Amazon Advertising Strategy – A Complete Guide to Amazon PPC: How to create killer campaigns
As one of the powerhouse marketplaces out there, Amazon attracts some billion visitors every month, with the US market alone receiving about 2.45 billion monthly visits. These many visitors make it a promising and competitive platform for sellers to establish and scale their e-commerce business.
Its large customer base is one reason why Amazon now has 1.5 million active sellers on its platform. However, with this much competition, sellers need to leverage their business and set themselves apart to get noticed.
Most viewed products and most viewed stores affect Amazon’s algorithm in showing results when visitors search for products on the site. You need to develop actionable and sustainable strategies to stay on top of your competition.
That’s why you need to make use of the tools and other resources available on the site to make sure that, even if you’re new in the game, people will notice your brand and buy your products.
What is Amazon PPC?
To be able to understand what Amazon PPC is, first understand the marketing term PPC. PPC, which stands for Pay-Per-Click, is an advertising model wherein an advertiser pays a fee every time a target audience or a visitor clicks on their ad.
Similarly, Amazon PPC is an advertising model on Amazon wherein advertisers (or the sellers who launched their ads) pay Amazon a fee every time an online shopper clicks on their ad.
Amazon Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is more about generating visitors to your store by paying a fee rather than winning them naturally or organically over time.
It’s in your store that the actual conversion to sales happens. Therefore, for Amazon PPC to work for you, you should not only focus on launching ads but also on optimizing your store and its contents.
Types of Ads Available on Amazon PPC:
- Sponsored Products
Amazon sponsored products appear on shopping results and relevant product pages.
When online shoppers search on Amazon for specific products, sponsored products will also appear depending on the keywords used by the shopper as well as the sponsored product’s relevance to the product being searched.
Sponsored products are keyword targeted.
Moreover, they are also ASIN-targeted. ASIN targeting is an ad strategy that allows you to select products, features, categories, or brands similar to the product in your ad. When people search for these specific products or categories similar to yours, your sponsored ad will also appear. When customers click on your ad, they will be directed to the product page.
- Sponsored Brands
While sponsored products allow you to feature only specific products, Amazon-sponsored brands allow you to showcase a maximum of three products along with your brand’s logo and custom headline.
It means that when you create a sponsored brand campaign, you can choose to add your tagline on the headline or add keywords related to the brand and products you want to showcase.
Sponsored brands appear on top of Amazon’s search results just like a banner ad.
However, it is more dynamic and immersive, sending visitors who click on the ad to your custom landing page on Amazon, your Amazon Store, or to the product page of the specific product, a visitor clicked from the ad.
- Sponsored Display Ads
Amazon sponsored display, or sponsored display ads, appear within and outside Amazon, on Amazon’s website, third-party websites, and integrated apps.
They link directly to a product’s detail page, which visitors are sent to after clicking on the ad. They are also generated based on your product listings.
Sponsored display ads engage visitors who search for categories that are similar or associated with your promoted products.
It also targets audiences who viewed your product’s detail page but did not purchase. It is a remarketing strategy that reminds previous visitors of the existence of your brands and products, helping them decide to purchase your products or reconsider purchasing from other brands.
Guide to Amazon PPC: Benefits of Launching an Amazon PPC Campaign
Launching an Amazon PPC campaign helps to raise awareness and visibility of your brand and products.
It leads visitors to your landing page or Store and helps you increase your conversion rate or the number of people converted from visitors to buyers. Ultimately, it amplifies your sales and allows you to scale your e-commerce business.
However, to be more specific, Amazon PPC offers different ad types that will give you different benefits.
Sponsored Ads
- They lead visitors to product pages, increasing traffic on specific product pages.
- They increase sales for a specific product.
- They are “native-looking”, which means they appear like other products from organic search results.
- They have a high conversion rate because they appear on places that customers usually focus on, like the product details page.
- They help you figure out the keywords that actually convert visitors to buyers.
Sponsored Brands
- They raise awareness of your brand.
- They increase sales across your entire listing or product catalog
- They give you better ad control because they feature your customized brand logo, and you can also edit the heading to showcase your tagline, brand message, or any other copy you wish to include.
- They lead customers to your Store or landing page, giving shoppers a more enhanced shopping experience.
Sponsored Display (Ads)
- They provide a wider customer reach, from within and outside Amazon
- They help convert previous visitors of your Store or product pages who decided not to purchase to buyers.
- They offer the advanced targeting style of a website display ad without the need for the creation of assets.
How to Launch an Amazon PPC Ad Campaign
- Sign in to your Amazon Seller Central Account and go to the Advertising navigation button.
- Choose Campaign Manager from the dropdown menu. A “Set up your campaign budget and duration” prompt will appear. Type on the empty fields under it, such as:
- Campaign name– choose a broad campaign name because you’ll create ad groups under it
- Daily Budget– you need a well-planned monthly budget because costs can add up fast
- Beginning and End date– always choose an end date, so go beyond your budget
- Select from Automatic Targeting and Manual Targeting– Automatic targeting lets Amazon auto-generate keywords for your campaign based on customer searches, while manual targeting allows you to select the keywords of your choosing.
- Click the Continue to next steps button and set the name of your ad groups on the empty field with the Ad group name prompt.
- Select the products for each campaign.
- If you choose manual targeting, you’ll need to set a budget for each keyword on your ad. How much you’re willing to spend for a keyword is called a keyword bid, and it determines how many clicks per day you get on your ad.
- Select the keywords you’ll use in your ad and their match type (exact match, phrase match, broad match), then click the Save and Finish button.
- Lastly, go back to the Campaign Manager page to see if you receive the “Success!” notification indicating that your campaign is launched.
How to Create Killer Campaigns
In creating an Amazon PPC campaign, there is always an unwritten or unsaid goal on top of any of your business goals: create a killer campaign.
Why? Because if not, you’ll only be wasting your time, energy, and money and not be able to achieve half your advertising goals.
A lot can go wrong in a campaign, like reaching the wrong audience, choosing the wrong ad type for your business, and conveying the wrong message.
Therefore, here are actionable guides to help you draft a successful ad campaign.
- Optimize your product listings.
Before starting any ad campaign, first, make sure that your product listing is optimized.
It means you use relevant keywords and other search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, good product images, grammatically-correct copies, and informative product details.
Ads only lead customers to your store or product detail page; the actual conversion happens there so optimization is important.
- Group similar products and categories in the same ad group.
To create clear, target-oriented, and keyword-oriented ads, organize the products you want to promote in similarities.
Group similar or complementary products in the same ad group and do the same for those in the same categories.
- Research the keywords you’ll use for your ad groups and ad campaign.
Use keyword research tools and analyze the keywords being used by your competitors. Study customer-based keywords as well to find high-performing keywords for your products.
Use only specific and relevant keywords for your promoted products. Keywords should match the products on your listings.
- Plan your budget.
When you’ve just started in business, money is a crucial and vital issue.
Ads will help you reach new customers and boost sales, but you need to set your budget properly because the cost can add up easily. Make sure that the money you spend on your ad is far lower than the money that returns from it.
- Create a compelling, intriguing, yet fact-based ad with a call to action.
There’s not much information you can add to your ad. Yet, you have to create clear, comprehensive, and compelling copies that are creative yet truthful.
Otherwise, you’ll get famous on social sites for being a fraud and your seller rating will dip. Also, do not forget about the call-to-action like “Buy now!” or “Get this for as low as…” which help buyers decide what to do next after seeing the information on your ad.
- Select a bidding strategy and set a strong bid for specific ad groups.
A manual bidding strategy allows you to be more in control of your ads so you can customize the keywords you’ll use.
An automated strategy sets the keywords for you based on organic searches from customers and reduces the time you spend in managing your campaigns.
On the other hand, setting a strong bid not only secures an ad spot for you but also allows you to reach an optimal level for your next bids.
- Test your ads, experiment, and analyze the performance of your campaigns.
Your first try is not always your best try. Do not be frustrated. A killer strategy requires time, research, and, sometimes, a whole lot of experience to determine what works best for your business.
Try the different ad types or mix them together and see what works best for your products and business. Use the metrics and reports provided by each ad type to analyze the performance of your campaigns.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Who can use the Amazon PPC ad campaigns?
Both vendors and sellers avail of the Amazon PPC ads. But there are certain criteria for each ad type. For Sponsored Products, you need to be a Professional seller or a KDP author with products in stock and in the Buy Box. For Sponsored Brands, you need to be a professional seller or KDP author registered to Amazon Brand Registry. Lastly, Sponsored Display requires a professional seller with products in stock and registered to Amazon Brand Registry.
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What are the metrics to measure the success of your campaign?
Each ad type provides metrics and downloadable reports that let you see and analyze your campaign performance. But you can also determine the success of your ad campaign through the traffic you receive in your store or landing page after the campaign is launched. You can also check your conversion rate, and of course, the most obvious determinant is an increase in your promoted products’ sales or sales in general.
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How much does an Amazon PPC campaign cost?
It depends on how much budget you set for your ad. Yes, in other words, you are in control of how much you spend. You’ll only pay after a customer clicks on your ad. You can calculate your Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS) by dividing your ad spend by the direct sales that come from your campaign.
Conclusion
The first quarter of 2021 shows a record of more than 75 million products available on the Amazon platform. With so many products to choose from, it can be quite overwhelming for your visitors.
Honestly, in Amazon, or in any search engine for that matter, you’d always try to check on the products that appear on your search results or on the most visible or most visited parts of the site.
That’s why as sellers, you need to make an effort to become visible to your audience. One way to do that is to boost your brand and products through Amazon PPC.
Of course, the ad types will offer different results for your business, but you can first try one or mix and match to find out what works best for your business.
At the end of the day, it’s all about finding the best strategy to establish your brand, amplify your sales, or achieve your other business goals.
To know more about Amazon PPC and other Amazon Essentials, read more on Sellers Planet.
