Online retail is a growing industry, and businesses of all sizes are capitalizing on the opportunities it presents. Amazon in particular has proven to be an effective e-commerce platform for manufacturers, wholesalers, and vendors of all sizes.
To become successful on Amazon as a seller, you need to understand how its marketplace works and how you can leverage it to drive more product sales and revenue.
Because of this, many sellers are looking for ways to capitalize on the opportunity that advertising on Amazon provides. Fortunately, there are several ways you can do this while also strategically growing your business with minimal risk.
Read on to learn more about advertising on Amazon as a seller and the benefits it can provide your business in return.
You might be reading this and thinking: “Isn’t Amazon a website where people go to buy products they want? How can you advertise on Amazon?” Well, that’s the first sign that you’re not alone in thinking it doesn’t make sense.
But, this is an opportunity that we at Prove Sales think is worth exploring. If your company sells products directly to consumers through websites or other channels, then advertising on Amazon could be an outstanding opportunity for you.
In fact, if your business offers products only available through distributors or wholesalers, you should probably skip this article and keep reading our blog instead. To advertise on Amazon, vendors need to have products listed there in the first place.
So if you don’t have a product listed there yet – whether from selling directly from your website or wholesaling through a distributor – now is the time to do it. To help you get started, here are some tips about how to sell more products and generate more revenue from advertising on Amazon.
Decide on a Product Type and an Audience
The first thing you need to do is decide on a product type and audience. Are you offering items for the home, health and beauty, kids, or something else entirely? And who are you trying to reach? What are their interests and needs? Understanding those two things will help you make better decisions about the rest of the process.
You’ll also want to decide whether you’re trying to sell more of your own products, or instead, leverage Amazon’s massive reach to boost sales of other people’s products. If you’re using Amazon to drive more sales of your own products, you’ll want to make sure you’re choosing items that are in your existing product line.
If you’re hoping to sell other people’s products, you’ll want to make sure you’re finding products that aren’t already in Amazon’s catalog (and aren’t competitive with your own offerings).
Choose the Right Amazon Advertising Type for Your Business
There are two main types of Amazon advertising you can select: Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands.
- Sponsored Products: These are advertisements that show up when customers are searching for the products you’re advertising. You can show ads for any product you sell on Amazon, but it’s important to make sure you’re showing customers only your most popular products.
- Sponsored Brands: These are advertisements that show up when customers are browsing Amazon’s product categories. You can show ads for any product in any category, but you’ll want to be careful about picking categories with low sales. If no one is buying products in a particular category, no one is going to click your ad either.
Decide How Much to Spend and Where to Spend it
One of the first questions you’ll need to answer when deciding how much to spend on Amazon advertising is how much you’re currently spending on other channels, like Google Ads or Facebook.
If you’re not currently advertising anywhere, you can spend as much as you’d like on Amazon. Otherwise, you’ll want to factor in the cost of your other channels, and try to minimize the impact on your budget.
Remember, these are investments that will hopefully pay off over time. Next, you’ll want to decide where to put that money. You can either select specific products to advertise, or you can put your money into Amazon’s broader advertising network.
If you choose the latter, you can select the demographics, interests, and behaviors you’d like to reach and let Amazon show your ads to the people most likely to be interested. If you choose specific products, you’ll have more control over who sees your ads and can show them to a more specific audience.
Create Quality Product Images
Any time you’re giving customers a visual representation of the product you’re selling, it’s important to make sure those images are high quality. For products on Amazon, that means you’ll want to provide Amazon with images (and a title, description, and other product details).
You have two main ways to add images to Amazon: let Amazon take images of your products, or take your own images. Amazon’s image service can take photos of your products, edit them, and then add them to the product pages on Amazon that feature your items.
It’s a great way to get your products listed on Amazon quickly, but there are some limitations. For example, you can’t use the service if your products are sold under different brand names, if they’re seasonal items, or if they’re too large, fragile, or bulky.
Write Effective Copy for Your Ad
When it comes to writing ad copy for Amazon, we can boil it down to one word: helpful. Your copy should help customers understand what your product is and why they should buy it. It should also be clear about your price, shipping times, and any other relevant information.
You can use a variety of tools to help you write effective copy for your advertisements. First, you can use Amazon’s keyword tool to find out what people are searching for on Amazon.
Then, use a tool like the Keyword Planner from Google to see how many people are searching for those keywords. You can also use tools like Buzzsumo to find out what’s being shared and discussed on social media.
These tools can help you figure out what people are interested in, and what they want to know about your products.
There’s More to Advertising on Amazon than Just Advertisements
You might think that once your ads are up and running, you’re done. This isn’t a one-time investment! You should be monitoring your ads and making changes as needed. If you’re not sure how to do that, you can always seek help from a professional.
You should also try to get your hands on the customers who are clicking on your ads. You can do this by signing up for Amazon’s feedback program, whereby customers can leave reviews of your products directly on Amazon.
Once you’re getting feedback from customers, you can use it to make changes to your product or your advertising strategy to make sure you’re delivering the best experience you can.
Know what your return on investment is before you start.
Finally, before you start investing in Amazon advertising, make sure you’re prepared to track your return on investment (ROI). There are lots of different ways to measure your ROI, but Amazon provides tracking information that can make it easy to follow your progress.
For sponsored product ads, you can use the Amazon sales rank tracking to see how many sales your ad is generating. If you’re using sponsored brands, you can track how many impressions your ad is getting per day, and how many clicks it’s getting. You can also monitor how many sales your ad is generating.
Use Sponsored Product ads to advertise only your most popular products.
Sponsored product ads let you show your advertisement to customers who are searching for your products. However, you should only use these ads to advertise your most popular products.
If a customer is searching for a product that isn’t shown in your ad, they may end up leaving the site without buying anything. If you put an ad for your least popular product in a sponsored product ad, it’s likely that no one will click on it.
If no one clicks on your ad, you won’t make any sales, and you’ll squander the opportunity to earn revenue from Amazon.
Use Amazon Ads to show customers other products they might be interested in.
You can use Amazon’s broad-reach ad platform to advertise products that aren’t yours. For example, if you sell toys, and you’re hoping to generate more sales for your company and your brand, you can advertise related toys and products.
You can also advertise other toys from different brands. You can use broad-reach ads to advertise seasonal items, holiday gifts, and items that aren’t always top
Make your product descriptions fresh and up to date based on customer behavior.
If you’re already selling products through your own website, you might already have product descriptions that you’ve been using for a while. And if you’re wholesaling through a distributor, you might have some product descriptions that date back years.
A few years ago, Amazon changed their algorithms to make it harder for people to sell products that didn’t have fresh and up to date product descriptions.
If your product descriptions aren’t up to date, your Amazon listing could be less likely to show up for a consumer who’s searching for your product. This means that your sales could go down, and you might not even know why.
Build a foundation of happy customers
Once you have the product set up and advertised on Amazon, the next step is to find customers. Now, this is where you could go two ways: You could go buy some leads from a lead generation company, or you could focus on building a base of happy customers who love your product so much that they want to tell other people about it.
To get leads, you’re essentially paying people to buy your product and become happy customers, which means you’ll have to pay some money.
To build a base of happy customers, you’ll have to put in time and effort, which could take a significant portion of your business’s resources. But if you can get people to love your product, they’ll tell their friends about it. And you’ll have a lot less work to do than if you had to go buy leads from someone else.
Amazon advertising is paid advertising
Just like if you were to put an ad in a newspaper or run an ad on television, you’re going to have to pay to get your ad in front of consumers. Amazon’s advertising products are pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
This means you have to pay every time someone clicks on your ad. You pay a certain amount per click, and this amount could vary depending on how many people click on your ad, where your ad appears, and if your ad is clicked on more than others.
The goal of your ads is to get people who are already looking for your product to buy. When you’re creating your ads and product listings, keep the goal in mind. If you don’t have a product listed on Amazon yet, you can create your ads and product listings using a mock-up.
Amazon advertising requires high quality product photos
Amazon customers can’t touch or feel your product. They can’t try it out. They can’t open up the box and see what it really looks like. The images in your product listing are the only things that give your customers a visual on what your product really looks like. You have three main images on your product listing, and you have the option to include up to eight product bullet points.
In these images and bullet points, you need to show your product from different angles, so your customers can see exactly what it is. You also need to include a visual that shows your product is right for the intended use.
And if you’re listing a product online, you’re probably not just selling to people who live in your city or country. You have to make sure your product images are clear enough for customers who speak other languages to see what they’re clicking on. You can use professional photographers, but you can also hire cheap photographers on sites like Fiverr.
Communicate the benefits of your product with your Amazon ad
In the first few lines of your ad, you should be communicating a clear benefit. You should be saying to your potential customers “here’s what you’ll get out of buying this product.” If you sell vitamins, for example, your ad might start out “Stronger Bones. Better Health. Cheaper in the Long Run.”
This helps your customers know what they’ll get out of clicking on your ad, and it helps them know why your product is better than all the other vitamins on the market. If you’re already in business, this part should be easy. You should already have a list of benefits of your product.
If you’re creating a brand new product, you have to communicate the benefits of your product above and beyond the quality. You have to communicate why people should buy your product. You have to communicate why your product is worth the money.
Don’t stop at one ad campaign – set up a multi-ad rotation
Once you have your first ad campaign set up, don’t just stop there. You could be leaving money on the table if you only have one campaign running. With the Amazon Advertising platform, you can set up multiple campaigns.
This way, you can test new ad campaigns to see which ones perform better than the first campaign. This way, you can increase your revenue with the same amount of effort.
Avoid making these 3 common mistakes
- Mistake #1: Thinking Amazon is a wholesaling site. We’ve already talked about this, but if your business sells products directly to consumers, then Amazon is a great place to sell your products.
- Mistake #2: Using incorrect keywords. If you’re trying to sell a product through your Amazon ad, you need to make sure your ad shows up when someone is searching for your product. To do this, you’ll have to make sure you’re using the right keywords in your ad. If you use the wrong keywords, your ad won’t show up when people search for the product you’re selling, and you won’t get any sales.
- Mistake #3: Not monitoring your ads closely. If you’re running multiple ad campaigns, you’ll want to make sure you’re tracking your results closely. You can set up reports that will show you where people are clicking on your ad, what they’re searching for, and how many sales you’re getting from each ad.
Build a Product that Consumers Actually Want
People are going to buy your product because they want it. They might not even realize they want it until they see it, but they’ll buy it because they want it. You have to make sure your product is something people actually want to buy.
If you are wholesaling, this might be more difficult since you don’t control the product being sold. However, you do have control over the keywords you’re using in your product listing. If your product is an essential oil diffuser, for example, you want to make sure there are enough essential oil diffusers being sold on Amazon.
If there aren’t enough diffusers being sold, you might want to check out some other products. If you’re selling something that is in high demand, you’ll have more opportunities to make more sales.
However, that doesn’t mean you can just sell any product on Amazon. You have to make sure the product is something people actually want to buy.