In this episode of the Ad Project Podcast, host Joe Shelerud from Ad Advance welcomes guest Tim Jordan, Chief Community Officer at Carbon 6. Tim shares his journey from being a firefighter to becoming a successful Amazon seller and e-commerce expert. He discusses his experience in the industry, including building and selling multiple brands, consulting for service providers, and gaining a unique perspective on the e-commerce landscape. The episode's main focus is on driving external traffic...

Is your Amazon advertising strategy ready for Q4? This week’s episode of The Ad Project is a good gut check to help brands preparing for the busiest shopping season of the year. We explain the importance of planning ahead for Q4, especially during major shopping events like Prime Day and Black Friday, and leveraging Amazon's DSP to target upper-funnel audiences to build brand awareness and engagement. We emphasize the value of utilizing the overlap report to identify relevant audiences and...

In today's episode, Joe sits down with Jon Reynolds from Tru Niagen, a trailblazing supplement brand that specializes in NAD+ boosters within the vitamin B3 domain. Jon, who steers the commercial strategy at Tru Niagen, shares intriguing snippets from his journey into ecommerce — a dive that began in the world of logistics. Some key takeaways from this episode include: Q1 Strategies Deep Dive: Jon delves into Q1 strategies, focusing on the unique positioning during this time. Highlighting the...

Did you hear the news? The latest update for sponsored ads on Amazon – the introduction of placement controls for rest of search. Learn how to leverage placement controls to optimize your ads, with a focus on adjusting bid multipliers based on conversion rates and ACoS. By understanding the performance variations among different placements, listeners can strategically allocate their advertising budget for maximum impact. Tips include: Utilize the newly introduced rest of search placement...

In this podcast episode of The Ad Project, we welcome Nick Cosgriff, Director of Business Development and Partnerships at Ad Advance. With a number of conferences on the horizon for Ad Advance to round out the year, Joe and Nick thought it would be a fun idea to discuss different conferences available for Amazon sellers and how to approach them. They also touch upon key partnerships developed through these conferences and share some takeaways. Discussions include: The importance of...

This week on The Ad Project, Joe Shelerud and Noah Salzl, Account Manager at Ad Advance, discuss key strategies for optimizing ads during and after major shopping events. They cover both upper funnel and bottom-of-funnel strategies to increase traffic, awareness, and conversions. Listeners will learn how to maximize their advertising efforts during these crucial periods. Discussions include: Upper funnel strategies for increasing traffic and brand awareness before major shopping...

In this episode of The Ad Project podcast, Joe and Matt discuss the importance of advertising metrics. They explore the pros and cons of some of the most used advertising metrics such as ACOS and ROAS and emphasize the need to consider alternatives when analyzing advertising performance. Key takeaways: Don't rely on ACOS or ROAS as the sole metrics for evaluating advertising performance. Consider other metrics such as TACoS, Cost per Acquisition, and market share percentage to get a more...

This week on The Ad Project, we welcome Marty Weintraub from Aimclear. Marty is an entrepreneur, marketer, photographer, and speaker. He founded Aimclear®, a driven, integrated marketing agency dominant in customer acquisition, winner of 27 US Search Awards including 7X most recent Best Integrated Agency. Credits include Airbnb, Uber, Eurail, PayPal, Venmo, eBay, Dell, LinkedIn, Etsy, Gumtree, Firestone, INC Magazine, Amazon, Carewell, Famous Dave's, Martha Stewart Omni, Intel, Travelocity,...

In this podcast episode, Joe Shelerud and Matt Wiklund discuss various aspects of Amazon’s highly anticipated summer event – Prime Day. Join us as we explore tips and insights to button up your advertising strategy your before, during, and after this crucial event. From crafting offers to leveraging marketing tactics, we provide you with a comprehensive toolkit to maximize your Prime Day success. Key Discussions: Impact of deals on Prime Day performance: Running deals can significantly...

Join us for this insightful episode of The Ad Project as we welcome Josh Helmer, Account Manager at Ad Advance, to explore a compelling discussion centered around advertising strategies for specific sales events – such as Amazon’s upcoming Prime Day. Key Discussions: Concept of "tent-poling" and its three phases: lead-in, main event, and lead-out.Case study analysis of a supplement company and the importance of understanding impression quantity for effective customer conversion.The power of...

How do you navigate the process of finding the perfect advertising agency for your brand on Amazon? In this episode, we highlight crucial factors to consider when selecting an agency to manage your Amazon advertising strategy. From understanding core requirements to distinguishing them from optional features, we share valuable insights and provide a list of key questions to ask potential agencies. We also explore best practices for bid optimization, keyword research, campaign funnels,...

Have you ever wondered if your brand or agency is missing out on untapped opportunities with Amazon advertising?  This week on The Ad Project we welcome Kyle Slunick, Amazon Advertising Manager / Velocity Analyst for Melissa & Doug and Executive Advertising Coach / Director of Performance Marketing for Private Label Mastery.   In this episode, Kyle shares valuable insights from his extensive experience with Amazon advertising, uncovering overlooked strategies and game-changing...

This week on The Ad Project podcast we welcome Brent Zahradnik, Founder and CEO of AMZ Pathfinder - an Amazon Advertising agency that works with brands to optimize their advertising presence on Amazon, increase conversion rates with content optimization, and drive external traffic from Google to their Amazon product catalog. With over a decade's experience in the eCommerce industry, Brent has a deep understanding of the intricacies of Amazon's algorithms and the best digital marketing...

This episode is dedicated to highlighting the latest updates and new features in Amazon’s ad console. Throughout the episode, we explore brand insights updates, enhanced data sets for sponsored display campaigns, and the importance of aligning advertising strategies with consumer trends. Top 5 new features mentioned: Enhanced navigation in the Ad Console, consolidating access to sponsored ads, DSP, and other elements in one location.Dropdown menu for navigating between different markets,...

This week on The Ad Project… AI & Advertising: Part 2 In this episode, Joe Shelerud and Sean Morgan, Digital Media Manager from Ad Advance, discuss the latest developments in AI and its impact on product search, search traffic, and advertising. They focus on the potential of AI and chatbots in helping users navigate and make purchasing decisions. Overall, the podcast explores the ways in which AI is changing the landscape of marketing and advertising and how businesses can integrate...

This week’s episode of The Ad Project is all about AI (specifically ChatGPT) and why it’s changing the game of selling on Amazon.     Joe and Jon Tilley of ZonGuru explore how AI is changing the way we approach tasks in the workplace and why it’s catching so many people’s attention - even though it has been around for years.   More specifically, Joe and Jon discuss optimized Amazon product listings powered by ChatGPT and how utilizing this technology can increase click-through rates. Jon also...

This episode of The Ad Project is all about funnel structure. It can be difficult to figure out where to start with all the different factors involved in choosing targeting types, creatives, along with setting performance expectations for each of the ad types with Amazon Ads. Key discussions from the episode: The three main stages of the advertising funnel and the importance of figuring out where to invest ad dollars.The different ad types available on Amazon: sponsored products, sponsored...

Consumer behavior – how does it drive your Amazon ads strategy? David Khoshpasand, Amazon Performance Marketing Manager with Hasbro, joins us on The Ad Project podcast to talk through consumer behavior and how research directly ties into marketing and a solid Amazon ads strategy. Key Discussions: Consumer behavior and how it’s a dynamic process that involves several stages, including acquisition, usage, and disposal of products or services. The psychological core and culture's impact on...

What will the future of search look like in the world of AI chatbots? In this episode of The Ad Project podcast, we are joined by Sean Morgan, an account manager at Ad Advance, to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the advertising industry. The conversation focuses on the recent developments from chatGPT and Bard (among others) and how search behavior might change or be disrupted as a result. Key Points:    How chatbots from Google, Microsoft, and other companies are...

In this final episode of our Prosper series, Joe is joined by Sreenath Reddy from Intentwise to discuss the key benefits and use cases of Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC). AMC allows advertisers to gain extremely granular, event-level, and shopper-level data that can be used to better understand customer interactions with ads on a deeper level. Some of the key items discussed in today's episode include: How AMC can help overcome limitations of last-touch attributionThe benefits of using AMC to...

In this episode, Joe is joined by Keith Hamann, the Director of Marketplaces for Made In, to discuss steps that brands can take to develop an effective advertising strategy on Amazon. Keith shares some initial strategies he implemented when first entering the space, emphasizing the importance of brand guidelines and overall goals in developing a solid roadmap. With over 10 years of experience in digital marketing and e-commerce, Keith has a focus on marketplace growth and management. He was...

In this episode, Joe is joined by Victor Dwyer at the Prosper Show, where they discuss key trends and conversations in the overall space. The main topic of today's discussion is how Amazon sellers can maximize their profitability in 2023 by addressing the challenges posed by inflation, rising advertising costs, and Amazon fees. The conversation covers key strategies that brands can implement to remain profitable and upcoming trends emerging from the event.

Video advertising offers a powerful way for sellers to grow their brand and audience on and off Amazon. The different types of video ads available through Amazon advertising provide flexibility and versatility to brands, allowing them to choose the ad type that best suits their advertising goals. In today’s episode, Joe and Erik shared some key factors to consider when creating video ads, along with sharing the benefits behind using video ads to target customers at every stage of the buyer’s...

New-to-brand customers are important for sellers as they represent a potential source of future revenue, particularly for products that have a high lifetime value. In today’s episode, Matt and Joe unpacked the importance of new-to-brand customers, why you should care about new-to-brand, and how to measure it. You’ll learn how to optimize your advertising strategy using new-to-brand metrics and how brand building can maximize your lifetime value. With valuable takeaways and metrics...

In this podcast episode, Joe is joined by one of our Account Managers, Brady McDonough to discuss a case study of a brand that established long-term success and growth opportunities through having a solid campaign funnel structure. The discussion highlights the importance of laying a strong advertising foundation, getting the bottom-of-the-funnel strategy right, and establishing the basics to fuel growth opportunities in upper funnel and awareness strategies. The key takeaway from today's...