Life is a challenge. There’s no doubt of that. Honestly, how fun would it be otherwise? An unchallenged life would be a boring one — though that pendulum can also swing the other way. A life fraught with too much challenge can quickly become overwhelming. Balance, as with all things, is key.
And so it is with the individual aspects of life, from relationships to business and everything in between. Selling on Amazon has its challenges. Sponsored Ads on Amazon … well, we can probably agree that presents its own special challenge.
The trick to any challenge is having the skill, the knowledge, the understanding and competency to face it and win. A good challenge is one you can confidently attack with a high expectation of success.
Knowledge Is King
Difficulty, complexity … these are not really factors. In fact a more difficult challenge typically brings more rewards, both in terms of satisfaction and results. And so it is with Sponsored Ads. Master Amazon Sponsored Ads and you reap the rewards. But they aren’t easy. There are many variables that go into running successful campaigns, and that only goes up as you add more products and variations.
Things like:
- Keyword research
- Budget management
- Setting targets
Each of those then has layers and subdivisions. With Keywords, for example, you should know not only your own product keywords but:
- Competitor Branded Keywords
- Complimentary Product Keywords
- Out of Category Keywords
In addition you need to know how to evaluate your automated campaigns, find and extract new, valuable keywords and implement them in your manual ads.
Target setting involves many metrics, including:
- CTR (click-thru rate)
- CPC (cost-per-click)
- ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales)
And the hits go on. Knowledge, as you can see, is the centerpiece of success.
But How?
Roll up your sleeves, get educated and dive in. That’s what it comes down to. First, decide you’re going to do it. Next, educate yourself enough to get started and — you guessed it — time to get to work. Once you’ve got the basics there’s no substitute for practical application. Kind of like getting in the pool; at some point you have to take the plunge. You’ll find that your knowledge and understanding increases as you gain experience.
Fortunately there’s plenty of info out there to help. Even Amazon has How-To guidance for Sellers:
Amazon’s Guide To Advertising Your Products
As well, ManageByStats has training coming, in the form of what we’re calling “MBS University”. Our first course will be on this very subject: Sponsored Ads. Lots and lots of great info. We’re finalizing some minor elements and it will be available soon. The goal is to roll that into a bona fide curriculum, with courses on all sorts of topics, each having to do with selling on Amazon and using ManageByStats to get the the best possible results.
Here we could even do one of those things like a TV show, where they say “Contact your local cable provider and tell them you want show XYZ.” We could ask you to do the same. “Contact ManageByStats and let us know you want MBS University.” Some of you may be young enough to remember the old 1980s “I want my MTV!” campaigns. Kind of like that.
While we’re on the subject of ManageByStats (and why wouldn’t we be), we’ve also got some great new Ads tools coming. They’ll be part of the ManageByStats program, and will include many helpful features designed to let you monitor your Ads campaigns, give you the ability to set targets, make adjustments, get suggestions and more.
Stand by for awesomeness.
Challenge & Reward
Though Sponsored Ads are important, they’re not the be-all and end-all of your success on Amazon. You need to know and use them, but in fact you may only get a small percentage of sales from ads. On the flip side Sponsored Ads may be huge for you, making up a big chunk of the action. Either way, Sponsored Ads do help drive sales. Ranking high for keywords by paying (bidding) for ads helps boost your organic rankings, which in turn means you show at the top of search results without having to pay for an ad. It’s all about strategy.
The challenge is to master Sponsored Ads. The reward is the additional traffic, and sales, you generate.
ManageByStats
We can help. If you’ve not yet given us a look, we invite you to poke around and see what you think. We’re here if you have questions. If you’re using ManageByStats already, look for announcements soon for our new Ads tools.
And let us know how you feel about an MBS University. You don’t have to call and scream like Mick Jagger. Though that might make our day.
Here’s to your selling (and advertising) success.
All the best,
The ManageByStats Team
