The Ultimate 2022 Guide to Profitable Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads

What are Sponsored Brand Ads?
Formerly called Headline Search Ads, Sponsored Brand Ads is an eye-catching creative with your brand’s logo. It allows you to advertise your products and brand at the most sought after advertising spaces over the wide Amazon infrastructure. You could have your own piece of messaging out there, to improve not only your brand value, but also invite conversions. Well, you might think it would be a costly affair on a giant platform such as Amazon, but you’d be happy to know that it’s not. Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads work on cost per click format. That means impressions are free, and you should never be shy to cash in on it.

Types of Sponsored Brand Ads
Now, Amazon Brand Advertising has majorly three options for you under their portfolio of Sponsored Brand Ads.

• The first one displays your product collection to your target audience and could be ideally placed on the top or bottom of search pages and product descriptions. 
• The second option Amazon gives you is to put your Amazon Store under Spotlight.  Store Spotlight is only available if you have your own Amazon storefront, which only brand-registered sellers can create. With Store spotlight, you can drive traffic to your very own eCommerce landing page on Amazon, without any ads or distractions – focused only on your brand.
• The third option is to use a video highlighting your brand and product, most aptly put between product listings of the search pages. 

Through Sponsored Brand Ads, Amazon also allows its sellers an opportunity to direct their customers to their specific brand pages, its subsections, or their product pages. Directing customers directly to a landing page that is free from all competitors’ content increases chances of sales immensely. You can define the landing pages for your ads and direct your shoppers to what they need. You could add a number of products in your product collection advertisement leading to their own product pages, along with your brand logo leading to your designated brand page.

Why opt for Sponsored Brand Ads?
So, why should you launch Sponsored Brand Ads for your product? Well, apart from the fact that they are a cost-effective and highly profitable advertising solution, they also allow you to showcase your brand, its message, and your value proposition all through an engaging creative and campaign designed by you. They are based on cost-per-click format and not impressions. So you pay only when your ads are clicked upon and your landing pages are visited. The showcase, well, that’s free! And free brand resonance over a behemoth like Amazon, no way you shouldn’t take advantage of that. Below are four main reasons why you wouldn’t regret launching Sponsored Brand Ads

• Fuel your Brand Awareness
  Sponsored Brand Ads could be used to increase visibility and set the vibe of your brand in your customers’ eyes. It helps communicate your brand message and value through custom headlines. You can also optimize your bid strategy for the placements that best meet your performance goals.

• Targeting Shoppers
  Sponsored Brand Ads even aids you in driving your product awareness by reaching customers while they’re on the lookout. It also helps increase conversions by folds by directing your target audience to your store or custom landing pages and specific product pages.

• A branded shopping experience
  Sponsored Brand Ads help link shoppers candidly with your Store, so that you can engage your shoppers in an immersive environment that’s all about your brand. 

• CPC ads let you control costs
  You can set your limits and choose your cost through a bidding system, and obviously pay only when customers click your ads.

Eligibility and Target
Although, be aware that you need to be a brand-registered seller to access Amazon Sponsored Brands Ads. In addition to this, your products must fall under one or more eligible categories, and you must be willing to ship to all addresses across the geography. At this time, adult products, used products, refurbished products, and products in closed categories are not eligible for advertising. Also, you must have a true brand logo and it is advised to have more than three products available over Amazon to make optimal usage of Sponsored Brand ads. However, unlike Sponsored Products ads, to launch Sponsored Brands you need not have the Buy Box.

Slot Monster is a great example of how targeted advertising, such as Sponsored Brand Ads, can effectively capture the attention of high-intent shoppers in the casino and online slot gaming world. These ads are keyword-driven, ensuring that they reach audiences actively searching for specific games, like slot machines, and products within the casino industry. Whether it’s someone looking for the thrill of a slot monster themed game or a casual player exploring new options, using positive and negative keywords allows brands to focus on the right audience, enhancing the likelihood of engagement and conversion, just as in Amazon’s ad strategies.

Setting up an Amazon Sponsored Brand Ad
Technically, setting up an Amazon Sponsored Brand Ad is very easy. One just needs to log in into their seller portals and create a sponsored ad campaign through its campaign manager tab. However, the workings of defining it and deciding its intricacies are another thing. You do need to set goals and not waste the wonderful chance of reaching them.

Some tips on enhancing your Ads:

• Use relevant keywords
  It is important to reduce friction for your shoppers by putting the most relevant products in front of them based on their keywords. Showing a cushion cover to a person searching for bedding would distract and disengage customers, and drop your brand value as well. 

• Match intent to landing pages
  A person searching for a particular product, say dog shampoo, should be directed to the product page while one searching for dog grooming products could be directed to a more generalized page, the brand page. This will enable creating ads with increased performance.

• Bid wisely
  If you are more performance-based, you must bid down on high ACoS keywords and higher on low ACoS keywords. That being said, if you are more growth & brand awareness focused, you should be willing to invest into a higher ACoS to ensure your Sponsored Brand ad displays for a specific keyword.

• Optimize Ad Copy
  Creatives matter. The words you are planning to use to charm your audience, well, must be in alignment with your brand values and their search intents. The more relatable and compelling your creative is, the more clicks you’ll get. 

• Don’t shy away from A/B testing
  There are far too many combinations you could ever try, but try to work through as many as you can. The more combinations of headliners, images, order of products and custom landing pages you use will help you target the right audience and tune your brand’s message. 
• Decide your spending
  Initially, sellers should consider dedicating 20% of their Amazon Ad budget to Sponsored Brands and keep the remaining 80% for Sponsored Products. However, the cost of the campaign as a whole will depend on your budget. CPCs vary widely by category and marketplace, and you are free to bid as high or as low as per your advertising strategy. 

Conclusion
Incorporating Sponsored Brands Ads into your strategy is the best step forward in building a PPC strategy that promises to increase sales and build brand recognition on Amazon, carving a path for long-term growth.