Sellernomics Podcast: How to Accelerate Brand Growth Sustainably in Amazon

On March 24th 2022, Ernesto Reza-Garduño, CEO of Mayan, was invited to speak on the Sellernomics Podcast, a show where hosts interview some of the top Amazon personalities in the industry to help you grow your business.

This podcast episode was brought to you by GETIDA, a global leader in Amazon FBA auditing and reimbursements and hosted by Rob Stanley, a former multiple 7-figure eCommerce seller.

In this Sellernomics Podcast episode, Ernesto and Rob of GETIDA discussed:

• What helps accelerate brand growth on Amazon (and how can you do it in a sustainable way)?
• The important differences between advertising management and optimization for Amazon sellers 
• What should FBA sellers focus on most for their business and where can they learn more?
• What are some common mistakes sellers make in regards to their Amazon advertising plan?
• Exit plans for Amazon and how Mayan can help

They also answered some of your most frequently asked questions about ad optimization and selling on Amazon.

Here are some of his expert seller tips that Ernesto shared on this episode of the Sellernomics Podcast.

What Helps Accelerate Amazon Brand Growth?

Ernesto’s advice here for sellers is to get back to basics. Ask yourself, “What are my numbers, where am I going, and what are my top skills?” Let’s break it down.

1. Know Your Numbers

• What is the cost of goods sold?
• How much money are you dedicating towards advertising?
• Don’t forget to take your Amazon FBA fees into account

The more you’re aware of what these costs are on a product-by-product basis, the more you’ll have the right foundation to be able to accelerate growth.

2. Know Where You’re Going

How long do you plan to grow on the platform: Are you looking to exit within the next 1-2 years?

How do you want this Amazon business to fit into your lifestyle?

3. What Are Your Skills

From advertising to product images and videos, there are so many things for sellers to do when it comes to opening an Amazon store, including:

• Product images
• Listing optimization
• Supply chain
• Advertising
• Customer success
• Customer feedback
  

Many Amazon FBA sellers use their business as a side hustle, and for others it’s a full time job. Either way, the best value you can bring to your brand is to focus on what you’re good at and then go out and find the right tools, services, or third party agencies to help you with the rest.

Frequently asked questions from Amazon sellers

How is advertising management different from advertising optimization?

Advertising management is more about helping sellers find the right targets to go after as well as promote their product(s).

Amazon ads optimization is much more data-driven compared to advertising management and it’s about looking at the data and what it’s really telling you, such as: 

• How should I expand coverage by targeting more keywords for my ads? (For example, working with 100 keywords to help advertise and sell your products and brand).
• How do I distribute my monthly advertising budget between the 4 key types of PPC ads offered on Amazon? (Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Sponsored Video).
• How can I adjust my bids so I can get to the top of search?

Optimization of advertising means constantly monitoring your campaigns. Always consider and monitor:

• Which types of ads are getting more efficient over time
• Is your ROAS (return on ad spend) getting bigger?
• Do I have high performing campaigns that are running out of budget mid-day?

How are Amazon advertising and inventory related?

“(As an Amazon seller) you want to always make sure that advertising is working for you and not against you,” Ernesto said. Maybe you are pumping your advertising and driving ad sales, but this might lead to you suddenly being out of stock of a certain product, which will cause you to lose that organic rank (and eventually lose profits over time).

“Optimization means taking a look at the bigger picture and what exactly is going on and making sure it works well for you.”

How important is it to understand the product you are selling?

“A lot of places in the world call it football - if you’re in the US, they call it soccer. Or they’ll refer to us as American football. When you go from the US market, you start to expand internationally, you’re going to need to understand there are variations to your products and the words that are used.” - Rob Stanley

This is where knowing your product and your target customer come into play: You need to understand the context of who and what you’re selling to.

Ernesto’s seller tip here is to take advantage of Amazon’s dual language settings. Considering all of the Latin American customers buying on Amazon US, try and make use of this setting in your product listings.

Did you know that Amazon probably owes you money for FBA reimbursements? Check out this special promotion and find out more about getting up to $400 in free FBA reimbursements.

What are some of the most common mistakes you’ve seen sellers make in regards to their advertising on Amazon?

The first big thing to note here is that it’s important to INVEST IN ADVERTISING. Plain and simple. If you want to accelerate brand growth, marketing and advertising are essential.

“The biggest mistake I’ve seen is not leveraging advertisement because Amazon is a pay-to-play platform." - Ernesto Reza, CEO of Mayan

Another common mistake made by Amazon sellers is that some depend too much on automated ads. If you want to be successful, Ernesto recommends that sellers not depend too much on Amazon’s automated advertising.

“People will make the mistake of over-relying on Amazon’s automated advertising. It can be effective at helping you find new keywords but can drive ad spend that doesn’t result in sales,” Ernesto reiterated.

One example is that an automated ad for a spatula will bring up the keyword “ladle”. While this is a common synonym for a spatula, buyers aren’t going to type in “ladle” when searching for that product. As a result, the money spent for that keyword will be wasted.

When fleshing out their marketing strategy, another common mistake sellers tend to make is finding the wrong partner to work on their advertising campaign.

Typically, one of the first recommendations they will make is to crank up your ad spend so that you’ll generate more ad sales. Seems logical, right? Not really. It’s true that spending more can generally up your ad sales, this is not necessarily the best way to approach a winning advertising strategy to boost your brand and product sales.

Instead, Ernesto recommends to focus on squeezing the most performance from your ad spend rather and THEN you can increase your ad spend.

What are useful resources for Amazon Sellers who want to grow?

If you really want to accelerate your brand growth in a sustainable way, start by reaching out to other Amazon sellers. Sometimes, it’s just that simple.

The entrepreneur world is very community-driven and filled with people who’ve discovered the latest hack and want to share their knowledge and experience with others.

Also, social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn have a plethora of Amazon sellers groups where you can find valuable information and guidance to help grow your business. You’re the experts - so don’t be afraid to lean on each other!


Tips and advice for exiting Amazon

To finish off the podcast episode, Rob asked Ernesto to share some of his best advice for sellers who are thinking of exiting the Amazon platform.

When it comes to preparing your business to be sold, the easier you can make the process for whoever is looking to buy your business, the better. This gets back to knowing your numbers (FBA fees, advertising costs, etc) as well as sales performance.


It’s also important to make (the handoff) an easy transition for the purchaser. On top of knowing your numbers, there’s a few other main things to keep in mind:

• Sign up for Brand Registry.
• Have your listing as well crafted as possible.
• Have a good storefront.
• Understand your supply chain well (break down the details)
• Be detailed about your business (keywords, storefront, tell Amazon what it is for a better valuation).
• Have detailed documentation and explanations for your business.


How does Mayan help with exiting on Amazon?

We at Mayan do analytics reporting where we report on your brand’s sales, inventory, and advertisement performance at the SKU level, at the brand level, and at the portfolio level.

This is important when it comes to Amazon’s valuations when you are looking to exit.

Aggregators look for things like: What did your brand earn in the past 12 months or even 3 months? How is your brand trending? Are you up and to the right? Or downward. All of this will affect your valuation and a good brand standing is vital if you want to make a profit.

Now that you’re armed with knowledge, are you ready to build a new and improved marketing plan? Reach out to one of Mayan’s experts and get started to help grow your brand sustainably in 2022.