In this episode, host Josh interviews Amazon expert Shannon Roddy about strategies for building, growing, and protecting successful Amazon brands. Shannon emphasizes the importance of product quality, authentic brand storytelling through images and videos, and adapting product lines based on customer feedback. He shares practical tips for scaling from 7 to 8 figures, highlights the need for continuous optimization, and discusses protecting intellectual property. Shannon also recommends resources like Avenue Seven Media’s free checklist and influential figures in e-commerce. The episode offers actionable advice and inspiration for Amazon sellers aiming for long-term growth.
Chapters:
Introduction & Guest Background (00:00:00)
Josh introduces Shannon Roddy, his background, and expertise in Amazon brand building.
Brand Building Fundamentals (00:00:41)
Discussion on the importance of value, understanding the market, and showcasing brand identity on Amazon.
Showcasing Brand Identity on Amazon (00:02:11)
Advice on using images, infographics, and videos to communicate brand mission and story.
Quality Product as Foundation (00:02:32)
Emphasizes the necessity of having a great product before focusing on branding and marketing.
Adapting Brand Presentation to Audience (00:03:03)
Examples of tailoring images, content, and style to fit the brand and resonate with customers.
Learning from Customer Feedback (00:04:01)
Importance of reviewing customer feedback and adapting listings to highlight what customers value.
Continuous Optimization & Discovery (00:04:57)
Brand building as an ongoing process of discovery and adaptation based on customer needs.
Adapting and Expanding Product Lines (00:05:52)
Necessity of updating listings, ads, and product lines to stay competitive and grow.
Executing the Fundamentals (00:06:46)
Success on Amazon comes from consistently executing business fundamentals, not shortcuts.
Case Study: Table Mate (00:07:42)
Example of a brand that grew by expanding and adapting its product line.
Three Actionable Takeaways (00:08:28)
Summary of key actions: define and showcase brand, innovate and expand, and protect your business.
Protecting Your Brand (00:10:59)
Discussion on intellectual property, defensibility, and creative ways to protect products and campaigns.
Most Influential Book (00:11:25)
Shannon recommends “Good to Great” by Jim Collins and explains its impact.
Favorite Productivity Tool (00:12:28)
Shannon highlights Calendly for scheduling and its new features that improve efficiency.
Most Admired E-commerce Leader (00:13:37)
Shannon names Jason Boyce as a respected leader and advocate for Amazon sellers.
Avenue Seven Media & Free Resource (00:15:16)
Information on Avenue Seven Media and a free checklist resource for Amazon sellers.
Episode Wrap-Up (00:15:55)
Closing thanks and final remarks from both Josh and Shannon.
Links and Mentions:
Tools and Websites
“Avenue Seven Media“: “00:15:16”
“Calendly“: “00:12:28”
Free Resource
“Free Checklist (128 Things)”: “00:15:43”
Books
“Good to Great by Jim Collins“: “00:11:35”
People Mentioned
“Shannon Roddy“: “00:00:00”
“Jason Boyce“: “00:13:37”
Transcript:
Josh 00:00:00 Today I’m super excited to introduce you to Shannon Roddy. Shannon is an Amazon expert. He’s a speaker and a director of business development at Avenue seven media. He founded Marketplace Seller Courses, home of the Amazon Brand Success Academy, and has consulted with over 200 companies and individuals to launch, grow and protect their Amazon brands. Shannon is a passionate innovator who loves to inspire others to achieve greatness and his family. Currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. So with that, welcome to the show, Shannon. Hey, Josh.
Shannon 00:00:34 Thanks so much for having me. I’ve been really excited. We planned this a several months back, so something I’ve definitely been looking forward to.
Josh 00:00:41 I am of the same agreement to yourself, Shannon, that there is more than enough room for all of us to compete. but to your point, you’ve got to bring value to the market, right? Long gone are the days, especially on Amazon, of just creating another meta product, and especially if you’re in the US, like good luck trying to find something cheaper and more efficient.
Josh 00:01:05 Process like that’s not your capability, right? But what you can do. And here’s where a lot of the overseas competitors, you know, fail to kind of compete with us on. They don’t understand our market, period. Yeah. They don’t they don’t understand the end consumer. All they know how to do is to make things cheaply. Right. Yeah. And so I think that’s a that’s a big mindset shift. Number one is approach everything even new product opportunities as to okay, here’s what’s out there in the market. But it’s probably not serving everybody the right way. So bring something new to the market. But I want to wrap up this whole brand building thing. I know we’ve spent a lot of time on it, but I want to wrap it up by by one kind of, you know, action item here with you, Shannon, as you talked about specifically on Amazon being able to showcase who your brand is, what you stand for is your recommendation that you take one of your listing images and you turn it into this kind of infographic or lifestyle image.
Josh 00:02:11 and you kind of state your either your company mission or what your brand is about there. And then do you create a video, right. And obviously there’s A+ content and premium A+ content. Like where what’s your recommendation for like a seller? That’s like I have none of that today. What should they actually go do?
Shannon 00:02:32 Yeah. I mean, you know, the one last piece to this. Again, you can’t build a great brand if you don’t have a great product, right? The foundation is you’ve got to have a quality product. Even if you sell it well, the reviews will come out in the end. Right. So I want to just, you know, go back and lay the foundation. You got to have a great product for any of this to work, you know. And so once you’ve got a great product, it really is about showcasing it. And and again, I think the answer is it depends. It depends on the brand. I worked with the tattoo company. They were very much about lifestyle.
Shannon 00:03:03 They hired tons of influencers out there. They had this very sort of sexy avant garde motif. And so the lifestyle images conveyed that. But they had things like, look, we don’t do animal testing. It’s cruelty free. It doesn’t have these sort of nasty ingredients in it. And so it wasn’t like one image that housed everything. It was sort of telling that story through the different product images and reinforcing the A+ content. And I think the video was just lifestyle, right? So that was their sort of style was the way to translate their brand to Amazon. And that’s again, that’s sort of what we do at Avenue seven because it’s not a copy and paste platform. Right. You’re really taking the essence of the brand and the product and translate it into Amazon. And there’s, you know, their style was very minimalistic. Their bullet points were only one line long. And people go, oh, well, that’s terrible for SEO. That’s never going to convert. You have to do paragraphs, you gotta keyword stuff.
Shannon 00:04:01 Their titles were one line long. Their bullet points were one line long and their conversion rate was insane. And so again, it it does depend on the product, but at some point you’ve got to be cognitive aware of what customers love and what they’re engaging with and continuing to tell that story. So, you know, again, combing through your product reviews is a great place to see what people love about the product. Are you highlighting those things you know in your images, in your product features, and your A-plus content? If you’re not, you should be, because that’s what customers actually care about. Oftentimes when somebody creates a product, they what they think customers are going to really love about it, the customers don’t even care about and what they thought was an afterthought turns out to be the biggest thing. Yelp. They didn’t even have reviews on their mind. They thought they threw product reviews in or reviews for Yelp as an afterthought, not knowing that that was going to be their entire business, you know? Yeah.
Shannon 00:04:57 And so again, it’s an element of discovery. It’s a process of discovery. And what works for your brain. But it really it really comes down to the specific company, what you’re selling and why you’re selling it.
Josh 00:05:07 I love that. Yeah. And and being able to pivot. And as soon as you start to get feedback and you read those reviews, then make the adjustments, right. I think too many people are like, set it and forget it. Oh, I already did my listing images. I did those five years ago. Shannon I’m good. Right? It’s like, read the image, read the feedback that you’re getting and start focusing in on it. Is it a bunch of soccer moms that are buying it, or is it a bunch of office, you know, professionals, right, that are working at a corporate company, etc.. So all right, Shannon, let’s go into pillar number two here. We talked about building your brand. Dive into this next pillar that’s going to help a seller go from 7 to 8 figures and beyond.
Shannon 00:05:52 Yeah. So it was a great pivot. You know growing your brand. It’s exactly what you said. You know you’re looking at where can you adapt and expand. And so that story of like I haven’t optimized my listings. We were talking to, you know, potential client that I had worked with years ago, under my previous company. And I’d help them create their graphics and do their SEO and their titles, features and A-plus content. And literally nothing had been changed in the last four years. The ads budget, the campaign strategy, the listings, the titles. Everything was the same for the last four years. That’s not going to cut it, right.
Josh 00:06:26 But Amazon is supposed to be passive income, right?
Shannon 00:06:30 Yeah. You know, we we used to sort of sadly joke at some of the Amazon conferences that FBA stood for failed businesses on Amazon because because people sort of get sold pipe dreams. And it’s really not fair. I mean, it’s really unfortunate, but Amazon is challenging. It is a business.
Shannon 00:06:46 Most businesses fail just businesses. Period. You add the cutthroat nature of Amazon into the mix. It’s like good luck, you know, so I’ve talked to people who are like, oh yeah, it’s great. My products, you know, should be here next week. And all of a sudden it’s held up at customs. It’s like, I don’t know anything about customs. Nobody mentioned that to me. so more challenges than opportunities, but there’s still tons of opportunity. but you got to execute the fundamentals. And so that’s really the principal. I wish it was this, this beautiful, elaborate, secret, secret sauce, Josh. But it really comes down to executing the fundamentals. And so I’ve got sort of two comparison companies that I worked with over the same period of time. One whose name I can mention, one I won’t, but but Table Mate was a TV trade company and the founder, again, an inventor. He’s like, you know what? My parents would have guests over to the home and they’d be sitting around.
Shannon 00:07:42 They would have like, they’d be watching TV or wanting to eat. They didn’t have a way to sort of like, where do I put stuff? You know, if we’re hanging out in the den area. And so he created a table made as a TV tray that sort of folds up nice and easy, and it’s very lightweight. And, you know, it was great. But over time they expanded and they adapted. It’s like they had the table made, and then they had the table mate two and then the table mate XL for like large. And then they have the table mate five that will go over wheelchairs. And then they develop the table mate for kids. Like if you’re not adapting and expanding on your product line, you’re missing out. And if you don’t do it first, somebody else is going to do it for you. And so again, the idea that stagnant doesn’t survive and stagnant definitely doesn’t survive on Amazon or e-commerce, because there’s too many players in the market who are looking for those opportunities.
Josh 00:08:28 I love to leave the audience with three actionable takeaways from each episode. So here are the three takeaways that I’ve noted. Shannon. Let me know if you think I’m missing something. But number one, you have to identify what your brand culture or what your brand stands for. What is your brand mission, what is it about? And most importantly, if you already have maybe some idea of what your brand is, the actionable strategy here, and I think I’m speaking to myself here, is make sure that you are showcasing that pictures tell a thousand words, right? Videos, images.
Shannon 00:09:05 yeah.
Josh 00:09:06 Make sure you’re showcasing that in either a secondary image, a video on that product detail page, or even in your A+ content or premium A+ content with your brand story. Get really good at creating that emotional connection to, you know, to that potential customer, but you can price a little bit higher because of that brand equity that you will create. so that’s action item number one. Action item number two is having adaptability and being able to continue to grow and innovate.
Josh 00:09:42 And I would argue one of the most important things for any e-commerce seller is expanding your product line. You shared a great example of, you know, in that frequently purchased together section, A brand owners like, hey, I see a lot of people also buying this. They end up going into that market and it brought an extra 2 million to them. That’s the way our businesses continue to to grow. We produce and create at least 20 to 30 new SKUs every single month. We’re bringing new products to the market on a regular basis, because if you’re not growing and expanding that product line, which also has a compounding effect in your overall brand in and of itself. But if you’re not doing that, you are frankly going to be dying. And then last but not least, the third actionable takeaway is to go protect yourself. Choose one of the many things that we talked about, whether it’s, you know, having protection and defense ability because you have the only access to a potentially a resource like a magnet or something like that, or you have a really high cost for, you know, to create a mold $50,000 plus or just having a design pad, a utility pad, especially having copyrights and then also having the defense ability with your ad campaign.
Josh 00:10:59 So I think a lot of people, typically when you think about protecting yourself. Go straight to. Well, I don’t have a utility pan. Mine’s not unique enough to do that. Like, okay, that’s fine, but think starts thinking outside the box. And you gave some practical ways that people could actually create some defense ability for their product campaigns and for their products. Anything else? Shannon.
Shannon 00:11:23 No. That’s everything I know.
Josh 00:11:25 I love it, I love it. As we wrap things up, I like to to ask you three final questions. So the first one is what has been the most influential book that you’ve read and why?
Shannon 00:11:35 You know, the most influential business book I’ve read? Because I’ve read a lot of books, but business wise it’s been good to great by Jim Collins. Again, he just gets to those core principles of what it takes to lead a great company. And they’re still true today. I mean, it’s still like a number one bestseller after 20 plus years. And, you know, so many great businesses have flourished under his guidance and leadership.
Shannon 00:11:57 And again, I would probably put him as he’s a coach, not necessarily a player. Like he may make a terrible CEO if he were to, you know, step into that role of a thriving company. But but he’s such an amazing coach and and I respect his work so much. It’s been definitely impactful in my, my business and my career.
Josh 00:12:13 I love it. Definitely a book we’ve heard recommended very often on this podcast. So if you haven’t read it, go read it.
Shannon 00:12:19 Go get.
Josh 00:12:20 It. All right. Next question here, Shannon. What is a new software or productivity tool that you’ve come across that you think is going to be a game changer?
Shannon 00:12:28 You know what? For me right now, honestly, from a time saving standpoint, it’s an oldie but goodie. It’s calendly. I just freaking love Calendly. And I just learned that you can now put specific times suggested times in an email. I’ve never done that before. So it’s like, okay, pick a time on my calendar, but I really want to meet with them early next week.
Shannon 00:12:49 And so now you go in and you go share and you go, okay, here’s the three times on Tuesday that I can meet with you. And it actually puts those as three separate button options in the email. I’m like, this is cool. So again, Calendly great example of a company that is always expanding. They’re always innovating there. Always. Okay, let’s now let’s add round robin calendaring. And now let’s add follow ups. And now let’s add animation. And now let’s add routing. You know it’s like if you answer this question you go to this form. If you answer that question you can book an appointment. So you know calmly is again it’s a great software. It’s simple, it’s easy. And it saves me from having an administrative assistant who does nothing but manage my schedule.
Josh 00:13:27 So I love it. All right. Last but not least, who is somebody that you admire or respect the most in the e-commerce space that you would recommend other people start following?
Shannon 00:13:37 Yeah. So I’m going to have to say Jason Boyce.
Shannon 00:13:39 And it’s not just because he’s my boss. but but he really is. He’s a passionate leader and he’s a, he’s a strong advocate for sellers and brand owners in the Amazon and e-commerce community. And whether it’s, you know, through legislation, talking to legislators, whether it’s advocating publicly for, you know, changes in Amazon needs to make we do a lot of that on the podcast. He passionately believes in helping Brandon Sellers. And we also do it. It’s what we do for our clients. It’s like when we see a client struggling, we’re able to take their account and help them fix those problems and take it to the next level and get back some of that money that Amazon sort of taken them, you know, for a ride on. it’s it’s very gratifying. And so, you know, in the e-commerce space, when I first met Jason, before we even had a conversation about acquisition. The first thing he said to me was, thank you for everything you do for sellers. And it was very genuine.
Shannon 00:14:35 It was very heartfelt. And again, it starts with authenticity. And Jason’s got plenty of personality to go around as well. But, but, you know, he really does fight for brand owners and sellers, with the ferocious passion that I just have not seen matched by anyone. That’s certainly at an agency status. he cares about every single client that comes through our doors, but he also cares about the sellers and the seller community beyond and and helping in any way he can to make that community better?
Josh 00:15:04 Yeah. That’s fantastic. All right. Shannon, where can people go to learn more about Avenue seven media? I believe you have a free resource to to give out. Tell us more.
Shannon 00:15:16 Yeah. So you can find us on Amazon or I’ll start that again. so you can find us at Avenue seven. Com that’s Avenue the number seven media. Com and we’ll also put a checklist a link for a free checklist. It’s basically the 128 things that I talked about. So if you go to AV seven AV seven number 7.com/checklist, you’ll be able to put in your email.
Shannon 00:15:43 we won’t spam you, but we’ll offer updates and tips and new podcasts. And you can download that free checklist and get tons of information resources and get a little glimpse into what we do as an agency to help sellers.
Josh 00:15:55 Awesome. All right, Shannon, well, thank you so much for your time today and sharing your wisdom for us.
Shannon 00:16:00 Thanks for having me, Josh, any time. Really appreciate it and look forward to coming back again sometime.
