, get them out the door and going?
Speaker 4:Yeah, do you mean like, with like launching new products on Amazon?
Speaker 3:Uh, no, just um. In terms of uh, influencer, like either career connections or independently reaching out. Which which one do you think is a better option for sellers in terms of like profitability or in terms of getting the most eyeballs on your product?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would say, really reaching out direct to the influencers is going to give you probably more bang for your buck and it's going to be less time consuming on your end, because then you can really vet people. I mean, with Creator Connections you could just kind of I mean you can create your own terms and kind of sit back. And I do recommend, with Creator Connections, if you start a campaign and you ask influencers to fill out a Google form, then you can vet a little bit more. Ask them for their socials. What kind of following do they have? You probably have to offer a free sample in order to get them to fill out that form, but at the same time then you could ask them for their email. That way, you know, then you can really get in contact and vet the right people for your campaign. That's definitely one good way to do it.
Speaker 4:But I think if you happen to come across an influencer even you know, if you look to your competitor listings and you see influencers that are on there you may want to reach out and say, hey, I have a very similar product, would you be willing to try this out? And a lot of times people will say, yes, free products are good for the newer influencers. You got to pay for the more experienced ones. But even if you're paying a few hundred dollars for a UGC video, you're probably going to end up ahead, depending on what your product is. But you can very much be more targeted if you go off of Amazon.
Speaker 4:But I would recommend looking at their storefronts. So if you see content from them and you click, it'll say their name, it'll say earns commission or whatever their Amazon name is. If you click on that, it'll bring you to their brand store and then you can look at all their content. You can see their sample videos. You can look at their social media and you can really vet them and put someone on your team on this for a day and ask them to come up with their top 20 influencers on Amazon. Reach out to them and most of them are probably checking their DMs looking for these kind of.
Speaker 2:Outstanding. Well, anything else we want to cover on the influencer program, this has been an outstanding conversation.
Speaker 4:Amazon seller selling products. I still see us as selling products. We're more just, we're affiliates on Amazon, now right as opposed to off of Amazon. So I think it's a really good opportunity too for people that are just looking to try something new and have another income stream on Amazon. I pride myself in my multiple Amazon income streams because, even though they're not all on Amazon, but the multiple on Amazon, it's like, well, if I have a down day on seller, then I'll create some more videos for influencer. If I have a down day on influencer, I'll create more videos, or I'll find another product to launch in my seller store. And so, just having those options, you can definitely do both. I would say don't create influencer videos for your products as a seller. That's the only no, no that I would say. But you know, that seems like common sense, ish.
Speaker 3:But unless you're Amazon, then you can do it.
Speaker 4:Unless you're Amazon. Well, of course Amazon, they do whatever they want, right? They break the rules and then they tell us about it later. It's the same with the influencer program. They have don't do this, and then they hire people to do those things and we're like but you said no and they're like okay, we'll change it, you know.
Speaker 4:But yeah, I think it's a. It's a really good opportunity, even as like a little side hustle, if you want to just try it out, cause it's, it's fun, but it's it's just so easy. You guys like it's not the videos, are not these like 10 minute YouTube production videos. They are one minute. You know films with your iPhone. Here's the thing. Here's how it works. Or here's one thing that I would say you should know before you buy this, or here's how big it really is in real life. I mean just focusing on one thing that you think will be valuable to customers that maybe a seller has forgotten to add to their product page, or something like that. It's just an easy, fun way to make some extra money, and I have a lot of people in my course and my program that are like just killing it because it's pretty easy.
Speaker 2:So yeah, absolutely so. A couple more Amazon questions for you outside of the influencer program. So, with increasing competition on Amazon, what are some ways that brands can stand out and differentiate themselves?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would say, well, video is huge, right, like there's so many product listings that I see that don't have videos. And I just think that if you're going to set yourself apart from the competition, you need to at least be on the same page as the competition, right? So I always recommend just what? What are your top five competitors like? And you need to be watching them at all times, cause if they change something, you need to know that they're changing something and you need to try to figure out why they're changing that thing, whether they're testing that thing or they've already proved that. You know they're changing their A plus content or they're switching up their imagery and things like that.
Speaker 4:So you always need to be watching your competition, but also staying on the up and up with what's going on with Amazon and that's one of the things that I love about my agency and being able to service multiple clients is that when they did the informed act thing, right, everyone all over the forums like, oh, my God, my account's getting shut down and oh, like I need to send in all this paperwork. But it was like this is just very normal. You know, amazon does this every three to four years where they threaten to shut down your account and you have to send in, you know, your LLC paperwork or you need to send in your driver's license or whatever it may be. So I like that. We, because we have multiple accounts that we manage, we get to see those things pretty quickly, as opposed to just having your one e-commerce business and you're still in there every day. Right, but it's nice to be able to compare apples to apples and say, okay, this is happening across the board, so now how are we going to react to that?
Speaker 4:So I think you know making sure that you're staying on the up and up, and I also really lean into my network. You know you got to surround yourself with people that are doing the same thing that you're doing or in the same space as you, because if you're off on an island, you're never going to be able to stay, you know, stay competitive, and so I think that's also very important. The people you surround yourself with I look more as people are not my competitors. We're collaborators, like we may be doing the same thing, but we can. We can talk about it, and I always get ideas from people like, yes, we're definitely competitors, we're we're competing for the same product listing, or we're selling the same product, but it's, like you know, if you look at it in a different frame of mind, with more of a growth mindset than a scarcity, it's like, well, what can I learn from my competitors and how can I use that knowledge to grow my business too?
Speaker 3:Excellent. So we can never get through one episode recently unless we talk about AI, and so I have to ask you are you testing AI or using AI? And if so, what is your favorite tool for e-commerce for AI?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I have been testing AI. I'm probably a little bit behind the curve with AI. Just because I don you know, I feel like I can tell right, did I AI write this? Or did you know a person write this? And while it's very helpful, right, I have AI write a ton of stuff for me, whether it's like product listings or I'm giving me a script outline or you know things like that. Honestly, I'm mostly just in chat GPT a ton, like I'm just using that for as much as I possibly can, like I said, descriptions and SEO tags and things like that Chat GPT. But, like I said, I don't use AI a ton with the influencer program. We are not supposed to be using AI. That's not allowed as far as content creation goes.
Speaker 4:People were getting away with using, like, ai voices and things like that for a little while, but Amazon does not like that. But then you know, on the seller side, right, they've integrated AI with everything, so you know, however, I have heard some horror stories on that side as well. But yeah, I like to just keep it simple right now. Well, but yeah, I like to just keep it simple right now. Chatgpt if I need like a cool image or something, I'll go to my lead pages and have them. Do you know an image for me, or something like that? But yeah, I'm no expert in AI. I wish I was. I'm learning. I'm learning and using it as much as I can, though, yeah, no, fair enough.
Speaker 3:And you know ChatGPT is like kind of de facto. You know it's like hey, it's been out there a while, it's stable, and you know you use it for first draft and kind of go from there. So yeah, david, any more questions for Kathleen before we get into the fire round.
Speaker 2:Let's get into it.
Speaker 3:Awesome, Kathleen. Are you ready for the fire round? I'm ready. What is your?
Speaker 4:favorite book. My favorite book is Chill and Prosper by Denise Duffield Thomas. I have it right here with me. It's all about Her tagline is amazing the new way to grow your business, make millions and change the world. So it's very much about mindset, money and marketing Three of my favorite things.
Speaker 3:Awesome. I like it. What are your hobbies?
Speaker 4:My hobbies are, I would say, piano and poker, outside of hanging out with my family and my kids. I play piano. I've played classical piano since I was five and I'm a sucker for Texas Hold'em. Like if I have any free time, I'm going to Vegas and you'll see me at the Aria or the Bellagio at a table.
Speaker 3:Nice, that's awesome. World Series of Poker is next right.
Speaker 4:Oh, it's on my list. Yes, I will be there. I've been watching the. I've been seeing what's been going on this summer, so I'm going to get there one of these years.
Speaker 3:Very cool. What is one thing that you do not miss about working for the man?
Speaker 4:Oh, this is. I do not miss asking for time off. Can I take this day off? Can I need this this day off approved? Like I'm very uh, I'm very protective of my time and so, um, that's the biggest thing is having to ask for time off and having to get permission to have a day where I get to choose what I want to do, cause now I get to do that every day. So that's the reason why I would never go back and work for the man. I don't care about paychecks and 401ks. I have all that stuff and I work for myself. You know it's all about. I'm going to do this with my time today and no one's going to tell me otherwise.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Love it. Last one what do you think sets apart successful entrepreneurs from those who give up, fail or never get started?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would say like, apart from the standard, stereotypical, like you need goal setting, you need planning, you need to take action. Sure, all of that is very important. But I think the two things really. I would say mindset and I would say network, because with your network, you network. Like I said earlier, it's really hard to be successful when you're on an island.
Speaker 4:But I have I'm an introvert, so networking was difficult for me at first. Now I'm much better at it, but I have such an amazing network to where, if I need help with something or I have a question or I'm promoting a new product, I have people that I can call for. All of that that will help me and that I will do the same, you know, in return for them. It's part of how I got my course off the ground. I had my business. Friends would come into their groups and pitch it and they were, you know, so helpful.
Speaker 4:Network is huge. But then the other thing is mindset. Like if you don't, if you don't believe you can do it, you're never going to do it, and so I think it's really important to um, if you are, whether you're working for yourself or you're still working for the man, you have to work on your mindset and your personal development and make sure that that is all in a good place, cause it's really hard to plan and make goals and take action when your mind is not in the right space.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Excellent answer, David. Over to you to close out the show.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Kathleen. I want to thank you for being a guest on the Finding the man podcast. If people are interested in getting in touch with you or working with you, what is the best way?
Speaker 4:Yeah, great. Thank you guys so much for having me. This has been so fun. If anyone out there listening wants to get a hold of me, you guys can find me at my website, which is my name KathleenCobelcom, or you can email me at hello at KathleenCobelcom. You can also find me hanging out on Facebook, instagram or YouTube. I've got a YouTube channel where I have lots of free trainings on Amazon Influencer and Amazon Selling as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time today and we're looking forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 4:Great. Thank you, guys, so much for having me.
