Starting to advertise your products on Amazon is like setting sail on a vast ocean of possibilities. A lot can happen!
Your first goal is to make waves to capture the attention of potential buyers and get first sales.
But remember, Amazon Ads have a lifecycle. A common mistake is treating all products the same, whether new or well-established.
Don’t make this mistake—follow these steps to grow your Amazon Ads gradually, from launch to market expansion, and finally, to pulling in pure profit. Here’s how to do it in 3 steps (plus a bonus one)
Here’s how to do it in 3 steps (plus one bonus one):
Keep reading to discover guidelines on how to grow your ads in all steps.
Step 1: Launch (Invest)
When you launch a new product on Amazon, your main goal is to get people to notice it and start buying. And a great way to do that is with ads.
In this phase, investing wisely is crucial to steer your product towards success.
To kickstart your product's journey, focus on:
Improving your product's ranking
Drive sales to increase its relevance
Aim to achieve a profitable TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales)
Gather as much data as you can from both your paid and organic sales
In the initial stage, I suggest you to use these campaign types:
Sponsored Products
Sponsored Brands - optional
Especially Sponsored Products ads are most commonly used in Amazon advertising. If you have a budget for only one campaign type, go for this one. If you’d like to find out more about Sponsored Products, how to structure them, best practices and tips, keep reading – I’ll present it all in this article.
This approach helps you set a solid foundation for your product's success on Amazon.
After you boost the rankings, get some sales and achieve a good TACoS, then you’re ready for the next step: expansion.
Step 2: Expand (Reinvest)
As your product begins to catch on and your Amazon sales grow, it’s time to adjust your advertising strategy.
To expand, you need to boost your sales volume. Reinvest a part of your profit you gained in the previous phase to cast an even wider net and grow your market share.
And here’s where ads can help you again.
Aim to:
Reach a wider audience
Choose keywords that directly appeal to potential buyers
Keep a close watch on your campaigns
Additionally, you can use additional campaign types ad formats:
Sponsored Display
Sponsored Brands
Video ads
Don’t forget to regularly tweak and optimize your ads! This is the only way you can make sure they’re performing at their best.
This hands-on approach will help you make the most of the expansion phase and set you up for success in the next stage: harvesting profit.
As you reinvest and grow your market share, consider using brand bidding to tackle your competition.
This advanced strategy isn't essential for everyone, but it can give you a significant competitive edge.
If you're ready, it can help accelerate your growth as you prepare for the profit phase.
Additional Expansion: Tackle Competitors with Brand Bidding Strategy
Standing out on Amazon is tough with so many sellers advertising. But you can gain an edge with a brand bidding strategy to tacke your competition.
By bidding on keywords related to your competitors' brands, you can capture customers searching for their products and redirect them to yours.
This advanced tactic, best suited for sellers with a solid market presence and a larger budget. That’s why I placed it as an additional expansion after Step 2.
If you’re ready to compete head-on, brand bidding can boost your visibility and sales, setting you up for a profitable phase.
Here’s how to set up a competitive brand bidding strategy on Amazon:
1. Identify competitor brands
Identify the competitor brands you want to target with your brand bidding strategy.
Make a list of:
Competitor brand names
Competitor’s product names and ASIN
Variations or misspellings customers might use when searching for competitor products
2. Conduct keyword research
Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the relevant keywords associated with your competitors' brands.
Pay attention to keywords that include:
Specific product names
Product features
Common industry terms related to their products
3. Create a separate Sponsored Products Manual campaign
Set up a separate Sponsored Products Manual campaign specifically for brand bidding on your competitors.
Doing this allows you to:
Allocate a specific budget
Closely monitor the performance of these keywords
4. Set appropriate bids
Since you're bidding on your competitors' brands, you may need to set higher bids to make sure your ads are displayed prominently.
Whatever you do, keep a close eye on your bids and:
Determine your bidding strategy for competitive keywords.
Monitor performance regularly
Adjust your bids according to your performance for optimal results.
Incorporating brand bidding during Step 2 (expansion phase) helps capture competitor traffic and strengthens your position for Step 3 (harvest profit).
In short, if you can afford it, start brand bidding in Step 2 to boost sales volume. This strategy might be the extra push your Amazon Ads need.
Continue using it alongside Step 3 to maximize returns. With expanded reach and a competitive edge, you’re ready to harvest profits!
Now, let's see how to make the most of your Amazon Ads in the last, third step.
Step 3: Profit (Harvest)
When your product hits its peak popularity, you'll notice the competition gets tougher. This is the time to fine-tune your campaigns to keep your market share and increase your profits.
Especially focus on:
Sharpening your targeting strategies
Tweaking your bids
Consider starting remarketing campaigns. These can help you keep your current customers coming back and encourage them to make repeat purchases.
You can use advanced features to stand out:
Sponsored Brands Video
Stores
This proactive approach helps you navigate competitive waters and harvest profits.
Systematically introducing your product to Amazon and adjusting your advertising strategy can dramatically boost your product's success.
By customizing your ad strategies to each stage, you'll not only grow your visibility but also enhance sales and solidify your profits.
Hack to Save Time
All this not only takes a lot of time, but also requires a fair amount of Amazon Ads know-how. And at the end of the day your ads still might not return the profit you’ve been looking for.
But with Adspert you can not only optimize your ads 24/7, but eliminate additional expansion (optional part of step 2) and step 3 described earlier. Plus, partially automate step 2 as well!
Adspert helps you automate creating separate Manual campaigns based on your Sponsored Products Auto campaign for:
Keywords related to your brand
Competitor-related keywords
Generic keywords
The only thing left for you to do is to define your competitors and do the initial keyword research. Adspert does the rest!