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In 2018, Amazon claimed almost 50% of all online transactions on Thanksgiving. And, on Black Friday, it earned almost 60% of online sales. So, if your brand isn’t advertising its products on the channel, it’s missing out on a major opportunity during the holidays. Continue reading for a holiday season Amazon Advertising checklist designed to help brands make the most of this time of year.

Prepare Before the Holiday Season 

As Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season approaches, take time to decide on core products to support through advertising. Then, ensure inventory levels are sufficient to handle the expected increase in sales. This window of time is important to prepare and restock as needed. 

Choose Your Campaign Types 

Before getting started, it’s important for brands to understand the levers to pull to make the greatest impact. Amazon search advertising increases a brand's discoverability. These advertisements either display in the search results or on product detail pages of similar products. On the other hand, Amazon programmatic advertising (DSP) is used to reach shoppers across the entire funnel. It also allows advertisers to reach both on- and off-Amazon shoppers.

Search advertising captures a shopper’s intent and consumer demand, while programmatic advertising targets consumers based on behaviors. We recommend DSP to anyone already using Amazon search advertising as a way to maximize their efforts. A healthy mix of both search and programmatic advertising, in our experience, yields the best results.

Test Advertising Plans Beforehand 

Thanksgiving is usually considered the beginning of the holiday season. We recommend using this as a benchmark and deadline to have your campaigns created, tested, and optimized. Regardless of when you decide to launch, be sure to give yourself 30 days to complete this phase of preparation. When running tests, remember to test only one element at a time. This is important to create clean data and make the best decisions.

Focus on Bidding and Budgets 

Once your campaigns are live, it’s critical to make sure your cost-per-click (CPC) bids, as well as campaign budgets, are aligned. Also, be sure to monitor them on a regular basis to prevent any budgets from maxing out too quickly. Otherwise, you’re running the risk of high-performing campaigns turning off early.

Ensuring your brand is ready for the holiday season requires preparation and specific knowledge. Use this checklist to make the most of this time and your brand’s advertising investments. 

If your brand could use support from a strategic partner during the holidays or any time of the year, schedule a free consultation. As always, we’re here to answer any questions.