Successful PPC Killer Campaigns – How to Run Amazon Sponsored Ads

Whether you want to establish your brand’s image or extend your reach, Amazon Sponsored Ads is one of the most effective ways to do it.

Blog Overview

Electronic shopping had been around for more or less a golden jubilee. But last year gave way to the dramatic change in the digital selling and shopping scene. With customers’ preferences and behavior continuously leaning towards mobile and online shopping, brick-and-mortar stores and startups are shifting and establishing their presence online. 22% of the global retail sales in 2023 would be from e-commerce, according to Statista. As an entrepreneur in the e-commerce business, you might want to get the optimum benefit of this opportunity.

What Are Amazon Sponsored Ads?

When you start your e-commerce business on Amazon, you can either use your Amazon customer account or create an Amazon Seller Central account to start selling. Vendors can create their accounts via the Amazon Vendor Central. Both Amazon Seller Central and Vendor Central are platforms or interfaces used to sell products in the Amazon marketplace. The difference is that vendors are first-party sellers who act as distributors or suppliers, while merchants on Seller Central are third-party sellers. As you list new products in your store, you will want to raise awareness about your new products. You may also want to bring more attention to your brand if it’s still new. This is where Amazon Sponsored Ads come in. 

From the word itself, sponsored ads are advertisements of your products or brands which expose them to potential customers and Amazon shoppers. Product sponsored ads are, in fact, an example of low funnel marketing where prospective customers become the target of your ads, and there is an expected action from them like purchasing your product. Brand sponsored ads, on the other hand, are high funnel advertising where potential customers become aware of your brand. These particular to-be-converted customers are shoppers looking for products that are the same as what you offer. They may also be shoppers with unchecked-out items on their cart.  

How Do Amazon Sponsored Ads Work?

Sponsored products and brands appear on product pages and shopping results when online shoppers search for the products they want or plan to buy. They target keyword searches and appear the same as an organic search result of a product or brand. The only difference that sponsored ads have from organic results is the gray-colored “Sponsored” word above the product title or at the far right of a set of products featured from your brand. Sponsored Ads appear when online shoppers viewed the product detail pages of similar products you also offer or when shoppers viewed your product details in the last 30 days. 

You can read more on this blog: How Does Amazon Paid Search Work?

Why is Amazon Sponsored Ads Important for Your Brand?

1. It expands your reach.

Sponsored Amazon ads, whether products, brand, display, or store, helps you become discoverable and more visible in the online marketplace. It ensures that not only your current customer base sees what you offer but also any and every shopper looking for products that are similar to what you sell. It puts your product in front of shoppers who may become customers and loyal patrons of your brand.

2. It increases your chances for conversion.

Setting up advertising campaigns for your brand and products promotes them to Amazon shoppers, making them discoverable. Thus, increasing your chances for conversion. Conversion means visitors of your page or store completed a desired action like following your store or buying from your store. Sponsored advertisements prompt shoppers and potential customers to accomplish desired actions like checking out your product and ultimately making a purchase. 

3. It helps build brand image and establish customer trust.

When your brand and/or products are always visible in people’s Amazon searches, it helps with their retention of your brand. The more your brand retains to their memory, the easier it is for them to trust your brand. When people also see that you’re investing time and money to promote your brand and products, it makes you more legitimate in your customers’ eyes. It helps them trust you more. 

4. It helps you rank higher on Amazon searches.

Amazon rank, much like Google rank, is determining how high your products or brand appear in the search results when shoppers search for items similar to what you sell. Sponsored ads’ ultimate purpose is to sell your products. More sales mean a higher Amazon sales ranking. More sales give you the opportunity to be featured in Amazon Bestsellers which will give more conversion and make your brand more visible and more trusted.

5. It makes you aware of issues in your product, price, or other sales concerns.

This fifth point is related to conversion but is vital, nonetheless. When you set up sponsored ads, but conversion is very low, that doesn’t necessarily mean the ad is not working. It might be reaching the target audience, but the product is no longer in trend, or there might be other issues with your product. It might also reveal other weak points of your brand like keywords used in product details, clarity of image or description, customer reviews, and many others.

How to Run Amazon Sponsored Ads: Setting Up your Amazon Sponsored Ads Campaign

There are two different ways to successfully run amazon sponsored ads. You can set up a Sponsored Product Ads campaign and a Sponsored Brand Campaign. Below are your easy-to-follow guides for the two.

Running Amazon Sponsored Product Ads Campaign

1. Log in to your Amazon Seller Central account.
2. On the Campaign Manager page, go to the Sponsored Products tab and click the Create campaign button below it.
3. Input your campaign name, daily budget, and campaign duration. 
4. Lastly, decide whether you’ll run automatic targeting or manual targeting and click the button of your choosing. 

Note that automatic targeting uses product information to target the ads to all relevant customer searches. On the other hand, manual targeting uses keywords that you set on your own and lets ads appear when customer searches match the keywords you set. It’s also important to note that you have to carefully consider your Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS) to ensure the success of your campaign. 

Running Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads Campaign

Sponsored Brands Ad uses the Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising model like Sponsored Product Ad. It means that the advertiser pays a fee to Amazon for every click by a shopper on the ad. 

Sponsored Brands have three distinct formats: Product Collection, Store Spotlight, and Video. Every one of these requires different strategies to work effectively for your brand. They also appear on top, within, and below search results as well as on Product Detail pages.

Here are the eligibility requirements to purchase a Sponsored Brand Ads:

• Be brand-registered
• Have a true brand logo
• Sell product from eligible category
• Have at least 3 products of the same brand
• Able to ship to all US addresses

To create a Sponsored Brand Campaign:

1. Log in to your Amazon Seller Central account.
2. Click the Campaign Manager and select the Headline Search Ads (Sponsored Brand) tab.
3. Click on Create a Campaign.
4. Select an ad landing page.
5. Set campaign name, budget, and duration.
6. Add keywords and bids.
7. Add headline and image.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

If you are a beginner in e-commerce, Amazon Sponsored Ads is a good way to build awareness for the brand and establish its spot in a continuously evolving competitive digital landscape. Likewise, it is a good way to strengthen and scale an existing e-commerce business. With so much competition out there, it’s a good way to position your brand and show your unique selling point to a wider audience.