If you have yet to utilize the services offered by Amazon Advertising, you are missing out on some great opportunities to grow your product’s awareness within your product niche and beyond. For some time, Amazon has offered PPC ads on its own site for sellers willing to bid more than their competitors for prime advertisement placement.
Now, Amazon’s advertising branch offers much more than simply placing ads on the top or sidebar of the page. For more information on Amazon advertising strategies and options, check out The Ultimate Guide to Amazon Advertising and Marketing below:
Most of the Amazon Advertising options use a cost-per-click (CPC) bidding structure, which allows ads to be shown at no charge to the advertiser (or seller, in this case). Ad impressions and views are free to you, and you are only charged when a customer clicks on the ad. Also, you have control over the amount you bid for your ad; however, it should be noted that the more you bid, the more likely it is that your ad will appear to customers over competing ads.
Sponsored ads like the Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands ad types use the CPC model for Amazon advertising.
Additionally, Amazon has introduced a new slew of advertising options for sellers to utilize in their marketing plans to reach new customers and spread awareness of their products into related niches. Amazon Advertising offers the following reinvigorated services:
Sponsored Products
Sponsored Products advertisements are probably the most familiar style of Amazon advertising as they appear much like any other product ad you might see on Google, Bing, or any of the ad-friendly traffic source. This kind of ad is typically exclusive to Amazon and appear in the search results and on product pages for the keywords you are targeting.
Your sponsored product ads can be displayed at the top of a search results page, on the side of a product listing, or somewhere in between. By appearing in prominent spots, your product will receive increased visibility by your ideal customers and help to grow your product’s sales. Depending on the device customers use (desktop or mobile), your ad placement may appear differently.
PRO TIP: While most sellers are able to bid for Sponsored Products ads, products must be indexed in one or more of Amazon’s eligible categories and be eligible for the Buy Box.
Sponsored Brands
Sponsored Brands advertisements expand on the Sponsored Products ads, evangelizing your Amazon brand presence as a whole instead of just a single product offering. With these types of ads, you can include your brand logo, a customized headline, and up to three of your products. These ads most often appear on the top search result pages for keywords you are targeting and maintain the appearance of a banner ad.
Just like Sponsored Products ads, your product will receive increased visibility by your ideal customer base and help to grow your product’s sales by appearing in a highly visible area of the webpage. Bidding for these ad types function much in the same way as Sponsored Products in that the higher you bid, the more likely your ad is to appear in relevant searches.
Stores
Stores are an interesting update to the standard seller storefront. These Amazon pages help to promote your brand and products with a customized multi-page storefront at no cost to you. Your Amazon Store allows you to direct customers to a personalized Amazon.com URL within Amazon with full-size images to help you showcase your brand story and products.
One of the best perks of using Stores is that you can design it without coding. Much like Wix or Squarespace, you can drag and drop tiles wherever you want or use predesigned templates to create your own multi-page Amazon Store. Also, your ads can be placed beyond Amazon to direct customers right to your Store.
If you are curious as to how your Store is performing in terms of converting visitors, Store insights provide a variety of useful analytics to measure your Store’s performance. You can view information such as daily visitors, page views, and sales revenue generated by your Store. Additionally, you can add a special tag to your Store’s URL to analyze traffic sources when performing external marketing activities.
PRO TIP: While Stores are free to create and you are not required to advertise on Amazon to create one, you MUST be a brand owner who sells products on Amazon. Brand owners must have a registered and active trademark submitted to the Amazon Brand Registry to be eligible for a Store.
Display Ads
Display Ads should be very familiar to you since they appear as banner ads you have seen on almost every webpage you have ever visited, but with a special Amazon twist. These types of ads come in a variety of formats and deliver your customized message to customers on and off Amazon. You can use your own creative text to build your Display ad or let Amazon build your ad for you with an auto-generation format.
What is crucial about Display ads is their ability to inspire customers to take action and click your link to be taken wherever you want them to go, whether it is your product listing, your Store, a specific landing page just for this campaign, or a website beyond Amazon. Display ads will also be eligible to show up on all of Amazon’s websites, apps, and devices. Your ads are put on the most relevant pages according to your keywords to reach the right audiences on and off Amazon.
PRO TIP: If you are a Self-service Amazon DSP user, you can buy ad space and manage your own campaign. However, if you want Amazon’s help with managing your display campaign, you can opt to work with the company’s ad consultants. Amazon’s managed-service option requires you to spend a minimum of $35,000 on your display ad campaign. Additionally, Display ads are offered through a CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) model, so prices can vary depending on the format you choose and the placement of your Display ads.
Video Ads
Video Ads are the new breed of advertising that every business wants, and so now Amazon is offering video marketing for its sellers and other businesses. These types of ads are able to spread awareness of your products and brand through a high-definition video that can be displayed on all Amazon websites, devices, and sites beyond Amazon.
Video ads hold a power greater than most other types of ads in that they can tell a story, demo a product, or serve as a highlight reel of the best features of your product. Your brand message can be as powerful as you want when adding picture and sound. Clickable video ads can also take customers to your product listing, storefront, business website, or another custom landing page.
PRO TIP: If you are a self-service Amazon DSP user, you can buy and manage your own video campaign. However, if you want Amazon’s help with managing your video campaign, you can opt to work with the company’s ad consultants. Amazon’s managed-service option requires you to spend a minimum of $35,000 on your display ad campaign. Pricing for video ads varies depending on format and placement.
Custom Ads
Custom Ads add an innovative new layer for presenting your products and your brand that’s not possible with run-of-the-mill advertising. This Amazon Ad type allows you to create brand new experiences for your customers in the form of entertaining information delivery.
These custom advertisements can exist as experiences on any scale, including advertising on Amazon boxes, whole web pages through Amazon, and interactive activities on your mobile device. Amazon’s ad consultants can work with you to create an experience tailored to your target audience to be engaging and fun.
Amazon DSP
Amazon DSP is different from the other Amazon advertising options on this list in that it’s a “demand-side platform” that allows sellers and non-sellers to buy display and video ads on a regular basis. This system allows users of the service to target specific audiences with a level of exclusivity both on and off Amazon.
Audiences can be reached by Amazon-owned sites and apps as well as top publisher sites through direct inventory from Amazon Publisher Services and third-party exchanges. Amazon also provides brand safeguards that utilize both Amazon and third-party protection such as manual site reviews and real-time bid evaluation.
PRO TIP: Self-service and managed-service options are offered by Amazon DSP. If you choose self-service, you retain full control of your Amazon advertising campaigns and pay no management fees.
However, if you opt-in for the managed-service option, Amazon support staff will help you manage your campaigns. Managed-service users will gain access to Amazon DSP inventory with white glove service and receive programmatic assistance. Please note that the managed-service option requires a minimum advertisement investment of $35,000.
Do you have more questions or experience using the Amazon Advertising services? Share your story with us in the comments!
Original post from Amazon Advertising: 7 Powerful Marketing Options for Sellers – Helium 10
