INTRODUCTION
According to a report by EMarketer, Amazon is now the third largest digital ad seller in the United States, behind Google and Facebook. It estimates that U.S. advertisers spent $4.61 billion on the platform last year and predicts that number to increase significantly by 2020.
Furthermore, there are more than 560 million product listings in the U.S. alone. For retailers selling products on Amazon, it means finding ways to make products stand out.
Following are some tips on how your retail store or business can advertise products on Amazon and further promote them through external channels.
HOW TO ADVERTISE ON AMAZON
Amazon offers a variety of ways to advertise products on its platform. If you’re just starting out or you have a limited budget, Sponsored Products is the best option. This type of ad can help improve visibility of your individual products by displaying them in Amazon search results and on product pages.
To be eligible, your product(s) must fall into one of Amazon’s eligible advertising categories, and you must be registered as a professional seller, a vendor or a book vendor. In addition, your product(s) must have the Buy
If you meet the criteria, you can begin by logging into your Amazon Seller Central Account and selecting “Advertising” > “Campaign Manager” from the main dashboard and clicking “Create Campaign.” From there, you will name your campaign and set your budget and date range.
You will then have the option to choose automatic targeting or manual targeting. While automatic targeting pulls information from your product page to determine when to display ads, manual targeting gives you more control over your campaign by allowing you to select the appropriate keywords to target (and the ones to avoid).
Once you continue to the next step, you will be able to pick the product(s) you wish to promote and decide how much you want to bid for clicks (e.g. how much you are willing to spend per click). Amazon will display suggested bids to give you an idea of what’s appropriate.
However, the more competitive your bid is compared to similar products, the more prominently your Sponsored Product will be displayed. In other words, products with higher bids are more likely to appear higher in the search results when an Amazon customer enters the corresponding keywords.
The platform’s pay-per-click (PPC) model ensures you will only get charged when someone actually clicks on your product. All impressions, or views, are free.
Other ways to promote your product(s) on Amazon include:
- Sponsored Brands and Stores–both require a trademark and enrollment in the Amazon Brand Registry
- Display ads, video ads and Amazon DSP (demand-side platform)–these typically require a minimum spend of $35,000
- Discount deals or promotions, such as a limited time sale price–many of these are free to run
HOW TO MARKET YOUR AMAZON PRODUCT ON EXTERNAL CHANNELS
Off-Amazon marketing should be used to drive users from other online channels to your Amazon product page. This can be done through paid advertising or with organic (e.g. non-paid) efforts.
For example, you can launch a Google Ads campaign to target individuals searching for
Facebook and Instagram advertising is another popular route to take. On these platforms, you can target individuals by their location, demographics and interests, or you can create a custom audience or a lookalike audience based on information you already have about your customers.
Plus, you can set your own budget, designate a date range and make adjustments as you go. Since Facebook and Instagram are linked, you are able to create one campaign that runs on both platforms.
Google and Facebook/Instagram ads can be linked directly to your Amazon product page; however, it is typically better to create a landing page on your website, which then prompts people to purchase the product on Amazon. That way, you can funnel your targets and send only the customers who are most likely to convert to your product page. This will help keep your product in good standing with Amazon. Remember, conversion rate is one of the factors for Amazon SEO.
In addition, you are able to install Google Analytics and Facebook pixels on your landing page so you can see how many people clicked through to your Amazon product page. Amazon itself does not track the source of external traffic.
If you don’t have the budget to run more ads, you can supplement your On-Amazon marketing with organic social media posts that link back to your product page, or through other methods, such as a blog or e-newsletter.