Last year, small businesses that use Amazon Ads saw 25% of their sales attributed to advertising on average.1 If you’re looking to build your brand on Amazon to drive sales, Amazon Ads solutions can help you tell your story, to the right audiences, at the right times. Your brand, our audiences.
Why brand building matters for SMBs
No brand simply launches into the world as a household name with a rush of orders. This is where brand building comes in. Brand building can help introduce your business—however big or small—to an audience and ensure that it stays top of mind with potential customers on their shopping journeys.
Brand building involves meeting your intended audience at scale across a wide variety of promotional channels, but it is more than just a megaphone moment for your brand. When done well, brand building can help build trust and create truly meaningful connections with customers that can enhance, rather than disrupt, their shopping experience.
1. Amazon internal data, UK advertisers using Amazon Ads including Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and/or Sponsored Display with ad spend <$1MM, January – December 2022. Results are based on past observations and not indicative of future performance.
You’re probably already sending your customers newsletters or sharing messages with them through social media around key moments—such as when you launch a new product or announce a promotion. Having this regular drum beat of communication across more than one touchpoint, including through advertising, can lead to customer loyalty and retention—the holy grail every SMB is striving towards.
How Amazon Ads can help with brand building
When German sports nutrition company foodspring wanted to build their brand and reach new audiences, they turned to Amazon Ads. “It was a no-brainer launching our products on Amazon. You want to be present where your customers are. Amazon Ads helps give you the increased visibility to do that,” said Aakriti Malhotra, senior marketplace manager at foodspring.
Advertising campaigns are seven times more impactful among a receptive audience, according to recent research2. Amazon’s audiences are already choosing to spend their time on Amazon, which means brands like foodspring can better reach and connect with these audiences in a more relevant way.
Creating an Amazon Store was one of the ways foodspring created meaningful connections with Amazon shoppers to help drive sales. A Store gave the foodspring team a dedicated destination to share richer content about their brand beyond product descriptions, such as recipe ideas and inspiration for fitness fans.
2. Kantar Media Reactions study, global, 2022
Why inspiration is an important component of brand building
Shoppers regularly browse the Amazon site for inspiration on what to purchase, which is particularly beneficial for smaller brands that aren’t household names just yet. In the UK, 44% of surveyed shoppers said they visit online stores for inspiration on what to purchase3.
Advertising helps with this discovery too. Small and medium businesses in the UK, for example, saw 102% more sales, on average, within 20 weeks of launching sponsored ads in their home country4. Get started with Sponsored Products to help shoppers find your products quickly by creating ads that appear in related shopping results and on product pages. From here, you can take your brand building to the next level with Sponsored Brands.
Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands both played an important role in foodspring’s strategy. With Sponsored Brands, customers get to discover your brand via creative ads that can appear prominently in Amazon shopping results. “Amazon [Ads] is not just for big sellers. With Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display, the opportunities to help you grow are endless. There are great knowledge tools and features that will help guide you to achieve your goals,” said Malhotra.
Getting started with Amazon Ads
The first step in building a brand presence on Amazon is to give your brand a dedicated home. Think of Stores as a way of creating your very own digital shop window—for free. With Stores, you can create a self-serve, always-on destination that tells your brand story and provides a place for shoppers to learn more about your brand and products.
Make your Store as engaging as possible by using rich and visually-exciting content, such as video and shoppable images. You can also consider creating multiple sub-pages on your Store to better showcase deals, seasonal items, new arrivals, and best-sellers.
Now think of the most beautifully curated shop window display in a boutique. Does it stay the same forever? No, it will get refreshed and updated, just as your Amazon Store should. Give your Store regular makeovers to keep it up-to-date with the latest product information. This isn’t just a best practice recommendation—it can help deliver real results. On average, Stores updated within the past 90 days have 11% more repeat visitors and 13% higher attributed sales per visitor5.
If you’re looking to generate further virtual buzz outside your shop window, Amazon Ads solutions, such as Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, can help. Small businesses gained 18% more customers, on average, after using Amazon Ads for 8 weeks6. Get started with Amazon Ads now and try the products for yourself.
Explore the Amazon Ads SMB hub for everything you need to know about our advertising solutions.
3. Sources of Inspiration for New Products, Global Consumer Survey 2022, Statista, United Kingdom, 2022
4. Amazon internal data, UK, Feb 2020 – Feb 2023. SMBs are domestic sellers with maximum Amazon TTM ad spend < $150k over the past 24 months. Considered SMBs were active with SA for at least 10 weeks in the study period. Results are based on past observations and are not indicative of future results.
5. Amazon internal data, WW, April 30, 2022. Results may vary. Amazon Advertising does not guarantee similar results for advertisers in other marketplaces.
6. Amazon internal data, UK advertisers using Amazon Ads including Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and/or Sponsored Display, January – December 2022. Aggregated average results are based on past observations and not indicative of future performance.
