Amazon Sponsored ads are an indispensable part of an Amazon seller’s marketing arsenal. It is a fantastic way to boost sales and promote a brand. To put it bluntly, Amazon Sponsored ads are the best way to leverage the retail giant’s massive customer reach.
However, it is a pay-to-play game, and if you aren’t careful you could end up losing money. When you are running an Amazon business or any business for that matter, the focus should be on your bottom line. So it is important to extract the maximum utility and profits you possibly can from Amazon PPC.
The question is, how?
That’s the question we want to answer. Let’s take a look at some advanced amazon PPC strategies used by industry veterans to maximize their profits and brand visibility.
PPC optimization using negative targeting
This is a vital feature that many sellers do not use. What is negative targeting? Every Amazon PPC advertiser has the option to mark a keyword or ASIN as negative. When a keyword is marked negative, the ads will no longer be displayed for the search term.
So, why should everyone advertising on Amazon use the negative targeting feature?
The reason is simple. When you stop spending on keywords that don’t convert, you have more money to spend on the top performers. It reduces your ad spend and reduces the ACoS.
Sellers generally don’t dabble with negative targeting because it is time-consuming to identify negative keywords or ASINs. Tools like SellerApp, Amazon-ASIN will find them for you and help you save precious time. If you want to do it yourself, these are the basic metrics you need to watch out for – impressions, clicks, and sales.
Keywords with lots of clicks and no conversions can usually be tagged negative – if they are not relevant to the product.
Long-tail keyword bidding strategy
This is a strategy tailor-made for new sellers or when you are launching a new product in a competitive niche. These are situations where your competition has a head start – more reviews, better sales history, better organic ranking, and much more!
When your competitors have a head-start, it is advisable to avoid bidding on the highly-searched and highly competitive keywords. Their ads and product listings are more likely to convert. Additionally, the cost-per-click for these keywords tends to be higher.
Instead, you should focus on long-tail keywords because there is less competition. This also means a lower cost-per-click. The main drawback is that your campaigns will not reach a wide audience, i.e. impressions will be fewer than targeting high-volume keywords. However, this strategy ensures a more efficient ACoS and a better conversion rate. This will naturally improve your product’s organic ranking as well.
You can start bidding on the high-volume keywords once you have some good reviews and a healthy sales history.
How do you find the perfect long-tail keywords? Many veterans use automatic campaigns to find keywords. Alternatively, you can use advanced Amazon keyword research. The industry-leading research tool will help you find relevant long-tail keywords in seconds. You can also find keywords tailored for a specific geography. This, in turn, allows you to target search terms that your audience can resonate with.
Start bidding on your brand name
This is a strategy for private label sellers and brands.
It is to ensure that your competitors do not eat into your market share and customer base. It is best to illustrate why you need this strategy through an example.
I wanted to get some treats for my cat, and I usually get her some from Temptations. I type the brand keyword into the search bar and hit enter. This is what my search results looked like. On top, was a Sponsored Brand ad by Meow Mix.
This was a case where Meow Mix was aggressively bidding on the Temptations brand name to piggyback on their popularity and customer base. Honestly, I was tempted to give Meow Mix a shot! Chances are that many other shoppers would too.
If you have an established private label, you should expect your competition to bid on your brand name. If you do not respond, they may steal your customers. By bidding on your brand keywords, you drive up the CPC, making it more expensive for your competition. You also ensure that your customers are not introduced to products outside your brand ecosystem.
Bid on your competitor’s brand keywords
Even if you are an established brand in a niche, there is no harm in trying to expand your customer base. So, do what Meow Mix is doing to Temptations. Bid on your competitors’ brand keywords to promote your products and boost visibility.
If the competition is not careful, then you could seriously dent their bottom line while simultaneously improving yours.
If your competitor reacts and drives up the CPC, then you should study your margins and analyze whether the aggressive campaigns are feasible. That is a business decision that is up to the seller.
Target alternative keywords
Customers don’t always know the product they are looking for, but they do know the problem that they want to solve. For instance, they might look for a natural remedy for weight loss. If you sell organic green tea that solves the problem, you need to ensure that your product shows up for that search term.
This is what I mean when I say ‘alternative’ keywords. They don’t describe the product, but they are problems that your product will help solve. The only way to discover these keywords is through thorough market research. You can also identify these keywords by analyzing the listings of your top competitors. Just track their product listings using SellerApp’s Product Intelligence feature and discover all the keywords they use.
Automate your campaigns
Most industry leaders do not handle everything to do with their PPC campaigns. The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of monotonous tasks that can easily be automated. If you manage everything yourself, you will take hours to go through the process. Leave it to software or machine, and it will be done in a matter of seconds.
I recommend using SellerApp’s Amazon PPC automation tool. Rule-based automation systems give you more control over the campaign management process. For instance, when using SellerApp’s automation tool, you need to set the parameters that the tool will need to follow. This ensures that your targets and goals are kept as a priority.
Group product variations together
If a product has multiple variations, you need to ensure that your ads do not cannibalize each other. The best way to avoid that problem is by packaging them and selling the package under a unique ASIN. This will allow you to advertise the different variations without advertising them individually.
Essentially, you can save some money on advertising and ensure that your products do not compete with each other for an ad spot.
Know when to stop
There are situations where you should just call it quits and stop advertising. Remember, your products are the stars of the show. If you are advertising a product that nobody wants to buy, you are just flushing money down the drain.
If you do not have a good product, do not advertise it.
How can you figure out if the product is the problem? Well, data can help. If you get clicks, but no conversions, I suggest improving your listing first. If your sales do not improve even after optimizing your listings and PPC ads, then it is time to pull the plug.
Final thoughts
While expert strategies are necessary to master Amazon PPC, the fundamentals are just as important. So, if you are unfamiliar with the basics, I recommend reading upon them.
Done that already? Great! The next step is perseverance. Rome was not built in a day, your PPC campaigns can’t be built in a day either. The only way to properly optimize your PPC campaigns is to do it regularly. It may take a few iterations, but you’ll soon see the fruits of your labor!
