Sponsored ads will play a crucial role in your success on Amazon. However, it can be difficult to know where to start with advertising on Amazon and how you can get the most out of the money, time and effort spent on advertising. With different ad types, several types of campaigns and targeting, and new features constantly being added by Amazon, there is a lot you can do with sponsored ads to hep you achieve your goals.
Different types of Sponsored Ads on Amazon
Sponsored Product Ads
Sponsored Product ads are cost-per-click (CPC) and they focus on advertising individual product listings on Amazon. When a customer clicks on a Sponsored Product ad they will be taken directly to the product detail page for the ASIN that is being advertised. They are created by adding keywords or other ASIN targets to the campaign and bidding on them. You can add multiple ASINs to a campaign and those ASINs will then appear in search results and on product pages when customers search for the keywords that were entered in the campaign.
The two types of Sponsored Product ads are automatic and manual. Automatic campaigns are quicker to setup as Amazon will choose the keywords and products to target based on the ASIN(s) that are added to the campaign. In manual campaigns, keywords and products that the campaign will target are entered manually and the bids are managed by the advertiser.
Sponsored Product ads are the best ad type to start advertising with. You should start by creating Sponsored Product campaigns for your top sellers and products you expect to perform best on Amazon. You could start with an automatic campaign and then use the data to create manual campaigns or you may start with manual campaigns right away if you have done keyword research.
Sponsored Brand Ads
Sponsored Brand ads are different from Sponsored Product ads in that when a customer clicks on a Sponsored Brand ad they will be taken to a page on the brand store or a separate landing page that will display a collection of products rather than a single product page. Brand ads are also CPC and bid on keywords or ASIN targets that are entered manually. The ads will appear at the top and bottom of search results and on product pages. Brand ads include the brand’s logo, a custom headline, a lifestyle image of the products and a maximum of 3 products.
Sponsored Brand ads should be used to increase brand awareness and help show your range of products to shoppers. This is particularly important if you have a large range of products on Amazon as it may be too expensive to advertise every product, but with Sponsored Brand ads you don’t need to include every product in the ad as the ad will send the shopper to your brand store where all your products are featured.
Sponsored Brand Videos
Sponsored Brand Videos allows advertisers to advertise an ASIN using a short video. It’s the only ad type that uses video and not just images. The video ad will first appear halfway down the first page of search results and will show the video and the product being advertised with the title, reviews and price. Like Sponsored Product ads, they are CPC and are displayed when a shopper searches for terms that have been entered as keywords in the campaign.
Video ads can benefit any brand as you can use motion to show your product and its key features and benefits. They can be especially beneficial for any products where it may not be clear to the customer how the product is used, or require instructions for using the product, as videos can show how the product is used or setup in a way that other ad types cannot, and this can improve click-through rate and conversions.
Sponsored Display Ads
Unlike the other ad types, display ads can display off Amazon as well as on it. Another difference is that display ads bidding can be CPM (cost per thousand impressions) as well as CPC, meaning you pay when the ad is displayed 1,000 times rather than when the ad is clicked. They also differ in that they are not targeting keywords, instead they target product or category pages on Amazon. You can also target certain audience types based on their lifestyle or interests from their past shopping behaviour. A display ad features one product and takes customers directly to the product page when they click the ad.
Sponsored Display ads will usually have the lowest return on spend of any of the ad types, but they can be beneficial in creating more brand awareness as they are CPM and optimised to reach a wider audience as they are shown off Amazon as well. They are also beneficial to retarget customers who viewed the ASIN but didn’t purchase, or to remarket to people who previously purchased the product.
Having different strategies for Amazon ads
New Customer Acquisition and Brand Awareness
When the key focus is acquiring new customers and increasing brand awareness, then there will be more focus on unbranded keywords. Unbranded keywords and campaigns will focus on keywords that describe the product(s) being advertised but will NOT have the brand name or any term that is specific to your brand as part of the keyword. This means that the unbranded campaign will be targeting people who are searching for the type of product that you are advertising but have not specifically searched for your brand. Unbranded campaigns will play an important role in acquiring new customers who are interested in the type of product(s) that you offer. Unbranded campaigns can be created for Sponsored Product, Brand or Brand Video ad types as they all bid on keywords.
Competitor campaigns are another way to use ads to acquire new customers. Competitor campaigns will use keywords that are your competitors’ brand name or competitor ASINs to target specific ASINs belonging to competitors. This will help you create more brand awareness and potentially gain more sales from customers who typically purchase from another brand.
Repeat Purchase and Brand Loyalty
The other type of keywords and campaigns that you can create across different ad types is branded. Branded keywords and campaigns are specific to your brand and will only target keywords that include your brand name or any other term that is specific to your brand. Using branded campaigns won’t help you gain new-to-brand customers, but they play an important role in defending your brand from competitors bidding on keywords that feature your brand name and trying to take your loyal customers. This will help ensure that when a customer searches for your brand that they will only see your brand and won’t see other brands at the top of search results that they may be tempted to click on and purchase from instead.
It’s important to identify how each ad type will help you achieve your goals on Amazon and then you can decide if it is worth investing in. Each ad type has its own unique features and benefits, so you need to consider if these features fit with your ads strategy, whether the key focus is to acquire new customers, or to build brand loyalty.
If you need any assistance devising or revisiting your advertising strategy on Amazon, reach out to the team at eCommerce Nurse, we would love to see how we can help your business reach its true potential on Amazon. With over 20 years’ experience working with Amazon in the UK, EU, and US, and expertise in vendor and seller management, ads management, copywriting, site merchandising and marketing, we can give you the support you need to take your brand to the next level.
