Steven Ridzyowski: Brand Makeovers; 5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand and Image
It is important to build a brand because you want that loyal following fanbase on your Instagram page, the Facebook interactions, and a big social following. This is what will help you thrive.
As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to interview Steven Ridzyowski.
Steven Ridzyowski has been a leader in the eCommerce/digital media buying space for over ten years. Ridzyowski takes pride in being self-taught in all aspects of his career. It’s probably why he is such a driven entrepreneur today! He started out of high school, deciding to never go to college and learning advertising blogs with Google AdSense and taking on what would soon become his career and passion.
After a couple of years doing that, Ridzyowski was introduced to affiliate marketing. During that time (2008–2010), cellphones and ringtones were becoming popular, and Ridzyowski became an affiliate in the ringtone niche for a few years. Little did he know, he was paying “influencers” on YouTube to have links for ringtone offers in the music video description, before “influencers” became the sensation they are now.
As he grew and became a successful affiliate marketer, he worked alongside many advertisers and colleagues. Ridzyowski then went on to create his own white label skincare brand, which became one of his pivotal successes.
Between the moment of changing from affiliate marketing to owning and running digital media buying for his own skincare brand, he started to follow trends, learning the ins and outs of digital marketing, spending over $30m in paid digital ads across the entirety of his career. Ridzyowski mastered different advertising platforms, generating income across many businesses in various niches and verticals.
Today, Steven Ridzyowski is focused heavily on e-commerce and marketing, especially with his new agency, which offers a turnkey solution for e-Commerce. Ridzyowski has mastered everything from product research, to product trends, to marketing in all kinds of niches. In the past three years, he has created converting funnels to growing multiple 6 to 7-figure stores with his agency. He has helped hundreds of companies, both large and small, reach their full potential and created an online presence for them. Ridzyowski is also a member of the Forbes Business Council and the Young Entrepreneur Council.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I have always wanted to work for myself and have my own business. After doing affiliate marketing, I ventured into eCommerce and it stuck with me.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing or branding mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of my earliest mistakes was in advertising for Facebook. I had my CPC bid too high compared to what my budget was. I overspent my budget and got a lot of bulk traffic. So, it is really important to keep an eye on your bids, your budget, and increase your CPC bids slowly.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Is there a takeaway or lesson that others can learn from that?
My tipping point was venturing into eCommerce, and my ability to follow trends and capitalize on those trends. Once I realized I was able to do that successfully, I knew I was going to continue this business.
I learned the ability to follow trends. If you are not able to follow trends and are always trying to create a new product, you won’t have success. Basically, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
My newest project is building my turnkey eCommerce brand where we build Shopify stores for people and we do the marketing for them.
What advice would you give to other marketers to thrive and avoid burnout?
Definitely be able to follow trends and constantly try to do something different to avoid the burnout. Don’t be repetitive on the same thing because you have to be able to adapt. You don’t want to keep pounding yourself on the same thing if it’s not working. If it’s not working, switch to something new and come back to it. Being so focused on the one thing when you could be doing something else will burn you out.
Ok, let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
I believe they are kind of the same because once you have a product and you are marketing it, you can then turn that into a brand. The branding has a more loyal following. However, when you are marketing a product, you are building it up and once it becomes a brand you have that loyal fanbase.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
It is important to build a brand because you want that loyal following fanbase on your Instagram page, Facebook interactions, and a big social following. This is what will help you thrive.
Let’s now talk about rebranding. What are a few reasons why a company would consider rebranding?
One of the reasons for rebranding could be they had a product that worked but the name didn’t quite fit the product and didn’t adapt well to the marketing, so you change the brand.
Are there downsides of rebranding? Are there companies that you would advise against doing a “Brand Makeover”? Why?
Me personally, I wouldn’t disagree with anyone who wants to do a brand makeover. I feel it can only benefit at times because it is a new name, a new face, on the same product you already have data for.
Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Can you share 5 strategies that a company can do to upgrade and re-energize their brand and image”? Please tell us a story or an example for each.
One strategy could be rebranding their logo. Maybe a new logo is needed because the old one doesn’t fit their brand anymore.
Another one could be a different social media handle. Maybe the old one wasn’t fitting their brand.
Another rebranding could be the store-page or the webpage. Maybe the colors, the text, and the description don’t adjust to the market you are advertising to.
A shorter or catchier domain name for your brand. Maybe the previous domain name didn’t function well with what you are marketing to your customers.
And finally get your brand out there, maybe do some publications of your rebranding create some social media content and get it shared.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job doing a “Brand Makeover”. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
I think one of the biggest is probably Toys R Us. From the brink of bankruptcy and then realizing at the last minute how important it is to have online sales in a time where Year over Year online sales have been growing exponentially. They now realize how important it is to have an online presence. I believe if they continue at that pace and start gaining an online market to their current customer base they will become as successful as they were in the past.
For one to replicate this they would have to have a successful brick and mortar store and when they start to notice a decline in sales they need to address the cause of it asap and if they realize it’s because they have no online sales than they need to adapt to that create an online shopping place, set up social media campaigns and much more to get people to purchase from them online from a worldwide perspective and not just local.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would inspire a movement to support local small businesses. Maybe something like “Support a Slice.” People would be supporting a local business and getting a slice of pizza.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Not giving up.” Just constantly staying focused on what you feel inside is the best route for you. Not giving up on any of my failures or getting denied on applications for loans.
How can our readers follow you online?
Follow Me On Instagram @stevenridzyowski
Like Me On Facebook Steven Ridzyowski
Network With Me on LinkedIn
Steven Ridzyowski: Brand Makeovers; 5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
