The 黑料门
Show Notes
- Systems and processes
- Site redesign
- Advertising is cheap — YouTube, Facebook, Instagram
- Competing with Amazon
- Product feeds
- 黑料门鈥檚 response to
COVID-19
Transcript
Jesse: What鈥檚 going on, Richie?
Richard: What鈥檚 happening, Jess? This is different, huh?
Jesse: This is definitely different. Happy Friday, but we鈥檙e probably experiencing this more as our guests experience it because we鈥檙e not next to each other.
Richard: It鈥檚 one thing we all have in common no matter what right now. Things aren鈥檛 what they used to be. Some are better. Some are worse. But we鈥檙e all pretty much at home.
Jesse: Yeah. So we鈥檙e at home. The good thing about podcasting and making videos is that you can do this from anywhere. So here we are. This is my office where I鈥檝e been living for the past month or so. Your office鈥檚 the way better.
Richard: (laughing) But it鈥檚 also what I do, too.
Jesse: A better microphone, your audio is going to be better.
Richard: Well, depending on how long we鈥檒l be staying at home. Well, we鈥檒l get you another microphone over your house, too. Yeah.
Jesse: I鈥檓 gonna need to step it up here. I鈥檝e already ordered some pictures for the background here. We got to upgrade the office a little bit. I鈥檒l have to shave here eventually. I have a quarantine beard going. So probably I鈥檓 like other people listening. Hopefully, for people that are dealing with something serious or have family members that are sick, hope the best for you.
I鈥檓 going from the idea that most people are probably like you, and I stuck at home, kids driving you crazy. More stir crazy situations and then trying to figure out what the heck you can do with your business. That鈥檚 the reality for most people. That might be the
Richard: Yeah, and I just want to reiterate, Jesse, that was a good point. We don鈥檛 know the exact situation you鈥檙e in, but we wanted to reach out. We didn鈥檛 want to stop the momentum of connecting with the 黑料门 community and basically reaching out and doing whatever we could. We know some of you are gonna be booming with sales right now because things were going well. And whatever product service you sell right now happens to be in demand.
Others of you might have just been getting started and didn鈥檛 really have traffic sources and are now getting traffic and don鈥檛 really know what to do with it because maybe you can improve some things. And then there are other people that just might not have a product that鈥檚 in demand now at all. And we鈥檙e gonna try to touch on it a little bit of each of those because we want to add value no matter what. But I really, really want to reiterate with Jesse鈥檚 point that no matter what, we hope your families are safe. We hope our families are healthy. And your community is doing all it can help each other out. And we just want to do the same for you guys.
Jesse: Definitely want to help help you out. I think we can start first on, for people that really hadn鈥檛 got their business going or there鈥檚 been a ton of people of interest in
There are other people that are already connected, dialed in, and their business is probably booming right now. I do know from internal stats like there are people that are doing very, very well right now. We鈥檒l get into that next. But first, Richard, that鈥檚 gonna help people that are maybe in a bad, bad spot right now. There鈥檙e a lot of people that sold tickets to events. There, there are some tough spots right now. There are no events, or you鈥檙e selling products that just kind of needed more of a hand to hand contact. They needed something. We have help for you.
Actually, there鈥檙e people, on the lighter side, maybe you sell pants, right? Probably not doing that well, everybody is now living their life online from their stomach up. So if you sell pants, maybe you鈥檙e not doing so well.
Richard: These are legit stats. We don鈥檛 actually have the exact numbers. But we鈥檝e seen multiple things where sales of tops basically waist up, have gone up, and waist down sales, shoes aren鈥檛 selling as good. There are all kinds of things; it鈥檚 just been an interesting phenomenon.
Jesse: People aren鈥檛 wearing pants, Rich. This is the reality here. There鈥檚 a
So now, taking advantage of this pause, take a look at your business holistically. This will not be forever, I鈥檓 not getting into projections of when we return to life as normal, but it won鈥檛 be forever. And you鈥檙e gonna be glad that you took some time to rebuild your business or build your business for the first time.
Richard: That鈥檚 a good point. Things are gonna change. But I do think some things will stay out of this. And no matter what, I think more people will realize that they need to work on their digital presence. So no matter what happens and again, hopefully, the life you鈥檙e living gets back to whatever form or sanity you need and are working on.
But no matter what, the digital footprint is gonna be more valuable than ever.
Before we jump into these things, it鈥檚 even if you鈥檙e not doing well; it鈥檚 not because business isn鈥檛 being done online right now. This is a lot we were discussing a little bit prior. This is a lot like Black Friday or during the holiday season right now where people are at home, and again, it鈥檚 not necessarily the holiday feeling, but it鈥檚 that same environment where more people are home, they鈥檙e with their families. They鈥檙e not at work. They鈥檙e looking online. What were the latest stats? I want to say YouTube doubled with video views or some crazy number. I don鈥檛 remember exactly, but it was definitely up there. It鈥檚 not because people aren鈥檛 online. There just might be some fundamental things that you can work on.
Jesse: So let鈥檚 get back to the fundamentals. I mean, obviously, we鈥檙e in. I don鈥檛 know what podcast number we are in, in the 60s, 70s here. Listen to all of our podcasts. I鈥檓 sure you are
Richard: Yeah. This is also a really good time to just look at the systems and processes. So this probably would help whether your just getting started and really have the time to map some of this stuff out. Because you don鈥檛 really know, maybe you鈥檙e going to go back to work, and you want to be able to pass off these systems and processes to somebody else as your business grows. Or maybe you鈥檙e doing great, and you need to expand, and you need to be focusing on other things. Working on your systems and processes are basically standard operating procedures. I think, regardless, this would be a good time to even look into that.
Jesse: And to be more specific, if you鈥檙e wondering, what the heck is Rich talking about here? It鈥檚 like when an order comes in. What happens next? Are you
But yeah, either you have time to work on this right now, or you鈥檙e so busy that you really need to work on this right now or you鈥檙e going to go crazy. So now鈥檚 a good time to take a look at those processes. What could you improve? And even if you need to outsource people, there鈥檚 a lot of other people that are available to help right now. They were furloughed. There they are good with computers and have time on their hands, too. So it鈥檚 a good time to take a look at the whole systems processes and what you can fix up if you have the time.
Actually, the next point here, I think you鈥檇 mentioned it to when we talked earlier. A lot of people are at home. They鈥檙e craving social contact. This is my front window over here. I can see people walking around, and we wave and stuff. But I miss talking to people. Rich, we talk on the phone, but that鈥檚 not the same. So it鈥檚 a good time to reach out to people on social. Reach out to your customers on the phone. Give them a call. What do they like about your product? What did they not like? What else could you do to help them?
Richard: It鈥檚 a really good time to deepen the relationship is basically what you鈥檙e alluding to here right now. We have some extra time we want to communicate. I鈥檓 sure it could be a little bit of a balancing act in some cases because you don鈥檛 necessarily want to come across like: “Hey, I鈥檓 trying to sell you a bunch more stuff.” But you could be pleasantly surprised. You could be calling out just to check in on him, see everything鈥檚 going, and see how the delivery went. Saying hello and actually potentially deepening the relationship enough to when things go back to normal, they could be some form of a percentage point higher than they would not think about going to someone else. Just because you did reach out.
From the insights you could get to deepening the relationship, we鈥檝e all known basically when it comes to business, you鈥檝e got to get new customers. You鈥檝e got to get customers to come back again. And you hope that they buy more products and services from you each time you get the cart value up. That鈥檚 pretty much the ways you make money. And so if you can deepen that relationship, you might even get referrals out of that phone call like: “Wow, I can鈥檛 — they鈥檙e talking to their aunt or uncle — I can鈥檛 believe I placed an order and the owner of the company called me up and asked how it went and was just checking in.”
For some people, you鈥檙e not going to have the time to do that. But it鈥檚 definitely a great time to do that, because although we鈥檙e鈥� It鈥檚 partially why I don鈥檛 even like that phrase social distancing. I can understand physical distancing like I get why they鈥檙e saying it, but it鈥檚 really time for social tightening. It鈥檚 more social connections, but definitely, we are apart. But that doesn鈥檛 mean we want to be.
Jesse: Yeah, absolutely. So and again, you probably have the time. And beyond that, too, everybody鈥檚 in a weird mental state. I think people are craving a real connection with companies rather than just the random big box stores. They鈥檙e buying from small entrepreneurs. They want to hear a story, hear a voice. So be that real person, be that real voice, particularly if you have the time. Now it鈥檚 time to take advantage of it.
Also, if you have the time right now, this is the perfect time to really focus in on the big project that you wanted to do. I have a lot of projects in my mind that, man, I really need 40 hours to do this. Well, if you have that 40 hours right now if you were in travel or you worked in hospitality or even in many, many different industries right now, please take advantage of this time to work on a big project.
So if you don鈥檛 have that project, now鈥檚 the time for training. Already mentioned, we probably have 80 hours of podcast content out there that you could listen to. So the early ones, probably a little rough, give us a pass on those. But there鈥檚 some really good content out there. The 黑料门 YouTube channel has all sorts of other good content. Some of it鈥檚 a little more
Then beyond that, dive into YouTube and get some marketing training. Even beyond what we are doing at 黑料门. This is a time to educate yourself. Hey, maybe you鈥檝e already seen Tiger King. I know there鈥檚 an extra episode. Yes, you can stream all the other content you want, but try to stream educational content that brings your business forward. You have the time. You sit behind a computer, probably a good portion of the day. Take advantage of that.
Richard: Yeah. Your sons are a little younger than my daughter. But I鈥檝e even tried to incorporate her a little bit, which kind of makes me think like you could have family members, you could have your significant other, your wife or husband or whatever, boyfriend, girlfriend, like someone in your home that you鈥檙e stuck with. But you know what I mean? I鈥檒l be talking about that. But you鈥檙e staying home with them, and they鈥檝e always wanted to learn a little bit more. Now might be the time.
In other cases, now might be the exact opposite time. But it鈥檚 worth thinking about if they鈥檝e wanted to learn more. Maybe you can outsource a task to them. Or maybe you have some teenagers that are really good with social media, and you鈥檝e never been good with your Instagram game. Now it鈥檚 time to get them involved and help with the family. And they鈥檙e only going to be more excited because they鈥檙e going to get to play on Instagram or do whatever, but just thinking out of the box.
Again, this has been one of the more unique podcasts because we always want to help, but we don鈥檛 know exactly where you鈥檙e at at this moment. So we鈥檙e trying to cover. You could be doing great. You could be new. But when we鈥檙e doing great, we could still be doing better. You can not be doing so well. But no matter what. When you get back to the fundamentals, and you get back to “what are some things I want to get done,” like Jesse alluded to is bigger projects. Why not try to incorporate, if possible, the people in your home that might be able to help you go through those projects a little bit better, possibly get some help?
Jesse: Yes. I鈥檝e seen enough Ryan鈥檚 Toy Review that I think I need to put my kids to work like crazy right now. (laughing) We鈥檝e seen enough YouTube videos. Kids, what can you do for our family here? We need to train you into making videos. I don鈥檛 know. I鈥檓 not going to make good 黑料门 world videos. But, yes, I think to your point, Rich, your family鈥檚 there, you guys are all together. Is there a way that they can help you out, get people into your family business? So make it a family business. So all good stuff.
I鈥檓 going to shift a little bit. This is for people that are actually doing quite well. And there are a lot of people doing very well right now. I know from the stats that we have, there鈥檚 2x, 3x, 10x, like people are going crazy. There鈥檚 a lot of reasons for it. I mean, if you sell food, people are buying food right now. Obviously, if you sell hand sanitizer and facemasks, you鈥檙e doing great, too. And I hope you鈥檙e not taking advantage of people. But like beyond the most super obvious things, there are a lot of areas that are doing well. I have a horrible background over here. People are fixing up their home offices. We bought a couple of desks for my wife鈥檚 office because she needed a place to work.
So a ton of different areas are doing really well. And I mean, we won鈥檛 go through them all. But, whatever things keep their kids occupied. I mean, lots of people are doing well. There鈥檚 also a little bit of a spillover effect from Amazon. So Amazon is doing great. Everybody already had an Amazon prime account. But merchants can鈥檛 put their products into Amazon right now. FBA is kind of shut down. You can鈥檛 ship nonessential products in. So that鈥檚 a bit of an issue. People that already have their products there. If you go look at a lot of products, you can鈥檛 get it shipped to you for like 30 days, especially if it鈥檚 nonessential.
So there鈥檚 a lot of merchants that have done their business on Amazon, and now they鈥檙e like: “Hey, I should be doing great. What happened?” Well, look at your product listings. They鈥檙e not shipping it for 30 days. So there鈥檚 a huge spillover from them onto you. I would say more traditional
Richard: Yeah, that鈥檚 a great point. Yes. I think this is what you鈥檙e getting to. But I鈥檒l just add a little to it is people have known and trust with Amazon as far as they know, they鈥檙e going to get their product. They know they鈥檙e going to get taken care of. But when you look up a product, and it says you鈥檙e not going to get it for another month. Unlike in the past, that鈥檚 going to lead them to go back to a Google search, to go back to looking for that product somewhere else. And basically, what you鈥檙e getting to, it鈥檚 going to have some overflow, and your traditional
Jesse: Absolutely. I see it happening there. By the way, Amazon is doing just great. They鈥檙e gonna be fine. They鈥檙e gonna figure it out. It鈥檚 that spillover effect where maybe it鈥檚 a product that is not essential. You don鈥檛 really need it tomorrow, but you鈥檝e become accustomed to getting it right away. So you look at that store, and you don鈥檛 see it. And by the way, I can see that work anymore because there is a device that keeps; a weak word for a device over there. So you immediately start to google it. You Google it. You see what else is out there, and now you鈥檙e buying from other
We鈥檙e seeing a lot of people have a shift from the percentage of sales from Amazon to the percentage of sales from the traditional retail store. It鈥檚 a big shift there. There鈥檚 a little bit of a boom time in
It鈥檚 crazy what is going on with the ad networks. I do advertising for 黑料门, so I can see it firsthand. But there鈥檚 now an explosion of Internet traffic. So you mentioned YouTube is about double. Facebook is also quite double, but there are way more and way more people online. And that鈥檚 specifically Facebook and Google to a point. But just online, that鈥檚 where the display ads go. And specifically YouTube. All the networks are up. So they now have double the inventory. All those little ads that pay for these things, there鈥檙e more ads available, and there are now fewer advertisers. So all the companies that are shut down, bars, restaurants, hotels, travel, any retail stores, they鈥檙e not advertising right now. So now there鈥檚 a huge gap, or there is a huge bargain for ad prices. We want to look at it. The supply is way, way up, and the demand is way, way down. So for retailers, for
Richard: That鈥檚 a really good point. I just want to point out a nuance in there, too, that you can place ads that might be a good time to gather awareness or brand awareness. You can do good things and still create an ad about things you鈥檙e doing to help the community, or it doesn鈥檛 necessarily have to land on a sales page. I鈥檓 not telling you to not lend it on a sales page, but you can place ads.
There are different types of ads. So brand awareness, top of the funnel, and the traditional “This is something that you might need.” This very second, you search and land on the sales page. We鈥檙e all in business. I鈥檓 not telling you to be afraid of sales, but it鈥檚 a touchy time, too. I just wanted to throw in that one little nuance that if it鈥檚 obvious that it鈥檚 just like a product, that someone might need this very second. And no one鈥檚 gonna think it鈥檚 strange that you land on a sales page, land them on a sales pitch. But if you think this product might take a little bit longer to sell because people do a little research, it might be a good time to just talk about how you鈥檙e helping the community. Talk about your brand a little bit more and show something you鈥檙e doing to help out. So there are different ways it doesn鈥檛 always have to be “I land them on a sales page.”
Jesse: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And for keeping it real there. Yes. There鈥檚 a huge opportunity to sell stuff. It doesn鈥檛 mean that you need to say: “Buy now.” Right. If it鈥檚 YouTube and Facebook specifically, have a quick little video about what you鈥檙e doing. About your business, it doesn鈥檛 need to be that you鈥檙e donating all your profits to charity. It could just be the little steps you have taken in this time. There鈥檚 a balance there. But I think people do want to hear how you鈥檙e adapting to these times and what, if anything, you can do to help. Those are good messages.
On the opportunity side, the prices to get that message out are extremely cheap right now. I would say for people that are listening, they鈥檙e like, yeah, I鈥檝e tried advertising before. I did. This has been 50 bucks on whatever network. Well, first of all, that wasn鈥檛 enough. I didn鈥檛 try long enough. But now that $50, that five hundred dollars is going to probably go twice as far. And people are going to be more likely to buy when they do see the message. Ads are cheaper, and conversion rates are up across the board. So. If you鈥檙e wondering, what should I do? I don鈥檛 know. Advertise. Get that message out 100 percent.
If you鈥檙e saying, what should I advertise? Well, we talked about it before the video. Yes, you should do that. If you鈥檝e never done that before, that scares you a little bit. Then you should do dynamic product ads. So in the Google world, that鈥檚 Google Shopping. It鈥檚 now Google Smart Shopping. And actually, Google does the heavy lifting there for you. It takes your product catalog, the prices, and it shows it on the top of Google when people search for it. But now Smart Shopping takes that way beyond that. It shows it in regular display ads, on YouTube,
On the Facebook side, it鈥檚 dynamic product ads, and there鈥檚 a way to do it automatically through 黑料门. It just again, the same thing connects your product catalog into Facebook and Instagram. And when I say Facebook, I mean Facebook and Instagram. So when you do get people to your site, it will show those ads to them for the next probably 30 days. So they鈥檙e both easy options.
But I just wanted to mention that as I鈥檝e mentioned this before, I don鈥檛 want to sound like a broken record here. But more specifically, if you鈥檝e tried certain types of advertising before and they have not worked, now is probably the time, we mentioned the Black Friday, Cyber Monday. It鈥檚 kind of a Black Friday, Cyber Monday thing where like now is the time to take risks in selling online because it鈥檚 way more likely to pay off right now than it would in an offseason. This is not an offseason.
Richard: Yeah. There鈥檚 a lot of time just to double down on what you鈥檙e talking about there, Jesse. There鈥檚 a lot of time in the history of the world. We鈥檙e geeks for this stuff. Do a lot of reading. There have been times in the past. There was a company called Post and a company called Kelloggs and a market downturn. Post, they like the leader in the cereal brand. They decided: “We鈥檙e gonna cut back on spending.” Kellogg鈥檚 basically triples down on spending. There鈥檇 be an older demographic anyway, but no one knows of Post. Kellogg鈥檚 is almost every single cereal on the shelf. To Jessie鈥檚 point, and literally doubling down on ad spend could actually be something that could take you to the next level too, because it starts with awareness.
Jesse: Yeah, for sure. So definitely getting the word out there. It鈥檚 a cheaper time to get that message out there. We mentioned dynamic product ads because they are the ones that work the best, in my opinion, the easiest to set up. But any type of messaging that you can do, a type of video for Facebook. If you鈥檝e tried Google search before and it didn鈥檛 work, now it might just work. Take a look at what you鈥檝e done in the past. And if it was borderline like it鈥檚 sort of not doing the same thing right now is more likely to work. Or if you鈥檙e hedging on whether you should try something. I would just encourage you to try something.
Again, it doesn鈥檛 need to be advertising. I mentioned advertising because it鈥檚 fastest, and it scales, but it could be an email campaign. It could be paying an influencer. It could be the strategies that we鈥檝e talked about on any podcast right now. Traffic is cheap. Conversion rates are up. Please get out there, get your market, your business. You might need this money; you might need to pay your mortgage. Or you need money for all sorts of things. So it鈥檚 not bad to say this. Life will continue, please get out there and get your business done.
Richard: Yeah. One last point. I know we鈥檙e starting to wind down here, but this also might be a great time to reach out and do collaborations with other businesses. Your products might be able to
I think this is a fantastic time for collaborations with other businesses because, I鈥檓 not going to get political, but there鈥檚 a lot of
Jesse: Yeah, for sure. It鈥檚 a crazy time. The world has changed a little bit. And I think people are going to remember. What did you do during this time? What did your business do during this time? We didn鈥檛 mention this, but you probably should have some sort of sale to help people out. Everybody has email, right. You see the emails coming in. There鈥檚 a lot of sales going on. So people are forgoing profits. It doesn鈥檛 mean you should be losing money, but sales will get attention. And there is a reason to do it. You鈥檙e helping people out. People will remember what you did during this time. Don鈥檛 go buy the hand sanitizer from
So on that note, I didn鈥檛 mean to do this as a segway, but if you haven鈥檛 been to the 黑料门 website, go to 黑料门.com. You鈥檙e going to see the popup or the slider. It鈥檚 going to
You can also check out that page. I鈥檒l just go through it really quickly. We realized this is a crazy time. We wanted to make sure that we took some features and included them in our free plan. We went ahead in the past —specifically the curbside pickup. We had a form of curbside pickup. But when this started to hit, we immediately
Gift cards used to be a paid feature. You had to upgrade to a paid plan to offer gift cards and sell gift cards. That鈥檚 now on the free plan. So this is also really important for the retail businesses that were online/offline. And you鈥檙e seeing probably this in your email as well. A lot of people are selling gift cards. That helps keep some of the small businesses afloat. Maybe they鈥檙e this close from paying their rent. Buy gift cards from people locally. Please do that. And then if you have a retail business yourself, that鈥檚 a good time to offer this, more coming on that.
The
Dropshipping apps. Rich, we鈥檝e had Printful on before. So Printful is where they make
We realize people are struggling, and we do this. We鈥檙e doing this worldwide. We saw an explosion of interest in Italy and Spain. We want to do our part for our community. Those are also on the paid plans as well. But just to let you know, we鈥檙e trying to do our part and help the community through this time. So, Rich,
Richard: Yeah, it鈥檚 funny, my daughter as you know, she鈥檚 a big artist. And I鈥檒l go tell her now. Maybe we鈥檒l get the family back involved by having her little side hustle. Who knows when she鈥檚 going back to school? (laughing)
Jesse: It could be a while. Maybe she鈥檚 going to. You can retire on her now.
Richard: Could you imagine? Hey, you got three of them. (laughing) Child labor.
Jesse: You know, maybe. Rich, any last questions here? Anything we can leave people with?
Richard: I can鈥檛 say enough that we鈥檙e here. We really want to help. Hope you hear it. And our voices. We always want to help. It鈥檚 the reason we created this show. And we hope your families stay healthy, happy, your businesses stay healthy, strong, and really just enjoy the time with your family, try to compartmentalize as much as possible and try to possibly bring them in as well, whatever the balance in your own family, everyone鈥檚 different. But we appreciate you listening. And we look forward to finding more ways to help you guys out. Bless your heart. I hope everything works out great. Get back to work.
Jesse: Well said, Rich, appreciate it. All right, guys, get out there, make it happen.
