The kingpin of the eCommerce world, Amazon, has more consumers flocking to the platform to enjoy the diverse range of choices, cost-effective prices, and faster shipping.

The result? More sellers are also swarming there to make money, leading to tighter competition. Regardless of the goal, all Amazon sellers are facing some sort of challenge to make sales or profits, particularly in the recessionary period. This is forcing sellers to revisit their Amazon marketing and advertising strategies.

In this blog, we’ve laid out 6 goal-based marketing strategies for Amazon sellers to make an impact on their business. 

1. SEO advertising strategy for long-term growth

Amazon itself is a giant search engine. The platform uses an A10 search engine algorithm to rank brands and products. 

And just like Google, it prioritizes searchers (buyers in this case), making it easy for shoppers with a wider selection. So as a seller, you should think like a buyer and optimize your listing for relevance and performance. 

The eCommerce titan adores details and keywords. So your key terms play a crucial role in optimizing for relevance. To augment your Amazon advertising strategy, try to include them in the following:

• Product title: Selling a pair of black sports shoes? Include the words “black sports shoes.” Playing too clever won’t cut it.
• Seller name: If you specialize in selling sports shoes, use related keywords in your name, such as sports shoe plug. 
• Product description: Include every possible keyword that buyers might be searching for—for example, men’s black sports shoes with cotton shoelaces.
• Product features: Highlight crucial features that searchers might be interested in, such as insoles with superior cushioning and breathability. 
• Brand name: If you’re selling a famous brand such as Nike, include it as a keyword to get brand searchers.
• Backend keywords: These will be visible in the eyes of Amazon only. There should be proper alignment between your page content and backend keywords.

The Amazon algorithm is built to increase sales. That means it looks at your performance to determine the likelihood that a click will lead to a sale. So monitor your:

• Click-through rates
• Conversion rate
• Price
• Images
• Reviews 

Play your cards well, and you’ll reap long-term organic traffic.

Pros of Amazon SEO

• Free: You only spend time researching your keywords and injecting them into your product page.
• Long-term traffic: Welcome long-term organic traffic with a higher conversion rate without paying to play.
• Expert status: Get the opportunity to come across as an industry leader when you rank highly.

Cons of Amazon SEO

• Algorithm changes: Updates in the algorithm can push you many steps behind. 
• Time-consuming: It takes time for listings to rank, but you can expedite by running ads for bursts of traffic.

2. A+ Content for branding

Amazon’s A+ content optimization is another component of a fully realized Amazon marketing strategy. Done right, it helps you slash through the clutter, stand out, and boost conversion. In fact, it can skyrocket your average conversion rate by 5.6%.

With it, you can deliver a unique story that resonates with your audience. It combines video, HD graphics, FAQs, and other powerful elements to spotlight product listings. 

So how can you make the best of A+ content optimization? Here are some tried-and-proven tips:

• Unique and relevant information: Include as many product details as possible to minimize returns and negative reviews. Don’t forget your unique selling proposition (USP) that sets your product apart. 
• Easy-to-consume content: Keep your content simple and informative. Avoid confusing words, hefty paragraphs, and unknown abbreviations for easy scanning.
• Include FAQs: What are shoppers asking regarding your product? Visit your reviews, listing, feedback, or rivals’ listings to find out. Answer the burning questions comprehensively, and they’ll consider you an industry leader worth their money.
• Alt-image keyword: Your A+ content’s image should have relevant keywords to assist visually impaired shoppers using screen reader apps. And while Amazon won’t index them, Google will. 
• Create enticing images: Include specific details, features, and specs in your scroll-stopping images. Help the client visualize how the item appears in real life. 
• Provide solid value: Yes, you might be a great graphic designer or copywriter. But stay away from fluff and useless graphics. Always aim at providing hard-to-find helpful answers to shoppers. 
• Stay true to your brand: Have and follow your brand guidelines, ensuring your tone, voice, and designs resonate with your brand. See how your competitors tell their stories to inspire your own ideas. 
• Spy on your competitors: Visit your rivals and try to skyrocket your A+ content above theirs. That’s how you can win the hearts of indecisive shoppers or even steal your competitors’ customers. Try running your competitor ASINs through our listing analyzer.

Pros of A+ content

• Brand recognition: The personalization options help you slice through the noise on Amazon.
• Organic traffic: Google can index your text and images, allowing your brand to roar beyond Amazon.
• Increased conversion: Personalization in the description can increase sales. People see your offerings’ value quickly without the need to browse your listing page. 

Cons of A+ content

• Lack of indexing: Amazon doesn’t index the A+ content—only Google does.
• Expensive premium version: You must cough up more dollars per listing to use the premium version. 

3. Amazon PPC for boosting high-intent traffic

Amazon PPC helps you augment your Amazon advertising strategy by supporting you with bidding in the auction. Once an ad placement is open, an instantaneous auction system displays the product that wins the open spot. But Amazon will charge you only if a shopper clicks on your ad. 

This marketing channel can get your product in front of high purchase-intent shoppers. Play your cards well, and more clients will swarm around your product:

• Research shopper intelligence: Collect insights on shoppers’ purchasing and browsing. See what they’re searching for in your Amazon categories and strive to provide it.
• Start from keyword research: Start with long-tail, less-competitive keywords, then work your way up—for example, white shockproof rubber smartphone case.
• Test campaigns: Test manual versus automatic bidding on different campaigns. Also, test your keywords, images, and other elements. While testing can balloon your ad spending initially, you’ll get in-depth data on what works and doesn’t. 
• Adjust bids by ad placements: Visit the placement report and see the most promising ad position (top of search results on the first page, within the search results and other pages, and other positions such as the product details page). Reset the placement bidding multiplier to improve the odds of scooping more conversions. 

1. Let your campaigns run for a week: Restrain from making impulsive changes until at least a week has passed. That way, you will get enough data to analyze your optimization game. 
2. Analyze your campaigns: Using Amazon’s tools, analyze keywords that drove up clicks and purchases. You can also pinpoint the less successful key terms and those that the titan targeted in your automatic campaigns. Adjust bids using various keywords to move closer to success.

Pros of Amazon PPC

• Cost-effective: Pay only when a shopper clicks on your ad.
• Relevant traffic: Tailor your audience based on location, time, date, device, and more.
• Performance metrics: Analyze metrics like visits, clicks, views, and profit and work on what isn’t working. 
• Quick results: Get instant traffic to build momentum as you work on SEO.
• Reach real buyers, not viewers: Shoppers are at the purchasing stage. PPC shows them relevant information they need to buy.
• Boost organic ranking: Use sponsored ads to boost low organic rankings. In the eyes of Amazon, the resultant jump in sales signals a highly-sought item.

Cons of Amazon PPC

• Time-consuming: Campaigns need ongoing tracking and modification.
• High budget risks: Wrong keywords or structures lead to loss.
• Unsuccessful clicks still charge: Amazon charges you for every click, even if it doesn’t birth a sale. 

If you want to learn more about Amazon PPC and how to automate it, talk to us.

4. Social media for online buzz

Expand your marketing game to social media platforms where your target audience hangs out. But avoid the temptation of bombarding your audience with promotions every time you log into your account.

Instead, aim at posting valuable and interesting links, facts, and other content to cultivate your brand. Also, update your audience on the latest company news, items, giveaways, and discounts. Spice up your game with occasional ads. 

The trick is to balance your promotional and branded content. Excessive branded content can dilute your audience’s interest. On the other hand, spicing it up with your Amazon page’s links and ads can deepen the connection with prospective buyers. Eventually, sales from social media begin to trickle in.

Here are some more social media tricks:

• Remain authentic to your brand: Maintain a consistent brand voice and tone. Your textual or visual content and chosen influencers should reflect your philosophy.
• Use scroll-stopping visuals: Compelling visuals that grab eyeballs can drive traffic to your brand. They’re also an opportunity to share your message and brand identity.
• Connect with customers: Pay attention to customers’ concerns, questions, and ideas. Respond to their rants and acknowledge their suggestions as soon as possible. You don’t want a negative review to follow you to the Amazon platform.
• Cross-promote third-party content: Tag, network with, and share mentions of third-party content. That’s one way to balloon your brand awareness, engagement, and followers. 
• Join groups and communities: Boost your engagement and followers through active participation in groups. Employ hashtags to increase discoverability, awareness, and growth beyond social media networks. 

Pros of social media marketing

• Boost awareness and sales: Social media takes the game where your customers hang out online. 
• Direct communication: Customers can reach you directly via your comment section and inbox. That way, you can solve an issue quickly before a negative review lands on your Amazon page.
• Skyrocket engagement: Frequent posting, replying to comments, and sharing spark interaction among customers and between your brand and customers.
• Cost-effectiveness: Social media networks are free platforms. While you pay to run campaigns, the costs aren’t exorbitant.
• Laser-targeting: The social media targeting engines ensure you only reach your ideal customers with your messaging. 

Cons of social media

• Takes time: Most customers on social media aren’t ready to buy your item. You must invest more time in creating awareness and moving your leads down to the purchase stage.
• Negative feedback: A disgruntled customer may splash negative comments on your posts or leave a bad review to tarnish your name. You need to watch out for this feedback and act as soon as possible.
• Reduced organic reach: Organic reach on social media is discouraging, especially if you’re too busy to maintain consistency in posting valuable content.

5. Amazon promotions to boost sales

Amazon promotions are among the sure-shot ways to entice new and returning buyers. They can help you catapult your items’ visibility on Amazon and social media platforms.

But to reap big, here is how you can run ads promotions like a pro:

• Plan budget well: A promotion means creating a small dent in your margins through percentage off or giveaways. It’s prudent to determine your budget and estimate your profit, ensuring you aren’t operating under a loss. 
• Keep it short: Make your promotions exclusive, urgent, and short, running ideally for 5-7 days if possible. Long promotions can be costly, and your customers may think yours is a generic brand. 
• Set up the promotion correctly: Ensure your promotions are set correctly to avoid burning your money. For instance, set exclusive codes.
• Have the right keywords in your listings: Your goal is to boost ranking for relevant keywords related to your product. So inject them in your listing to boost conversion rates of promotions.
• Use the right amazon promotion type: Amazon promotions come in all shapes and sizes: Social media promo codes, giveaway freebies, free shipping, coupons, discounts, etc. 

Pros of Amazon promotions

• Boost awareness: Your brand gains more visibility as people share your promotional messages.
• Drive traffic: Your listings attract more people looking to save their coins. 
• Set sales momentum: Get early sales to boost your sales history.
• Gather reviews: People feel indebted to leave a hearty review after grabbing the promotion, helping you get more subsequent sales.

Cons of Amazon promotions

• Possible loss: If your budgeting isn’t right, promotions can put a huge dent in your profit margins.
• Risk of appearing generic: Running promotions for too long makes your item come across as a generic one that lacks uniqueness. 

6. Amazon reviews for high conversions

E-commerce shoppers value reviews from fellow customers since they cannot touch your item physically. Gather more attractive reviews, and more customers will trust you with their money. In fact, a study revealed that 84% of online shoppers trust reviews as much as recommendations from their friends. 

Amazon’s customer-first mindset drives it to use reviews on product pages and when ranking items. So it’s crucial to prioritize reviews and entice each customer to leave one. Here are some white hat tactics to collect reviews:

1. Amazon Vine: If your item’s reviews haven’t exceeded 30, let the Vine Voices members skyrocket them. The program charges $20, but the benefits are immense. 
2. Request a Review button: Request a review via email after 4 days of shipping an order. While you cannot customize the request, this trick can boost the probability of getting more feedback. 
3. Product inserts: Use product inserts to ask for reviews. But stay clear of if/then statements, such as “If we get your positive review. Then you’ll get a free item the next time you shop with us.”
4. Product giveaways: Product giveaways increase sales and boost the chances of grabbing more reviews. 

Pros of Amazon reviews

• Skyrocket rankings: The algorithm considers positive reviews when ranking items on top
• Boost customer engagement: The reviews catalyze engagement among buyers and between buyers and sellers, resulting in a valuable community.
• Free and lasting impression: A positive review will continue enticing customers and creating a lasting impression long after it has been left. 
• Catapult conversion rates: Buyers often trust fellow customers more than what the brand says. So reviews can support your pay-to-play marketing efforts and increase conversion rates. 

Cons of Amazon reviews

• Negative reviews: Customers can leave a negative review despite their best effort. Failure to respond quickly can lead to a tarnished brand.
• Time-consuming: It takes time to ask for reviews and build a solid bank of reviews.
• Dirty competition: Rivals can use the opportunity to tarnish competing brands. 

Find your goal

Time and time again, Amazon sellers come under the scenario where they need changes to their marketing strategy. This usually occurs when their strategy and goals are not aligned. Therefore, the expectations and results do not match. 

To align both, sellers need to identify their objective or the problem and analyze which strategy hits their goals or fits their needs. If you want to learn more about Amazon selling, then sign-up for our blog.