Forbes: Build A Powerful Campaign Via On- And Off-Amazon Marketing Tactics, Part Two

Published in Forbes, December 14, 2022 | Article Link: View · Nicolas Martinez, Vice President of Marketing, VENDO.

In the : first part of this series , we dug into how to build out a solid campaign foundation with on-Amazon marketing. In particular, we went over how to prioritize different deal types, how to drive traffic to maximize discoverability and conversion (i.e., SEO and on-Amazon advertising), as well as other unique tactics such as building out a themed brand store landing page, leveraging Amazon’s “Manage Your Customer Engagement” beta, working with influencers on Amazon Live, and event features through Amazon paid programs such as LaunchPad and SAS Core.

In this second part of the series, we will focus on off-Amazon traffic drivers such as paid social, paid search, organic social, influencers, PR and more.

And you can bet that the same sentiment will hold true throughout: Grab hold of the reins, flip the Amazon power dynamic and own your destiny.

First, let’s tackle one of the most common concerns Amazon sellers have: how to track sales when driving traffic to Amazon. The Amazon Attribution program could be one of your best bets. It provides visibility into the click-through rate, detail page views, add-to-carts and sales. You can build out numerous tags for each traffic source. In so doing, you should conduct a granular analysis and, subsequently, optimize your efforts based on the results. In addition, using a discount code is always a great alternative or second option for further sales tracking. And to top it off, Amazon recently rolled out the Brand Referral Bonus Program, which you can use to earn a commission back (toward your referral fee) on any sales you drive in through your non-Amazon marketing.

Secondly, let’s discuss social, search, email and website traffic. But before we do, let me drive home another point: External traffic is just as valuable as (or more valuable than) internal traffic and may support your search rankings, and therefore, organic visibility and sales. That’s why you should track not only directly attributable metrics but also the impact of indirect metrics such as keyword ranking, best seller ranking (BSR) and organic sales lift. By doing, so you will enhance your overall understanding of performance.

I’ve heard many experts say that out of all external traffic sources, Google in particular can provide a great impact on the Amazon algorithm. Furthermore, I’ve found that Google paid media works particularly well for Amazon, especially considering the overlap between the two in that they’re keyword-focused. In addition, a recent survey shows that 59% of Amazon Prime members start their search on Google. Alternatively, paid social offers a unique opportunity to bring more interest-based audiences into the mix. With any organic sources such as social, email and website, the value-add will of course increase with the size of the audience and the conversion rate. Consider the number of sales you will get from that audience and the impact that will have on your organic ranking—and thus organic sales—as well as the 10% referral bonus to determine if the ROI justifies the effort.

Third, there is influencer and affiliate marketing to consider, which increasingly also includes affiliate PR. In my experience, many influencers and affiliates love to drive traffic to Amazon. (This could be because of the high conversion rates many companies report seeing.) Furthermore, businesses should look for influencers specializing specifically in the Amazon deals niche. A less-talked-about potential part of your community that’s potentially just as relevant is brand ambassadors.

If you have an ambassador program set up, it can be a cost-effective way to drive additional awareness, traffic and sales, both for campaigns and on an ongoing basis. If you don’t have a program set up and are wondering where to start, consider the preexisting loyal members of your community. For example, consider your highest-value customers (based on the number of orders) and any other highly interested members of your community, such as influencers and frequent social engagers.

In addition, you can curate a recruiting campaign in which your get your audiences excited across social media, email and SMS—and any other applicable communication channels. Wondering how you are going to manage the program? You can start by creating applications for your recruits to apply through and then put the application on your website to drive ongoing sign-ups.

Lastly, there is PR, which is where you work with publishers to drive traffic to your store from their publications. Many publications are progressively working on an affiliate model, which can often be more cost-effective. If you don’t have a PR agency or resource, consider self-service platforms. Golden nugget: Find a publication that already has an article ranking at the top of page one on Google for relevant keywords and ask that they place your product there so you can further boost its traffic and sales potential.

So, there it is—a plethora of different ways for you to build out and elevate your Amazon marketing campaigns to achieve maximum success.

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Don’t be so hard on yourself, and ease into it. After all, you don’t have to do all these things. Start by considering the low-hanging fruit. For example, tap into the resources that are more readily available. Use that momentum to bolster your confidence so you can feel invigorated to add some new tactics to your marketing mix.

Test, test and test again. And when you find what’s working, rinse and repeat. But always stay on top of the trends (or better yet, ahead of the trends) so you can stay steps ahead of your competition.

You’ve got this.