In this episode, Danavir Sarria shares how he went from selling products to helping eCommerce brands make $1M+. He shares his learnings and challenges and gives strategies to improve traction and conversion. If you want to stand out, your brand needs to exude expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. We go over the five levels of market sophistication to stay ahead of competitors.

If you want to upgrade your commerce business and stand out from your competition, this episode is for you !

Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode:

1. Discover the differences between the info product and eCommerce space.
2. Understand how to set your eCommerce brand apart from the competition.
3. Learn the five levels of market sophistication and how they can guide your marketing strategies.

Resources

• Source Bottle
• HARO
• Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz 
• Best Business Podcast: Starting a Business with Jermain Griggs, $70 to 7 Figure Empire, 2x Marketer of the Year Winner
• Connect with Danavir: Supply Drop Media, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter     

Episode Highlights

Introducing Danavir Sarria 

• Danavir Sarria father was in the electrical business but got a job when the family moved to Miami. 
• Meanwhile, Danavir Sarria uncle goes to the United States to buy clearance clothing and sell them back in Nicaragua. 
• Danavir Sarria has always been interested in business. When he was younger, he was interested in fitness and followed a fitness expert. 
• He was urged to work for free to learn skills. Danavir ended up helping a street magician with his email marketing. 
• He became a freelance copywriter while still studying because Jon Benson inspired him. 

Essence of Copywriting in E-commerce

• Danavir Sarria believes copywriting is a great skill even when he’s now in e-commerce. 
• Copywriting helps people become good with marketplace research and messaging. 
• Copywriting is the oxygen of any business. It is a channel towards growth.

Daryl: “41% of your success is who you are targeting, 30% of your success is the offer you are making to that group of people, and then 29% of your success is the copy that you do, the messaging.”

Essential Skills for Entrepreneurs to Stay Ahead of the Competitor

• Learn one traction-based skill. That can be media buying, SEO, and so much more. 
• The majority of retail businesses fail because they can't get enough traction. 
• Be able to craft offers that help with conversion once you have traction. 
• Remember, you need to have a starving crowd and a good product. You’re guaranteed to be successful as a retailer.

Danavir: “Majority of businesses fail, not because they have a bad product or because they didn't have product market fit or any of that stuff. It's because they straight up could not get traction for it.”

Danavir Sarria Journey from Freelancing to E-commerce 

• Danavir shares that his freelancing journey was more linear while his info product business went up and down.   
• His info product business started gaining traction when he did Copy Monk. 
• He then shifted to starting an apparel business. When that failed, he pivoted to marketing for E-commerce businesses. 

Danavir Sarria Lessons and Challenges

• Danavir Sarria shares his mistake was despite having pre-orders, he could not afford it and didn’t get good margins.  
• When starting a product business, it can be easy to replicate products. But it is challenging to be in a competitive market and replicate marketing. 
• You can only buy, borrow, or build traffic. Danavir was able to increase his following by using pre-existing groups. 
• When selling a product, it’s ideal to have over 50 sales. Don’t just rely on your family and friends.

Danavir Sarria Insights on E-commerce

• Danavir shares starting an e-commerce brand on top of a blog. He spent two years establishing a blog on men’s grooming.
• Most e-commerce brands that rely on paid aids grow linearly. Meanwhile, brands like Glossier and Bulletproof have a slow start. But they explode once their e-commerce starts. 

What Makes a Good SEO ?

• SEO is all about content and backlinks. 
• Use low competition keywords and write great content. 
• SEO is a grind you need to keep working on. The results take time to show.
• Google’s screening scrutinizes things related to life and money, especially when it gives bad advice. 
• A high-quality page involves expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.   

Danavir: “The hard part about SEO is the waiting, cause… you publish these 50 articles, and the average article takes maybe, like, eight-plus months for it to gain traction. …that's pretty much the hardest part about SEO. As long as you have the keyword research right, which is low competition, specific to whatever it is you need, and writes good content and backlinks, you're good. Just keep publishing a ton and just wait a long time.”

Customer Experience: What Holds People Back?

• In the info product space, emails are the top priority. While in the E-commerce space, no one cares for email. That is one of the mistakes of big e-commerce companies. 
• Danavir recommends getting at least 2-3 emails a week and optimizing your flows. 
• E-commerce brands are not good at differentiating themselves. That makes it harder to gain a shopper and execute good customer service.
• It’ll be a race to the bottom for pricing if you’re not giving a unique offer and positioning. Give a decent offer to foster customer loyalty.

Five Levels of Market Sophistication

• The first level is a new offering, so the goal is to be simple and direct with marketing as research shows.
• Once there are competitors, you move to the next phase of copying competitors’ claims and going bigger. 
• Once the market gets saturated with bold claims, go for a new mechanism. 
• Once everyone starts offering a new mechanism, you make it easier, quicker, reliable, or better. 
• Finally, repeat peak motivations and offer more visual proof and compelling visuals. 

Danavir Sarria Habits for Success

• When you do something you like, you’ll get farther than whatever habits you think you need. 
• Learn to manage your energy in the ecommerce business.
• Learn to prioritize what you need to do and learn to say no. Recognize that there are a lot of things that won’t move the needle. 
• For blogging, research your keywords, post, trend, and get backlinks. 

How to Get Backlinks 

• Getting backlinks is the hardest part of SEO. But it could give you a competitive advantage in the online competition.
• Danavir uses Haro for backlinks. It’s a site where people ask for experts to give opinions on particular topics. This is where e-commerce competitors typically meet.
• In the future, Danavir wants to do original research for his men’s grooming blog. 
• You can also create original research based on scientific research from SciHub and Google Scholar. 

The Difference Between E-Commerce and Info Products 

• The info product space is all about marketing. An e-commerce brand is all about accounting.
• Know your margins and retention if you’re starting your own e-commerce business. That will make a difference to your marketing. 
• Remember, you cannot out-market terrible math. 
• Get to know your numbers. That includes cost per sale, cost per lead, net profit per sale, and lifetime customer value. 
• When starting a brand, don’t go below a 60-65% margin. Put time, energy, and effort into your business. 

About Danavir Sarria

Danavir Sarria is the Founder of SupplyDrop, the email marketing agency 8-figure brands recommend. Danavir helps eCommerce brands make up to 30% of their online revenue from email and SMS!  He is the founder of CopyMonk. It is the 2nd most popular direct response copywriting group on Facebook. It has been featured on Entrepreneur, Marketing Profs, Sumo, Grow and Convert, and NeilPatel.com. 

Enjoyed this Episode?

If you enjoyed the podcast, be sure to subscribe and share it with your friends!

Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your family and friends.

You Can Also Follow Us On