Remember the old Staples “Easy” button? I can hear “That was easy” ringing in my ears as I write this – sort of like that old song you can’t get out of your head.
You’ve probably guessed then that “easy” is the topic of this month’s blog – specifically, how utterly easy the advertising process can be today for any type of business.
Whether you’re a start-up entrepreneur and marketing neophyte, or an established business that has depended largely on word-of-mouth or other vehicles for getting your name out there, engaging with advertising opportunities today can be effortless.
Television advertising used to have a reputation for complexity. But today, MVPDs we work with are making it easier for any kind of client.
To illustrate my point, however, I want to cite a company familiar to all of you – though possibly not so much yet in terms of its role in advertising.
Did you know that Amazon is the 3rd largest digital advertising platform in the country by revenue?
Despite being the newest kid on the advertising block in comparison to Google and Meta, Amazon in 2023 commanded a 12.5% US digital ad market share vs. Meta’s 21.1% and Google’s 26.8%, per various sources. And Amazon is projected to close the gap dramatically by 2026, per eMarketer forecasts, when its US share is projected to reach 17.3% vs. Meta’s 20.9% and Google’s 23.9%.
Adding Amazon’s unrivaled e-commerce capabilities and insights makes it an even more formidable player on the global marketing landscape.
Amazon’s even becoming more like “television” itself: Not only is it a supermarket of entertainment content; the company’s striking deals to offer more NFL games, and, with its Brian Williams-hosted Election Night special, it’s even dipping its toes into live news.
Amazon has evolved into what, in terms of marketing, is arguably now a one-stop-shopping destination: Video, Audio, Gaming and of course Shopping itself. Its deep capabilities and expertise in e-commerce and its ubiquitous customer touchpoints – across not only shopping but, increasingly, viewing -- can be leveraged to marketers’ great advantage.
Or, to put it another way, sort of like the Thanos character of the Marvel superhero movies, Amazon is inevitable.
But, for some marketers, navigating Amazon can be intimidating.
For example, where do marketers start in terms of deciding how to advertise on Amazon? Would it be Prime Video? Or the shopping site? Or the Fire Stick?
It can seem complicated, requiring special software, and, unlike many other digital ad platforms, far from a one-click process.
Put another way, Amazon’s very strengths – its multiplicity of marketing formats and offerings – can also be its key limitation… namely its sometimes-daunting complexity.
TV and radio advertising, display advertising, search ads… these are formats and concepts marketers can get their arms around relatively easily.
But Amazon’s offerings are uniquely multilayered. Let’s look at a few examples.
Not surprisingly, Amazon leverages its deep tech expertise to make life easier for marketers. Amazon DSP (for demand-side-platform) allows advertisers to expand reach beyond its primary Ad Console onto both on-Amazon and offsite placements -- enabling advertisers to drive traffic not only to their Amazon pages, but to their direct-to-consumer websites.
But it may be Amazon’s special attention to specific product categories that is really distinguishing the company.
More than 104 million people have created an Amazon Garage Account and loaded over 228 million vehicles into the platform, per dealer industry site dealereprocess.com -- essentially making Amazon the world’s largest parts store. Advertisers can review vehicle data including the age, make, and model, as well as users’ shopping habits. The right partner can be the key to turning the ignition that enables marketers to take all these resources for a test drive.
Buying a car is a pretty major decision for most families, but did you know Amazon can partner with families on an even bigger life event? Amazon’s baby-registry offering can leverage personal information to display ads for products, services, and features that might be of interest – all while respecting the information provider by not identifying names or email addresses. The default-visibility setting for a baby registry is public, and the registry appears on parenting and pregnancy websites like The Bump, What to Expect, and Baby Center. And, tying it all back to the automobile-purchasing life event, Amazon can include registrants in an audience grouping that's more likely to be in the market for a new car than the general population.
And while we’re discussing major life events, did you know also that colleges and prospective students can find each other thanks to Amazon data – whether its students’ purchases of books or study materials relative to the SAT, ACT or other major tests?
Of course, as the digital marketing sector has shifted back and forth on the use of cookies, first-party data – not surprisingly, a particular strength for the world’s primary digital retailer -- has moved to the forefront among the most useful targeting tools.
So, Amazon’s filled with highly effective ad products, but what is the best mix depending on the marketer’s product or objectives – and how do you find that mix?
Proficiency with Google advertising may not translate so easily to Amazon’s platforms. Even marketers experienced with Amazon may not master the ins and outs to using all these ad products. At its most basic level, how best to ensure your product gets maximum exposure?
It may not be as easy as you may think.
We increasingly work with clients to leverage Amazon’s capabilities in advertising across its breadth of products and platforms. And it has enabled us to leverage not only video but audio platforms on clients’ behalf; for example, we can help produce and insert ads within podcasts and Spotify music… we can even layer in gaming with Amazon’s Twitch; this opens new worlds for marketers to reach consumers across demographics.
I’ve attempted here to provide just a glimpse of the wealth of opportunities Amazon can provide marketers, but there’s so much more. It might be a bit overwhelming at first for some marketers new to the depth of Amazon’s offerings; our role is to make it easy for them.
Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.
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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.org/MyersBizNet.