Amazon PPC Strategy For New Sellers vs Established Brands

Amazon Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is essential for driving ranking and sales in the competitive Amazon marketplace.

By bidding on keywords and targeting ad placements, sellers can place their products in prime spots on Amazon search results and detail pages.

However, strategies differ greatly between new sellers (often launching products or brands) and established sellers/brands. New sellers typically have limited budgets, little sales history or brand recognition, and focus on building traction, whereas established brands have more data, budget, and leverage to optimize for efficiency and scale.

PPC Goals: Data vs Profit

Your entire approach depends on where your business is right now. Applying a mature brand’s efficiency-focused tactics to a new product launch is a sure way to fail. You would starve the campaign of the data it needs to find its footing and grow.

Here’s a quick look at how the strategies differ.

1. New vs Established Strategy at a Glance

This table shows the fundamental split in mindset. Now, let’s see what this looks like in practice.

2. The New Seller Objective: Data and Discovery

For a new seller, the first 90 days of advertising aren’t about turning a profit. Think of it as an investment in learning. Your main goal is to collect as much keyword and conversion data as possible because that information will shape future decisions.

Your mission involves:

• Finding winning keywords: You have to cast a wide net with broad match and automatic campaigns. This is how you find out which search terms customers actually use to find and buy your product, not just the ones you think they use.
• Building sales velocity: Those first sales are critical. They signal to Amazon’s A9 algorithm that your product is relevant, which helps it start climbing the organic ranks.
• Validating your listing: If your ads get a healthy click-through rate (CTR), it’s a great sign your main image, title, and price are resonating with shoppers. If not, you know you have work to do.

A new seller’s initial ad spend is an investment in market research. It’s normal, and necessary, to break even or even lose a little money at first. You’re building the foundation for profitable growth later on.

3. The Established Brand Objective: Profitability and Defense

Once you have a solid sales history and you know your market, the game changes. Now it’s about efficiency and protection. The challenges and opportunities shift, which is why there are even tailored Amazon PPC strategies for FBA sellers who are past the launch phase.

An established brand is focused on:

• Maximizing ROAS: Every dollar you put into ads needs to bring back more in return. It’s all about the profit margin.
• Defending market share: You’ve worked hard to get here, and competitors are always trying to move in. You’ll be bidding on your own branded keywords and targeting competitor ASINs to keep rivals out of your space.
• Scaling efficiently: The goal is to grow without letting your ACoS get out of control. This means expanding into new ad formats like Sponsored Display and Sponsored Brands Video to capture new audiences without harming your bottom line.

Structuring Your Campaigns: Launch vs. Scale

A disorganized campaign setup is a fast track to wasted ad spend and missed opportunities. A clean, logical structure gives you the control you need to hit your goals, whether that’s gathering initial sales data or scaling to profitability.

For new sellers, the structure should be simple and focused on learning. For established brands, it has to be granular and built for precise control.

1. Campaign Structure for New Sellers

When you’re new, your job is to figure out which customer search terms and competitor products convert into sales. Since you have no historical data, your structure must be designed to find it efficiently.

A practical launch setup involves three core campaigns:

1. An Automatic Campaign: This is your primary research tool. Amazon’s algorithm does the work, testing your product against a huge range of search terms and other product pages. Its only job is to generate a search term report packed with real customer queries.
2. A Manual Broad Match Campaign: Once you have a few promising keywords from your research, put them into a broad match campaign. This lets you test keywords you think are relevant while allowing Amazon to discover related long-tail variations.
3. A Product Targeting (PAT) Campaign: Identify your top 5-10 direct competitors. Create a Product Attribute Targeting (PAT) campaign that places your ad on their product detail pages. This is a great way to see how your offer stacks up and can help you get some quick initial sales.

This three-part structure is all about learning. You aren’t trying to hit a low ACoS right away; you’re building a list of proven keywords and ASINs you can use later.

For new sellers, a simple campaign structure isn’t a shortcut; it’s a strategy. It prevents you from spreading your budget too thin and helps you gather meaningful data quickly without getting buried in complexity.

2. Campaign Structure for Established Brands

An established brand already has the data. They know which keywords perform well and which competitors are vulnerable. Their campaign structure shifts from discovery to one of control and optimization. This means segmenting everything to manage bids and budgets with precision.

A more sophisticated structure for a scaled brand will almost always involve:

• Segmented Match Type Campaigns: Keywords are broken out into separate campaigns for Exact, Phrase, and Broad match types. This is important because it stops your broad match terms from taking impressions from high-converting exact match keywords and lets you set different bidding strategies for each.
• Branded vs. Non-Branded Campaigns: Bids for your own brand name (e.g., “Osprey backpack”) have to be managed separately from generic terms (e.g., “men’s hiking backpack”). Branded campaigns are for defense and usually have a very low ACoS, while non-branded campaigns are for growth.
• Defensive & Offensive Product Targeting: This is a two-pronged attack. Defensive campaigns target your own product listings to keep competitors from appearing on your pages. Offensive campaigns go after competitor ASINs to steal their market share.
• Sponsored Brands and Display Campaigns: Beyond Sponsored Products, established brands use other ad types to build brand awareness and retarget shoppers who viewed their products but didn’t buy.

This granular approach allows for careful budget allocation and performance tracking. You can increase spending on your proven exact match winners and pull back on your exploratory broad match campaigns. To go even deeper, you can learn more about building a robust Amazon PPC marketing funnel. The focus is no longer on what might work, but on scaling what is working.

Keyword And Targeting Methods

Your approach to keywords and customer targeting on Amazon must evolve as your brand grows. A new seller is in exploration mode, trying to figure out how shoppers search for their product. An established brand has a lot of data and can run precise, profit-driven campaigns.

A new seller is casting a wide net to see what they can catch. An established brand is using a high-powered rifle with a scope to hit specific, profitable targets.

1. New Seller Focus: Exploration and Discovery

When you’re new, you have no performance history. Your main job is to learn what works, which means starting broad and letting Amazon’s algorithm do the heavy lifting.

Here’s what your targeting playbook should look like:

• Automatic Campaigns: This is your required first step. Let Amazon test your product against various search terms and competitor products. The goal isn’t profit, it’s to generate a detailed Search Term Report filled with real customer queries.
• Broad Match Manual Campaigns: Do your initial keyword research and select your top 5-10 core terms. Add them to a broad match campaign. This gives Amazon room to show your ad for related long-tail keywords you haven’t thought of yet.
• Competitor ASIN Targeting: Pinpoint 5-10 of your closest competitors and target their ASINs directly with Sponsored Products. This is a great way to get your product in front of motivated buyers and see how your price, images, and reviews compare to the competition.

The process is a constant feedback loop. You run broad and automatic campaigns, check the search term report every week, and “harvest” the keywords that are converting by moving them into more focused, higher-bid campaigns. You can explore more about automatic vs. manual campaign targeting in our guide.

The keyword discovery phase is expensive. New sellers need to accept this. You have to be prepared for a higher initial ad spend because you’re paying for market intelligence. This data will become the foundation of your future profitability.

This initial fight for visibility is getting more intense. Small and new sellers are outspending big brands on PPC by large margins. Recent data shows small sellers spend 127% more on Sponsored Products and 146% more on Sponsored Video than their larger counterparts, just to get seen. With around 3,700 new sellers joining Amazon daily, the paid ad space is getting more crowded and expensive. You can see more details on how small sellers are spending more on Amazon advertising.

2. Established Brand Focus: Precision and Expansion

Established brands are in a different position. They have months, sometimes years, of conversion data. Their keyword strategy is about optimization, defending their position, and strategically expanding their reach.

Their targeting becomes more surgical and sophisticated:

• Exact Match Dominance: The majority of their ad budget should go to proven, high-converting exact match keywords. These are the terms that consistently deliver a profitable ACoS. The mission is simple: own the top-of-search placement for these money-making keywords.
• Long-Tail Keyword Expansion: With core keywords secured, established brands can look for incremental sales. This means targeting less competitive, hyper-specific long-tail keywords like “organic cotton hypoallergenic pillowcase for side sleepers” instead of just “cotton pillowcase.”
• Advanced ASIN and Category Targeting: It’s not just about sniping competitors. Established brands use Product Targeting to cross-sell their own catalog (advertising shampoo on their conditioner’s product page) or to play defense by targeting their own ASINs to block rivals.
• Audience-Centric Sponsored Display: With a solid customer base, these brands can focus on audiences beyond keywords. Using Sponsored Display, they can retarget shoppers who previously viewed their products or target in-market audiences interested in their category, reaching them both on and off Amazon.

Smart Budgeting And Bidding

How you handle your ad spend reflects your brand’s maturity on Amazon. A new seller’s budget is a research fund. An established brand’s budget is a profit-generating machine.

Mixing up these two roles is an expensive mistake. New sellers need to be aggressive and front-load their spend. Established brands have to be efficient.

1. Budgeting For Data Acquisition: New Sellers

For your first 90 days, your budget has one job: buy data as fast as you can.

This means getting comfortable with a high initial ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale). You’ll likely be running at break-even or even a loss. This isn’t failure; it’s a calculated investment in your future success.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Set a Real Daily Budget: A common mistake is setting a $20-$30 daily budget that runs out by 10 AM. You miss out on valuable data from afternoon and evening shoppers. A budget of $50-$100 per day is a much more realistic starting point to gather meaningful data quickly.
• Embrace a High Initial ACoS: In the early days, an ACoS of 50% to 100% is normal. You’re paying to discover which keywords convert, to validate your listing’s appeal, and to get those first sales that feed Amazon’s algorithm. Forcing a 25% ACoS on a new product will starve it of the clicks it needs to learn.

The goal isn’t profit; it’s learning. Every dollar spent on a click, even one that doesn’t convert, buys you a piece of information. That information is what you’ll use to build profitable campaigns later.

When it comes to bidding, new sellers should chase visibility over efficiency. You need impressions to get clicks, and you need clicks to get data. This makes ‘Dynamic bids – up and down’ a good starting point. It allows Amazon to boost your bid by up to 100% for placements more likely to convert, helping you win impressions at the top of the search page.

2. Budgeting For Profitability: Established Brands

Established brands aren’t guessing anymore. They operate from a position of knowledge, using months or years of conversion data. Their entire approach to budgeting and bidding shifts toward maximizing profit and defending their market share.

Budgeting becomes a science of efficiency:

• Manage by TACoS: Instead of focusing only on ACoS, mature brands manage ad spend based on TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sale). TACoS measures ad spend against total revenue (PPC + organic), giving you the true picture of how ads are lifting your entire business. A healthy TACoS often lands in the 8% to 15% range, showing a solid balance between paid and organic sales.
• Profit-Driven Bidding: You’re no longer just buying clicks; you’re buying the right clicks at the right price. Established brands often switch to ‘Dynamic bids – down only’ to protect their margins. This setting lets Amazon lower your bid if a conversion seems unlikely, preventing you from overspending on low-quality traffic. You can get a much deeper look at Amazon bidding strategies in our detailed guide.

This is also where advanced bidding tactics come into play. Brands will use placement adjustments to bid more aggressively for the ‘Top of search’ spot on their highest-converting, exact-match keywords. Owning this digital real estate for your core terms is a key defensive move, pushing competitors down the page.

Measuring Success With The Right KPIs

Your performance dashboard should tell a different story depending on your brand’s age. It’s a classic mistake for new sellers to obsess over profitability metrics like ACoS in the first 90 days. Doing that can kill a product launch. When you’re new, your only job is to gather data.

For established brands, it’s an entirely different situation. You have historical data. Every metric you track should tie directly to profitability and market dominance.

1. KPIs for New Sellers: Leading Indicators

When you’re starting, sales are a lagging indicator. You must focus on the metrics that come before the sale to know if your campaigns are pointed in the right direction.

Your primary focus should be on:

• Impressions: Are people even seeing your ads? Low impressions indicate your bids are too low or your keywords aren’t relevant enough to enter the auction.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): This measures how relevant your listing is to a shopper’s search. A healthy CTR (around 0.4% or higher) shows that your main image, title, and price are compelling enough to make someone click.
• New Keyword Discovery: Treat your automatic and broad campaigns like research tools. A key measure of success is the number of new, relevant customer search terms you “harvest” from your search term reports each week.

The KPIs for a new launch are different from those for a mature product. For the first 60–90 days, focus on impression growth and CTR instead of just ACoS. Generally, healthy Sponsored Products CTR ranges from 0.3% to 0.5%, while Sponsored Brands often hit 0.4% to 0.7%. If you can match or beat these, it’s a strong signal your product and keywords are a good fit.

If your CTR is low but impressions are high, your listing isn’t appealing. If clicks are high but conversions are low, your product detail page isn’t closing the deal. This is the valuable data you’re paying for.

2. KPIs for Established Brands: Profitability Focus

Once you’ve graduated from the launch phase, your KPIs shift from gathering data to generating profit. You have a baseline now. The game becomes about optimizing for efficiency and strategic growth.

Your new dashboard should prioritize:

• ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale): This now becomes your core efficiency metric. You should know your break-even ACoS and have a clear goal of keeping your campaigns well below that number for mature products.
• TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sale): This is the key metric for established brands. It measures your ad spend against your total sales (PPC and organic). A healthy, declining TACoS means your PPC is successfully boosting your organic rank.
• Organic Rank Improvement: Are your ads helping your most important keywords climb the organic rankings? Track your rank for your top 5-10 keywords weekly. If your PPC sales are high but your organic rank is stagnant, your ads aren’t creating the desired “halo effect.”

To track these, get comfortable with your advertising console. We have a guide that breaks down how to use Amazon advertising reports to find these insights. Knowing how to measure marketing effectiveness is crucial for any campaign on Amazon. The right PPC strategy is ultimately defined by the KPIs you choose to measure.

Common PPC Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

It doesn’t matter if you’re a new seller or a seasoned brand; everyone makes expensive PPC mistakes. The most common traps are also the most avoidable.

But the errors new sellers make are different from the ones established brands fall into. Let’s break down what to watch for at each stage.

1. For New Sellers: Rookie Traps

When you’re launching, every sale feels like a win, and it’s easy to get tunnel vision. That pressure often leads to short-sighted mistakes that burn through cash fast.

• The “Too Scared to Spend” Budget: Setting a $20 daily budget is a common error. It almost always runs out by 10 AM, meaning you miss out on the afternoon and evening shopping rush. Your data gets skewed, and you never reach your full audience.
  The Fix: Give Amazon’s algorithm enough runway. Start with at least $50-$75 per day for each product you’re advertising. This ensures your ads run consistently and you gather enough meaningful data to learn something.
• Pulling the Plug Too Soon: You launched a campaign, and three days later, the ACoS is sky-high. The impulse is to kill it. But PPC needs time to work.
  The Fix: Commit to letting your campaigns run for at least one to two weeks without making drastic changes. This gives you a baseline. You need that initial data, good or bad, to make smart optimization decisions later.
• Advertising a Half-Baked Listing: Driving paid traffic to a product page with blurry photos, a weak title, and zero reviews is a waste of money. You’ll get clicks, but conversions will be poor.
  The Fix: Your listing must be retail-ready before you spend on ads. That means professional images, a keyword-optimized title, benefit-driven bullet points, and at least a few early reviews to build social proof.

2. For Established Brands: Avoiding Complacency

Once you’ve found a profitable rhythm, the biggest risk is complacency. Sticking with “what’s always worked” is how you lose ground to hungrier competitors.

• Becoming a Slave to Low ACoS: Obsessing over a rock-bottom ACoS feels safe, but it limits growth. If your bids are too conservative, you’re handing over valuable top-of-search placements to more aggressive brands.
  The Fix: Earmark a portion of your budget for experimentation. Test new keywords and bid more assertively on your proven winners. Think of it as defending your turf while also exploring new territory.
• Ignoring New Ad Formats: Many established brands get comfortable with Sponsored Products and never venture out. They miss high-impact formats like Sponsored Brands Video or Sponsored Display, which are great for building brand loyalty and reaching new shoppers.
  The Fix: Test one new ad type each quarter. A great place to start is with a Sponsored Brands Video campaign for your top-selling product. The engagement rates are often worth the effort.

The Amazon marketplace is competitive. Third-party sellers accounted for 62% of all paid units sold on Amazon in Q3 2024, a jump from 45% in 2015. With over 55,000 sellers now clearing $1 million in revenue, more serious brands are using PPC for growth. You can see more data on Amazon’s third-party seller growth. In this environment, avoiding common mistakes is a powerful competitive advantage.

Got Questions About Amazon PPC? We’ve Got Answers.

Every seller has questions about PPC. Let’s tackle some of the most common ones from sellers at both ends of the spectrum.

1. What’s a Realistic Starting PPC Budget for a New Seller?

This is where many new sellers go wrong. They set a daily budget of $20 or $30 a day and wonder why they don’t see results.

That budget often gets used up by mid-morning. You miss out on afternoon and evening shoppers, which skews your data and makes it impossible to know what’s working.

A much better starting point is between $50 and $100 per day for each product you’re launching. Think of this initial budget as an investment in market research, not a quest for immediate profit. It’s enough to keep your ads running all day, gathering the data you need to make smart decisions later.

2. How Long Until a Campaign Shows Results?

Patience is key in PPC. It’s tempting to check your campaign stats after a couple of days and panic, but that’s a mistake.

First, Amazon’s own data has an attribution lag of up to 72 hours. On top of that, you need to collect enough clicks and impressions to see real patterns emerge.

You must let a new campaign run for at least one to two weeks before you touch a single bid or keyword. This gives you a stable baseline to work from. The same logic applies to established brands testing new targets, give it time to collect data before reacting to daily changes.

3. When Should an Established Brand Run Defensive Ads?

Once your brand starts gaining traction, you need to protect your position. Defensive advertising guards your digital shelf space from competitors trying to poach your customers.

It’s time to run defensive campaigns when:

• You spot competitors bidding on your branded keywords in search results.
• Competitor ads show up on your own product detail pages.
• You want to cross-sell your own catalog (like advertising your conditioner on your shampoo’s listing).

These campaigns, where you target your own brand names and ASINs, are a smart move. They usually have an incredibly low ACoS and are essential for protecting the sales you’ve already earned.

4. How Often Should I Optimize My Campaigns?

The answer depends on where you are in your selling journey.

If you’re a new seller in your first 90 days, weekly optimization is the sweet spot. You’ll want to check your search term reports to harvest new, profitable keywords and add irrelevant terms as negative keywords. Trying to make changes every day is just being reactive; you’re not letting enough data build up.

For established brands, the rhythm changes. Core campaigns might get weekly bid tweaks, but major strategic reviews are better handled monthly or quarterly. It’s less about constant tinkering and more about steering the ship based on larger trends.