What Is Amazon Marketing & How Does It Work?

If you have your own online shop on Amazon, there’s a lot of competition out there. And with a lot of competition, you need to find the best way to stand out among the crowd. 

To be able to get ahead of the curve and beat the other sellers in your industry or those selling the same products as you, you need a good Amazon marketing strategy. But which is the best one to use? 

Below are the top forms of Amazon marketing you can use and how you can put them in place for the best results. 

What is Amazon Marketing?

Amazon Marketing is the processes and methods used to promote products on Amazon. Amazon Advertising is the advertising arm through which sellers and brands sell Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands or Posts (formerly Headline Ads), and Amazon DSP to consumers. It also means creating product listings using the right keywords, appealing titles and high-quality visual aids to boost organic search results. 

Amazon marketing also uses customer reviews, A+ Content and the Amazon Brand Store to increase conversions and create return business. The purpose of these efforts is to be in front of the many Amazon customers and those ever-competitive markets.

Why is Amazon Marketing Important?

Heightened exposure

The largest obstacle to overcome on Amazon is that there are literally millions of products fighting for customer awareness. Marketing increases the visibility of your product in Amazon search results and related products using various marketing strategies like Sponsored Products, keyword optimisation, etc.

Increased sales

Through better visibility, marketing on Amazon can help bring in more traffic to your product listings which could increase sales. The company runs ads targeting competitive keywords and audiences to get products in front of active shoppers.

Developing brands

Amazon advertising tools like Sponsored Brands and Amazon Stores allow companies to establish a unique brand identity. With A+ Content and Brand Stores sellers can show their brand’s unique story, products and values to encourage brand loyalty as well as recognition.

Data-driven insights

Amazon is known for its robust analytics & reporting tools within their marketing platform. These insights provide sellers with details on customer behaviour via other channels of marketing, assisting in the optimisation of their campaign efforts, thereby making more informed decisions to improve performance and ROI.

Targeted advertising

Amazon lets you perform highly targeted advertising based on customer interests, shopping behaviours, and demographics. This level of precision targeting means higher conversions and greater efficiency from a marketing budget.

What Types of Amazon Marketing Strategies are there?

There are three main forms of Amazon marketing that you can use directly through the platform: 

Amazon SEO

Amazon SEO is the process of optimising product listings to rank them higher in Amazon search results. This involves many components, one of which is keyword research, where you identify the terms potential customers are searching for to find products. You must then strategically add these keywords to the product title, description, bullet points, or backend search terms. 

The images of the product are also an important factor. Invest heavily in high-resolution images that show the product from multiple angles and exemplify key features because well-crafted photos are proven to increase the listing’s appeal and conversion rates. 

Positive customer reviews and ratings are also important to push a product’s rank higher, thus resulting in more buyers. Competitive pricing and using Amazon’s FBA service can also boost product visibility because listings with Prime shipping are frequently higher up in search results.

Amazon PPC

Amazon PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising is a platform that lets sellers run their ads for customers to see on popular places such as search results and product pages. These come in categories known as Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and, most recently, the auto-generated Amazon Display ads. Sponsored Products are ads that appear within search results and on product detail pages, directing customers to specific product listings. Sponsored Brand ads provide brand visibility by displaying a custom headline, your logo and examples of up to three products in your offering at the top of search results.

Right keywords with the right kind of search terms affect how successful an Amazon PPC campaign is. This type of advertising requires you to be vigilant in monitoring and adjusting your bids and budgets as performance data rolls in – you constantly need to look for the sweet spot between high ad spend levels and low lead or sales costs while generating a return on investment. 

Amazon advertising

In addition to PPC, Amazon Advertising offers many advertising options, such as display ads, custom solutions, and video. These can be both on and off-Amazon ads, taking advantage of Amazon’s vast customer data and targeting ability to place those advertisements. Display ads can appear on the Amazon homepage, product detail pages, and throughout the Internet and are accessible via Amazon or third-party websites. 

The Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform) enables advertisers to buy display and video ads programmatically and offers unique targeting capabilities such as shopper demographics, shopping behaviours or interests. It uses this to reach potential customers on and off Amazon, create brand awareness, retarget past visitors, and bring new conversions.

Brands can use custom-crafted advertising solutions, such as Amazon Stores and Posts, to deliver brand-specific content within the walls of its app. Amazon Stores provides a multi-page storefront where businesses can display their entire product catalogue, and Posts create shareable social media-like content that helps engage customers in places they naturally shop.

How else can you Market your Amazon Store?

If you’ve taken advantage of all the Amazon marketing options on the platform yourself and want to expand even further, you can use one of these options too: 

Email marketing

Use email marketing to increase traffic and sales on your Amazon store. This can be achieved by creating an email list of former clients and potential prospects and producing individualised emails. 

A well-thought-out email strategy consists of a variety of emails, such as welcome letters, discounts and follow-ups. Welcome emails to attract new email subscribers and provide immediate purchase incentives that add discounts for a small measure of goodwill. Promotional emails with sales events, exclusive deals or limited-time offers that create an urgent sense and help in conversion. 

You need compelling subject lines and killer content to use email as part of marketing campaigns most effectively. Since return on investment (ROI) is what you really want when they send out emails for their business — your CTA better be clear! By showcasing high-quality images and linking directly to the shopping experience on Amazon, you can enrich your content even more. 

Social media marketing

Social media marketing capitalises on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest to reach a wider audience and also grow the awareness of your Amazon store. Every social media site opened up its own set of doors for how to feature products. Instagram is visual and a perfect place for pictures or short videos, and Facebook has ample opportunities with promotion services that target in-your-face consumer behaviour.

You need to post (a lot) and interact with your followers on a regular basis if you want to make the most out of social media. A combination of salesy posts, user-generated content (UGC), BTS things and tips & tricks around your products. You can easily extend your reach and visibility by taking part in relevant conversations, using hashtags, and partnering with influencers.

Website ads

While marketing your listings on the main channel is key to selling more products, another great way of driving traffic is by running ads either within or outside Amazon platforms directly from your website. You can place Amazon product links or banners on your website, which will drive traffic from the site to its respective listings on Amazon. 

Utilising other platforms for external website ads, such as Google Ads or partnering with similar websites and blogs, is also helpful. With Google Ads, you can create targeted search ads, display ads and shopping campaigns to help your products appear in front of online searches conducted by users seeking the same. Display Ads are the adverts you often see on any website that changes according to your online activity.

Your website ads should have strong visuals, clear messaging, and direct calls to action. Retargeting ads that target users who previously visited your Amazon listings or added items to their cart without purchasing usually also make for effective campaigns. This way, you can guarantee your website ads drive traffic to and sales on Amazon by monitoring how the ad performs.

Choose Mercatus for your Amazon Marketing needs

Want to use one of these Amazon marketing strategies but unsure how to get started? You may need a helping hand with expertise in how to put your store at the top of the competition. Mercatus are experts in this field and have the know-how to help you reach the level of success you desire. Contact us today to get started.