Mastering Amazon Advertising: A Comprehensive Guide for an Effective PPC Strategy

Dive into the world of Amazon advertising with our expert guide. From understanding different ad types to harnessing the power of advertising on Amazon for your business, discover how Amazon PPC ads can help you thrive on the platform.

Amazon is a behemoth in the retail space, offering a plethora of opportunities for sellers to not only showcase their products but also to ensure they reach the right audience at the right time. This is where Amazon advertising and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) come into play. This article has been written by our team of Amazon experts, guiding you through the jungle of Amazon’s advertising options, highlighting their benefits and when best to utilise them.

Let’s embark on this journey to help you understand Amazon advertising and learn how to leverage these tools to your advantage.

The Landscape of Amazon Advertising

At its core, Amazon advertising is a way for sellers to increase their product’s visibility and sales on the platform. Amazon offers a variety of advertising solutions, each suited to different goals and stages of the customer journey. Let’s take a quick look at the different types of advertising available to you within the Amazon Advertising Console.

1. Sponsored Products: The Workhorse of Amazon PPC
Sponsored Products are crucial for driving sales of specific items. They’re particularly effective for launching new products or clearing out excess inventory and are the most direct way to promote individual listings. These ads appear in search results and on product pages, providing a seamless shopping experience making them a favourite among Amazon sellers.

To maximise their impact, use precise keyword targeting and product targeting with competitive bidding strategies. Monitor performance closely, making bid adjustments based on the campaign’s ROI.

2. Sponsored Brands: Building Your Brand on Amazon
Sponsored Brands are your billboard on Amazon. Previously known as Headline Search Ads, Sponsored Brands allow sellers to advertise a collection of products under their brand. These ads are prominently displayed above, beside, or within search results, offering a significant visibility boost. They’re an excellent tool for brand awareness and for promoting your product portfolio.

They’re most effective when used to introduce your brand to a new audience or promote seasonal campaigns. Creative freedom with your ad copy and imagery allows you to showcase your brand’s unique value proposition. Analyse click-through and conversion rates to refine your messaging and targeting.

3. Sponsored Display: Keeping Your Brand in the Spotlight
Sponsored Display ads are ideal for staying connected with your audience throughout their purchasing journey, offering a way to reach potential customers both on and off Amazon.
These ads target shoppers based on their interests and shopping behaviour, appearing on Amazon product detail pages, as well as on third-party websites and apps. They’re superb for re-engaging customers who’ve viewed your products but haven’t made a purchase.

They work well for complementing your Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns with retargeting efforts. Use performance data to identify high-intent segments for retargeting and customise your ad creative to speak directly to their interests.

4. Amazon DSP: The Ultimate Tool for Audience Targeting
Amazon Demand Side Platform (DSP) excels in building brand awareness and driving purchases both on and off Amazon. It’s best utilised for broad-reaching campaigns aimed at introducing new products or expanding into new markets. Leverage Amazon’s rich audience data to create highly targeted campaigns. Continuously analyse performance across different audience segments to refine your targeting and creative strategy.

Amazon DSP is great for larger brands with bigger budgets. Typically, your ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sale) will be lower (less profitable) than other forms of advertising such as sponsored products, but your goal here is awareness building – not conversion! Target top and middle of your marketing funnel and amplify your reach across 4,000+ influential media outlets, partnered with Amazon DSP.

If you want to learn more about Amazon DSP, visit our Amazon DSP services page here.

5. Amazon Stores
Your Amazon Store provides a customisable brand destination on Amazon for showcasing your brand story and product portfolio. Although not advertising, it’s a fantastic way to build brand equity and create a curated shopping experience for your customers. Plus, it’s free to use, making it accessible to brands of all sizes. You can use your Amazon store as a destination for Brand or Display ads, so don’t miss out.

The Benefits of Amazon Advertising

Now, for the benefits! You may have a strong organic sales ratio, or perhaps don’t want to push budget towards more costs within Amazon. So why would you even bother with Amazon advertising at all? Here are a few compelling reasons:

• Enhanced Visibility: With millions of products on Amazon, standing out is crucial. Amazon advertising propels your products to the forefront, increasing their visibility.
• Targeted Reach: Amazon’s sophisticated targeting options allow you to reach customers who are actively searching for products like yours.
• Increased Sales: By putting your products in front of the right eyes, advertising on Amazon can significantly boost your sales.
• Insightful Analytics: Amazon provides detailed performance analytics, helping you understand what works and refine your strategy accordingly.

We have some amazing Amersify case studies which highlight the benefits of Amazon advertising, showcasing what you can do when you create a strong advertising strategy with highly optimised listings!

• Click HERE to read how Seedball grew revenues by 279% or
• Click HERE to see how COYA Pet grew from 0 to £15k in monthly sales by within 90 days of launch.

When to Use Amazon Advertising

Understanding when to use each type of Amazon advertising can amplify your success. Here’s a quick guide:

• Launch New Products: Sponsored Products are perfect for introducing new items to the market, as they directly target relevant search queries.
• Build Brand Awareness: Sponsored Brands and Amazon Stores are your go-to options for building and promoting your brand on Amazon.
• Re-Engage Customers: Sponsored Display Ads can help re-capture the attention of shoppers who’ve shown interest in your products but haven’t purchased.
• Level-up Sales: You may have hit a sales plateau on the platform and you’ve only sold organically. The best way to scale your sales and break through your current ceiling is to deploy strategically placed ads on Amazon.

Navigating the Amazon PPC Jungle

Navigating Amazon PPC requires strategy and finesse. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Understand Your Keywords: Knowing what your customers are looking for and how they are searching is crucial. Use keyword research tools like Helium10 or JungleScout to gain important insights, tailoring your ad campaigns with specific, relevant search terms.
2. Optimise Your Listings: Optimise first!! Ensure your product listings are optimised with high-quality images and compelling descriptions. Do not start advertising until you’ve fully optimised your listings, otherwise, you could end up with a low ROI (return on investment) from a low conversion rate.
3. Bid Smartly: Start with conservative bids, then adjust based on performance. Remember, the goal is to maximise ROI, not just clicks!
4. Monitor and Adjust: Regularly review your campaign performance. Adjust your strategy based on what’s working and what’s not.

Casting the net – keyword-match decisions

Navigating the intricacies of keyword strategies is crucial for any seller aiming to optimise their PPC campaigns for maximum visibility and sales. Among the various approaches, three stand out; Exact, Broad, and Phrase-keyword-match types. Each has unique advantages and applications, allowing sellers to tailor their approach based on their advertising objectives and the competitive landscape of their product categories.

Let’s take a quick look at each.

Exact Match-Types

Exact campaigns are the sniper rifles of Amazon PPC, offering the highest level of precision in targeting. When you use an exact match, your ads are shown only when the shopper’s search query exactly matches your chosen keyword or is a close variant thereof.

This approach minimises wasted spend by targeting only those searches most relevant to your product. The primary benefit of exact campaigns is their efficiency and high conversion rates, as they target users with a very specific intent.

However, their reach is limited, making them best suited for products with a clear, defined audience or for highly competitive keywords where precision is paramount. Exact campaigns are also invaluable for harvesting detailed performance data to refine your broader PPC strategy.

Broad Match-Types

At the other end of the spectrum, Broad campaigns are akin to casting a wide net. Keywords in broad match campaigns trigger your ads for a wide variety of search queries, including synonyms, related searches, and variations of your keyword.

This type of campaign offers a greater reach, allowing you to capture traffic from a broad audience. The advantage of broad campaigns lies in their ability to uncover new, potentially valuable keywords that you might not have considered. They are particularly effective in the early stages of a product launch or when exploring new market segments.

The trade-off, however, is a lower click-through rate (CTR) and potentially lower conversion rate, as the ad may appear for less relevant searches. Regular review and refinement of keyword performance are essential to home in on the most effective terms. For example, adding keywords that perform badly as ‘negatives’ will stop your product from appearing for this search term. Conversely, when a broad match does convert you can move that phrase to an exact match campaign, focusing budget on a word that you know converts.

Phrase Match-Types

Sitting comfortably between the precision of exact match and the reach of broad match, Phrase campaigns offer a balanced approach. Your ads will appear when shoppers search for your exact keyword phrase, or close variants of it, in the exact order, but possibly with additional words before or after.

Phrase match strikes a balance, ensuring relevancy without overly restricting the potential audience. It’s especially useful for targeting longer, more specific queries that are likely to convert well. Phrase campaigns are ideal for advertisers looking to optimise their ad spend while still reaching a broad audience. They serve as an excellent middle ground, providing valuable insights into how different keyword combinations perform.

When choosing between Exact, Broad, and Phrase campaigns, consider your campaign goals, budget constraints, and the stage of your product lifecycle. Exact campaigns are best for maximising ROI on high-performing keywords, Broad campaigns for discovering new keywords and maximising visibility, and Phrase campaigns for targeting specific customer intents while maintaining a broad reach. The beauty of Amazon advertising is its flexibility; by combining these strategies and continuously refining based on performance data, sellers can develop a potent advertising strategy that drives both visibility and sales.

Utilising Ad Types Together for Maximum Effectiveness

The key to Amazon advertising success lies in leveraging a combination of ad types to create a cohesive, multi-faceted campaign. Start with Sponsored Products to capture high-intent shoppers searching for your products. Layer in Sponsored Brands to build brand awareness and attract a broader audience. Use Sponsored Display and Amazon DSP for retargeting and reaching potential customers outside the Amazon ecosystem.

This holistic approach ensures multiple touchpoints with your target audience, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Remember, the more real estate (space) you can take up on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page), the more times a customer will see your product. By utilising several types of advertising within your campaign funnel, you can feature far more prominently, getting more eyes on.

Bidding Strategies and When to Deploy Them

Bid Adjustments

Bid adjustments are tweaks you make to your campaign bids based on performance data, market conditions and your advertising goals. Adjust bids upward for high-performing keywords or products to capitalise on their success. Conversely, lower your bids for underperforming elements to reduce wasted spend. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your bids is crucial for maintaining campaign efficiency and competitiveness.

Bid Strategies

Along with your bid adjustments you can take advantage of placement bid adjustments and Amazon automated bidding strategies.

Placement bid adjustments enable you to increase or decrease your bids for specific ad placements, giving you better control over your advertising spend and the visibility of your ads. Placement bid adjustments are particularly relevant for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns. There are primarily three types of ad placements where bid adjustments can be applied; Top of Search, Product Pages and Rest of Search.

On top of that, you can also use Amazon’s automated bidding strategies that allow Amazon to add a percentage increase/decrease to your bid based on whether Amazon thinks you are more, or less likely to make a sale. But be careful! This is an adjustment on top of your placement bid adjustment. So for example, if you have a 20% top-of-page adjustment and Dynamic Bidding activated at the same time, Amazon can add an adjustment of up to 100% on top of the 20%.

Dynamic Bidding (Down Only)

Amazon automatically lowers your bid in real-time when your ad is less likely to convert to a sale. This strategy is conservative and suitable when you’re aiming to minimise wasted ad spend.

Dynamic Bidding (Up and Down)

In this more aggressive approach, Amazon adjusts your bids in real-time, increasing up to 100% for top placement ads and 50% for all other placements if your ad is likely to convert, or decreasing if not. Use this strategy to maximise visibility and sales when you have a competitive product and budget flexibility.

Fixed Bids

With fixed bids, Amazon does not adjust your bid based on the likelihood of a sale. This strategy gives you full control over your bid amounts, ideal for seasoned advertisers with a deep understanding of their conversion rates and competitive landscape.

Final Thoughts

The Amazon advertising console is a powerful tool within your arsenal, capable of catapulting your sales and brand visibility on the platform. Whether you’re an Amazon FBA seller or looking to boost an existing product line, understanding and utilising the different types of Amazon advertising is key.

Embracing Amazon advertising is not just about putting your products out there; it’s about strategically positioning them to be discovered by the right audience at the right moment. With the insights and strategies outlined in this guide, you’re now better equipped to utilise Amazon PPC and advertising to its fullest potential. So, gear up, take action, and prepare to see your Amazon venture soar to new heights.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale up, Amazon advertising offers a pathway to reaching your goals. With the right approach, you can harness the power of Amazon PPC to unlock new opportunities and drive significant growth for your business.

If you’d like to learn more or to partner with a leading, Amazon verified Advertising Agency, get in touch today and speak to our team of experts!

Happy Selling!

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