This guest post is courtesy of AMZScout, a leading Amazon product research tool.
These days, when people talk about advertising, in most cases our minds go immediately to digital marketing. This is a pretty natural reaction, considering that the internet is such an enormous part of our lives. It’s basically impossible to get any new business off the ground without using online marketing in some form.
Often, entrepreneurs use digital advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Amazon has its own advertising system which is arguably way more effective than many other options. There are things to carefully consider when choosing the type of product you wish to sell, as well as the platform you wish to sell on. The effectiveness of advertising for your potential platform should be at the top of your list.
What makes Amazon’s PPC system so effective is the fact that the people who see your sponsored posts are there with their wallets in their hands. The ads that they see are the results of their own searches for items they are interested in. This is what a standard Amazon Pay per Click ad looks like:
As you can see, the entire top row in the results are sponsored posts. They are simply a listing that you would otherwise find organically, farther down in the search results. By paying for ads, you can move up and be displayed at the top of the search. This is the type of ad available when you use keyword targeting. Keyword targeting has several options in terms of optimization:
Manual Campaigns – This option uses keywords that you select. Depending on the match type you choose, you can be very precise or cast a wide net.
Exact match type – You will only bid on searches that contain the exact keywords you select or the plural of the keyword (also includes singular if the keyword is a plural).
Phrase match type – This option will allow you to bid on searches that contain the keyword you select, as well as any other word that might come before or after the keywords you have selected while keeping them in the same order.
Broad match type – This match type allows you to bid for basically any search term that contains the keywords you’ve entered as long as they are included. They don’t even have to be in the same order.
There is another standard type of PPC that is available to all registered sellers – Product targeting ads:
These ads are visible when you scroll down under any listing on Amazon. They work by allowing sellers to present their product as an alternative option to a competitor. These ads work in a similar way to keyword targeting campaigns by allowing you to be as specific as targeting individual products or being as broad as targeting entire subcategories.
Finally, we have automatic targeting campaigns. These campaigns are mostly run however the A9 algorithm thinks is best for your product. However, they can be optimized. There are four options for customization:
The first two options (Close and Loose match) are related to keyword targeting and the other two options (Substitutes and Complements) are related to product targeting.
More Amazon Ad Types
The basic PPC tools we’ve covered here are just that, the basic tools. They are extremely effective and they are the very foundation of every healthy Amazon seller account. However, there are additional advertising tools available to other sellers that make the effort and join the Amazon Brand registry. There you have many additional options that are only available to sellers in the brand registry:
A+ Content – A+ Content gives you the ability to treat your listings and your Amazon storefront like a simple website that has a handful of very simple yet extremely impactful customization options. You can do things such as hero shots and lifestyle images, as well as catalogs to feature your brand and your selection of products. Now, this isn’t directly related to PPC. However, if you think about it, a PPC ad will only bring a horse to water, not make it drink. Having a very well customized listing or storefront is something that can heavily impact conversion rates, making your PPC more effective across the board.
Sponsored Brand ads – These ads work using the same principle as the keyword targeting ads in the standard PPC. The main difference is where they are displayed. Unlike the usual ad which simply shows your listing in another spot, a sponsored brand ad shows a custom banner on the top, middle, or bottom of the search results:
You can add a slogan that’s up to 50 characters and a logo, as well as a selection of up to 3 products. You can also have the option of the ad leading the person that clicked it to your storefront or product page.
Video ads – This feature is one of the newest additions to the Brand registry advertising options. You can have up to a 30-second video that will automatically start playing once an Amazon customer comes across it in their search. There are some rules and guidelines that you need to follow, but for the most part, you can make pretty much any kind of video you wish.
Sponsored Display ads – This type of ad has two options. The first option is like sponsored brands, but for product targeting. This means that you have the option to have a customized and more prominently displayed banner on a competitors listing, such as the one below:
The other option is still in development, and it’s the first type of advertising that allows you to use Amazon to advertise outside of Amazon. With this option, you have virtually no control over targeting. You are only able to set up a bid and the algorithm will display your product ads on websites that are partnered with Amazon.
In conclusion, Amazon advertising is an online advertising system that gives you great bang for your buck, even if you are just using the standard PPC option. The options available to you as a registered brand are not new, however, what makes them so exciting is the fact that they are constantly updated. These options continue to evolve over time with continuous fine tuning, as well as entire new advertising avenues always being added. Amazon advertising is one of those gifts that keeps giving to sellers.