Mastering Amazon PPC and E-commerce Strategies with Elizabeth Greene

When you're approaching advertising, a lot of people will say like, "Oh, this match type." Or, you know, "Which match type's the best? Which campaign's the best?" Or, "How do I approach budget it?" I think it's really important to understand, like I said, the tactics, the match types, the campaign structures, all of that, enough so you can understand what it looks like from a shopper perspective.

Elizabeth Greene, tell us what you do in this crazy world of e-commerce.

We run Amazon advertising, specifically PPC for sellers.

That didn't sound as interesting as real life.

No. No. It's short, succinct.

Elizabeth is a PPC genius that takes over social media and teaches everybody how to run their ads. That's what you should have said.

See, I have to get somebody else to say that for me. If I say it, I sound like a pretentious person, which I try not to be.

All right, so where do you see Amazon sellers having the biggest struggle in their businesses in the next 12 months?

Margins. Margins, by far.

Specifically where?

From all sides. That's really what we're seeing. So advertising is getting more expensive because there's more competition. It's also getting more expensive because there's less organic placement, which just means that ad sales are filling that up. So I definitely see it, from that aspect, they're getting squeezed with the advertising spend. And unfortunately, a lot of people talk about it being a pay to play thing. It is. I mean, you can get... If you have better conversion rates, you can get away with less advertising. But focusing on conversion rate optimization, that also can cost money and expenses. And then things like cost of goods, shipments. I think they're coming down, shipment costs, a little bit, but that was really big for a time. And then with Amazon changing their fees and the inventory structure and inventory fees, that's another place. So it's like everywhere you look, it's very nickeled and dimed.

And I don't know, a year ago I would get the question of, "Where do you see this?" Or, "Is everybody getting squeezed?" And I'm like, "Look, everyone should be intentionally running their business and looking at their P&Ls." But honestly, it is kind of terrifying sometimes talking to sellers. I'm like, "How have you gone this long and you don't really have solid bookkeeping?" We, as an agency, try and have solid bookkeeping. I mean, any business whatsoever, you should know what's coming in and you should know what's going out. And because people could just kind of get away with it and like, "Ah, there's money in the bank account at the end of the month, so I guess I'm good," but there's no rainy day planning, or, "Am I losing money on selling this product?"

You should know that. And so, because, I think, in a lot of ways we got spoiled with everything just being so good and margins were so great that you could run it a little bit fast and loose and be fine. Where these days, because everything is getting a little bit more squeezed, it's harder and harder to run it fast and loose. And if you do for too long, then suddenly you're faced with a month... You might end up going out of business if you're not, again, running it like a business.

Yeah. So you started running PPC for people three, four years ago?

It's been five or six.

Five or six.

It doesn't feel like that long.

If you could jump in a time machine and go back to then, what would you tell yourself then that you know now?

You know what's funny? I get this question a lot of new up and coming advertisers and they're like, "Hey, what's the one skill that I can learn? What's the one tactic? Give me the hack," right? I would say, regardless of industry, but especially pertinent to us being an agency, regardless of really understanding how to run ads, the biggest skillset you can learn is actually communication. As much as that seems like a left field thing.

So become an expert at communicating and then figure out what you're going to communicate. The skill, the actual tactical skill, can come later, be a really good communicator, explainer, people person, EQ, and then tactics later.

Yeah. So I would say you definitely need the tactics. You need to understand the ecosystem. I would say... When you're approaching advertising, a lot of people will say like, "Oh, this match type," or, "Which match type is the best? Which campaign is the best?" Or, "How do I approach budget?" I think it's really important to understand, like I said, the tactics and the match types, the campaign structures, all of that, enough so you can understand what it looks like from a shopper perspective.

Makes sense. If you weren't doing Amazon PPC, what would you be doing?

Probably supporting my husband in his real estate ventures. I know that's left field.

Not too left field, just not what I expected. I guess that means left field, right?

Maybe.

Can you give one example of how the e-commerce community specifically has helped you in your business?

Oh my goodness. So much. So much. I would not be where I am today without people generously putting out content for free, like yourself. Information to help other people and their businesses. Because I think that's how we all get started. Be like, "Oh, we hear this [inaudible 00:05:30]. Oh, let's go onto YouTube. Let's figure some stuff out." There is so much generosity in this community of openly sharing, just for the point of being helpful. I was talking with someone the other day, and again, I have no context outside of the Amazon sphere, but he was talking about they also do Google and Facebook and other ones. He's like, "You don't understand how open the Amazon community is." And if this is... Again, like me, this is the only community [inaudible 00:06:00], you're like, "Oh, yeah, everybody's like this. Everybody just shares." You asked me, "Hey, what's the best ranking campaign strategy?" I will tell you happily. And there's other industries where they'll find out something and they're like, "Oh, I can't tell anyone because..."

Super protective of it.

... "I feel like I'm going to lose." And I would just say, this community is so generous with the information and the sharing and the help. I mean, you're not going to probably share your exact product, but everything up until that, it's almost like is free game, which I think is amazing.

So speaking of product, you've represented a lot of brands, a lot of products and sales. What's the most ludicrous, ridiculous, embarrassing, or dumb product you've ever ran campaigns for? And you're immediately somewhat off the hook because you can't run PPC for sex toys.

Yes, that is true. That's true.

That's already disqualified, so you're lucky.

I'd say... Look, we have some weird gag gift products.

Really?

Yes. Those are kind of funky.

I wish you could tell me the exact ones. I know you can't. I'm already thinking of some that are pretty good.

Yeah. Yeah. Think of ludicrous ones that may potentially, in some point or another, sometimes get flagged as adult.

Okay.

They're not legit adult products, but they somehow get flagged on occasion.

What was the most exciting moment in your entrepreneurial journey?

I would say it's probably a more personal thing. I may seem like I'm sophisticated. I live in the woods.

She's a hillbilly.

Yeah. We live in 100 in Florida, and that had been a dream for a long time before we even started the agency, is to be able to purchase a large piece of property and have the family live in it. And our business has afforded us that. So it is a highly personal thing.

So like the moment that you could achieve that?

When we could achieve that, and now we live on an acreage. My in-laws have built a house on it, and they have the family and the grandkids in the community that we've been able to build around us where we are. Which I think is why I can work so long hours and I can work so hard, because my life is... It is very fluid. I go from sitting on the computer to going outside and interacting with the kids to back on the computer, and I am really happy with where we are. And [inaudible 00:08:17].

Probably most important question. Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Gut instinct says no.

Justify that.

See, I don't think I can. I'm like, "That feels wrong," and yet I can understand the argument for it being right.

All right, we'll stick with that. You don't know. Tell everybody where they can find you online.

Best place. So if you want to look us up, junglr.com. J-U-N-G-L-R dot-com. However, I put up the most content on LinkedIn by far.

Got it. Elizabeth Greene on LinkedIn.

Yes.

Check her out. All right. Thanks so much.

Thanks.