Episode #64: Selling Your Toy Or Game on Amazon Live
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Have you ever heard of Amazon Live? Amazon Live is Amazon’s live streaming platform that allows Amazon sellers, vendors, and Amazon influencers to sell their products live in a QVC-style experience. The show’s host, whether it’s an Amazon influencer or the product’s manufacturer, can interact with the live attendees of their show via chat. It’s a unique opportunity to answer product questions in real time, while showing the benefits, features, and value of your product in the same spot where they’ll shop.
If you currently have an Amazon seller’s account, you can download the Amazon Live Creator App and start live streaming content about your product. I’ll walk you through the process in this episode.
But like any social media platform, the true challenge is getting your content viewed. Here’s where working with an Amazon-verified influencer, like my friend, Albert Lawrence, can help. Listen in to today’s episode to learn the benefits of working with an Amazon Influencer to sell your product on Amazon live, and also how to make the most out of those opportunities.
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The Toy Coach partners with Albert Lawrence for custom sales packages. Visit amazonlive.thetoycoach.com for rates and more information.
This episode is sponsored by Eric Slauson, creator of hilarious party games like MonsDRAWsity, Tattoo Stories, and Nerd Words. Find these games at your local game store, Amazon, Target, or Books-A-Million, and wherever games are sold.
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Azhelle 00:00
You are listening to Making It in The Toy Industry, Episode Number 64.
Intro/Outro + Jingle 00:06
Welcome to Making It in The Toy Industry, podcast for inventors and entrepreneurs like you. And now your host Azhelle Wade.
Azhelle 00:16
Hey there toy people Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of the toy coach podcast Making It in The Toy Industry. Before you hit that pause button you are in the right place. This is the same old Making It in The Toy Industry that you've grown to love just slightly rebranded. I hope you enjoyed the new name and new look of the podcast art. It was a tough change for me. So if you want to express love for the redesign, I'd love to hear it. DM me on Instagram @thetoycoach. All right. Well, today's episode has a very special sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Eric Slauson, creator of hilarious party games like Monsdrawsity, Tatto Stories and Nerd Words. If you're looking to have a great time at your next game night or your next zoom Hangout, check out Eric's games at your local stores, Amazon target or even books a million wherever games are sold. Now, last week, I told you that we are going to dive into the online marketing platform that you need to know about if you're promoting your toy products online. And that platform is Amazon live. Now, if you are an avid listener of my podcast, your ears are perked up because you feel like you've heard me talk about Amazon live before. And you're right. You have back in Episode 57 friend of the show, Albert Lawrence popped in to talk about the platform and his new show on it. Since that episode, Albert and I have teamed up and dreamed up an incredible media opportunity for my listeners and students to jump in on the new platform with a guidance and support of two passionate media personalities that will sell your product like it's their own. Yep, I'm talking about Albert and myself. All right. You've seen me promote toys and games on NBCs access daily. And you've learned from this podcast that Albert has been a host for years, interviewing the likes of Oprah, Dolly Parton, and, of course, Kermit the Frog. Okay, so for today's episode, I'm going to tell you all about Amazon live, where it came from, who it's for, why it works, and how it can help promote and sell your toy or game. Now, to use Amazon live as a platform to sell your product. It does have to actually be on sale on Amazon already. But if and when you're ready to take advantage of this new media opportunity, head over to amazonlive.thetoycoach.com or tap the link in today's episode description. So to kick off this conversation about Amazon live, we're going to start by answering a simple question. What in the world is Amazon live? Now Amazon live is Amazon's live streaming feature that allows sellers, vendors and Amazon influencers to sell products live in what's a YouTube meets QVC type experience. Now if you already sell your product on Amazon, and if you have an Amazon sellers account, you can actually download the Amazon live app and start live streaming about your product right now. Now there are two little barriers here. Number one is the app is only available on iPhones or iPads, you know, kind of like clubhouse. And like any social media platform, the second challenge is just getting eyeballs on your content. And that's where the benefit of working with Amazon verified influencers comes in. Now, when you watch an Amazon live video, you are essentially watching an interactive product commercial, the show host whether it's an influencer or you the product manufacturer themselves can actually interact live with the attendees of the show via a chat feature. This gives you a unique opportunity to answer product questions and concerns in real time while showing the benefits, features and value of your product on the same platform where your ideal target market is shopping. Okay, so real quick before we go deeper, let's talk about how important it is to just Have your toy product for sale on any online marketplace, whether that's your own shop beat via a Shopify store, or you have placement on target comm or you're a seller on amazon.com. So I did a deep dive into digital e-commerce statistics and pulled out this data from digitalcommerce360.com. In 2020, consumers spent $861 billion online with US merchants up 44% from the year before. And guess what? Amazon accounted for nearly 1/3 of all of those sales. And when you look at the global picture, it's even bigger. Amazon generated over $400 billion in retail e commerce sales, according to staska.com. Okay, so we've known for quite some time, what a powerhouse Amazon is for selling product online. But there's always been that disconnect between marketing your product in the traditional media, or in trade magazines or just on other social platforms, in hopes of getting your ideal target market your ITM to trace your product back to the true official source, whether that's been your website, your Etsy store, or your Amazon page, as a toy entrepreneur, you mark it and mark it in hopes that they will love your product and tell themselves, I want that, or that would be perfect for my nephew. And you hope that they will remember your product name and search it when they're ready to buy. And hopefully sift through all of those search results avoiding product knock offs, not being dissuaded by negative reviews, hopefully avoiding competitor sites who might be bidding for your keywords. And hopefully following through with the purchasing process. Even when it asks your potential customer to manually enter their credit card information. I mean, what could be worse. Now what Amazon live does is it knocks out all of that competition, all of that resistance to buy the competition for attention. convenience, purchase, reservations and even knock offs is all knocked out. using Amazon live as a way to market and sell your product. During an Amazon live video, you can highlight your product directly on the platform where your ITM your Ideal Target Market is most comfortable shopping on. And that means that the moment that they decide, yep, I need that toy or my boyfriend would love that game. The moment they think that the purchase button is just a mouse click away, ready to give your ITM that feeling of immediate satisfaction and joy that they got their hands on exactly what they wanted, exactly when they wanted it. Now, currently, most Amazon live shows are very much QVC like style commercials. They're just simple, straightforward explanations of what the product is a showcase of how it works, varying camera angles of how it looks, and how much it costs. But what I want to share with you guys today is the next generation of Amazon live, which is kind of edutainment, and that's the combination of educating consumers about your product and entertaining them with it. And it creates this true shopping experience. That's a journey that actually allows the viewer to experience the joy behind owning your product before they've actually hit the buy button. Now, as I mentioned at the top of the episode, friend of the show, Albert Lawrence and I've teamed up together to create an entertaining toy segment to sell your toy or game products on the show nightlight with Albert Lawrence. And what's different about this show on Amazon live is it's much more of kind of a late night talk show. But it's designed so that the activities in the talk show centered around product, so the product just isn't on display for direct sale. It's more like inviting the viewers to experience the fun and the joy of what the product can bring to an evening event and I really do believe after speaking with Albert and watching his show and seeing how the products are integrated into fun activities with other influencers and Albert as well, and it creates an experience, one that connects with the viewers in a way that people miss right now. And that connection can more easily drive sales. Add that on top of the fact that there is literally a chat box so you can react to what people are saying, during your live stream answer questions that they immediately have that might be hindering them from purchasing. I really believe this is just the beginning of what Amazon live has to offer us. And it's going to help propel sales in the online platform to new heights in 2021. Now, you may be wondering, where did Amazon live come from? Well, in March of 2016, Amazon launched a live stream shopping site called style code live, which almost had a daytime TV format in which the show host would interview and interact with celebrities and product enthusiasts to influence product sales on Amazon's platform. But it wasn't a place where public influencers could jump in and create their own videos. And the product catalog featured on style code live was also really limited. But style code ended in 2017. making way for the revamped concept which came to be known as Amazon live in 2019. Amazon live has amassed hundreds and hundreds of videos and is exploding with more live content each and every day. Much like when amazon video first came out, it's been bubbling under the surface of mainstream, not quite making it to the forefront of you know the must have platforms for online sellers. But I have to say, I have no doubt that in this golden age of digital marketing, it's time that we pay attention to Amazon live toy people for real. So let's talk about who it's for who can sign up for Amazon live right now. If you have an iPhone or an iPad, you can download the Amazon live app right now to check it out and maybe get started. But in order to host an Amazon live, you must either be an Amazon seller, which means you already have an Amazon shop with items for sale. Or you must be an Amazon vendor, or you must be an Amazon influencer. If you are none of those things you can of course apply to be any of the three. But the approval process is long, a little bit complicated depending on which you're doing. And of course filled with requirements. Now, if you do fit into one of those three buckets, and you decide to fire up the Amazon live app and start making your very own live streams, you'll go through a quick registration process to get started. After that registration process, Amazon has a very helpful video explaining the five steps to get started on your very first Amazon live stream. So I'm going to really quickly walk you through what those steps are now, just so that you have an idea of what it takes and honestly how simple it is. Step number one is to create a thumbnail for your live stream. So every live stream has a thumbnail, I want you to think YouTube, this thumbnail is going to be what shows up in the Amazon live gallery of upcoming live shows that the public might see. So you want your thumbnail to quickly explain what your live will be about. With text that's big, bold, and easy to read even when the thumbnail is small. And you want to show product that's enticing that will catch someone's eye as they're scrolling through upcoming events, but also resonate with the ideal target customer that you want to watch your video. Step number two is to choose the products that you want to feature in your Amazon live video. Now, if you have items already registered for sale on Amazon, Amazon's actually going to show those items to you first there will be a box that pops up and you can check off which items you want to feature in this video. But you can also search any of the millions of items on Amazon to feature in your video so you can feature your game product but then you can also feature the table in your home that you might have bought from me Amazon to play it on. Now, another interesting bonus is if you're an Amazon influencer, you can actually get a commission for anything bought during your live streams. But I'm getting off track. Let's focus and get back to step number three. Now step number three, you want to name your live stream. When you name your stream, I want you to think about keywords, what are people going to be searching? What will catch their eye, so you're going to be thinking of things to write like, top three screen free toys, or Barbie product demonstration, or unboxing, things like that, that you know, your ideal target market who might be looking through Amazon might want to see, that's what you're going to use to name your stream. Okay, step number four, I want you to choose your start time, your Start Time will determine when Amazon starts to put your live stream on their public, upcoming live stream gallery. It's all obviously listed chronologically, so you want to pick a time that will most aligned with your ideal target market, and maybe a time that has the least competition. Finally, you're step number five, you're going to share your live stream outside of Amazon. So the one drawback to starting your Amazon live stream, if you don't have a huge following is that you need to get your ideal target market to watch it. So to do that, you want to share your live stream wherever you can. You can share your live stream with your friends, your family and your email list. But what if you're still having a hard time getting people to show up? And aside from getting people to show up? What if you're feeling overwhelmed with the idea of setting up a really high quality production to showcase your toy or game product? Well, that is where Amazon's influencers come in. Amazon influencers are approved by Amazon, depending on the number of social media followers and the amount of engagement that they have on various social media platforms. And Amazon influencers can host their own Amazon live events and promote your product for you. So steps 125 can entirely be hired out to an influencer, that you trust to sell your product with passion and enthusiasm, as well as answer product questions correctly as they're asked to you live. Now at this point, you're thinking I would love that show. I would absolutely love an influencer to promote my product on Amazon live then I want you guys to head over to amazonlive.thetoycoach.com for more information on how you can have your product on nightlight with Albert Lawrence. Let's talk a little bit about why selling your product on Amazon live can work so well. Now in marketing, you've heard me preach this time and time again. But it's all about meeting your customers where they're at, and giving them what they need when they need it. Considering the growth of e-commerce in 2020, and the continued growth of Amazon within the toy industry, it's safe to bet that your ideal target market or your ITM is most likely already shopping on Amazon. And Amazon already works really hard to maintain a favorable view in the minds of all of their customers. They work hard to keep customers happy to make online shopping as effortless and as enjoyable as possible. So it stands to reason that having your product advertised live on a shopping platform is a natural next step to increasing your product sales. Okay, so the last topic I want to touch on is how working with an influencer can help promote your toy or game. I know some of you may be thinking, I can do a video about my product. I don't need an influencer. And look, I get it. I am a very DIY person myself. And I often want to do all the things in my business. So I want to walk you through the three benefits of hiring an influencer to represent your products for you Even if you decide to do a few live videos yourself. Number one, they already have a following. The first and most obvious reason to work with an influencer is because of their following. Amazon influencers like any social media platform can cast a bigger net and capture more eyeballs and Amazon live is still in its infancy, which means there's an opportunity for you to work with bigger influencers who haven't yet built up demand on this specific platform. But it's coming. Instead of wasting your time trying to build up a following from scratch, take advantage of this young platform and connect with influencers who have a built in audience to drive more sales. Now, the second advantage to working with an Amazon influencer is that you get to take advantage of their high quality equipment and production experience. What most people don't see is the production work that goes behind a seemingly simple high quality live video or TV segment. Most don't realize that there's lighting to plan angles to figure out network connections to deal with and visual effects to pay for in order to produce any kind of high quality content. And partnering with an experienced Amazon influencer takes all of that responsibility off your shoulders. That means that after a live Amazon event, you can end up with a commercial quality video that you can utilize on a variety of other platforms. And because the content created is not owned by Amazon, and is instead owned by the Creator, you will have the option to purchase that content from the creator for your own continued use. The third benefit that I want you to take advantage of right now, if you are considering starting working with Amazon live, you have got to put this in place right away because the platform is young. And this is only going to work while the platform is young. Now the third benefit to working with an Amazon influencer is that they are likely to generate more traffic to your brand's Amazon page, which can easily trickle down to your brand's Amazon live page. And right now, because most people's numbers are low on Amazon live, because it's so new, it's going to be a lot easier to play catch up and and grab more followers because there's not too many leaders in the space just yet. And if you get strategic with it, you can start a simple Amazon live page for your brand while you're working with an influencer, so that you can slowly and strategically convert their followers into your followers as they trickle down your digital marketing funnel. Now what's important with this strategy is that you define your individual voice. So let's say you're working with an influencer, who has very high energy, and who is focusing on the fun of your toy or game and focusing on just the joy and the lifestyle and the emotion of it. And people are really engaged with this person. They love their Amazon lives and they love the high energy. When people trickle down to your brand page to your Amazon live page, what you want them to see is something a little bit different. You don't want to feed the same high energy, that's where they just came from. Instead, I would recommend that you feed them a little bit more detail. So perhaps you craft an Amazon lifestyle of your own that focuses on the features of your product that focuses on giving specific details like sizing and weight and price point and materials. Instead of focusing on the high energy which your influencers will already have delivered for you. Essentially you can make it so that your digital marketing funnel is taking them from very excited influencer marketing to the final tip of the funnel where they're having their last questions answered right before they're going to hit the buy button. So I want you to get really strategic with that. Now we have heard all over the toy industry. Ever since COVID pushed all of our events to the virtual space video has really become reigning king to sell toy products, whether you're pitching them to toy companies, or you're pitching them to buyers. Quick well produced videos are the ideal method to sell today. And the growth of platforms like Amazon live are clearly showing us that there is a new way to shop online today. And that is with live video and live customer engagement. directly on a platform where someone can hit buy this is the next generation of home shopping. And I don't want you guys to miss it. So definitely make sure you get online and start digging into Amazon live today. Well there you have it toy people. That is all I wanted to share with you about Amazon live. If your product is currently for sale on Amazon, then you are eligible to advertise your product on Amazon live, whether you do it on your own seller account, or through an Amazon influencers account. If and when you're ready to learn more about getting your product featured on nightlight with Albert Lawrence, head over to amazonlive.thetoycoach.com or tap the link in this episode's description. Today's listener spotlight comes from BikHerChik who left this lovely Apple podcast review. quote I have literally waited 11 years for the exact information Azhelle is sharing in the way she is so gracefully sharing it her voice is very pleasant and she generously and eloquently shares her wealth of knowledge. I'm so excited and grateful. I'm about 54 episodes behind so I am binge listening. I can't stop. Thank you so much for that lovely review. BikHerChik. I really appreciate it and thank you so much for listening. If you would like to meet fellow listeners of the podcast, I'd like to invite you to join the Making It in The Toy Industry Facebook community. The links and opportunities I share within this Facebook group have resulted in fellow toy creators hitting major milestones in their toy businesses. If you're ready to connect with like minded toy people, this is the group for you search the podcast name or just tap the link in the description. As always, thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I know there are a ton of podcasts out there. So it means the world to me that you tuned into this one. Until next week. I'll see you later toy people.
Intro/Outro + Jingle 27:12
Thanks for listening to Making It in The Toy Industry podcast with Azhelle Wade, head over to thetoycoach.com for more information, tips and advice.
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🎓Learn more about how you can develop and pitch your toy idea with Toy Creators Academy® by clicking here to visit toycreatorsacademy.com and join the waitlist.
