Trish Thomas, CEO, TEEM

One of the trickiest things about being an Amazon seller is finding ways to distinguish yourself from your competition – and that’s where having a complete marketing strategy can really make your brand shine.

To succeed, you’ll need to innovate and connect with customers using comprehensive online strategies that go beyond the Amazon platform.

Our job at TEEM is to partner with Amplio to help clients build a complete marketing strategy, so they can boost brand visibility, engage with prospects, drive traffic to their listings, and increase their revenue. 

There’s a myriad of ways you can connect and engage with shoppers at every stage in their buying journey, and you don’t need to limit your options to Amazon’s tools. 

Let’s explore three of your best possibilities for expanding your marketing strategy as an Amazon seller.

Channel #1: Email Marketing

Creating email funnels to develop customer relationships is a smart move for any brand. 

When you communicate with your prospects and customers via email, you can connect with them in a more meaningful way – which isn’t always possible within the Amazon world, due to their stringent email restrictions. 

When you follow the rules, building an email list makes you less vulnerable to Amazon penalization and helps you generate more sales. 

With email marketing, you can drive traffic directly to your Amazon listings, or you can guide visitors to your website and support them as they purchase from your site’s e-commerce pages. Making more sales from your website lets you keep more money from each sale by avoiding some of Amazon’s fulfillment and referral fees. 

You can set up email campaigns to help you:

  • Immediately welcome a new subscriber who opts into your list.
  • Send targeted product recommendations to prospects.
  • Encourage repeat purchases by making product suggestions, or nudging subscribers to purchase a subscription.
  • Ask for referrals and/or product reviews.
  • Re-engage with people who visited a specific product page or abandoned their cart before purchasing.
  • Gather target audience data with surveys.

Growing and using an email list also gives you ways to segment your subscribers, so you can send them highly relevant content and offers that speak to their immediate needs. The branching logic and automations offered by most email marketing platforms allow personalization and trigger-driven communications that greatly improve efficacy.

But tread carefully, when it comes to email marketing – as mentioned, Amazon does have strict regulations about what you’re allowed to do with the emails you get through Amazon sales. For tips on how to build a robust subscriber list while still honoring Amazon’s Terms of Service, check out this post. 

Channel #2: Content Marketing/Social Media Marketing

Content marketing and social media should absolutely be part of your brand-building strategy for 2020. 

You can reach your audience outside Amazon by creating compelling, attention-grabbing content (like blog posts, videos, podcast episodes, images, and short-form content). Once you’ve captured their interest, you can help prospects take the next step in their shopping journey by getting them into one of your email funnels, or guiding them directly to one of your Amazon listings. 

Engaging with prospects and customers on social media and on your site also helps you explore your prospect’s pain points, which can help you shape your sales copy for Amazon. 

Not sure what kind of content to create? Start with some results-driven case studies, then expand into product tutorials and review round-ups. You can also write compelling content that communicates your company mission and educates prospects on what makes you different from your competitors. Contests, user generated content (UGC) campaigns, special offers, and giveaways are also great ways to boost follower engagement and build excitement around your brand.

Consider using chatbots to answer common customer questions and connect with prospects as they’re shopping. Automated social media messaging is a great way to guide the customer through the entire buying experience.

Channel #3: Paid Social Media Advertising

Amazon does have its own paid advertising program – but off-Amazon social media ads can also help you drive traffic and build engagement.

Be aware that you can hurt your Amazon rankings if you drive non-targeted cold traffic to your listing and don’t get many conversions, so you’ll need to create a clear plan and a specific ad targeting strategy to drive traffic and boost sales.

If you want to start simple, you can send social media ad traffic straight to your listings. This is easy to set up as you’re getting started, but does tend to have a lower conversion rate. You can also utilize landing pages or your primary website as a portal to Amazon listings, allowing you to offer more information and better control the user experience through the consideration cycle. You can boost sales by offering discounts and advertising your latest specials. 

You can also drive prospects from your paid ads into targeted email funnels that are customized to meet their needs. When you use this method, you can continue engaging with prospects and increase your chances of turning them into loyal long-term customers.

Chatbots can also work well in conjunction with paid social advertising – you can send targeted messages to people who engage with your content and express interest in your products. Just be careful not to be creepy or pushy with this approach. 

Creating a Comprehensive Marketing Plan for Your Amazon Brand in 2020

Setting up a smart marketing strategy that includes multiple channels should be on your task list for 2020.

Getting a traffic boost can build your brand visibility and increase your profits, so it’s worth taking the time to implement some of the suggestions we’ve discussed here.


Need assistance with creating and implementing your marketing strategy? TEEM and Amplio would love to help!


About Trish
Trish Thomas is the founder of TEEM Creative, a full-service marketing, branding, and digital agency based in Denver, Colorado. TEEM blends strategic oversight and advocacy with the nimbleness and scalability of on-demand freelance talent. Click here to learn more about how TEEM can help you.