Amazon ads
management
Amazon ads management is mostly about saying no: to search terms that never sell, to bids above what a sale is worth, to products that can't carry ad costs. What's left is a lean set of campaigns that grow sales without quietly draining your margin. I deliver it with a trusted partner; the contract, deadlines and communication stay with me.
Free: a 30-minute call, an action plan and a price range in writing.
Three Amazon ad types
and what each is for
Sponsored Products
Single products shown in search results and on product pages. Where most small sellers spend most of the budget, and usually the best return.
Sponsored Brands
Your logo, a headline and several products at the top of search, or a short video. Needs Brand Registry.
Sponsored Display
Ads on product pages and to shoppers who viewed similar items. Useful for defending your own listings and retargeting.
Automatic campaigns
Amazon picks the searches. Good for discovery, wasteful if left unattended.
Manual campaigns
Keywords and products you choose, with exact, phrase and broad match. This is where the control and the profit are.
Amazon ads
in five steps
Numbers with me
Profit per unit for each product after Amazon fees, and from that a target ACoS that still leaves money.
Account audit
Existing campaigns, search terms, wasted spend, listing quality and Buy Box status reviewed.
Restructure
Automatic campaigns for discovery, manual campaigns for proven terms, brand terms separated from generic ones.
Weekly care
New converting searches promoted to manual campaigns, money-losing terms added as negatives, bids adjusted.
Reports from me
Every two weeks: ad sales, total sales, ACoS and TACoS, and what's changing next.
ACoS and TACoS
explained
| ACoS | TACoS | |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Ad spend ÷ sales from ads | Ad spend ÷ all sales |
| What it tells you | Whether the ads themselves pay back | Whether ads are growing the whole business |
| Healthy trend | At or below your break-even level | Stable or falling as organic sales grow |
| Trap | Looks great on brand searches you'd win anyway | Ignores products with no ads at all |
How Amazon ads work
Amazon ads are pay-per-click listings inside Amazon itself. When a shopper on Amazon.ca searches for "insulated water bottle", the first rows of results and the carousels on product pages include sponsored products from sellers bidding on that search. You pay when someone clicks; Amazon decides who appears based on bid and how relevant and likely to sell the product is. A listing that converts well can win placements with lower bids than a weak one.
This is different from advertising on Google or Facebook in one important way: the person is already shopping, often with a card saved and Prime delivery promised. That's why Amazon ads can be very profitable, and also why the competition for top spots in popular categories is intense.
The structure I use
Most underperforming Amazon accounts have the same shape: one or two automatic campaigns created at launch, running for months without anyone looking at the search terms. A cleaner setup usually looks like this:
- Discovery: automatic and broad-match campaigns with modest bids, to find the searches shoppers really use.
- Performance: exact-match campaigns for search terms that have already produced sales, with bids set by margin.
- Brand defence: a separate campaign for your own brand name, so competitors can't easily take those shoppers, and so brand sales don't flatter the rest of the account.
- Product targeting: ads on competitors' or complementary product pages where your offer compares well.
Every week, search terms that sold get moved into exact campaigns, and terms that spent without selling get added as negatives. It's patient, repetitive work, and it's where most of the savings come from.
Why I care about TACoS
ACoS (advertising cost of sales) shows whether ad-driven sales are profitable. TACoS (total advertising cost of sales) compares ad spend with all your sales, including organic ones. On Amazon, ads can lift organic ranking: sales from ads help a product climb in normal results. A healthy account often sees TACoS stay level or fall over time even while ad spend grows, because organic sales grow faster. If TACoS keeps rising, the ads may just be buying sales you'd have had anyway.
Seasons on Amazon.ca
Amazon's calendar has a few big moments: Prime Day in summer, Prime Big Deal Days in the fall in recent years, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and the run to Christmas and Boxing Day. Clicks get more expensive and conversion rates usually rise. Stock planning matters as much as bids. Running out of inventory during a peak hurts ranking long after the sale is over. Campaigns and budgets are planned weeks ahead, together with your inventory.
Listings, reviews and the Buy Box
Ads can't fix a listing that doesn't convert. Before raising budgets, I check that the product has strong images, a clear title, helpful bullet points and enough recent reviews. If several sellers offer the same product, ads only show when you hold the Buy Box, so price and fulfilment matter too. If you're still setting up, my page on selling on Amazon.ca covers the groundwork.
How the work is delivered
I deliver Amazon ads with a trusted partner who works in Amazon Ads daily. The contract, deadlines and communication stay with me, and everything runs in your own seller and advertising accounts. Pricing is quoted individually after a short call, based on the number of products and the state of the account. If you sell through your own site as well, it makes sense to look at Google Shopping alongside Amazon, and at the bigger picture in my marketplace advertising overview.
More on
marketplaces
Amazon ads
questions
What's a good ACoS on Amazon?
The one that's below your break-even point for that product. If you keep 30% of the price after all Amazon fees and costs, an ACoS above 30% loses money on those sales. Launches and ranking pushes can justify running above break-even for a while, as long as it's planned and time-limited.
How much should I spend on Amazon ads?
It depends on how many products you sell and how competitive the searches are. Small sellers often start with a modest daily budget focused on a few best sellers and grow from there. The management fee is quoted individually after a short call; ad spend is billed by Amazon to your account.
Do I need Brand Registry?
Not for Sponsored Products, which most sellers can use. Sponsored Brands, brand videos, A+ content and stronger protection against hijackers require Brand Registry, which in turn requires an eligible registered trademark or pending application. For a serious brand, it's worth doing.
Can you also run ads on Amazon.com?
Amazon.ca and Amazon.com are separate marketplaces with their own listings, campaigns and competition, even though they can be managed from one North American seller account. Many Canadian sellers start in Canada and expand later. If you sell in both, each gets its own plan and reporting.
Who manages the campaigns?
A trusted partner who works in Amazon Ads every day does the hands-on campaign work. I'm your single contact: the agreement, plan, deadlines and reports all come through me, and everything stays in your own seller and ad accounts.
Let's find the money
your ads are wasting
Tell me what you sell and roughly what you spend on Amazon ads. On a free 30-minute call I'll tell you where I'd look first and what the work would cost.