Amazon promotes Display Ads to sellers on a regular basis. If you aren’t running them right now, you’ll often see recommendations to start doing so every time you open up the advertising console. They are a powerful tool, but just how important are they?
First, let's define display ads. In the traditional sense, a Sponsored Display Ad is often what you’ll find near or below the buy box on a product listing. You pick ASINs, brands, or categories to target and pay to serve up your product. Over the last couple of years, the capabilities have vastly expanded. You can now target audiences based on Amazon data. Think of this as a much more simplified form of targeting used on Facebook. Display Ads also now allow re-marketing capabilities both on and off of Amazon, and creative that can include headlines, images, and even display discounts.
So when should you use Display Ads?
Targeting Competitors: Display Ads are most often used when targeting primary competitor listings with significant traffic to steal share from that brand. These convert best with a strong headline or even a coupon that entices a customer to click.
Playing Defense: If your brand doesn’t buy these placements on your products, someone else will. This is a low-cost defensive strategy to cross-merchandise your products and gain visibility for less popular or newer products within your catalog.
Remarketing: Remarketing is essential to any digital marketing strategy. On Amazon, it seems to work best for items with significant repurchase rates like food and beverage products, supplements, or household items like cleaning supplies. Use this strategy during key times of the year for your brand for other products that don't drive frequent repurchase rates.
Audience Targeting: Think of this more like billboard advertising. These are usually charged on a CPM basis versus CPC. It’s a great way to drive impressions, but it is used most frequently by brands with larger advertising budgets.
How effective are they?
The simple answer is: They work. Ideally, they should be part of any brand’s Amazon advertising strategy. For brands in niche categories or ones with very high CPC’s on keywords, this may be where you invest most. In most cases, it will account for a smaller percentage of ad spend and ad sales than more traditional advertising like Sponsored Products, but brands that pull every lever usually reach the greatest success. Find a way to implement Display Ads, but be patient and plan to run many tests to determine what works.
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