Amazon Marketing Services or AMS is Amazon’s advertising platform that allows sellers to reach potential customers and increase sales as a result. While Amazon is popular with buyers thanks to its simplicity, its advertising wing can be more difficult for sellers to figure out. This is especially true for smaller and newer businesses that are trying to get their names out there, make an impression, and eventually get some sales!
Thankfully, we have created this beginner’s guide to Amazon Marketing Services to teach you how to effectively navigate and utilize this platform.
Why Advertise on Amazon?
Many people consider Google to be the place to be when it comes to digital advertising. However, Amazon is quickly becoming a legitimate competitor! In fact, Amazon is actually starting to outperform Google in terms of search intent, with 55% of Internet users going straight to Amazon to find the products they need.
Furthermore, the sheer reach of Amazon is nothing short of impressive, with more than 300 million daily users who are actively searching for products to buy. Why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of a platform with such a huge customer base?
Many newer or smaller businesses assume that they can’t afford to advertise on huge platforms like Amazon, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! Amazon advertising is very cost-effective, as you pay for clicks rather than impressions. You also have the option to set campaign budget limits as low as $1.
As you can see, all businesses, large and small, should be advertising on Amazon.
Different Types of Amazon Ads
Not all advertising on Amazon is the same. In fact, there are several different types of advertisement formats to choose from based on your budget, goals, target customer, etc.
- Sponsored Product Advertisements: This type of advertisement allows your products to stand out amongst seemingly limitless options when someone searches for a specific keyword. A sponsored product advertisement can appear at the top of the search results, in the middle, at the bottom, or on a product detail page. It gives you a big advantage over competitors that show up lower on the page or on other pages altogether, as people are less likely to scroll that far when a great sponsored product is featured first.
Sellers are charged for this type of advertisement based on how many people actually click on the product. Sellers can set a campaign budget and duration for each advertisement — so there’s really no way to overspend here. In fact, the minimum budget is just $1, making it great for smaller companies who are just trying to get their products out there without it costing them an arm and a leg.
- Sponsored Brand Advertisements: Previously referred to as “Headline Search Advertisements,” this type of advertisement allows you to advertise your brand either with specific products or a catchy graphic. When someone clicks on your sponsored brand advertisement, they are taken to your website or a custom Amazon landing page created for your brand. A sponsored brand advertisement can appear at the top, to the left, and at the bottom of the search results.
Sellers are charged for this type of advertisement based on how many people actually click on the product — with a minimum cost of $0.10 per click. The minimum campaign budget for this type of advertisement is higher than sponsored product advertisements at $100. That said, this is still a realistic and attainable amount for smaller or newer brands trying to increase brand awareness.
- Sponsored Display Advertisements: This type of advertisement features your products alongside competing or complimentary products right below the buy box. This type of advertisement allows you to potentially steal away customers who were about to buy a competing product! Additionally, it can be beneficial for brand awareness purposes as well by effectively tying your brand with big-name competitors that have reach and reputation.
When it comes to sponsored display advertisements, you can either utilize product targeting or interest targeting. Like the other types of advertisements mentioned, sponsored display advertisements are pay-per-click, with a minimum per-click cost of $0.02. And like sponsored brand advertisements, the minimum campaign budget for sponsored display advertising campaigns is $100.
- Amazon Stores: This service through AMS allows you to create and customize a brand page within Amazon’s platform so that customers can easily view and shop your specific products without having to leave the platform. Amazon Stores makes it easier and more appealing for customers to buy from you. Amazon Stores also allows you to build up your brand image and awareness by creating an appealing and informative brand page that’s effectively endorsed by Amazon.
This service is free for sellers, so there’s no excuse not to utilize it! In fact, it also provides you with valuable information such as daily visitors, page views, and store-generated sales that you can easily use to your advantage.
How to Effectively Advertise on Amazon?
There’s really no use knowing everything about Amazon Marketing Services if you don’t also know how to use it to your advantage. So here are some tips and tricks that you can use to effectively advertise on Amazon and really get the most bang for your buck:
- Know your keywords: As you now know, Amazon advertising is largely based on keywords. So if you aren’t using the right keywords, you aren’t going to be very successful. But how can you figure out which keywords you want to target? Perhaps the best way is to start with the basics. What are you selling? But you shouldn’t stop there. You can actually incorporate your competitors into your keyword targeting to increase brand awareness.
- Figure out your strategy: There’s nothing worse than randomly and aimlessly placing advertisements all over the place with no real strategy. So before you start bidding on and placing your advertisements, you need to figure out a strategy.
Who are you trying to reach? What do they want to see? What are they searching for? Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Are you trying to convert sales? Are you looking to re-target customers? From there, you can place your advertisements based on a solid game plan and end up getting better results.
- Work with experts: Effectively advertising on Amazon can easily feel like a full-time job when you’re trying to figure out everything on your own. The good news is that you don’t have to do it all on your own! Instead, you can reach out to experts who actually work in marketing and advertising as a full-time job. For example, Greg Gillman has helped his clients generate nearly $4 billion in annual revenue as a result of his expertise.
Conclusion
As you can see, Amazon Marketing Services is something that your brand should definitely be utilizing in order to reach more people and convert more sales. However, it’s understandable that this realm can be overwhelming for beginners — but it doesn’t have to be! Instead of spending your valuable time worrying about marketing, you can trust experts like Greg Gillman to handle the entire process from start to finish.
Sources:
Amazon – Statistics & Facts | Statista
To Convert More Customers, Focus On Brand Awareness | Forbes
4 Keyword Search Strategies to Grow Your Business | Entrepreneur
