Amazon DSP Guide

Amazon Demand Side Platform (DSP) is a great way to boost your brand presence. With DSP, you can advertise your brand both with the Amazon website and also on other websites. If you are an experienced seller who may have hit a plateau with new sales and revenue, DSP can help you add customers and build your clientele. 

Specifically, you will be able to target your advertisements at consumers who are most likely to buy your products. Any brand or product can use Amazon DSP, as it is not limited just to Amazon vendors and sellers.

If you are looking for ways to use technologically based algorithms to target advertise at specific types of consumers, Amazon DSP can help you. There are many different ways to target your advertising, so you can save your advertising budget and use it wisely, directed towards the right audience. IO Scout will explain you what is Amazon demand side platform, types of Amazon DSP and how to use it.

Related article: Amazon Advertising

What is Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform)?

If you are trying to promote products or increase your brand awareness, Amazon DSP is for you. Not only will you be advertising on Amazon’s website, but you will be able to pull web traffic to your brand from other websites, which will help make your brand messaging consistent and gain followers.

DSP is going to let you, as an advertiser, programmatically and easily buy both video and ad placements. Since your advertisements will be programmed and based on data and metrics, there are a couple of different ways DSP can work for you:

1. With such intricate advertising, the computers and data will actually decide for you what digital advertising is best for you to purchase and how much you would need to pay to advertise. It takes the hard work out of your hands and lets the metrics and research do the talking. 
2. Perhaps the best benefit of DSP is that advertisers are reaching out to websites and getting brands exposure on more avenues than just through the Amazon website and other partner websites. 

With detailed, targeted advertising, using Amazon DSP is like using no other advertisement strategy in the world. 

Amazon DSP ad types

DSP can be broken out into the different types of ads. All are good, viable options for advertisers, but do a little research into the different types so you will know what works best for your needs. 

Advertising used to look like Times Square, but now you can do in-depth analysis and targeted advertising right from your computer. No longer do you have to hope and pray someone will see a billboard advertising your product. DSP lets you target your ads right at people who specifically buy your products.

Dynamic e-commerce

This is truly a dynamic experience because Amazon’s machines are gaining insights and working behind the scenes to help you advertise your products Dynamic e-commerce ads are designed specifically to optimize where you advertise based on goals you set for your campaign. 

The goal of any advertisement is get gain customers. To do this, dynamic advertisements work to encourage customers to go ahead and click and look at products on the Amazon website, which would then let you use coupon codes or customer reviews in your ads to draw in page views. Dynamic advertisements work by driving traffic to the product detailed page, and not to your brand itself. 

Because of the work behind the scenes that technology does, Amazon is able to offer advertisers different options: 

• Amazon can determine now if customers are likely to check out reviews before they purchase a product, or if they skip that step. If they read reviews, they will see a dynamic ad pointing them to your product. 
• Technology can also determine if customers buy on impulse, and if they do, the dynamic ads will show the customer an add to cart button, so they can easily purchase your product.

It is amazing what technology is capable of, and Amazon has taken full advantage with their dynamic e-commerce ads that will target your product right for the customer that it is best suited for.

Static ads

While static ads do not have the behind the scenes research like dynamic ads do, they are still useful. They take specific action and point customers to take action and “buy now.”

Therefore, these ads are great for mid- and upper-funnel tactics, which will attract buyers and also help increase brand awareness, so they are more likely to buy your brand in the future. 

Static ads direct customers in a few different ways:

• Back to the Amazon storefront 
• Directly to the product detail page,
• To a unique, custom landing page for the products

Video ads through DSP

Since DSP works so well with technology, adding video makes perfect sense. Using video lets you tell the story of your brand, while also reaching your audience in different ways. Some people prefer to receive their information through videos, and video DSP reaches those audiences. 

These ads can have either video content (in-stream video) or work as part of a larger display ad. Advertisers are able to link video ads directly to your product page or to your own website if you desire. 

Let technology have your ads shout from a megaphone and drive customers to your product page. Your brand will be hard to miss after all of the targeted advertising. 

Over-the-top video ads (OTT)

OTT ads are another type of ad that utilize DSP. If you have ever been on a platform like YouTube where there are ads that you cannot skip, that is an OTT ad. It forces people to watch ads in videos they are already watching, which is a guaranteed way to get your product viewed by many.

You should know that these ads are not clickable, they are more like a commercial encouraging people to go look for your product.  

Without knowing what an OTT ad was, you no doubt have watched countless numbers of them. That’s the same thing here – your consumers do not need to know that you are targeting them. It can even be subliminal. But, sometime weeks or months after they see your ad, they might be in the market for your product, and they will remember this ad.

Targeting Options with Amazon DSP

DSP targeting options are ways that advertisers can best get to know their audience, and they are based on:

• Trends in demographics – age, sex, and location of potential consumers 
• Temporal trends
• Do consumers engage directly with the brand?

All of this information helps you use targeting in an upper-funnel strategy, like if you wanted to target certain groups of people, like teenagers for example. If your budget is more limited, you should try this strategy as you are more likely to attract the right audience. 

Where does the Amazon DSP program fit into the marketing funnel?

You absolutely should use Amazon DSP in your marketing strategy since you can reach audiences on Amazon’s website and also other apps like IMDB and other publisher’s websites. Amazon DSP helps you reach more audiences.

On the other hand, Ad Console campaigns work in the mid- to low part of your marketing funnel. These are aimed at increasing purchases, whereas DSP is designed to make buyers aware or your product and brands. 

How to use Amazon DSP

Amazon DSP should be used in one shape or form by all advertisers. Use DSP when you want to target specific groups of people or position ads so they have to be looked at (like OTT). DSP is a great way to help your brand gain awareness, whether by direct purchasing, or just by getting your name out there and talked about.

You will attract many new consumers utilizing DSP.

Amazon DSP and Ad Targeting

Amazon has deep research on the web that allows it to create a well of data on customer behavior. Amazon DSP’s uses this data to create specifically targeted ads, which means you can spend less money and target more people. There are six real targeting options:

• Behavioral Targeting – this type of targeting looks at customers who have demonstrated specific past behaviors like browsing in the category of your product sometime within the last month. Ads can target those groups of people
• Lifestyle Targeting – groups of people who regularly buy from certain categories, like home goods or pets, will see ads targeted just at their habits. If someone normally buys a specific kind of pet food, these targeted ads could convince that consumer that your pet food might be a better option
• Contextual Targeting – these ads are going to show relevant ads in real time as people browse the internet looking for products and brands 
• Remarketing – this allows brands to engage again with consumers who have already shown an interest in your brand or product
• Audience Lookalike – maybe you have the same type of customer – if you sell baby food, maybe you are selling frequently to 25-35 year old women – this type of marketing will go after customers in that demographic who have similar traits as your current customers
• Advertiser Audiences – there is information out there about your brand – maybe you have an email list for example, and these ads can target that

There are so many targeted ad options that no matter which one you select you are sure to gain web traffic to your product and brand pages. If you choose one and are not happy with it, you can always change to a different type of a targeted ad in the future.

Target customers, so your ads will have a high success rate.

Amazon DSP and Automation

When you choose to use Amazon DSP, you will have two ways in which to do so. 

• Enterprise self-service - the first option is going to be hands-on and something that you yourself or your advertising agency handles
• Managed-service - this option is a way to outsource everything and hire a fully automated system that is managed completely by Amazon’s computing system. 

Either option is a good one, you just need to decide how hands-on you want to be. If you want more autonomy and control, then choose enterprise, but if you would prefer to have Amazon do most of the work, then managed-service is the best bet.

Even though you control self-service, the process was still designed to be programmatic with targeted ads based on computer data and metrics. You just will be involved and decide on the bidding, with things like determining prices and selecting what pages to advertise on. Ultimately, you would decide the targeted audience as well. 

How hands-on do you want to be in your advertising?

Where will Amazon Display Ads and Video Ads Show?

The nice part about Amazon ads is they show up in a lot of places. No longer are you pigeon-holed to a print advertisement that can only be seen in one magazine or billboard. These ads will be on the Amazon webpage, making it easy for customers to click and land on your product page. But, they will also show up on other webpages like IMDB and places when customers are not even consciously shopping.

Video ads are also incredibly relevant nowadays, since so many people live on the internet streaming videos.

• As people are streaming videos, there will be ads that they cannot click through, and they must watch them. 
• Even if they do not pay close attention to the ad, they will still be exposed to your brand and think about your brand when they are indeed ready to make a purchase.

Amazon DSP Tips

Here are the top tips for you to get the most out of Amazon DSP as a seller and advertiser:

1. Take advantage of targeted ads – being able to place ads in front of the right audience is crucial
2. Build off your customer list – if you already have loyal customers, you can target ads at like-minded consumers to grow your customer list
3. Display on competitors pages – get your ads in the eyes of consumers buying other products like yours

Is amazon DSP profitable?

Yes, very much so. While you will spend a little money advertising, you will gain money because:

• You will gain consumers from the competition, driving your sales up and their sales down
• You can target consumers who shop by impulse, and take advantage of the “buy it now” opportunity.

Is Amazon DSP worth Your Time and Money?

The better question is – why wouldn’t it be worth it? There are a couple of reasons why it is absolutely worth your investment. 

1. DSP is the next step for you and your brand. If you are an existing seller with an established brand, Amazon DSP can help take your products and your brand to a whole new level.
2. DSP is going to let you target specific customers, and no other advertising can help you do that.

Should I Consider Using the Amazon Demand Side Platform?

Unless you are a brand new Amazon seller just starting out, then you absolutely should consider using Amazon DSP. If you have been stuck with the same consistent sales for a period of time, DSP could help elevate you and gain you more customers.

Should I Invest in Amazon Ad Console or Amazon DSP?

If you are using an Amazon Ad Console, you will have three different ad types to choose from:

1. Sponsored Products
2. Sponsored Brands
3. Product Display Ads – these are considered your cost-per-click (CPC) advertising, in which you pay for advertising whenever a customer clicks on the ad and goes to your product page 

How does this work?

Users of Amazon Ad Console advertising actually pay to bid on keywords, which will give them the right to show the ad for their product to customers who are currently shopping and searching.

While the consumers you reach are down lower in the marketing funnel, and more ready to purchase an item, that means that the audience you reach will be a little more limited. You are not reaching a broad audience of people who are not ready to shop, which can be good or bad. 

Amazon DSP benefits

With Amazon DSP, you can achieve the following:

• Gain new customers
• Sell more products to existing customers
• Take customers away from the competition

Let Amazon’s tools go to work for you. The targeted advertising is sure to benefit you as a seller, no matter what your brand or product is. 

Final Thoughts

While no advertising should be considered a guarantee, Amazon DSP is close to it. When you are already using sponsored product ads, DSP can help elevate your sales. 

Amazon uses unique algorithms to target consumers, and you could even take advantage of this if you are not an Amazon seller. Any brand or company that is ready to advertise can do so with Amazon DSP.