This is a super awesome, in-depth guest post from the folks at AdBadger, a campaign management and optimization tool for Amazon PPC. 

If you’re tired of the same basic PPC suggestions over and over, we’ve got you covered. Here are 7 advanced Amazon PPC tips that your competitors likely still don’t know how to use properly.

1. Fine tune your auto campaigns
2. Make your bid calculations scientific
3. Diversify your targeting
4. Account structure is everything
5. Avoid keyword cannibalization
6. Refine your category targeting
7. Use PPC software

1.  Fine tune your Auto campaigns

You may not know this, but auto campaigns actually target both keywords and ASINs. 

So if you were to download a search term report and check out what those auto campaigns were targeting and the types of search term results that would come through, you would notice that some of your results in the customer search term column actually begin with “B0” like this:

All of the search terms that begin with “B0” are ASINs (“Amazon Standard Identification Number”). These auto campaigns are targeting customer search terms, but those ASIN targets aren’t necessarily what customers are typing into the Amazon search bar.

In fact, those are competitor products that are on Amazon. So your advertisements can actually be targeting what customers are searching for, or any other product that is on Amazon. 

What if you want to view your auto campaigns and how effective these keywords are versus those ASIN targets?

For any auto campaign that was created after November 15, 2018, you can actually click the targeting tab at the top of any of those automatic campaign ad groups, and you’ll be able to see the four different auto targeting options.

Let’s take a closer look at those Targeting Options

Those four auto targeting options are:

• Close match
• Loose match
• Substitutes
• Complements

Those first two targets, close match and loose match, are keyword targeting options which tell how closely the customer’s search term is related to your product.

The second two targets are product targets, so if someone would buy a different product instead of yours, then your product will be targeting those substitute items.

Complements would be something that goes along with your product. For example, if you were selling hair brushes, then hair spray might be a complement item. Your product ad will be targeting those complementary ASINs.
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This is a guest choice from Seller’s Choice Digital, experts in Amazon branding.

Product imagery is a vital part of selling online. Pictures communicate much more efficiently than text, making them a valuable tool that you can use to your advantage. A customer will normally check the product images before reading the description. This means that your first image is the first impression you make on the customer, and hopefully, after reading our tips, it won’t be the last.

The convenience of online shopping, unfortunately, takes away the customers’ opportunity to physically handle the product. This is a gap you need to fill with detailed and diverse imagery, to make up for the lack of seeing the product in person.

The benefits of well-produced product imagery are numerous, for example, good photos will show your brand. They’re also much more likely to be shared on social media than text is, making them more likely to be seen. This helps improve the reach and credibility of your brand. Another way to get your brand out there is by using Facebook ads. Consumers are also more likely to instinctively trust companies whose imagery they’ve seen before, yet another benefit of putting in a little extra work.

Here are a few tips you can implement when photographing and editing, to make the most of your visual marketing!

1) Know Your Specifications

Before making big decisions about your product imagery, do some research. You need to know the requirements and specifications for your photographs before ever picking up a camera. When you’re selling on a platform like Amazon, you need to look into their recommendations and requirements, not doing so might mean your images are rejected.

You should also plan what you’re using the images for. Is it a thumbnail? A header? Each of your photographs could have different purposes, meaning they require a different approach. Just remember to plan ahead to avoid big changes later on. To help you stay organized, you could use a product launch timeline.

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As an ecommerce entrepreneur, you do everything in your power to get more sales for your products. Since Amazon is one of your top channels, much of your marketing efforts go to getting more sales on Amazon. You run promotions and ads, and you create content. But have you utilized Amazon FBA affiliate marketing to grow sales?

If not, we’re giving you the rundown on how you can find affiliate opportunities for your product and reach out to affiliate marketers directly to forge new business partnerships that are mutually beneficial.

What is Amazon FBA affiliate marketing

Amazon FBA affiliate marketing allows digital publishers to earn affiliate revenue from the products they recommend from their blog posts, social media posts or other content. Affiliates earn 10% for the sale of most products—not only the product they recommended but also anything the customer purchases at that time. 

YouTubers, bloggers, podcasters and other types of digital publishers can sign up to be an affiliate marketer and drive traffic to any product they choose, typically something that aligns with the needs of their audience.

Here’s a fee schedule with what percentages affiliate make per certain items and categories. Amazon sellers are not charged additional amounts in order to pay affiliates. The cost is already covered with your FBA fees. 

What kinds of FBA products does affiliate marketing work for?

When affiliate marketers drive traffic to your product listings, they’re essentially marketing your product for you, in exchange for affiliate commission. Typically, these content creators earn most of their revenue from advertising (usually Google’s AdSense or from YouTube ad clicks) and they are looking for easy additional sources of income.

The best opportunities for affiliate marketing fall to products like these…

• Hobby products – There are thousands of websites dedicated to helping people learn or master a new hobby like sewing or DIY home renovations. These types of sites are very likely to use affiliate marketing to monetize their content. 
• Outdoor or sports gear – Similar to hobbies, products that are outdoor or sports gear are a great fit because there are lots of sites that cater to your target audience.
• Lifestyle, fashion and beauty – Lifestyle bloggers, fashion bloggers, and beauty bloggers regularly make product recommendations and post product reviews, making their content a perfect fit for affiliate marketing.
• Health and wellness – People with a certain health condition or fitness goal are likely to purchase the products that their favorite blogger or YouTuber recommends. 

How to find and reach out to affiliate marketers

If your branded FBA product is a good fit for affiliate marketing, the next step is to get more affiliate marketers linking to your listing. 
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Today, we’re covering our top Amazon copywriting tips for FBA entrepreneurs who know that when it comes to product listings, there is always room for improvement.

Your Amazon product pages are the lifeblood of your FBA business. They need to pull in as much organic traffic as possible and convert as much of the traffic as possible. We’ve talked at length about your product imagery can help achieve both higher click throughs from search results pages as well as higher conversion rates.

But what about the copy?

Your copy has a HUGE impact on your click throughs and conversions. We know that you’re busy, so we’ve designed this post to be easy to skim so can quickly check your familiarity with these concepts. After you’ve read this list, go through all of your product listings and see if they are implementing these best practices.

1. Differentiate your product from its competitors

To really make your product stand out, it needs to immediately be clear to shoppers why and how it is different from its competitors. Imagery is absolutely one of the best ways to do this, but you can achieve this in your copy as well.
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Amazon pay per click (PPC) campaigns are one of the more stable ways of drawing business to your products. It can drive Amazon customers to you without breaking your budget. Once you get to a certain number of products and campaigns though, it makes sense to automate your Amazon sponsored product campaigns.

The most significant factor for automation is looking at how much time optimizing your ad campaigns takes up in a week. It doesn’t matter if it’s on account of the many products or in-depth campaigns. If you find yourself increasing how much time you work just to get through it all, it’s time to automate.

What You Need to Follow This Tutorial

Ideally, you must have a product or products established already on the Amazon platform. The product page should have high-resolution images that the ad campaign can use. This product should also have a beautifully written page. Within the writing, you should check for the keywords used in the ad campaign. It should also have at least three reviews on it for maximum effect. All these items mean the product has the highest chance of being bought once we get buyers onto the page.

Since we’re talking about automation, we need data to feed the program. Since you know about Amazon PPC, we’re assuming you’ve been running campaigns already. This means you have data on your earlier keyword bids in your Seller Central. This historical data removes the learning curve for most automation services. Thus, the price of the transition will be reduced.

Step by Step Instructions

Step One: Decide How Much Control You Want

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We recently sat down with Joseph Hansen, who is an Amazon growth expert and one of the original co-founders of the Prosper Show. His company Buy Box Experts helps brands grow their businesses on Amazon.

When do most sellers realize that they need help and that they can no longer do everything on their own?

Most sellers come to us when they reach $1 million dollars in sales. Some businesses come to us before that but most have reached that threshold or have far surpassed it. Our typically engagement is with a mid-market brand with top line sales ranging from several million to a few hundred million dollars.

What makes sellers pull the trigger on getting outside help?

When a private-label seller or brand starts to sell around a million dollars a year on the Amazon channel, they have found that business is a lot more complex than they thought it would be and they realize that they’re not able to keep up with everything. They also feel that they’re becoming an expert at critical things, like marketing, slower than they would like. They may be very good at sourcing products, or at product design or at marketing on their own website. Their core competence is one or a combination of all of those things, and Amazon isn’t their core competence.
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Ready to learn the ins and outs of Amazon branding strategy so you can totally crush your competition?

In today’s competitive Amazon marketplace, branding is the end-all-be-all topic of discussion when it comes to standing out and creating a sustainable business that allows you to scale your product line, your revenue and of course your customer base.

Dayana Mayfield (head of marketing at Refunds Manager) recently sat down with Andrew Maffetone, director of marketing and operations at Seller’s Choice, full service marketing agency for Amazon Seller’s.

Watch the video–we did have a couple tech glitches, sorry!–or read on for all our takeaways from this talk with Andrew about Amazon FBA branding.

This blog post has been created by Teikametrics: The world leader in leveraging data science and machine learning to automate advertising on Amazon. They’re offering Refunds Manager followers exclusive, early access to their new Retail Optimization Platform, Flywheel.

It’s no secret that Amazon has become a major destination for online shoppers. No matter what you’re shopping for, Amazon has become the go-to source for everything from toilet paper to sporting goods, clothing to toys for your kids. In fact, nearly 45 percent of all product searches start on the Amazon marketplace.

Before Amazon came onto the scene, there was no central marketplace for online retailers to access fulfilment and advertising services. Today, Amazon sellers have access to these advantages and more, and sellers who know how to use all the tools that Amazon offers are better equipped for success than those who don’t.

With that said, the world as an Amazon seller can be difficult to navigate, and it is important for online retailers to know the ins and outs of the ecommerce terrain. One of the most important aspects of financial understanding is gross profit. Most business owners feel that they have a firm grasp of what profit is. However, fewer might realize what exactly gross profit is, how it’s calculated, and why it is so important to Amazon sellers.

What Is Gross Profit?

Gross profit is the total amount of revenue that a company makes after subtracting its direct costs. For Amazon sellers, gross profit takes into consideration all of the expenses associated with selling on Amazon, including:

• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
• FBA fees that Amazon collects from sellers. These include fees for services like shipping, pick & pack, order handling, and storage.
• Costs associated with being an Amazon Sponsored Product
• Amazon seller’s fees, which Amazon charges per product, depending on the business category. Usually, this fee is about 15%.
• Other marketing costs, like promotions or Amazon advertising spend

Many Amazon sellers focus solely on profit, but gross profit is actually the more important metric to identify and understand. Let’s explore this further.
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Today on the blog we’re talking about how to know if you’re ready to launch your next Amazon brand. Is it time to take on something new? Or is your new idea just a distraction, and should you focus on your existing brand instead?

As an entrepreneur, these are important questions. Many entrepreneurs get about a thousand ideas a minute, so it’s up to you to know which one to pursue.

If you’ve had some success on Amazon and are wondering if it’s time to diversify, this post is for you.

The strategy behind building brands (instead of just launching products)

Before we dive into the criteria, let’s first take a moment to review the strategy of brand building, as opposed to selling random products that seem to be a good opportunity.
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