This Episode, #32, is the second half of an interview that was prompted by our very own Facebook members! They said in a survey that Amazon Ads were the area they most wanted expert help with. Danny McMillan, himself a member of the group, responded by giving many golden nuggets to our listeners.

To connect with Danny, click on these Links: Linkedin; @dannymac1000 (Twitter); Facebook

LINKS TO DANNY'S SPREADSHEETS: click here

SEE DANNY'S DETAILED NOTES HERE

This is the SECOND of TWO episodes containing this interview.

The first Part of the interview is here

SHOW NOTES FOR EPISODE #32
RECAP OF DANNY's RECOMMENDED SIMPLEST ACTION SUMMARY:
Week 1. 
Create first auto campaign. 
End week 1: Cut and paste keywords into Amazon and check for relevance ;add negative exact keywords to the campaign that don’t fit your product criteria. 
If needed, tweak product page (title and back end keywords) but be mindful that wholesale changes can / will affect rankings
Week 2: 
add second auto campaign with higher bids
Week 3: 
create a bridge to manual campaign. 
Weeks 4+:
Use 3rd party tools to gradually add keywords
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR SALES DROP OFF 
Mentality of patience is important. 
Manage your own psychology. 
Imagine that you are selling 10-20 units a day, then that drops off to 5-10. A day. 
The worst thing you can do is to raise the bid per keyword! 
What you should do is differentiate your product with more long tail keywords. 
If one keyword that gives you say 2000 searches/50% of your traffic gets more expensive, look for a group of say 5 keywords that as a whole gives 2000 searches. 
Don't "just raise the keyword bid for a brief period"
It will never be brief. You and the other competition will bid the keyword up and up. Only Amazon wins from this! 
WEEK THREE OF YOUR AMAZON ADS SIMPLE STRATEGY 
Set up a manual campaign. 
Create a "bridge" to manual campaign with successful keywords. 
 Use same keywords in Manual campaign  as have proven effective in auto campaign BUT 
A. Reduce bid for those keywords IN auto campaign
B. Increase bid for those keywords  Manual campaign
for example
Keep "blue widget" in auto campaign with a 40 p bid. 
Put "blue widget" in manual campaign 

As exact match at £1.00 bid
As broad match at £0.70 bid

Gradually because of the lower bids Amazon will transfer the impressions to the manual campaign and away from the auto ones. 
A NOTE ON MATCH TYPES (by Michael )
There are three types of keyword matches that Amazon Ads offer. The difference is all about how precise the search term (keyword) that the customer types in the search bar and whether or not the advert will be shown.
An Exact match means that your advert shows only if the exact same keywords are put in by the customer.
An exact match keyword will generate fewer impressions (your ad will show up less often) but there should be a better match between the customer's search and your product. So in theory, there should be a higher conversion rate on the right keywords. Hence it's normal to bid highest for exact match keywords.
A Phrase match means that your ad shows if the Phrase you have put in appears somewhere in the customer search term.
A Broad match means your ad shows if the keywords put in by the customer are broadly similar to your keyword, your ad will show up.
An Broad Match keyword will normally get the most impressions (your ad will show up most often) but there will be a less good  match between the customer's search and your product. So in theory, there should be a lower  conversion rate than with Exact Match keywords. Hence it's normal to bid lowest for broad match keywords.  
WEEK FOUR and on 
Aim: to build out the long tail of keywords. 
But without killing the conversions as that will impact your ranking. 
Solution: do it in stages. 
Remember to bid highest on exact match keywords and lowest on broad match ones. 
Use 3rd party tools to gradually add keywords: