Amazon CPCs have been climbing year after year. In 2018, the average was around $0.71, rising to $1.20 in 2020, and crossing $1.80 by 2023. This steady increase means sellers are paying more for clicks, often leading to higher ACOS if campaigns aren’t optimized.
Just running basic PPC campaigns and hoping for the best isn’t an Amazon advertising strategy; it’s a recipe for burning cash. If you’re dealing with stagnant sales and high ad spend, it’s tough to know what to fix first.
In 2025, winning on Amazon means thinking bigger than just Sponsored Products. It requires building a complete system that uses different ad types to find new customers, bring old ones back, and protect your brand’s space on the digital shelf.
Each section below provides practical implementation details to help you move from simply spending money on ads to investing in a cohesive, growth-focused Amazon PPC strategy. Let’s get started.
1. Keyword Research & Harvesting
Keyword research is the main part of the Amazon advertising strategy. You’ll constantly research new, relevant, and high-performing search terms while simultaneously filtering out wasteful ones.
Harvesting is the expert’s trick: continuously moving proven search terms from broad or automatic campaigns into exact match manual campaigns, giving you maximum control and efficiency.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Start with Keyword Research Tools: Use tools like Helium 10, Jungle Scout, or even Amazon’s brand analytics to see what keywords your top competitors are ranking for.
- Start with Auto Campaigns: Launch Automatic campaigns to discover a wide range of search terms your products rank for. Set a competitive bid to ensure impressions.
- Utilize Amazon Search Term Reports: Regularly (weekly/bi-weekly) download your Search Term Reports from Seller Central. Filter by conversion rate, ACoS, orders, and sales to identify performing terms.
- Categorize & Prioritize: Group keywords by relevance and intent. Prioritize high-volume, relevant, and converting keywords.
2. Smart Bidding Strategies
Amazon offers various bidding strategies, each designed to help you hit specific campaign goals. “Dynamic bids – down only” intelligently reduces your bids for clicks less likely to convert, safeguarding your budget.
Conversely, “Dynamic bids – up and down” empowers Amazon’s algorithm to increase bids for high-probability conversions, potentially boosting sales but demanding vigilant monitoring. For those who crave absolute control, “Fixed bids” provide just that, though they can sometimes be less efficient in a dynamic marketplace.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Understand Your Goal:
- Maximizing Sales (Aggressive Growth): For aggresive growth from day first, use “Dynamic bids – up and down.” This allows Amazon’s algorithm to bid higher on searches it predicts will convert. Monitor ACoS closely, especially during new product launches.
- Maintaining Profitability (Steady State): For slow start, begin with “Dynamic bids – down only.” This conserves budget on less relevant searches, aiming for a more efficient ACoS.
- Controlling Spend (Tight Budget/Testing): Consider “Fixed bids” for highly specific, high-converting exact match campaigns where you want absolute control over your maximum CPC.
- Maximizing Sales (Aggressive Growth): For aggresive growth from day first, use “Dynamic bids – up and down.” This allows Amazon’s algorithm to bid higher on searches it predicts will convert. Monitor ACoS closely, especially during new product launches.
- Start with “Down Only” for New Campaigns: For most new campaigns (especially broad or phrase match), begin with “Dynamic bids – down only.” This provides a balance of reach and efficiency.
- A/B Test Bidding Strategies: After a campaign has gathered sufficient data (e.g., 2-4 weeks), duplicate it and test “Dynamic bids – up and down” against “Dynamic bids – down only” on the duplicate, comparing ACoS and sales.
- Adjust by Placement: Don’t forget to use bid adjustments for “Top of search (first page)” and “Product pages.” If your ACoS allows, increase bids on these placements, as they often have higher conversion rates. Start with +20% to +30% and optimize from there.
- Review Daily/Weekly: Smart bidding strategies still require human oversight. Review performance regularly and adjust your base bids as needed, letting Amazon’s algorithm work within your defined boundaries.
3. Budget Allocation Across Campaigns
Effective budget allocation is paramount to any successful Amazon advertising strategy. It ensures your ad spend is precisely directed towards the most profitable areas, maximizing your return on investment.
This means prioritizing campaigns based on their proven performance, their strategic importance (like launching new products versus nurturing bestsellers), and your overarching business objectives.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Define Your Campaign Tiers:
- Tier 1 (High Priority): High-performing, profitable campaigns (ACoS <target ACoS, high sales), new product launches, organic ranking campaigns.
- Tier 2 (Growth/Maintenance): Moderate-performing campaigns, brand defense, competitor targeting, brand awareness campaigns.
- Tier 3 (Discovery/Testing): Auto campaigns, broad match, new keyword/ASIN tests.
- Allocate Based on ACoS & ROAS: Routinely review campaign performance.
- High ROAS / Low ACoS Campaigns: Allocate a larger portion of your budget here. These are your money-makers.
- Underperforming Campaigns: Lower budget or pause if ACoS remains high (>100%) and does not improve.
- New Product Launches: Front-load budget for the first 4-6 weeks to gain organic ranks. Be prepared for a higher initial ACoS.
- Utilize Campaign Budgets & Portfolio Budgets:
- Individual Campaign Budgets: Set bids & daily budgets for each campaign based on its tier and performance.
- Portfolio Budgets: If you have several campaigns for one product line or brand, use portfolios to set a total budget so Amazon can allocate spending between campaigns based on performance, which is helpful for growth.
- Monitor Budget Depletion: Review your campaigns each day to find those reaching their budget limit too soon. This shows lost opportunities. Raise the budget for strong campaigns that often run out.
4. Clear Campaign Structure
An organized campaign structure is the bedrock for control, scalability, and precise data analysis. It empowers you to swiftly identify what’s working (and more importantly, what isn’t) at a glance, making the entire optimization process significantly more efficient and less prone to costly mistakes.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- “SPAG” (Single Product Ad Group) or “SKAG” (Single Keyword Ad Group) Principle:
- SPAG: For Sponsored Products, create one campaign per product (ASIN) and then use one ad groups within that campaign. This provides product-level insights.
- SKAG (Advanced): For high-volume, relevant keywords, create a separate ad group for each exact match keyword. This gives you ultimate bid control per keyword.
- Campaign Naming Convention: Implement a consistent, descriptive naming convention.
- Example: BRAND_PRODUCTLINE_PRODUCTNAME_TARGETINGTYPE_MATCHTYPE_GOAL
- ACME_WidgetPro_RedWidget_KWD_Exact_Sales
- ACME_WidgetPro_RedWidget_Auto_Discovery
- ACME_WidgetPro_Competitor_ASIN_Defense
- Separate Campaigns by Targeting Type:
- Automatic Campaigns: For keyword discovery and broad reach.
- Manual Keyword Campaigns: Exact, Phrase, Broad match types should be in separate campaigns for precise bidding.
ASIN/Product Targeting Campaigns: Target specific competitor ASINs - Category Targeting Campaigns: Target entire categories or subcategories.
- Campaigns by Goal:
- Discovery Campaigns: (Auto, Broad Match) Focused on finding new keywords.
- Single Keyword Campaigns (SKC): (Exact Match) Focused on organic ranking on top relevant keywords.
- Defense Campaigns: (Brand Keywords, Competitor ASINs) Protecting your brand and market share.
- Leverage Portfolios: Group related campaigns (e.g., all campaigns for a specific product line) into portfolios for easier budget management and holistic reporting.
5. Mix of Sponsored Products, Brands & Display Ads
Amazon provides a powerful suite of ad formats, each uniquely designed to serve distinct advertising purposes within your overall Amazon advertising strategy. Sponsored Products are your workhorses, driving immediate traffic to individual product listings. Sponsored Brands improves your brand awareness, promoting a collection of products or your entire storefront. Sponsored Display expands your reach both on and off Amazon, targeting shoppers based on interests, product views, or even past purchases, giving you remarkable flexibility.
Practical Implementation Steps:
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Sponsored Products (Foundation):
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Budget Allocation: Allocate approximately 70 to 80 percent of your budget to Sponsored Products advertising.
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Spending Priority: Prioritize spending on Sponsored Products Exact campaigns within this budget allocation.
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Sponsored Brands (Brand Building & Diversification):
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Headline Ads: Use these to drive traffic to your Brand Store or a custom landing page showcasing your top sellers or new arrivals.
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Product Collection Ads: Display 3-5 complementary products that encourage cross-selling.
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Video Ads: Leverage video to tell your brand story or demonstrate product features directly in search results – highly engaging.
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Sponsored Display (Reach & Retargeting):
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Views Remarketing: Crucial for converting hesitant shoppers. Target customers who viewed your product but didn’t purchase. Segment these audiences (e.g., viewed in last 7 days, 14 days) and offer different messaging/bids.
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Purchases Remarketing: Target customers who purchased your product to promote complementary items or encourage repeat purchases.
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Product Targeting: Target specific product detail pages or categories where your product would be relevant (e.g., targeting a competitor’s listing).
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Audience Targeting (Interests/Lifestyles): Expand your reach to shoppers with interests relevant to your product, both on and off Amazon.
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Custom Creatives: For SD, design compelling ad creatives (images/videos) that stand out and feature clear calls to action. A/B test different creatives.
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6. Match Types & Negative Keywords
Match types – Exact, Phrase, and Broad – in your Sponsored Products campaigns is absolutely critical for controlling relevance and spend.
Exact Match gives you surgical precision over specific keywords, Phrase Match allows for some variation while preserving word order, and Broad Match captures a wide array of related terms.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Exact Match (High Intent, High Control):
- Target High Performers: Move all keywords that consistently generate sales with a good ACoS from your auto and broad campaigns into exact match manual campaigns.
- Aggressive Bidding: Bid higher on exact match keywords as they indicate strong purchase intent and have higher conversion rates.
- SKAG Structure: For your most critical exact match keywords, consider a “Single Keyword Ad Group” (SKAG) structure for ultimate control.
- Phrase Match (Controlled Expansion):
- Capture Variations: Utilize phrase match for close variations of key phrases with specific word order (e.g., “red running shoes” triggers “buy red running shoes” but not “running red shoes”).
- Test New Keywords: Employ phrase match to trial new keywords identified in research before switching to exact match.
- Negative Keywords (Budget Protection):
- Routine Search Term Review: Conduct weekly or bi-weekly evaluations of your Search Term Reports.
- Remove Irrelevant Terms: Exclude any non-relevant search terms by adding them as negative matches.
- Address Poor Performers: Exclude terms with high spend and no sales or consistently high ACoS that cannot be optimized.
7. ASIN & SKU Prioritization
In your catalog, concentrate ad spend on the 20% of ASINs or SKUs that will yield 80% of results. This focus helps achieve business goals like boosting profit, increasing new item visibility, or reducing surplus stock efficiently, forming a crucial part of a successful Amazon PPC strategy.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Categorize Your ASINs/SKUs:
- Hero/Cash Cow ASINs: High-performing, profitable products with strong organic rankings and sales.
- Strategic Growth ASINs: Products with potential but need more investment to scale.
- Loss Leader ASINs: Products with lower margins but high customer acquisition value or essential for a product line.
- Liquidation ASINs: Products you need to clear out due to overstock or discontinuation.
- Allocate Budget Strategically:
- Hero ASINs: Dedicate 70-80% of the budget to maintain top brand positions and grow using profitable keywords.
- Strategic Growth ASINs: Dedicate 10 to 20 percent of the budget. Begin with phrase or broad match to explore, then switch to exact match once effective.
- Liquidation ASINs: Run targeted campaigns with high bids to sell inventory quickly, focusing on volume rather than ACoS briefly.
8. Product Page Optimization for CVR
Your Amazon product page is the ultimate destination for every ad click. If product listings is not optimized for conversion (CVR), all your diligent Amazon advertising strategy efforts and precious ad spend will be squandered. A high-converting product page directly translates to a lower ACoS because you’re maximizing the value and sales potential of every single paid click that arrives. This means scrutinizing and enhancing every element, from compelling images to persuasive customer reviews.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- High-Quality, Engaging Images (All 9 Slots):
- Main Image: Professional, high-resolution, white background, filling 85%+ of the frame.
- Lifestyle Images: Show product in use, diverse models/settings, evoke emotion.
- Infographic Images: Highlight key features, benefits, dimensions, use cases.
- Video: Essential for demonstrating features, benefits, and building trust.
- A/B Test Images: Use Amazon’s ‘Manage Your Experiments’ tool to test different main images or lifestyle shots.
- Compelling Title (Keyword Rich & Benefit-Oriented):
- Include your most important keywords in first 70 characters.
- Clearly state product name, brand, key features/benefits, and quantity.
- Aim for clarity and conciseness, avoiding keyword stuffing.
- Benefit-Driven Bullet Points:
- Focus on benefits, not just features. How does it solve a customer’s problem?
- Include 2 relevant keywords per bullet point naturally.
- Address common customer questions or pain points.
- A+ Content (Enhanced Brand Content):
- Tell Your Brand Story: Use rich media, modules, videos, and text to showcase your brand’s unique value proposition.
- Cross-Promote: Link to other products in your brand.
- Customer Reviews & Ratings
- Gather Sufficient Reviews: Ensure you have collected between 15 to 20 reviews before launching any advertising campaigns.
- Maintain High Ratings: Aim to keep your ratings above 4 to improve the conversion rate.
- Backend Keywords: Utilize all available 500-bytes backend search term fields in Seller Central to capture additional relevant keywords that might not fit naturally in your title or bullet points.
- Competitive Pricing: Ensure your pricing is competitive within your category. Run promotions or coupons strategically.
- Inventory & Buy Box: Always maintain sufficient inventory. If you lose the Buy Box, your ads will stop running.
9. Bid Adjustments by Placement
Understanding where your ads appear on Amazon’s pages is just as important as the keywords you target. Amazon allows you to set specific bid adjustments for different placements: “Top of search (first page)” and “Product pages.”
This granular control is a powerful lever within your Amazon advertising strategy, enabling you to fcous your spent where it matters most, or pull back where performance isn’t meeting your targets.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Analyze Placement Performance: Go to your campaign manager, select a campaign, and navigate to the “Placements” tab. Review the “Top of search (first page),” “Product pages,” and “Rest of search” performance for key metrics like Impressions, Clicks, ACoS, and Conversion Rate.
- Identify High-Performing Placements: Look for placements that consistently deliver a low ACoS and high conversion rate, even if the spend is relatively low.
- Adjust Bids Based on Performance: If your product consistently converts well from the “Top of search (first page)” but you’re not getting enough impressions, apply a positive bid adjustment (e.g., +20% to +100%). This pushes your ad higher in search results, capturing more high-intent shoppers. Start with conservative increases and monitor closely.
- Monitor and Refine: Bid adjustments are not static. Continuously monitor the performance of your adjusted bids, typically on a weekly basis, and make further tweaks based on the data. If an increase leads to an unacceptably high ACoS, reduce the adjustment.
10. Ranking the Near-Rank Keywords
Many sellers overlook the immense potential of keywords where their product already holds a respectable, but not dominant, organic rank typically between position 25 and 45. These “near-rank” keywords are ripe for acceleration.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Identify Near-Rank Keywords:
- Use Keyword Tracking Tools: Employ tools like Helium 10, Jungle Scout, or Seller Central’s Brand Analytics to find keywords where your product is organically ranking between positions 25 and 45.
- Filter for Relevancy & Volume: Focus on highly relevant keywords with decent search volume.
- Use Keyword Tracking Tools: Employ tools like Helium 10, Jungle Scout, or Seller Central’s Brand Analytics to find keywords where your product is organically ranking between positions 25 and 45.
- Launch Dedicated Exact Match Campaigns: Create new, specific Sponsored Products campaigns for these identified near-rank keywords, using exact match targeting. Bid competitively on these exact match keywords. Your goal here is not just profitability today but organic rank improvement tomorrow. You might accept a slightly higher ACoS for these campaigns initially.
- Monitor Organic Rank (Daily/Weekly): Use your keyword tracking tools to monitor the organic rank of these targeted keywords daily or every few days. You should see movement upwards.
- Optimize Continuously: Once organic rank improves significantly (e.g., enters top 10), you can gradually reduce your PPC bids to maintain position while improving ACoS.
11. Dayparting Strategy
Dayparting is the strategic practice of scheduling your ads to run or adjust bids during specific times of the day or days of the week. This refined approach within your Amazon PPC strategy leverages data on when your audience is most active and most likely to convert.
By aligning your ad spend with peak performance hours, you can significantly reduce wasted budget and boost efficiency, rather than simply letting campaigns run 24/7 without consideration for actual buyer behavior.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Access Performance Data by Time: Login to Amazon Ads Console → Reports → Create Report → Sponsored Products → Choose Campaign → Time Unit = Hourly → Select Date Range → Run Report → Download CSV/Excel.
- Analyze Peak Performance Hours:
- Identify the hours of the day and days of the week where your campaigns consistently have the lowest ACoS, highest conversion rates, and most sales.
- Look for patterns: Are weekends stronger than weekdays? Do sales spike in the evenings or mornings?
- Implement Bid Adjustments (Rule-Based):
- Go to Seller Central → Campaign Manager → Select your campaign → Settings → Scroll to Campaign rules → Click Create rule → Choose Date range (Custom or Event) → Select Daily or Weekly recurrence → Under Hours of day, pick Start and End time → Enter Bid adjustment % → Name the rule → Click Add rule.poor performance.
12. Search-Term Analysis Report
The Search Term Analysis Report (STAR) is an indispensable treasure trove of customer intent data, arguably the single most important report for optimizing your Amazon advertising strategy.
It details the exact search queries customers used that led to a click on your ads. By meticulously dissecting this report, you can unearth profitable new keywords, identify irrelevant terms to negative match, and gain profound insights into how your target audience truly searches for products, continuously refining your overall Amazon PPC strategy.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Download Regularly: Make downloading your Search Term Report a weekly or bi-weekly habit. Go to Seller Central > Advertising > Campaign Manager > Reports > Create Report > Sponsored Products > Search Term.
- Filter and Sort for Action:
- Filter by ACoS: Sort by ACoS (high to low and low to high) to quickly spot both opportunities and waste.
- Filter by Orders: Identify search terms that are driving sales.
- Filter by Spend: Look for terms with high spend but no sales.
- Filter by Impressions/Clicks: Discover terms with high engagement that might need attention.
- Identify New, Profitable Keywords (Harvesting):
- Look for search terms from your Auto, Broad, or Phrase campaigns that have generated sales at an acceptable or excellent ACoS.
- Action: Add these high-performing search terms as exact match keywords into dedicated manual campaigns. This allows you to set precise bids and gain greater control.
- Identify Irrelevant or Unprofitable Keywords (Negative Keywords):
- Find search terms that have high clicks/spend but no sales, or an unacceptably high ACoS. These are draining your budget.
- Look for terms that are clearly unrelated to your product (e.g., “free,” competitor brands you don’t wish to target, different product types).
- Action: Add these terms as negative exact match keywords to the campaign or ad group they appeared in. For broader campaigns (Auto, Broad), consider adding them as negative phrase if you want to block variations.
- Optimize Existing Keywords:
- If an existing keyword in a manual campaign is performing poorly, use the STAR to see which search terms it’s matching to. This might reveal that the keyword is too broad, or that specific variations are driving up costs.
- Action: Adjust bids, or add specific negative keywords to refine the targeting of your existing manual keywords.
- Refine Product Targeting: For campaigns targeting ASINs or categories, the STAR can also show you what search terms led customers to those product pages before seeing your ad. This can provide insights for new product targeting ideas.
- Continuously Repeat: The market is dynamic. New search terms emerge, and customer behavior shifts. Consistent search term analysis is non-negotiable for sustained PPC success.
13. Continuous Optimization
“Set it and forget it” is the death knell of any Amazon advertising strategy. True success stems from a commitment to relentless, continuous optimization. The Amazon marketplace is a living, breathing entity, with constant shifts in customer behavior, competitor actions, and Amazon’s own algorithms. By embracing an iterative cycle of analysis, adjustment, and testing, you ensure your campaigns remain agile, efficient, and consistently outperform the competition.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Establish a Routine Optimization Schedule:
- Daily: Check budget pacing, identify urgent negative keywords from search term reports, and ensure no critical campaigns are paused due to being out of stock.
- Weekly: Full review of Search Term Reports (harvesting, negating), bid adjustments (up/down), budget re-allocation, and performance review of new tests.
- Monthly: Comprehensive campaign deep dive. Analyze trends over time (30-60-90 days), review ACoS/ROAS/TACoS targets, evaluate product page performance, plan new creative tests, and assess overall business objectives.
- Quarterly/Seasonal: Strategic review of market conditions, competitor movements, upcoming promotions, and major seasonal shifts.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Never make changes based on gut feelings. Every adjustment to bids, budgets, match types, or creatives should be informed by specific data points and a clear hypothesis.
- Test, Learn, Iterate:
- A/B Testing: Actively run A/B tests for product listings (via ‘Manage Your Experiments’) and ad creatives (where available).
- Small Changes First: Start with small bid or budget adjustments (e.g., 5-10%) to understand their impact before making larger shifts.
- Document Changes: Keep a log of all significant changes made, including the date, campaign, what was changed, and the expected outcome. This helps in attributing results.
- Stay Informed:
- Amazon Updates: Keep up-to-date with new ad features, beta programs, and policy changes announced by Amazon.
- Industry Trends: Follow industry news and best practices from experts in Amazon advertising.
- Competitor Analysis: Regularly scout competitor ads and product listings for insights.
- Focus on the Big Picture (TACoS): While ACoS is crucial for individual campaigns, always keep an eye on TACoS. Ensure your optimizations are contributing to overall brand growth and profitability, not just immediate ad efficiency.
- Address Performance Gaps: If a campaign or product consistently underperforms despite optimizations, don’t be afraid to pause it or significantly reduce its budget. Reallocate those resources to areas with higher potential.
14. Audience Targeting & Retargeting
Moving beyond mere keywords, sophisticated audience targeting allows you to precisely reach specific groups of shoppers based on their demographics, interests, and—most importantly—their past behavior on Amazon. Retargeting (or remarketing) is an incredibly potent facet of any Amazon advertising strategy, specifically designed to re-engage shoppers who’ve already expressed interest in your products or brand, thereby dramatically increasing conversion probabilities.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Leverage Sponsored Display (SD) for On/Off Amazon Targeting:
- Views Remarketing: Your highest ROI audience. Target shoppers who viewed your product detail page (PDP) but didn’t purchase.
- Segment by Recency: Create audiences for 7-day, 14-day, 30-day viewers. Bid higher on more recent viewers.
- Custom Creatives: Use dynamic creative optimization to show them the exact product they viewed.
- Offer Incentives: Consider adding a coupon to remarketing ads for those who viewed multiple times or added to cart but didn’t buy.
- Purchases Remarketing:
- Cross-Sell: Target customers who bought Product A to suggest Product B (e.g., coffee maker purchasers targeted with coffee bean ads).
- Repeat Purchases: Remind customers to reorder consumable products.
- Audience Interests & Lifestyles: Target shoppers based on their long-term shopping patterns or interests (e.g., “outdoor enthusiasts,” “tech gadget lovers”). Use this for top-of-funnel awareness.
- Views Remarketing: Your highest ROI audience. Target shoppers who viewed your product detail page (PDP) but didn’t purchase.
- Sponsored Brands Custom Audiences (Newer Feature):
- Reach Shoppers who visited your Brand Store or Product Detail Pages: Use this for Sponsored Brands campaigns to re-engage with highly relevant audiences at the top of search.
- Reach Shoppers who visited your Brand Store or Product Detail Pages: Use this for Sponsored Brands campaigns to re-engage with highly relevant audiences at the top of search.
- Campaign Structure for Audiences:
- Create separate campaigns or ad groups for different audience segments (e.g., “SD – Views 7-Day,” “SD – Competitor Purchasers,” “DSP – In-Market Audiences”) to control bids and analyze performance independently.
- Create separate campaigns or ad groups for different audience segments (e.g., “SD – Views 7-Day,” “SD – Competitor Purchasers,” “DSP – In-Market Audiences”) to control bids and analyze performance independently.
- Creative Tailoring:
- Remarketing: Ad creatives should focus on the product(s) viewed and a clear call to action (e.g., “Don’t miss out!”).
- Awareness: Creatives should highlight brand benefits and introduce your product to a new audience.
- Frequency Capping: Implement frequency caps in DSP to avoid ad fatigue and wasted impressions (e.g., show an ad 3-5 times per day to a user).
15. Brand Awareness Campaigns
While many Amazon advertisers are laser-focused solely on direct response and immediate sales, cultivating strong brand awareness is a critical, long-term pillar of any sustainable Amazon advertising strategy.
These campaigns introduce your brand and products to new audiences, diligently foster trust, and ultimately drive significant organic demand. Though they might exhibit a higher ACoS initially, their investment can yield substantial increases in total sales and cultivate invaluable brand loyalty over time.
Practical Implementation Steps:
- Define Your Target Audience:
- Who are you trying to reach? What are their interests, demographics, and shopping behaviors?
- Use Amazon’s audience segments (In-Market, Lifestyle) in Sponsored Display and DSP.
- Leverage Sponsored Brands for Top of Search Dominance:
- Headline Ads to Brand Store: Drive traffic to your Amazon Brand Store, which is designed to showcase your brand’s story and product catalog.
- Brand Video Ads: Highly engaging format that captures attention in search results. Use compelling visuals and a strong brand message.
- Custom Images for Sponsored Brands: Use lifestyle images that resonate with your target audience, not just product shots.
- Bid on Generic Keywords: Position your brand at the top of search for broader, category-level keywords, even if the direct ACoS is higher than your target.
- Sponsored Display & Amazon DSP for Broad Reach:
- Interest/Lifestyle Targeting: Target audiences based on their demonstrated interests (e.g., “fitness enthusiasts” for a protein supplement brand).
- Category Targeting: Target broad categories where your product fits to introduce your brand to relevant shoppers.
- Geographic & Demographic Targeting: Use DSP to target specific regions or demographics if relevant to your brand.
- On & Off-Amazon Placements: Expand your reach beyond Amazon search results.
- Compelling Creative is Key:
- Focus on Brand Story/USP: What makes your brand unique? What problem do you solve?
- High-Quality Visuals: Professional imagery and video that aligns with your brand identity.
- Clear Messaging: Simple, memorable, and impactful.
- A/B Test Creatives: Continuously test different ad variations to see what resonates best with new audiences.
- Measure Beyond ACoS:
- Brand Search Lift: Monitor if your branded search volume increases
Making Your Amazon Ad Strategy Work for You
For 90% of sellers, the journey begins with Sponsored Products. This is your foundation. It’s where you’ll drive immediate sales, validate your product-market fit, and harvest the high-intent keywords that fuel your entire advertising ecosystem. Don’t move on until this part of your strategy is stable and profitable.
Once your Sponsored Products campaigns are humming along, it’s time to build the walls with Sponsored Brands. Use the keyword data you’ve collected to create campaigns that build brand awareness and capture top-of-funnel traffic. This is how you transition from just selling a product to building a recognizable brand that shoppers trust.
With a solid foundation and structure in place, you can add the finishing touches. Sponsored Display acts like your security system, retargeting shoppers who visited your listing but didn’t buy, bringing them back to complete the purchase. Amazon Stores become your beautifully designed showroom, giving customers a central place to explore your entire product line.
The key is to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Your strategy shouldn’t be set in stone. It needs to be a living, breathing plan that you constantly monitor, test, and refine. What works today might not work in six months.
New ad types will emerge, and customer behavior will shift. The most successful sellers are the ones who stay curious, embrace the data, and are always willing to adapt.
So, pick your starting point, focus on mastering it, and then thoughtfully layer on the next piece of your advertising puzzle. You’ve got the blueprint; now it’s time to start building.