Intro to Amazon Ads (Part 2)

This is part 2 of our advertising module. If you haven't read part 1, please go do that before reading this article. In this article, we will be discussing different types of ads used on Amazon.
When doing Amazon Advertising, it is important to utilize all the techniques and elements Amazon gives us with ads to gain a competitive advantage with our brands. This applies to all the brands in our ecosystem, and all our partner brands, whether we just do consulting, or actually have some co-ownership. When working with our brands, we are always transparent with them on how to best utilize the Amazon Console. Our brands don’t always know everything we do, however, we always explain the advantages and disadvantages of the Amazon Console so there are no surprises. 

There are three different advertising types on the Amazon ecosystem in order for us to present our products or get the products in front of the customer.

1. Sponsored Products

The first type is sponsored products. This is the easiest way to get product placement. According to Amazon, sponsored product ads may appear on mobile apps, mobile browsers, tablets, detail pages, and desktop browsers, at the bottom, middle, and top of the search results. Something important to note is that you do not have control over this placement. 

However, you can expand upon the sponsor products through the branded, category, competitor, or complementary categories. Needless to say though, sponsored products have the highest click ratio of all different campaigns that we can create, but they're also the most expensive.

More Clicks and Higher Cost per Click (CPC) = More Money for Amazon.

Amazon places sponsored product ads as they see fit and you have no control over where they place.

A lot of bigger brands tend to favor sponsored products and the other two advertising types are neglected. This is because really strong, profitable brands have the financial power to infuse funding into Amazon. They want to win the sponsored products because their ad usually appears at the top of the search result (in most cases). However as we’ve already discussed, the sponsored ad could be anywhere within the search result. 

2. Sponsored Brands (includes sponsor video)

The second advertising type is sponsored brands which can also include sponsored brand videos. These ads may be displayed at the top alongside or within the shopping result. Ads may appear on both desktop and mobile. The beautiful thing about sponsor brands is that they are guaranteed placement at the top or at the bottom of that search page. You can also do sponsored brand videos and those will come up in three or four places right underneath the top search result. The sponsor videos tend to be the best way to get you excited about a product. The most common mistake is to do a Voice-over on a sponsored video ad. Do not do voiceovers on video ads! Just music or text. If someone is looking at the ad but doesn't have their speaker on, they can still understand what it is going on and what your product is offering. Instead, do voiceovers on your videos for product listings or on the detail page.

3. Sponsored Display (used for retargeting)

The third advertising type is sponsored display. Sponsored displays are ads that appear on desktop, mobile sites, and apps based on your audiences or product strategy. They may search audiences as they browse, search or buy products on the Amazon homepage, shopping result pages, and Twitch as well as third-party websites and apps. Now be aware, display ads have the highest visibility ratio, and Amazon charges on impressions, not on clicks like the previous two. 

What this means is that Amazon will charge you based on visibility, not on the click-through ratio. Because of this, display ads become more expensive. I recommend product displays for brands that are already well established because they have enough funding, and enough market share that they're recognizable and they will also be on multiple platforms. It is important to always strive to reach some level of authenticity, customer retention, product visibility, and recognition.

There are a ton of different things that we go through before we actually do display ads. Display does not mean that you are going to get a conversion. Display means that you are going to get visibility. The other two are highly driven for conversion, meaning you click, you like it, you buy, not display. Display is for brand awareness—an interesting effect, very much like marketing 101. 

Additionally, Amazon continually tests new ad placements and designs to deliver the best shopping experience possible. What does that mean? Sponsor brands are the only category within the campaign platform that allows you to have some sort of placement control. All the other ones don’t.

Amazon places the product based on audience and how they see fit based on your consumer behavior. Our advice is to start with sponsor brands, sponsor brand videos, and sponsor products, and then if you have success on those, then move into display ads. 

Hopefully, this answers some of your questions but if you have any more, please email us at info@trisbell.com or fill out our contact form. This is part two of our four-part advertising solution article series. Stay tuned for part two for more on advertising strategy and making better decisions on the Amazon ecosystem. If you're not sure how to get started, be sure to read our other articles. Send us an email at info@trisbell.com if you want to learn more about what we do, how we do it, and how we can partner together.

Impressions are the times your ads appear in front of customers, not clicks on your ads.

What this means is that Amazon will charge you based on visibility, not on the click-through ratio. Because of this, display ads become more expensive. I recommend product displays for brands that are already well established because they have enough funding, and enough market share that they're recognizable and they will also be on multiple platforms. It is important to always strive to reach some level of authenticity, customer retention, product visibility, and recognition.

There are a ton of different things that we go through before we actually do display ads. Display does not mean that you are going to get a conversion. Display means that you are going to get visibility. The other two are highly driven for conversion, meaning you click, you like it, you buy, not display. Display is for brand awareness—an interesting effect, very much like marketing 101. 

Additionally, Amazon continually tests new ad placements and designs to deliver the best shopping experience possible. What does that mean? Sponsor brands are the only category within the campaign platform that allows you to have some sort of placement control. All the other ones don’t.

Amazon places the product based on audience and how they see fit based on your consumer behavior. Our advice is to start with sponsor brands, sponsor brand videos, and sponsor products, and then if you have success on those, then move into display ads. 

Hopefully, this answers some of your questions but if you have any more, please email us at info@trisbell.com or fill out our contact form. This is part two of our four-part advertising solution article series. Stay tuned for part two for more on advertising strategy and making better decisions on the Amazon ecosystem. If you're not sure how to get started, be sure to read our other articles. Send us an email at info@trisbell.com if you want to learn more about what we do, how we do it, and how we can partner together.