Amazon offers a range of ad types so sellers can maximize returns while enhancing brand visibility. If you’re interested in paid advertising, you must understand which types of Amazon ads will best align with your brand’s goals and budget. Read on to learn about each advertising avenue on Amazon, then check out our guide on the types of sales channels to create an effective strategy for your business.
Paid Advertising on Amazon
Paid advertising typically provides strong results, though you must sharpen your strategy to see a valuable return on ad spend (ROAS). Amazon offers a range of paid advertising opportunities, including the following:
Sponsored Products
When searching for nearly anything on Amazon, the first few listings come up with small tags that say “Sponsored.” Sponsored Products are cost-per-click ads for individual listings that allow you to increase your position in shopping results.
You can manually target the keywords you want your product to appear for or automatically allow Amazon to surface your product. Because of the cost-per-click model, you only pay for shoppers who click on your product. Sponsored Products require you to set a daily bid that will determine how much you spend per day, how high your product appears in listings, and how often shoppers see your ad.
Sponsored Brands
Amazon Sponsored Brands (previously known as Headline Search Ads) are similar to Sponsored Product ads but highlight your entire brand in a banner section, allowing you to show up to three products. Sponsored Brands appear above, below, or on the side of the results page, featuring your custom brand headline with a logo and a few of your products. The ad will link shoppers directly to your listings for targeted conversions.
Sponsored Brands allow you to boost brand awareness and credibility while advertising your products. Like Sponsored Product ads, Sponsored Brands follow a pay-per-click model, so you only pay for shoppers who click on the ad. You also set bids for visibility.
Sponsored Display Ads
Sponsored Display Ads work similarly to Google Display Ads, targeting customers based on their shopping habits and search histories. The self-service platform allows you to display ads across numerous web pages outside of Amazon, so you can reach shoppers as they browse the internet. Your automatically generated display ad will feature your product and a link to its sales page.
Video Ads
Of all the types of Amazon ads, video ads may be the largest investment but could provide your brand with phenomenal returns. Video ads allow you to stream your advertising to targeted customers on numerous Amazon websites, networks, and mobile apps, including IMDb, IMDb TV, and the Amazon Fire TV Stick. You can also out-stream your cultivation of branded experiences to shoppers anywhere they spend their time.
Audio Ads
Radio advertising may be a bit outdated, but Amazon audio ads launch sound advertising back into the future by allowing you to engage your shoppers while they listen to their Alexa devices. You can create audio ads that play on numerous Alexa devices like the Echo and Fire TV to target your audience when they’re ready to listen.
Amazon DSP
The Amazon demand-side platform allows brands to programmatically purchase display, video, or audio ads across various parts of the internet. Instead of bidding on specific ad placement, Amazon’s highly advanced data intelligence automatically helps you reach audiences across the web using your preferred type of experience.
Lock Screen Ads
Lock screen ads are another type of cost-per-click advertisement tool, though they are only available to Amazon book vendors or Kindle Direct Publishing authors. If you fall into this category, you can use lock screen ads to promote your books with genre-targeted advertisements that give readers a peek at what your content has to offer.
Custom Advertising
Custom advertising allows you to work with Amazon’s Brand Innovation Lab to develop an advertising solution for your brand. Custom advertising may include any of the above solutions and more, all packaged into one neat funnel that engages shoppers through each stage of the buying journey.
Free Amazon Advertising
Paid advertising can yield stellar results, though Amazon provides useful free tools that all brands should take advantage of as well. Whether you have a small budget or simply want to use what’s available to you, Amazon offers the following free tools:
Amazon Stores
Amazon Stores is your brand’s home in the Amazon marketplace. The Amazon storefront feature allows you to build a mini website within the Amazon platform, where shoppers can explore everything your brand has to offer across multiple pages. You can customize your store, analyze its metrics, and optimize it to increase brand effectiveness.
Amazon Live
With the Amazon Live Creator app, you can create an Amazon Livestream or collaborate on one to promote your brand, build a larger audience, and showcase your product. Amazon Live allows you to generate a larger audience without paying a dime.
Amazon Posts
Amazon Posts is a social media feed integrated into the marketplace platform that allows you to showcase products in a more engaging, lifestyle-oriented way. You can create posts that help shoppers visualize what their lives would be like with your product, then engage with the community via comments. Amazon Posts link directly to your product page, where shoppers can confirm their selection and make a purchase.
Amazon Attribution
Amazon Attribution is an analytics tool that allows you to measure the success of your various ads and campaigns across non-Amazon channels. You can view which efforts link to the best product sales to optimize accordingly.
Selecting the Right Types of Amazon Ads for Your Brand
Selecting the best types of Amazon ads for your brand can feel overwhelming when so many options exist. We recommend considering your marketing budget, advertising goals, and current metrics when picking a place to start. View our comprehensive guide on Amazon Headline Search Ads (now Sponsored Brands) for more information on boosting brand awareness.
If you need help with Amazon advertising efforts, schedule a free strategy call with Click Fluency today.