Amazon is the new church - so make it part of your paid media strategy

The facts are in; more people use Amazon than go to church. Like it or not, with 300 million users and 80 million Prime members, you can’t deny that Amazon is a dominant force in everyday life - and that Amazon ads are a valuable tool for marketers.

Whether you're stocking up on life's necessities, searching out Black Friday deals or grabbing a last-minute gift, it’s hard to resist the convenience and affordability of Amazon. This raises the question; how many advertisers are including Amazon in their paid media strategy?

Influencer, inbound and content are all powerful marketing strategies, but they take time to generate high quality, high intent, bottom of the funnel traffic. 

If you’re all over Google Search & Shopping, the Display Network, Facebook and Instagram, then you really should be getting in on one of the largest remaining untapped online ad spaces. For savvy e-commerce businesses, Amazon ads should be an absolute no-brainer.

Amazon ads get your product in the faces of people in the consideration and decision stage in a way that no other channel can do. What's more, Amazon can give you a granular ROI breakdown that’s a necessity for any eCommerce strategy.

So what’s stopping you? Well, for a lot of people it’s a lack of understanding of the platform, so we've written this blog to share some of the basics you'll need for Amazonian success. 

What Are Amazon Ads?

Amazon works in the same way as a Google Search or Keyword based engine. When you type in a keyword, a search engine results page (SERP) will appear. Some of the top results will be sponsored posts – these are ads.

If you want to get more sales (both paid and organically) you can use these ads to get in front of your prospective customer, paying when they click the same as with any other pay per click (PPC) model.

Amazon ads can be a bit confusing when you first look at them, but here's the simplest way to think about them (and the quickest way to describe them!)

Self-service ads = Google search ads on the search result pages

Premium ads = display ads (they can also appear on other inventory)

Who Should Advertise on Amazon?

Are you selling a tangible product? Can consumers purchase online? Do you want that product in front of 300 million people? If the answer is ‘yes’ to these 3 questions, then you should already be on the platform!

If you've tried paid advertising before and haven't seen the results, then start small. We would never suggest you throw 100% of your budget into anything, but taking a small product with a decent track record will allow you to determine if it’s worth the effort or not. 

Another reason to advertise on Amazon is that if you’re running Amazon PPC, your organic Amazon rankings will likely improve as well. 

Want to learn more? Fill in the form below to access the rest of the blog! We discuss the different types of Amazon adverts, what they cost, and how to optimise your Google campaign and feed structure.