No Matter What Your Experience Is
No good company or product is complete without an effective marketing plan. In today’s digital age, this means utilizing a variety of online marketing channels. One of the most effective ways to market your product, goods, or services is through Amazon. While you may have utilized Amazon’s website as a way to purchase supplies or order parts for your company, you might not know that Amazon is one of the most effective websites for marketing your products. In fact, Amazon provides a number of ways you can promote your services, including pay-per-click (PPC) ads and sponsored product ads. Each type of ad has its own benefits and is designed to help you enhance your marketing in a different way.
It’s important to understand that effective marketing is a long-term endeavor. Proper marketing with a strong ROI doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, marketing your company and products is something you’ll need to do on an ongoing basis. Regularly advertising your brand will not only help you connect with new customers, but can encourage current clients to engage with your brand, as well. This can include visiting your company’s social media sites, signing up for your newsletters, and yes, making purchases through Amazon. Continuous marketing is a vital part of ensuring that your company grows and flourishes regardless of what you’re selling.
When you’re ready to take your business to the next level, it’s time to consider utilizing Amazon’s services as a way to reach larger groups of people and to promote your products to a larger audience. Whether you have experience marketing or you’re new to the idea of promoting your business, it’s possible to use Amazon’s marketing services in a way that will help expand your company and increase your revenue. Here’s what you need to do in order to get started.
BEGINNER
If you’re a beginner with Amazon marketing , you’re in luck. Amazon’s marketing platform is incredibly simple and easy-to-understand. It’s designed to ensure that anyone, regardless of prior marketing experience, is able to use the website in order to effectively market their products. Launching a business can be tricky, but so is revitalizing one. Whether you have a new organization or you simply want a boost in sales, using the right kinds of ads can help you reach your financial and growth goals.
Types of Ads Available
The first thing you’ll need to do when considering Amazon advertising as a way to grow your organization is to think about which type of advertising you want to utilize. There are several types of advertising options available. Each has its own unique perks that can help you reach a different demographic and type of audience. While getting started can be tricky and time consuming, make sure you remember that once you understand the layout of the website and the advertising options you have, things will become a lot simpler.
Amazon’s marketing system is called Amazon Marketing Services (AMS). The marketing services on Amazon are beneficial from a marketing perspective since they utilize a pay-per-click (PPC) system. This means that unless someone actually clicks on your ad, you won’t be charged for displaying the ad. PPC ads enable you to carefully select a budget that you’re comfortable with and to ensure you don’t spend more than your designated budget allows for.
With Amazon’s PPC design, you’ll have three types of advertising to choose from:
Sponsored Products
Product Display ads
Sponsored Brands (Headline Search ads)
Each of these types of advertising is designed to offer a different style of marketing. Depending on the product, pricing, and description, you may vary the type of advertising you want to utilize.
Sponsored Products is an effective way to market a specific product you have for sale through the Amazon website. When you set up this type of product for sale, you’ll include keywords and an in-depth description of the products offered. Users can search the Amazon website for products related to a specific keyword. If your product is one of the results when someone searches, they’ll have the option to click on your product. This type of advertising enables you to increase sales in a natural way while controlling the costs associated with marketing your products. This type of advertising plays to the fact that many visitors choose to browse for items on Amazon without knowing exactly what they want to buy. When someone chooses to look at a product similar to yours, they’ll see your ad and will have the opportunity to click on it and view your product.
Product Display ads differ from Sponsored Products because these ads can appear on many different websites, apps, and devices: not just the Amazon.com site itself. If you’re interested in marketing on different platforms or allowing users to see your ads when they use other Amazon products aside from the website, this type of marketing can be incredibly beneficial to you. With this type of ad, your product doesn’t even need to be available through the Amazon website. In fact, you can easily direct customers to your personal storefront or landing page. Landing pages are an effective tool for growing your business, especially if you’re interested in more than just physical sales. If you want to boost your mailing list numbers or social media followers, for example, a landing page can provide you with the tools you need to do so. Product Display ads can help you drive traffic toward those landing pages.
Sponsored Brands, sometimes called Headline Search ads, are designed to promote awareness of your brand. This can help improve your online reputation and encourage readers, shoppers, and viewers to click on your products and services. When people shop online, they have many companies to choose from. Sponsored Brands encourages clients to choose your brand. You’ll be able to create a headline that is both eye-catching and interesting, as well as a logo designed to encourage clicks and sales. You’ll also have the option to include photos of your products that users can click on and interact with. One of the most important elements in catching a shopper’s attention is building trust. Sponsored Brands ads enable you to do this.
No matter what your marketing goals are, remember that Amazon offers an assortment of marketing options designed to meet your budget and product needs. Whether you’re looking for something that can help you reach a large audience and bring sales or you’re looking for marketing options that simply raise awareness about your brand, you’ll have a number of options to choose from that can enhance your marketing plans and improve the way your business runs.
Account Set-Up
Before you can choose the type of marketing you want to implement, you’ll need to create an Amazon Advertising Account. This account is what you’ll use to manage your marketing plan, budget, and ads. You can have multiple ads running at the same time, so you’ll want to create an account quickly and get started right away. Your account will be an incredibly valuable asset that will enable you to market your products in new ways and effectively reach new audiences.
Setting up your account is incredibly simple. Visit Amazon’s Advertising website to register a new account. If you already have an Amazon Seller Central account, a Vendor Central Account, an Advantage Central Account, or a KDP Account, you can use your current account to log in and begin advertising. You will not be required to create a separate account to market your products through Amazon’s website. Additionally, any payment methods or options you already have linked to your Amazon account will be available once you’re logged into your Advertising dashboard.
If you are not a current Amazon account holder, you’ll be able to create an account for free by following the steps outlined on Amazon’s website. Make sure you have your personal and business information ready, including your billing address, company address, and telephone number. You should also know what type of selling you plan to do on Amazon’s website and how many products or goods you’ll sell (on average) each month.
Even if you’ve never set up a marketing campaign or account before, understand that Amazon’s website is designed to be user-friendly. Amazon wants you to market your products through their website, which is why it’s simple to navigate and the terms and conditions of selling items through their website are clearly outlined. Creating an account should take you only a few minutes. Then you’ll be ready to launch your first marketing campaign utilizing ads directly on the Amazon storefront.
Why Ads are Important
Some sellers don’t want to pay for marketing. It’s understandable. When you first launch an organization and have new products you’re trying to promote, your budget may be quite limited. Paying for ads may feel strange or uncomfortable, especially at first. That said, remember that even an incredible product won’t make money if no one knows about it.
Advertising enables you to place your product in front of hundreds or thousands of people who are interested in buying your type of product online. Investing in targeted ads through Amazon means you can carefully cater your advertising to people who not only want a product like yours, but who are willing to spend money to get it. This enables you to connect with customers who are willing to buy your product and who may be willing to buy it again in the future.
Additionally, creating ads enables you to market both old and new products. Many companies make the mistake of only marketing their current or newest products without realizing that their older items can still sell well and make a continuous profit for the company. Using online ads lets you diversify your marketing efforts easily, so you can promote both older and newer products on Amazon.
Setting Targets and Budgets
One of the first things you’ll need to do when you want to advertise online is to set an effective budget that you’re comfortable with. You need to decide:
• How much you want to spend per click
• How much you want to spend per day
• How much you want to spend per ad
• How much you want to spend overall
Advertising is not an exact science, which means it may take several tries to get an ad campaign you’re comfortable with and that meets your needs and expectations. The sooner you can establish what your expectations and financial budgetary restrictions are, the better your campaign will be.
You’ll also need to determine the target perimeters for your ads. When someone searches for a product on Amazon, they’ll insert specific keywords or simply browse different categories on the site. You’ll have the choice to refine the category that your ad shows up in. It’s important to consider your target carefully, as this is going to impact the effectiveness of your ad. Remember that you need to choose a related target category or brand when you’re creating your ad. Never mislabel your product in an attempt to try to game the system. If someone is searching for “blue childrens shoes,” they don’t want to come across an ad for a large screen television. Carefully choosing your keyword categories is one of the best ways to boost sales with your ads.
When you set your target, you can choose specific brands and items you want your product to appear on or near. Some advertisers prefer being very specific in where their ads appear. If you’re selling a book, for example, you may choose to have your book show up on a competing book’s page or when someone searches for a similar author’s name. You can also choose to have your product show up when someone searches or browses for a similar brand to yours.
Another targeting option is to use very generic search terms when they’re selling a product. There’s nothing wrong with having a broader range of search results when it comes to setting the target for your ad. If you have a versatile product that isn’t overly specific, you may find that setting broad search terms is beneficial in your marketing efforts. This can also be beneficial if you have a large audience or your product is designed for a large demographic of users.
When you select your ad’s targets, make sure you choose keywords, categories, or brands that are closely related to your product itself. When someone searches on Amazon for a product to purchase, they won’t necessarily purchase the first thing they see. Most users prefer to browse different items to find the one that best suits their needs. When you select similar brands or products to your ad’s target, you’ll be able to reach shoppers who are looking at multiple products and considering the one that best suits their needs. One of the most important elements of marketing is simply getting people to view your product. Targeted ads allow you to do that effectively.
Account Structure[1]
When you’re ready to advertise on Amazon, you’ll be able to access all of your advertising data directly through your Amazon Advertising account. This account enables you to view your campaigns, drafts, and advertising reports with just the click of a button. You can also view billing and payment information, as well as manage users. It’s important to access this data regularly in order to manage your account. Your account is structured to give you all of the information you need to effectively advertise on Amazon and to expand your company using ads.
If you’d like to see your current or past ads, you can do this easily. Simply click “Advertising Campaigns” and then “Campaigns.” This will provide you with a list of ads you have created. You can see the title of the campaign, the status, the type, as well as the start and end dates for your ad. Additionally, you’ll be able to view your budget, how much you’ve spent on the ad over time, and how many sales you received as a direct result of that ad.
From your “Campaigns” dashboard, you’ll be able to modify, delete, and create campaigns for your products. If you have a specific end date for your ad, you’ll be able to see these, as well. You can also modify the end dates for your ads. Some sellers prefer to launch Amazon ad campaigns on an ongoing basis, while others like knowing the ad will wrap up at a specific time. There’s no wrong method to utilize in this case. Simply choose what works best for your budget and your plans.
Amazon also provides a convenient graph that lets you know exactly how your ads are performing. Make sure you review this so you can assess the performance of your ads. This graph will show you how much you’ve spent, total sales, the advertising cost of sales (ACOS), and how many impressions your ads have gotten. Note that you can also add your own metrics, so once you’re comfortable with the Amazon platform, you’ll be able to incorporate your own data that you’d like to track. This is a simple process you can incorporate with the click of a button.
The “Drafts” tab of the advertising platform provides you with a space to see any advertising campaigns you have started, but have not yet launched. Sometimes it can take some time to get everything exactly the way you want it, so being able to save a draft and come back to it later is very convenient. When you’re learning how to market your products using this platform, it’s important to make sure that your ad appears exactly the way you want it to display on the official Amazon website. Don’t be afraid to take some time to set everything up precisely. The “Drafts” tab ensures that you’ll be able to save your work and come back to it later.
If you’d like to view your reports easily, click the “Advertising Reports” tab on your Amazon Advertising dashboard. This tab gives you the opportunity to create official reports that display all of the pertinent information you need to analyze the effectiveness of your marketing. You’ll be able to sort campaigns by type and date. Then you can generate a report that shows how much you’ve spent, what your income is from the ads, and how many units you have sold. You can create monthly reports or lifetime reports, so regardless of who you want to share your reports with, you’ll be able to easily generate a spreadsheet with all of the data you need. This can be very beneficial when you’re reviewing your profits from the year and want to see how much you’ve spent on advertising compared to how much you’ve made.
Assessing Performance
In order to have the best ROI, it’s important that you regularly assess the performance of each of your ads. Ideally, you will have several ads running for each of your products at any given time. This ensures your ads make the most money with the least amount of spending because not every ad will be equally effective. This is perhaps the biggest reason you should regularly assess the performance of your ads to discover exactly how much you’re spending per click, which ads have the lowest cost-per-click, and which advertising styles bring in the most revenue.
Don’t be afraid to cut or pull ads that aren’t bringing in as much revenue as others. One of the difficult parts of marketing is knowing when to pull an advertisement for having a low ROI. Your marketing plan should include regularly assessing each of your ads and asking whether the ad campaign falls within your budget, whether the price-per-click is appropriate, and whether viewers are making purchases after viewing your ads.
What to Look For
When you design an ad, you want it to make your product stand out from the crowd. Remember that shoppers have hundreds of thousands of items to choose from on Amazon. You need to demonstrate what exactly makes your product special and why potential shoppers should choose your product over others.
The first thing your ad needs is a catchy header or tagline. Make sure you express either the title of the product or what makes it special. Always use associated keywords in your header in order to draw in the largest number of potential shoppers. Let people know exactly what they can expect when they pick up your product for themselves.
You should also include professional photos when you create an ad. Never settle for a blurry photo or one with poor lighting. Remember, you are competing against thousands of other sellers and your product needs to stand out. One of the easiest ways to do this is by including a strong photo that users will be able to appreciate.
No matter how long you’ve been advertising, Amazon Advertising is designed to give you a fresh look at the world of online ads. You’ll find that you can create ads for just about anything. This can open up new doors for your company, increase sales, and connect you with new customers on a regular basis.
INTERMEDIATE
If you’ve utilized online advertising before, you’re probably comfortable with the basic aspects of digital marketing; however, it’s still important to make sure that you understand everything you can do when you utilize Amazon PPC ads. With a greater knowledge of marketing comes an even bigger opportunity to ensure your ads are as effective as possible.
Keyword Discovery
Keywords are one of the most important things you can use when you’re creating an ad. If you choose the right keywords, your ads will be effective. Furthermore, your sales will increase. Poorly chosen keywords, however, can have the opposite effect: they can cause your sales to plummet because shoppers won’t be able to find your products easily when they’re browsing the Amazon website.
Make sure you understand exactly what product you’re trying to sell and what the keywords for your chosen category are. You may want to conduct keyword research in order to choose the best keywords for your particular ad. There are a number of ways you can conduct keyword research in your category.
One of the simplest ways is to type the name of your product’s category into an online search engine and see what pops up. For example, if you’re selling desk lamps, you can type this into a search engine bar. Possible results may include “best desk lamps,” “small desk lamps,” and “portable desk lamps.” This type of keyword research can help guide you as you utilize keywords in your ad.
You can also browse other listings in your Amazon category to discover what keywords other sellers are using and how effective their ads are. Remember that when you look at an Amazon listing, the item will be ranked according to how many sales it has received recently and other factors kept secret in the Amazon ranking algorithm. Lower-ranked items (appearing higher in the search results) on Amazon are items that sell frequently. Typically, these products have very specific keywords that make finding them on Amazon a breeze for customers.
Additionally, you may want to invest in keyword discovery software or a web program designed to assist you in choosing the best keywords for your ads. There are many options available when it comes to keyword research. Investing in a software or website subscription that enables you to effectively conduct keyword discovery may be beneficial, especially if you plan to market online long-term. Here are two of our favorites:
Helium10 – An extensive suite of tools to develop ideas, refine listings, and optimize results
HelloProfit – Quickly, easily find your profits at an account level AND per product
Optimizing Performance
Check your ads regularly to ensure they are working effectively. If you’re spending more than you’re selling, there may be a problem with your advertisement, including your chosen price range for clicks. Don’t be afraid to modify your ads or switch them out for total optimization. You want your ads to make you money, so regularly assess your ads for problem areas or failures.
If an ad is not working effectively, you may need to re-evaluate your target audience. Is your audience too broad? Are you unsure of who your target audience is? Consider who will be buying your product and who will be interested in what you’re selling. Conducting keyword and market research can help you effectively narrow down your target audience. If your ad is failing, your target demographic may be too broad. Narrowing it down can help boost your sales.
Additionally, make sure that your title and headline are clear and concise. Your ad description or snippet should be catchy and interesting. If your ads are failing, modify these areas and try again, as sometimes a few simple changes can go a long way in optimizing the performance of your ads.
Bid Management
When you create an ad, you’ll be able to create a bid-per-click. This bid is how much you’re willing to pay when someone clicks on your advertisement. When you first get started, it’s easy to bid too much. After all, you’re probably excited about launching your ad campaign and you want to make sure that it’s effective; however, understand that depending on the click-through rate of your ad, as well as how many sales you actually receive, you may need to modify the amount you’re spending per click. This is called bid management. Assess how much you’re spending on your ad clicks when compared with how many sales you’re getting. If you’re spending more than you’re selling, it’s time to reduce that bid-per-click to ensure you’re able to make a profit off of your ads.
No matter what you’re selling, properly optimizing your ads and managing your spending will go a long way in ensuring that your ads are as effective as possible.
EXPERT
For the experienced advertiser, Amazon Advertising provides even more ways you can manipulate and manage your ads to ensure you’re getting the absolute most out of your ads.
Search Term Isolation
One of the most important elements of creating an effective and highly monetized ad is Search Term Isolation. In order for a search term to be “isolated,” it must only appear in a single keyword. Remember that when you create ads through Amazon’s website, each ad will have its own set of keywords. These should be carefully calculated and considered in order to give you the best ROI. When you choose to isolate a specific search term, it needs to be your search term that has the highest number of conversions. Additionally, you’ll focus your marketing efforts and bidding primarily on that specific term in order to have the best results. Your bidding amount should be highest on the isolated search term. While you may still choose to have other keywords and searches available on your ad, you’ll minimize the amount of money you spend per-click on those additional ads.
Dynamic Bidding
If you’d like to increase the amount of sales you make and the number of times your ad appears without having to manually adjust your bids regularly, you may want to implement what Amazon calls Dynamic Bids. This is an option you can utilize that allows Amazon to adjust your bid. Your bid will be shifted up or down depending on the likelihood of whether something is going to sell. If you aren’t interested in utilizing Dynamic Bids, you’ll simply choose to have your bids “fixed.” This means that Amazon will not adjust your bids. Instead, only your default bidding amount will be used.
Amazon SEO Impacts
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, ensures that your ad is ranking high within search engines. Utilizing SEO is a strategy used by marketers across the globe as a way to improve sales and increase customer reach. An ad with a high SEO Impact is an ad that appears frequently and is highly ranked in search engines. It’s important that you conduct SEO keyword research in order to adequately optimize your ads for SEO purposes. The right combination of keywords can make an incredible difference in your ad’s appearance to clients and customers.
Your ads matter. When you develop an understanding of Amazon PPC ads and how you can effectively manage your advertising campaigns, you’ll be able to take your sales – and your business – to the next level.
NEXT STEP? GET STARTED!
Launching your own marketing campaign can be a challenging task; however, with the right mindset and the appropriate tools, it’s possible to create something truly unforgettable. The right marketing campaign should help you connect with readers and should ideally assist you with ongoing marketing. Remember that marketing is not something you do once and then are finished with. It may take viewers several exposures to your ads to finalize a purchase, which is one of the reasons sponsored ads and targeted marketing is so incredibly effective. When someone sees your ad repeatedly, they become familiar with the ad, your product, and your company, and they are more likely to engage with what you’re offering.
Whether you’re selling digital products, physical items, or usable services, make sure that you’re focusing on creating objects of value that your clients and customers will be able to enjoy. One of the most important elements of marketing is creating a worthwhile product that is both useful and effective for clients. Once you understand what you’re going to be selling, you can focus on creating ad campaigns that will push your organization and your business to the next level. Remember that whether you’re selling socks or televisions, you need to focus on reaching your audience and convincing them that your product is the one they want.
Multiple elements combine to make a truly great marketing campaign. You need an incredible product or service, strong and detailed images of it, a great blurb or headline, and an advertising plan that highlights the best elements of your product. Focus on these things and you’ll find that your marketing plan comes together simply and easily in a way you never dreamed possible.
For the beginner, intermediate, or expert marketing professional, remember that Amazon PPC Advertising provides an incredible number of resources and options for pushing your product to the public. You’ll be able to carefully focus on promoting your products in meaningful ways and expanding your client base effectively. Advertising on Amazon is a straightforward process designed to take your marketing abilities from “okay” to “incredible.” What are you waiting for? It’s time to get started. What’s the ONE thing you’re going to start with right now? Leave a comment below with your “ONE THING”
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