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DEEP DIVE

I had a call with a client last week who was ready to quit TikTok Shop.

"The margins are terrible, Paul. After affiliate commissions and ACOS, I'm basically breaking even."

I hear this every week. And every time, I ask the same question:

What happened to your Amazon sales last month?

Silence. Then: "Actually... they went up."

Yeah. That's not a coincidence.

Here's what I see constantly:

They're measuring the engine by how much fuel it burns instead of how far it takes them.

TikTok Shop isn't a destination. It's the top of your funnel.

And right now? It's the cheapest top-of-funnel brand awareness platform available.

Not Meta. Not YouTube. Not influencer marketing through traditional channels.

TikTok Shop.

The affiliate model means you're getting content created, posted, and promoted - and you only pay when it actually sells. Try getting that deal anywhere else.

Let me show you what I mean:

That TikTok content your affiliates create? It gets repurposed to Meta and drives Shopify sales.

That TikTok virality? It spikes "brand name" searches on Amazon and lifts your organic rank and sales.

That TikTok social proof? It makes buyers actually pay attention to your brand…. it creates ‘brand awareness’ at scale.

Even "breakeven" TikTok GMV is wildly profitable when you count the halo effect.

Here's where I'm going to be honest with you.

A few affiliate posts here and there? That's not going to move the needle on your other platforms.

Sending out 10 samples a month and hoping for the best? Waste of time.

If you want TikTok Shop to actually fuel your brand ecosystem, you need to be aggressive.

That means:

You're not going to see an immediate spike in Amazon sales unless something goes viral. And banking on virality is not a strategy.

The real play is slower. More methodical.

You flood the platform with content. You watch what resonates. You optimize. You scale what works.

Over time - not overnight - you start seeing the lift. More branded searches on Amazon. Better conversion rates. Higher organic rank.

This is a volume game first, then an optimization game.

Let's talk numbers because numbers don't lie.

Say you're doing $10K/month on TikTok Shop at basically zero profit after affiliate commissions and ad spend. Feels like a waste, right?

But during that same month:

That "breakeven" channel just drove $30K in value elsewhere.

The problem isn't TikTok Shop margins. The problem is measuring one pillar while ignoring the roof it holds up.

But here's the catch - you only get those 50 pieces of content if you're actually pushing volume. You only get that brand awareness lift if there's enough content out there for people to actually see.

One viral video is luck. A hundred pieces of optimized content is a system.

Want to see this in action? Look at Medicube.

$2 million/month GMV. From a single bundle.

Their glass skin bundle: $228 worth of products for under $80.

Here's the transcript from their top creator video that drove those numbers:

"Why does it feel like someone at Medicube made a mistake? Like, this is actually insane... This is $228 worth of glass skin products for under $80 with free shipping. How is this even allowed?"

That's the playbook. Create irresistible perceived value. Give creators something that basically sells itself.

Notice she's not talking about product specs. She's not reading ingredient lists. She's creating urgency around value.

"How is this even allowed?" - that's the hook that makes someone stop scrolling.

But Medicube didn't get here with 5 affiliate videos. They got here by testing hundreds of creators, dozens of angles, and optimizing relentlessly until they found what converts.

Here's what I tell clients:

If you're going to do a bundle, go ALL OUT.

TikTok Shop's virtual bundle feature makes this easy. You build the bundle page, TikTok groups the products and fulfills them together in the backend. Yes, there are pick/pack fees. That's the price of convenience.

Otherwise? Focus on your hero product at a solid discount. TikTok Shop loves a deal.

The bundle approach works because:

So how do you actually do this?

Phase 1: Volume Get content out there. Lots of it. Different creators, different styles, different hooks. You're gathering data, not expecting results yet.

Phase 2: Analyze What's getting views? What's converting? What hooks are working? What product angles resonate? You're looking for patterns.

Phase 3: Double Down Take what's working. Find more creators who can do similar content. Test variations of winning hooks. Scale the winners, cut the losers.

Phase 4: Optimize Now you're fine-tuning. Small tweaks to improve conversion. Better thumbnails. Stronger CTAs. Tighter scripts for creators who are performing.

This is how you build the brand awareness machine. Not overnight. Not with a handful of posts. With systematic, aggressive content testing and optimization.

The TikTok Shop GMV grows. The brand awareness compounds. And eventually, you see it in your Amazon numbers, your Shopify traffic, your retail conversations.

TikTok isn't replacing your Amazon business. It's supercharging it.

One channel feeds the others. The ecosystem works together.

Your TikTok content becomes your Meta ads. Your TikTok social proof becomes your Amazon conversion rate. Your TikTok buzz becomes your retail pitch.

But only if you commit to the volume and optimization required to actually build awareness.

Stop asking "is TikTok Shop profitable?"

Start asking "what's my total brand growth across all channels - and am I putting in the work to make it happen?"

That's the question that actually matters.

That's it for this week 👊

But I need to ask a favour...

Thanks for reading.

- Paul

PS…. If you're dipping your toe in TikTok Shop with a handful of affiliates and wondering why nothing's happening - that's why. This is a volume-then-optimize game. Hit reply and tell me: how many pieces of affiliate content are you getting out per month? Or let’s chat about your strategy