#077: This Amazon Ads Campaigns Sold 1,700+ Books
Oct 19, 2024Read Time: 3 Minutes
Amazon Ads is something I've had a love/hate relationship with since we started using them back in 2020.
I love them because they can drive a lot of sales.
I've hated them at times because they weren't working, were too expensive, or I just couldn't get my head around all the data.
I've tested a bunch of different strategies, tactics and account structures with Amazon Ads over the years.
Some have worked, but most have flopped.
And that's a good thing in my eyes.
Why?
Because when something doesn't work, I know I don't need to do it again.
What I have seen though is that what worked 12, 18, 24 months ago won't necessarily work today.
But not always...
There has been one constant I've seen working from Day 1 with Amazon Ads.
And that one thing is...
Brand Protection Campaigns.
Now, before we dive into how to use these, I have one caveat to share...
Brand Protection Campaigns won't work too well if:
→ You're a brand new author
→ You released your first book(s) within the past 1-3 months
→ You're not running Facebook Ads (see below)
→ You're not consistently selling 10+ books per day
Bottom line... you need significant traffic and a good amount of awareness of your pen name and/or books for Brand Protection Campaigns to be effective.
This is why Facebook Ads work so well in conjunction with Amazon Ads.
Many readers will see your Facebook Ad, but not click on it.
Instead, they'll take a mental note of your pen name, head on over to Amazon and search for your pen name right there.
This is when you need your Brand Protection Campaigns to kick in; you'll appear right at the top of the search results as an organic placement and as an Amazon Ad placement.
How Brand Protection Campaigns Work
Quite simply, when someone comes to Amazon and searches for your pen name, series name, book title (or any relevant word related to your books or author brand), your books can appear at the top of the search results, or part-way down the search results (depending on your bids).
The other way Brand Protection Campaigns work is by plastering your book product pages with your own books in the product carousels.
There are 101 ways for readers to escape from your book product page on Amazon.
By targeting your own books, you'll make sure you're taking up as much real estate on your book product pages as possible.
Which Keywords To Target
As I touched on earlier, the keywords to target are:
→ Pen Name
→ Series Titles
→ Book Titles*
*The one thing to note about book titles is that if your book has the same title as one or more other books (by other authors), then your Ads may show up when someone is searching for these other books. If your book titles are very unique, then, by all means, target them as keywords.
I would recommend putting all these keywords into one campaign and targeting them as Phrase Match Keywords to pick up relevant (but not too broad) searches from readers.
When targeting your own ASINs, put these into a separate campaign than your brand keywords.
And with both types of targeting (keywords and ASINs) bid aggressively/high.
Chances are, because you are highly relevant to your own keywords/ASINs, Amazon will lower your cost-per-clicks way below your bids.
For example, with our brand protection campaigns, we're bidding $0.70 - $0.80, but paying, on average, less than $0.45 per click.
Wrapping Up
As I alluded to earlier, Brand Protection Campaigns have been the one constant in our Amazon Ads strategy since I first discovered them back in late 2020.
Whilst the numbers may be small compared to our overall sales, the Brand Protection Campaigns have been responsible for more than 1,700 sales and 200,000+ page reads over the past 9 months alone.
Their cost-per-sale (i.e. how much it costs us to generate a sale/borrow) for these campaigns is around $2.00 and their conversion rate is around 25%.
Brand Protection Campaigns aren't the only Amazon Ads campaigns to run (despite how profitable they are) because you're only reaching a warm audience (i.e. readers who are already aware of you).
Amazon Ads has far more potential than this.
The bulk of your Amazon Ads spend should be spent on reaching a cold audience (i.e. readers who aren't aware of you and your books).
The Brand Protection Campaigns do exactly what they say on the tin; they protect your author brand by making sure if a reader searches for you specifically, you're showing up front and center, instead of another author who is targeting your brand keywords.
Have fun with these and thank you for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
To Your Success
– Matt
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