Looking for a way to improve your Amazon marketing strategy? Let’s dive into Amazon DSP and you’ll learn what it is, who to target and how.
It’s 2022 and competition for search terms on Amazon is at an all-time high. Too many sellers are fighting for impressions that may lead to sales.
With competition, the cost of advertising rises, to the point it’s no longer as profitable as it once used to be.
The good news, Amazon DSP might be the answer. It can increase your brand awareness both on and off Amazon. It also gives you the opportunity to further develop your marketing strategy through better and more advanced targeting.
Amazon DSP = Demand Side Platform
In simple terms, it’s a buying machine for display ads on Amazon.
Display ads are the banners & videos that you see everywhere. They range in shapes and sizes, displaying products and services across the web.
What makes Amazon DSP unique?
The biggest difference between DSP and other Amazon marketing tools is the data. It’s helpful for targeting customers based on their purchase history, brand affinity, behaviour and searches performed.
Since it’s first-party data the targeting is updated in real time. That allows you to make well-informed decisions and adjust your targeting strategies more accurately.
Let’s break down the Amazon DSP benefits tounderstand what makes these ads special:
- Unique targeting options
- Targeting beyond the borders (cross-channel shopping)
- Amazon DSP inventory access
- Audience Insights and Campaign Performance Analytics
- Amazon DSP ads specifications
- Developing brand awareness
Keep in mind that PPC is still fundamental, and DSP should be built as a complementary solution to create a full-funnel experience.
When to use DSP?
Before diving into DSP you should know what your advertising goals are, and what type of consumers you want to target.
In general DSP ads are ideal for brand awareness or retargeting campaigns.
The retargeting option requires you to install the Amazon pixel on key pages, including home, checkout, and receipt pages in order to build audiences.
Amazons lets you market to the following audiences: product views, product purchases, similar product views and product searches.
You can even target customers who bought similar products from your competition.
Targeting with Amazon DSP
Amazon DSP provides six targeting options:
- Remarketing: Re-engages with customers who have previously interacted with your brand or products.
- Audience Lookalike: Targets customers who share similarities with your current customers.
- Behavioural Targeting: Attract customers who have shown behaviours such as browsing around a specific product category over the past 30 days.
- Contextual Targeting: Shows real-time relevant ads as people browse the web.
- Lifestyle Targeting: Shows ads relevant to people who habitually buy from a certain category, such as Exercise and Fitness.
- Advertiser Audiences: Leverages information you provide. Such as CRM data, an email list o a product page with a tracking pixel.
With all these targeting options you’ll have a huge advantage when it comes to targeting the right audience.
Amazon DSP ad types
It’s time to create some ads. There are four main ad types available to you through DSP.
- Dynamic e-commerce
Amazon’s AI ad optimizer are becoming more impressive and approachable every day. Dynamic ads automatically optimize which ads to show based on your campaign goal you’ve set. Dynamic ads can only link to a product detail page. - Static ads
Static ads on the other hand don’t have any dynamic elements, so they need very specific calls-to-action, like “Buy Now”. These ads are recommended as mid- and upper-funnel tactics to draw shoppers in. Static ads lead back to an Amazon storefront, product detail page, or custom landing page. - Video ads through DSP
Video is a great way to create an emotional connection with your audience. You can link your video ads through DSP to a product detail page on Amazon or to your own site. That way you can leverage Amazon’s audiences to target the right shoppers. - Over-the-top video ads (OTT)
These non-skippable, full-screen ads are a great way to reach millions of people on connected TV sources like an Amazon Fire TV Stick. You can target Amazon audiences, but keep in mind that these ads are not clickable.
Is Amazon DSP worth your time and money?
Amazon’s Demand Side Platform isn’t suitable for every seller. It’s targeting features are detailed, making it a challenging tool to master. Using DSP effectively will take time and effort. A poorly managed DSP is going to cause more trouble than it’s worth.
You can look at it as the “next step” for an already established brand, product, or service. A brand-new online seller isn’t likely to be a good match for this platform. In fact, for new seller, Amazon DSP is likely overkill and cost prohibitive.
It’s best for brands that want to buy ads at a large scale, reach a large scope of customers outside of PPC efforts. Although everyone can use it, if you’re not a brand that has at least a $35,000 budget, it may not be worth the investment for you.
Final Thoughts
Amazon DSP isn’t a magic advertising solution, but it’s a great scalable complement to what you’re already doing with your Amazon marketing efforts.
Best of all, it’s open to all advertisers so you don’t even have to be an Amazon seller to use Amazon DSP.
To get started, you’ll need to make an Amazon DSP account separate from your Amazon Ad Console.
