If you are an advertiser on Amazon, you know that the platform is absolutely massive, reaching over 300 million monthly active users and growing.
It’s a goldmine for advertisers, and a nightmare for marketers.
Not only is it often difficult to make any sort of impact, but the sheer volume of advertising on the site can cause significant damage to your brand. We’ve compiled a list of the top 7 biggest mistakes that Amazon makes when it comes to online advertising.
1. Poorly Targeted Audiences
One of the biggest problems that marketers face on Amazon is achieving sufficient reach with their ads, when they are competing against billions of dollar brands and millions of daily active users.
When a business owner or marketer decides to get involved in paid marketing on Amazon, they usually aim to achieve the largest possible reach with their ads, using whatever tools are available to them.
The trouble is that while this may sound like a good idea at first, when you realize that Amazon’s algorithmically managed feed is filled with thousands of identical click-worthy articles and you are competing for just a few impressions, you’re probably going to end up with an unqualified audience.
Instead of reaching the right audience, you’ll likely reach the closest possible approximation of it, which in many cases isn’t even close to what you’re looking for.
You can’t always control the factors that determine your audience’s demographic, but you can control the factors that determine whether or not your ad will be shown to them. For example, if you see that a lot of your target audience is people between the ages of 18 and 24 then it makes sense to focus your efforts on attracting this demographic.
You should also make sure that the content that you’re creating is of a high enough quality to draw in and retain your audience.
2. Over reliance on keyword research
Another huge problem that advertisers on Amazon experience is the struggle to generate enough leads through organic search traffic.
If you’re using keywords to search for products that you plan to promote, you’ll have no way of knowing whether or not your chosen keywords are actually helping you reach your target audience.
To combat this, many advertisers turn to paid search, which allows them to test different keyword combinations and see the results of their efforts in real time.
However, getting involved in paid search on Amazons is extremely costly, and can consume a large amount of your advertising budget without bringing in the results that you’re looking for.
3. Mixing SEO and regular ads
A big mistake that advertisers make on Amazon is trying to combine organic search engine optimization with paid advertising.
While it’s absolutely essential to properly optimize your website content for major search engines like Google and Bing, the best practice for SEO is to focus on creating great content that people want to share and link to. This content should also be of high enough quality to hold its own against any other content that might exist on a comparable site.
From a marketing perspective, mixing SEO and regular ads can also have negative effects, as you’re likely to over-optimize your content and lose sight of what your ads are actually for.
If you feel that the content that you’re creating on your site is of a higher quality than what you’d normally see on a typical blog or news site, try to rely on the paid advertising alone. If you truly feel that your content warrants an organic spot within the search engine results, then use the tools that Google provides to make sure that your SEO is up to date.
4. Using the Same URL for SEO and Paid Advertising
Another mistake that advertisers make on Amazon is making the mistake of using the same URL for both their organic SEO content and their paid ads.
If you use the same URL for your two different platforms, Google may assume that you’re trying to divert traffic from one page to the other, causing your rankings to drop on search engines.
For the sake of avoiding any confusion, it’s best to use a different URL for your paid advertising and your SEO content.
5. Over-reliance on Social Media
You wouldn’t usually put a newspaper’s editorial section in the same category as sportswear and travel blogs, but that’s what happens when you put too much emphasis on social media.
If you’re using social media to gain exposure and, ideally, sell a product, you’re doing it wrong.
To succeed on social media, you need to build a community. Create engaging content that encourages people to come back for more. Use social media to establish yourself as an expert in your chosen field. Gain support and interest from relevant communities.
There are hundreds of reasons why you might want to use social media to improve your business’ exposure, but if your main purpose is to gain sales then you’re certainly going the wrong way about it.
6. Under-estimating the Cost of Paid Advertising
Paid advertising on Amazon is incredibly expensive, which makes it more difficult for smaller businesses to compete for online marketing dollars.
Even if you’re running a profitable business, the cost of gaining a single new customer can range from $5 to $20.
However, businesses that opt for paid advertising on Amazon often underestimate the cost of paying for each individual ad, as well as the cost of maintaining a high click-through rate.
The problem with most businesses that run ads on Amazon is that they don’t have the money to sustain a high conversion rate. Even well-funded brands like GoDaddy find it hard to make a profit from online marketing on Amazon, due mainly to the costs associated with paying for each individual ad and maintaining a high CTR.
To avoid this, make sure that you set a budget and stick to it, as well as have the wherewithal to continue affording the ads even when your income is low. (It’s always good to have a contingency plan in place).
7. Not Having A Clear Objective
A final mistake that advertisers make on Amazon is not having a clear objective in mind when they get involved in the first place.
It’s essential to know what you’re trying to achieve with your online marketing efforts on Amazon, otherwise it’s very difficult to determine whether or not you’re actually achieving the results that you’re looking for.
For example, if you’re using Amazon to gain brand awareness and generate sales, you’ll need to track the results of your efforts carefully, as not everything that you’re doing will be beneficial to your business.
Final Takeaway
The bottom line is that if you’re an advertiser on Amazon, you need to be asking yourself questions about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, otherwise, it’s very difficult to know if what you’re doing is actually working.
One of the best things that you can do for your business is to get involved with paid marketing on Amazon. However, make sure that you have a clear objective in mind and that you’re aware of all the possible pitfalls that you might face.