Amazon Advertising: 7 tips for advertisers

Amazon advertising has long been considered the next big thing in the online marketing industry. Whether it's branding or performance campaigns, the e-commerce giant covers all areas—and successfully so. Last year, Amazon generated advertising revenue of around ten billion US dollars.

Seven tips for branding and performance campaigns on the online marketplace:

1. Don't mix your goals

Treat yourself to separate campaigns for awareness and sales goals. Headline Search and Display Ads are better suited for building brand presence and showcasing new products. Use Sponsored Products to focus more on sales targets and reach customers who are closer to making a purchase. A clear and consistent naming convention will help you keep track of your various campaigns and their objectives.

2. Use automatic campaigns wisely

Automatic campaigns are an excellent source for new keywords and often outperform external tools. They are also easy to set up. However, there is a risk here, as Amazon is not yet at a point where you can achieve outstanding results on autopilot. Use this feature sparingly, monitor the profitability of new keywords, and then transfer them to manual campaigns where it makes sense.

3. React correctly to bidding dynamics

The newly introduced bidding dynamics have upended many strategies for Sponsored Products. It is advisable to work with differentiated campaigns where the specific bidding strategy is aligned with either awareness (fixed bids) or sales (up and down, i.e., dynamic) goals. Amazon then optimizes based on the probability of conversion—it is essential to keep a close eye on your CPCs.

4. Keep the ACoS in focus

The relevancy score is heavily influenced by the ACoS, alongside ad quality, CTR, conversion rate, reviews, ratings, and the use of A+ content. Amazon uses this "Advertising Cost of Sales" metric to compare advertising costs against revenue. Since the ACoS for brand keywords is often better, it is important to view the ACoS for non-brand keywords separately to avoid drawing the wrong conclusions and neglecting necessary optimizations.

5. Monitor competitors

Amazon customers are generally less brand-driven during product research than on other platforms. This makes it all the more important to be present for your own brand keywords—and not leave them to your competitors. These ads can be run at a relatively low cost.

6. Maintain a permanent presence with relevant products

Regularly evaluate whether you have ads for all your ASINs (Amazon Standard Identification Numbers) and use existing results to determine the cost framework (and starting bids) that make sense for the rest of your assortment. Scale what works—and don't limit yourself in terms of time. Only by advertising broadly throughout the year will you be able to identify and capitalize on trends and seasonality.

7. Don't get stuck in rigid campaign setups

Give your campaigns time to achieve a high relevancy score through good performance. Conversion rates and reviews, in particular, need time to develop. However, don't fall into the "set it and forget it" trap. Bidding must be optimized regularly, and campaign data needs to be analyzed and acted upon. Keep an eye on both Amazon promotions and the competition, and react accordingly.

This article first appeared onInternet World Business.