The ultimate guide to Amazon Reports

 Running a successful Amazon business hinges on data-driven insights. And understanding your performance metrics is the key to unlocking your full potential on the platform. Amazon offers several reports to help you analyze your sales, advertising, and overall customer experience. By leveraging these reports and focusing on the right metrics, you can optimize your strategy and outshine the competition.

What are Amazon Reports?

Amazon Reports are essentially data dashboards for sellers on Amazon. They provide valuable insights and information to help sellers track the performance of their business. There are two main categories of Amazon reports:

Business Reports: These reports focus on sales, traffic, inventory, and fulfillment. They include things like total sales, units ordered, number of visitors to your product listings, conversion rates, and how often your products win the “Buy Box” placement. By analyzing this data, sellers can identify trends, make better decisions about pricing and advertising, and improve their overall sales strategy.

Advertising Reports: If you run advertising campaigns on Amazon, these reports will tell you how your ads are performing. You can see things like which keywords are driving the most traffic and sales, what your click-through rates are, and how much you’re spending on advertising. This information can help you optimize your ad campaigns for better results.

How to access Amazon Seller Central Reports

Here’s how to navigate to the different reports available in Amazon Seller Central:

Log in to your Seller Central account.

Navigate to the Reports Tab in the top left corner of your Seller Central homepage. Hover over the “Reports” tab to display a dropdown menu.

Select the desired report type from the dropdown menu, e.g. “Business Reports,” “Advertising Reports,” “Payments Reports,” or “Fulfillment Reports.”

Once you’re within a category, you can choose the specific report you want. Most reports allow you to set a custom date range for the data you want to see.

Click on “Request Report” or “Download Report” depending on the report type.

Benefits of using Amazon Reports

Amazon Reports offer a crystal-clear view into every aspect of your business as a seller. You can track everything from sales and traffic to inventory levels and customer behavior. By diving into these reports, you can:

• Track total sales, units sold, and revenue trends to identify your top-selling products, peak sales periods, and customer buying patterns.
• Analyze conversion rates, bounce rates, and traffic sources to understand how customers interact with your listings.
• Discover which keywords are driving the most traffic and sales, allowing you to refine your advertising campaigns and maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS).
• Gain insights into your inventory levels, identify slow-moving products, and optimize your stock to avoid stockouts or overstocking.

Amazon Business Reports

Amazon Business Reports provide insights into sales trends and the actions visitors take on your product pages. These are the reports that you should keep and eye on:

Sales Dashboard

This date-based report provides a clear view of your orders and sales data, allowing you to compare your current performance to previous periods. These easy-to-read reports are presented in your currency and percentages, along with helpful graphs and tables for visual analysis.

Sales & Traffic

This report shows how many people viewed your listings and visited your Seller page, along with your conversion rate – the percentage of viewers who turn into paying customers. You’ll also see total sales, gross product sales (revenue before fees), and even how many units are typically viewed per customer session.

Detail Page Sales and Traffic by ASIN

This report provides the most in-depth look at individual product performance. It breaks down various metrics for each product and its variations (child ASINs). This includes crucial data points like the number of product views and the conversion rate for each product. Here’s a breakdown of the key information that you can see in this report:

Sessions: The number of unique visitors to your product page in the last 24 hours.

Page Views: The total number of views on your listing within a selected time period. This includes customers who viewed your listing multiple times so it might be higher than your sessions.

Page Views Percentage: The percentage of page views individual product ASINs receive compared to other products.

Buy Box Percentage: The percentage of page views where you owned the Buy Box.

Units Ordered: The total number of units ordered during the specified date range.

Unit Session Percentage: This is the most important metric in the business report as it shows your conversion rate: the percentage of units ordered compared to the number of page views.

Ordered Product Sales: The total revenue for each product within a specific time period.

Total Order Items: The total number of times a specific item was ordered within a selected timeframe.

Amazon Advertising Reports

These reports give you crucial insights into how your keywords, search terms, and bids are performing. You’ll see key metrics like clicks, cost-per-click (CPC), Advertising Cost of Sale (ACoS), and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) – all presented alongside your PPC sales and overall spending.

Advertised Product (Sponsored Products and Display)

These reports are designed specifically for sellers who run Sponsored Products or Sponsored Display campaigns. They provide in-depth data for each individual product you’re advertising. This means you can see how each ASIN is performing in terms of impressions, clicks, sales, and other key metrics.

Attributed Purchases (Sponsored Brands)

Unlike Advertised Product reports that focus on clicks and impressions for advertised products, Attributed Purchases show which products are purchased as a result of your Sponsored Brands campaigns.

Search Terms (all ad types)

As the name suggests, this report reveals the exact search terms customers are using to find your products on Amazon. It includes the following metrics:

Keyword Targeting and Match Type

Search Term used

Sales & Conversion rate for specific terms

Click-Through Rate

Cost-Per-Click

Impressions

By identifying the most popular search terms, you can integrate them into your product listings, improving search ranking and organic visibility. Alternatively, you can flag poorly performing terms as negative keywords to prevent irrelevant clicks and ensure your advertising budget reaches the right customers.

Placements Report (all ad types)

This report breaks down key metrics like impressions, clicks, sales, and ACoS for your campaigns across various placements. These placements could be:

Search Results: Top of search (TOS), Search results page (rest of search)

Details Page: Directly on a product’s detail page

Other types of Amazon Reports

There are more Amazon reports available beyond the ones we’ve covered. Let’s explore a few more valuable reports to add to your seller toolkit:

Return Reports

This report allows you to see how many returns you’ve received within a specified time period and the reasons why customers return your products. You can use Return Reports to identify trends such as return frequency or product-specific issues. Additionally, by pinpointing the root causes of returns, you can take proactive measures to improve product quality, listing accuracy, and customer communication – which can help to reduce your return rate.

Fulfillment Reports

These reports provide sellers with details of their sales, inventory, and shipments. You can find data on items shipped, inventory levels, orders processed, storage fees, removals, and reimbursements.

If you use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), there are reports to understand how your Amazon FBA business is running. There are several reports available, including Long-Term Storage Fee reports, Subscribe & Save Performance, Promotions Performance, Stranded Inventory, Returns, and Inventory Age & Health.

How to launch (or relaunch!) your business in 30 days

 This post should really be called “How to find your first paying client within 30 days”, because honestly? It’s not just about launching a business, it’s about finding paying clients … otherwise you don’t even have a business! 

For someone who’s been in the industry for 10 years, and who launched her business before social media was so integrated into our daily lives (I know, I can’t remember what that was like, either 😂), this question really made me think long and hard about how I would do this myself if I had to.

Day 1:

Who Do You Want To Help?

Figure out who you want to help in your business in DETAIL. I mean right down to what time does she get up in the morning to what secret snack does she eat before bed.

What does she / he do? Where did she go to school? Is she married or not? Kids or fur babies? Her hobbies? Her interests? What are her pain points?

You need to know how your client thinks and how she acts so you can predict what she’ll want that’s worth paying you for.

95% of the time, the person you want to help is who YOU were 1, 2, or even 5 years ago. If your business is based off of turning your mess into your message, think about what you were struggling with and how you felt when you had that particular problem that you want to help others with now.

Days 2-5:

Ideal Client Detective Work

Now that you know who you want to help, ASK THAT PERSON DIRECTLY what they want! Don’t sit there guessing!!! Find people who fit the description of your ideal client, and ask them what they want help with, what they struggle with, and what they’ve paid for in the past.

2 great ways to do this are:

Put up a post on social media asking for input; and

Stalking specific Facebook groups that are full of your ideal client (look at what questions have been posted, what answers have been given, and also how they react to those answers).

When you put up a post asking for input, be specific. Make a nice (free!) graphic in Canva that’ll grab their attention, and in the caption say:

Here’s an example post:

“Are you a busy, high-powered professional Mom aged 25-35 with young children who struggles with crappy sleep, low energy, and sugar cravings? Then I want to hear from you!

I’m doing some research for my new business that’ll help me figure out to help YOU in the best way possible.

Click the link below to answer 10 short questions about your work/life balance (what balance, am I right?!) and how you get through the day as the superwoman you are:

[Insert link]

I know your time is SUPER valuable, so I’m doing a draw for a Lululemon gift card. If you complete the 10 questions by Friday, you’ll be entered to win this $100 prize!

While you’re waiting for your ideal clients to answer the questionnaire, do lots of stalking and creeping online!

It can feel tempting to skip this step and go directly to social media, but the more you put into this business foundation, the more time, effort, and heartache you’ll save over the next year.

Days 5-10:

Get on Social Media

Start a Facebook page and Instagram account, and start adding valuable content that speaks directly to that person. It doesn’t ALL have to be around just their health issue, some of it can be fun, too!

I’d post once, or even twice daily if you want to REALLY jumpstart your business, and you can pick a different content focus for each day.

For example, Tuesday can be Q+A Tuesday. Write a post sharing that you’re doing live Q+A’s in your InstaStories. Just before your regular post is published, put up an InstaStory with the Q+A function that they now have, and just answer questions for free throughout the next 24 hours to show them that you know what you’re talking about!

When I say valuable content, I mean tips, tricks, and strategies that are so good, you’d include them in a paid program.

Those recipes you’re hoarding? Share them. Those things you recommend to people, and they tell you that they’re life changing? SHARE THEM. You’re not going to grow your business by keeping all your best knowledge to yourself.

You have to show people that you’re an expert by sharing your expertise.

So give freely of yourself, and watch people give freely from their wallet right back at you in the next few weeks.

By the way, being an expert doesn’t mean you talk in fancy, long, smarty pants words that no one understands. Expertise means that you’re not only smart (because I already know you are), but also that you are capable of leading people to create meaningful change that they can actually DO. Be relatable, share real life examples, and show them that you’re walking the walk right along with them.

Days 10-20:

Start an Email List

After you’ve spent some time getting to know your ideal client in theory, through questionnaires, and in real life on social media, start putting together some sort of challenge (it doesn’t have to be long at all) or high value opt-in for them. You want their email addresses so that you own their info and are not totally dependent on social media algorithms to reach your potential clients.

A high value opt-in could be a 7, 21, or 30 day challenge, or it could be a mini-cleanse, meal plan, or even an entire cookbook. It could even be a series of 7 days of live videos on social media! The point is:

Don’t be stingy with your freebies!

People don’t give out their emails as easily as they did a few years ago, and you have to provide them with something truly spectacular for them to be willing to part with their privacy and their time (because reading emails takes time, and most people are SO overwhelmed by their inboxes).

To collect their emails, you need to set up a landing page, which is offered with most email marketing programs for free. No need for a fancy website, you don’t have time for that yet! But you can still collect email addresses before you get around to that.

During these 10 days while you’re creating your freebie and building your landing page, share sneak peeks on social media to get your audience excited about it! Yes, that means that while you’re working your little butt off behind the scenes, you still have to be present on social media. Welcome to the world of owning a business in 2018.

You could even build the landing page FIRST, and share on social media that you have something exciting coming that they can sign up to right now and get it when you’re done in the next few days. On Facebook, you can link up the landing page right in the post. On Instagram, change the link in your profile to this landing page.

Post about this upcoming freebie at least 3 times a week, which might feel like a lot, but remember that only a small percentage of the people who are following you actually see your posts (thanks, social media algorithms!).

It’s estimated that only 3% of your audience sees your content at any given time, so chances are that when you post multiple times in one week about your freebie (or even every day), you’re not repeating the same thing to the same people, but hopefully it’s reaching new followers of yours who raised their hand to your awesomeness in the first place.

Days 20-25:

Design Your Paid Program

One of the fastest ways to create a real income is through a paid 1-1 program. Yes, you could do a digital, online product (like a meal plan or cookbook), but you can really only sell those for $25-$50, maybe $100 if you’re pushing it.

Yes, you could design an online program, but that’s going to take you months of preparing for, and this post is about getting your first paying client in 30 days. Plus, if you’ve never actually worked with clients, you don’t yet know what works and what doesn’t, so I would hate for you to invest months in building an online program that might not sell or even work because you haven’t tested it out with actual people.

So, a paid 1-1 program it is … but first you’ve got to design it! You already had your ideal client tell you exactly what she/he wants, now create it.

P.S. you can use the same steps to create a group program, it would just be priced a little lower, since the participants aren’t getting as much 1-1 time from you.

Here’s another little secret: you don’t have to have everything created for your signature program before you start taking clients and accepting payment! When you offer a 3 or 6 month program, you only need to have the first month’s content done before you start … and if you’re really brave (and don’t have kids that will get sick and inevitably throw your schedule into chaos), you don’t have to have ANYTHING but your program outline done before you sell it.

That’s actually the best way of testing a program or product without investing dozens or hundreds of hours into it: Create an outline, market it for a few weeks at a discount for the first few who trust you enough to jump on board when you’re just starting, and THEN create the program once people buy it.

Be upfront, share that it’s a new program and you want to co-create it with their input, and offer them a 50% discount. You’ll have some really good guinea pigs, they’ll give you great feedback AND (hopefully) testimonials that you can share to sell more of your program, and you’ll create some quick income on something that you’re now sure will sell … because it has.

It doesn’t matter how amazing you think your program is, if your customers and clients don’t see the value in it, it’s not worth much, if anything.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent dozens of hours creating something that never sold, and it’s a double waste because I can never get that time back AND I could have been creating something else that could have been successful, had I sat back and listened to my customers.

You’ll never regret this testing period, because it’ll either mean the end of something that was going to waste your time anyways OR the beginning of the most epic, life saving program for your future customers. Either way, it’s a win-win!

Days 25-30:

Get Your First Paying Clients

For most of us entrepreneurs, creating programs is the fun part. Breaking apart a problem and outlining the solution feels like you’re truly helping someone …. but not if no one knows how awesome your program is!

You know what I was missing the first 5 years of my business, the thing that YOU should be spending 80% of your time on?

MARKETING

Sounds like kind of a sleazy word, right? Or something that you just don’t need to do? When I first set up my nutrition practice, my marketing could be summed up in this one sentence:

If you build it, they will come.

If I just opened up my office, the right people who needed my help would magically find it, right? I would get referrals from all the other health practitioners in the area, since I was one of the first nutritionists in my city, right? Wrong. Ugh, so wrong!

What I didn’t know is that all those other health practitioners? 95% of them are struggling to pay their own bills, so why would they send a potential client or customer to me when they could try and help them themselves?

And marketing according to the tactics in the movie “The Secret” really don’t work (i.e. just imagine yourself driving a Ferrari, and it’ll happen someday!). Turns out, you have to actually DO something to grow your business. I don’t know how I didn’t know this in the beginning (🤦🏻‍♀️), but it’s because I was taught to be a nutritionist, NOT a business owner … and that’s OK! But now I know better.

If the word “marketing” is scary to you, let’s not call it that. Let’s call it “telling other people about your business”. There, that’s not so scary, right? But how do you actually do this?

That email list that you’re working so hard to grow? Let’s use it for the first time by telling them about your new program!

I don’t have any sort of script for this, you simply write from the heart, share who your program is for, why you made it, what the outline is, and then tell them that you’re opening up X number of spots (3, 5, or whatever you want) for a discount (your choice, 50% off, 30% off, whatever feels good to you) in exchange for them being the first to try it. Put a deadline on the discount, trust me, people need a little bit of pressure to make a decision.

Oh, and share the details on social media, too. It’s usually harder to sell directly from social media (in my experience), especially if your program is higher priced, but what it IS good for is reminding your email list – who didn’t necessarily read your email – of the details and that your special discounted price is ending on a certain date.

This is what I did the first time I launched my Brand, Build, Blog course, and it went over SO well. I let the first students know that I was still creating the course when they bought it, so it wasn’t 100% done, but it would be by a certain date (spoiler alert: I had yet to create ANY of the online lessons! I had an outline, but that was it 😬).

So yes, it IS possible to create hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of income by the end of 30 days when you’re launching your business! This 30 day plan is not for the faint of heart, but it will create true momentum in your business, plus some much needed income, in the fastest way possible.

Now I know that this is only a plan for 30 days, and you want your business to be around for much longer than that, so I made a plan for your entire first YEAR of your business to get you off the ground in the shortest time possible.

6 Steps to Set Up a Pinterest Business Account & Optimize It

 As a small business, one of the most powerful steps you can take to increase brand exposure is to set up a Pinterest business account and optimize your profile.

I’ll admit: when I first started using Pinterest for my business, I wasn’t too thrilled to get the initial setup done. I wanted to dive into the fun stuff, like joining group boards and curating pretty graphics.

But you want to get found by your ideal audience, right? And stand out from all the other business accounts? And, oh yeah, make some sales?!

If you’re nodding your head (which I hope you are!), then these initial steps are really important. Luckily, none of them takes more than 15 minutes.

So let’s rip off that bandaid, and then I promise we can move onto the sexier side of Pinterest.

How to Set Up a Pinterest Business Account

1. Switch to a Business Account if You Haven’t Yet

If you’re using Pinterest but you have a personal account, the first thing you want to do is switch to a business profile. It’s just a matter of clicking a button. Super easy!

If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll want to create a new business profile.

Why should you care about having a business profile? As a business account, you’ll be able to promote your pins if you choose (Pinterest advertising). But most importantly, you’ll get access to Pinterest Analytics.

With analytics, you can look at your metrics and use them to look at what you’re doing right (and do more of that) and what you’re doing wrong (so you know to stop doing that). Because I don’t care how perfect someone is, there is always room for improvement!

2. Enable Rich Pins

There are four types of rich pins: product pins, article pins, app pins, and recipe pins. The first two should apply to you if you have an online shop and/or if you have a blog for your shop.

You might be wondering: can you add rich pins for Etsy shops? Well, you’re in luck: they’re automatically enabled!

Why should you care about enabling rich pins?

Your pins will stand out more and have more context. Any pin you create (or that’s saved from your website or online shop) will have extra information attached to it.

It will show your article’s title (or product name) in bold. Plus, if someone looks at it close up, it shows even more information (your profile, description, price, availability, etc).

The best part? If you change something in your blog post (the title, for example), or the price of your product, the pin itself will update that information.

Oh wait, there’s one more perk: rich pins have a higher ranking in Pinterest’s smart feed algorithm. Heck yes!

If you aren’t sure if you’ve added metadata correctly, enter your URL into the validator above and it will show you what metadata you have. Then you can add/edit and resubmit.

If your metadata is correct, an ‘Apply’ button should appear, and you should click it. After that, it should take about an hour for Pinterest to approve you. Voila!

3. Claim Your Business Website on Pinterest

You want to do this for two reasons. First, because it will add your profile picture to all the pins from your website if someone clicks to view the pin close up. Hint: that’s good for brand recognition!

And second, you’ll get access to analytics specifically for your website (as in, which pins people are saving & engaging with from your site).

4. Add a Profile Picture

You might be tempted to use your logo as your profile picture. That’s fine, but a picture of yourself might be a better option. People respond to a human face, and are more likely to trust you.

It’s especially important for small businesses to show the face behind their brand. It adds a personal touch that people feel they can connect with. Your profile will stand out even more if your profile picture’s background is a bright color.

If you don’t feel comfortable putting a picture of your face on social media, consider using a cartoon or illustration of yourself instead. But again, a logo works fine, too. Try to use bright colors and large enough font that stands out.

Either way, make sure your image is a circle or a square (not a rectangle). Pinterest will automatically resize it, and you don’t want it to look stretched or distorted!

5. Optimize Your Profile Name & Bio for Pinterest SEO

Your Pinterest name is searchable, so you should add a few keywords in there! For example, if you sell greeting cards, make sure those two words are included after your brand name. You can use a separator key like ‘|’ in between to keep it clean.

This is especially important, because if someone stumbles across your Pinterest account, how will they know if they’re interested in your business without you telling them upfront what you sell?

Insider tip: update your account name in the mobile app. It will let you add more characters than on desktop.

The same thing goes for your bio: keyword it up, baby! Describe who your product is for and how it can solve his/her problem. For example, a shop that sells business planners might say:

“We help busy entrepreneurs stay organized and get more done with structured & lushly-illustrated planners, so they can spend more time on things they love!”

At the end of your bio, include a call-to-action or incentive to entice people to click on your website link. This might include a freebie or discount code (even better if it converts them to your email list!). An example of a freebie might be free printable wall art or a coloring page.

If you have space, try to include a little bit about yourself. Remember: social media is all about making personal connections.

6. Remove or Hide Boards That Are Unrelated to Your Niche/Target Market

If your brand focuses on crochet toys, does it make sense to have Pinterest boards like ‘Dream Travel Destinations’ or ‘Classic Makeup Looks’? Probably not.

Your boards don’t have to be directly related to your products. In fact, that would be too limiting. Stick to interests that are somehow related to what you sell (and that your ideal customer would care about).

Any boards you have that don’t seem relevant should be deleted or changed to ‘Secret’. Don’t waste time attracting the wrong audience!

So which boards do work? Let’s go back to the crochet toys example.

Kid’s room decor would work smashingly as a board, because users who are searching for that would also be interested in adorable children’s toys. Wouldn’t a crochet fox doll look amazing on a forest-shaped wooden shelf? I don’t even have kids and I already want it.

Conclusion: Setting up Your Pinterest Business Account

That’s it. Your profile’s optimized. You did it! Now you can move onto the fun stuff (actually pinning!) with some comforting knowledge: anything you do on Pinterest from now on will be more likely to stand out and get found.

HOW TO BUILD A COMMUNITY ON INSTAGRAM

 Having a strong sense of community on Instagram is arguably way more important than your follower count. Creating an engaged community on your page will ensure stronger and more loyal relationships and end up increasing your growth and overall profits. People go on social media to connect with other people. Users now expect brands and businesses to act more human, transparent, and approachable instead of robotic, distant, and unresponsive. Now is the time to emphasize your brand’s personality and let it shine through the screen. In this post we’re going to show you small and simple ways to easily increase the sense of community on your page.

Screenshots of messages and comments on your Instagram story and feed

This is a simple way to create an engaging story or feed post that creates a sense of community among your followers. Have you ever been swiping through stories and landed on a text or DM conversation between a follower and the brand’s account? You probably found yourself pausing the screen to stop and read the conversation. It’s nice to feel included in a conversation we weren’t initially included in. Not only does this show other followers that people are engaging with you and your account, but it also shows that you’re responsive and care about your community. Keep in mind, the way you respond is a great opportunity to offer valuable information and show off your brand’s personality.

Do an Instagram page community spotlight

Once a week or once a month do a community spotlight. This would be where you pick a few of your favorite follower’s brands/pages and share them to your story- write something you love about them, and tag them! This shows that you’re involved in your own community, care about your followers, and strengthens your relationship with them. The people you tag will most likely re-share to their story exposing you to their own follower base. Remember earlier how we mentioned creating an engaging post with a CTA in the caption? Suppose you make a post asking people to tell you what they do and to tag their business/brand in the comments. instead of sifting through your followers, you now have a super-easy way to find really cool brands to shine a spotlight on your stories!

An engaging feed post with a CTA as a caption

Creating a stronger sense of community can be as simple as creating a caption that tells your audience to introduce themselves or to find someone who has similar interests in the comments. When you encourage your followers to share something about themselves in the comments, other followers will naturally get excited when they go to comment and see they have something in common with somebody else.

Show yourself on reels

Showing your face is such a powerful way to help people feel connected to you and your brand. Photos are great, but reels are even better. Showing your face on reels not only adds a more personal aspect to your brand but also shows your brand’s vibe and personality. If people feel connected to you, then they’re going to feel connected to your brand too, ultimately forming a community rather than just a page.

Just be social on social media

Reply back to all of your comments and DMs. If people are taking the time to engage with you and your content, take the time to thank them, and show your appreciation. You can even create a group DM with similar accounts where you discuss things, ask questions or share updates on topics relating to your field. This is like creating a community within your community, helping to further strengthen your relationships with others.

Add interactive stickers to your stories

Give your followers the chance to engage with you! Adding polls and questions to your stories says “hey let’s talk, let’s be friends, I wanna hear what you have to say and how you feel.” Stickers are so easy to add and convey a message that you care about your followers, and want to hear from them. They make you more approachable. A bonus is that Instagram loves to see people engaging with content, and will push your stories out to more of your followers.

TIPS FOR CREATING A COMMUNITY AROUND YOUR BUSINESS

 Small business marketing is a tricky business. On the one hand, you want to reach your target audience as widely as possible because you believe in your product and the benefits it can bring to people; on the other hand, you’re no big enterprise – you lack large advertising budgets, and feel as if the competition for the attention of your potential clients is becoming more expensive and more challenging to attain.

So how does one manage, after all, to accurately market a small business, without breaking the bank?

My personal business – Ecommerce , started as a small online store with blog and became a recognized brand in the world of blogging and content. It was built with my own two hands in 2013. Over time, after focusing on my niche and business plan, I decided to use the blog as a platform to begin selling various products .

Soon, my small scale business became very profitable, and it didn’t happen by chance…

I spent a long period of time fostering a virtual community around my blog. My goal being to join together ambitious people from around the globe, who want to take their life into their own hands, and live it to the fullest.   

The community around my blog created the most amazing thing.

Although I recognized its power from the get-go, only, later on, did I realize how essential it is for my business.

Thanks to the community I lovingly nurtured around my brand over the years, I was able to create products that have real demand and reach my targeted audience in the most direct and authentic way possible.

Your business needs a community, too.

Often the idea of ​​building a community around the business is secondary to other aspects of the business – assuming it is in the mind at all. 

As a small business owner, you are most likely preoccupied with technical aspects like production, billing and shipping, sponsored advertisements on various media channels, and more. 

While all these aspects are important, your primary goal should be to build a quality and active community in the long term. The benefits of a community around the business are greater than increasing the traffic to a store or business site and are also beyond creating awareness for the business. Creating a community around the business creates a deeper and more meaningful relationship with the target audience, and in the long run is beneficial to both the business and its customers.

So why is a community an effective marketing tool for a business?

Generating a dedicated audience is often one of the biggest struggles small business owners face. It’s one thing to put a product on the market or offer a service, but it is quite another thing to get people to connect with your brand and buy the product specifically for your small business.

This is exactly where the community comes in.

We, as humans, love to unite. We seek a sense of belonging, to connect with people who share similar values to ours and enjoy the sense of security that the community creates around us. It is more likely that people who receive real value from you, with no exchange, and who share the same values as those of your brand, will prefer to buy a product or service from you rather than trust another business they are less familiar with.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #1 : Start a Blog for Your Business

Some business owners think of a blog as something only “bloggers” need. The fact that a blog can turn into a real business may not sound too far fetched to too many people, but if you ask small business owners to name three ways to promote their business, chances are the word “blog” will not come up in the conversation.

Why’s that? It may be because blogs are still perceived as relatively inferior, or something that is mostly done as a hobby, as opposed to an essential digital asset.

Although there are hardly any businesses that do not already have a website. But a website alone doesn’t always offer enough information, personality or authority to stand out from the competition.

This is exactly where the need for a blog comes up.

In fact, a blog is a powerful marketing tool, with which you can build an entire active community, composed of your target audience, and through which you can offer enjoyable and educational content to your ideal buyers about your products and services. Still wondering if starting a business blog is worth your while? Here are five reasons that’ll make you regret that you haven’t yet started your business blog.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #2 : Be Human, Accessible, and Beneficial

The message that should be relayed to your customers is that behind your business is a real, genuine person. Don’t fake it or try to sound like someone else who seems to be doing it better than you. Use your unique voice and just be yourself. People will connect with your voice and the things you share will resonate with your ideal target audience, which over time will become devoted supporters of your brand.

True, most of us have a hard time with exposure, but the truth is that people love and appreciate honesty and authenticity. When you write a blog post, or share a story on Instagram, don’t direct the attention only at your products and services, but also at the challenges, the values your business is based on, and silly things that go on behind the scenes. Readers will appreciate your honesty and the fact that you care to share things that aren’t usually brought up, which is exactly what will make your business more accessible. Authenticity, accessibility, and vulnerability are the building blocks of a true community.

Now, I totally get it, it could be difficult to introduce your true authentic character through your blog, newsletter, and social media. And that’s absolutely fine. It makes perfect sense that it’ll take you some time, but you should strive to get it done if you want to build an active community around your blog and business.

One more thing and no less important is to be helpful to the community you created. Although there are other ways to get people to return over and over again, from my experience, nothing gives a sense of community like giving providing value and mutual help – sharing personal knowledge, tips, and advice.

Small Business Marketing through Community #3 : Post Quality Content

It all starts with good content. The content you create for your blog and social media should speak to your target audience and provide real value.

If the content you post under your brand isn’t interesting, inspiring, entertaining, or of any educational value, people won’t give it more than 10 seconds, and will definitely not come back for more.

After all, we live in an age full of distractions on all sides, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, thousands of content websites sharing articles at a frantic pace, millions of TV channels and countless magazines, oh yeah, and then there’s real life too… So if you’re not creating content that is different or special in any way, the kind that is helpful to your audience, you’re just not giving them a reason to come back.

Your goal is to produce the best content you can possibly create. I know it takes time, and lots of work, but it is better to post less frequently, than to publish insignificant posts on a daily basis that’ll make your readers leave without turning back.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #4 : Use Branding as a Community Creation Tool

Consistent and proper branding leads to trust and solidarity, which forms the basis for the growth of an engaged and loyal community. The values behind your business should be consistently felt and expressed through the tone of voice that you use to communicate with your target audience in all platforms you have presence in {business website, blog, newsletter, and social media} and the visual features that characterize them {logo, color, photography style, graphics, etc.}.

The first thing you need to do is to make sure you really know your target audience. Who are they? What interests them? What areas do they find difficult? Once you’ve defined your target audience you will be able to understand exactly what it is you’re doing and how you can help.                 

A small but excellent exercise that can help you unravel your brand’s focus is to complete the following sentence: I, [profession/business niche], help [target audience] solve [problem] and achieve [benefit].

In my case, for example – I, blogger and entrepreneur, help aspiring creative people overcome the difficulties of modifying up and decor an dull boring surrounding . And achieve beautiful, peaceful , aesthetic ,elegance and a life full of joy.    

Once your business branding becomes holistic and clear, it becomes easier for you to connect with your target audience, create a loyal community that identifies with your brand’s values, build real relationships with other brands based on those values, and avoid things that don’t suit the spirit of your brand.

In the end, once your target audience is able to identify your unique branding,  even if it comes across it outside the boundaries of the business website or store, it means that you succeeded at leaving a real impression on your audience and that you have created an authentic bond.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #5 : Make Sure the Platforms on Which Your Business Operates Are Organized in a Community-friendly Manner

The two things that I find most crucial when creating a community are keeping an ongoing conversation and staying connected over time, so you need to make sure your target audience can easily make those connections with you. Be sure to consider the following :

1. Conversation – Is it easy to comment on the content that you post? Make sure the business blog is designed in a user-friendly way. Check out the blog from a critical point of view and try to leave a comment for one of the posts – Is the comment box easily found? Did you have a hard time leaving a comment {for example, did you have to create a username specific for the website}? Try to make it easy for your readers. If leaving a comment takes too much effort, they’ll most likely give it up.. 

Also, don’t forget to check your inbox and social media for any private messages – being responsive is key. A quick and attentive response directed at your community members will show them that you care and that you are not only interested in pushing your products. If you find it difficult to be available on all different platforms, use an automatic reply bot that sends all your messages to one place, to make sure you don’t miss any! 

2. Keeping in touch – A newsletter is one of the most important tools for building a strong community in the long term. That is why it’s important to make it easy for people to sign up for your newsletter no matter how they encounter your brand – whether it’s through your website, blog, or Instagram. Keep in mind that most people won’t just sign up for the simple sake of being updated, which is why you need to offer them something else of added value {like a free giveaway or a fun discount} to make sure they sign up. If you don’t have an active newsletter you should read this post.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #6 : Consistency is the Name of the Game

Another important tool in creating a community is maintaining consistency – in terms of frequency and content. Keeping your posts frequent, constant, and continuous will leave the community you created conscious of your brand, and they will expect and wait for new content from you. If you abruptly stop posting on a particular platform, regardless of whether it’s due to a lack of content or going on vacation, it will weaken your community’s trust. This is why it is important to create a bank of content or to announce a change in schedule ahead of time, before a holiday or expected vacation.

The same goes for the nature of the content you share… Don’t post content that doesn’t suit your brand because it will create confusion among the members of your community. If you decide to change the branding of your business, it is best to do so gradually or come out with a formal announcement about the changes the brand is undergoing.

Bottom line is, building a strong community around your business is more or less like building true friendship. Think about your best friend, after all you didn’t become besties right away. Your close relationship is a result of shared values and interests, mutual help and support, perseverance, and other small yet major things that are placed at the foundation of your friendship. The same can be said about a community. Though it takes time to create, just like a friendship – it is worth the time and effort you put into it!

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Amazon Image Requirements and How to Get the Best Photos

 To understand the importance of your Amazon product images, stop and imagine a world where they don’t exist. No matter how well you wax poetic about your product, customers still wouldn’t truly know what to expect and would understandably be apprehensive about buying. Convincing people to purchase something that they can’t see for themselves is awfully difficult — and the reason why product photos thankfully do exist.

Clear, high-quality product photos show potential customers exactly what they’ll be receiving so they can purchase with confidence. And not only are your images instrumental in driving sales, they’re also a key component in improving your click-through rate, reducing returns, and curbing negative reviews.

However, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that certain rules will apply. Here are the Amazon image requirements you need to know plus some best practice tips to help your photos convert.

Amazon began making images viewable from the search results page in early 2022. Shoppers can now scroll through your product photos without clicking into your listing.

Amazon also started beta testing shareable product images on desktop browsers, making it absolutely imperative that you have helpful, high-quality images that will appeal to shoppers.

Amazon Image Requirements for Product Photos

According to the Amazon product image guidelines, every detail page on the Amazon marketplace is required to include at least one product image.

Depending on your product category, you may upload up to nine images to your Amazon listing, but reserving one of those spots for a product video is highly recommended.

In June 2023, Amazon made product videos available to brand-registered and non-brand-registered sellers, with the caveat that you must have been selling on the platform for at least three months.

Also, note that only the first seven images will be shown on the live listing; shoppers will have to click into the gallery to see the rest.

To create a consistent—and attractive—shopping experience and make it easier for customers to evaluate products, all of the photos that appear on the site must follow specific Amazon image requirements.

Amazon Photo Requirements

The following are Amazon’s site standards for all product images:

• Images must accurately represent the item listed for sale and match the product title provided.
• The product must fill at least 85% of the image.
• Images must be in focus, professionally lit and photographed or scanned with realistic color; no pixelation or jagged edges should be visible.
• Images can’t contain nudity or be considered sexually suggestive; leotards, underwear, and swimwear for kids and babies shouldn’t be shown on human models.
• Images can’t display Amazon logos or trademarks or something that can be confused as one; this includes words and logos with the terms “Amazon,” “Prime,” “Alexa,” or the Amazon Smile design.
• Images must not include any badges used on Amazon or anything that can be confused as one; this includes the terms “Amazon’s Choice,” “Premium Choice,” “Amazon Alexa,” “Works with Amazon Alexa,” “Best Seller,” or “Top Seller.”

A key rule to highlight involves your Amazon image size. The smallest your file can be for the site is 500px, but if you want customers to be able to zoom in on your images, they must be at least 1000px, with the optimal size being 1600px or larger on the longest side, not to exceed 10,000px. Zoom has been shown to increase conversions, so enabling this feature is highly recommended.

Amazon Main Image Requirements

Your main image, or hero image, is the first image that appears on your product detail page and the one shown to customers in search. It can also appear in Google’s search results. Getting this one right can be a huge boost to your bottom line.

Amazon shoppers have no shortage of products to choose from, so you want your main image to stand out by looking professional and making it abundantly clear what is being offered. If there’s any question on this, or if the image quality is poor, people will simply continue scrolling and go to other pages instead.

Since the main image is so important to the shopping experience, there are certain Amazon photo standards to follow for main images as well.

Amazon Main Image Requirements

The following are Amazon’s site standards for all main product images:

• Main images must have a pure white background with RGB color values of 255, 255, 255.
• Main images must be professional photographs of the product being sold; no graphics, drawings, illustrations, mockups, or placeholders are allowed.
• Props or accessories that aren’t included with the item shouldn’t be used.
• Text, logos, borders, color blocks, watermarks, or other graphics placed over the product or in the background may not be used.
• Multiple views of the same product are not allowed.
• The entire product must be shown in the frame; images shouldn’t touch or be cut off by the edge of the frame, with the exception of jewelry.
• Books, music, and video/DVD main images should be displayed as the front cover art and fill 100% of the frame.
• Products must be shown outside of their packaging; boxes, bags, and cases shouldn’t appear in the main image unless they’re considered an important product feature.
• No human models who are sitting, kneeling, leaning, or lying down can appear in the main image; however, models expressing various physical mobilities with assistive technology (wheelchairs, prosthetics, etc.) are permitted.
• Multi-pack apparel items and accessories must be photographed flat and off of the model.
• Clothing accessories shouldn’t show any part of a mannequin, regardless of whether it’s clear, flesh-toned, etc.
• Men’s and women’s clothing must show the product on a human model, not a mannequin.
• Kids and baby clothing must be photographed flat and off of the model.
• Shoes need to be photographed facing left at a 45-degree angle; only a single shoe should be shown.

As you can see, some categories (like clothing in particular) have extra image standards, so be sure to consult your category style guide as well.

Lifestyles, Infographics, and Other Secondary Images

Your remaining images should continue to help sell your product by highlighting its top features and benefits. Show the product in use or in a relevant environment, and incorporate different angles of view so customers can virtually pick up the item and inspect it like they would in an actual store. Props, backgrounds, text, graphics, logos, and close-ups are all permitted in your additional “other view” images, so this is your chance to get creative and build your branding.

Lifestyle images are photographs that show the product in action. These styled shots can involve sets, models, and/or props and allow shoppers to visualize the product in their own lives and form more of an emotional connection to it.

Infographics combine text and images to give more information about the product while also visually representing what is written. Infographics are great for educating your customers in a more engaging way.

But good secondary images shouldn’t be all glitz and glamour — you also want them to relay the practical information shoppers are looking for, such as the product’s size, material, and color (this is where close-ups of product features and enabling for zoom can really be helpful!). Size charts and comparison photos can also be very effective for increasing conversions, as are graphics demonstrating proper usage and/or assembly instructions.

What if Amazon is Not Showing All of My Images?

When you add product images on Amazon, they must also meet certain technical specifications:

• JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg), TIFF (.tif or .tiff), PNG (.png), or GIF (.gif) file formats. JPEG is preferred.
• Image pixel dimensions of at least 1000 or larger in either height or width preferred.
• sRGB or CMYK color mode.
• File names must consist of the product identifier (Amazon ASIN, 13-digit ISBN, EAN, JAN, or UPC) followed by a period and the appropriate file extension. No spaces, dashes, or additional characters are allowed in the file name.

Files that don’t meet these technical specifications and the Amazon image requirements either won’t be uploaded or may be removed after upload.

Product listings can also be removed from search until a compliant image is provided. If you’re not seeing all of your images, chances are something is in violation. The Image Issues page in Seller Central is a great resource if you run into any trouble.

5 Amazon Product Photography Tips

Keep these five Amazon product photography tips in mind when creating your images.

1) Show Your Product in the Best Light

While this is also true figuratively speaking, we mean this quite literally here. Professional lighting makes all the difference in your product photos. The sharpness it provides creates intrigue and makes it easier for customers to examine the finer details of the item. Dark, shadowy photos look dull and give your product a low-quality feel, even if that isn’t the case.

2) Try Split Testing

When your product photos have the power to make or break a sale, you want to make sure they’re the best they can possibly be. But choosing the ones that resonate the most with consumers doesn’t have to come down to the luck of the draw — split testing, or A/B testing, different versions of your images with your intended target market can help make sure your photos are set up to succeed.

Amazon has split testing tools available, and you can also turn to external polling platforms like PickFu to get key feedback from real people in a matter of hours instead of days.

3) Optimize Your Images for Mobile

In 2021, Amazon’s shopping app averaged 98 million mobile users per month. That’s a massive audience that you may be failing to reach if your images (and listing content) aren’t optimized for mobile.

When shoppers visit your listing on a mobile device, the only content immediately visible is your product title and images. The bullet points and description are located a lot farther down the page, so most people are relying on your images for this information instead of scrolling down to find those sections.

Including key product details in your images can help increase conversion for mobile users. Something else to think about is your image size. Images should be clear on all devices, but since they’re naturally smaller on a mobile screen, you’ll want to make sure your product can still be viewed properly. This is especially true for your main image which serves as the biggest attention grabber when shoppers are scrolling.

4) Make Adjustments as Needed

Your images really aren’t meant to last forever. That doesn’t mean you should swap them out every single week, but you should keep them updated with the times (especially if you have lifestyle photos) and use them to react to customer reviews that could be impacting sales.

For example, maybe you received several negative reviews claiming that your product doesn’t work when, upon further investigation, it actually came down to user error. In this case, you may want to devote more than one image to proper usage and assembly to stem the flow of negative reviews and better educate potential customers about your product.

5) Invest in Your Images

When it comes to your product photos, you can hire a professional photographer or take them yourself. If you’re just starting out or are on a tight budget, it’s entirely possible to shoot and edit professional-quality photos with a DSLR camera or even your cell phone, but you’ll still need some extra props to get them up to standards. Check your local camera store (or Amazon!) for a tripod, white backdrop, light kits, and more.

However, an investment into professional Amazon product photography will almost certainly pay for itself over time. Great product photography takes a significant amount of time and effort, not to mention skill. Most people don’t have the knowledge (the innumerable Photoshop fails on Amazon are proof of this fact) or resources to get it done the right way. And as an Amazon seller, you want your brand and products held to a higher standard so you can enjoy the sales that go along with it.

Turn Browsers into Buyers with Better Amazon Photos Today

The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is an old adage that’s used time (and time) again because it still remains true—maybe even more so in today’s technology-driven world. We’re very visual creatures, and our attention spans have only gotten shorter. Use this to your advantage and create quality images that not only support your listing content but have the ability to convert the large number of shoppers who most likely won’t be reading your listing text.

Images that are informative, eye-catching, and in line with Amazon photo standards will contribute to the success of your product and Amazon business as a whole.

Pinterest for Business

 Hmmm, Pinterest for Business? Really?

Yes, it’s not a secret anymore that Pinterest will bring you the most traffic to your blog, website, or any other place. And not only that, your sales will grow significantly if you do it right.

Why do most bloggers, entrepreneurs, and marketers see an increase in sales? Well, it’s because over 80% of Pinterest users are BUYERS!

You won’t find that many on Facebook or Instagram.

That’s why it’s so important to use Pinterest for business. And there is another great news you should know – you can get MASSIVE Traffic for FREE!

1.) Why you should use Pinterest for business:

Reason #1: Most Pinterest users are buyers:

As I said before, the first reason is that over 80% of Pinterest users are buyers. You can reach out to a lot of people without struggling and wasting a ton of your time in front of your computer.

Reason #2: You won’t waste too much time reaching more people:

To be honest with you, I spent at least 4 hours more in front of a computer when I was using Facebook. There is nothing wrong with Facebook (I still use it), but if you want to reach out to more people, you will have to invest in ads. I can say that I’m not a Social Media slave anymore just because I started using Pinterest.

Reason #3: Pinterest ads are way cheaper and more powerful:

Another reason you should use Pinterest for business is that you can use its ads. You will invest way less money than with Facebook ads. The only problem that I see here is that Pinterest ads are not global.

2.) How to set up a Pinterest account for your business:

STEP #1:

You have two options here. If you already have a Pinterest personal profile, you can simply convert it to a business account.

OPTION 1: Convert a personal account to a business account:

Log in to your Pinterest profile account

Go to pinterest.com/business/convert/

Fill out your business name and website, then select a business type

Click Create account

OPTION 2: Create a new business account:

If you have a personal account but don’t want to convert it, go to pinterest.com/logout to log out

Go to pinterest.com/business/create/

Fill out your email, password, and business name, then select a business type

Click Create account

STEP #2:

Complete your Pinterest for a business account:

First, upload your headshot photo (smile on the photo)

Choose your username (it should be the name of your brand or just your name if you are branding yourself) – Include some keywords (for example, Pinterest for Business Tips, Ideas for Weight Loss…)

Complete your bio (include keywords – SEO optimized so that your business account will get ranked higher up and you will get in front of your targeted audience)

Also, you can add your location

And don’t forget to add your website 

STEP #3:

How to verify your website on Pinterest:

Log in to Pinterest from a web browser and click the arrow in your top right corner to open your menu.

Select Settings

Click “Claim” and enter your website URL, then click Claim. 

Select “Add HTML tag”

Then copy the tag and click Next

Go to the index.html file of your website and add the tag to the <head> section before the <body> section

Then go back to Pinterest and click Submit

STEP #4:

Your next step is to set up Pinterest rich pins:

You will need to add metadata to the content on your website.

Then you will have to verify your Rich Pins before you go to Pinterest

Then go to Rich Pins Validator:

If you read all the steps from the Pinterest help site, then you know you have to go to Rich Pins Validator. There you will see which steps to take next. This is how the site will look like:

You only need to do this once from any link on your website. Then you will enable Rich Pins for your whole domain.

3.) How to automate your Pinterest with their scheduler:

You can schedule your static or video pins inside Pinterest. Click ‘Create’ in the top left corner, then choose ‘Create Pin’.

There you can upload your graphics or videos, fill out the title, description, alt text, add a link, and choose the most relevant board.

At the bottom, you will see two options:

Publish immediately

Publish at a later date

Click ‘Publish at a later date’ and choose the date and time when you want your pin to be published.

4.) Create Pins for Pinterest:

Pinterest is a visual search engine, which means you have to create attractive pins. The pin images have to be vertical .

The ratio should be 2:3 – for example, 1000 x 1500 pixels. Here are other 2:3 ratio sizes:

I mostly use the size 1000 x 1500 px for static pins, and 1080 x 1920 px for idea pins.

Before you start making pins, you should know what they will look like. I’m talking about colors and fonts. Your brand is not just you, your products, or your services. It’s also the looks of your visuals.

Besides the high-quality images, you should always include the same colors and fonts. 

5.) How to grow your Pinterest account:

The number of followers is not that important but you should still grow it. The more followers you have, the more people see your pins. So here is what you should do:

At the end of each blog post, ask people to follow you on Pinterest 

When sending an email to your audience, including the call to action to follow you on Pinterest

Add a pin widget to your blog

Add a Pinterest share button to your blog

When making a video, you can include a call to action at the end

6.) Know your targeted audience:

You have to know who your targeted audience is. Not everyone is interested in what you have, so if you don’t want to waste your time, you have to figure out who are they, where they hang out (online or offline), and more.

You can create detailed customer personas and tailor your marketing efforts to your target audience by answering these questions. 

This can help you better connect with your potential customers, create more compelling content, and ultimately grow your business.

7.) Check your analytics:

And here we go with the boring part – at least it used to be boring to me. And that’s why I made the biggest mistake – NOT CHECKING THE ANALYTICS.

That’s why I wasted a ton of time doing stuff that didn’t work at all. I don’t want you to repeat my mistake. If you want to do Pinterest for business, then analyzing how your pins are doing is a must!

You can find the analytics in the top left corner of your Pinterest account. Click on overview and check all the stats. But I suggest you focus on your blog analytics more because Pinterest analytics are not that accurate.

How to create a signature visual aesthetic for your videos

 As you create more and more videos, you’ll likely find yourself choosing to use visual elements with common characteristics. It could be something subtle, like a color palette or font that represents you or your brand. Or something more obvious, like a motion graphic or a transition effect between shots. If used consistently, these elements will become familiar touchstones for your audience. Over time, your unique creative decisions will start to establish themselves as hallmarks of your signature visual aesthetic. And that will help your audience connect more deeply with your videos.

Defining and refining a unique visual aesthetic for your videos is super important for cementing your channel or brand in audiences’ minds. But did you know it also helps you create content more efficiently?

Tip 1: Visual aesthetics and efficiency go hand-in-hand

You have endless creative and stylistic choices when it comes to making videos. Different combinations of lighting, effects, and camera movements can all result in a completely different finished product. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by so many options. To combat this, Chrys suggests focusing on the things you like, and allowing your unique style to emerge organically. 

Identifying the visual elements you’re naturally drawn to is your first step on the path to establishing your signature visual aesthetic. Then, using those elements consistently across your videos is a surefire way to ensure your unique style will shine through. But that’s not the only benefit. Favoring certain aesthetic choices can also streamline your production process.

If you find yourself using specific lenses, lighting setups, or camera angles, take note of them for next time. This will reduce the number of production decisions you need to make every time. And that makes it a lot easier (and faster) to plan how and where you’ll set up your equipment.

Keep your lighting consistent for a recognizable visual aesthetic

Pay attention to how every shot is lit in your videos. This includes lighting color, intensity, and warmth. Different types of videos tend to favor different lighting setups, and each will create a distinct ambiance that the viewer will feel. 

Softer light, for instance, bathes the subject in a gentler, more flattering glow. You might use this more diffused lighting style if you make interview or testimonial videos with a lot of “talking head” shots. Hard light, on the other hand, is meant to stand out. It’s generally reserved for scenes where you want to heighten the mood, such as a harsh, concentrated ray of sunlight beaming through a window. Whatever kind of lighting you use, be sure it looks the same throughout your videos. 

A pro tip on how to use natural light: Windows are great, free light sources. You can easily alter the light from windows with sheer, textured, or patterned curtains to create different lighting effects.

Use the same camera and lens combinations throughout

You can use various cameras and lenses to give your videos dramatically different looks. Narrowing down your go-to camera/lens combos will not only give your videos a more recognizable aesthetic, it can also streamline your production process. 

When you go into a shoot knowing which angles, equipment, and lighting sources you’ll use, it reduces the number of production decisions you’ll have to make on the spot. That can save you precious time and mental energy (as well as some weight in your camera bag). 

Tip 2: Watch your assets

Creating videos requires a ton of decision-making, particularly around which assets to use. This can include everything from fonts and lower thirds to motion graphics and transition overlays. Chrys says it’s important to avoid getting bogged down by the avalanche of choices you have. 

We likes to keep his visual aesthetic simple. He only uses a single font and a handful of motion graphics and transition overlays in his videos. Some people incorrectly consider this a lazy approach. The truth is, these touches help make his videos stand out to his audience. That’s because they’ve come to recognize the consistent style cues he uses and has identified a bespoke combination of assets, angles, lighting, and gear that give his videos a signature look while streamlining his entire process.

Tip 3: Use color to your advantage when creating a visual aesthetic

The colors you choose to highlight in your videos can be a powerful visual differentiator, but selecting them can be time-consuming. Having a color palette in mind before you start shooting will drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to make your videos. One specific thing you’ll want to pay attention to is color temperature, which measures the “warmth” or “coolness” of your light sources. 

Soft, warm lighting is what you might want to capture if you’re shooting in restful settings like homes, restaurants, and hotels. For places like doctor’s offices, warehouses, and sports stadiums, harder, cooler lighting will usually help express the visual vibe you’re going for. Different light colors can make viewers feel a range of emotions, so don’t take that power for granted.

The time of day you film is another factor that affects the color in your videos. We prefers shooting during the day because it helps him achieve the warm tone he really likes. During the editing process, he simply copies and pastes his favorite color presets from his previous videos. Those presets speed up his process immensely, and ensure consistency across different projects. Every filmmaker is different, so shoot at the time of day that makes the most sense for the visual tone you want to capture in your videos. 

Using color consistently for branding and visual aesthetic

Color is a subtle but important branding signal, too. So, be sure to be consistent with color choices in your videos when considering your visual aesthetic, including any visual elements you incorporate.

As you work through your own creation process, pay attention to the colors that give your videos an aesthetic you love. Then, create your own presets so you can use them consistently from video to video. It will help solidify your signature look while also speeding up your production.

Market Research: How to Perform Better Research for Your Brand

 Ideal customer work can make or break the success of your business. And there are a lot of different reasons for that. I’m going to cover those in today’s blog and I’m also going to share with you how to conduct better market research. 

We no longer needed to get on the phone with individual people every 90 days. We don’t always have the time and the capacity for that. Now I’m not saying that that’s not a good strategy, but there are other more effective ways to do ideal customer research that is actually going to help you in the long run with your marketing. 

There are two things that we have to do and that is helping ourselves to build a personal brand  and learning how to market very effectively, to have incoming leads for brand awareness, and ultimately converting them to paying clients. More income, more impact. That is our goal. 

And both of those categories rely on ideal customer research. 

I know you’ve heard about the ideal customer avatar. You might even be at a place where you’re like I’m so sick of this work. I get it. And I hope that at the end of this blog, you’re feeling revamped, re-energized, and you have a new strategy to get the feedback and the information that you need to totally elevate your branding and your marketing. 

So why is ideal customer work so important?

Well, at the end of the day, you have a business. You’re selling to someone and you better know who the heck they are or they’re not going to buy from you. As I’ve mentioned, ideal customer work plays a role in both branding and marketing. 

So from a branding side, we want to focus on ideal customer work to really understand who your customer is at their core. Understanding what their big problems are, their struggles, their goals, their aspirations is incredible information.

You can even use ideal customer work to find out what social media platforms they’re hanging out on, where they get most of their information and other people that they look to for advice in your industry.

The branding work and ideal customer work can help you set a very strong foundation for your brand and your business moving forward.

Once you know who your ideal customer is, it’s much easier to craft your offer to serve them at the highest level.

You can craft better messaging, which has got to play a role in your website copy and your marketing. You’re also able to better understand emotional branding, which I talk about in this video right here, where I share a little bit more on how we make our audience feel and the connection that we create. 

In addition to that, one of the things that play a huge role in branding is the art of storytelling. And in order to tell great stories as a business owner, you’ve got to know who you’re telling those stories to. It’s not enough to just share stories to share stories. We want to share stories that are going to motivate our audience to take action, aka buy our product or our service.

So from a branding perspective, ideal customer research is so important because it’s going to set the foundation for everything that you’re going to create in your business. 

From a marketing perspective, it’s all about content. 

When you’re thinking of content, you want to make sure that you’re thinking of content that not only attracts new people to your community but also moves them through the client buying journey. 

It’s really important that you understand that your content is there to not only let people know who you are, build that brand awareness, pull them in and attract them, but ultimately connect with them, leading to the sale. 

It’s so important to understand who you’re talking to and ultimately who your business is for.

KEY ELEMENTS TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER

I want to share with you some updated strategies for doing your ideal customer work. But before I do that, let’s talk about some of the key elements that you need to understand about your ideal customer. 

TIP #1: IDENTIFY DEMOGRAPHICS

I recommend that you start broad and then narrow it down a bit as you go. 

So this stage is all about the demographic. These are the things that you know about the person that you ultimately want to work with or who your product and service are ultimately for. Depending on where you’re at in your business, you might have more information about this individual or you might have nothing. 

At this stage you want to think about the individual people who AREN’T the right fit for your brand, ultimately starting to narrow it down.

One of the ways to do this is to focus on things like demographics. 

What do we know about this person? 

Is this person just graduating from college? 

Is this person a working mother? 

Who is this person?

And I’m not recommending that you have to focus on men or women or mothers or not mothers, but those are some of the things to start considering.

What do you know about the individual that you want to work with? The offer that you’re ultimately creating, who is it really designed for? 

This information is going to help you narrow it down from everyone, which is not an ideal customer, to getting a little bit more specific. 

TIP #2: ANSWER THE TOP QUESTIONS

Then the next thing you want to do is answer a few top questions. 

What is the problem they are facing now?

Every single business has to solve a problem. This is actually part of the niching down process.

If you don’t solve a problem, you’re going to have a really hard time selling anything. And just so we’re clear every product, every service can solve a problem. It’s your job to figure out what that problem is and narrow it down really specific to your ideal customer.

So let’s say that my target market is new moms and I sell a program that teaches you how to tidy up your house. The problem is that new moms don’t have a lot of time in their schedules. They’re tired of a messy house. It’s overwhelming. It’s weighing on their shoulders, not speaking from experience at all. And they want to understand better strategies to keep it maintained if you will. Keep their sanity. 

So the problem is that they want to be able to tidy up their home in a limited amount of time. And they don’t understand exactly how to do that. 

Every single thing comes down to a problem. 

What is the problem that your ideal customer is facing?

What are their struggles with that problem?

How are they feeling about that problem? Where are they now? 

This is incredibly helpful with marketing because it allows you to connect with your ideal customer and allows them to feel seen, heard and understood. 

Where do they want to be?

So they’ve got these current struggles, they’ve got these pain points, they have this problem. What do they ultimately want? 

If they resolve this problem, what does life look like for them? Do they suddenly get to make their eggs in 10 seconds and stop cursing every morning at their pan that keeps sticking? 

You want to understand what the core problem is, where they are now, and what those pain points and struggles are. 

How would they describe that to you and where do they ultimately want to be?

What are the specific obstacles in their way?

Why haven’t they solved the problem yet? Why haven’t they done it on their own or with another product or service? What are some of the things that they’re specifically looking for that they haven’t found? 

Another thing that you can start to explore is the objections. 

I find that these are incredibly helpful for service-based entrepreneurs. If someone hasn’t solved their problem just yet, they probably have some obstacles standing in their way. 

What are some mindset pieces that they have? Maybe they think they don’t have enough time to do the work. Maybe they think that they don’t have the energy or the capacity to take on something else. 

What are those objections? These are incredibly helpful when it comes to selling your product or your service. If you can understand these obstacles and the objections your ideal customer is going through, then you can use that in your marketing.

So these are just some questions that you can start to organize the research that I’m about to give you my favorite tools for, into these little categories. 

This is going to help you with your branding and your marketing overall. 

MARKET RESEARCH STRATEGIES

So let’s now talk about some of my favorite ways to do market research. 

Number one is a free tool that not enough people know about that is incredibly powerful. When you think about your own life and your own customer journey with different products and services, where do you turn when you need something? Google. 

We all go to Google. It is a database of information.

And the free tool that we love to use is called Answer The Public. 

Answer the Public

What Answer The Public does is it takes the information from Google and it categorizes it into questions and into sub-categories. So you can go on to Answer The Public and type in an ideal customer that you know you want to work with. 

You can type in a core problem. 

You can type in your industry. 

So you can start as broad as you want. And then it will divide it up into a bunch of different webs. 

Let’s say I type in brand photography. I am a photographer and I want to sell brand photography and I want to better understand my ideal customer and what they’re looking for when it comes to brand photography. 

I can type in brand photography and then it’s going to show me all of the top questions and searches related to brand photography.

With each of those, you can actually click and it’ll open up another tab and show you the Google searches. It’ll show you the most popular blog posts, the most popular websites. And you can start to do a little bit of research. You can get as granular with it as you want, but what this is really offering you is information on what your audience is asking. 

This can go back to what they are struggling with? 

How are they phrasing their problem?

What outcomes do they ultimately want? 

Answer The Public is an incredible, helpful tool and it’s free with a few searches every single month. So you can definitely use it to your advantage.

YouTube

YouTube is a search engine platform meaning that people are turning to the platform to look for solutions to their problems. 

You can use YouTube’s basic function by typing in brand photography. We’ll just run with this topic, brand photography, and see what YouTube is suggesting auto-populates.

This can be incredibly helpful for finding some of the top searches within your industry. 

Further than that, you can start to explore some of the top videos and look at the comments section, see what people are asking and if it’s a really popular video and you’re seeing that it has tons and tons of views, that’s probably a top struggle that your ideal customer is dealing with. 

So not only looking at the topic for the video that has a bunch of views and saying, “Wow, okay, this must be something that my ideal customer is struggling with if everyone’s watching this,” but also exploring the comment section. 

This can be incredibly valuable for grabbing specific language that your audience is using.

Pinterest

To piggyback off of YouTube, another search engine platform that we like coming in at number three is Pinterest. 

Oh, I just love Pinterest so much. As a marketer, it’s a freaking goldmine. 

Pinterest uses a very, very similar feature because it’s a search engine where it will auto-populate with the most popular searches. 

So if you’re going in for brand photography, you type brand photography in the search bar, Pinterest will help you out and tell you the top searches for brand photography. 

It’ll just kind of fill in those keywords. Again, another incredibly helpful way for you to start to get content ideas and information from your audience.

Amazon

The next one uses another popular platform that we’re all familiar with and that is Amazon. 

Look, no matter how you feel about Amazon, it is where people are buying their books. So one of the things that I started doing really early on in my business was starting to explore book reviews. 

Finding books that were related to my industry. Now I totally understand this might not work for everyone. With all of these, take the ones that will best serve you and your industry and run with them. You don’t have to use all of them, but this is a really helpful one especially if your industry typically has very specific topics and books related to what you do. 

So let’s say I am focused on marketing. I can go to Amazon, type in marketing, and choose the book option from the dropdown.

This is going to show me all the top marketing books. I’m going to look for the ones that have the most reviews because that’s where the information lies. 

I can then go to that book, I can read a little bit about it. 

What was the general idea of the book, scroll down and start reading the reviews. Now the positive reviews are nice, but what you really want to focus on are the negative reviews. 

What did people say? 

Did they say it was too simple? 

Did they say that it didn’t answer this question? 

Did they not like it because of X, Y and Z? 

This is going to give you more information about what your audience is looking for and a possible gap that you can fill in your content creation.

The next one is all about community forums. Now I’ll be honest with you, I don’t use this one very often, but I’ve had a lot of clients who find success and use them for themselves. 

The community forums, Reddit is a great example of this, where you can go type in a specific topic, whether it’s a specific problem that you’ve identified for your ideal customer, your industry as a whole, or something that you specifically do. 

Personal branding would be a great example for my business. Type that in and see what people are talking about. See what types of questions individuals are asking. This is a really helpful tool for getting very specific language for your ideal customer. 

In addition to that, and one of the platforms that I’m a little bit more familiar with and comfortable with is Facebook groups. 

Now, I am not suggesting that you go into every Facebook group and you just start asking random questions. Exhausting, outdated. We don’t need to do that anymore.

Facebook has a search function, so you don’t have to do all of the outward postings and choosing a cute pic for attention. We just get to go into the Facebook group that we know is full of our ideal customers, go to the search bar, and start typing in very specific keywords related to the things that you offer, your industry, your problems and see what questions come up. 

Whether that’s a single post or actually in the comments. I have found gold mines in Facebook groups before.

In fact, and I’m going to be sharing with you, how I map out 90 days worth of content, that video is actually coming out next week. One of my favorite places to find content ideas are Facebook groups. 

Survey Your Audience

The last one I’m going to share with you is really helpful if you already have an audience. Now, you don’t have to have a huge audience. You don’t have to have thousands of email subscribers or fans on Instagram or whatever you use to classify an audience for your business. Although I recommend that that’s your email list. You can have 10, 15, 100 people. It doesn’t matter. 

This tool is really helpful for getting really specific information from people who’ve already said yes to your brand. And those are surveys.

Every 90 days-ish, I will put together a survey for my audience and ask very specific questions like:

What are you struggling with right now? 

What is the number one problem that you’re facing? 

What are you looking to do within the next 90 days? 

What would you love from me? 

If I could create one piece of content that would help you, what would that piece of content be? 

And that’s incredibly helpful for getting specific feedback from your audience, making open-ended questions so you can get very specific language and then using that to create your content moving forward. 

Conclusion

So no matter which one of these options you choose, I hope that you see that there is so much information waiting for you on the internet. 

The biggest thing I want you to remember is that we’re focused on getting specific language from our ideal customer. 

It’s not enough to assume what our audience is saying. We really want to use the words that they are using to describe their current struggles, to describe their problem, to describe where they ultimately want to be. 

That is going to help you with your marketing. 

It’s going to help you with your messaging. 

It’s going to help you with your consistent income as a business owner. 

20 Types of Email Marketing Subject Titles That Can Improve Your Click Through Rates

Crafting a good email can be stressful, especially when you need to take note of metrics such as opens, unique opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes. However, creating copy that stands out in your subscribers’ inbox does not have to take hours or go through multiple rounds of vetting.

Before we begin, let’s do a quick recap of the best practices for writing a killer subject heading.

Identify Pain Points

It is a cardinal sin to not have your buyer persona done. In the subject line, showing your subscriber that you have a solution will entice them to open up their email.

Write With Your Brand’s Voice

For example, the tone of copy you would employ for a luxury clothing brand’s event invite will be completely different from a boutique’s swimsuit sale advertorial.

Keep Your Subject Heading Succinct

56% of emails are opened on mobile devices. Trim the frills off your headlines to ensure that your subscribers are able to get the gist of the subject heading at first glance.

Using Numbers When Appropriate

Instead of “fifty dollars voucher”, changing it to “$50 voucher” makes it easier to read.

Mind Your Language

Turn off the caps lock and ease up on the exclamation marks. Nobody likes feeling like they’re being yelled at. This also makes the title look spammy. However, this could depend on your branding. If you are a casual lifestyle publication aimed at millennials, then go ahead and be expressive at appropriate times.

Always Segment Your Lists!

Don’t be lazy, because when you’re doing targeting right, your open rates will go up.

Now that we are all caught up, let’s dive in to the email subject lines that can net you a higher click through rate.

Types of Email Subject Lines That Can Improve Your CTRs

1. Subject lines that incite FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).

This one is a classic and can be seen in many promotional emails. Having this element implies scarcity and urgency. Don’t forget to include a time limit!

• Zalora: “Ends tomorrow: Buy 2 get 20% off.”
• ShopBack: “[lightning emoji] 2 days only: 17% off your Apple purchases at Epicentre with Shoppe!”
• Digital Marketer: “Your private invitation expires tomorrow night”

2. Subject lines that generate curiosity.

Leave your subject line open by dangling a clickbait that incites curiosity and makes your subscribers itch to find out the answer.

• Grubhub: “Last day to see what this email is all about.”
• “Things to avoid when planning a surprise party”

3. Subject lines that appeal to their sense of vanity

Appealing to your subscribers’ sense of vanity in your subject heading by promising something that would make them look or feel better.

• Levis: “Hey (name), you would look so good in these jeans.”
• Sephora: “Products the celebs are wearing”

4. Subject lines that appeal to their sense of greed

This feels similar to FOMO. However, we emphasize more on the ‘getting a good deal part’ rather than the ‘blink and miss it’ part. If you have done your targeting well, your subscribers will find it hard to pass up a good deal. Many FMCG and retail brands use this tactic.

• “Score these styles at a fraction of their original costs!”
• La Mer: “A little luxury at a great price”

5. Subject lines that offer them quick and easy fixes.

Everyone wants things done fast, and done well. That’s why fast food and cheat sheets exist. Brands use this tactic mostly to entice people into entering their emails in exchange for an freebie.

• “99 Content Marketing Ideas For Fashion Brands”
• “27 Excel Hacks You Wish You Had Discovered Sooner”
• Salesforce: “How To Grow Your Business Faster in 15 Minutes.”

6. A subject heading that reminds them to complete an action or process.

These are usually sent to subscribers when they fail to complete an action or step in their sales funnel. For example, when they add an item to their wishlist and just leave it there. These emails then serve to stream your subscribers back down the funnel.

• Zalora: “Hi (name), your wishlist items are running out of stock!”
• “Good news! Your shopping bag items are on sale!”

7. Subject lines that feel like a short burst of energy.

When you see an unopened email in your inbox, the subject line is displayed along with a preview of the first line of the email. Try a short statement, and then elaborate further in the preview. This type of subject heading offers a change of pace from the usual longer sentences. However, use this with caution, as the tone of copy has to align with your branding and style.

8. Subjects that have shock value.

Create a subject line that offers a controversial view or refutes common beliefs to grab people’s attention.

• “Everything is Fake News and Journalism is Dead”
• “In defense of vegan evangelists”
• “Your body does not sweat out toxins and other hot yoga myths busted”

9. Subject lines that pare the information down to the bare essentials.

Use this for notification emails, or reminder emails. “Your order is being processed. Check the delivery status here.” is better than “Your order #0270218838 is being processed and will be delivered in 10 days via air shipping.” They can then check the details in the email.

10. Subjects that ask questions.

Asking people compelling questions will cause them to open your email in search of an answer to satisfy their curiosity. For example, you can try the following: “Do you know how to ensure your customer service stays top notch?”, or “Are you making these data mistakes”?

• Kari DePhillips: “Have questions about Digital Marketing? We’ve Got Answers!”
• Zillow: “What can you afford?”
• Chris Badgett (LifterLMS): “Could you do me a solid?”

11. Make your subject lines time-appropriate.

Make your subject lines time-appropriate. Scheduling emails is a great way to save time and have more control over when you reach your audience. For example, if you’re doing marketing for a food delivery company, you could send a coupon code for discounted delivery near midnight to entice the nocturnal ones to order in. Or maybe it’s the day before Father’s Day, and you haven’t had time to go shopping. Suddenly, you receive an email from Amazon with gift suggestions and a discount off next-day delivery. Score!

12. Subject lines with pop culture references.

This would require you to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry and have a keen sense of pop culture. A week ago, I received an email from the Quandoo app with the subject line “Don’t you, forget about us… Here’s 1000 points ($15)!”. First half of the subject line is a reference to the song made popular by the first Pitch Perfect movie. And now I have it stuck in my head. Check out some others.

• DailySkimm: “Are you a Yanny or Laurel?” Referencing an audio clip that divided the internet.
• “TGIF! If you’re happy and you know it…”

13. Subject lines that make it exclusive.

When people feel like they’re part of an insiders’ club, it gives them a sense of belonging and makes them more open to opening your email. Phrasing like “an exclusive offer for you”, or “special invitation to our next menu tasting” works well.

• Jason Zomwork: “Free Business Tips Just For You”
• Zalora: “First Look: All New Arrivals”

14. Subject lines that add a bit of mystery.

Giving readers a taste of intrigue might entice them to bite. But of course, do provide something of value or elaborate well in your body message, because you do not want to be known as the brand that cried wolf.

• “This might surprise you…”
• Hubspot: “We challenge you…”
• “If not you, then who?”

15. Subject lines that say it like it is.

According to Campaign Monitor, the average office worker receives about 121 emails daily. The inbox gets cluttered easily and a clear direction or call to action will be appreciated.

• “New! Guide to Tokyo’s best nightlife spots.”
• “Download your quarterly investors report here”
• SEMRush Academy: “SEO Writing Assistant on Product Hunt- Check it out!”

16. Subject lines that feature social proof.

We rely a lot on social proof to make our decisions. You may be more hesitant going into a empty restaurant because there is no social proof that the food is good to eat. Same goes for our other decisions, before buying a product or going for a movie, we usually trawl the internet for reviews. So take control of your social proof, and show your people what value they can get.

• SEMRush Team: “[SEO Fundamentals Сourse] 15,000 users took it and it’s rated .”
• eFinancialCareers: “117,390 people will sit the CFA in Asia – ‘even feeding them is a challenge’”

17. Subject lines that make people chuckle.

Everybody loves a good laugh and it makes them warm up to you. Throw in the offer of valuable content or a good deal, and watch your open rates go up.

• Natasha from Glints “Want a high flying career? Find out more here – it’s plane simple!”
• The Scoot Team: “Scoot for a tai-rrific time in Taiwan from $88!”
• The Scoot Team: “Feeling all Thai’d up? Scoot to Thailand from $44!”

18. Subject lines that identify pain points.

Seeing a pattern here? Yes, that’s right, content that is relevant to your target audience is valuable, hence the repeated note to always segment your subscriber lists! Check out these sweet examples below.

• Grab: Still craving for local food? Enjoy free delivery with SG53!
• Onnit: “Fix your posture with our top 5 foam roller exercises”

19. One word subject lines.

One word subject lines. It can be quite daunting trying to distill the message you are trying to convey into a single word, but the results may surprise you. Let’s say you are an online publication for travel and lifestyle content. Instead of titling your email “Check out the best beaches in South East Asia”, consider using “Paradise” in the subject heading, and further elaborating in the preview text.

20. Lastly, the “Hail Mary”.

This type of email subject line is exactly what you think it is. It also sometimes goes against what you know about email marketing best practices. Some people use this as a last-ditch attempt after several unanswered sales emails. Usually something provoking/provocative. It’s something that should be used with caution, especially in the age of social media where it is easy to go viral for the wrong reasons. Check out the examples below.

• Ezbuy: “We are sorry for not doing good enough in Oct”
• Money Dashboard: “Please put us out of our misery.”
• “Your rewards points may be in danger.”

And there you have it! There are no absolute hard and fast rules to categorizing email subject headlines. You can actually combine some of the elements together to create a more impactful headline, like this example below.

So get creative! Write many variations, read them out loud, ask a colleague to vet them through. And always do split testing. 

Do you have any favorite or memorable emails received? Sound out in the comments below or if you’re feeling shy, just drop me an email.