Persuading new customers to buy from you is a great place to start. Today we’ll talk about the simplest things you can do to promote and advertise your products.
When inventory isn’t moving, or when your margin allows for it, experiment with Amazon’s Promotions.
You can find these in Seller Central in the menu at the top of the screen.
Available promotions include: Free Shipping, Money Off and Buy One Get One.
When creating a new promotion, start slowly and build to your maximum discount. If you’re happy with the sales that result from a small price decrease, there’s no need to press on and offer free shipping as well. You can even create promotions that pair a best-selling item with a slower-seller.
Timing is Everything
In real estate, the saying goes, “location, location, location.” When selling on Amazon, for many products the saying may well be “timing, timing, timing.”
For the niche items in your inventory (holiday decorations, winter clothing, some sporting goods, seasonal foods), work hard to find the best window to maximize sales. Follow the news and experiment with pricing and promotions to see when your sales start to grow.
Condition Notes
When listing your items, use the Condition Notes field to clearly describe the condition of the item you’re selling. That’s what it’s there for!
The more accurately and honestly you can describe your items, the better the image you’re building in your customers’ minds. This can help you win sales even when you’re not in the Buy Box.
About Page
Use your About Page to stand out in your customers’ minds. Mention your company’s values, your personal philosophy on customer service. Your goal is to make potential customers feel safe and welcome.
Many sellers overlook this, thinking that it’s too much of a longshot to come through. We say that the time investment in sprucing up your about page is so small that you’d be silly not to do it.
Explore Online Advertising and Promotions
You can build your brand and drive traffic to your Amazon listings through a variety of online advertising opportunities.
The first thing to do, though, is to make sure you’re linking directly to your offer. You don’t want to spend time any money getting people to look at your items, only to have them buy from your competitors. Here’s how to do it:
- Open your Amazon Storefront.
- Search for the item you want to link to and click on it.
- Link to the page you’re on now. You’ll see that the Add to Cart button should be for your own offer.
Now, on to where and how to advertise:
Facebook Ads/Google Adwords – These can be challenging and expensive, but done right, you can target traffic to the customers that are most likely to buy from you. And the best part is, you can get started very cheaply. Both Facebook and Google usually have a promotion for $50-$75 in advertising credits for those just signing up.
Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest – These social media sites can be hit or miss, depending on your strategy and your products. Here’s my tip for distributing your posts: 80% should be interesting links (not related to any products), 10% should be linked to products others sell and 10% should be to your own products. Those are just rough guidelines, so feel free to experiment.
Your Own Website/Blog – Building a website/blog, especially in a niche subject area can really end up driving traffic to the Amazon products you promote. This requires by far the biggest investment of your time to see a significant payoff. I recommend this only if you’re passionate about the products you sell and the topics you write about. Otherwise, you’ll likely grow frustrated with the process and lose interest.
Tracking Results
Make sure you track the effects of your promotional efforts. You need to be able to see what’s working and what’s not.
And remember, don’t be afraid to stop what you’re doing and try something new. You never know what you might find that really boosts your bottom line!