Missing Something - Need Your Perspective

[MJ DeMarco]

Productocracy...

Duh, what's that?

Money-chasing...

Don't know what that is...

Grind, grind, grind. Tweak tweak tweak.

I love threads which demonstrate a clear product problem (with no value skew), and yet, they think marketing can solve it. If only there were books on such a subject...

Good marketing only makes a bad products fail slower...

 

[Phikey]

From what you've written it seems to me that you've created a product first and now you're trying to figure out how to sell it to people. You have no idea why people aren't buying it, even though you think your product is the bees knees. You've put the cart before the horse. Find the customers first, figure out exactly what they want and then deliver value with a product that's tailored to their needs.

The good news is that you have 1500 emails (as long as they are quality emails). I would blast them with a survey.. or, even better, offer them an Amazon gift card to jump on a quick 15-20 minute phone call with you. After just 5 calls you'll learn more about your target customers than you did through hundreds of dollars in facebook spend.

All these dropshipping courses have convinced a generation of entrepreneurs that a 'winning product' is the secret to success in Ecommerce. The product is just the value that you're providing to solve the customer's needs. What really matters is what the customer wants and thinks. If they don't see the value in your product then they won't buy. The easiest (and cheapest) way to fix this is to talk to your potential customers and figure out what the heck they want in a supplement. Maybe they don't even have the problem you think they have.

 

[biophase]

I never stated that I was working exclusively on my supplements business; I work 60-70hrs per week on my various ECommerce ventures.

I worked on the supplements business full time (60-70hrs per week) for 12 months, but ran out of funds to continue advertising at the end of 2019. Since then I have been trying to get some kind of semi-reliable income going so that I can put the funds back into my supplement business.

I started this thread because my previous attempts to generate income with supplements were ineffective and I see no point in throwing more money at it until I can work out why and how to fix it.

Oh I get it. I just question the hours work vs. results. Because you are clearly doing something wrong if you put in that work and are still struggling. But it also sounds like the work put in involves spending money on marketing.

"My Thoughts on Possible Causes / Solutions:
- It's possible that I'm not being persistent enough when it comes to marketing and that I am giving up too early (after a couple of months of solid marketing with no sales), but I find it difficult to judge when I'm just burning money vs persisting with testing & tuning as I have no frame of reference for this.
- Maybe I have to accept that I need to spend thousands of dollars testing advertising for a business which may not be successful / profitable?"

I think that all these reasons are incorrect. As others have mentioned you have a product problem or a communication problem.

If you truly had a product that helped someone, people would be lining up to buy it from you. So ask yourself if you truly had a product like that. If you did, then it was your failure to communicate it to the people who needed it.

"I put over 1500 leads through this system but made no sales. "

Ask yourself why this happened? Was it the 1500 leads were bad? Were they good leads, but your offer was bad? There are simple answers to your problems if you ask the right questions.

"FB ad and opt-in rate was pretty good ($1 leads & 45% opt-in rate) and email engagement was also very good (~45% initial, down to ~25% for emails in the first week or so).
So good stats, not good sales."

To me, this is all pointing to a shitty product. Or maybe the product is great, but your brand, packaging and pricing is shitty.

What do you think the issue is/was?

"In any case, I'm more interested in building a business with long term potential, building loyalty and trust with a customer base who buy from me regularly and also buy other related products from me; not flitting between multiple 'hot' products which are just a flash in the pan with little to no opportunities for repeat purchases.

I want to create long term value."

What if you gave your product away for free and made money on the return purchases after a month or two? Do you truly believe in your product enough to do that?

 

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[SamboNZ]

I think supplements can provide value, but I respect your opinion and appreciate your feedback.

 

[The-J]

I feel that I am lacking in knowledge about marketing, a problem which I am currently in the process of correcting

Probably.

You spent $250 on FB ads to generate leads, which means you were promoting one "offer" (join my email list and get something cool) while measuring sales on the other offer (buy my supplement). Nothing wrong with this strategy, it's just that you did nothing to convince those people to actually buy your supplements.

If you generate a lead, you need to give the lead a reason to convert down the funnel. That's why they're leads and not customers.

But that's just tactical stuff. Many marketers get too deep into tactics when their real issue is their offer.

If nobody is buying what you sell, then you clearly have a product-market fit problem. The people you think want your product actually don't. Several reasons for this: maybe the competition is more attractive, or maybe your offer doesn't suit their needs, or maybe your offer doesn't seem to be worth the cost, or maybe you're targeting the wrong people. There are a million and one reasons why people say no, but only one reason why they say yes. People say yes because they believe they need what you have to offer.

And no, $250 is nowhere near enough to test a product. If you're gonna test a product on Facebook, test it with a bigger budget on several audiences with several different appeals and see which ones work best. And test it direct. Don't spend your first tests on complicated funnel tactics: just see if people actually want what you have to offer!

Heh, yup, been there, made $100k+ of sales from health related products which have been in high demand recently partially due to COVID.
The problem is that the demand has proven to be very short-term and the wave of buying seems to have all but ended now.

And that's how I can tell that your marketing chops need work. Selling health products to a panicked public is like selling drugs to a junkie: it sells itself. Most things don't. Give people a good enough reason to shell out, and they WILL.

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

I love threads which demonstrate a clear product problem (with no value skew), and yet, they think marketing can solve it.

Hmm, but marketing itself can be a value skew. Marketing has to do with how the product is perceived, and as you explain it's perceived value that matters. So the right positioning could just give it sufficient value skew to push it over the edge...

Think about say the iPod. The first portable mp3 player was invented by a Singapore based company, Creative Technology Ltd. who were specialised in audio technology. The iPod appeared 22 months after. But of course, we don't remember Creative, but we do remember Apple.

Why?

Was it because Apple had a better product?
Was it because Apple was more qualified?

Clearly not - Apple was not an audio or music player company. They were a computer biz.

The difference came from marketing. Apple said "1000 songs in your pocket". Creative said "5GB mp3 player".

So the value skew came from the marketing itself - from communicating to users how to be successful with the device. Use it to carry 1000 songs in your pocket. So simple, so clear, so elegant, so powerful.

If you use your marketing to teach people how to be successful with your product, you create power users, who do turn it into a productocracy as you'd call it by getting the word of mouth started. And the reason they do that is precisely because they become power users - they want to show others how GREAT THEY ARE because of your product! Again, it's because THEY are great, not that your product is.

Hey Guys,

I need some outside perspective from those who have had success and have 'been there and succeeded' before.

Background:
- I have been doing ECom for over 2 years (1.5 years full time)
- I am dedicated, typically putting in 60-70+hrs per week
- I have put serious effort into 3 different businesses
- I'm a tech guy so learning platforms / systems is not a problem for me
- I feel that I am lacking in knowledge about marketing, a problem which I am currently in the process of correcting
- I believe in learning from those with superior knowledge to me and have invested in training in the past

Current Issues:
- While I believe I now have a reasonable grasp of most ECom concepts, strategies and methods, other than one short burst of success for a couple of months (with DropShipping early in the COVID pandemic), I have not been able to consistently make profitable sales.
- I feel like there's something missing in my knowledge / approach which will tie everything together and allow me to be successful; the 'glue' which makes it al work, but I can't see what it is.
- I don't know what the optimal marketing approach is for a given product (eg; lead/traffic warming vs cold ads)
- I'm feeling quite lost and directionless right now; unsure how to proceed further

My Thoughts on Possible Causes / Solutions:
- It's possible that I'm not being persistent enough when it comes to marketing and that I am giving up too early (after a couple of months of solid marketing with no sales), but I find it difficult to judge when I'm just burning money vs persisting with testing & tuning as I have no frame of reference for this.
- Maybe I have to accept that I need to spend thousands of dollars testing advertising for a business which may not be successful / profitable?

I realize that this may not be enough info to work with; please ask me if you need more detail.

All constructive input greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

Sam.

I've read through the thread, and you're making a couple of serious mistakes, which is why I believe you're not successful. I do have a course on this that you may want to check out, but I will give you some free pointers here that should be more than enough to get you to start making some money consistently.

If you look at your past success, you've succeeded when the MARKET made you succeed. In this thread which you should read before you read the rest of my post, I go over the 3 BIG FORCES you'll encounter in any business, and how to manage them. The MARKET is one of them. And it's the most powerful one too.

When you are dropshipping, you want to sell a product that is hot. A product that is already selling. A product with a huge demand. Choosing this type of product is 1000x more important than your marketing or sales effort.

A good book you may look into is Gary Halbert's Boron Letters - you will learn from it that Gary himself would REFUSE to work with any client unless he got to PICK THE PRODUCT. And the product choice was the single most important factor to his success, and he was the greatest copywriter of all time.

So,

Step 1: Sell products that other people are already selling successfully.

How do you find them? On Aliexpress look by the number of orders. On Google, you just research for the products you're interested in or the pain-points. Then grab the names and/or images of those most ordered products and start searching for them online. If you find a business selling them, and they have a Facebook page use this link to discover what ads they are running on their Facebook page, and how long they're running for.

You want to see that they are running ads for at least 2 weeks to that product. Then check the landing page. Buy the product, and check their email sequence. Add the product to cart, and don't purchase it with a different email, and check their abandoned cart sequences.

Once you have done this, I want you to COPY THE EXACT FUNNEL.

And I really mean COPY IT. Don't try to be smart. Dropshipping is a stupid man's business, and you have to be stupid if you want to succeed. This is where most people FAIL - so pay close attention!!

Step 2: Copy the exact funnel structure - the same TYPE of ad, the same pain-points, the same type of landing page, the same email sequence, in the same order. Obviously change your copy and wording and stuff - not just copy/paste, but you get the idea.

Once you have done all this, start running traffic to your funnel. You should start making the $$.

Now you will be testing to improve your funnel and add more value. Ask yourself how you can add more value, and start with your ads. Can you target the pain-point better? Can you inflame the pain-point more? Can you perhaps do video ads, if your competitors are doing image ads?

You will need to gradually A/B test each element, one by one. In my course, I actually go over a specific way to do this that we've used quite successfully in my agency.

Then go on and do the same for your landing page. And for your email sequences. Ask yourself HOW CAN I MAKE THE USERS OF THIS PRODUCT MORE SUCCESSFUL? Because if you can do that, you'll start getting word of mouth advertising too.

Step 3: A/B Test and improve your funnel (differentiate from the competition)

Once you start doing this, you'll be gradually turning a generic dropshipping biz in something that is different from the competition, and that you can scale into a much bigger, fastlane business over time, by getting your own warehouse space, branding your products, and so on so forth.

Step 4: Create a brand & stop being a dropshipper.

That's enough for now.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

but marketing itself can be a value skew.

Absolutely yes, and it needs to be a value skew when your product sucks or is just like everyone else.

That is what sounds like this dude is on the hunt for. My product is just like everyone else... how do I become a master marketer?

 

[SamboNZ]

Hey Guys,

I need some outside perspective from those who have had success and have 'been there and succeeded' before.

Background:
- I have been doing ECom for over 2 years (1.5 years full time)
- I am dedicated, typically putting in 60-70+hrs per week
- I have put serious effort into 3 different businesses
- I'm a tech guy so learning platforms / systems is not a problem for me
- I feel that I am lacking in knowledge about marketing, a problem which I am currently in the process of correcting
- I believe in learning from those with superior knowledge to me and have invested in training in the past

Current Issues:
- While I believe I now have a reasonable grasp of most ECom concepts, strategies and methods, other than one short burst of success for a couple of months (with DropShipping early in the COVID pandemic), I have not been able to consistently make profitable sales.
- I feel like there's something missing in my knowledge / approach which will tie everything together and allow me to be successful; the 'glue' which makes it al work, but I can't see what it is.
- I don't know what the optimal marketing approach is for a given product (eg; lead/traffic warming vs cold ads)
- I'm feeling quite lost and directionless right now; unsure how to proceed further

My Thoughts on Possible Causes / Solutions:
- It's possible that I'm not being persistent enough when it comes to marketing and that I am giving up too early (after a couple of months of solid marketing with no sales), but I find it difficult to judge when I'm just burning money vs persisting with testing & tuning as I have no frame of reference for this.
- Maybe I have to accept that I need to spend thousands of dollars testing advertising for a business which may not be successful / profitable?

I realize that this may not be enough info to work with; please ask me if you need more detail.

All constructive input greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

Sam.

 

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[sparechange]

You don't need to spend thousands of dollars to sell a product.

There are ways to advertise for free

 

[sparechange]

I've heard mixed feedback on free advertising. Where could I find information on methods and results?

Two of my businesses were dropshipping, one was white labelled products with plans to manufacture my own products (supplements).

Cold calling like a telephone terrorist, facebook is free, instagram is free, youtube is free, writing letters is free, door knocking is free, standing on the side of the road with a sign is free, getting others to market a product is kinda free except paying out commissions.

Be a problem solver, that's what being an entrepreneur is about. Selling supplements isn't really being an entrepenuer, you just join the ranks of money chasing donkeys spamming out crap online (my opinion)

 

[SamboNZ]

The marketplace is giving you feedback, maybe they don't want or need the product? After all there are hundreds of supplements out there, perhaps it could be better pricing, branding whatever the case may be, 0 sales means something.

Create a product that is unique, wanted or needed... the supplement niche has been filled and you'd be competing with hundreds of other brands, why fight an uphill battle when you can coast downhill?

For sure it's telling me something, but I need to find out what that is.
I've put a lot of thought, time, effort and money into this business and I'm not prepared to give up without confirming that there is no opportunity there for me.

If my research proves that the opportunity is not there, I'll walk away, but I need to prove it first.

According to my fairly extensive research, this particular supplement niche is in high demand, is under-served and existing suppliers are doing a pretty poor job of serving the market right now.

People are going insane right now over toilet paper, cleaning supplies & masks, maybe there is something you can do there?

Heh, yup, been there, made $100k+ of sales from health related products which have been in high demand recently partially due to COVID.
The problem is that the demand has proven to be very short-term and the wave of buying seems to have all but ended now.

In any case, I'm more interested in building a business with long term potential, building loyalty and trust with a customer base who buy from me regularly and also buy other related products from me; not flitting between multiple 'hot' products which are just a flash in the pan with little to no opportunities for repeat purchases.

I want to create long term value

 

[biophase]

What do you do for the 60-70 hours a week if you aren’t getting sales?

 

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[WJK]

Hey Guys,

I need some outside perspective from those who have had success and have 'been there and succeeded' before.

Background:
- I have been doing ECom for over 2 years (1.5 years full time)
- I am dedicated, typically putting in 60-70+hrs per week
- I have put serious effort into 3 different businesses
- I'm a tech guy so learning platforms / systems is not a problem for me
- I feel that I am lacking in knowledge about marketing, a problem which I am currently in the process of correcting
- I believe in learning from those with superior knowledge to me and have invested in training in the past

Current Issues:
- While I believe I now have a reasonable grasp of most ECom concepts, strategies and methods, other than one short burst of success for a couple of months (with DropShipping early in the COVID pandemic), I have not been able to consistently make profitable sales.
- I feel like there's something missing in my knowledge / approach which will tie everything together and allow me to be successful; the 'glue' which makes it al work, but I can't see what it is.
- I don't know what the optimal marketing approach is for a given product (eg; lead/traffic warming vs cold ads)
- I'm feeling quite lost and directionless right now; unsure how to proceed further

My Thoughts on Possible Causes / Solutions:
- It's possible that I'm not being persistent enough when it comes to marketing and that I am giving up too early (after a couple of months of solid marketing with no sales), but I find it difficult to judge when I'm just burning money vs persisting with testing & tuning as I have no frame of reference for this.
- Maybe I have to accept that I need to spend thousands of dollars testing advertising for a business which may not be successful / profitable?

I realize that this may not be enough info to work with; please ask me if you need more detail.

All constructive input greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

Sam.

This is a very difficult business climate since the virus has raised it's nasty head. My personal business plan during this type of moment is to line up business for when things turn around. It gives me time to make contacts and make nice with people when they least expect a contact. Most people will spend their time in a crisis sitting on their pity-pots contemplating their navels. This is a golden opportunity for you to create your future success while your competitors are sitting it out on the sidelines.

 

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[Andy Black]

You're infatuated with her aren't you?
Hands off she's mine!

Lol. I do indeed immerse myself when I get into something. I’m trying to get my head round Facebook (as well as YouTube). Two massive platforms I don’t use very well.

Also, she’s an excellent example of creating valuable content without it being too polished or too scripted. She’s a natural presenter who is also well practiced and who leans into what she’s good at rather than trying to be like everyone else.

Her 100 Perfect People challenge is closed currently so I was trying to piece it together by watching all the videos on it. I think I understand what she’s doing and why but not how she’s doing it on the Facebook platform. She’s basically looking for the hyper-responsives who will rave and share the right content and products to lots of other people.

 

[Kid]

From what you've written it seems to me that you've created a product first and now you're trying to figure out how to sell it to people.

You have no idea why people aren't buying it, even though you think your product is the bees knees.

You've put the cart before the horse.

Find the customers first, figure out exactly what they want and then deliver value with a product that's tailored to their needs.

This.
You don't have marketing problem, you have product problem.

It can take you some time until you'll learn it on your own, or you can listen to this now and skip a learning curve.

 

[StillGrindin']

Think about say the iPod. The first portable mp3 player was invented by a Singapore based company, Creative Technology Ltd. who were specialised in audio technology. The iPod appeared 22 months after. But of course, we don't remember Creative, but we do remember Apple.

Why?

Was it because Apple had a better product?
Was it because Apple was more qualified?

Clearly not - Apple was not an audio or music player company. They were a computer biz.

The difference came from marketing. Apple said "1000 songs in your pocket". Creative said "5GB mp3 player".

So the value skew came from the marketing itself - from communicating to users how to be successful with the device. Use it to carry 1000 songs in your pocket. So simple, so clear, so elegant, so powerful.

Would like to expound on this a little. Creative specialized in audio technology, notably famous for their Soundblaster audio cards. Both the Creative Zen and the Microsoft Zune were vastly superior MP3 players (I had both), and the Apple Ipod sounded like a$$ in comparison. Moreover, syncing songs with the Ipod was a pain in the a$$ because you had to use Itunes, whereas with Microsoft and Creative's products you could just click and drag, create folders, etc. The user experience on the Ipod paled in comparison. I can't think of one single plus the Ipod actually had on the Zune or the Zen aside from brand power.It was inferior in every single conceivable way to its main competitors, but still came out on top due to their marketing and brand position in the market.

 

[sparechange]

There is over 6k potential products for a customer to choose from. Why bother fighting with all the other money chasing monkeys over chump change? Start a real business that doesn't needs heavy advertising as MJ mentioned and stop being a stubborn sally.

You have already been receiving market echos, the market doesn't want your stuff. (I'm not sure how many people is a good indicator) Curious myself actually.... but 1,500 seems like a decent number to go off. At 0 sales it's quite clear your offer sucks.

Here's a good video from the man himself.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTveImPn0WE

9 Brands That Thrive Without a Traditional Marketing Budget

Learn how these brands have managed to build up massive followings, despite eschewing traditional ad tactics.

blog.hubspot.com

 

[Black_Dragon43]

View attachment 34487

There is over 6k potential products for a customer to choose from. Why bother fighting with all the other money chasing monkeys over chump change? Start a real business that doesn't needs heavy advertising as MJ mentioned and stop being a stubborn sally.

You have already been receiving market echos, the market doesn't want your stuff. (I'm not sure how many people is a good indicator) Curious myself actually.... but 1,500 seems like a decent number to go off. At 0 sales it's quite clear your offer sucks.

Here's a good video from the man himself.

The video is great, but learning the value of solid marketing execution is important. People get overly obsessed about the product, but most often it's not the product that causes the success. Rather it's a combination of market demand and marketing.

Look at Tesla. SUCKS as a car. The finishes are horrible. They're not even close to a Ferrari, Lambo, or even BMW. The car is buggy as hell. But people are buying it. Clearly it's not the product. It's the futuristic perception that Tesla has created about their cars, not through advertising, but through PR campaigns, conferences, and so on.

Marketing is not just pushing out ads. Truly effective marketing is becoming known in a certain field. Participating in conferences, events, and so on.

 

[biophase]

My targeted ads to get traffic to my landing page / lead magnet work well, so the problem isn't there, but converting the traffic / leads into sales. The problem could well be my funnel / emails etc however. Why is another question entirely and again, one I'm unsure how to diagnose other than A/B testing. Suggestions on how to do this would be greatly appreciated!

So the problem is converting leads into sales. So this tells me that you have a product problem. The leads get there and then don't want your product.

Are your ads solving the same problem as your product. Maybe there is a disconnect.

For example, you may talk about sleeping better... but they come to you website and it's all about getting calmer and relaxing instead.

Maybe your product page isn't convincing enough. Something is making them not purchasing. Could it be social proof, something shady in your copy, is your price too high?

Or...

You haven't identified a real problem to solve. The issue just isn't painful enough for someone to purchase the product.

 

[sparechange]

What kinds of things would you consider as being an entrepreneur?

Providing value, re-read the two massive books by MJ

 

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[Odysseus M Jones]

Selling supplements isn't really being an entrepenuer, you just join the ranks of money chasing donkeys spamming out crap online (my opinion)

It's incomprehensible why people would give you death threats.
For the OP's reference

MARKETING - Buisness Slander (?death threats?)

So today was one of the most bizarre days of my life, I'll start off by saying I'm almost on a first name basis with my local police force, actually I think the whole squad knows me by now :rofl: from some marketing videos that I've done for my social media pages, some higher government...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Bekit]

Hey Guys,

I need some outside perspective from those who have had success and have 'been there and succeeded' before.

Background:
- I have been doing ECom for over 2 years (1.5 years full time)
- I am dedicated, typically putting in 60-70+hrs per week
- I have put serious effort into 3 different businesses
- I'm a tech guy so learning platforms / systems is not a problem for me
- I feel that I am lacking in knowledge about marketing, a problem which I am currently in the process of correcting
- I believe in learning from those with superior knowledge to me and have invested in training in the past

Current Issues:
- While I believe I now have a reasonable grasp of most ECom concepts, strategies and methods, other than one short burst of success for a couple of months (with DropShipping early in the COVID pandemic), I have not been able to consistently make profitable sales.
- I feel like there's something missing in my knowledge / approach which will tie everything together and allow me to be successful; the 'glue' which makes it al work, but I can't see what it is.
- I don't know what the optimal marketing approach is for a given product (eg; lead/traffic warming vs cold ads)
- I'm feeling quite lost and directionless right now; unsure how to proceed further

My Thoughts on Possible Causes / Solutions:
- It's possible that I'm not being persistent enough when it comes to marketing and that I am giving up too early (after a couple of months of solid marketing with no sales), but I find it difficult to judge when I'm just burning money vs persisting with testing & tuning as I have no frame of reference for this.
- Maybe I have to accept that I need to spend thousands of dollars testing advertising for a business which may not be successful / profitable?

I realize that this may not be enough info to work with; please ask me if you need more detail.

All constructive input greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

Sam.

Sounds like marketing is the most likely culprit.

If you're trying to market supplements, that's one of the most lucrative (and also one of the most difficult) niches to market effectively, as you're up against a ton of extra restrictions when it comes to facebook and other advertising platforms.

Maybe if you list some of the things you've tried that haven't worked, and some approaches you're considering, you could get some good feedback on what direction might be more profitable.

 

[SamboNZ]

Sounds like marketing is the most likely culprit.
...
Maybe if you list some of the things you've tried that haven't worked, and some approaches you're considering, you could get some good feedback on what direction might be more profitable.

In regards to supplements it is indeed somewhat of an uphill battle due to restrictions as you mentioned.

So far my main approach has been to use lead magnets (ebooks etc) to collect leads (traffic from FB), then push these through an email marketing sequence (10 emails over 30 days) containing further free informational products and various levels of soft & hard sells for the supplement.

I put over 1500 leads through this system but made no sales.

I have tried some straight cold click marketing via FB, but I was not able to generate sales profitably (although in hindsight I don't think I gave this enough time to optimize; I gave up after ~$250 in ad spend with no sales).

I have tried sending traffic to a Shopify store product page and a funnel, as well as providing product details in my emails.

FB ad and opt-in rate was pretty good ($1 leads & 45% opt-in rate) and email engagement was also very good (~45% initial, down to ~25% for emails in the first week or so).

So good stats, not good sales.

I spent a lot of time on landing page, copy and offer optimization and while I am no expert, I feel that it should have warranted better results than I got.

One thing I know I'm lacking is social proof, but I'm kinda stuck in a catch-22 where I have no sales, so I can't get any reviews so I can't get social proof so I can't get sales...

So one idea I had was to do a F+S campaign to get the product out there and get some feedback which I could use as social proof.

 

[SamboNZ]

Well if you are capable of creating 6 figures in sales in X niche are you talking with those customers and listening to their wants and needs? Seems like the best bet to have a dialogue with current customers/place offers out there

This was dropshipping 'hot' health products and the demand has basically disappeared now, but yes, you're right, there could be some opportunity for further sales of related products there.

 

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[Bekit]

One thing I know I'm lacking is social proof, but I'm kinda stuck in a catch-22 where I have no sales, so I can't get any reviews so I can't get social proof so I can't get sales...

I'm confused.

This isn't your proprietary product, right?

Is anyone getting sales for this product?

Somebody has bought it, surely.

And then there's this...

Heh, yup, been there, made $100k+ of sales from health related products which have been in high demand recently partially due to COVID.

I'm not understanding.

Was this for something different?

What about this $100k+ product is different from the no sales product?

Can you replicate what worked on the 100k one?

So one idea I had was to do a F+S campaign to get the product out there and get some feedback which I could use as social proof.

I'd say that's a solid thing to try.

According to my fairly extensive research, this particular supplement niche is in high demand, is under-served and existing suppliers are doing a pretty poor job of serving the market right now.

So I'm still not understanding why you're not selling. This seems like you should have a gold mine.

Are you targeting the wrong people?

Using the wrong messaging?

Not driving enough traffic?

Look at your numbers.

Where's the breakdown in your funnel? What stage are the most people getting stuck?

Check the following...

• Ad to landing page CTR
• Landing page contains the offer, right? What percent of people buy?
• Or does the landing page ask them to do a different step, like entering their email? What percentage of people do this step?
• What percentage of people do the next step?
• How many steps (=clicks) are there between the ad and the purchase?
• Where are people falling off?
• Track down the culprit. Is it that the copy is weak? Is it that the page design doesn't look like a legit site?

Also, if you have 1500 email leads, how are you following up with them?

 

[SamboNZ]

I'm confused.
This isn't your proprietary product, right?
Is anyone getting sales for this product?
Somebody has bought it, surely.

Yes, there are definitely good sales of this product elsewhere (under a different name of course).

I'm not understanding.
Was this for something different?
What about this $100k+ product is different from the no sales product?
Can you replicate what worked on the 100k one?

To clarify; I did the $100k of sales in my dropshipping business; totally different products & business model.

So I'm still not understanding why you're not selling. This seems like you should have a gold mine.
...
Where's the breakdown in your funnel? What stage are the most people getting stuck?
Check the following...

Well that's the catch right; I have pretty good results in terms of CTR and engagement, but no-one's buying. Could well be my copy, but I'm unsure how to confirm that other that A/B testing with other alternative copy. Hotjar hasn't really helped give me any clues so far.

Also, if you have 1500 email leads, how are you following up with them?

These leads (supplement business) all went through my 30 day long email sequence.

 

[WJK]

Based on my prior market research I know that there is demand for the product. I also have a more refined demographic to work with now that I've got some engagement results from my advertising to date.

But yes, I get your point and your ideas are good and will certainly help me to narrow down exactly what people's issues and desires are. Thank you.

If you can get them talking, they'll tell you exactly how to tailor your message to them. What's important to them? It's way past their "issues and desires". That phrase is way too wide to be useful. (That's like saying that all women are interested in "girlie" things.) What are your prospects' tipping points -- when they will be happily moved to act by buying your product? How can you make their idea rather than "selling" them?

 

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[Andy Black]

I watched this last night. I think the lady sells supplements.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1180308218831379

View: https://www.facebook.com/moolahMarketer/videos/1180308218831379/

 

[SamboNZ]

This.
You don't have marketing problem, you have product problem.

It can take you some time until you'll learn it on your own, or you can listen to this now and skip a learning curve.

Oh, I'm listening, that's why I asked

The issue I have is that I know there is significant demand for the product, I've just had trouble narrowing down exactly what the optimal demographic is and what drives them.

However, the suggestions here so far have given me some ideas about how to proceed with that.

 

[sparechange]

Here's a free idea for you or anyone reading since you want to go the supplement route (imo is just money chasing)

How about an energy bar or energy drink without sugar? This is actually a big problem for me and millions of people around the globe, next time you are at the gas station or store try to find a healthy option. My stores are filled with chocolate bars, Coke/Pepsi/Redbull and other baddy bad bads. Cliff bars are probably the best option or peanuts but even the Cliff bars have a ton of sugar (fun fact they are a multi hundred million dollar company created from a kitchen)

People that are constantly on the road like Police/Ems/Fire and similar careers would greatly benefit from a company that finally stands up and creates a healthy snack that doesn't cost triple the price, seriously the protein bars out there are a complete rip off. Or a vegan friendly option bar/drink, I really think the whole vegan fad is destined to make millionaires and billionaires within the next few decades. That and creating robots that will eventually take over the world

I always see Police and EMS sitting in drive thrus getting a quick snack/drink, what if you could create some type of product for them to consume rather than waiting around in a busy fast food restaurant?