For over 12 years, content26 has worked with a wide range of businesses, from small start-ups to Fortune 100 manufactures, to create compelling online product page content that appears on Amazon and other online retailers. In that time, Amazon has evolved into something much larger than simply a retail channel. Amazon is now the starting point for 55% of product searches – more than Google and Bing combined – shifting the importance of Amazon as a marketing platform from optional to essential.
As Amazon has transformed from a sales channel into a search engine, it has become more and more important for brands to populate their product pages with the information customers demand to make informed purchases. But quality content is useless if customers aren’t finding the products.
In 2012, Amazon launched Amazon Marketing Services, giving brands an all-in-one advertising solution to drive customers to product pages. Though it started small, Amazon saw the potential in their platform, improving and expanding it. Now, Amazon controls both the world’s largest database of products and the platform with which to promote them, making it arguably the most powerful marketing and advertising platform on the planet.
Research and Advertising at the Point of Sale
Regardless of where customers eventually complete their purchase, most people begin their product journey on Amazon. With over 700,000 brands selling more than 360,000,000 products on the site, Amazon has positioned itself as an indispensable research tool. This volume of product information is the reason it replaced Google as the de facto search engine for products.
Hundreds of millions of interested buyers are congregated in one place online. This is the most valuable digital real estate on the market.
Google and Facebook make up over 60% of the digital marketing sector, with a combined estimated 2016 advertising revenue of $80 billion. Amazon only had ad revenue of around $3 billion that year, yet a growing number of analysts believe Amazon will soon disrupt global advertising. Why? Because unlike Google or Facebook, Amazon sells advertising that appears at both the top and bottom of the sales funnel, where customers not only research products but also buy them. Product searches on Amazon begin at the point of sale, so it’s only a few clicks between leaning and buying – a distinct advantage that only Amazon enjoys.
Amazon as a Marketing Platform
Amazon Marketing Services lets brands create customized, keyword-driven advertisements that appear in a variety of page placements and in search results. Running AMS campaigns with the same keywords customers use to search for products is the best way to drive traffic to product pages. AMS lets brands place targeted ads in the most relevant and visible areas of search results pages to help them stand out on the crowded digital shelf.
Customers go to Amazon to find a specific product, and if they don’t find your product, they will find your competitor’s product instead. AMS ensures they see your product first.
The Importance of Investing in Product Detail Content
Advertising with AMS is only part of the solution, however. It is the ying to content’s yang. Clicking on targeted AMS ads leads to product detail pages, and if those pages lack the information a customer needs to make an intelligent buying decision, they are going to abandon the sale.
According to Amazon, A+ content increases sales by up to 10%. Giving customers high-quality images and informative yet concise product information is key to driving conversions. A comprehensive AMS strategy must be paired with product detail content that inspires customers to buy.
The Takeaway
Brands can no longer afford to think of Amazon as solely as a sales channel; it must be considered the most important marketing and advertising platform. Brands that don’t make advertising with Amazon a priority leave the door wide open for their competitors.
