Amazon PPC tips for the Holidays

The 2022 holiday rush and the shopping frenzy that comes along with it are closing in. Brands looking to engage with gift-hunting shoppers should implement Sponsored Ads in their Q4 strategy.

With so much noise around, it gets almost impossible for new brands to make their presence felt and reach relevant audiences. Holiday marketing using Amazon PPC can help them build impactful strategies to generate awareness among new-to-brand customers and connect with shoppers who are all set to buy.

In this article, you will discover practical tips and strategies to maximize end-of-year profits using Amazon PPC Campaign Management.

When should brands start PPC for the holidays?

Holiday shopping actually begins with Prime Day. But that does not mean brands should drum up their marketing efforts from July. Ideally, you should boost visibility two weeks before and one week after every key sale date. It can be categorized as lead-up, during and after:

• Lead up:Advertise two weeks prior to a key event and take advantage of early traffic. Leverage this data and insights to optimize your campaigns for the later weeks. Try new channels and promotions during this time and see what works and what does not.

• During the sale:Focus only on best-performing products and high-converting keywords. Go big and bold on bids and budget.

• After the sale:Reengage audiences that interacted with your brand or related brands during the event. It's always a good idea to keep the campaigns for a week after the sale is over to keep the momentum going.

Here's an overview of this year's key sales days and holidays.

Halloween – 31st October

Thanksgiving - 24th November

Black Friday - 25th November

Cyber Monday – 28th November

Hanukkah – 18-26th December

Christmas – 25th December

Boxing Day - 26th December

Kwanzaa – 26th December to 1st January

By keeping track of these critical end-of-the-year events, brands can plan to make the most of the increased traffic and execute the best strategies to increase shopper spend.

Holiday marketing tips for Amazon sellers

Use these tips from our Amazon Ads specialists to amplify holiday sales during the most important time of the year – from Black Friday to New Year and everything in between.

#1: Plan a strategy in advance

Planning your PPC strategy ahead of each key sale date is essential to execute successful campaigns. Here's what brands should do:

Step 1:Identify all the important sale events and holidays that are relevant to your brand, catalog and the marketplace you are selling in.Step 2:Historical learning provides a foundation roadmap for success. Ask your Amazon marketing agency to analyze performance from previous retail events to get a thorough understanding of what worked and what didn't.Step 3:Map out your seasonal goals for Q4.Step 4:Set up a budget and create a strategy centered towards achieving those goals.Step 5:Once you've done that, prepare and launch your advertising campaigns to connect with shoppers who are browsing for products to buy.Step 6: Constantly monitor your campaigns, check reports to analyze performance and keep on refining throughout the season.

#2: Check your product's retail readiness

If your product detail pages are not informative, comprehensive and appealing to the eye, all your marketing efforts are in vain. The quality of your product listings dramatically affects your conversion rates, so your campaign's overall success greatly depends on how optimized your listing is.

Once you choose the products you to advertise, make sure they have the following:

• A keyword-rich title that's readable yet contains all the essential keywords.

• 7+ high-quality product images highlighting product features, lifestyle use cases and other details.

• Five informative bullet points, each with customer benefits, product uses, dimensions, compatibility information, and more.

• Product description that conveys your brand story, major product features and other information.

• 15+ reviews with 4 ratings and above.

• Stock availability

• Buy box eligibility

The best way to ensure retail readiness of your listing is by hiring an Amazon optimization agency.

#3: Be prepared to spend more

According to Amazon, "Advertisers who increase their Sponsored Products campaigns budget in 50% for the first time see an average of 109% increase in ad-attributed sales in the next month, compared to advertisers who don't. And when it comes to Sponsored Brands, advertisers who modify their budget see an average increase in ad-attributed sales of 58% in the next month when compared to those who don't."

Big events call for a bigger budget.

Amazon is almost overflowing with shoppers during the holiday season, so you might run out of your regular daily budget by the afternoon. That's why it is vital to set a budget that's high enough to keep your ads showing throughout the sale. If your campaign goes out of budget, your ads stop showing and you miss out on potential sales opportunities.

We recommend checking your daily budget every day to ensure that your campaigns stay active and enabled throughout the day. If it is running low, immediately adjust it to ensure your campaigns run hot 24/7.

#4: Use Sponsored Ads to boost visibility for deal

Shoppers are constantly on the lookout for great bargains and deals during key sales and days leading up to holidays. Sponsored Ads campaign can be used to increase visibility for deals and promotions running on your store. Your ads will automatically feature the deals badge in the shopping results placement, increasing the chances of clicks and sales.

#5: Leverage video ads

"1 in 5 Amazon visitors has made a purchase as a result of watching a brand or product video." -Amazon

Shoppers looking to buy gifts for their loved ones want to gather more and more information about the product. One of the best ways to inspire them is by helping them visualize your product in their lives.

Sponsored Brand Video ads appear within the search result pages and play automatically, getting the shoppers to instantly stop scrolling and start noticing. They are informative, attractive and one of the most unmissable forms of advertising. When created correctly, Sponsored Brand Video ads can give your brand the edge it needs to stand out in the holiday rush.

#6: Be unmissable with Sponsored Brands top of the page placement

The top of the page placement of Sponsored Brands makes your advertised products almost unmissable. As shoppers look for gifts and seasonal products, using Sponsored Brands and its customizable creatives can help brands connect better with the customers.

#7: Redirect shoppers to your store

Sponsored Brands lets brands use their Amazon storefront as a landing page for traffic. Getting your customers to land on the storefront can help you advertise your whole catalog without any distractions from another brand. Your storefront can also include a dedicated deals page so shoppers can get an idea of all the currently-running discounts.

Tips to optimize your Amazon storefront design for the holidays:

• Add a seasonal page to highlight your holiday-relevant products, showcase discounts running throughout the product line and create an immersive shopping experience.

• Make sure your store reflects your brand's value proposition and conveys your brand story in an effective way.

• The visual identity and tone should be consistent with the look and feel of your brand.

• Use rich and engaging multimedia content, including videos, images and customer stories, to make an impression.

• Build multiple pages within your store and organize products to ensure easy navigation for the customers.

• Use the deals widget to showcase all the deals on your store.

#8: Use a targeting strategy to reach relevant audiences

Sponsored Ads have various targeting options that help you reach the most relevant audiences. We recommend you start with Sponsored Products automatic targeting. Once those campaigns have run for weeks, check keywords in the Search Terms report and double down on the best-performing keywords with a manual campaign using both Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands.

For product-targeted manual campaigns, target products that have a higher price and poor reviews compared to your products. Advertisers have the ability to refine by price, star ratings, prime shipping eligibility and product age range.

For Sponsored Display, select views to re engage audiences that have viewed your product's detail page or a similar product's detail page. To drive consideration or cross-sell other products from your catalog, select product targeting and target similar products from your catalog.

#9: Reengage existing customers with Sponsored Display

It's not all about reaching new customers. Brands can connect with shoppers who have already discovered them using Sponsored Display ads. When shoppers search for gifts, they go through dozens of products. By remarketing with Sponsored Display, your products can stay top-of-mind with customers who already have shown interest in your product.

Brands can reach relevant shoppers on and off Amazon and engage them with auto-generated creatives.

#10: Set competitive bids to generate more impressions

To stay competitive during peak traffic days, set your bids to the maximum amount you are willing to pay without compromising on profitability.

For Sponsored Products, utilize the dynamic bidding feature where Amazon will automatically adjust the bid in real-time (by a maximum of 100%) when it's more or less likely to lead to a sale.

For Sponsored Brands, you can choose the automatic bidding option. This feature will optimize your bid for placements alongside shopping results, which will give you the visibility you're looking for over the shopping season.

Good luck for the upcoming events!

The holidays are almost upon us and the time to prep for it is NOW! By looking at these tips, you can fine-tune your campaigns to make the most of the busy season ahead. If you need any help prepping your advertising campaigns or Amazon store, schedule a meeting with our Amazon marketing consultants.