Principles and Mindset for Amazon Marketers During COVID-19

April 3, 2020
By Nancy Lili Gonzalez

During these times of hardship, we want to share a few mindset tips for Amazon marketers to help you move forward. More than ever before, it is important to move forward.

Mike is currently reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, the true story of a Jewish man who survived World War II’s concentration camps. Through being able to survive the worst of humanity, Frankl’s wisdom inspires readers to prevail during challenging situations.

“When we are no longer able to change a situation,” Frankl says, “we are challenged to change ourselves.” This sentiment inspires Mike and the entire team at Ad Badger to look inward for solutions.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Victor Frankl

In the spirit of choosing our own way, we would like to offer every Amazon Marketer reading this our guiding principles and mindset shifts during Covid-19 to help you and your company prevail alongside us.

Focus on mindset.

Retain faith that you will prevail, regardless of the obstacles. Everything is harder if you think you can’t do it. Success is impossible if you think you can’t achieve success.

To be successful, nourish your mind with positive-growth driven resources. Accept reality and move forward with the deepest drive and purpose you can muster.

Focus on the facts of your current reality. All of the facts you need are in your Amazon account. Your daily sales numbers, your trajectory, your velocity, your average change over time– these are the sources that will help you grow more than any conjecture on any random blog.

If you retain faith that you will prevail, then you will.

Get practical with financial modeling.

What would really happen if the next three months operated at only 50% of their usual glory? Would it truly be doom and gloom? Would it be the end of business as you know it?

What if you operated at 50% revenue for the next six months? Or the next year?

What systems would need to be in place for you to prevail during that situation? Are you prepared? What can you do to create the systems that are lacking?

Are there edges that must be cut? If so, what are they? Is there spending that should be trimmed? Or spending that needs to be inflated?

Do you have a plan? If so, what is it?

Create your own game plan using the data already in your Amazon account. Identify worst case scenarios and create plans for each. Then stick to your plans.

Control what is in your control.

Move forward.

We’ve talked to Amazon marketers who are completely pausing all of their campaigns. This is so bad. Do not do this.

Think of an economic recession like a sharp curve on a race track. The best place to pass competitors requires more skill than the straightaways. The best drivers apply their brakes just ahead of the curve, turn hard toward the apex of the curve, and then accelerate out of the curve.

Using this analogy, be the better driver by removing excess costs as soon as possible, identifying your growth plan at the apex, and taking swift action to leave the curve rapidly.

Growing a bit now enables you to grow a lot during a bull market.

Now is the time when our shortcomings are amplified. If you have a bad campaign structure that you never fixed because it was “okay,” then odds are that that campaign is faltering now. Revise it. If you didn’t have time to create a strong bid optimization plan before, take action now.

Do not pause your campaigns. Get smart about your strategy. If you need more tips for implementing strategy changes, we offer more in-depth ideas on episode 70 of the PPC Den, Coronavirus and Your Amazon Campaigns.

Surround yourself with the like minded.

If you already know that your tribe influences your vibe, then surround yourself with people who are where you want to be, people who are going in the direction that you also are. If you don’t have any fellow Amazon marketing friends, might we suggest our own Facebook group?

Our Facebook group is free and it is in overdrive right now. In the last week, it’s had more discussion and activity than it did in the previous month. The community is helping each other daily with Q&As, and our Ad Badger team is also active within it.

Join it or bookmark it because strategies and news are changing fast, and you need a community that you can trust to help filter out the noise.

More wisdom, nugget-sized.

The four points mentioned above are the most important points to take away from this article, but we still want to share a few more important guiding principles.

Don’t wait. Accept reality and move forward fast.
Over communicate. Talk to your team, customers, and investors. Don’t let anyone guess what is happening because they’ll tend to assume the worst.
If you must share bad news, share it quickly to build trust.
Investigate available financing options. Talk to investors or research SBA loans, new lines of credit, etc.
Stop spending money and start investing. Is the money you currently spend helping you grow for the future? Is the money you currently spend an investment, or a drain?

These bits of wisdom play a role in our new daily life at Ad Badger, amidst Covid-19, and we are stronger because of them. We hope they positively impact your Amazon marketing as well.

We’re in this together.

Times are dire, but with a right minded approach, we hope to use our inner strength and resolve to create a better future. While we may not be able to change our situation, it is within our power to change ourselves and create stronger Amazon marketing.

To recap: