Janelle Page talks about Ecom Mastery .ai featuring BDSS

Amazon sellers. It used to be like what would happen if Amazon got shut down and many of the people would be like well they wouldn't have a business. Well anymore now even if you have a brand and you're selling and you're selling everywhere well what will happen when your manufacturer enters the space or everyone starts copying you? What differentiates you from becoming a commodity? Hey Janelle. Hey Amy. So good to see you. How are you? I am so good and I'm so stoked that both of us are going to be in Nashville at ecommastery.ai and you're speaking. >> I am about branding and the art of branding. I just want to ask you a few questions about that topic. But before we get into that topic, how excited are you about this event, ecommastery.ai, where e-commerce and AI are merging in one event. What does that mean for you? >> Super excited. I mean, I use AI. I'm a power user and so it to be with everybody else in the same field that's using AI so I can learn like like I'm using it and it's just helped me so much in my flow my operations just even day-to-day tasks that I'm like what else could I be using with it so I of course want to be there it's going to be industry specific and I know a lot of the people I've been colleagues and friends with them for years they're all going to be there like the who's who of e-commerce world and Amazon so I'm stoked >> I think the other cool thing about this event is that they're talking about all of the e-commerce channels. A lot of Kevin's previous events have been really Amazon ccentric because so many of us we know the power of Amazon, but this event we're going to be talking about all of the channels. Amazon, Tik Tok, Shopify, your website, wherever you're selling. And I know you Janelle, you sell everywhere. And branding plays a huge part in all of that. So, a lot of sellers think that branding is just a logo and nice packaging. You're saying it's so much deeper than that. What does real branding look like for an e-commerce brand and why does it matter now more than ever? >> This is what I've been teaching for decades. You know, I've always said Amazon is just a channel. I am I say channel agnostic. I believe in building a brand and letting your customer buy where they want to buy. So, our job is to build that brand and that generate that demand and then let the consumers go whether they want to go Amazon, our website, retail, doesn't matter. So I think what's going to be amazing about this conference is that we finally have where the Amazon sellers realize that this needs to happen and we've branched out and we are truly talking e-commerce which I mean selling direct to consumer that's the way I mean it I think when I first got started in this industry I was being hired by manufacturers to come in and help them build a brand so that they could sell direct to consumer because they even saw like it the advent of internet we don't need a middleman we can sell direct and so I always tell people now like okay you're building a brand so Amazon sellers it used to be like what would happen if Amazon got shut down you know and many of the people would be like well they wouldn't have a business well anymore now even if you have a brand and you're selling and you're selling everywhere well what will happen when your manufacturer enters the space or everyone starts copying you what what differentiates you from becoming a commodity and that's brand is your moat and so I'll be speaking about helping people how do I build a brand or make sure I'm building an asset um something that's equity and not just income on it on a distribution channel so I mean we'll start a story like who do we make our products for? I mean, I don't want to give you the whole presentation, but most people when I start working with them, they've just got products, especially if they started on Amazon. There really are two business models and Amazon sellers do really well. That's a different business model. You're looking for product opportunities and gaps and then you're optimizing your listing and that is a model. I have people that make six and seven figures doing that and they enjoy it. They enjoy knowing that their product may have a life of only like three months or a year and then they're back on that treadmill of finding the next product and that frankly doesn't excite me. I like building a brand. I want something where I think of a person that has a problem and I can help them get from where they are now to their dream or transformation state and if I sell them one product and I think of something else that oh my gosh that person also needs this. That's the genesis of starting to build a brand right you know who you serve. People like us do things like this. So, I think that that's what I prefer. That's what I teach. I'm not saying one's better than the other, but if you're building something that is dependent on someone else's platform and playing in someone else's sandbox, it's just not a risk I want to take. >> Yeah. And I think it's so important now more than ever because the platforms are getting much more competitive. Uh the the the life cycle of the person who's picking the product with opportunity is getting much shorter than it used to be. So when you have a brand around that product and you combine both of these things, you can really build something that is both scalable and sellable that is truly an asset like you mentioned. And in a world where AI is recommending products, how does having a strong brand affect whether AI agents choose your product over our competitors? >> Oh yeah. I mean, well, because they're out there scouring the internet. Like the more we're talked about by our customers or people who love us, we or in press releases, you know, I mean, they're in Reddit forms like when the LLM's go out to try to find like who's being recommended, who's being talked about. Are you on Tik Tok? Are you on Reddit? Are you on Facebook? Do you have a website? Are you in press releases? Like, are you on Amazon? I mean, Amazon's still going to be a great source that they're going to be looking to, but you know, a a brand is something that exists outside of a platform. And so, as I create, I I say, where can you be that you can create demand for your product? And how can you do that? There's only literally three ways to generate attention. And you can either buy, build, or borrow it. So, I like to do all three. But if you want the fastest path to cash, it's it's to go buy attention. And you have to then know who is my person or who is this product for? If we can't even like uh define an avatar, then how are we going to find them with our ads? And it is such a magical time to live right now because advertising is getting so stupid simple. If you know who you're going for and you can create messaging for them, the platform, you just put in your creative and it'll target them. Like we don't have to worry about audience overlays. They know everything about us. If we use our mobile phones or if we're on our computer, they're going to find us. So, I think now it's just learning like how do we test and iterate on creatives that are targeting who our person is. And that's what brand helps you decide is like who who are they? Where are they? How do I talk to them? How do I position my product in a way that they think, man, this is made for me? >> Yeah. And for those sellers where their brand has sort of been an afterthought because Amazon used to be a much more powerful channel than it is now. So many brands are they used to be doing a lot of money on Amazon and year year after year, month over month, they're actually losing sales now. and the brands that are omni channel and are really building a brand, they're coming in and getting those trickleover sales on Amazon and just kind of wiping out these other brands who've just been sort of sitting there. Their brand has been an afterthought because they've been mostly um Amazon only brands. Um and I'm seeing it over and over and over again. So, what does that seller need to hear from your presentation at ecommastery.ai that uh that is going to be the wakeup call that they need? Oh, awesome. Well, first I think they're going to already know I need to build a brand, right? Like you just said, but we're going to teach them how to do it. We're going to teach them how to find the story. Stories sell. And it's like, well, I don't have a story. I'm like, everyone has a story, and if not, we can create one. It's a story. Like, some are made up, some are fiction, non-fiction, but you know what I mean? It's just got to be compelling. So, there is always a story. I'm yet to meet someone we can't pull out an incredible story. So, story and then positioning. Positioning is one of the most important things you can do as you market your products. It's helps you differentiate yourself in the marketplace. And I like to teach positioning a little bit different than other people because in all of my positioning, I want to create a category of one. And so I'm not going to be trying to compete in a crowded space. I'm going to here's my example. Red Bull, they didn't come out and try to compete with Pepsi or Coke. That Cola War was going on and they decided, you know what? We're an energy drink. It was a totally new category. So how can we create a new category where we're standalone and we're a category one? And once you do that, I mean, you're going to have copycatterers, but you're gonna be so much further ahead. And you stay on top of it with innovation, licensing deals. I'm going to be teaching collaborations, everything that I've done with my brands and with my clients so that we create this competitive moat that everybody's always chasing us because yes, your manufacturer will compete against you. I can just I have probably in my presentations, I'll talk about my brands, how we set this mo, and how you still have the copycatterers, you still have everyone chasing you. You still want to drive. I never want to drive my brand in the rearview mirror, but I want to be looking forward. And that's what you do when you're a category one leader is you're setting the pace. Everyone's copying you. It's kind of fun. You know, it's flattering, but also, you know, if you don't stay as a category one leader, you can lose your brand. So, beginners, whether you're just getting into e-commerce and you're at this event or multi-million dollar sellers, they're going to get something out of the road map that you're giving. and not just your road map, but you know once they have this foundation set, there are so many great speakers at this event and great people to network with there that they are going to really be able to fill in some gaps and move so much further so much faster than if they were not at this event. So, we are almost sold out Janelle. We're recording this in February and this event is April 8th through the 12th in Nashville, Tennessee. And the cheapest ticket is less than 500 bucks. So, we really Yeah, it's insane. really don't have an excuse, people. And you can save 20% with Janelle's code mastery at ecommastery.ai. Don't wait. We hope we see you there.