Disclaimer:  Let me begin this post by letting you know that I do not carry out the strategy that I’m about to share with you anymore.  I was fascinated with running ads and making money off of trends, regardless of where they came from.  Politics is one of those subjects that sparks extreme consumer behaviors and leads to very trendy data.  Whenever a new movement happens or a new tagline shows up, the prospect of t-shirts, hats, and whatnot comes with.  Political taglines are rarely copyrighted meaning that there is so much room to monetize a political movement.  

When you first start making money, you are very hungry for wealth.  Beginners tend to scrape at whatever they can get, no matter the size of the profit.  Each time you hear the ka-ching of a new sale, it's like a rush of dopamine runs through your body. Don't worry -- this was me once too.  The data in this tutorial is from a few years back when I was very scrappy with my income.  Since then I’ve learned to plan my “meals” and I’ve turned off the ka-ching notification.  I don’t need to hunt for scraps anymore.  

Although you can make a lot of money on political trends, I now focus my energy on more evergreen businesses strategies as opposed to trends.  That being said, trends are a great way to jumpstart your career in online sales.  In this vlog-style tutorial you’ll see that I was very young and was doing just that.  But hey -- everybody has to start somewhere, right?

The Idea, The Research, & The Product

Day 1 -- Monday, 11:39 a.m. 

Within the first 12 hours of my campaign launch, I had made over $1,000 in sales.   What was I selling, you ask?  Pink beanies with cat ears.  The Women’s March of 2017 was trademarked by a pink hat that was worn by thousands of women who took part.  I saw this trend and dove in.  

I couldn't believe my eyes.  My day was actually really unproductive, as I was glued to my phone watching sale after sale and hearing ka-ching after ka-ching come in.  

That afternoon, I started to take notice of my analytics.  I was watching customers, in real time, arrive to my site, browse my product, and end up on the checkout page.  Within less than 48 hours I had made $2688.02 with an average of 15 people on my site at any given time.  But how long would it last?

Day 3 -- Wednesday, 5 p.m.

By day 3 I was certain that the trend was dying out and that my campaign was soon to be over.  I had just one sale totaling $9.99 all day until around 5 p.m. that night.  A surge of sales came between then and 10 p.m. Boom -- $700 in revenue out of nowhere.  What’s even better is that I spent just $5 on ads.  I was shocked to say the least

This campaign was solely publicized by two advertisements -- one on Google and one on Facebook (pictured above).  I found it interesting that my Google ad was slowly increasing in cost per click but on Wednesday it suddenly dropped from 35 cents to just 4.  This was really good news. 

Day 4 -- Thursday, 10:02 p.m.

As day 4 came around, my total sales were up to $4,211.95.  I started the day with $185.88 and 26 live site viewers at one point.  As I was laying in bed that night (yes, I went to bed before 10 p.m.), I noticed my phone was going off like crazy.  It was 10:02 p.m. and I had made just shy of $2,000 in sales on day 4 alone.

Day 5 -- Friday 1:41 p.m.

Like I mentioned earlier, my ads were really taking off.  According to my Google Analytics, I was competing with big-name companies like Amazon, Etsy, and Target.  Despite going against these huge competitors, I was able to maintain an average position of 1.3 over them and an impression share of over 25%.  My total spend on ads so far was $152.75.  

As my ads continued to progress, so did the conversion rate.   For each keyword, the rate was anywhere from 5 percent  to 9 or 10 percent.  

The Final Numbers

Just like all trends, the pink cat ear beanies eventually died out.  After 30 days my total sales were up to about 18,000 -- not too bad!  Here's a breakdown of my stats...

Total Sales: $18,194.56

Total Spend:  $4,220

Total Orders: 731

Profit: 59%

Overall, this campaign was a smashing success.  It was fascinating to research, source, and sell the product in such a tight time period.  I ended up donating a percentage of the profits to the Women's March, the event that sparked this crazy money-making joy ride. 

The Free Tool That Everybody Should Be Using...

Before I send you on your way, I need to cover one more thing -- the magical tool that got me here.  Google Trends is a free site that I use everytime I see a new product, idea, or fad.  I’m constantly typing interests in and seeing if they are on the incline, if consumers are looking for them, and how they are projected to grow or descend.   This tool has made me a lot of money and I hope it brings good fortunes to you as well.

These fortunes are a combination of luck and focus.  The luck comes from being one the first people to hear about a trend.  Everytime I see a product pop up more than once, whether it be in a store or on social media, it piques my curiosity.  It only takes 60 seconds to plug something into Google Trends to see if it's trending across the nation and if there's a consumer trend that goes along  with it.  

Consumer trends happen every minute of every day within every single niche (sports, politics, fashion, etc.).  For example, I got tagged in an ad for the “dad bag” on my Facebook feed in September of 2017.  During this time, the dad bag spiked like crazy on Google Trends (pictured above).  Although it was a short trend, there was an insane amount of money made during these few days.  I was the first person on the internet to market on a search engine for a dad bag and I had over $5,000 in gross sales within 48 hours.  

Understanding Macro vs. Micro Trends

A macro trend is something that is happening on a larger scale across time.  Generally speaking, these are things that people have always had an interest in but are slowly on the rise or decline.  

If we compare skate boards to penny boards, nickel boards, and long boards, we see that long boards have been on the incline since January and are now the most frequently searched out of all boards.   If we go back 5 years, we see that penny boards heavily dominated the market starting in March of 2013, and fell to longboards in 2017.  

Skate boards have always been popular -- making them a macro trend.  But dad bags on the other hand spiked and fell, meaning they were a micro trend.  

Before I look for products, create a website, draft up a logo, or spend a single dollar, I take my time and research the niche I’m looking into with Google Trends.  In the end, it is time well spent.  You may think you have a million dollar idea, but if nobody is searching for it, you may want to think again.  You can also view related inquiries that might help narrow down and guide your research in order to perfect your idea. 

Ladies and gentleman, this is the game.  This is the foundation of a successful campaign.  It comes from using the right search terms and from doing your research.  Looking at trends is so important. 

I hope that you got a ton of value out of this post.  If you have any questions, comment them below -- I’m here to answer them!  

I’ll catch you in the next one.  

Peace and God bless.  

I make new content every single week, so be sure to subscribe to my Youtube and follow my Instagram @brambilabong and TikTok at @AdrianBrambila. I also have tons of resources and courses on my website that you won’t want to miss. Head over to www.adrianbrambila.com to learn more about what I do and how I live a financially free life.