A solid ad campaign strategy on Amazon is always evolving. With that evolution comes new goals, updates, and changes to existing campaigns or campaign structures. So, when is the right time to launch a new campaign on Amazon?
We get asked these questions a lot:
- How often should new Amazon campaigns be built?
- If I launch something new, will it over or outperform the old?
- What’s the best way to transition from one campaign to another?
As an account manager, it’s my responsibility to implement change to a client’s account in the best way possible, preserving existing data but keeping the strategy fresh and competitive. When the strategy is being set, we take into account the existing campaigns and the following triggers that would lead to the need to create new Amazon campaigns.
Triggers That Launch New Amazon Campaigns:
- New campaign types or targeting options from Amazon
- New goals – keyword-focused, audience, or category-focused
- New product launch
- Timely events
- Creative changes
Let’s take a deeper look at each of these triggers. Understanding each can help to inform strategy changes, campaign goals, and needs for the ad engine on Amazon.
New Campaign Types and Targeting From Amazon
Amazon continually updates existing campaign types with new targeting ad features. As Amazon rolls out these new features, it is important to test them with new campaigns to see how they fit and support your brand goals on Amazon. The most recent change has been the addition of contextual targeting for Sponsored Display campaigns.
New Goals
As your business grows and changes on Amazon, your goals need to evolve as well. Keeping campaign goals up to date and aligned with your business goals is critical. Some of these new goals could include the need to move excess inventory, prospect new customers to the brand, or drive increased order values, etc. All these goals would require different campaigns than evergreen and would have different metric KPIs.
New Product Launches
As your Amazon catalog grows, so must your Amazon Ads campaigns. New product launches require considerable investment in order to be successful on Amazon. Driving sales velocity behind a new SKU is needed in order to get the Amazon Flywheel turning and garner the needed ratings and reviews a new product needs to succeed.
Events
Throughout the year, there are events that require an additional budget, increased campaigns, and different campaign strategies to take advantage of the increased traffic on Amazon. An example of this could be campaigns dedicated to Prime Day exposure or a particular holiday shopping timeframe. When these shaping events are looming, it’s critical for brands to create Amazon campaigns that are geared for volume and the goals around that particular shopping event.
Creative Changes
Keeping content and creatives fresh on Amazon is essential to keep shoppers engaged and recall your brand. As brands launch new content or even rebrand on Amazon, new campaigns may need to be created. Amazon has updated some campaign types to allow for creative updates after the campaign has been launched, but other types like Sponsored Brand Video campaigns will need to be created from scratch when new video content becomes available.
With these triggers in mind, my hope is that you have some clarity on when your account can stand a new campaign launch or require readjustment. Creating new campaigns can be tricky, especially when we look at performance compared to more historic campaigns. New campaigns require cultivation. They may have different goals set than previous Amazon campaigns, so perspective when reviewing your campaign strategy and allowing for change is critical when evaluating what new ads need to be launched.
