Amazon Ads – what is it and how do I start advertising on Amazon?

Display ads in online shops are one of the most powerful marketing tools. One of the most effective is Amazon Ads, which allows you to advertise on Amazon’s site and other apps and products associated with the brand.

From this article you will learn:

• What are Amazon Ads?
• What types of products are available through Amazon Ads?
• How to implement an Amazon Ads strategy?

Amazon Ads – definition

Amazon Ads is an advertising platform offered by Amazon that allows advertisers to promote their products and brand on and off Amazon sites. It consists of various advertising products such as sponsored ads, display ads and video ads. Advertisers can different types of ads to achieve goals such as increasing brand awareness, promoting new products or increasing sales of existing products.

Thanks to Amazon’s rich customer data, advertisers can target their ads to specific groups. Additionally, Amazon Ads helps brands to increase their visibility among the millions of potential customers on Amazon – not only can this improve brand awareness, it can also lead to increased sales.

Amazon Ads is an advertising service provided by Amazon that enables sellers advertising to promote their products and brands on and off Amazon sites. The offering includes different types of ads such as sponsored ads, brand ads, display ads and video ads to raise brand awareness, promote new products and increase sales.

Definition of Amazon Ads

Amazon Ads products

There are a number of products and features available within Amazon Ads. Each differs in scope, purpose and detailed specifications, but all serve to increase your brand’s presence on or off Amazon-run sites. We are talking about functionalities such as:

Sponsored Products

Sponsored ads are one of the most popular forms of advertising on Amazon Ads. It focuses on promoting specific products, with the aim of increasing their visibility and sales. The core element of sponsored ads is the use of keywords. Choosing words and phrases related to the products being promoted allows you to precisely reach the right target group. In this way, when an Amazon user searches for a particular word, the sponsored ad can appear among the search results.

Sponsored Products adverts are displayed in highly visible places, in search results and on product pages. They can appear at the top of the search results, at the bottom of the page, as well as on specific sub-pages. Billing is on a PPC (Pay Per Click) model, which means that the advertiser only pays when a user clicks on the ad. Amazon also offers detailed tools for tracking the effectiveness of sponsored ads, allowing campaigns to be optimised based on real-time data.

Sponsored Brands

Brand ads are a special type of advertising offered by Amazon Ads to promote your brand and up to three of its products at the same time. It is aimed at advertisers who want not only to increase sales of specific products, but also to build brand recognition.

Brand advertising consists of a brand logo, a custom headline and up to three selected products. The first two elements help to express the brand’s unique identity, while the presentation of the products directs customers’ attention to the selected items.

Brand ads, like products, are displayed in Amazon’s search results at the top, bottom and also in the middle of the page. Also, the billing model is pay-per-click (PPC), which is an effective way to control campaign costs. Brand ads can be particularly helpful for new or lesser-known brands. They allow you to reach a wider audience, which can lead to increased sales not only of the products presented, but of the entire range offered.

Sponsored Display

Display adverts are a type of graphic advertising designed to attract users’ attention through visual elements such as images, animations or text. They are unique in that they can be displayed not only on Amazon’s sites, but also on devices such as Kindle and Fire, as well as on third-party Amazon partner sites. This makes them have the potential to reach a wide range of audiences.

One of the key aspects of display ads is their ability for behavioural targeting. They can be tailored to specific groups of users based on their browsing and shopping history on Amazon. In addition, they are an effective remarketing tool and allow users to maintain interest in a brand or product even after they have left Amazon’s website. Billing for display ads is usually on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis.

Amazon Native Ads

Amazon Native Ads are a type of contextual advertising that provides a seamless user experience by integrating with content on the site. These ads look and behave like a natural part of the page they are on and focus on delivering value by presenting products that are most relevant to a particular user’s interests and behaviours.

There are three main types of Amazon Native Ads:

• product ads, they promote specific products
• ads related to user interests,
• custom Ads, which allow unique formats to be created.

Amazon Native Ads can effectively increase brand awareness, lead to higher click-through rates (CTRs) and increase sales, thanks to their ability to personalise and integrate with the user. They are cost-effective because payment is based on results – you only pay for clicks that generate traffic to your site or lead to a purchase.

Amazon Video Ads

Video ads allow advertisers to showcase products or brands in the form of videos. They can be placed on a variety of Amazon platforms – product pages, search results, Amazon apps and devices such as Fire TV. This gives you the opportunity to reach potential customers, regardless of how they use Amazon. Video ads can take the form of demo videos, reviews, tips and tricks or brand stories. Billing for video ads on Amazon is based on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) model.

Amazon Audio Ads

Audio ads consist of up to 30-second spots played on the Amazon Music platform. It allows users to be reached during their daily activities. Importantly, advertisers do not need to have a paid Amazon Music subscription to use audio ads. All they need to do is set up an ad campaign and then Amazon plays them for the appropriate target audience based on music preferences, listening history and other factors.

Audio ads allow you to create an emotional connection with your audience. Audio spots can include music, narration and other sound effects to help create attention-grabbing content. The cost of audio ads on Amazon is typically based on a CPM model, meaning you pay for every thousand impressions of your ad.

Amazon Stores

Targeted shop page ads allow advertisers to create custom shop pages on Amazon to create a more personalised shopping experience for customers. This is an opportunity to showcase a company’s full range of products in one place. Stores can be enhanced with multimedia, such as videos, images or interactive product visualisations, and can be tailored to specific target groups.

Shop pages are optimised for search engine visibility, which can increase traffic and sales. What sets shop page-facing adverts apart is their ability to build customer engagement and loyalty. By offering a multimedia shop page experience, a deeper connection can be created between customers and the brand, which can lead to more repeat purchases. Importantly, the Amazon Stores option is completely free.

Amazon Demand-Side Platform

Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP) is a platform that enables advertisers to buy, sell and manage ads in real-time. It enables automation of the process of buying and selling ad space, which increases efficiency and allows for precise targeting of ads. Advertisers can use Amazon DSP to purchase all available ad types within Amazon Ads both on Amazon sites and on third-party partner sites and apps. This platform uses Amazon’s rich data for precise ad targeting, allowing the right target audience to be reached with the right message at the right time.

Amazon Attribution

Amazon Attribution is a tool that allows advertisers to measure the impact of their non-Amazon marketing campaigns on consumer behaviour on Amazon. This allows you to see how advertising campaigns run on different platforms, such as Google Ads or social media ads, affect product visibility, click-through rates and sales on Amazon.

Advertising strategy on Amazon Ads

An effective advertising strategy on Amazon Ads can take time, patience and constant testing, but with the right planning and execution it can become a powerful tool for increasing the visibility and sales of your products. Keep the following elements in mind when planning your Amazon Ads strategy:

• Understand your objective – answer the questions, do you want to increase brand awareness, sales of a specific product or improve visibility in search results? The objective will help determine which ad types and tactics will be most effective for you. Remember to make your chosen goals achievable, measurable and easy to understand.
• Keyword selection – Amazon Ads uses keywords to match ads to users’ searches, so once you’ve identified your goal, conduct a word and phrase study. This will help you find out which phrases are most commonly used by your target audience.
• Set a budget and bidding – many formats on Amazon Ads are based on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, so after you have to decide how much you are willing to pay for each ad click. The higher your bid, the more likely your ad will be shown.
• Creating compelling ads – Your ads should be compelling and visually appealing, so don’t forget good product images, clear and concise titles and clear but encouraging descriptions.
• Data-driven optimisation – Amazon Ads provides detailed data on the performance of your ads, so monitor this regularly and make any necessary optimisations to your campaigns based on this data.
• Experimentation and testing – Amazon Ads offers many formats and targeting options. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different ad types, targeting and bidding as this will allow you to assess what brings your business the best results.