Think you know all there is to know about Amazon marketing? Think again. In his latest blog post Lewis takes us through Amazon's Demand Side Platform (DSP)
Amazon Demand Side Platform Basics: What is Amazon's DSP and why should you use it?
You might well be well acquainted with Amazon Advertising already. You may even consider yourself a pro with everything the platform has to offer. It might be that you think you’ve seen everything Amazon has to offer – but have you ever considered Amazon’s Demand Side Platform (DSP) advertising options?
What is the Amazon DSP Network?
The Amazon DSP network is Amazon’s premium advertising network, set up to compete with the likes of Google and Facebook in serving ads across a network of sites. The solution aims to provide a more 360 approach to marketing with Amazon and allows users to serve ads across a network of high quality websites.
Through Amazon’s DSP network, you can bid on specific sites, identify and target key audiences and achieve widespread brand visibility without compromising on brand safety.
Most significantly, you do not have to be an Amazon seller to use the DSP network. That’s right – you can access this product without a prior presence on Amazon, as it doesn’t require a login for either Seller or Vendor central!
What sites are included in the Amazon DSP Network?
A key selling point of the DSP network is that you’ll have access to 10,000 plus sites that have each been manually vetted to ensure they are of the highest quality. This ensures your ads will be appearing in high-traffic, relevant pages.
Furthermore, advertising through Amazon DSP is the only way for your ads to appear within Amazon’s network of sites, including Amazon itself, their app, IMDB. These are hugely popular sites, so being able to access this large audience is immensely beneficial for your brand.
What can you buy with the Amazon DSP?
The Amazon DSP has two service solutions:
Self Service – in which you have complete control of your campaigns, manage your own strategies, planned CPCs, auction types, and budgets.
Managed Service – a consultative service in which a team manage your Amazon activity and optimise to get you the best results. This is ideal for complete novices to paid media.
With each service, you will be able to login to the Amazon DSP dashboard to get the unique reporting insights these provide, enabling you to have complete visibility over which audience are available and how you’ve been performing.
How much does the Amazon DSP Network cost?
Though the sites are all high in quality, the cost of placements will vary from site to site. The more premium sites you want to appear on, the less far your budget will go.
The Amazon DSP works on both a fixed inventory purchase and auction basis. Though you have the ability to bulk buy inventory, your cost can also be variable when you use auction based purchase method.
There are two types of auction you can enter:
| Open Auction | Private Auction |
| An open auction can be joined by any advertiser and does not require an invite. The inventory clears to the highest net bidder who surpasses the publisher’s minimum set price. | In private auctions, publishers can restrict participation to select advertisers, giving them priority access to inventory. Remaining inventory is then moved to an open auction. |
In a first price auction, the buyer will pay exactly what they bid but in a second price auction, they will pay .1 cent above the second highest bid. In a second price auction, you will always pay less than you bid, whereas in a first price auction you are committed to paying the full amount.
One thing worth noting is that, to have your ads appear on the DSP network, you will need to commit to a $35,000 spend over a period of around 6 months (depending on your region). The minimum cost ensures advertisers are able to meet the standards set within the DSP network and that the quality of sites used can be upheld.
This will be covered with your Amazon account manager, who will draw up an agreement on over what period you’ll spend this amount. You’ll then be able to manage your budgets on a monthly basis, so you will still be able to account for seasonality of your business.
Why should you be using Amazon DSP?
To put it simply – using Amazon’s DSP provides cost effective paid advertisements that suit your budgets and advertising goals, giving you access to diverse rich advertisement placements that are completely unique to the Amazon DSP. Your ads will appear across multiple devices and you’ll be able to see an increased ROI and better paid performance against competitor products, using your better understood targets & target markets.
Amazon’s real unique selling point is that it has its own supply of inventory that you can only access through the platform. You can also guarantee that your ads will appear in a brand safe environment, ensuring your image is safe. Amazon’s exclusive audiences will also grant you access to new and existing customers both on and off Amazon.
If you’re interested in hearing more about Amazon DSP, take a look at our free webinar recording to learn more detail on how the platform works and what you can achieve from it.
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