Read our Ultimate Amazon Marketing Playbook for a complete guide on the top marketing and advertising strategies to grow your brand presence and sales on Amazon.
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You’ve gone to all the hard work of creating your product listings. Now is the time to ensure customers see them while beating out other competitors using Amazon display advertising. What are Amazon display ads? This form of paid advertising places your product in various places on and off the marketplace—it allows you to show your ad to customers who have previously viewed your product or similar products.
Amazon display and other forms of Amazon advertising are a driving force for improving sales success. In fact, it is reported that sponsored ads on Amazon convert at 3x the rate of those listed on the Google Shopping platform. At SupplyKick, we’ve found that Amazon Advertising strategies can increase sales by up to 50% depending on your budget and other variables.
Successfully using paid Amazon advertising strategies is often the difference between sellers that make a profit and those that don’t. However, using Amazon advertising features, such as Sponsored Display Ads, takes knowledge and skill. We’ll dive into that more in the next section.
There’s no doubt that Amazon display ads are incredibly exciting for sellers who would like to target customers both on and off Amazon. Formerly known as Amazon Product Display, Amazon Sponsored Display gives power to sellers and agencies who want to expand their reach using easy to manage, self-service display advertising.
Sponsored Display Ads (SPAs) are cost-per-click (CPC) ads that allow sellers to engage relevant audiences who are in the mindset of browsing, discovering, or purchasing products by placing their ad in front of those who have previously been on that listing, or a similar product's listing. At SupplyKick, we’ve found the CPC to be much cheaper than other types of Amazon ads, at almost half the CPC of Sponsored Products.
With Sponsored Display, advertisers can target consumers on the audience (searches, views, purchases) or product (individual product, category) level. Here’s a breakdown of what each of these targeting capabilities mean:
Where do Sponsored Display ads appear? Placement includes search results on and off Amazon, the front page of Amazon, directly on the product listing on Amazon, and articles and webpages off Amazon. Read here for a comprehensive guide to Sponsored Display Ads.
It is important to remember that Amazon Sponsor Display ads are just one component of Amazon digital advertising. In fact, there are a few different types of Amazon Sponsored Ads you can leverage to help boost your product sales: Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Products, and Sponsored Display—all of which can be accessed via Amazon’s Advertising Platform. Using multiple types is an ideal way to grow your Amazon advertising strategy and remain highly competitive on the marketplace.
It’s also important as an advertiser to understand the clear differences between these three sponsored ad types, including the difference between Amazon Sponsored Product vs. Product Display (now called Sponsored Display) ads:
Another thing advertisers need to be aware of is Amazon advertising cost. Sponsored ads cost is based on a pay-per-click (PPC) format—that means each time a potential customer clicks on one of your ads, you are charged. The current average rate is about $0.71 each time someone clicks on an ad but can vary based on a number of factors, so it is important to understand this when launching Amazon ads and deciding on your paid advertising budget.
Of course, Amazon’s paid marketing options go even further with Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP). The Amazon DSP program gives advertisers the ability to programmatically buy display ad, audio, and video placements both on Amazon and across the internet. This includes Amazon’s own apps and sites like IMDb and Kindle Fire, as well as other top publisher sites.
This Amazon advertising platform is highly dependent on customer targeting data. Amazon DSP looks at behavioral characteristics and uses a customized algorithm to help display the right ad at the right time. The Amazon DSP program includes the following ad types:
Amazon DSP ad specs can vary greatly depending on type and placement, so be sure to review Amazon’s DSP specs and dimensions specifically outlined at length on their site.
While advertisers pay for display ads to show both on and off Amazon via their advertising platform, publishers of these ads on the other hand are able to leverage Amazon Publisher Services (APS). This is a cloud-based suite of services that makes it possible for web and app publishers to sell ad space on their websites to third-party Amazon sellers. Amazon boasts that the perks of leveraging Publisher Services include increased optimization and revenue as well as reduced latency for publishers.
Amazon Publisher Services offers two different programs: the Transparent Ad Marketplace (TAM) for enterprise publishers, and the Universal Ad Marketplace (UAM) for small to mid-level publishers. Both TAM and UAM are server-side header bidding solutions, but each handle SSPs—supply-side platforms used for the automated selling of ad space—differently. TAM is leveraged by larger, enterprise publishers who already have relationships with SSPs and want to centralize their bidding, while UAM for small to mid-level publishers allows publishers to access and manage relationships with SSPs.
With many brands shifting their paid advertising budgets from Google over to Amazon nowadays, Amazon Publisher Services continues to grow as an imperative tool for publishers to connect with Amazon advertisers.
Attempting to master the various aspects of Amazon Advertising can be difficult for even the most talented marketer, especially if you (or your team) are running ads on various channels. By outsourcing these tasks to a professional team, you can shift your attention to other aspects of your business while ensuring your Amazon display ads and more are running smoothly. An Amazon advertising agency can take the hard work and headaches out of managing your paid ads and advertising spend on the marketplace.
At SupplyKick, our expert team builds and manages custom advertising campaigns to optimize your ad dollars. The most common types of Amazon ads we leverage for our Agency partnerships include Amazon Sponsored Ads: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display. We target brand, non-brand, and competitive brand keywords and products while working with your budget and goals to achieve the right spend and advertising mix for your products.
Connect with us today to learn more about how SupplyKick can help you execute and manage your Amazon advertising campaigns.
For press inquiries, please contact Molly Horstmann, mhorstmann@supplykick.com