You don’t need to hire a specialist to run an effective Amazon Advertising campaign. Take 7 minutes to read this article and learn about all the subtleties that will help you achieve the desired result.
Advertising on Amazon is very similar to advertising on Google, although it has its own peculiarities. Without going into details, in both cases, the advertiser pays for the action performed – a “click”, i.e., following a link to the website/product page. This model is called PPC.
Many people think that Amazon Ads ads are displayed only inside the site, but this is not the case. Ads in the Sponsored Display format appear on Twitch, IMDb, other third-party websites, and even in apps.
Moreover, Amazon has recently allowed those who are not platform sellers to use the Advertising feature. At the time of writing, this feature is still in BETA, but is already available to everyone: “from car sellers to pizzerias”.
So, there are 3 types of ads on Amazon: Sponsored Display (which we have already mentioned), Sponsored Products (for individual products), and Brands (ads to increase brand awareness).
An example of Display ads. These ads can appear in the form of dynamic blocks in search results or as promotions on product pages.
But the Sponsored Display format is more popular among beginners and small business owners. Your potential customers will see it in keyword search results. The advertised products have a label, but it is so organic and invisible that many people do not even suspect that they are clicking on a paid ad.
An example of a search result for “smartwatch for men”. In marketing, the term “keyword” is used instead of “query”.
This format works based on keywords and seller’s bids. In other words, the payment for PPC is set as a result of competitive bids.
Advertisers set their own CPC, and the system gives the display space to the one who makes the most favorable offer. However, the winner ultimately pays not at the upper limit, but at the previous bid + 1 cent.
Example:
Seller 1 (P1) is willing to pay $1
P2 is ready to pay $2
П3 – $3.
The winner is P3 as the highest bidder, but in fact, he will pay at the rate of his closest competitor P2: $2 + 1 cent.
In fact, the Amazon Advertising Service is such a modern and well-thought-out platform that it has long since eliminated the need for sellers to collect keywords. Of course, the ability to manually customize the PPC remains, but more and more advertisers prefer to entrust it to automatic targeting – when the system independently collects and analyzes the words by which your target audience is searching for a product.
In this case, ads can be shown on the pages of additional products and for keywords that have distant matches.
For example: your product is a printed hoodie.
Keyword match level | Who can see the product |
Close/direct | Those who search for the product by the direct query “hoodie”, as well as by the words “sweater”, “sweatshirt”, etc. |
Distant | Those who are interested in “oversized clothing” or “warm clothes with a hood”. |
Substitute | Those who are looking for something like “printed T-shirt”, i.e. a product that is part of the clothing niche, has a common feature (print), but is not an analog. |
Complementary | Your printed hoodie can be shown as a cross-merchandise (complementary). For example, with shorts and jeans. |
You can also find “negative segmentation” in the settings, i.e., exclude keys, brands, or products with which you do not want to associate your product. However, these are the subtleties of marketing campaigns, which are often not so important for beginners.
Another advantage of Amazon Ads is that you will find a large section of educational information on the platform: guides, workshops, and success stories. However, we recommend that you start practicing right away and try your hand at the Learning Console.
The Learning Console is a short course that will teach you how to work with bids, budgets, ad types, and generally, will allow you to understand the intricacies of setting up your ads and marketing wisdom. Moreover, after completing the training, you will receive a certificate confirming your knowledge.
However, entrepreneurs do not always have time to take on another task. And let’s be honest: not all RCs will be successful, and those who do it for the first time without enough experience are especially at risk. That’s why we remind you that our marketing department is ready to run your PPC in Amazon Ads (and beyond) with a guaranteed result.