A Beginners Guide to the Next Big Advertising Wave
The consistent growth of Amazon’s Ad revenue in recent years is a clear indicator that Amazon Advertising is poised to become a dominant player in the digital marketing industry which is now duopolised by Google and Facebook. As an advertiser, it’s not a question of if but when you can start adopting amazon ads as part of your services to your clients. And for those who want to get started and get to know the basics, read on. In this post, we’ll look at how Amazon ads work and what you need to know to get started.
What Is Amazon Advertising?
Amazon advertising lets advertisers place ads in front of the prospects who are most likely to make a purchase of your product. It does so by placing ads on relevant search results and product description pages. Amazon DSP lets you show ads not just on amazon.com but on Amazon-owned sites and apps like IMDb and several other leading publishers’ sites.
What Are The Types of Amazon Ads?
The three major types of ads are sponsored (pay-per-click), display, and video. With pay-per-click, you’re targeting customers who are ready to buy (lower-funnel sales). So if you were looking to promote individual products, you might choose the Sponsored Product model where you can activate keyword-target ads.
If you wanted a top-funnel strategy, display and video ads can bring awareness to new brands and products through Amazon sites, smart home devices, and third-party sites. You’re essentially paying for exposure across the entire Amazon network — even if you don’t specifically sell on Amazon. Video ads help you tell stories or demo products and include the option of running video alongside display ads for maximum effect.
Why Amazon Advertising?
Amazon Advertising is the most popular and widely used eCommerce platform boasting about 202 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. alone. Ads appear on Amazon search pages, product detail pages, and external websites. The real value is the wealth of consumer data that an advertiser can tap into and create hyper-relevant ads to reach the right target audience.
Where Do Ads Appear?
Where your ads appear depend on the package you choose:
- Sponsored Products: Ads show up on the search results page and Amazon product detail pages. They may also appear on external sites to retarget visitors who have clicked on your page but didn’t purchase anything.
- Sponsored Brand: Appear in the search results page. There are up to four placements available, including one at the top of the search and three below the results.
- Product Display: These ads are displayed below “Add to Cart” on a product detail page. They may also appear on the right side or bottom of search results.
The Cost of Amazon PPC
The business model for Amazon is to choose the highest bid for each cost-per-click. Every advertiser must determine a default bid, meaning the absolute most their willing to pay for each click. The business that bids the most gets the best ad position. Please note that the winning advertiser isn’t necessarily charged their default bid though. Instead, they’re charged a penny more than the nearest losing bid.
So if you bid $3 per click and another advertiser bid $2.50, you would get the highest-ranking ad position but only pay $2.51 per click. The actual costs for advertisers will depend on their industry and the other players on the market but usually don’t stretch any higher than $3 per click.
The Basics of Amazon Ads
Going through the DSP is the only way for marketers to target off Amazon, and it’s usually recommended for brands that want to raise awareness. For those who want ads that specifically raise sales, usually better to buy the pay-per-click ads. The first question you need to ask is when you want most customers to be introduced to your brand.
Once you have a strategy in mind, you’ll need to start meeting Amazon ad requirements. The company sets strict rules surrounding everything from your image size to the copy you use. Once you have all the basics down, it’s time to start optimizing every ad.
Reaching Out for Help
It’s clear that Amazon will continue to thrive even under tough economic conditions, which is why it’s time for marketers to capitalize sooner rather than later. But Amazon advertising is more than just selecting a campaign type and adapting your old banner ad to display on product pages.
There’s a lot to learn about search terms, keywords, targeting (and negative targeting), match types, and bidding. If you make a mistake, you can end up paying for clicks that don’t end in any sales. People might be more annoyed with your video running than they are engaged. Marketing is all about finding more than just idly curious people — it’s about finding consumers who will actually benefit from your products.
With more than a decade of experience in the Digital Marketing space and dedicated Amazon advertising experts, we can craft a tailored Amazon advertising strategy to reach your goals. Let us take the reins so you can focus on building strong relationships with your customers.
