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[LWN] 😔 The Cost of Loving Your Business...

[LWN] 😔 The Cost of Loving Your Business...

Lunch With Norm's Weekly Newsletter - Amazon News & Updates

July 21, 2025 • Estimated Read Time: 14 minutes

😔 The Cost of Loving Your Business…

What you’ll find in this week’s newsletter:

😔 The Cost of Loving Your Business [True Story]
🚀 How to Rank on Answer Engines
🛒 Amazon’s Controversial Project Starfish
😮 The UGC Strategy That Saves 100+ Hours Per Month
🤖 The Latest News & Updates

🚨 Missed the AI for Ecommerce All Day Workshop ? Check out the workshop with 8 speakers showing you tactical AI strategies

P.S. You might notice this week’s newsletter is a little AI heavy.

That is no mistake.

I truly believe you will be left behind if you don’t start learning AI now.

With GPT 5 around the corner the world is going to be a very different place.

Some facts to keep you thinking…

400+ million people use OpenAI products each week
Bing’s mobile app downloads grew by 4x after integrating AI
25% of organic traffic will shift to AI chatbots and other virtual agents by 2026

💰 The Cost of Loving Your Business [TRUE STORY]

My dad is a true entrepreneur at heart.

He was always on the lookout for the next great opportunity.

He had a gift for turning around struggling businesses and making them thrive.

One day, he met a talented craftsman who created stunning, boutique kitchen cabinets and grandfather clocks.

The business side of things, though, wasn’t the craftsman’s strong suit, so my dad decided to partner up and help him out.

Not stopping there, he expanded further, acquiring a larger woodworking company and investing heavily in automation and machinery to boost production.

Despite landing large contracts from the government and major corporations, the woodworking industry came with its own challenges:

high costs,
tough competition
slimmer margins

But what truly made this venture different was that my dad fell in love with his hobby and the craft, the beauty of the wood, the artistry of the pieces.

In the end, he shared with me one crucial lesson:

Never fall in love with an industry.

Passion is essential, but when the numbers stop adding up, it’s time to step back and make the tough calls.

With AI making its run, things are going to change.

Who knows if sellers on Amazon will survive.

This is a stark reminder that in business, balancing passion with practicality is key.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Norm

👇THE TOP MUST READ STORIES THIS WEEK 👇

🤖 OpenAI quietly adds Shopify as a shopping search partner

🔍 Prime Day event drove over $24B in US e-commerce sales, GenAI traffic was up 3,300%

🛒 Amazon said it wouldn't raise prices because of tariffs. Then it hiked them on hundreds of products

🔥 Google Shopping ad clicks surge 18% in Q2 as Amazon and Temu pull back

🌎 Delta moves toward eliminating set prices in favor of AI that determines how much you personally will pay for a ticket

🚨 Brands and brand founders are increasingly turning to platforms like Substack and using storytelling to connect with customers

🛒 What is Amazon’s Starfish AI project?

Amazon's new AI initiative, Project Starfish, is set to transform how product information is generated and presented on its platform.

Project Starfish aims to automate the creation product listings by aggregating data from various sources, including external websites and images.

This move is expected to enhance the shopping experience for customers and streamline the process for sellers.

But what does it mean for you?

With AI-generated listings, Amazon has consistent product information across its platform.

This consistency may improve how products are indexed and ranked in search results, potentially increasing visibility for products that meet the enhanced listing standards.

Products lacking detailed AI-generated content might see a decline in their search rankings, making it crucial for sellers to adapt to these new standards.

Changes to Advertising, Branding, and Customer Acquisition

The "Buy for Me" feature, which recommends products from external websites, may influence customer acquisition strategies by directing traffic to a broader range of products, including those not listed directly on Amazon.

Competitive Landscape

The introduction of AI-generated listings could level the playing field for sellers, especially smaller ones, by providing them with tools to create high-quality product descriptions without extensive resources.

However, there is a potential downside:

If Amazon uses its AI capabilities to favor its own products in search results or recommendations, third-party sellers might find it more challenging to compete.

So what are your thoughts?

Would love to hear your comments about this. Feel free to reply to this email.

I read every one.

🚀 How to Rank on Answer Engines

I've seen firsthand from hundreds of campaigns how answer engines are shaking up the marketing game.

Here’s a 6 min vid on why you should care 👇

If you're serious about ranking, here's what you need to know:

1. Understand How Answer Engines Operate

Ranking on answer engines isn't just regular SEO. You've gotta grasp how these tools work first:

Training Data: The foundational info that feeds AI, like ChatGPT or Claude—includes web content, historical data, and internal resources.
Internet Data: Live feeds from major search engines like Google or Bing. Note: most answer engines need search mode activated for this.

Some popular engines and their data sources:

ChatGPT & Microsoft Copilot: Bing
Gemini & Apple Intelligence: Google
Perplexity & MetaAI: Bing

Important: Each answer you get is unique. Even asking the same question twice produces varied responses due to user customizations like tone preferences or personalization.

2. Nail Traditional SEO (It's Still Essential)

Despite AI changing the landscape, solid SEO remains the backbone of success. Websites with strong traditional SEO continue to dominate answer engine results:

73% overlap between Bing results and ChatGPT responses.
61% similarity between Google search and AI Overviews.

Bottom line:

Stick to SEO basics. Make your site crawlable, fast, user-friendly, content-rich, and supported by reputable backlinks. Strong SEO ensures strong AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).

3. Aim for Conversational Phrases

People interact differently with answer engines, using natural, conversational questions:

Traditional: “gluten-free restaurants near me”
Conversational: “What's a good gluten-free Italian restaurant nearby?”

Tap into customer conversations through your sales or support teams. Find common questions and build content around conversational phrases rather than isolated keywords.

4. Produce Killer Content (AI Won't Settle for Less)

High-quality content isn't negotiable for ranking in answer engines. Aim for:

Specific Data: "Rated 4.5 based on 200 recent reviews."
Detailed Recommendations: "Try the mushroom and pepper pizza—perfect blend of flavors."
Clear Organization: Lists, tables, and easy-to-scan content.
Structured Data: Recipe schemas, ratings, and other relevant markup.

5. Invest in Content Assets

Answer engines love visuals, videos, and interactive tools:

YouTube videos are crucial, AI citations from YouTube surged over 300% recently.
Use your internal team, freelancers, or AI tools (Canva, ChatGPT's Sora) to create engaging visuals and assets.

6. Secure Third-Party Listings

Third-party mentions boost credibility in answer engines:

Platforms like Yelp, Google Business Profile, and Bing Places.
Aim for mentions in review sites, blogs, or authoritative industry websites.

Get listed by:

Claiming your business profiles across platforms.
Creating shareable, high-quality data-driven content.

7. Manage Reviews Like Your Reputation Depends on It

Review management directly impacts AI engine visibility. No one asks for mediocre recommendations—people want top-rated options:

Set up and optimize profiles on Google, Bing Places, and G2.
Actively gather positive reviews ethically
Engage promptly with reviews to show responsiveness and credibility.

Solid review management lets your brand stands out as reliable, trusted, and recommended by AI engines.

That’s the playbook.

Now, go rank!

🌎 Where in the World is The Beard Guy?

Can you find Norm in the picture below? Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see the answer!

Reach the #1 page on Amazon simply gifting products to Micro-Influencers

^{Sponsored Post}

Sending free products to Micro-Influencers using the platform Stack Influence which automates influencer collaborations at scale (get thousands of collabs per month) will help increase your Amazon ranking, generate UGC, and boost up your recurring revenue like never before.

Top Amazon brands like Thrasio, Unilever, and Magic Spoon have been able to get to #1 page positioning on Amazon and increase their monthly revenue as high as 13X in as little as 2 months.

Here are top reasons why brands love to work with Stack Influence:

📈Increase Amazon listing search positioning (drive high volume external traffic sales)
🤑Pay influencers only in products (stop negotiating fees with every influencer)
📸Generate branded image/video UGC with full legal rights (no timeframe or usage restrictions)
🤝Develop affiliate relationships (easily identify top influencer candidates to work with in the long run)
🤖Automate influencer collaborations from A-Z (save over 175 management hours per month)

Don't believe it? Check out the results from the Blueland Micro Influencer campaign which generated a 13X ROI scaling up influencers on Amazon. After successfully raising investment on Shark Tank Blueland turned to Stack Influence to boost their Amazon sales and become a top selling listing using Micro Influencer marketing.

Increase your Amazon listings ranking for targeted keywords and multiply your organic recurring revenue in 2025!

Get 10% OFF by signing up this month

😮 This UGC Strategy Will Save You 100+ Hours a Month

My takeaways from Liz Saunders (find the full episode on YouTube):

Turn customer FAQs and listing questions into creator prompts
She recommends mining Amazon Q&As and customer service logs to generate more relevant UGC briefs that feel authentic and drive conversions.
Creator Connections and Amazon’s Onsite tools are underused but powerful
Liz urges brands to leverage Amazon’s Creator Connections platform to identify and incentivize proven creators, especially those with live access and prior conversion success.
Break down features into questions and objections buyers already have
Instead of listing specs, structure content to address real concerns like “Will this fit?” or “Is it durable?” This shift helps UGC content hit emotionally and practically.

🍕 Lessons From a Pizza Influencer

The trouble with brands on social media is (no matter how hard you try) you're a brand on social media.

So what if you hire an influencer. Give them the keys and let them “Work their magic”.

That's what Slice did.

Out with posts of garlic bread.

In with “Take Me to Your Slice”, hosted by pizza influencer, and his Instagram pals for guests.

Four months in and impressions just hit 1.8 million / month…

Credit: Harry’s Marketing Examples

🔥 The Rise of AI Answer Engines (AEO)

Here are my favorite tips from this episode!

The Media Buying Model is Dead…We're in the Media Testing Era
Kasim says modern marketers need to shift from "media buyers" to "media testers." With AI making decisions faster than humans ever could, the value lies in crafting good inputs, not optimizing outputs.
99% of Paid Media Wins Come from Better Creative
Media buying has become democratized. Everyone has the same tools. What separates the winners is offer quality, creative testing, and funnel efficiency. Shift ad budget toward creative testing sprints, even if that means reducing spend on scaling.
AI Has Killed the 'Set-It-and-Forget-It' Scaling Playbook
Algorithms like Meta's Advantage+ and Performance Max make media optimization decisions instantly and constantly.
What does this mean?
Focus on your data signals: conversion events, creative variants, audience triggers. Set clear KPIs for the algorithm to optimize against.
Find this episode of Marketing Misfits on YouTube and anywhere you listen to podcasts