Let’s be honest – not investing in advertising on Amazon and hoping your products will somehow miraculously pop up in your potential customers’ search results isn’t exactly the best sales strategy. Especially if you bear in mind that there are almost 2 million active sellers on the world’s biggest ecommerce platform. The odds that someone will stumble upon your store are extremely slim, bordering on non-existent. 

So, the question isn’t whether you should start with paid advertising on Amazon but rather how to make the most of it. Just like a standard operating procedure streamlines things on the back end and is essential for the growth of your business, having an Amazon advertising strategy will  work on the frontend and amplify your sales.

Let’s see what your first steps should be and how to maximize your presence, visibility, sales, and profit with Amazon advertising. 

How Does Amazon Advertising Work? 

Amazon uses the PPC advertising model, which means that you pay a fee when a prospect clicks on your ad, regardless of whether they purchase anything from you. 

It’s worth mentioning that Amazon also has its own search engine, A9, meaning that you can also leverage organic advertising. But don’t try to prioritize this seemingly free tactic over paid advertising, as the two have a symbiotic relationship.

The ultimate goal of the platform is to provide shoppers with the best possible experience by showing them the most relevant, best-selling, and highest-rated products. 

In other words, the better your paid advertising campaign performs in terms of conversions, the higher your products will rank in organic searches. 

What Types of Ads Does Amazon Offer? 

There are three main types of Amazon Ads: 

1. Sponsored Product Ads 

This is the most commonly used type of ad on the platform, and it’s recommended to start your Amazon Advertising efforts with Sponsored Product Ads.

Sponsored Product Ads are displayed on Amazon search result pages along with organic listings and in carousels on product detail pages. They target specific keywords, thus increasing the visibility of the product you want to promote.  

Useful tip: Choose highly rated products with lots of positive reviews, as these perform best in search results. Also, Amazon automatically generates the ad using your organic listings, so make sure to optimize the copy for SEO and use high-quality images if you want it to look good and rank well.

2. Sponsored Brand Ads

Sponsored Brand Ads are also keyword-targeted, but unlike Sponsored Product Ads, they advertise more than one product. These ads are displayed above organic search listings and sponsored product ads. 

Amazon users are shown Sponsored Brand Ads when they’re searching for a particular brand name. 

You can customize the headline, visuals, and landing page of your Sponsored Brand Ad and choose which three products will be featured. 

Useful tip: Impressions are the best metric for measuring the performance of your Sponsored Brand campaigns. In addition to driving sales, these ads also aim to raise brand awareness and improve customer loyalty. Analyze reports by sorting impressions and identifying top-performing keywords.  

3. Sponsored Display Ads

Sponsored Display Ads are different than the previous two types of ads. They don’t target keywords but interest, demographics, products, events, or lifestyles. Another essential difference is that these ads are used to promote your products on other relevant websites as well as on Amazon.   

Their main goal is to upsell and cross-sell to your customers and stay top-of-mind with consumers who never completed a transaction at checkout. 

Display Ads are shown on: 

• product detail pages (PDPs)
• review pages
• cart abandonment, recommendation, and follow-up emails
• above offers on the product listings page
• to the right or at the bottom of search pages

Useful tip: To measure how your Display Ads campaign performs, use reporting tools that will give you insight into the number of clicks, Detail Page views, and conversions, how much you spent, the advertising cost of sales, and the average cost per click, to name just a few metrics. 

All this can be overwhelming for a beginner, so consider hiring an Amazon  PPC management agency to help you make the most of your advertising dollars. 

Tips for Optimizing Your Amazon PPC Campaigns 

Now that you know more about Amazon PPC campaign types and how they work, it’s time to learn how to optimize them. 

1. Craft Compelling Ad Copy 

Make sure your ad copy is clear and concise but highly specific, and this particularly refers to your product title. As the character count is limited to 60, try to cram as much information as possible. 

Some of the things you can include in the product title include the size, color, material, key feature, quantity, or package. 

It’s also crucial to capture the attention of your potential customers by leveraging a sense of urgency. To achieve this, highlight a promotion, discount, or another incentive in the copy. 

2. Use High-Quality Images on Your PDP

Include more than one image to show your product from different perspectives. 

Since customers can’t see or touch the product in person, help them visualize it by making your images zoomable. When you upload images that are 1,000 pixels in height and width, the automatic zoom feature is enabled. 

3. Create Video Ads

Recent research from Wyzowl shows that 78% of people have been convinced to purchase a product after watching a brand’s video. 

This format is significantly more engaging than text or static images, and using video in Sponsored Brand Ads will allow you to showcase your brand and products. However, to make your video ads more impactful, communicate your brand message and share relevant product details by adding text. 

4. Use Negative Keywords  

Negative keywords on Amazon allow you to prevent your ad from showing up in irrelevant or unprofitable searches. 

In other words, by using negative keywords, you ensure your ads will be displayed only in high-intent searches. For example, if you’re selling regular speakers, you should use a negative keyword to restrict your ads from being displayed in search results for Bluetooth speakers. 

This way, you won’t waste money on ads that won’t perform well and bring you high-quality traffic. 

Wrapping up

Advertising your products and brand on Amazon is a make-it-or-break-it factor for the success of your store on this platform. Although you shouldn’t spread yourself too thin, the best results can be achieved if you mix different types of ads and identify the best-performing tactic that works for your business.