Diving Into A Pool of Promotions

The last time we sat down together, we chatted about what promotions are, and the proper way to begin a campaign. This time, we’re digging a little deeper into what types of promotions are at your disposal through both your Amazon Seller Central account, and in general . There are some we’re sure you have heard of, and maybe some you haven’t. Either way, it’s important to know the tools in your toolbox so you can get the most out of your business, and keep climbing the ladder to page one.

 

Check it out…

 

 

 

When it comes to promotions, you have options. Some more accessible than others, but all effective in their own right. Having those options gives you the ability to craft particular campaigns to suite your business needs, but it’s important to know which promotions to start with, and how to use them most effectively to get the most out of your campaigns.

Lightning Deals

First of all, Lightning Deals. These can be run directly from your Seller Central account on Amazon. No need for outside services or any extras, which makes them a logical starting point for those unfamiliar with promotions in general. A Lightning Deal is a promotion offered in a limited quantity for a short period of time, and are a fantastic way to stimulate traffic to your listing. Not only that, but if the discount is large enough, it can net you plenty of sales. When you sell fast, your sales velocity shoots up, which can help raise your rank.

Now, there are a few things to consider when taking on a Lightning Deal.

They aren’t the most inexpensive route when it comes to promotions. They can be extremely effective, but it’s important to consider your budget. These are great to run during holidays and Prime Day, and are most effective when your goal is to stimulate sales volume. In other words, don’t run these all the time, but when your sales volume is on a natural rise, running a Lighting Deal can take that increase and run with it.

Sponsored Ads

Sponsored Ads, or PPC (Pay Per Click). This kind of Amazon advertising is based on keywords and auctions. A seller bids a certain amount on the keyword(s) for which they wants their product to appear. To put it plainly, The top spot for any given keyword(s) goes to the highest bidder, the second highest spot goes to the second highest bidder, and so on, and so on. In a way, it’s like AdWords for Amazon.

the added exposure can most definitely help increase sales velocity.

Amazon PPC ads can be placed by any seller with a professional selling plan. PPC ads aren’t available for all product categories, though, so make sure your product is eligible before you go all willy nilly with the PPC.

As most promotions go, cost can be a factor if you don’t know what you’re doing, especially if you don’t know which keywords to use to maximize traffic to your product. In light of that fact, here’s a starter recommendation:

Through Amazon, turn on an auto campaign for  your chosen keywords for $5.00 a day and let it run for 30 days, at least. Consider this yours “data run”. You’re running this auto campaign to see what kind of impressions your getting, amount of clicks, and ultimately sales for those clicks.

If you are getting clicks followed up by a sale, you’ll be able to see what keywords are converting for your listing. Once you have that data, you can begin to target those keywords in different ways, through different promotions. On the other side of that same coin, you may find that the keywords you’re using AREN’T converting well. Though that may send you back to the drawing board in the keyword department, it’s valuable data that can translate easily into long term growth. Knowledge is power, my friends, especially when it comes to keywords and your listing.

 Digital Coupons

This is a relatively new way to promote your listing, and is really one of the best places to start for a new seller. If you’ve ever found yourself scrolling on Amazon (let’s be real here, who hasn’t) you’ve probably seen those little orange tabs on some listings touting, “5% Off”, “10% Off”, “$5 Off”, etc.

Those are Digital Coupons.

Besides being easy to use for your buyers, these handy little coupons show up on your listing as a little bright orange tab. Consider it “peacocking” for your listing. That little orange tab attracts the buyers eye, which can net you more sales. Especially if your listing has been optimized through keywords and professional copy.

However, it is important to keep in mind that whatever that discount is for the buyer, that’s what you have to cover on your own. If the discount is 10%, you’ll be paying that extra 10%. It can be a bit of a balancing act when it comes to Digital Coupons, but the added exposure can most definitely help increase sales velocity.

Amazon Giveaways

These are  a fantastic way to grow your social media while stimulating business. As a host, you’ll select how many units you plan to give away and place them on the Amazon Giveaway page, and then route your customers to enter that giveaway through watching a YouTube video about your product, or leaving a comment or retweet on twitter, or some other “funnel-like”means. That part is up to you; however you feel is best to get more people aware of your product giveaway.

The powerful thing about this type of promotion is the ability to grow your social media. Creating a stipulation like “you have to watch our YouTube video on our product to enter the giveaway” gets buyers to not only give you more views on YouTube, effectively expanding your exposure, but can then lead to a sale on Amazon from repeat customers who got your product for “free” the first time.

Bottom line though, this handy promotion style is most effective if you are looking to grow your Twitter following, as the option available lend to doing just that.

The downside here, is overall, you’re not really driving more traffic to your listing, or able to target keywords. That’s not what this promotion is for, though. This is designed for exposure. If used correctly, you can still garner more customers. Never forget that even in today’s online-centric world, word of mouth is a powerful thing.

Just remember, that every product you enter into the giveaway page, you will be paying for. If you have 5 products entered and they cost $20.00 each, you’ll be spending $100 on that days giveaways.

As a subsection here, we’ll talk about Amazon’s BoGo ability. For those of you uninitiated, BoGo is Buy one Get one. This is great to get customers excited, but offers the same pitfalls as giveaways as you will be responsible for the cost of the free item.

When you sell fast, your sales velocity shoots up, which can help raise your rank.

The Big Picture

Promotions are powerful, both in their capacity to help you garner more sales and increase rank, but also on the social side of things. Social media and promotions go hand in hand, and the larger your audience on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, the greater help some of these promotion types will be.

The most important thing to remember is that not every promotion you run will be effective, but will always offer you effective data that you can use to do it better the next time around. Testing is a huge part of the Amazon equation, and overall you’ll need to find out what works best for your brand. Now, though, you know your options. The next step is to figure out which one you want to use, and begin getting data. If that data starts off with a massive increase in sales, kudos. If it doesn’t, take it back to the drawing board until it does. Keep your budget in line, but get data along the way. You’ll be thankful that you did. A well tested listing is a well selling one.

Truly though, the choice is up to you how to proceed. Just remember, not every promotion will work as intended, but you will ALWAYS learn something from it.