Marketing In A Nutshell
Marketing is the message that presents your product to your customers, whether you have an intangible, or a physical product with a specific package design. Either way, the goal is to build an emotional, functional, or other reason to persuade the viewer to buy it.
Example: “Got Milk?” versus “Contains 53 grams of protein for strong muscles!” versus “Made with 100% grass fed cows!”
Advertising is responsible for putting your message out there, so marketing is closely related to it.
After all, making a video advertisement won’t do anything sitting on your computer. You must use it on something like Google ads, Amazon ads, Facebook ads, or something similar to get your message in front of people.
Because of all this: a solid plan must be set from day one to save you from costly mistakes. That's what marketing helps you determine. It should be the first step for everyone.
Marketing Issues Elaborated
The problem then becomes this: most businesses are invisible because they’re buried under competitors who have a better "digital map." People use very specific search terms to find what they need, but my SEO consultation goes straight to the intent.
Without that knowledge, your ecommerce store will never be found, no matter how fancy your web design is, or your branding, or any fancy signage you had done... The thousands you spent on all of it will be for nothing, and I speak from painful experience.
Here's a small example. I run another website where I sell my excess kefir grains. For about 1.5 years, and using SEO standards from 2018, that website wouldn’t even show up on Google... When I added the new requirements Google demands (it was the bare minimum too): it finally showed up in about 2 weeks.
By setting things properly, I help ensure that when someone searches for your services, especially with "near me", your business is the first one they see and trust.
Why A Solid Plan Matters First
High website traffic is a vanity metric if it doesn’t lead to you making money.
That’s why you’re here... To make money... Right?
Another big problem is that Google has content guidelines for what they will allow to be seen, and here’s a summary of it:
”Do as we say, not as we do.”
Every advantage is given to people who tow the political, religious, and false morality lines of those who have power, versus those who don’t... And that's the nice way of putting it.
For example: I have a video called I own a musket for home defense. I’ve made 2 others like it, and my goal for making them was to use them as marketing tools for this website, kind of like what Freddy Wong did back around 2010, if you know who he is.
But when I tried to advertise it (after ~250 hours of work making it): they demanded I register as a political party (which I’m not), and also banned it from the ad platform, accusing it of extreme violence. So I'm allowed to keep it on Goolag, but can't advertise it.
If you watch it, it’s clearly just funny satire, and obviously fake. But they’ll allow 5 year old to watch ”WAP” by Cardi B no problem. Advertisers are all over that, and you don’t even need to prove your age. Let’s not forget all the other simulated violence from video games, and real stuff you can see every day, of which most kids over 8 see regularly (both from Hollywood and Disney - so called "childrens" TV). I even marked the video as suitable for people over 18, NOT kids
The world is run by hypocrites, and places like Goolag have been used to launder the rights of US Citizens through them. It's the same thing everywhere else too.
If you think X is different: you are wrong. They may allow some other things, but they all have their own "flavors" of hypocrisy to justify the erosion of our rights. So in case you couldn't tell: I am a free speech absolutist no matter how offensive or insulting, as long as it's true, and you can prove it. I value the truth above all things, because without it, all of us are blind, walking in the dark, and will fall into a pit. Without the truth (the light): we all lose.
Point being... If you want to use Google or other services as they are right now, you must dance between their guidelines. Therefore, choices must be made early on concerning where to advertise, and what to say.
It will stay like this until Congress stops being useless, but I can guide you through their mess so you don’t make costly mistakes. I hope the following example gives more insight.
Cutting Through The Clutter
Despite all this, I've still had huge success on various projects.
On the kefir grains site I mentioned, I now make 4x or more from it than I used to, and can compete against the giants I helped to build. My main competitors used to buy my excess in bulk for cheap, and resell them on places like Amazon.
So I found my target market and what makes them tick (I actually knew it because I'm a health freak). Then I cut out the middleman, made a better product, better packaging, and better instructions all by myself, and I still profit from it.
The following is data from Dec. 13th 2024 - Jan 9th 2025, after dialing the ads in, and getting a 6 ROAS (Return On Ad Spend). Which is very good especially considering this was during Christmas time (far more competition), plus having ZERO reviews, and the kefir grains market also being super saturated. I only sell my excess too, so there's not much money to be made in these, but it is proof of concept that proper marketing, and the correct advertising platform works. Right click and open in a new page to see it all.
Even though I have good results here, I did make mistakes on Amazon in the future, because selling there is completely different from selling elsewhere. You have a different set of rules, different expectations, and customers. My mistake within abut 6 months of the picture above was not having a TradeMark for them. That matters because I always asked for reviews, but no one would give one... Likely because most people just view Amazon as a commodity (just get the product, then leave, and I can't blame them because I do the same).
But one day someone replied, mocked some things I said on my site in a private message, followed that up with literal gibberish, and gave me a 2 star review with no explanation. I can't do anything to fight it either. Now people won't buy them from Amazon anymore regardless of advertising (most reviews online are fake too by the way, I get people trying to get me to buy fake reviews all the time).
But they will buy directly from my other site at NativePact.com, or from my Etsy page for kefir grains (which have good reviews - people are much nicer on Etsy because everything is more personal). In fact, I've sold thousands of these unbranded on eBay since about 2010, and about 300 on Amazon from 2015-2020. During that, I only had 1 customer complaining (who wouldn't answer basic questions, and tried to lie about it in an attempt to get more). I don't sell them on eBay anymore though for various reasons.
Also with Amazon, if I made a TradeMark, I could register it in Amazon's brand registry and sort of fight it, but it's not worth the money since there's so little to make from these. I might play with it in the future though... And all this goes to show that choosing the right place to sell your products has a major effect on the money you'll make from your product. You just need to choose the right places, and set it up the right way, or risk the multitude of problems you will without a doubt encounter, and I'll help you navigate that.
Terms of service
IMPORTANT: everything below is subject to payments being made on time, and prompt communication. We will establish those details once we come to an agreement. Also, here is a recent video of me, for a site where I sell kefir grains, in case we meet in person for any of this.
Contract vs. Email: everything is subject to your project requirements, but HUGE projects usually require a small contract in plain English. A typical contract for a large project is about 2-5 pages, but small projects like a basic website can be done through an agreement by email (no fancy contract). It all depends on what you want, but you must pay in milestones as I describe below. Also, if something is NOT in our agreement (via contract or email), then it isn't included in my services. So be clear with what you need, because I only charge based on the specific services you ask for. Anything beyond that may increase the price (though if it's super small and within the scope anyway, I'm probably okay without increasing the price).
Payment milestones: there are usually 2-3 milestones where you pay. They're usually done in 1/2's or 1/3's of the total project price: first to start, second on first draft, and third upon completing everything in our agreement.
Payment types: I accept Cash in USD, Zelle, Credit, Debit, Check, Money Order, Cryptocurrency, Gold, and Silver.
Discounts: you get 5% off if you pay with Cash, Gold, or Silver. All others are 5% more. If you want the discount, we'll meet at a local library room or something similar, and I'll give you a receipt as proof of payment. Although if you do Gold or Silver, I will want to test them first in front of you via sound, weight, and shape.
Time to start: physical payment methods also get me to start the project immediately. Anything else may have a hold until the payment clears (usually 3-7 days).
Time to complete: subject to your project requirements. You will get this in our agreement.