#386 – From Legal Expert to Influencer Icon: Michelle Platt’s Guide to Mastering the Digital Stage
Ever wondered how a former attorney could reinvent herself as a digital influencer? Join us as Michelle Platt shares her transformation story and the strategies that turned her health and wellness website into a thriving hub. In this candid conversation, Michelle unpacks the power of SEO and affiliate marketing, revealing the behind-the-scenes of her accidental traffic triumphs. We also touch on the serendipity of networking at sea, proving that sometimes, the best connections are made off the grid.
Venture into the world of AI with us, where the art of content creation meets the science of algorithms. We tackle the burning question of balance—how does one maintain the human touch amidst a sea of tech? Michelle and Kevin dissect the trend of strategic blogging, the role of audience engagement, and the savvy use of AI for outlines and keyword finesse. Listen in as we break down content ideation, from tapping into social media groups to understanding the subtle art of listening to your audience, ensuring the content you create not only resonates but also captivates.
Dive into the lucrative labyrinth of the Amazon Influencer Program with insider expertise from Michelle. We navigate the nuances of personal voice versus SEO demands, and the impact newsletters have in keeping your audience coming back for more. Plus, we’ll explore the delicate dance of product promotion and the importance of authenticity and transparency in influencer partnerships. Lastly, we unpack the economic realities of influencer life behind the glamorous facade, emphasizing the importance of direct audience relationships for long-term success. Tune in for an episode brimming with actionable insights for budding content creators and seasoned influencers alike.
In episode 386 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Michelle discuss:
- 01:16 – Adventure Cruising vs Traditional Cruises
- 05:49 – SEO Mastery and Algorithm Changes
- 06:26 – Impact of AI on Writing
- 16:26 – Monetizing Content Through Amazon Influencer Program
- 18:10 – Monetizing a Blog With Affiliate Links
- 22:35 – Benefits of Live Streams for Amazon
- 27:32 – Product Promotion and Influencer Partnerships
- 38:18 – Future of Influencers and Bloggers
- 39:15 – Influencer Industry Trends and Concerns
- 40:52 – Influence and Authenticity on Amazon
- 46:58 – Diversifying Income With Affiliate Programs
- 50:00 – Kevin’s Words Of Wisdom
Transcript
Kevin King:
Boom. We’re back with episode 386 of the AM/PM Podcast. This week my guest is Michelle Platt. Michelle Platt’s a former attorney turned influencer, and she’s crushing it when it comes to the influencer scene. We’re going to talk about all about being an influencer, about how influencers work, about how you can deal with influencers and some of the things that she likes to see and doesn’t like to see when you, as a seller, are approaching her. I think you’re going to really enjoy this episode with Michelle. Michelle Platt, welcome to the AM/PM Podcast. How are you doing?
Michelle:
I’m good Thanks for having me.
Kevin King:
We just met recently, not too long ago, on a cruise ship, of all places right?
Michelle:
I know it was awesome.
Kevin King:
We were actually on that cruise back in January. We were both speaking there. You’re speaking on influencers. I was just doing my normal little hacks and whatever I normally do. It was a week-long adventure.
Michelle:
Yeah, I feel like a week felt like it was going to be really long. Then at the end I was wishing I had a few more days. It was that kind of trip, right.
Kevin King:
Yeah, what’s your story? What’s your background? We’ll talk about what you’re doing on the influencer side of things in just a little bit. What’s your background before that? Have you been involved in e-commerce? Is this something relatively new? You’ve been doing this for a while. Where’d you come from?
Michelle:
Yeah, I feel like my story is one of those really ups and downs. I graduated college and went to law school, became an attorney. It was just not the right fit. I knew even before I graduated law school I want to do something creative. But then I gave it a few years worked as an attorney. Then I actually taught for a little bit. Then I started my website really to launch a freelance writing career. I figured I needed a space to send people. I started a website and then it took off. I’ve been doing that for eight years.
Kevin King:
What kind of writing is that?
Michelle:
I just started a health and wellness website. It didn’t start like that. It started all about apps and technology and hacks you would like hacks. It was all just things like that. I just didn’t expect it to do anything other than here’s my portfolio. Then it really just took off. Started making money from a few months in with the affiliate program, mainly Amazon at the time. Then I slowly got into the influencer space. I was actually invited into Amazon influencers program when it was beta, just based on my Amazon affiliate sales at the time. Didn’t know a whole lot about it and took a deeper dive the last two years when I feel like it’s become more popular.
Kevin King:
You started writing a blog. It migrated into health and wellness. You start plugging products on Amazon related to supplements or different types of exercise equipment or what kind of stuff.
Michelle:
There’s a lot of exercise equipment. It was from day one I became an Amazon affiliate. I was driving sales to expensive equipment. From day one I monetized my site with the Amazon affiliate program.
Kevin King:
This was about eight years ago, so around 2015, 2016-ish.
Michelle:
It was March 2016. It’s almost eight years.
Kevin King:
How were you driving traffic to this site? What were you doing to actually? If you set it up right with affiliates from day one to monetize it, which a lot of people don’t do how were you driving the traffic to the site?
Michelle:
It was Google. It was like 100% Google. At the time I didn’t know about SEO, but I was SEOing my website. I was writing for keywords. I was writing about trending topics. I was outranking CNET and the New York Times. I don’t know it really was keyword, but I get it. At the same time. I didn’t really know what research was. I just knew what I wanted to write about and I thought it was trending topics. At the time it really was Google. Then I had a newsletter, didn’t pay any attention to social media. Still, that’s always been a weakness because I was really focused on Google. Then, over the last seven years, I was like oh, there’s a whole thing called SEO, that’s what I was doing. But now let me actually learn about it. I’ve been in masterminds and done courses and really focused mainly on that.
Kevin King:
Has that made a big difference? You almost lucked into it in the beginning there. Just naturally did something right. Since you’ve actually learned the tips of the trade, has that made a difference? Using an SEO rush or any of the SEO tools?
Michelle:
I saw Ahrefs. I start every morning with that. There’s been so many algorithm changes. At the time, even though it sounds like I went into a blindly and fell into it, I was listening. Actually, there were some really good podcasts at the time. There weren’t a lot of Facebook groups or anything. I was listening to podcasts like what do I do? How do I start a site? How do I build a site? I feel like I went in knowledgeable and I think that’s my attorney background. I’m going to not tiptoe in. I’m going to tiptoe in. I’m going to spend some time researching, what do I need to do? Now I feel like those groups and all those courses are helping, because there’s so many algorithm changes all the time. You have to stay on top of it. You can live in a little bubble and not even know what’s going on.
Kevin King:
How often were you putting fresh content on the blog?
Michelle:
In the beginning, not so often because again I thought I was building it as a portfolio. I just need a few good pieces. Now I’m much more intentional about it. I also did a rebrand this year and got rid of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of articles and decided you know what? I didn’t start as a health and wellness site, but I think that’s what I’ve pivoted into and that’s what people want from me. I deleted anything or put them in draft, anything that I thought was not what I wanted to be known for. It just helped me niche down and actually write more intentionally now.
Kevin King:
Are you doing all the writing, or do you have a team or ghost writers, or is it all you?
Michelle:
It’s been all me. I’ve definitely gotten more into AI over the last year. I don’t have it write everything for me, but it’s definitely helping me have outlines and keyword research and that sort of thing.
Kevin King:
Where do you get your topics? Is this stuff that you know or stuff of the way that you’re living and you write about that? Are you actually going out there and researching on topics or talking about people that are doing well, or case studies, or what’s the general gist?
Michelle:
My favorite way is probably Google search console. I look to see what are people searching for on my site and then have I covered it. Can I do more about that? In my newsletter I sometimes ask people what do you want to know more about? Sometimes people respond to me. A lot of it is actually because I feel like this is what got me in the right place in the beginning. A lot of it is just having my eyes and ears open, being around people. A lot of it is I’ll do a lot of product reviews and different things. People will mention something, even Facebook groups. I’m probably the only person who asked this. I have a tab. I go into Facebook groups regular Facebook groups. People will ask questions about something and I have future blog posts and I have it tabbed. Then I will crowdsource from there and try to build blog posts, because when people are asking questions and don’t know much about it, I feel like that’s the perfect time for me to dive in and answer those questions. That’s one of my favorite ways and it has been from the beginning.
Kevin King:
You use like AnswerThePublic?
Michelle:
I do, yeah, I do. I feel like I use all those. I have another one that I’ve been using. It’s a SEO keyword research tool, it’s called Rank IQ, which I started in the last year. You’ll put in a topic and then it’ll generate, you know, just basically post that they think you can rank for like quickly, you know it’ll take a long time, like quick, you know just, and it gives you a general idea of how much you need to write and what are kind of some of the more shorter tail keywords, even to write about.
Kevin King:
How do you feel about the predictions of people are saying that in a year, maybe less, 80% of the content that’s gonna be online, like on blogs and stuff, is gonna be AI written and it’s gonna lose a lot of its just gonna start all looking the same? What are your thoughts of the direction that? How is influencing writing and blogging and newsletters and that kind stuff and what do you think is gonna happen when everything starts just being all AI and how do you get that human element back into it?
Michelle:
Yeah, so I. That’s why I feel like I held off a little bit in the you know AI, because I consider myself a writer and that’s like the fun part of everything I do, writing is my favorite part. So I don’t, I don’t want, you know, I don’t want barred or ChatGPT doing it. I want to do that part and then I feel like you say you’re right and then it’s all AI. Then it’s like really, what are you? But I can go into sometimes other. You know I have competitors and even friends who are competitors and I can see their sites and I’m like they’re doing a lot of AI recently, like I can see it in their writing. Just there’s certain like you know words I’m so I’m using it really for, let’s say, I’m writing a topic and I have like 10 ideas. I will say how are these 10 ideas? Can you give me 10 more?
Michelle:
And I’m like those are good, I didn’t think about it. So I feel like for me, like topic generation, it’s really helpful, but I don’t know. I think what stood out about my site in the beginning is I’m writing about my experience, and so I do believe like AI can’t do that, like that they want to hear like the ridiculous things that are kind of happening or just how I went through something and it didn’t work for me, and so that I feel like can’t be replaced by AI. What is being replaced is, I feel like now you’re like searching and now I’m sending. It’s like Reddit and Quora and they’re like wait, I have more to say about this. In the two sentences like and so now they’re outranking your blog posts. That’s like the newest algorithm change, like the helpful content update is that you’re putting it in your blog is going underneath all these people having conversations. So I think it’s hard because you have to kind of deal with AI. I know you have to deal with Quora and Reddit.
Kevin King:
Yeah, I think AI, I mean I publish a newsletter as well, as you know, and I also enjoy the writing process, but I don’t like the tedious part of some of the. AI is great for brainstorming. So, like you said, you know I’m looking for ten different ideas on a headline. I’ll write the headline. Say where ten other ways to say this or I will use it we just recently. I’ll use it to summarize a big, long, technical thing or something like that. But it’s all about the property, how you, how you type. If you just type in a ChatGPT, please summarize the story, you can get something dramatically different than if you say, please summarize this. As a wall street general reporter, I emphasize in this and this and this and also talk about this, this and this and how does it affect this, this and this? In the output is dramatically different and I also like it for, like we just I have a course called the Freedom Ticket with Helium10, which is how to sell on Amazon A to Z, and we just reshot the. We updated every couple years. Totally, we like reshoot the entire thing from scratch, from, from the ground up, and we just read that in the original, last one, the third one version came out in 2021 was fifty some odd modules of me talking, and this time we decided that that was too much. People aren’t gonna make it through fifty three modules. It just looks daunting when you get into a course. So we cut it down to eighteen and what we did is combined a few, eliminated few, update a few. But in order to do that, in order read, I don’t use a script, I just talk.
Kevin King:
So I don’t have a script that I’m reading on teleprompter. I just have notes, like almost like bullet points, like no cards or something, and I just know what to say. I just whatever comes out comes out. But to somewhere to do that work. In the past I would have to sit down or have someone pay someone to sit down and actually read everything and make basically notes, make an outline. This is what we talked about the past. Okay, some of this is still fun, some is this is still good. We gotta change these things. This time AI did it. We just took the transcripts of fifty three modules and said some give us a key bullet points of each one of these, and it spit out the key bullet points in seconds and then we like that one’s not relevant anymore. We need to add this this one’s missing and that became the new, the new outline to shoot the whole thing. And that was done in an hour or two instead of days or weeks. That’s the beauty of a I. So you said you have the blog I, and you also have a newsletter. When did you start doing a newsletter?
Michelle:
So I have. I think from the beginning my newsletter was like an rss feed and it was just it was I write a post and, you know, get sent to my people. And then I only became really very consistent, I would say maybe like four years ago. I’m like, alright, well, they get it whenever, but now I need to sit down and I need to do it, you know, every week. So I called it the Friday Favorites on for some reason, I know Fridays doesn’t seem like it would be a really good day for newsletters, but for me I do. I think people read it on Fridays cuz I think it’s kinda like unwind this is how my week was. You know this is I talk about like workouts I’ve done. These are the workouts I recommend, you know that sort of thing. So I send it on Fridays. I don’t recommend Fridays because it’s kinda kills your weekend. I feel like usually everyone’s like are we going out like five o’clock and I’m like I’m still working on this newsletter. Why did I call it Friday Favorites? Why didn’t you like Wednesday? You know, really is it kinda kills me on Fridays and even in the summer sometimes I’ll actually ask him my newsletter like, are you mind, can I just send it every other Friday, you know, and I’ll just send in for interesting things in between, and just follow me here, because when you set this up and you wanna be consistent, you need to make sure that it actually, like you know, does work for you.
Kevin King:
So it’s a weekly newsletter, except during the summer. Sometimes it goes every other week. That’s well, newsletters are. How are you finding it as far as the power or the influence of the newsletter has versus the blog? A blog is, people have to be pulled to you, newsletters you’re going to them. It’s a little bit more intimate relationship than a blog. What are you finding the differences in the two from a marketing perspective or influence perspective?
Michelle:
So I think, because I’ve pivoted so much and it really am like you know, I am writing for SEO, I think a lot of times my blog even though I have my experience in there and things like that it’s missing a little bit of personality, you know, because I’m just trying to answer questions and I’m trying to make Google happy, and so I think my newsletter is kind of where I get back in and I get into like my you know, just, it’s just more of me. So I feel like I write it as if I’m talking to you and I’m sharing my newest things and some of those are blog posts. So in a way, it’s kind of fun to do my newsletter, because when I write it, I mean I just said I went to Austin in my last newsletter and somebody just wrote to me like give me some tips, you know, and I don’t write about Austin, I just kind of mentioned that in my newsletter, you know. So things like that. I feel like it’s more conversational.
Michelle:
I do notice when I don’t send it, I’m like I really should have, because I could see the traffic went down. You know, I didn’t send it. People are like clicking through, but it’s it is tricky because I feel like sometimes people stumbled upon my newsletter because generally because they found me on Google. And then sometimes, if I talk about other things, I do have that actually when I do the Amazon thing, like they’re not really there for Amazon, they’re there because they found me on you know, they found me on Google. So it’s almost it’s hard sometimes to figure out I’m not really serving sometimes the same people like you know. So it’s so I kind of in my head I go through like how much do I do of each thing?
Kevin King:
How many? What’s up if you don’t mind what’s your subscribers and click rate.
Michelle:
So again I’ve like pruned my list a lot, so I’m about like 6000.
Kevin King:
But that’s good, that’s good.
Michelle:
Like through is like I just checked, it’s generally well. My open rate is, like I don’t know, between like 52 and 55.
Kevin King:
That’s good.
Michelle:
And I have to check my click through. But it’s not bad. I know it’s not bad because I did check after we have that conversation and I did your little thing and I was like, okay, I think I’m in the good space.
Kevin King:
Yeah, anything. Any open rate above 40% is really good.
Michelle:
Yeah.
Kevin King:
And a click rate above 4%.
Michelle:
Yeah, mine’s around five so.
Kevin King:
That’s good. Open rates can be a little deceiving because Apple devices show it open even though someone didn’t really open it. But that’s why click rate is the best. That shows that there’s engagement. But, like what you said, to where people are saying, writing you back, saying, give me some tips about Austin, that that’s showing engagement and that’s good too. So when you, when you are you monetizing the new, you’re monetizing the blog still, I’m assuming, with affiliate links. Are you doing a newsletter, also with affiliate links?
Michelle:
So yeah, well, okay, so that was the beauty of the. I’m also monetizing my site with I’m in an ad network, so that. So traffic. So even indirectly, if I’m sending people from my newsletter, I’m trying to build up traffic right, like that’s the whole point. And I am, you know, I’m in affiliate with lots of different companies, not just Amazon. But the reason why the Amazon influencer program like appealed to me in the first place is because it’s I kind of saw it as like a loophole, because they reached out to me and they said you know, if you have an Amazon storefront, you can put that in a newsletter and you can’t put affiliate links in there. So I was throwing in like my newsletter, like here, here’s an ideal list I created. Like that’s kind of what I thought the influencer program was. I thought it was just create a list and do this. And then a couple of years ago I was like wait, people are making videos, like people are live streaming. I didn’t even know. And then when I went over to the influencer program, I like had followers. So I obviously it was getting like people you know there from it. So that’s the only way I’ve monetized it. I’ve never done like selling ad space or doing anything like that on my newsletter. It’s really just affiliate sales, trying to bring them, like you know, my ad network and then bringing people to my storefront.
Kevin King:
So you started out doing the affiliate and send it. Then Amazon invited you and then now you’re doing video, you’re doing like UGC content and you’re doing. Are you doing live streaming? Are you doing? What aspects of the influencer program are you doing? Are you creating videos and putting them on other people’s listings? What, what are? What are you doing?
Michelle:
Yeah. So in the beginning I don’t know why the live streaming sort of appealed to me, which is kind of funny because I haven’t been like a video person, but I saw people doing that and I was like I can do that, because I could just like talk, and that’s kind of what Amazon, you know, live streams are, or at least they were. They didn’t feel so salesy, they didn’t have to be like so perfect. They were just, I mean, literally not perfect like I done live streams where I’m like drinking from a cup and then spill it all over me and it’s like you just keep going. You know, it’s like nobody people like that. So live streams though. So I started doing that a couple of years ago and soon got approached by companies. You know, can we sponsor you to do a live stream? I was working with a, like a aggregate company and they were sending me products and I was doing live streams for them like once or twice a week, and it was great.
Michelle:
And then I think Amazon changed the for everyone pretty much. They changed the live streaming where you used to get lots and lots of views and that led to lots of sales, and then they kind of they just don’t show it as much anymore. They did a crackdown of people because I think the program was getting diluted by like bad content. So they decided, you know what, we’re just kind of not shut this down, but we’re going to make it like a little less appealing, and it got rid of all the bad players, but at the same time it made it harder for everyone else, except if you were like a celebrity, you know you go on now and there’s like celebrities, you know, that are sponsored by Amazon, Amazon doing live streams. So I do them and there is still a benefit and the benefit is on my Amazon storefront, on the very top, on everyone’s Amazon storefront, the very top piece is your most recent live stream and that stays current for 30 days. So I do. You know I still work with companies and I still do live streams.
Michelle:
But the incentive is when somebody clicks over from my newsletter or someone clicks over anywhere and they go out to my storefront, they will see that video. You know not video. They will see the live stream and they will see the carousel of products. They’ll see, you know, current prices. You know they see everything. So that’s really nice, that that’s on top. So I do it, but it’s not the same, what it used to be, but it’s still, I think, a really good marketing tool. And one more benefit of live streams is that if somebody’s clicking on a product in the carousel, even if they don’t buy it, it I’ve always heard and I do believe this to be the case that it’s sending a signal to Amazon like this product is. People are interested in this product, you know, even if it doesn’t let go to a sale, like people are clicking on it, and I’ve heard that changes the algorithm.
Kevin King:
Yeah, it does. Yeah, just, the Amazon pays attention to a lot of signals about 450 main ones and then probably 1000 plus additional ones, but some of those are actually either just add to carts, even go to a sale, or just views and view time, and they’re watching mouse clicks with hot heat maps and everything. So that definitely all plays into it. So what do you have a studio that you’re doing this from, or do you just do it naturally around the house or out in the backyard or in a park or whatever? Where are you creating your content?
Michelle:
I have an office so I just do it from there. I also I think that, again, I think the nice thing about Amazon is that even with the shoppable videos, the live streams, some people are super, super professional about it. But I think a lot of people just want to see like regular people doing this and they don’t, they don’t, they don’t want to like even the videos. I have to be honest, when I first saw those videos and I saw people were making those, I thought to myself oh I actually I always thought those were just customers making videos. Like I didn’t understand why I wanted to do this. We’re like I love this mug and I was like I don’t like it. They I guess they don’t have much going on, I don’t know. That’s like fun for them to make a video.
Michelle:
I didn’t realize until later on and even after I was live streaming and I was in some Facebook groups I was like, oh wait, that’s like part of the influencer program I have, like I get deliveries every like 20 seconds from Amazon. I can make some videos. So people like to see just kind of real people. And even with shoppable videos I’ve played around with like doing a thumbnail, doing no thumbnail. You know different things. Lately I’m kind of leaning towards less of a thumbnail because, again, I think people almost shoppers, I think they almost feel like, oh, this is just a person who really liked that product. You know, they don’t always realize, you know, and so it’s. I think authentic is just better, like I’m actually using it. This is what it is and I’m not gonna be in a fancy studio because I want you to think I’m in my house, I’m next to my dog, I’m with you, know, I’m in my closet, like wherever I am.
Kevin King:
Are you doing stuff on TikTok and Facebook and Instagram as well, or are you just focused on the Amazon side when it comes to the influencer stuff?
Michelle:
So TikTok I have to say I was very inspired even by the you know, the sellers cruise and I was like, why am I not doing more on TikTok? So I am slowly getting more into TikTok. I’ve always had like a Facebook group, Instagram, because I focused so heavily on social in the beginning and I was like I’m not doing Instagram, like I don’t have time for that or I don’t need to do that. I think I ignored it and I think that was to my detriment. You know I shouldn’t, because now it’s so hard to grow on Instagram. So same thing with YouTube. I mean, this is actually kind of funny. I made a video the very first time, within a few months of writing my first blog post or second blog post, I made a video on YouTube. I did really well and I know it was driving traffic to my site. I just know that Google and YouTube were working together. I think that’s what pivoted my site. And then I was like I don’t really need to do YouTube, like it’s another thing to do.
Michelle:
And so I ignored it, and so then I started throwing these like shoppable videos on YouTube and now I’m like, all right, well now, now this is kind of a mess, so I’m restarting a real intentional YouTube channel and again I’m using AI to help me with that. That’s like, really. I found some really good tools on ChatGPT to help me, like, with blog posts, turning those into YouTube, so that’s in the works.
Kevin King:
Quite a few tools out there that will take a written word and turn it into a video, even with screenshots and stuff. There’s a ton of tools. So the products that you’re promoting are? You started out in the original, originally back when the first blog, the blog, start in the newsletter start probably just stuff that you were buying or stuff that you recommended, but then it became people are paying you to do stuff. So what’s the mix now of what you recommend that you truly believe in and what you recommend that someone’s paying you to do, even you?
Michelle:
Yeah, I don’t. I actually say no all the time, like I feel like even back then I, just because I’m sending even my newsletter, I’m sending people there. I don’t want anyone seeing anything that’s really junk. So I’ll always look if it’s a very new product, usually launching, and it has zero reviews or I can see it’s like sometimes the ASIN is the same ASIN, but I can see it was like a different product. If I just kind of get a weird vibe, I usually will say no or just throw out a number. I know they won’t pay, but I generally won’t do those. I actually won’t even say generally I won’t do those, I don’t do those. So I’m looking for products. Lately, I’m really looking for products that I can kind of also incorporate into my website. Sometimes I’ll say, oh, that’s kind of a cool product and maybe I’ll even charge a little bit less. But I’m like I think I can write a whole blog post about that because there’s actually really interest and I go into my Arefs and I’m trying to cross promote in different ways and so again, if you’re paying me, I only want it to be, even if it’s clothing. I’m not going to pick out clothing that I don’t like.
Michelle:
I’m reading through all the reviews. Is it going to look good on me, is it not? So I really do think I don’t think everyone’s like this, but I think if I’m putting something on my site or on my storefront, it’s something that I actually do like. If there’s things I don’t like about it, then I’m definitely going to say that. And that’s the other nice thing about Amazon Shoppable Videos. It’s not all great. Same thing on my website. I do the pros and I do the cons. So I might say, while this is less expensive, it’s definitely more flimsy than some other products out there. Or I’ve had it for six months and I’ve already had to change the batteries or whatever it is. So I feel like I definitely give pros and cons, so yeah.
Kevin King:
The affiliate commissions that, for example, at Amazon pay are pretty low, so you’re taking an upfront fee plus a commission, or are you also negotiating these commissions? You’ve got to give me a bump on this. I know some affiliates and stuff will send there. They have an agreement with the seller to send their reports every month and they double it or they triple. Amazon showed you made this 3% commission and you made $182 on their sales. They’ll send you another $364, or something. They’ll triple it. Do you do anything like that?
Michelle:
Yeah, so I’ll never. I can’t think there was one product I did because it was a really expensive piece of fitness equipment that I said I’ll do it for free because I want it. And my birthday was coming up and I was like I’m so excited I was looking to buy it was just a rowing machine and I was like, all right, send me the rowing machine for free because I really want it and I want it. My birthday is coming up this week and I want it. So I’m trying to show. So I did that. But even with them they give me an extra commission. But I don’t do free products. If I’m doing a paid product, I will try to do at least an extra 10% commission and if it does well, even more and they’ll pay me. But some might just do the payment and I’m not getting extra commission. So I think it depends on the product, what it is.
Kevin King:
What is it about a product that makes you really get excited about it? Is it something that you’re passionate about? Is it the quality of it? Is it something unique and different? What is it that, when you get something like, oh, this is pretty cool, what are the things that you’re looking for? That sellers on the flip side could be like man, if you could just do this, or you could just make your product this, you’re going to get a lot more influencers excited about it.
Michelle:
Yeah. So I think this goes even to what sellers say. I feel like the product I get least excited about is clothing, because there’s returns all the time and so when I get these clothing, it’s like I’ll make it. I definitely will ask for payment because I just know probably I don’t know a third to a half is going to get returns, because even that’s the way I operate. So to me that’s less exciting. I get really excited about, just personally, anything I can use that shows transformation, like home organization products are my favorite thing because I’m constantly trying to organize and get things and I feel like people really like befores and afters. I think it has to be a good product. It needs to have. I think, when you first launch and you have zero reviews, I don’t know if that’s the time to reach out to an influencer yet. Or maybe you’re reaching out to the influencers who are going to not charge anything, but I just feel like at that point there’s nothing. There’s nothing for me to work with, and so I think sometimes you want to build up, have a little bit of reviews before you reach out to an influencer, but I think products that just. I always ask a seller tell me what makes you unique? How are you different from then the competitor? I want to know that because I feel like that’s important for also for a shoppable video. I want to say this one’s way better, because it has this included and the others don’t.
Kevin King:
So, when an influencer reaches out to you, do you have a form that you’ve probably done enough of these, like you know what you need to actually create a video. Do you have a form, like a type form or something where they go through and they answer 10 questions about it, or do they just send you? Here’s my bullet points. Here’s what I want you to say. What’s the mix of things that you get when dealing with sellers?
Michelle:
Yeah, honestly, I don’t want. This is what you should say, because, like you, I don’t like working with scripts. I don’t want you telling me what to say. I want to figure it out. But I do want to know. One thing I’ll say is, especially if I get excited about a product like how are you different from the competition? Like that, I want to know Because that’s to me again a huge selling point. But when someone’s giving me I want you to film this and I want you to be in your car and I want it to be between 5 and 8 o’clock at night and I want no, I’m not doing any of that. I really just want the product. I’ll look at it myself, I’ll figure it out. I want to know, like, what are you doing? I want to know enough that I could figure out how to work the product or use the product, but I don’t want all those bullet points.
Kevin King:
What are some of the like? You probably get a ton of like submissions of people some wanted it free, some wanted to pay you coming in from the different sources to promote them. What are? How do you? What’s the process of going through those? And just delete, delete, delete, delete. Okay, I’ll look at this one. Delete, delete, delete. You know, some of them probably don’t even get two seconds of your time because you can just tell instantly this is a waste. And other ones like peak your interest. What from a seller’s point of view? What do they need to do to really actually get an influencer’s interest and to actually get them to pay attention and hopefully take their product?
Michelle:
Well, I think first thing is like know who you’re writing to, because I’ll get you know things all the time, like baby products, like I don’t have a baby, like I’m not gonna say, like I don’t want to, I don’t want to do a baby product. Some people will. Some people will say I’ll go to my friend, they have a baby, I’ll do it. Like I just feel like I have so much time like I’m not seeking up babies in my life. You know, I’m just so. So I think like know who you’re, who you’re working with, you know or you want to work with. So for me, when people reach out like health and wellness products, workout equipment, then I get excited. You know if, if also sometimes what people will like, especially for clothing, I just feel like they’ll like I got one this morning and it’s like we want to. We want to send you this pair of shoes. I have no idea if it’s paid or not, it’s like, really not like anything I would ever wear. But then I go on their like page and I’m like they have so many other cute styles, why they send me this like hideous ones to promote. And I was like no reviews, but like why don’t you say this is us, and so I kind of wrote so that’s what I wrote back because I feel like those shoes do get good reviews and they do have nice ones. I don’t know why they chose this one to send to me. I guess because there’s no reviews yet.
Kevin King:
I’m launching it probably, yeah.
Michelle:
But I just feel like, well, give me your like, I had to seek it out to see that they had nice products. So I think you’re better off. Also, if you have many products and they’re kind of grouped together. I would have, like this shoe company. I would have rather they say we’re this shoe company, we have, these are some of our best sellers. We’d love to work with you and then maybe throw in that hideous one and I could say yes or no, you know, and don’t launch with the you know with product. But would you know, probably most people I mean that people don’t necessarily maybe want so. So I think, kind of tell who you’re about. But I’m deleting all the time. But a lot of times I’m deleting because it has nothing to do with me, like I don’t have a cat, you know and or just whatever it is, or they don’t know who I am at all, you know, and so yeah.
Kevin King:
So the key, the key there is the seller should do a little bit of homework and figure out who you are and make sure there’s a fit based on what you’ve been posting and doing in the past, or what your bio says, or whatever.
Michelle:
Right, and also just even know their platforms, like sometimes I’ll get something and I’m like wait, is this? You want this for Amazon? Right? Because you’re talking about you know another platform that I’m not even really like super active on. Like you know, know, know the influencer, like where are they? Where do you find them?
Kevin King:
What’s one of your products that’s just done crazy Like you, just like holy cow this. I made so much money off of this thing that’s just like blown the roof off, either through your newsletter, through your blog or through the Amazon stuff that you’ve been doing.
Michelle:
So like well, I have to say, back in the day so I used to link to a bunch of spin, like you know, spin bikes like indoor cycling bikes, and that was like crazy time. Like I like I don’t even know, and I and it’s so crazy because back then I didn’t have any real, not even back then. Still to this day, I don’t have a relationship with this seller. I’ve reached out to them. They’ve never been interested. I’ve, like I’ve gotten on the phone with them and just say, like do you know how much I’m selling? Like, really, I really did, and they, they’re just not. They’re like that’s great, but I, I know, I know for sure and I’m not just saying this I know I’ve sold more of their product than probably anyone did. At least you know, on Amazon in the beginning, just because that was, there was one company in particular. I was selling hundreds, thousands, like you know, a month, thousands, a month of this profit.
Kevin King:
Of spin bikes or something else?
Michelle:
Of spin bikes, and it was this one particular brand was going crazy. And so and that was back in the day when Amazon I don’t know if you remember this, but for the affiliate side, amazon had a different way of paying you. So if you sold 100 products, you were getting 8%. And so I always sold 100 products, so I was getting 8%. And then one day I’ll never forget this day, I was at lunch with a friend and I got an email from Amazon saying we are changing, you know, the commission structure. And now you’re getting, and it was like four, three, two one overnight like it was just nothing had changed, except that really like hurt a lot of people. Yeah. So I would say like still to this day, like anything like fitness related exercise equipment is what I’ve sold the most up.
Kevin King:
So what do you see this whole thing going? What do you see this whole influencer slash newsletter, slash blog this, because it’s all influence in one way. Someone’s written form of someone’s video form of influence or an e-commerce related. Where do you see this going? It’s exploded over the last several years and you have kids now that are 14, like what do you want to be when you grow up? It used to be I want to be a doctor or nurse or a lawyer. A lawyer yeah. Now it’s I want to be an influencer yeah. What do you see this whole thing going?
Michelle:
Well, it’s so funny. You said that too, because my son is a freshman in high school and now he’s like starting all of a sudden to think of college. And so he said to me I think it was on Friday like when did you decide, like, what you wanted to be? And I was like, are you kidding? I still don’t know what I want to be. Like you’re asking the wrong person. Like I had no idea at 18 what I wanted to be, you know, or 14 or 22. So I don’t know. I have very like mixed feelings about some of the influencer side, because I see, like my daughter, my niece, these like kids, like little kids, and that’s their whole world. You know, like I’m in a store and I’ll like look up a product, you know looking at a product, and my daughter will say that’s trending, and I’m like you know. And then she’s like let me just see like which. Let’s say it’s a lip gloss, let me just see which color I should get. And she’s like, oh, I, you know. I read it’s not good, you know, and that color is not good. I’m like who’s saying it’s not good? She’s like she is.
Michelle:
I’m like this influencer is telling you it’s not good, you know, and she’s like, yeah, it’s not a good color, and in the comments, everyone’s agreeing with her. You know, and I I’ll go into Amazon and I’m like I don’t know. It has 80,000 reviews, everyone says it’s good. I’m going with Amazon. I’m 19 year old influencer who is probably being paid, and it’s not even being paid. It’s like trickling down right, because it’s like this product was sent to like an A list influencer, you know, like a celebrity maybe, who said this is the color. Then, like all these other influencers are like oh, they said that’s the color, this is the color you know, and so, all of a sudden, that’s what’s happening. There’s no like independent thinking. It’s one influencer saying it, another influencer and then, all of a sudden, these kids.
Kevin King:
So I don’t, I don’t know, who can you believe, who do you, who do you trust? Who do you believe?
Michelle:
Right and I’m like don’t you realize like they are? Somebody was getting paid in this. They didn’t just discover this product. And I feel like that happens on Amazon too, where, like, for example, there was like a suitcase, you know, it has like 20 reviews. If that six reviews, let’s say six reviews. But Amazon has certain influencers, they were obviously sent this product because all of them are promoting this suitcase with six reviews. Like what are their chances, you know? So they were being paid. And then someone like me is like, oh, that looks like it’s a good suitcase. So I’m like you know they’re, it looks like they’re selling a lot. Then I’ll start, you know, doing that. So it takes away.
Michelle:
I think it’s just it’s kind of this giant like masterminds, you know, like created project, I don’t know. It’s just I don’t know who to believe. And sellers, I feel like it’s you have to play the game. I mean, you do you have to play the game like of influencers. And so, again, that’s why I’ve really like the Amazon influencer side, because I feel like, for the most part, most people are doing it are really authentic, you know, and most people are doing products that they actually like, bought and want to talk about and share. But where is it going? I don’t know. I mean, I TikTok. People say it’s going away. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know. There’s going to be something like TikTok around. Nobody has the attention span, you know, of a long video anymore. And even like even reading reviews, like I said, like Amazon reviews, that’s something I’m doing, but that’s not something kids are doing. They want to see like. They just want a quick, you know fix. Do you like it or not?
Kevin King:
I agree with what you, what you’re saying. I think you know that’s a whole. It’s a huge industry that I think a lot of people, especially younger generation, they see, they follow, or they see some of these bigger influencers that you know like a Mr. Beast or like I want to be the next Mr. Beast and you know he did $700 million last year in advertising revenues $3 million for a spot on one of his shows. So they see that or they see the Kim Kardashian. They want to be that, but the reality is that’s like every high school player wants to play in the NFL and be in the Super Bowl. It’s just not going to happen. The most influencers are making less than $50 grand a year and very few make over $100,000. I forget the exact number. I saw a statistic on it recently. It was. It was a very small single digit percentage that actually make over $100,000 a year. So the, I think it can be a nice side hustle and I hear stories about you know some of its luck and some of its on camera personality and just right place, right time because some of it I hear people that they shot 100, 100 videos and they’ve made $117, you know off of like an influencer program and then others shoot one or two and it just goes viral. So there is a luck, there is a science to it. But, like, I think the key is for any influencer and this is, I think, where most of them are missing the boat is they’re not doing what you’re doing. You’re building a list of customers. You have a newsletter, so you have a blog you have. You’re using free stuff like Google SEO to actually drive traffic to a blog post where you’re delivering value, and then you’re then you’re capturing a certain number of those people into a newsletter list. You know who they are. You can market to them anytime you want. If Google changes their algorithm, you don’t just all your customers then just go away, and you’re doing the same thing on Facebook. I think more influencers need to be trying to figure out, either through partnership with the people they’re working with or through their own mechanisms, to actually get people on a list.
Kevin King:
I’m just brainstorming here off the top of my head, but if I’m promoting a spin bike for a company, I’m gonna say you can go buy this on amazon. You know, here’s the link. You know I have a coupon code or whatever. Whatever may be, how are you have your plug in it? But you know what. I’m actually given one of these away and maybe you work a deal with the company or you just buy one yourself. Or maybe it’s not a spin bike, maybe it’s, you know, the shoes and the water bottle in the accessories, or a couple weights to hold while your spinning, or whatever may be, and I’m giving away it. Go in my free drawing. I just enter your email address and SMS phone number or something I and because I notify the winners by phone so that makes them give a valid phone number, something to that effect, and actually building a list, because then, if you have that list, you can then go back and you can charge more because someone comes to you as an influencer. You could say I have this health and wellness, this, this fitness organizers, I have this organizers. Yeah, I’ll put this on my social media is on my TikTok, Facebook and Amazon, Pinterest and wherever, but also I’ll hit. I have a list of us, six hundred six thousand two hundred thirteen people who have entered my drawing for free, a set of organizers. I know they all want organizers or they maybe they just someone, just want something free, but there’s ways to qualify them, ducks in, that’s powerful, and then you become your own little media empire Versus just depending on other people.
Kevin King:
I think that’s the next step that a lot of influencers haven’t grasped yet. If they can figure out that how to mix the direct marketing in the, the using that influence to create an asset for themselves that you could do very, very well. But I think that the industry overall is is it’s not going away. It influencers are the new, the new media kings. They are the new newspapers, the new magazines, the new, everything you know. Back when I was younger, you no woman you know thirty years ago is reading Vogue or Cosmo or something to find out what’s the latest shades of color. Like your, like your daughter now that that and that’s. That’s not the case. Now it’s some seventeen year old and her apartment in Mississippi is telling your daughter what to buy. I’m not to buy, so that it’s interesting to see where it’s going. I think it’s just going to continue to grow, but I think you’re gonna start seeing some, some weed out and some people are gonna be able to, like mr beast, actually grab this and do really well with it.
Michelle:
I think the other thing that’s really important. I thought, like even on the cruise, you see this, like you, I love amazon. I love, like you know, the affiliate program. I don’t think amazon is going anywhere, you know, and I think it’s definitely the place to be. But people like influencers. I’m an affiliate for many different companies, not just Amazon, and I’m not doing shoppable videos, that’s part of what I do. But to go a hundred percent and again, that day when amazon change that, that payment structure, they can just get rid of the amazon influencer program tomorrow. So I think you have to like, diversify whatever you do. You know when it’s just your own products and you know, just again, I have a giveaway coming up with a company that’s not on Amazon. Like you don’t want to be a hundred percent anything, because that could literally blow up and be gone tomorrow.
Kevin King:
When. Michelle, this has been a. This has been awesome. I really appreciate you sharing. Sharing this has been cool. Talking about this, how do people get on your newsletter, reach out to you if they want you to influence for them or to pitch their stuff. What’s the best way for people to get hold of you?
Michelle:
Yeah, well, so my newsletter on Sub Stack. I moved it there. I think we talked about that. I moved it there about a year ago and I love it there. So you can find me at mypursestrings@substack. You can find me everywhere @mypursestrings and my actual site is mypursestrings.com. So the best way is reach out to me, [email protected].
Kevin King:
There you go, Michelle. It’s been great to hope to see you again soon somewhere. Maybe on another cruise, you never know I hope so I know I appreciate thanks.
Kevin King:
Great chat there with Michelle. You know influencers are super important in your marketing mix. These days, everything from the biggest brands in the world down to the smallest guys are using influencer marketing. It is the new hot thing and if you can master influencer marketing, you can really blow up your flywheel on generating sales and awareness for your brand and for your products. And don’t forget, if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, billiondollarsellers.com, totally free, twice a week, every Monday and Thursday make sure you sign up for that so you can learn more really cool tips and strategies on how to sell on Amazon and e-commerce. We’re gonna be back again next week with another awesome episode of the AM/PM Podcast before we go. Your words of wisdom this week kind of tie into what Michelle and I talk about. Influencers are the new celebrities. They are the new media moguls. We’ll see you again next week.
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