NEXT

The Definitive Guide to

Amazon
Advertising
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Table of Contents
03 What Is Amazon Advertising?

07 Understanding Search Ads

13 Understanding Display Ads

18 Understanding Amazon Stores

20 Understanding Amazon Advertising Metrics

23 Path to Product Page

25 Quiz: What Is the Best Amazon Advertising Strategy for Me?

28 FAQs

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What Is Amazon Advertising?

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What Is Amazon Advertising?

Amazon Advertising enables vendors to increase product visibility on Amazon
and the wider web, building brand awareness and driving shoppers to Amazon
product pages. Amazon Advertising encompasses the following three offerings:

Search Ads, including Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Products, and Product Display Ads are keyword- or product
category-targeted ads that reach Amazon shoppers at the point of sale. Brands pay only when shoppers click on ads.

Display Ads reach a broader audience on Amazon, its collection of properties (think Goodreads and IMDb), and outside
websites. These ads, which include video ads, vie for the attention of a person who may not be actively shopping.
Brands pay on the basis of impressions (how many times the ad is shown to shoppers).

Stores showcase a brand’s story and product portfolio and are often used as landing pages for Sponsored Brands.
Offered free of charge, the Store is a mini website with a branded URL on Amazon.

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MORE THAN

55%
of shoppers
Why Invest in Advertising on Amazon?
Amazon is the largest product catalog on the Internet, with more than 55% of
shoppers going directly to Amazon to start product searches. Because Amazon
shoppers are typically ready to buy, Amazon ads have solid conversion rates when
compared to Google AdWords.

Amazon Advertising becomes even more powerful when “Advertising on Amazon

combined with effective product page content as SEO- should be an easy sell for
optimized content can boost your page’s performance in
any marketer. If you do
Amazon’s organic search results. Combine this with the
a good job, you’ll make
search bump that comes from the ads themselves, and
you will see how an effectively run campaign can help
more money than you
drive product discovery even after your ads stop running. spend. In addition, you’ll
get a chance to learn what
words and phrases are
driving purchases to your
AT A GLANCE product page. This allows
you to improve your
• More shoppers start product searches on Amazon
than any other search engine content, providing value
GO DIRECTLY TO • Paid search can improve organic search ranking, long after any individual

Amazon
adding even more value to campaigns campaign ends. It’s a no-
brainer.”
to – Tony Martinelli,

start PRODUCT
CEO, content26

SEARCHES 5
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Amazon Advertising Timeline

Advertising is Amazon’s fastest growing segment, up 132% in the second quarter of 2018 and generating $2.2 billion. Over time,
Amazon has been moving all platforms steadily toward a self-service advertising model. Here’s how the segment has evolved:

AUGUST JUNE OCTOBER JUNE SEPTEMBER

2012 2015 2015 2017 2018

Advertiser Audiences is launched Amazon rebrands and

Amazon Sponsored Products ads
Amazon Advertising Platform
out of beta and called a “new ad
(now Amazon DSP) starts as a
solution.” Introduced product-
managed service
specific, keyword-targeted ads
Amazon gets rid of Amazon simplifies offerings under the
as a self-serve platform, letting
Product Ads for Sellers heading of Amazon Advertising,
brands build audience segments
that take people to outside opening up display advertising
for Display Ads by joining their
retailer sites tools to a broader first-party
customer data with Amazon’s data
seller audience

Amazon Marketing Services Amazon makes search

Amazon Text Ads out of Amazon begins allowing some
(AMS) launches with two self- advertising (formerly AMS)
beta, replacing third-party third-party sellers to run what was
service tools: Pages for creating available to first-party sellers
ads from the Google Search then known as Headline Search
brand-specific pages and Posts as a self-service offering
Partner Network Ads (now Sponsored Brands)
for social media marketing

NOVEMBER AUGUST JANUARY AUGUST

2012 2015 2016 2017

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Understanding
Amazon Advertising Products:
Search Ads

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Understanding Amazon Advertising Products:

Search Ads
Amazon offers three search or Pay-Per-Click advertising products to brands on a self-service console:
Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Products, and Product Display Ads. These products are geared towards
customers with a strong intent to purchase and offer advertisers a clear return on investment.

Keyword Targeting: For most Search Ads, vendors target (and bid on) keywords. When a shopper types a query into Amazon, all
vendors with bids on the keywords in the query enter an auction. The winning ad (based on relevancy and bid price) is shown to the
shopper. If the shopper clicks on the ad, the vendor is charged one cent more than the next highest bidder.

Eligibility: Generally, vendors won’t be able to run ads on products that

“Can’t Realize a Profit” (CRaP). In addition, some ad types will only run if
you’re winning the “Buy” box.

SEARCH ADS
COST: Pay-Per-Click
AUDIENCE: People looking to buy now
ADS APPEAR: On Amazon search results and product pages
STYLE: Text and product based

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Sponsored Brands Sponsored Products Product Display Ads

• Prominent placement
AD BENEFIT • Can feature a product line
• Branding opportunity
• Opportunity to engage with customers
• Increase discoverability for new low in the purchase funnel
offers, low-exposure products, and
• Chance to target competitors or defend
promotions through native-looking
product pages
product ads
• Upselling opportunity

• Multiple product banner ad with a • Single product with a customizable

AD APPEARANCE • Single product
customizable headline headline

• On top of, alongside, or at the bottom • Below the buy box

of search results page. (Vendors can
AD PLACEMENT lower bids for placements other than
top of results)
• On mobile browsers and Amazon app
• Within search results
• On the carousel on product detail pages
• On mobile and tablet browsers
• Commonly appears on competitors’
product detail pages
• Customer review pages
• Merchandising emails

• Brand Store
AD LANDING PAGE • Custom Amazon URL • Product detail page • Product detail page
• Customized search results page

• Manual keywords
• Competing/ complementary products
AD TARGET • Keywords • Keywords automatically targeted by
• General interest and related categories
Amazon

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Tips for Optimizing Search Campaigns

Search Ads are a useful tool for driving targeted traffic to your product pages.
To maximize campaign success over time, follow these tips:

1. Don’t set it and forget it. Study reporting metrics. Pause low-performing keywords and introduce more
effective ones. The customer search term report can help by letting you know precisely what shoppers query
to trigger your keywords.

2. Continuously test text. Improving ad copy performance will result in higher returns.

3. Use the Sponsored Product Automatic Targeting option strategically. Think of it as a temporary tool for
discovering keywords.

4. Run ads year round to gain insight into seasonal and keyword trends.

5. Advertise products with high ratings and excellent product page content.

6. Make sure your most effective keywords appear in your product page content.

7. Use smart campaign management. Group ASINs by product types, price points, and best sellers to allow for
detailed analysis of what’s working.

8. Use budget pacing. Keep campaigns from running out of money by pausing them strategically.

9. Take advantage of API Technologies. Detailed analytics and reporting allows agencies to create customized
reports that serve specific client needs and goals.

10. Deploy Bulk Operations. By using a single spreadsheet to make edits across multiple campaigns, agencies
can manage bidding and optimize ad spend more efficiently than editing campaigns individually.

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Case Study: Bai Brands

Strategic approach to search advertising slashes Amazon Advertising costs
Background
Bai Beverages turned to content26 to improve search campaign results.

Solution
Content26 reorganized and restructured Bai’s campaigns, injecting 17,000 keywords and expanding campaigns for top-selling products.

Results
A year after content26 took control of the Amazon Advertising campaigns, the ROAS rose from 1.8x to 4.3x, and the total revenue was up
150%.

A Refreshing Change
In 2016, Bai came to content26 to create Amazon content and manage advertising campaigns for over 50 of their products.

Bai—an up-and-coming brand in the health-conscious flavored water and carbonated beverages market—asked content26 to restructure
Amazon Advertising campaigns and increase their effectiveness. The result has been a dramatic increase in Return On Ad Spend (ROAS).

SUMMARY:
PRODUCT LINES: Beverages
PRICE RANGE: $15-$25
MONTHLY BUDGET: $35K (on average)

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Case Study: Bai Brands

Targeted Campaigns Lead to Improved Conversions “We couldn’t be happier
After taking over control of Bai’s marketing campaigns in September 2016, content26 first
with how content26 has
turned off and phased out old, ineffectual campaigns. handled our Amazon
campaigns. They set up
One-hundred-twenty-five new campaigns were created for the top-selling drinks with 17,000
the campaigns in such
targeted keywords injected, observed, and adapted for usefulness.
a way that it was really
Before content26’s management, Bai received a 1.8x ROAS. In the first quarter of 2017 with easy to see what was and
content26 running the ad campaigns, Bai received a 4.3x ROAS, leading to a 150% increase wasn’t working and adjust
in search campaign revenue.
accordingly. That level of
A look at the average monthly Google searches showed that there were roughly the same attention to detail made
number of queries for Bai-related keywords in the first quarters of 2016 and 2017. a big difference in ROAS.”
This means that even with a relatively consistent web presence between these time periods,
content26 was able to more than double Bai’s ROAS by effectively monitoring and – Calvin Lammers
Senior Ecommerce Manager, Bai
managing their Amazon Advertising search campaigns.

AT A GLANCE
• By restructuring 125 Amazon Advertising search campaigns,
content26 doubled ROAS

• Creating new campaigns for top-selling products and injecting

targeted keywords led to significantly increased returns

• One year after taking over the campaigns, content26 delivered

nearly $300,000 in additional Amazon Advertising profits

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Understanding
Amazon Advertising Products:
Display Ads

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Understanding Amazon Advertising Products:
Display Ads
As part of a 2018 rebranding, Amazon retired the term Amazon Media Group and continues to move its platforms
towards a self-service model. Yet even with this name change, it’s important to note that Amazon still has managed
service offerings.

While Amazon still offers a managed service approach, many brands prefer a self-service model which allows them to work with an agency or
run campaigns themselves.

For those brands that choose to take a self-service approach, Amazon offers more than 15 types
of Display Ads that build brand and product awareness and target shoppers higher up in the
purchase funnel. Display Ads appear on Amazon, other websites, Kindle and Fire devices, and mobile
apps across the digital landscape. They include video ads, dynamic ecommerce ads, mobile banner
ads, mobile interstitial ads, and more. Brands can purchase Display Ads through Amazon DSP, a
demand-side platform that allows advertisers to programmatically reach audiences through Amazon
Publisher Services and the largest third-party exchanges.

DISPLAY ADS
COST: Pay for impressions (CPM Model)
AUDIENCE: People who might be interested in buying eventually.
ADS APPEAR: On Amazon, sites across the web, and in mobile apps
STYLE: Rich media

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Featured: Dynamic Ecommerce Ads

Released toward the end of 2016, these Display Ads offer a glimpse of the product

page, appearing on and off Amazon. Dynamic eCommerce Ads are creatives that are

unmistakably Amazon, which is why they have a 23% purchase rate lift over static

banner ads. What differentiates these ads is that they are dynamically delivered

through Amazon’s machine learning algorithm to the most ideal audience with the most

relevant message based off past purchasing and browsing behaviors.

They include brand logos or product photos along with recognizable Amazon features
like review stars and buy buttons. A deal-conscious shopper, for example, may see an
ad with a coupon, while an impulse buyer would see an “Add to Cart” button.

DYNAMIC ADS
DESIGN: These ads are easy to create, as they pull visual elements
directly from the product page

PROMOTIONS: Can be pulled dynamically into the ad

APPROVALS: Because the ad uses published elements, it usually is

quickly approved as part of Amazon’s auditing process

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Use Display Ads to Target Specific Customers

Amazon display advertising allows advertisers to target audience segments based on
unique characteristics.

• In market segments – shoppers intending to purchase a specific product soon based on the past 30 days of
search, browsing, or purchasing behavior

• Lifestyle segments – habitual category shoppers who have made a purchase over the past 12 months

• Amazon lookalikes – new people who are similar to a brand’s targeted customer

• Demographics – gender, age, household incomes, occupation, education, etc.

• Remarketing – lost customers who visited a brand’s product pages but did not purchase or shoppers who
viewed similar products sold by competitors

MORE POWERFUL TOGETHER

An Amazon study found that advertisers who started running Display Ads generated
nearly 20% higher gross merchandise sales and 20% more detail page views than
when they ran Search Ads only.

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Amazon Managed Services

In the past, brands paid Amazon Media Group (AMG) to manage advertising services
on their behalf. As Amazon has moved to a self-service model, it has folded its
managed services under the broader Amazon Advertising name.

While this ebook focuses on Amazon’s self-service offerings, we’d like to highlight
one managed services: video.

Latest Innovation: Video in Search

In August 2018, Amazon introduced a beta program for placing video ads in
mobile search results on the iOS operating system. These ads are keyword driven
and shown below the fold. Customers can click through to the product detail page,
a Store, or another landing page on Amazon. The videos can be no more than 90
seconds long and must contain audio. For now, videos are considered a “premium
ad experience.” Vendors interested in the new format must allocate a budget of at
least $35,000 and work with an Amazon sales representative.

VIDEO ADS
SUBJECT MATTER: According to Amazon, the best videos are “educational,
demonstrative, and product focused”

LENGTH: Videos max out at 90 seconds, with the optimal length being 15-30
seconds

SOUND: Videos auto-play without sound but a sound track must be included

TEXT: Optimize text for mobile viewing

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Understanding
Amazon Advertising Products:
Stores

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Understanding Amazon Advertising Products:

Stores
Amazon Stores offer brands the ability to stand out on the crowded digital shelf with content tailored to the
customer’s needs. Stores are a free self-service product that allows brands to create multi-page websites
promoting product lines.

Shoppers find Stores by clicking on a brand’s name in a product listing, Sponsored Brands, or
certain video and display ads.

Brands can choose from three templates when building their Amazon Store. One has a focus on
products, the second includes space for lifestyle imagery, and the third can handle a variety of
media content, including videos.

Benefits of Amazon Stores

Potential for cross-selling products

Visually appealing

Amazon now provides data on customers who convert organically from the Store

Limitations
Can be difficult to find without Sponsored Brand as Stores aren’t included in Amazon
search results. Since October 2018, however, Amazon has been sending Store URLs to
Google for indexing

Must be considered as a complement to broader advertising strategy

Ads are served regardless of whether you’re winning the “Buy” box

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Understanding
Amazon Advertising Metrics

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Understanding Amazon Advertising Metrics

There are many ways to gauge the performance of an Amazon Advertising campaign. How a
company determines the success of a campaign will depend on the goals they’ve set.

Effective search advertising should see improvements in the following areas:

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) - It is the ratio of revenue from the ad campaign compared to the cost of the campaign itself.

• Click-Through Rate (CTR) - The number of clicks advertisers receive on their ads per number of impressions. For
products that have a high conversion rate but not enough traffic, an improved CTR is key.

• Cost Per Click ( CPC) - Optimized campaigns result in lower average cost paid for a single click.

• Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS) – This is an important metric to watch. The higher your ACoS, the lower your overall
margin will be.

Effective display advertising should see improvements in the following areas:

• Campaign ROAS

• Increased Impressions - A rise in impressions means the ads are seen by more people, which should lead to increased
clicks and engagement with the campaign.

• Increase in Average Daily Sales

• Cost per Acquisition (CPA) - This metric measures the investment needed to convert on Amazon. Another way of
thinking of this is “cost per transaction.”

NEXT UP: AMAZON ATTRIBUTION

August 2018 saw the release of a beta measurement solution to provide brands with
sales impact data across media channels off Amazon. Brands can track traffic from
Facebook, Google, a brand website or other digital media back to sales on Amazon,
providing insights to optimize cross-channel digital media campaigns.

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Campaign ROI: MANAGED

Manage Amazon Advertising for Strong Sales
There are two common approaches for managing Amazon ad campaigns. Brands can manual
campaigns
create campaigns and use Automatic Targeting or brands can manually create keyword
lists and optimize campaigns.

returned roughly
Automatic targeting has its place, as it can allow brands to run lower-placement campaigns and mine them for
new keywords. Yet many brands and agencies take a “set it and forget it” approach, which is a big mistake.

3X THE
We compared two products with nearly identical prices and daily ad budgets. We found that the managed

REVENUE
manual campaigns returned roughly 3x the revenue of the automated campaigns during the same
time period.

Not only did the managed campaigns return more revenue, they also netted more impressions.
$800
The managed campaign ads were served to Amazon shoppers more than 10,000 times each day compared
$700 Manual:
to approximately 550 times each day for the automated campaign ads. Automatic Targeting is a hands-off $739.74
$600
approach that can sacrifice results. Strengthen the impact of campaigns by managing them manually or
$500
hiring an agency to manage them fulltime.
$400
The plus of automatic searching New search terms, low bids, lower budgets to mine new keywords. $300

$200

$100
Auto:
6 6 6 6 6 6
1 1 1 1 1 1 $145.60
8/
2 1/
8/
2 2/
8/
2 3/
8/
2 4/
8/
2 5/
8/
2 6/
manual campaigns get $0

10,000 of AUTOMATED
IMPRESSIONS PER DAY

14,000
IMPRESSIONS

VS
12,000
PER DAY
CAMPAIGNS
10,000
MANUAL CAMPAIGNS
8,000

6,000 500

impressions
per day
4,000

2,000
for automated campigns 22
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Path to Product Page

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Path to Product Page

“At content26 we monitor
While shoppers can arrive at Amazon at many different search trends, optimize
stages of their buying journey, the sale takes place on Amazon Advertising
the product page. campaigns and infuse the
most valuable keywords
Customers demand high-quality images and thorough yet easy-to-digest to create performance
product information to feel confident and knowledgeable enough to click
content for the product
the buy button.
detail page. This dynamic
Every ad campaign should lead to a retail-ready product page to convert approach to advertising and
shoppers into buyers. content allows us to bring
Retail-ready product pages have: product detail pages to life,
connecting the most relevant
SEO-optimized essential content
product information directly
High-quality enhanced content
to the Amazon shopper.”
Content that’s refined based on marketing initiative and retail trends

– Tony Martinelli,
CEO, content26

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Quiz: What Is the Best

Amazon Advertising Strategy for Me?

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Quiz: What Is the Best Amazon Advertising

Strategy for Me?
All brands should have a strategy for driving shoppers to their Amazon product pages. But
which type of advertising, search or display is best for you? Take this quiz to find out.

How polished are your marketing assets?

a. Extensive (we’ve got everything from videos to lifestyle photos to superior product images)
b. Good (we have a growing, but solid collection)
c. Developing (we’re working toward a nice collection of assets)

How vital is Amazon to your online marketing strategy?

a. Crucial (we expect most of our sales growth to come from Amazon)
b. Important (we sell on multiple channels; Amazon is one)
c. Incidental (we are focused on growth in other areas)

How big is your Amazon search advertising budget?

a. Robust (gaining traction on Amazon is a priority)
b. Solid (works for us)
c. Restricted (we’re resourceful and make the most of a limited budget)

What is your company’s approach to advertising?

a. Expansive (we’re investing in both brand and product awareness, customer loyalty, etc.)
b. Growing (we’re building up our brand in addition to spotlighting products)
c. Focused (we’re interested in driving product sales)

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How would you describe your current product page content?

a. Comprehensive (well-written, visually driven, SEO-rich content across entire catalog)
b. We’re getting there (we have a lot of high-quality content, but it’s not exhaustive)
c. Starting out (we’re building asset libraries and prioritizing key products)

Scoring
5 points for each ‘a’ answer
3 points for each ‘b’ answer
1 point for each ‘c’ answer

20-25 points – Continue to impress customers with your dynamic approach to advertising
By coordinating both search and display strategies, you have the potential to quickly grow your business.
Consider getting creative with Amazon’s video ad offerings or push it to the next level by promoting
your Amazon Store on social media. The more you invest in brand awareness across channels, the more
customers you’ll reach.

10-19 points – You might be ready to use both display and search ads to drive traffic to Amazon
Search and display advertising are effective when used alone, but when combined, ad campaigns reach
maximum efficiency. That’s because Search Ads target customers who are ready to buy and Display Ads help
create those customers. Although aspects of display advertising are more complex than those of search,
the end-of-the-day value will make your time and investment worthwhile. That said, it only makes sense to
pursue display advertising if you have a robust budget and the right mix of products.

5-9 points – Get started with Search Ads, as long as your product pages are retail ready
Amazon Search Ads are simple to build and quickly drive purchases from high-intent customers. Consider a
trial run if you haven’t already, but keep in mind that all purchases happen on the product page. Inspire your
customers’ confidence with high-quality essential and enhanced content throughout your product catalog.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much should I budget for Amazon Advertising?
An Amazon search advertising budget depends on the level of competition that exists for the targeted keywords. Our
clients usually spend more than $200,000 a year on search campaigns. Display advertising campaigns vary depending on
a brand’s goals.

Should I add Display Ads to my search ad campaign?

According to Amazon, strategies that utilize both search and display ads in parallel perform better than strategies that
use search alone. Amazon found that advertisers who launched Display Ads for the first time generated nearly 20%
higher gross merchandise sales and 20% more detail page views and outperformed category benchmarks for these
metrics by 50% or more.

How is advertising on Amazon different from advertising on Google?

Amazon shoppers tend to be ready to buy, whereas Google shoppers are in the early stages of product research.
Therefore, Google AdWords campaigns typically have a higher Cost-Per-Click than Amazon campaigns. We monitored
keywords from October 2016 to January 2017 and found that CPCs for Amazon Search Ads were about 38% lower than
for Google AdWords.

What is the best kind of agency to help with Amazon Advertising?

An agency that also handles content is paramount, as you need to make sure all pages are retail ready before you begin
advertising. These agencies can identify keywords and then use them to improve product page content, taking your
advertising campaign to the next level.

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Content26 acts as a trusted partner to our clients, developing and

managing the Amazon advertising and content strategies of many of
the world’s most recognizable brands.

For more information or

to get a quote for your project, contact:
David Zimmerman
Enterprise Sales Lead
david.zimmerman@content26.com

Copyright ©2018 content26