We’ve known for a while now that Amazon rivals Google in terms of product discovery, but a recent piece of research has revealed that it may soon rival the search engine in ad revenue. Around 80% of marketers say that they plan to increase their Amazon ad spend in 2019, with many shifting a proportion of their budget from traditional mediums such as Google Ads and paid search across to the Amazon marketplace.
This means completion will be that much more fierce and Amazon advertisers will need to be totally familiar and utterly comfortable with the ad creation process across its varying formats.
If this is new to you, but you are one of the many businesses planning to increase your Amazon presence in the next 12 months, read on for our brief rundown.
Creating Amazon ads centres around choosing the correct format – and there are several options to choose from, ranging from standard text ads to brand showcases.
Sponsored products and brands
Amazon’s sponsored products and brands ads operate in a similar way to other PPC solutions so they make an accessible starting point if you’re new to Amazon ads and want to get set up quickly.
Sponsored products ads appear on search results pages and in product detail pages. They are triggered by keywords and you can upload your own keyword list if you have one available (if you’re an existing Google Ads advertiser for example). Amazon can also make suggestions but, if you do have PPC keywords already, it’s well worth having them to hand when setting up your account. This will make the getting started phase much quicker too.
Sponsored brands are slightly different in format as they include a brand logo and selected products, which appear on search results pages. If you want to set up this type of ad, you need to first be enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry. Sponsored brand ads can be sent to an Amazon store or custom landing page so in addition to enrolling with the registry and having an idea of the products you’d like to highlight, it’s worthwhile setting up a Store page first before you launch Brands ads.
Stores
An Amazon Stores page is a little like a mini-catalogue or website in its own right but sits within Amazon. If you sell lots of products, this is an easy way to showcase your offering to Amazon customers and highlight your whole inventory after a click on a Brands ad.
Once you are enrolled in the Brand Registry, you’ll have the option to use Stores. Amazon provides templates for an easy start and then you’ll need to select the relevant products.
Display Ads
Display Ads appear not just on Amazon but on apps, Amazon devices and selected third-party sites too. They work in much the same way as other display ads you may have running through Google for example. You will have a choice of dimension and banner ad placements so you’ll need to be prepared with the banner design. At set up, you’ll have the option to select from relevant audiences and then use Amazon’s actionable insights as the campaign gets underway to fine-tune your performance.
If you need help getting started with Amazon advertising, contact us to find out more about how our expert team can assist.
