By Gefen Laredo, VENDO Advertising Manager 

In our last advertising blog post, we discussed the “evergreens” – the tried and true fundamental advertising methods that when implemented correctly, reliably drive and sustain growth on Amazon. In this post, we’ll dive into two new tools that can supplement, and in some cases, prove themselves as true growth methods.

The first tool is product targeting. Located in the manual campaign setup, product targeting allows you to show your ads on detail pages of competing products. Not only do you gain sales, but you also lower the sales velocity of the competitor that you are targeting, thus increasing ranking. The cost per click on product targeting tends to be higher than regular campaigns so picking the right products to target is crucial.

Invest in product research. Spend the time finding the competitors from which you are most interested in stealing sales and invest in them. The criteria varies; it can be lower-reviewed products, more expensive products, direct competitors, etc. If you have the funds, test multiple products and narrow it down. You can also target specific categories. With this feature, which is located as an option in the product targeting feature, Amazon advertises your product on category pages, getting as narrow or broad as you like. We have seen unexpected success with this feature on a few occasions, so it is worth testing out. In addition, a good tactic is to target supplementary or complementary products that are likely to be purchased together. A good way to determine these products is by looking at Amazon’s “Frequently Bought Together” section on the product page.

Now we return to keywords, with one of Amazon’s newest and most popular beta programs for sellers: Video in Search. With this feature, you can submit a roughly 30-second video to a representative in Amazon’s DSP (Display Sponsored Products) program with the keywords that you want to target. It should be noted that Amazon will ask for an insertion order (IO) of a commitment to spend $35,000 on Video in Search. HOWEVER, you do not spend that money up front, and you can cancel at ANY TIME. If you spend $500 after 1 week and are not seeing results, just email the DSP rep and they will shut it off within 48 hours, and you will not have to spend the $35,000.

Exactly like a regular campaign, your video will show up as mobile users scroll down a search term’s page. The keywords you submit will all be targeted as an exact keyword, meaning you can pick the ones you have seen success with, both branded and non-branded, as well as spaces you want to expand into. Monthly reporting will be provided, and you can continue to add/remove keywords as you see fit. It is a great way to set yourself apart from the competition, as you’ll be the only video on the page for users to engage with.

Most sellers are most likely not utilizing these features to their full potential. In doing so, you can continue to get a leg up on the competition and expand your growth avenues to drive incremental sales and grow your brand on Amazon.