Introduction
I’ve been an Amazon seller for almost 7 years now. I started with just a few products and grew my business organically. It wasn’t until I decided to launch my own private label brand a few years back, that I realized how nuanced it is.
It definitely entailed more than I’d previously thought. If you’re looking to boost awareness for your e-commerce brand, here are the steps that worked best for me and for several 7 and 8 figure private label brands. But first, let’s talk about exactly what a private labeled product is.
What is an Amazon Private Label Product?
An Amazon private label brand is a company’s own product line that is sold exclusively on Amazon.
Why would you want to start a private label brand? The answer lies in the huge opportunity for selling on Amazon and making money from home, as well as for building your own business with multiple streams of revenue. Selling on Amazon warrants you instant credibility and trust from customers who are looking for quality products at reasonable prices.
It also allows you to have control over your own pricing, instead of having to compete against other sellers by lowering prices or offering free shipping in order to secure sales. Private labeled products typically have better margins and if the product is trademarked, you really don’t have to worry about any competition or other Amazon sellers hopping on your listing.
But how do you build awareness for a private labeled product that isn’t already listed on the Amazon marketplace? Keep reading to find out.
Steps to Build Awareness for Your Amazon Private Label Brand
Find your target audience.
- Find your audience – Where are they? (On Amazon search, Google search, social media, blogs, forums, etc.)
- Research your audience – What are their problems, needs, wants, habits?
- Define your target audience – What are they interested in?
- Determine where your audience is (online, offline, both)?
- Find out what they specifically want and need?
- How can you reach them?
Tell a Unique Story Through Your Private Label Brand.
When you’re starting a business, you might feel like you have to be just like everyone else in order to attract customers. But that’s not the case! You can use your unique story as a way to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Think about what makes your product special or different from other similar products on Amazon or Ebay, or any other eCommerce website for that matter.
Be honest with yourself and tell the truth about who made this product and how it was made. Your brand will stand out from others because of these qualities and people will want to buy from you because of them too.
Highlight Your Brand’s Value Proposition(s).
It’s important to highlight your brand’s value proposition(s), or why people should choose you over other brands.
Why? Because it’s easy for customers to get lost in the sea of other competitors and forget why they should buy from you instead.
In order to stand out, you need to explain what makes your brand different/better than the competition, so that potential customers can easily see how buying from you would benefit them in some way. This can include selling points and benefits of buying from you like eco-friendly packaging, harmlessly sourced, solves problems X, Y, and Z, etc.
Post on Social Media Regularly.
Posting regularly on social media is one of the most effective ways to boost awareness for your brand. When you post valuable or interesting content, it allows you to build trust with your audience, which can help you establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. It also gives them insight into who you are, what you care about and why they should choose to buy from you rather than another site.
The more frequently you post about yourself or the products and services that relate back to your business — whether this is through text posts or photos — the more engaged users will be in following along with what’s happening within those channels and building awareness for your brand as well as its products/services itself.
Make sure you are utilizing in-app shopping features; for example: Facebook Shop, Instagram Shop, Buyable Pins (Pinterest), and others.
Work Meticulously On Obtaining Product Reviews.
Reviews are a great way to build trust with potential customers. They show the product is popular and that other people like it.
Getting product reviews is simple if you have the right strategies in place. The more positive reviews for your private label ecommerce brand you get, the more you increase your sales and gain market share!
Keep in mind receiving more product reviews may also sway Amazon’s algorithm in your favor and boost your product’s visibility in search results.
Share Content That is Helpful to Your Audience.
You should share content that is helpful to your audience. If you are selling a product in the health and beauty niche, for example, then it’s important that the content you share is related to this niche. This means if you’re sharing an article about how to prevent sun damage or how to choose the best sunscreen for your needs, then these articles will be perfect for your audience because they provide useful information about products that they can use (i.e. your solution).
It’s also important that you only share content from relevant sources and businesses so as not to alienate any potential customers by posting promotional messages too frequently. You should also make sure that whatever links you post contain valuable information; otherwise, you risk losing credibility and future engagement.
To ensure people engage with what they see on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, try including images and videos whenever possible. Videos tend to work well when trying to increase engagement rates over time because it engages both sides at once: visually appealing visuals along with verbal voice commentary providing value.
Spend Wisely On Advertising.
You’re going to need to spend money on advertising if you want to get your product in front of more people, and that’s okay. You have a business and brand to build, after all—and while it’s fun to focus on the creative aspect of your e-commerce brand (e.g., the products themselves and website design), it’s important not to ignore critical marketing tactics like Amazon PPC, Facebook ads, or Google AdWords.
If you don’t know how much money you should be spending on advertising, start small and see how effective it is for your business first! Try running different kinds of ad campaigns over different time periods until you find out what works best for reaching your target audience. Testing and alternating different relevant keywords is key.
Work with Relevant Influencers to Promote Your Brand
Influencers are people who have a large following on social media and passionate engaged audiences. They can help you promote your brand or specific product to their audience.
You can find influencers by using tools like Buzzsumo or SocialBlade to search for relevant hashtags, then checking out the profiles of those influencers who post about relevant hashtags frequently.
Address the Customer Service Gap.
One of the most overlooked aspects of branding is quality customer service – and it’s actually a very important part of any business. And this is especially true for private label e-commerce brands that are looking to build trust with their customers and help them feel comfortable making purchases from your brand. Impeccable customer service representatives that go above and beyond will help your brand stand out from the noise.
So how do you accomplish this?
First, it’s important to understand what constitutes great customer service. There are two basic components: consistently building trust and improving products or services based on feedback from your customers.
Customer trust comes from being honest and transparent about what you’re selling (particularly when there are issues), as well as being responsive to questions or concerns by providing helpful answers quickly—and preferably before anyone even has time to ask! The best way to build up trust is by demonstrating, through action, that you care about each individual customer who makes a purchase on your site or potential customer who asks a question about your product.
Build a Beautiful Branded Website.
If you’re not yet ready to build your own e-commerce site, there are several options available. Shopify is a popular choice because it offers everything you need to start selling online and can be customized in just minutes. If setting up your own store is more of your speed, BigCommerce has built-in resources that allow you to manage it all yourself (you’ll have access to tools like inventory management and marketing automation).
This would of course be in addition to your branded Amazon storefront.
All this considered, if you’re serious about increasing awareness for your brand and driving sales growth through digital channels, building an e-commerce website that’s on-brand will be one of the most valuable investments of time and money for your business.
Your website is the first impression people get when they learn about what you do and what you’re offering.
Run a Giveaway or Contest.
Run a giveaway or contest to increase engagement and brand awareness!
This is a great way to get the word out about your product. You can use this strategy to generate buzz, get more followers and build an email list–which will prove to be a valuable asset later.
Your E-Commerce Brand Will Only Succeed if People Know About it, So Don’t Be Afraid to Spend Some Time and Money Increasing Your Brand Awareness.
Your e-commerce brand will only succeed if people know about it, so don’t be afraid to spend some time and money increasing your brand awareness.
Amazon PPC Advertising is the first thing that comes to mind for many private label brand owners when they think about increasing their brand awareness, but there are other ways to do it as well. Here are a few:
- Social media advertising – This can include Facebook ads, TikTok ads, or Instagram ads, depending on which platform your customers use most frequently. Make sure you’re targeting people who might be interested in what you’re offering!
- Having an active and organic presence on social media – Post photos regularly (and engagingly!), make sure that any posts mentioning new products have links back to those products’ pages so that people can learn more about them easily! It’s also helpful for users who may not have heard about your brand yet if you ask them questions and give them opportunities for feedback. Make sure you’re utilizing Instagram Shop and Buyable Pins to increase easy in-app purchases. You want to make purchases as convenient and simple as possible for consumers.
- Customer service – This one seems obvious, but don’t underestimate how much time goes into answering customer questions via email or chat window! A good way of ensuring this doesn’t take too much effort is making sure all of those emails are organized within one place (like Zendesk), so everyone is on the same page.
Final Analysis
It would be challenging to launch an e-commerce brand if you don’t have a brand awareness plan and strategy. You need to be willing to spend money on advertising, influencers and other promotional methods that can help grow your awareness. This will mean spending time and money on things like social media posts, ads, influencers, and giveaways, but it’s worth it if you’re serious about building a successful private label brand.
