• by Ross Walker , Yesterday

With Amazon, most marketers are sitting on a gold mine but counting pennies. 

That’s because they’re approaching the platform backwards. The store isn’t the big idea, the demand-side platform is. It provides an unparalleled first-party springboard to advertising profitably across the Internet. 

Yet agencies and clients stick to advertising on the store because that inventory shows a higher ROAS. Someone already on the site clicks to make a purchase and the ad looks extraordinarily effective. But it’s missing the greater efficiency, which is bringing more customers to the brand. 

The DSP does this through a much less crowded pipe than conventional options. In addition to availing everything Amazon owns, from standard inventory to Prime Video and Roku partner content, the platform enables the channels advertisers currently access through Mountain and The Trade Desk. At this point, it’s also considerably cheaper. 

Think hyper profiling, not hyper conversion. Amazon is one of the best data sources on the planet for who's shopping for what, at what time, what life stage they are in, based on all their different shopping behaviors. This first-party intel provides an elite tool for audience mapping. The most meaningful convertible audience profiles can be derived from it. As a fully closed loop system, the DSP can ensure that brands exclude current customers from the buys.

So the big payoff comes from customer profiling for all digital marketing. Advertisers need to focus on connection and converting through, not on, Amazon. Instead of grinding an extra percent on the $100 million opportunity on the store, map the $1 billion road through the DSP. 

In other words, stop spending your DSP dollars on Amazon.com supply and start buying third-party inventory on the open Internet. 

Market a brand, don’t just merchandise a product. To do this, we need to evolve creative. Shoppable ad units with a five-star product and a buy-now CTA work great for ROAS on the store. That’s end-point conversion. 

Using the DSP to bring more customers to the brand, and if applicable the store, requires we at least say something about the product – and, at best, market a brand. Lean on video. My experience across categories consistently shows video produces the most incremental traffic and sales. It outperforms banner and shoppable ads dramatically and gets people to interact with and search for the brand.  

Track ROB (return on business), not ROAS.  We need to stop focusing on ad attributed numbers and look at business growth itself. ROAS looks good on the store, but what we really want is traffic and the demonstrable interest that precedes it. Look at the quantity of branded searches, which reveal how many more people are aware of and researching the brand. 

Here’s how you can test your way into the shift. Pick a product you sell on Amazon. Put all your DSP media toward third-party video and turn off all other ads for a month. Watch traffic and organic sales. They’ll go up immediately because you’re building demand beyond Amazon. 

The ultimate opportunity extends far beyond this scenario. While you can't sell a car on Amazon, you can sell a car with Amazon. Given the tremendous customer analytics on people buying aftermarket Chevy Silverado products, it’s no special trick to create a profile for Silverado buyers. That’s where the greatest online targeting power will be untapped.