24. Hacks to Improve Revenue, Profitability, and Your Brand with Brian Johnson, Co-Founder of Canopy Management

Brian R. Johnson, Co-Founder of Canopy Management (an Amazon advertising consultancy, community, training system and software) has served as a leader in online advertising and conversion rate strategy for two decades. He’s worked with tens of thousands of brands, and now he’s taken all that experience to this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?!

Brian describes his “superpowers” as growing brand profitability, managing native and display ads on Amazon, and optimizing conversion rates. Brian wasn’t born with those powers, though—he developed them with a lot of work. The interview opens with him remembering how things were in e-commerce just seven years ago. With no courses on the web to “make it” on Amazon, and scarcely a resource in sight, Brian started his own Facebook group to crowdsource success. Listen to hear what happened next and what Brian lays out for brands on how to be successful selling online.

What to listen for:

• Even Brian’s caffeine energy management is as much a science as his Amazon ad and conversion optimization. The interview opens with Brian revealing how he reverse engineered his former cocktail of caffeinated beverages to cut caffeine while still keeping his energy where he needed it.
• When Brian describes how he got started in e-commerce, he remembers how a recent claim to fame that really got him jazzed. It turns out he overnighted a product to the producers of Breaking Bad that appeared in an episode filmed the next day.
• Getting more into the meat of the interview, Brian then digs into what’s changed in Amazon ads. For starters, he says, they’re more competitive (and therefore costing more). New ad options are rolling out every couple of weeks, too, as Amazon tests new features.
• The interview then takes an introspective turn when Brian explores the conundrum of “what happens when enough people take your advice.” The result? Too many people are doing the same thing. Today, Brian’s consultation goes in the opposite direction of what he told thousands of brands before, because that’s what’s required today to stand out. The goal is always to get a user to slow their scroll just enough that they really see you. Going counter-culture “is a great opportunity...in order to stand out.”
• The number-one reason to work with a mastermind or agency, Brian explains, is to access their breadth of knowledge and let them keep a pulse on changes. Changes happen too fast in e-commerce for a brand to keep up (on top of running their own business).
• Amazon today is sharing more data with brands, and Brian leaves listeners in awe of the insights they can offer. Amazon knows whether consumers are “in the mood” to buy right then or if they’re just browsing, giving brands “more insight into what shoppers are really looking for, and what’s trending from a search standpoint.” Amazon has broken down demographics, psychographics and so much more. Most of this data is managed through DSP (demand-side platform), Amazon’s enterprise ad management system.
• You’ve heard it before, and Brian agrees: consumers don’t want more options, they want better options. Brian says, “if everyone throws too many choices at the consumer, they’ve going to create paralysis by analysis...all you see is noise, visual noise.”
• Brian then makes a case for why conversion rates are the driving force for success online. “Focusing on profitability means you’re protecting your brand,” he says. “Even if it takes a year, it’s worth it,” says Brian about a 2-5% increase in conversion rates on products.
• “Seed to forest” is a system of optimization processes that Brian’s company uses internally and also teaches to client brands. Listen to the full interview to hear about this proprietary system and more!