Marketing On Amazon: 17 Actionable Strategies To Grow Your Business In 2022

Introduction

Marketing on Amazon can be daunting, but it is not insurmountable. All you need are strategies which have been proven effective by thousands of sellers that came before you.

You will need to put in a lot of serious work, but the resulting sales and profits you will gain are worth the time, money and effort you invest.

Here are 17 Amazon online marketing strategies you can implement to ensure your success as an Amazon seller.

These Amazon digital marketing tactics cover multiple channels and are applicable to different business objectives. Some are non-negotiable, as they are basic elements of a listing, while others are dependent on your skillset or comfort level. Choose the ones that best fit your needs and preferences!

1. Optimize All Elements Of Your Amazon Product Pages

Think of the Amazon platform as a search engine, because it is. Like Google, it uses an algorithm, called A9, to rank listings in search results. Thus, as a seller, your product page must be A9-friendly in order to appear on page one where more than 70% of Amazon sales are generated.

Creating a beautiful listing is also a prerequisite to marketing on Amazon. It doesn’t make sense to promote a product that lives on a page that is not presentable.

To accomplish both objectives, you need to focus on the elements listed below. And while A9 does not crawl on all of them, optimizing and enhancing these sections enriches shoppers’ experience and encourages them to click the Add To Cart button.

PRODUCT TITLE

The Title is the first thing most buyers read on a product page, so make sure it includes all the pertinent information about your item. Use the most relevant and highest-ranking keywords in this section, but beware of keyword stuffing as A9 frowns on it.

Keep in mind as well that Amazon limits the Title’s character count to 200 characters. Ensure that each one counts towards ranking your listing high up in search results. At the same time, write it sensibly and for humans, not for bots.

PRODUCT IMAGES

Amazon allows you to upload 9 images. Your main image should be just of the product, nothing else, on a plain white background. As with the rest of its TOS, Amazon is very strict with this requirement. And while non-compliance with this particular policy wouldn’t lead to your seller license being revoked, chances are, your listing won’t go live.

Optimizing images on your product page involves pleasing both A9 and shoppers. By all means, include keywords not only as text on the images themselves but also in the file names.

Add infographics and lifestyle photos to show potential customers how to use your product if they’re not inclined to read the features and description in text form.

PRODUCT KEY FEATURES (BULLET POINTS)

You have 5 Bullet Points with an allocation of 500 characters each. It’s a generous amount of space where you can discuss all your product’s features in detail and explain their benefits. But it would be wise to not get carried away.
The ideal length of each Bullet Point is 200 characters. This way, skimmers with short attention spans can read all the way to the last bullet and understand all the special features about your product. You can reserve additional information for the next section.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

In this section, you have 2,000 characters to play with. Now, you’re talking! Here’s your chance to go in deep discourse about your product’s features and benefits.

Grab the opportunity to showcase your brand’s bragging rights. Also, take advantage of the format options available only to this section, such as paragraphs, bold fonts, bullet points, and emojis.

AMAZON ENHANCED BRAND CONTENT

Also known as A+ Page, the EBC section is a perk exclusively available to brands registered with Amazon’s Brand Registry.

It’s an expanded version of the Product Description. On an EBC page, you can add images and support them with text content. Amazon offers a host of layout options, including sidebars and comparison graphs.

2. Put Emphasis On Generating Reviews

Never underestimate the power of reviews on the Amazon platform. This is a community of active buyers, mostly Prime members who visit the site to purchase, not to window shop. And they take feedback seriously. Thus, your review profile can be a deal maker or breaker.

This is why a review-building campaign is a wise investment and smart Amazon online marketing strategy for a seller. More on that in the Email Marketing portion below.

AVERAGE STAR RATING

Before Amazon shoppers even get to land on your product page, they can view your listing on the search results, albeit in truncated form.
One of the things they check is your average star rating, which is based on the number of reviews your product received and the number of stars assigned by each reviewer.

Let’s put this in perspective: A listing with 200 reviews all marked 5-stars is more attractive than one with 2,000 reviews averaging 3-stars. And because Amazon shows the average star rating in the search results, buyers are more likely to click your thumbnail when this number is good.

MOST POPULAR REVIEWS SECTION

While the Reviews section offers buyers a dropdown menu of Top (Most Popular) and Most Recent options, Most Popular is the default setting.

Why? Because these reviews are the voice of the people. Among all the feedback left for a product, they have been voted as Most Helpful (it’s one of the two buttons below each review, which any shopper can click).

Check your reviews often, no less than 3 days a week. If you notice any review below 4-stars, take action immediately before it makes its way to the top.

Email your customer and offer a replacement, but be careful not to request for their feedback to be changed. Most Amazon buyers would, even without being asked.

MOST RECENT CUSTOMER REVIEWS

Some Amazon shoppers prefer to know how a product is currently performing, particularly if it (not necessarily your brand, but in general) has recently been figured in the news in a negative light.

Another reason why you should check your product reviews frequently and address negative feedback asap.

3. Answer The Q&A Section

On top of the Reviews is the Q&A section. It doesn’t appear in your seller profile, nor does it affect your search ranking.

In fact, the main reason for its existence is to provide a venue for shoppers to gain more insight on a product, from the community, before a purchase. Nonetheless, actively participating in the discourse has its own rewards.

WHY SHOULD YOU BE ACTIVE IN THE Q&A SECTION?

First, it’s a valuable Amazon digital marketing opportunity to convince on-the-fence buyers to take the plunge.

Second, it establishes seller credibility, since Amazon publishes the name of every person who provides an answer to any question, and yours would appear with a “SELLER” suffix.

Third, and most importantly, if you don’t answer, someone else will, and their response may not be accurate or beneficial to you.

4. Perform A Competitor Analysis

Any business immensely benefits from studying the competitive landscape of their niche. Selling on Amazon is no different. Understanding what makes bestsellers such can guide you towards the same path.

Meanwhile, knowing their weaknesses gives you the opening to fill in the gap, provides insights on the type of new products to launch, and establishes benchmarks for your ad campaigns.

Competitor analysis involves identifying your primary, secondary and tertiary competitors, and then an in-depth investigation on the cogs that make their wheels turn efficiently. Check this article for a comprehensive discussion on this topic.

5. Always Maintain A Positive Shipping Performance

Efficient and timely shipping of your products is as important to your customers as the quality of the product itself. So, you must have a well-organized system in place if you’re handling fulfillment yourself. In Amazon parlance, this is known as Fulfilled By Merchant (FBM).

A better way to do it is to leave this aspect to the able hands of Amazon by opting for Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA). For a minimal fee, the company will take care of your storage and shipping.

With their vast network of warehouses and delivery channels, you can be assured of almost zero delays and mishaps. As a bonus, your products become Prime eligible.

6. Monitor Your Seller Rating

Not to be confused with Seller Feedback, which is a customer’s review on a product, Seller Rating is the grade Amazon gives you as a seller.

Ranging from 0 to 100, it is based on your performance on several metrics: shipping time, order cancellations, chargebacks on credit card payments, response time to customer inquiries, reviews, and A to Z claims.

This assessment covers 365 days, so use the time to pull up your metrics if you observe any of them dwindling.

Additionally, strive to consistently perform your best in these aspects so you can earn as much as 10 bonus points per order, which will help you achieve a 100% Seller Rating.

7. Launch A Lightning Deal Once In A While

As the name suggests, this Amazon online marketing campaign is a short-lived and time-sensitive promotion wherein a limited number of units of a product is offered at a discount.

These deals are featured on Amazon’s Today’s Deals and Prime Day (exclusive to Prime members) pages.

Lightning Deals boost not only your sales but also your listing’s search ranking. Yes, really. That’s because Amazon takes into account a product’s sales velocity, in addition to its sales history, when determining its rank. And, of course, higher sales translate to increased reviews.

8. Invest In Email Marketing

Despite its restrictive guidelines on seller-to-buyer communication on the platform, Amazon supports the use of third-party apps for email marketing. A host of options is available on the market, many of which seamlessly integrate with your Seller account.

You can use them to program automated responses to your customers at every step of their order cycle, with triggers like payment, ship-out date, and delivery.

But beyond notifying your buyers on the status of their order, you can do much more with an efficient email marketing strategy to grow your business, such as product launches and seasonal promotions.

Why Use Email for Marketing on Amazon?

Among all marketing forms, email provides the highest ROI. In the US, more than 90% of adults say that they like receiving promotional emails from businesses they’re already patronizing. Surprisingly, a majority of them belong to the higher end of the economic spectrum.

According to 80% of small and medium US retailers, email marketing is the best channel to acquire new customers and to maintain existing ones. Even compared to social media, email figures higher conversion and engagement rates.

9. Schedule Limited-Time Promotions

Like Lightning Deals, these are short-lived but high-impact campaigns. You can offer your products at a hefty discount, bundle them for a lower price, or even give some away as a bonus. The ideal window for this type of promo is 3 days to one week.

Why Use Limited-Time Promotions?

Again, like Lightning Deals, these Amazon digital marketing campaigns bump up your sales and your listing’s search ranking. They’re also a clever way to launch a product and to get rid of slow-moving inventory.

10. Revamp Your Product Packaging

The main role of your items’ packaging is to safeguard the contents in transit. Beyond that, it is the face your customers associate with your brand, in the absence of a brick-and-mortar store with friendly salespersons behind the counter.

Hence, it wouldn’t be overreaching to commission a professional graphic designer to create your logo. Research on the psychology of color and use the best one that represents your product.

Keep the text simple but clear. Add images that showcase the unique features and demonstrate the benefits. Include illustrations on how to use it.

Why Use Product Packaging for Marketing?

Simply put, it’s a worthy investment of your time, money, and effort in return for customer retention. Well-designed packaging is not only attractive but also durable and easy to open. These thoughtful details stay in a customer’s mind. Include it in the images of your product page as well to establish your brand identity.

But don’t stop there. In your packaging, you can insert brochures with your social media handles, a product line catalog, and a note requesting a review. Also, adding your company’s contact information assures customers of your availability for assistance even outside of Amazon. A thank you card adds a personal touch, too.

11. Create A Social Media Marketing Strategy

Research the demographics of your target market and create your customer profile based on this information. Then, find out the social media channels where they are most active and promote your Amazon products there.

Why Use Social Media?

There are various types of content you can post on social media that you can’t on Amazon, such as videos and testimonials.

These platforms are also sources of organic traffic that you can redirect to your product page using a sales funnel. And you can chat directly with your customers there, sometimes in real-time.

12. Buy Sponsored Product Ads

These are one type of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads that Amazon offers exclusively to its sellers, and displayed on search results and product pages. The Extended Ad Network Beta version shows the ads on external websites as well to retarget shoppers who viewed product pages but did not purchase.

Sponsored Product Ads are keyword-based and can reward you with a higher market share because they also generate organic traffic.

Your Amazon online marketing campaigns will be more profitable if you conduct the right keyword research and optimize frequently. For more tips, check out our blog post on leveraging Amazon PPC ads.

13. Partner With Influencers

Influencers are individuals who are considered authorities in their fields. They may be celebrities, members of the academe, or entrepreneurs.

What they have in common is a strong social media presence, which they wield to influence buying behavior within their circle. You can request for their endorsement, though it comes with a fee.

To get more bang for your buck, choose niche micro-influencers with 1,000-10,000 followers. Their fees are more affordable than those with millions of followers, and their tribes are also more engaged.

Chances are, most of them fall under your customer profile’s demographic.

14. Create Your Own Website

Don’t overlook the importance of having your own website even if you already have an Amazon storefront carrying multiple products. It can help drive organic traffic to your product pages when optimized well for search engines.

Also, you can carry out marketing campaigns on a website, something that Amazon won’t allow you to like adding a blog, collecting customers’ email addresses through a lead magnet, and integrating your social media accounts.

15. Use Affiliate Marketing On Amazon Products

Affiliate marketing is similar to partnering with influencers in the sense that you’ll be approaching other people to promote your products on their websites, blogs, and social media accounts. The difference is that it can be anybody, including your family, friends, and neighbors.

Why? Because affiliates are paid on a commission basis. This means that you don’t shell out money until someone buys your product from a link you provided, which they posted on their channel.

16. Try Direct Marketing

Traditional marketing methods can contribute to your business growth by providing you with a captured market of loyal customers. Email, social media, and website marketing fall under this umbrella.

But there are more avenues you can explore to promote your products, such as other online marketplaces like eBay, third-party websites, and yes, even physical stores.

17. Partner With An Agency That Knows Marketing On Amazon

A retail giant like Amazon spawns third-party providers offering services that help sellers succeed. From SEO experts and professional product photographers to inventory management apps and product research tools, you won’t run out of extra hands to prop up your business.

The same goes with Amazon online marketing. However, you should vet several candidates before hiring an agency to ensure you get the kind of service your business requires.

Remember that Amazon is a unique animal, so marketing tactics that work elsewhere might not be effective there.

Desired Outcome

Every Amazon seller’s business objective is different, and their comfort level with Amazon digital marketing strategies vary as well. For this reason, the results they achieve also differ broadly.

You will notice that the 17 strategies outlined above cover a wide range of options. All are actionable and effective, but you must discover what works for your unique profile, both as a seller and as a person.

And once you find your sweet spot, you can replicate the process, improve on it, and scale it as your business grows. Or, when you’re already comfortable and confident, you could experiment with new marketing strategies.

Meantime, this list is a very good place to start. Some are actually integral to your Amazon business, like the section on optimizing your product pages. It is the first step towards your success path on the platform.

Final Thoughts

Marketing on Amazon is time-consuming and entails financial investment. However, just like with any business, it is a critical part of your success.

Doing your due diligence in executing a well-planned Amazon digital marketing strategy is guaranteed to pay off. In no time, you’ll be among the bestsellers that you now admire and aim to replicate.

Need help to start marketing on Amazon? Partner with Olifant Digital to grow your sales on Amazon without compromise – click here to get a free marketing plan!