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How to Use Automation to Scale Amazon Sponsored Display Ads: A Guide for Brands and Agencies

Amazon Sponsored Display advertising offers significant opportunities for brands to connect with high-intent, high-value audiences beyond traditional digital channels. This innovative format unlocks high-value targeting precision across the Amazon store and thousands of external sites and apps, establishing it as a critical component of modern multichannel marketing strategies.

However, as the landscape of advertising channels continues to expand, many brands and agencies are overwhelmed by the demands of managing an ever-growing and diverse portfolio. To effectively harness the power of Amazon Sponsored Display, brands must adopt scalable, automation-driven strategies. This approach not only broadens reach but also streamlines operations, fostering sustainable growth and innovation without compromising engagement quality or overloading teams.

In this article, we will dive into the benefits of Amazon Sponsored Display advertising, offering strategic approaches for brands and agencies aiming to scale their campaigns within this channel. Additionally, we will explore how a Digital Advertising Operating System (DAOS) empowers brands to innovate and scale intelligently and efficiently across new advertising channels.

Benefits of Amazon Sponsored Display Ads for Brands

Amazon Sponsored Display Ads offer a dynamic advertising solution that taps into Amazon's extensive data on user shopping activities, streaming preferences, and browsing habits. By targeting potential customers at various stages of their buying journey, these ads ensure that your message reaches those most likely to be interested in specific products or services.

Key Advantages of Amazon Sponsored Display Ads

  • Increased Visibility: Sponsored Display ads enable brands to feature prominently not only on Amazon’s product detail pages but also across a vast network of external sites. This broad exposure significantly boosts visibility beyond typical online shopping environments, reaching the 43% of Amazon shoppers influenced by ads they encounter off Amazon.
  • Targeted Reach: Leveraging Amazon’s rich customer data, these ads offer precise targeting options based on past user activities, interests, lifestyle, demographics, and location. This ensures that ads are shown to users most likely to engage, optimizing the impact of each ad dollar spent.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: With options for CPC and vCPM pricing, advertisers can flexibly manage their budgets to match specific engagement goals.
  • Performance Optimization: Sponsored Display Ads are automatically optimized to meet campaign objectives, whether aiming to maximize reach or drive specific actions like page visits.

While the benefits of Amazon Sponsored Display Ads are clear, effectively scaling these campaigns requires a strategic approach to automation.

Approach to Scaling Amazon Sponsored Display Ads with Automation

Entering new advertising channels like Amazon Sponsored Display introduces operational complexities due to increased data requirements, compliance demands, and the need to master unique platform nuances within an existing multichannel strategy. While 86% of brands recognize the essential role of automation, many continue to grapple with its implementation. At Fluency, we recommend focusing on three key pillars to prepare your advertising operations for automation readiness:

1). Data Organization: Evaluate how data from the customer journey is collected and integrated into their advertising strategies. Automating this process optimizes advertising efforts across platforms. Key considerations should include:

  • How is data currently being collected and formatted?
  • What unique attributes does our first-party data possess?
  • How complete and up-to-date is our data?

2). Process Automation Assessment: Identify processes within your digital advertising operations that are time-sensitive or error-prone. Common areas such as budgeting, compliance management, reporting, and promotional adjustments are ripe for automation. Essential questions to ask:

  • Where are we losing time in our current execution?
  • What compliance challenges do we face?
  • How is budgeting and pacing managed currently?

3). Platform Optimization: Evaluate all existing ad execution systems to identify outdated or inefficient technologies. Opt for platforms that consolidate functionalities into a unified, multichannel view to streamline operations. Key questions to consider:

  • Where do we have "technical debt" that is hindering advertising efficiency?
  • How many platforms do our teams use on a daily and weekly basis?
  • How are we integrating, managing, and governing AI within our platforms?

Selecting a Technology Partner 

After assessing your advertising operations and identifying opportunities for automation, the next critical step is selecting a technology partner. It’s essential to choose a partner that not only integrates seamlessly with your existing tech stack but also proactively tailors automation solutions to meet your specific needs. In the next section, we will explore how leveraging the right automation technology not only streamlines operations but also significantly enhances scalability across your multichannel portfolios.

Leveraging a Digital Advertising Operating System to Automate and Scale Advertising

The integration of automation into digital advertising operations transcends basic campaign management, fostering a seamless ecosystem where data, creativity, and execution intersect. This enables advertisers to focus on strategy, innovation, and exploring new channels. For brands and agencies planning to effectively scale into Amazon Advertising or other platforms, a Digital Advertising Operating System (DAOS) is essential. By automating labor-intensive tasks such as account creation, budget allocation, reporting, and performance optimizations, a DAOS significantly reduces manual effort, maximizing efficiency and fostering innovation.

Key Benefits of Implementing a Digital Advertising Operating System

Implementing a DAOS offers numerous benefits that streamline and enhance advertising operations:

  • Automated Workstreams: Automating processes like bulk campaign adjustments and dynamic content generation ensures that campaigns are both agile and accurate.
  • Activation of Structured Data: Utilizing structured data, a DAOS enables precise targeting and personalization at scale, increasing the relevance and effectiveness of campaigns across media platforms.
  • Governance Around AI: With AI becoming increasingly integral to digital advertising management, it is essential to ensure its ethical application and compliance with regulations. A DAOS provides robust governance, aligning AI applications with business objectives and ensuring consistency across all advertising efforts.

Strategic Implementation of a Digital Advertising Operating System at Fluency

Implementing a DAOS at Fluency involves more than technical integration; it includes strategic alignment with a brand’s business goals and advertising objectives. This ensures that advertising operations are not only efficient but also optimally positioned to capitalize on emerging opportunities on platforms like Amazon. By leveraging Fluency’s DAOS, brands and agencies can transform their advertising operations into streamlined, data-driven powerhouses, delivering personalized, impactful ads at scale. An exemplary brand that successfully scaled its Amazon advertising strategy using Fluency’s DAOS is Dealer.com, whose success story we detailed in one of our latest articles.

Harnessing Automation for Future Advertising Success

Throughout this article, we've showcased the significant impact of Amazon Sponsored Display Ads, highlighting their effectiveness in reaching high-intent audiences. By preparing for automation readiness and partnering with a Digital Advertising Operating System like Fluency, brands can strategically employ automation to successfully scale their Amazon Sponsored Display advertising, along with any other channels included in their portfolio. We invite you to discover how Fluency can customize an automation strategy to meet your specific needs. Reach out today!