Choosing the right sales channels for your brand allows you to reach potential customers on platforms they already prefer, and in today’s fast-paced, one-click e-commerce world, PPC sales channels are a proven method of driving traffic and boosting
conversions. While PPC ads are commonly associated with Google campaigns, Amazon PPC has emerged as another proven option. If your business is looking to align its media strategy with a pay-per-click platform, it’s worth considering Amazon
as a potential paid search ads option.
Amazon PPC: Will It Work for Your Brand?
LEAP media experts have witnessed firsthand how expanding your PPC media strategy to include Amazon can help boost visibility and sales on e-commerce platforms. Currently one of the largest online advertising channels, Amazon PPC gives brands the opportunity
to place products in front of consumers who are highly motivated to purchase. But today’s savvy consumers don’t have the time or patience to scroll endlessly through pages of products on e-commerce platforms…and that’s where
implementing an Amazon PPC media strategy can give your brand a boost.
If you are already familiar with the Google Ads platform, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that Amazon PPC functions quite similarly. Amazon offers the same bids, ad types and ad ranking features as Google. Both platforms also use exact, phrase and broad keyword searches, as well as keyword variants, to target potential customers. Amazon offers outstanding product and automatic targeting capabilities, as well as lower competition and higher conversion rates. While Google users can design responsive search ads, Amazon users can benefit from responsive ecommerce capabilities. To top it off, Amazon offers some of the most affordable CPC ad options, with most ads ranging from $0.20 to $6 per click. In short, both platforms offer outstanding pay-per-click functionality...so how can you start to align your media strategy and business goals with Amazon PPC? By using data and analytics to make the most of Amazon’s ad features.
How To Create a Strong Amazon PPC Media Strategy
Ad campaigns are only as successful as the data and analytics behind them. Even the cleanest copy and catchiest headlines won’t drive sales if you aren’t also maximizing ad metrics. If you’ve already registered your business with the
Amazon Brand Registry, you can take your marketing to the next level with the following Amazon PPC optimization strategies:
- Group products with similar features and prices. If
you create multiple ad campaigns for every product you sell and run them all separately, your ads may end up competing with one another for ad space. Instead, you can protect your budget and increase product and brand awareness by grouping similar
variations of your products that sell at similar price points together in package deals under one unique Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). Conversely, any unique or higher-priced products should be promoted separately to protect your
overall ACoS.
- Research and track longtail, solutions-focused keywords. To lower competition and cost-per-click, research the top keywords associated with your products and identify which keywords consumers might use when searching for a product
that solves their problem. Focus on the keywords that are already converting well and don’t chase broad or top-level search terms. Start with longtail keywords to gain SERP visibility and traffic, and gradually work your way up to higher-level
keywords as your ROI and ad budget increases.
- Avoid unmotivated buyers with negative keyword matching. While researching and targeting high-performing keywords is necessary to any successful ad campaign, using Amazon’s negative keyword matching tool will help improve the
algorithm and ensure that your ads are not displayed to unmotivated consumers in irrelevant product searches.
- Let placement reports determine bids. Amazon provides campaign analytics that show you which placement of your ads are performing best, specifically in the areas of exposure and conversions. If, for example, ads that you’ve
placed on product pages lead to the most conversions, you can adjust your placement bidding to funnel more of your ad spend to this placement.
- Increase product sales with Product Targeting ads. Amazon PPC allows users to create product targeting ads, which displays products with similar ASINs on the same pages. By researching and targeting high-performing product ASINs that
resemble your under-performing ASINs, you can easily boost consumer exposure to your lowest-selling products. Essentially you are using competitors’ listings—or your own top-performing listings—to increase exposure and sales
for lower-performing products.
- Consider leveraging Sponsored Products or Headline Search ads. One of the best ways to spend your Amazon PPC budget could be on Sponsored Products or Headline Search ads, which target shopping queries and place your ads directly in
front of consumers who search specific keywords. Sponsored Product ads show up at the top, right, or bottom of customer search results pages, while Headline Ads run at the very top of the screen on both mobile and desktop devices.
- Allow ads time to gather data. We know it can be tempting to run ad reports quickly and often on new campaigns to make sure performance and ad spend are optimized but remember that every campaign needs time to generate consumer awareness.
Consider allowing new campaigns to run for a minimum of two weeks before adjusting keywords, bids or budgets.
As a strategic media agency, we understand that exploring sales channel options is a crucial step in building and reaching your marketing goals. Our team of marketing experts thrive on creating media strategies and pay-per-click campaigns on sales channels
that best fit our clients’ needs. If your business needs support developing an effective media strategy that increases exposure, boosts sales, and ultimately grows your brand’s market share, connect with the LEAP Amp team to learn more.