Building your brand outside Amazon is a great way to improve your sales on Amazon! For a start, people who know your brand and like it may search Amazon for your brand name. So they’re not going to see your competitors’ products first.
Users who are looking for a specific item will know your brand, so when they see it, they’re more likely to click through to the product. And having better off-Amazon branding translates to better Amazon conversion rates, too, particularly with expensive items.
You can also provide content around your product area on your website – information that is useful to target customers, with how-tos, top tips, demonstrations, and so on. Users may then find your site while they are still thinking, for example, about “What I need in my first kitchen”, and before they decide to buy.
You could sell on your website. But equally, you can simply use it to pass your customers through to Amazon if they are interested in specific products – and you can do so seamlessly within the content they’re reading rather than via a catalogue.
You should also build your presence on all kinds of social media. For instance, Pinterest is a site with a definite skew in its users towards women, and with lots of boards focused on beauty, interior decoration, crafts, and cooking.
Instagram is also a great visual appeal site. But unlike Pinterest, where you can curate photos from different sources – for instance, “our interior design influences” – Instagram is going to need more of your own content. That need not be your products – it could be photos of your production process, new packaging, or even staff enjoying leisure activities, if that’s relevant (say to a sportswear brand or vitamin supplement).
Youtube is a great channel if you have a product that can be demonstrated, tips to give to your target customers, or how-tos, but it does take a bit more work. It can be really good for selling items where the important qualities are not visual – for instance, musical instruments where it’s the sound that’s important. Take a look at Team Recorder (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtrtCvRBjJgqZaD17FDg64Q) and see how one musician makes a instrument despised by anyone whose kids ever played it sound great!
On Facebook, you should definitely build your own page and keep it current, but also look for groups that relate to your product, brand, or target customers. Answering questions like “how do I clean enamel cookware?” or “what kind of toys will my cat enjoy?” without doing a hard sell is a great way to build respect for your brand. (Equally, if you’re selling pet products, remember that pictures of your own pets will be popular and build your image as a pet-loving, pet-expert, business.)
But wherever you are posting content, remember to link it firmly back to those three elements that make your business work – your products, your brand, and most importantly, your customers and their needs.