November '24 Monthly Roundup
This November roundup is stuffed with...
🎯 strategies for NYNY success
📊 case studies on holistic brand growth
📈 consumer sentiment insights for Q4
🤝 fresh perspectives on breaking down platform silos
Let's shake off the post-Thanksgiving food coma and get GO-ing.
From the GO Team:
We’re in the middle of the Black Friday shopping frenzy, but Jan 1 is right around the corner. If you’re not already building your plan for New Year New You, this article takes an in-depth look at the opportunity and strategy to help you win.
GO works with a client that began experiencing an array of issues that were impacting each other.
All of which needed careful attention if we were to support the client’s growth goals. So our team got to work addressing each of these challenges holistically across operations, retail, content, and advertising. Each area would play a key role in getting the client back on track, and the results say it all:
GO works with a Health and Household brand that launched products in 4 new category segments. Since they’ve entered these segments, there’s been one main competitor who has been a consistent threat – this competitor often owns the first Sponsored Product (SP) placements within category searches.
During Prime Big Deal Days, GO noticed this main competitor was owning the top spot on the Health & Household Deals page along with their typical SP placements. To take advantage of the influx of traffic this competitor was generating from these placements, our GO team knew we needed to target their product detail pages (PDPs) with a nuanced SD advertising strategy.
When the dust settled, these SD ads made up 5% of the client’s total tentpole sales. Not too shabby.
A major Amazon seller was shipping too frequently to Amazon warehouses via expensive small parcel deliveries. The solution:
The key was establishing a buffer inventory before reducing shipping frequency, which cut costs while maintaining stock levels.
With Amazon’s fee updates earlier this year, it was exciting to see Amazon's latest fee announcement leading into 2025...
What's Happening: Amazon announced no U.S. fee increases for 2025 - no referral fee hikes, no new FBA fees, no new fee types, and reduced placement fees for bulky items and incentives for new ASINs.
Why It Matters: This fee stabilization is significant for profitability management. With 61% of brands citing profitability as a top challenge (per Stratably), this is a great sign for some opportunities to finetune and optimize for that profitability.
What to Do Next:
- Keep on top of your audits on current fulfillment costs
Recommended by LinkedIn
- Identify opportunities in bulky item categories
- Consider new ASIN launches Dec-Mar to leverage fee waivers
- Redirect potential savings to growth initiatives
Posts by others that stood out:
Numerator released their latest Consumer Sentiment Tracker and we’re seeing a lot of alignment across our brands. The report highlights that consumers are actively seeking savings through deals and reduced spending, with 42% shopping for sales and 41% using coupons, while maintaining a neutral-to-cautiously optimistic financial outlook (52.4 score). When consumers have extra money, they're primarily saving it (38%) or paying down debt (34%), suggesting careful spending habits even as financial optimism shows slight improvement across demographics.
Jeffrey Cohen shared a great post analyzing this EMARKETER data. Amazon is leading a major shift in sports viewing from TV to streaming, with digital viewers projected to outnumber traditional TV viewers by 30M+ by 2027, while offering advertisers unique ability to track viewing-to-purchase conversion.
A couple great Jeff quotes:
"The future of sports advertising isn't just about eyeballs - it's about engagement, data, and direct results."
"Overall sports viewership hasn't grown significantly (47.6% in 2024 vs. 46.9% in 2018). It's not about more viewers – it's about reaching them where they are now...and measuring the impact on your sales."
Breaking Down Platform Silos
There's a critical lesson in how today's most successful brands approach their marketing mix. While many companies still operate in silos—with separate teams chasing separate metrics on separate platforms—the reality is that consumers don't think in silos at all.
Think about your own shopping journey. You might see a product on social media, research it on Amazon, check reviews on YouTube, and ultimately purchase it at Target. The path isn't linear, and it certainly isn't confined to a single platform.
This complex reality presents two fundamental challenges for brand builders:
The Problem with Platform Silos
When teams operate in isolation, focusing solely on platform-specific metrics, they often optimize for what's easily measurable rather than what's ultimately meaningful. An Amazon-specific team might hit all their ROAS targets while missing opportunities for broader topline growth. A social media team might drive engagement without connecting it to actual sales impact.
That's why marketing and sales leaders have to focus on the sophistication of their media mix in order to break down those silos and make better decisions.
Breaking Down the Walls
Forward-thinking brands are taking three key steps to break down these silos:
Start with the Consumer Journey (not platform-specific metrics)
Align Your Metrics Across Platforms
Foster Cross-Platform Collaboration
Remember: An Amazon ad tool doesn't just drive Amazon sales. A social media campaign doesn't just build social engagement. When you break down the silos, every marketing dollar works harder because it's aligned with how consumers actually shop.
The brands that will win tomorrow are the ones that can orchestrate this complex ecosystem today. They understand that success isn't about mastering any single platform—it's about meeting customers wherever they are.
The Power of Authenticity
Being different and authentically yourself isn't a liability—it's a strength. In our quest for professional success, we often try to fit a predetermined mold, but true innovation and leadership come from embracing what makes us unique. When we bring our authentic selves to work, we not only perform better, but we also create space for others to do the same.
This month, identify one aspect of your authentic self—a perspective, experience, or approach—that you typically hold back at work. Find a way to thoughtfully incorporate it into your professional life, whether in a meeting, project, or conversation with colleagues.
How can your unique perspective contribute to your team's success? What's holding you back from sharing it more openly?