Since Ads are the most important tool of online marketing in any field, there is an increased number of competitions between Google ads and Amazon ads. Today the most demanded among the authors is Amazon ads after they introduced AMS i.e., Amazon Marketing Services.
There is also an increased number of searches on Amazon rather than on Google. Amazon is progressing quite quickly being the world’s biggest eBook retailer and bookstore and today we will do a case study in various aspects to improve Amazon ads for authors.
Its progressive advertising tools in marketing books are becoming the most favoured channels of all. Authors now are focusing more on advertising their book in order to make it visible which is quite the nice move as it indeed brings results. Through data analysis and iteration only success can be measured as Amazon ads have its own merits and demerits.
AMS
Amazon Marketing Services has been a great talk this year especially among authors where special books are being launched in order to give clear knowledge of what AMS actually is and how to handle it. Sponsored Product Ads and LockScreen Ads, AMS mainly drive traffic and boost sales apart from other activities.
Being an AMS expert can be quite tricky but knowing the basics of it can help scale up the sales. And in order to become a batter advertiser we at least need to deal with some of the basic AMS flaws. We all know that Sponsored and LockScreen ads are the ones needed to keep in mind while advertising through Amazon as it is the most crucial part of advertising.
The best part of AMS is that one is not charged for clicks until someone actually clicks on it. It’s like even if 10,000 people see your ad but nobody clicks on it then you are not charged for that ad. The Sponsored Product ads can be started with as low as $2 per day but the case is not the same with LockScreen ads as they are bought for lifetime purpose and so authors need to pay $100 if they want it.
Ad Campaign
After knowing the types of ad, it’s time to finally set an Amazon ad campaign and manage it properly. Setting up an ad campaign is quite easy to start with where you have to select which book to campaign and what will be its name. The ad will be known by its name, so the name should properly be set as it cannot be changed afterwards.
As discussed earlier in the case of Sponsored Product ads, a minimum budget of $2-$3per day can be set and the ad can continue until stopped manually. And LockScreen ads can be much more expensive even to test. After setting up the campaign, check for any possible error before publishing it. As after it is published, the thought of editing it is quite peevish as it cannot be changed. Instead you have to start a new campaign and lose all the clicks and impressions in the previous one.
It takes upto three days for sales to appear on the ad campaign dashboard. Impressions come faster than clicks and within the first two days these things will happen. But one has to have p[atience as it takes time in turning those clicks into sales. And therefore it is a little difficult to measure the success rate properly.
Video Ads
Video ads are newly introduced in AMS where you can create a video of your product, describe it and mention the links of your product in the description. A Call to action button is there like shop now, pre-order now and quotes like this. So authors can actually make use of this video ad, describe something about their book. Readers after seeing this ad may click the CTA button and can purchase the book. So, this can also be one new and good way of increasing sales. Among all the other AMS tools, why not try this?
Creating video ads can be fun, but this might be challenging for some. The key here is to find a video editor that you will be comfortable using. Some tools can be friendly to beginners, and some offer additional features such as the AI image generator, TikTok downloader, background remover, and video converter.
Targeting
Now targeting Sponsored Product ad is of two categories: Manual and Automatics targeting. In manual targeting, authors get to choose particular keywords and then Amazon runs those ads when people actually will search for that particular keyword. And in automatic targeting, Amazon itself chooses where to display the ad.
Targeting in LockScreen ad is also of two categories: by product and by interest. In Interest, Amazon will show various categories and subcategories like that of Mystery, Romance, Fantasy, etc. While Product is quite direct, like you can choose an exact title of a book in which you want to showcase your ad.
Keyword checking is important where one gets to know which keyword is working or not and finally applying those keywords which actually works. So, manual keyword targeting is quite a good option that should opt for through Sponsored Product ads. From some Non-Fiction authors we got to know that for them automated targeting works where they get a good amount of impressions also
Bidding
This is the most important part of an ad campaign as the more you bid, the maximum results you will get. Obviously keep in mind the budget you have set forth for it and totally lose your savings. The bid also should not be very low as it will eventually not appear as there is a lot of competition in this. There is a basic range of bid setup by Amazon itself, so it will be better if you set up the bid just a little above it and take chances.
ACoS
After all these steps are followed, now comes the point where you have to look through your ads dashboard. It will give all the information about the budget, the ad spends, the sales and the ACoS. ACoS is Advertising Cost of Sales which shows the ratio of your ad spend and sales. Through this only we get to know that an ad is making profits or not. Amazon calculates the Sales through the retail price of the book and the royalties that an author gets.
Profits can be measured if ACoS <70% if a book is priced between $2.99-$9.99. And if the books are less than $2.99 or more than $9.99 then profits can only be made if ACoS is <35%. So, there’s a clear reporting of all the activities going on in the Amazon Marketing Service dashboard. It is evident and should be kept in mind that authors should market their books where readers are searching for a particular genre of book in which they belong.
Relevancy
Above all these the most important factor for an ad to get success is its relevance. As this is where people actually connect with relevant ads. Apart from increasing the users trust, it also increases CTR rate and helps in making more money. Amazon advertising for KDP authors nowadays are more relevant and connect easily with their target audience which is a boon of course.
From a Case Study we got to know that Target audience and Data is the most important factor of Advertising. It’s like how attractive can be the ad that it triggers people to click it and how many people are actually clicking it? How effective is it that people are buying it? So, the ad copy should be relevant and captivating enough to attract readers. They should tell what the readers want which that book will provide, there should be clarity and the product’s value should be highlighted. Finally, good ad copy obviously makes good sales.
So, these were some tips and tricks in order to improve the Amazon ads especially for authors which indeed will help increase the sales. Obviously after spending a lot of your income on these ads one needs to have within themselves is patience and just wait for positive outcomes.
