Podcasts about amazon advertising

Happy New Year 2026! I love January and the opportunity to start afresh. I know it's arbitrary in some ways, but I measure my life by what I create, and I also measure it in years. At the beginning of each year, I publish an article (and podcast episode) here, which helps keep me accountable. If you'd like to share your goals, please add them in the comments below. 2026 is a transitional year as I will finish my Masters degree and continue the slow pivot that I started in December 2023 after 15 years as an author entrepreneur. Just to recap that, it was: From digitally-focused to creating beautiful physical books; From high-volume, low cost to premium products with higher Average Order Value; From retailer-centric to direct first; and From distance to presence, and From creating alone to the AI-Assisted Artisan Author. I've definitely stepped partially into all of those, and 2026 will continue in that same direction, but I also have an additional angle for Joanna Penn and The Creative Penn that I am excited about. If you'd like to join my community and support the show every month, you'll get access to my growing list of Patron videos and audio on all aspects of the author business — for the price of a black coffee (or two) a month. Join us at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Leaning into the Transformation Economy The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community Webinars and live events Finish my Masters in Death, Religion, and Culture Bones of the Deep — J.F. Penn Add merch to CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories and Short Story Collections — Joanna Penn Other possible books Experiment more with AI translation Ideally outsource more marketing to AI, but do more marketing anyway Double down on being human, health and travel You can find all my books as J.F. Penn and Joanna Penn on your favourite online store in all the usual formats, or order from your local library or bookstore. You can also buy direct from me at CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com. I'm not really active on social media, but you can always see my photos at Instagram @jfpennauthor. Leaning into the Transformation Economy I've struggled with my identity as Joanna Penn and my Creative Penn brand for a few years now. When I started TheCreativePenn.com in 2008, the term ‘indie author' was new and self-publishing was considered ‘vanity press' and a sure way to damage your author career, rather than a conscious creative and business choice. It was the early days of the Kindle and iPhone (both launched in 2007), and podcasting and social media were also relatively new. While US authors could publish on KDP, the only option for international authors was Smashwords and the market for ebooks was tiny. Print-on-demand and digital audio were also just emerging as viable options. While it was the early era of blogging, there were very few blogs and barely any podcasts talking about self-publishing, so when I started TheCreativePenn.com in late 2008 and the podcast in March 2009, it was a new area. For several years, it was like howling into the wind. Barely any audience. Barely any traffic, and certainly very little income.  But I loved the freedom and the speed at which I could learn things and put them into practice. Consume and produce. That has always been my focus. I met people on Twitter and interviewed them for my show, and over those early years I met many of the people I consider dear friends even now. Since self-publishing was a relatively unexplored niche in those early years, I slowly found an audience and built up a reputation. I also started to make more money both as an author, and as a creative entrepreneur. Over the years since, pretty much everything has changed for indie authors and we have had more and more opportunity every year. I've shared everything I've learned along the way, and it's been a wonderful time.  But as self-publishing became more popular and more authors saw more success (which is FANTASTIC!), other voices joined the chorus and now, there are many thousands of authors of all different levels with all kinds of different experiences sharing their tips through articles, books, podcasting, and social media. I started to wonder whether my perspective was useful anymore. On top of the human competition, in November 2022, ChatGPT launched, and it became clear that prescriptive non-fiction and ‘how to' information could very easily be delivered by the AI tools, with the added benefit of personalisation. You can ask Chat or Claude or Gemini how you can self-publish your particular book and they will help you step by step through the process of any site. You can share your screen or upload screenshots and it can help with what fields to fill in (very useful with translations!), as well as writing sales descriptions, researching keywords, and offering marketing help targeted to your book and your niche, and tailored to your voice. Once again, I questioned what value I could offer the indie author community, and I've pulled back over the last few years as I've been noodling around this. But over the last few weeks, a penny has dropped. Here's my thinking in case it also helps you. Firstly, I want to be useful to people. I want to help. In my early days of speaking professionally, from 2005-ish, I wanted to be the British (introvert) Tony Robbins, someone who inspired people to change, to achieve things they didn't think they could. Writing a book is one of those things. Making a living from your writing is another. So I leaned into the self-help and how-to niche. But now that is now clearly commoditised. But recently, I realised that my message has always been one of transformation, and in the following four areas.  From someone who doesn't think they are creative but who desperately wants to write a book, to someone who holds their first book in their hand and proudly says, ‘I made this.' The New Author. From someone who has no confidence in their author voice, who wonders if they have anything to say, to someone who writes their story and transforms their own life, as well as other people's. The Confident Author. From an author with one or a handful of books who doesn't know much about business, to a successful author with a growing business heading towards their first six figure year. The Author-Entrepreneur. And finally, from a tech-phobic, fearful author who worries that AI makes it pointless to create anything and will steal all the jobs, to a confident AI-assisted creative who uses AI tools to enhance and amplify their message and their income. The AI-Assisted Artisan Author. These are four transformations I have been through myself, and with my work as Joanna Penn/The Creative Penn, I want to help you through them as well. So in 2026, I am repositioning myself as part of The Transformation Economy. What does this mean? There is a book out in February, The Transformation Economy by B. Joseph Pine II, who is also the author of The Experience Economy, which drove a lot of the last decade's shift in business models. I have the book on pre-order, but in the meantime, I am doing the following. I will revamp TheCreativePenn.com with ‘transformation' as the key frame and add pathways through my extensive material, rather than just categories of how to do things. I've already added navigation pages for The New Author, The Confident Author, The Author-Entrepreneur, and The AI-Assisted Artisan Author, and I will be adding to those over time. My content is basically the same, as I have always covered these topics, but the framing is now different. The intent is different. The Creative Penn Podcast will lean more heavily into transformation, rather than just information — And will focus on the first three of the categories above, the more creative, mindset and business things.  My Patreon will continue to cover all those things, and that's also where I post most of my AI-specific content, so if you're interested in The AI-Assisted Artisan Author transformation path, come on over to patreon.com/thecreativepenn I have more non-fiction books for authors coming, and lots more ideas now I am leaning into this angle. I'll also continue to do webinars on specific topics in 2026, and also add speaking back in 2027. It's harder to think about transformation when it comes to fiction, but it's also really important since fiction books in particular are highly commodified, and will become even more so with the high production speeds. Yes, all readers have a few favourite authors but most will also read a ton of other books without knowing or caring who the author is. Fiction can be transformational. Reader's aren't buying a ‘book.' They're buying a way to escape, to feel deeply, to experience things they never could in real life. A book can transform a day from ‘meh' into ‘fantastic!' My J.F. Penn fiction is mostly inspired by places, so my stories transport you into an adventure somewhere wonderful, and they all offer a deeper side of transformative contemplation of ‘memento mori' if you choose to read them in that way.  They also have elements of gothic and death culture that I am going to lean into with some merch in 2026, so more of an identity thing than just book sales. I'm not quite sure what this means yet, but no doubt it will emerge. I'll also shape my JFPennBooks.com site into more transformative paths, rather than just genre lists, as part of this shift. My memoir Pilgrimage always reflected a transformation, both reflecting my own midlife shift but I've also heard from many who it has inspired to walk alone, or to travel on pilgrimage themselves. Of course, transformation is not just for our readers or the people we serve as part of our businesses. It's also for us. One of the reasons why we are writers is because this is how we think. This is how we figure out our lives. This is how we get the stories and ideas out of our heads and into the world. Writing and creating are transformative for us, too. That is part of the point, and a great element of why we do this, and why we love this. Which is why I don't really understand the attraction of purely AI-generated books. There's no fun in that for me, and there's no transformation, either. Of course, I LOVE using Chat and Claude and Gemini Thinking models as my brainstorming partners, my research buddies, my marketing assistants, and as daily tools to keep me sparkly. I smiled as I wrote that (and yes, I human-wrote this!) because sparkly is how I feel when I work with these tools. Programmers use the term ‘vibe coding' which is going back and forth and collaborating together, sparking off each other. Perhaps that I am doing is ‘vibe creation.' I feel it as almost an effervescence, a fun experience that has me laughing out loud sometimes. I am more creative, I am more in flow. I am more ‘me' now I can create and think at a speed way faster than ever before. My mind has always worked at speed and my fingers are fast on the keys but working in this way makes me feel like I create in the high performance zone far more often. I intend to lean more into that in 2026 as part of my own transformation (and of course, I share my experiences mainly in the Community at patreon.com/thecreativepenn ). [Note, I pay for access to all models, and currently use ChatGPT 5.2 Thinking, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3 Pro). So that's the big shift this year, and the idea of the Transformation Economy will underpin everything else in terms of my content. The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community The Creative Penn Podcast continues in 2026, although I am intending to reduce my interviews to once every two weeks, with my intro and other content in between. We'll see how that goes as I am already finding some fascinating people to talk to!  Thank you for your comments, your pictures, and also for sharing the episodes that resonate with you with the wider community. Your reviews are also super useful wherever you are listening to this, so please leave a review wherever you're listening this as it helps with discovery.  Thanks also to everyone in my Patreon Community, which I really enjoy, especially as we have doubled down on being human through more live office hours. I will do more of those in 2026 and the first one of the year will blearily UK time so Aussies and Kiwis can come. I also share new content almost every week, either an article, a video or an audio episode around writing craft, author business, and lots on different use cases for AI tools.  If you join the Patreon, start on the Collections tab where you will find all the backlist content to explore. It's less than the price of a coffee a month so if you get value from the show, and you want more, come on over and join us at patreon.com/thecreativepenn My Books and Travel Podcast is on hiatus for interviews, since the Masters is taking up the time I would have had for that. However I plan to post some solo episodes in 2026, and I also post travel articles there, like my visits to Gothic cathedrals and city breaks and things like that. Check it out at https://www.booksandtravel.page/blog/  Webinars and live events Along with my Patreon office hours, I'm enjoying the immediacy and energy of live webinars and they work with my focus on transformation, as well as on ‘doubling down on being human' in an age of AI, so I will be doing more this year. The first is on Business for Authors, coming on 10 and 24 January, which is aimed at helping you transform your author business in 2026, or if you're just getting started, then transform into someone who has even a small clue about business in general!Details at TheCreativePenn.com/live and Patrons get 25% off. In terms of live in-person events, it looks like I will be speaking at the Alliance of Independent Authors event at the London Book Fair in March, and I'll attend the Self-Publishing Show Live in June, although I won't be speaking. There might be other things that emerge, but in general, I'm not doing much speaking in 2026 because I need to … Finish my Masters in Death, Religion, and Culture This represents a lot of work as I am doing the course full-time. I should be finished in September, and much of the middle of the year will be focused on a dissertation. I'm planning on doing something around AI and death, so that will no doubt lead into some fiction at a later stage! Talking of fiction … Bones of the Deep — J.F. Penn The Masters is pretty serious, as is academic research and writing in general, and I found myself desperate to write a rollicking fun story over the holiday break between terms. I've talked about this ‘tall-ship' story for a while and now I'm committing to it. Back in 1999, I sailed on the tall-ship Soren Larsen from Fiji to Vanuatu, one of the three trips that shaped my life. It was the first time I'd been to the South Pacific, the first time I sailed blue water (with no land in sight), and I kept a journal and drew maps of the trip. It also helped me a make a decision to leave the UK and I headed for Australia nine months later in early 2000, and ended up being away 11 years in Australia and New Zealand. I came home to visit of course, but only moved back to the UK in 2011, so that trip was memorable and pivotal in many ways and has stuck in my mind. The story is based on that crossing, but of course, as J.F. Penn my imagination turns it into essentially a ‘locked room,' there is no escape out there, especially if the danger comes from the sea. Another strand of the story comes from a recent academic essay for my Masters, when I wrote about the changes in museum ethics around human remains and medical specimens i.e. body parts in jars, and how some remains have been repatriated to the indigenous peoples they were stolen from. I've also talked before about how I love ‘merfolk' horror like Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter, and Merfolk by Jeremy Bates. These are no smiling fantasy mermaids and mermen. They are predators. What might happen if the remains of a mer-saint were stolen from the deep, and what might happen to the ship that the remains are being transported in, and the people on board?  I'm about a third in, and I am having great fun! It will actually be a thriller, with a supernatural edge, rather than horror, and it is called Bones of the Deep, and it will be out on Kickstarter in April, and everywhere by the summer.  You can check out the Kickstarter pre-launch page with photos from my 1999 trip, the cover for the book, and the sales description at JFPenn.com/bones Add merch to CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com I've dipped my toe into merch a number of times and then removed the products, but now I'm clear on my message of transformation, I want to revisit this. My books remain core for both sites, but for CreativePennBooks, I also want to add other products with what are essentially affirmations — ‘Creative,' ‘I am creative, I am an author,' and variants of the poster I have had on my wall for years, ‘Measure your life by what you create.' This is the affirmation I had in my wallet for years! For JFPennBooks, the items will be gothic/memento mori/skull-related. Everything will be print-on-demand. I will not be shipping anything myself, so I'm working with my designer Jane on this and then need to order test samples, and then get them added to the store. Likely mid-year at this rate! How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories and Short Story Collections — Joanna Penn I have a draft of this already which I expanded from the transcript of a webinar I did on this topic as part of The Buried and the Drowned campaign. It turns out I've learned a lot about this over the years, and also on how to make a collection, so I will get that out at some point this year. I won't do a Kickstarter for it, but I will do direct sales for at least a month and include a special edition, workbook, and bundles on my store first before putting it wide. I will also human-narrate that audiobook. Other possible books I'm an intuitive creative and discovery writer, so I don't plan out what I will write in a year. The books tend to emerge and then I pick the next one that feels the most important. After the ones above, there are a few candidates. Crown of Thorns, ARKANE thriller #14. Regular readers and listeners will know how much I love religious relics, and it's about time for a big one! I have a trip to Paris planned in the spring, as the Crown of Thorns is at Notre Dame, and I have some other locations to visit. My ARKANE thrillers always emerge from in-person travels, so I am looking forward to that. Maybe late 2026, maybe 2027. AI + religion technothriller/short stories. I already have some ideas sketched out for this and my Masters thesis will be something around AI, religion, and death, so I expect something will emerge from all that study and academic writing. Not sure what, but it will be interesting! The Gothic Cathedral Book. I have tens of thousands of words written, and lots of research and photos and thoughts. But it is still in the creative chaos phase (which I love!) and as yet has not emerged into anything coherent. Perhaps it will in 2026, and the plan is to re-focus on it after my Masters dissertation.  I feel like the Masters study and the academic research process will make this an even better book, But I am holding my plans for this lightly, as it feels like another ‘big' book for me, like my ‘shadow book' (which became Writing the Shadow) and took more than a decade to write! How to be Creative. I have also written bits and bobs on this over many years, but it feels like it is re-emerging as part of my focus on transformation. Probably unlikely for 2026 but now back on the list … Experiment more with AI translation AI-assisted translation has been around for years now in various forms, and I have experimented with some of the services, as well as working with human narrators and editors in different languages, as well as licensing books in translation. But when Amazon launched Kindle Translate in November 2025, it made me think that AI-assisted translation will become a lot more popular in 2026. AI audiobook narration became good enough for many audiobooks in 2025, and it seems like AI-translation will be the same in 2026. Yes, of course, human translation is still the gold standard, as is human narration, and that would be the primary choice for all of us — if it was affordable. But frankly, it's not affordable for most indie authors, and indeed many small publishers. Many books don't get an audiobook edition and most books don't get translated into every language. It costs thousands per book for a human translator, and so it is a premium option. I have only ever made a small profit on the books that I paid for with human translators and it took years, and while I have a few nice translation deals on some books, I'm planning to experiment more with AI translation in 2026. More languages, more markets, more opportunities to reach readers. More on this in the next episode when I'll cover trends for 2026. Ideally outsource more marketing to AI, but do more marketing anyway You have to reach readers somehow, and you have to pay for book marketing with your time and/or your money. Those authors killing it on TikTok pay with their time, and those leaning heavily on ads are paying with money. Most of us do a bit of both. There is no passive income from books, and even a backlist has to be marketed if you want to see any return. But I, like most authors, am not excited about book marketing. I'd rather be working on new books, or thinking about the ramifications of the changes ahead and writing or talking about that in my Patreon Community or here on the podcast. However, my book sales income remains about the same even as I (slowly) produce more books, so I need to do more book marketing in 2026. I said that last year of course, and didn't do much more than I did in 2024, so here I am again promising to do a better job! Every year, I hope to have my “AI book marketing assistant” up and running, and maybe this will be the year it happens. My measure is to be able to upload a book and specify a budget and say, ‘Go market this,' and then the AI will action the marketing, without me having to cobble together workflows between systems. Of course, it will present plans for me to approve but it will do the work itself on the various platforms and monitor and optimize things for me. We have something like that already with Amazon auto-ads, but that is specific to Amazon Advertising and only works with certain books in certain genres. I have auto-ads running for a couple of non-fiction books, but not for any fiction. I'd also ideally like more sales on my direct stores, JFPennBooks.com and CreativePennBooks.com which means a different kind of marketing. Perhaps this will happen through ChatGPT shopping or other AI-assisted e-commerce, which should be increasing in 2026. More on that in trends for the year to come in the next show. Double down on being human, health and travel I have a lot of plans for travel both for book research and also holidays with Jonathan but he has to finish his MBA and then we have some family things that take priority, so I am not sure where or when yet, but it will happen! Paris will definitely happen as part of the research for Crown of Thorns, hopefully in the spring. I've been to Paris many times as it's just across the Channel and we can go by train but it's always wonderful to visit again. Health-wise, I'll continue with powerlifting and weight training twice a week as well as walking every day. It's my happy place! What about you? If you'd like to share your goals for 2026, please add them in the comments below — and remember, I'm a full-time author entrepreneur so my goals are substantial. Don't worry if yours are as simple as ‘Finish the first draft of my book,' as that still takes a lot of work and commitment! All the best for 2026 — let's get into it! The post My 2026 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

If you've ever looked at Amazon and wondered how some brands scale effortlessly while others disappear into a sea of competitors, you're not alone. Amazon can feel like an unpredictable giant—full of opportunity, but also packed with complexity. And as more entrepreneurs jump in, the brands that win aren't the ones chasing trends…they're the ones building with intention. Today's guest, Pasha Knish, has lived through every era of Amazon—from the Wild West days of early e-commerce to today's data-driven, hyper-competitive marketplace. With more than 13 years of hands-on selling experience and over $30M in revenue generated across dozens of categories, Pasha has mastered the science and art of sustained Amazon success. In this episode, Pasha pulls back the curtain on product selection, brand-building, organic ranking, and the future of AI-driven e-commerce—and what sellers must get right to scale smarter. Building an Amazon Brand That Solves a Real Problem Pasha's journey into Amazon began with experimentation—selling random products, discovering early opportunities, and launching a successful private-label brand long before the platform became saturated.  But the landscape has changed dramatically. Today, sellers can't simply pick a trending item and hope for the best. Amazon rewards solutions, not commodities. According to Pasha, the first step to a scalable product isn't creativity—it's clarity. Successful sellers reverse-engineer demand by digging into negative reviews, identifying gaps in the market, and building a product that solves a meaningful, proven problem. That's the difference between a product that launches and one that lasts. The New Era of Amazon Advertising and Organic Growth Beyond product strategy, Pasha shares how Amazon's ad platform has transformed and why focusing on Amazon's built-in tools is more effective than spreading efforts across outside channels. Instead of relying on other platforms to drive traffic, he uses Amazon's own customer data to reach buyers who are already interested and ready to take action. But ads are only one piece of the puzzle. Pasha explains why organic visibility matters just as much, especially now. Many sellers overlook the backend fields of their listings, yet these details are what help Amazon understand exactly what a product is and who should see it.  This philosophy inspired the software Pasha is building: a tool that simplifies and automates backend updates so more sellers can improve organic performance without drowning in technical work. At the heart of it all, Pasha believes Amazon success comes from constant learning and resilience. Every setback becomes a lesson, and every lesson creates an opportunity to grow stronger. Enjoy this episode with Pasha Knish… Soundbytes 10:59 – 11:16 "If you can give Amazon the most accurate representation of your product in those backend fields, you're going to show up better organically." 28:13 – 28:19 "If people like you and they find out you have a product, they'll probably buy it because they like you." 30:15 – 30:20 "You have to know exactly who you're advertising to. In a saturated market, going after top keywords will just lose all your money." Quotes "If you don't have a product differentiator, you'll spend all your money and never succeed." "The failures are what pave the way to success." "Backend optimization matters. Amazon is a categorizing system, and you need to fit cleanly into it." Links mentioned in this episode: From Our Guest Website: https://amzoptimized.com/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/pasha-knish Connect with brandiD Find out how top leaders are increasing their authority, impact, and income online. Listen to our private podcast, The Professional Presence Podcast: https://thebrandid.com/professional-presence-podcast Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

In this episode, host Josh interviews Steven Yates, CEO of Prime Guidance, about strategies for scaling e-commerce brands. Steve emphasizes optimizing Amazon listings and leveraging all available tools before expanding to other marketplaces like Walmart or eBay. He discusses the importance of having a direct-to-consumer website, maximizing Amazon advertising, and using analytics tools to track performance. Steve provides actionable advice on when and how to diversify sales channels, ensuring brands grow efficiently and profitably while building a strong foundation on Amazon first.Chapters:Introduction to Steven Yates and Prime Guidance (00:00:00)Josh introduces Steven Yates, his background, and expertise in retail management and e-commerce.When to Expand Beyond Amazon (00:00:48)Discussion on timing and considerations for expanding to other marketplaces like Walmart, eBay, Wayfair, and international markets.Sales Lift Estimates from Other Marketplaces (00:01:28)Steve provides rough estimates of sales lift from Walmart, eBay, and other channels compared to Amazon.Importance of Optimizing Amazon Before Expanding (00:01:39)Emphasis on being 80-90% optimized on Amazon before moving to other marketplaces.Choosing the Right Next Marketplace (00:03:32)Advice on analyzing where your customers are and not following a cookie-cutter approach to expansion.Launching a DTC E-commerce Website (00:04:04)Discussion on when and why to launch a direct-to-consumer website alongside Amazon.Benefits of Having a DTC Website (00:04:38)Steve explains the strategic advantages of having your own e-commerce site for brand building and customer retention.Capturing and Nurturing Website Visitors (00:05:46)Tactics for capturing emails and engaging visitors who land on your DTC website.Key Levers to Pull on Amazon (00:06:21)Josh asks for a list of actionable levers to increase sales and grow a brand on Amazon.Detailed Breakdown of Amazon Optimization Levers (00:06:33)Steve details optimization tactics: product pages, infographics, A+ content, pricing, assortment, advertising, and Amazon programs.Amazon Advertising and External Traffic Strategies (00:08:05)Discussion on types of Amazon ads, external traffic, and leveraging Amazon's Brand Referral Bonus.Utilizing Amazon Programs and Betas (00:09:11)Overview of Amazon programs like FBA Small and Lite, brand store, Amazon posts, and customer engagement emails.Order of Operations for Optimization and Traffic (00:10:31)Advice on optimizing for Amazon's algorithm and conversion before scaling advertising and traffic.Three Actionable Takeaways for Brands (00:11:21)Josh summarizes three key takeaways: maximize Amazon levers, focus on Amazon traffic, then expand to other channels.Tools for Tracking Amazon Metrics (00:13:40)Discussion on aggregating and analyzing Amazon data using third-party tools and Excel.Brand Analytics and Bonus Tool Recommendation (00:14:59)Steve recommends using Amazon Brand Analytics and nozzle.ai for tracking repeat purchases and customer lifetime value.Where to Learn More About Prime Guidance (00:16:21)Steve shares how listeners can contact or follow Prime Guidance for further help.Links and Mentions:Tools and Websites  Prime Guidance  Shopify WooCommerceAmazon Attribution Program  Amazon Posts  Helium 10Nozzle AI  Transcript:Josh 00:00:00  Today, I'm excited to introduce you to Steve Yates. He is the CEO and founder of Prime Guidance. Steve developed well-rounded expertise working for multi-billion dollar fortune 500 retailers such as Amazon, Dick's Sporting Goods and eBay enterprise prior to founding Prime guidance in all industry consulting. With 30 years experience in retail management and 23 years experience in e-commerce. Steve and his team provide companies with strategic advice and innovative solutions that are based on real life experience working for industry leading retailers. He helps companies grow faster, smarter and more profitably by providing advice, mentoring and coaching for today's busy executives. So welcome to the podcast, Steve.Steven 00:00:46  Thank you. Josh. Thanks for having me.Josh 00:00:48  One of the first questions I want to ask, just kind of selfishly for myself, because we're looking to expand onto different channels right now with our business. We've grown to eight figures just on Amazon alone. But we're we are looking to, you know, is it time to explore or double down more on Walmart eBay, Wayfair? Do we try to get into target? Do we go international right and start shipping stuff into Canada, Mexico, the UK, etc.? So my question to you here, Steve, is what kind of sales lift do you see from those different marketplaces? Right.Josh 00:01:28  Like what do you estimate as hey you go to Walmart it best case scenario, you're probably looking at a 10% lift eBay. Maybe it's a 2%, you know, so on and so forth.Steven 00:01:39  Yeah. So it's a very tricky question because I've seen it wildly different. So interesting. I had to if I had to, to put a rough assumption across a lot of different categories and product lines, I would say Walmart is the very next marketplace you're going to want to focus on outside of Amazon. And by the way, don't do it until you're what I like to say 80 to 90% optimized on Amazon. Don't spend your time on these smaller marketplaces, because that's oftentimes the shiny object that gets you in trouble when you're doing a whole bunch of different things, you're not doing any of them well. You've got to you've got to be really well positioned on Amazon. And when I say 80 to 90%, I don't mean of your total opportunity for growth. But if you've identified all these levers you need to pull on Amazon, you need to have a good storefront.Steven 00:02:26  You need to have A+ content. I need to have all of these different components pulled together. Do you feel good about how well optimized they are, and are they in place 80 to 90% of where they should be before you, you know, start migrating to another marketplace? Because if you don't, you're essentially lifting and shifting a catalog that's not optimized to another marketplace. And now all of your optimization efforts are going to be that much harder because you're doing full optimizations across a whole bunch of marketplaces. That's a that's always a risk. I would say Walmart is probably, in the number of 10 to 20% of the Amazon business, and eBay is probably the neighborhood of 10%, maybe 5 to 10% of the, of the Amazon business. but it really does differ quite a bit. I've seen some I've seen some people that actually sell more on Etsy than they do on Amazon because their product is sold out after on that website. I've seen people that do phenomenal on eBay, even though eBay is, you know, not not growing.Steven 00:03:32  It's. Yeah, it's it just so happens that their customers there and that's why I go goes back to, analyzing where your customers spend their time and money and make sure you're present there, do it in the right order. But ultimately make sure you're you're present there. And where you go next is not a cookie cutter answer just because everybody else goes to this next Walmart, you know, Walmart next or eBay after that or whatever, doesn't mean that's...

In this episode, Mike and Dan Head of AMZ Elite break down three weekly Amazon PPC tasks that actually move performance today.We focus on what's working now—covering how Dan reviews N-gram analysis and N-gram ASINs each week to identify hidden waste and new opportunities. He explains how he uses ACOS Power Ratio to judge keyword efficiency beyond surface-level ACOS, and how a simple CVR sheet helps diagnose whether poor performance comes from traffic or the listing itself.We also dive into image generation and creative updates, and why testing visuals regularly is a non-negotiable part of weekly PPC optimization.If you want a clear, repeatable weekly routine for Amazon PPC—one that connects data, conversion, and creatives—this episode breaks it down step by step.We'll see you in The PPC Den!

Learn how to take back control of your Amazon PPC, fix costly agency mistakes, and use rules-based ads plus new Sponsored Products video formats to scale profitably on Amazon.   In this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, Bradley dives into one of the biggest pitfalls he sees Amazon sellers fall into: handing their PPC over to an agency before they truly understand how advertising works. That loss of control doesn't just cost money; it keeps you in the dark on whether your campaigns are actually growing your brand or quietly draining profits in the background.   To prove it, he spotlights a real case study from the new Helium 10 Outsourced to Optimized series. Helium 10's own Carrie Miller and Destaney Wishon from BetterAMS walk through what happened when they opened Carrie's account: profitable campaigns randomly shut off, creatives that didn't match search intent, and VCPM display campaigns that looked like rock stars in the dashboard but weren't driving incremental sales. From there, they rebuild the entire strategy on the fundamentals: a clean campaign structure, SKUs grouped intelligently, 10-30 targets per campaign, and rules-based bid management tied to real business objectives, such as organic rank, BSR, and strict ACoS targets.   Throughout the conversation, you'll see how a self-described “non-PPC person” can learn to manage sophisticated Amazon ads with the help of Helium 10 Ads and their Ads Academy training. Destaney shows Carrie how to utilize bid rules, keyword harvesting, negative targeting, and Amazon's newer tools, such as Creative Studio and Sponsored Products video ads, without turning PPC into a full-time job. They also break down off-season strategies, what to fix when you're getting impressions but no conversions, and how much of your revenue should realistically flow back into ads. The big takeaway: whether you keep an agency, lean on software, or run everything yourself, you need to understand the basics of Amazon PPC so you can keep partners accountable and finally take back control of your Amazon advertising.   In episode 479 of the AM/PM Podcast, Bradley, Carrie, and Destaney discuss: 00:00 – Introduction 05:48 – Carrie's Amazon PPC Agency Issues 07:19 – Carrie Learns PPC From Scratch 10:23 – Rules-Based Bidding With Helium 10 Ads 14:24 – When To Automate Your Amazon Ads 18:11 – Scalable Campaign Structure For Sellers 23:16 – Single-Keyword Campaigns & Dayparting 28:36 – Keyword-Specific Creatives & Creative Studio 30:54 – Off-Season Strategy & Fixing Conversions 33:08 – Sponsored Product Video Ads Launch 36:00 – Scaling Benchmarks & Ad Spend Targets 40:09 – Final PPC Lessons & Next Step

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Wayne Purboo, VP of Video Advertising at Amazon Ads.This episode was recorded at Amazon unBoxed 2025 in Nashville TNFollow Wayne on LinkedIn at: http://linkedin.com/in/purbooFollow Amazon Ads on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/amazonadvertising/Follow Amazon Ads online at: https://advertising.amazon.com/Wayne answers these questions:Wayne, you've been in media, tech and now advertising at Amazon. Can you walk us through your journey and how you landed in the CPG‐advertising intersection along with what does your current role at Amazon Advertising look like? What are the core responsibilities and strategic levers you focus on?Coming from entrepreneurial & video/telecom roots (e.g., your time co-founding QuickPlay Media) how has that shaped your perspective now in a large ecosystem like Amazon?Many CPG brands think “Amazon = retail channel” but there's a whole advertising & media angle. How do you advise brands to better harness the “media + commerce” capability of Amazon, especially with video?From your vantage point, what are the most common mistakes CPG brands make when planning Amazon-advertising budgets with video?How does you define success for a CPG brand? Are there metrics beyond lower funnel that brands should be paying more attention to, especially with video?Video, streaming, influencer, live-commerce: Which media formats do you think are the most under-utilised by CPG brands on Amazon right now, and why?How should CPG brands think about full-funnel versus upper-funnel investments when advertising on Amazon? Is there a "sweet spot" you're seeing?What advice would you give a CPG brand that's just starting to advertise on Amazon (i.e., their first campaign) on leveraging video — what some things should they absolutely nail?On the flip side: what advanced tactics or experiments are you seeing the most exciting results from, for brands already well-established on Amazon?Are there “best practice” frameworks or internal Amazon Advertising tools that brands should know about (or ask for) re : video / streaming that many overlook?Over the next 3-5 years, what do you think will be the biggest disruptors in CPG advertising (on Amazon and beyond) with video?CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.comFMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.comSheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/Rhea Raj's Website: http://rhearaj.comLara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual's use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

In this episode, discover Amazon's newest AI creative tools for PPC, including Creative Agent and Sponsored Products Video, and learn how sellers can generate high-quality ads faster than ever. ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft In this episode, recorded live at Amazon Unboxed in Nashville, Bradley sits down with Jenny Liu, one of the Amazon Ads' product managers behind the latest wave of AI-powered creative tools. Jenny's team builds the systems that are transforming how Amazon sellers create videos, images, and ad assets across Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display. If you've heard about Amazon Advertising's new Creative Agent and wondered how it actually works, this episode gives you the insider perspective. Jenny walks us through the evolution of Amazon's creative ecosystem: from early one-click image generators to today's full conversational, agentic workflows that let sellers input nothing more than an ASIN, a simple goal, and a rough idea. The agent then learns your intent, pulls from your product detail page, and automatically generates polished videos, lifestyle imagery, and ad-ready creative concepts. Whether you're not “graphically inclined” or you're a creative pro trying to scale variations and testing, these tools are designed to unlock high-quality output for all skill levels. Bradley and Jenny also dive into real-world applications, how custom creatives now influence performance, what makes shoppers stop scrolling, and why strong visuals matter even in Sponsored Products. Jenny explains why Amazon's creative philosophy is shifting toward storytelling, brand authenticity, and giving sellers more flexibility to express what makes their product unique. As she puts it, AI is not here to replace the marketer; it's here to take away the manual work so sellers can focus on what message they want their brand to communicate. To wrap up the episode, Bradley is joined briefly by longtime SSP guest Destaney Wishon, who shares her two biggest takeaways from Unboxed: the scale-changing impact of Creative Agent and the rollout of Sponsored Products Video placements. In episode 724 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jenny discuss: 01:40 – Meet Jenny Liu 03:20 – The Evolution of Amazon Ad Creatives 06:00 – Why Creative Matters More Than Ever in PPC 08:10 – Introducing Creative Agent: Amazon's New AI Creative Partner 11:10 – What Inputs Creative Agent Uses (and Why You Don't Need Prompting Skills) 15:00 – Real Use Case: Creative Ideas for Bradley's Brand 24:00 – Jenny's Core Message: These Tools Are Free, Simple, and Ready to Use 27:30 – Destaney's Take: Her Top 2 Favorite Announcements From Unboxed Enjoy this episode? Be sure to check out our previous episodes for even more content to propel you to Amazon FBA Seller success! And don't forget to “Like” our Facebook page and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our podcast. Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started: Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business. Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say. Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation. SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.  

Dave's guest this week is Carly McMillen, Director of Marketing at AdLabs. Carly shares how she's flipping the traditional PPC playbook—focusing on contribution margin instead of ROAS—and what that means for smarter, more sustainable growth. She and Dave also dive into how brands can stand out on Amazon, the creative strategies that still make a difference, and the new AI tools changing the way advertisers test and optimize campaigns.Plus, Carly breaks down what's next for Amazon Marketing Cloud and why data-driven storytelling is quickly becoming every brand's biggest advantage.Connect with Carly on LinkedInFollow Beyond the Shelf on LinkedInLearn More about It'sRapidGet the It'sRapid Creative Automation PlaybookTake It'sRapid's Creative Workflow Automation with AI surveyEmail us at sales@itsrapid.io to find out how to get your free AI Image AuditTheme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

In dieser Ausgabe des AOM DSP Snacks nehmen Host Florian Vette und Ad Tech Experte Florian Giulio Votta Twitch genauer unter die Lupe – eine Plattform, die für viele Marken noch unterschätzt wird, obwohl sie längst weit über Gaming hinausgewachsen ist. Zu Beginn sprechen die beiden darüber, wie Twitch sich vom Nischen-Streaming zum interaktiven „Live-Fernsehen“ entwickelt hat: Warum verbringen Nutzer dort stundenlang ihre Abende? Wieso entsteht eine so starke Community-Dynamik – und wie verändert das die Art, wie Inhalte konsumiert werden? Die beiden sprechen über Zielgruppen, Werbeakzeptanz und die Frage, für welche Marken Twitch überraschend gut funktioniert. Wie gelingt es Unternehmen, bestehende Influencer- oder Team-Partnerschaften clever in die DSP zu verlängern? Und warum führt ein aktivierter Streamer oft zu Warenkörben, die deutlich größer ausfallen als in anderen Channels? Zum Schluss blicken die beiden auf konkrete Cases rund um die Icon League und zeigen, wie sich Awareness aus dem Live-Event programmatisch verlängern lässt: Wie funktioniert das Retargeting von Streamern und Fans? Und warum ist die Abstimmung zwischen Marketing und E-Commerce dabei entscheidend?

Let's dive into Amazon PPC and break down DSP, AMC, wasted ad spend, and smarter campaign strategies. Learn how top brands win with data-driven advertising.   Can you afford to miss out on the secrets behind optimizing Amazon PPC, AMC, and DSP? Brent Zahradnik, a seasoned expert in Amazon advertising, brings his wealth of experience to our show, uncovering the complexities of Amazon advertising. Brent's journey from the US to France adds a unique perspective to the conversation as he shares how balancing work across time zones and immersing in French culture has enriched his professional insights.   Amazon advertising has evolved dramatically from its early days of low cost-per-click rates and basic ad options. This episode unpacks the intricate landscape that demands expert management today, highlighting how advanced targeting and analytics have transformed strategy requirements. Brent shares poignant anecdotes of Amazon's initial ad experiments, while navigating the challenges that both advertisers and clients face in maintaining a competitive edge in this pay-to-play ecosystem.   The potential impact of AI on Amazon advertising agencies is another compelling topic Brent tackles, discussing how tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) and Demand Side Platform (DSP) can revolutionize efficiency. With insights into selecting the right agency and the importance of comprehensive service packages, Brent guides listeners through optimizing their Amazon ad strategy. Whether you're a brand new to the platform or a seasoned seller, this episode promises actionable insights and the guidance needed to thrive in today's Amazon marketplace.   In episode 47 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Brent discuss: 00:00 - Exploring Amazon PPC With Brent Zahradnik 06:39 - Rise of Amazon Advertising Complexity 09:53 - Evolution of Amazon Advertising 12:44 - Agency vs Software in Amazon Sales 16:25 - AI in Amazon Advertising and Integration 23:00 - Impact of Rufus and COSMO in Amazon Advertising 26:08 - Amazon PPC Strategy and Data Analysis  30:55 - Keyword Strategy for Amazon Ranking 32:00 - Amazon DSP and Advertising Efficiency 35:07 - Modern Brand Building With Amazon DSP 38:16 - Combining Data Sets for Targeted Ads 41:26 - Customer Funnel Strategy for Conquesting 42:54 - Optimizing Amazon PPC and DSP Investments 47:59 - How Brands Can Utilize Amazon DSP 49:55 - Selecting an Amazon Advertising Agency 56:19 - Automated Conversion Campaigns in DSP 58:21 - Human Touch in Modern Advertising

Send us a textThe video describes Amazon Ads' new benchmark report, a feature available through the Campaign Manager that helps sellers evaluate their advertising performance compared to industry standards. The report provides metrics on key performance indicators like cost per click, purchase rates, and new-to-brand metrics, allowing sellers to compare their results against category averages. This can help sellers determine if their advertising strategy is competitive within their category.The benchmarks include data such as the average cost per click (CPC), where the user's CPC can be compared with the benchmark for the same category, giving insight into whether they are overspending or underperforming. Similarly, the report tracks metrics like cost per purchase and purchase rate for new-to-brand customers. By comparing these values, sellers can see how their performance stacks up against competitors in the same category.The introduction of benchmarks allows sellers to make more informed, data-driven decisions by offering insights into whether their campaigns are on track with the industry standard or if adjustments are needed. This is particularly valuable for sellers who may be uncertain about their advertising strategy or spending, providing a clearer perspective on how they compare with competitors.The video encourages users to explore this new benchmark feature within their Amazon Advertising console and take action based on the insights provided, potentially optimizing their campaigns or making necessary adjustments to improve performance relative to their category.#AmazonAds #AmazonMarketing #EcommerceGrowth #AmazonBenchmarks #adperformance Want free resources? Dowload our Free Amazon guides here:Q4 Selling Playbook: https://bit.ly/46Wqkm3 2025 Ecommerce Holiday Playbook: https://bit.ly/4hbygov Amazon PPC Guide 2025: https://bit.ly/4lF0OYX 2025 Ecommerce Holiday Playbook: https://bit.ly/4hbygovAmazon Crisis Kit: https://bit.ly/4maWHn0Amazon SEO Toolkit: https://bit.ly/457zjSlNeed personalized help? Book a call now and let's drive your performance to the next level! https://bit.ly/4jMZtxuTimestamps:00:00 - Amazon Ads Benchmark Report01:20 - Comparing Your Campaign to Competitors02:30 - Understanding Cost Per Click and Cost Per Purchase03:10 - What Does This Benchmark Data Mean for Your Brand?04:00 - How to Use Benchmark Data for Better Amazon Ads----------------------------------------------Follow us:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28605816/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenpopemag/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/myamazonguys/Twitter: https://twitter.com/myamazonguySubscribe to the My Amazon Guy podcast: https://podcast.myamazonguy.comApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-amazon-guy/id1501974229Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4A5ASHGGfr6s4wWNQIqyVwSupport the show

In this episode, Michael and Sean Stone dive into the biggest Amazon opportunities of 2025 — how to leverage Amazon Marketing Cloud Audiences and the new Deals rules to maximize Q4 performance. They share real account insights, campaign strategies, and explain why now is the best time ever to be selling on Amazon.We'll see you in The PPC Den!

Send us a textQ4 is the make-or-break moment for Amazon sellers. Learn how to optimize your PPC and ad campaigns for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to boost your sales. We'll show you how to target new customers, adjust your bids, and avoid common mistakes that could cost you profits.Download the Ultimate Q4 Playbook for Amazon Sellers. Maximize your sales with our step-by-step holiday strategy: https://bit.ly/46Wqkm3Ready to dominate Q4? Book a call now to get personalized advice on maximizing your holiday sales: https://bit.ly/4jMZtxu#AmazonSellers #Q4Success #BlackFridaySales #CyberMondayStrategy #ecommercegrowth Watch these videos on YouTube:What It's Really Like Starting a Brand on Amazon From Nothing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4JE5CoNK0AThis Is the Best Way to Start Amazon Ads for a New Product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnyErLXEDj4&t=13s-----------------------------------------------Tired of marketplace limits? Let's talk real growth with ecommerce strategy: https://bit.ly/4kOz6rrStop wasting ad spend. Grab the PPC guide that actually drives results: https://bit.ly/4lF0OYXRank higher and sell faster, get the SEO tools built for real growth: https://bit.ly/3JyMDGoBe ready before problems hit, download the kit every brand should have: https://bit.ly/4maWHn0Timestamps00:00 - Introduction to Q4: How it can make or break your business00:40 - Why Sales and Impressions Drop in Early Q4 (October to November)01:45 - Understanding Consumer Behavior and Waiting for Black Friday Deals02:40 - Avoid Panic: The Worst Mistake Sellers Make in Early Q403:20 - How to Optimize Budgets and Bids During Slow Periods04:05 - Using Brand Tailored Promotions for New Customer Acquisition04:45 - The Power of Audience Group Advertising in Amazon Ads05:25 - Best Audience Segments to Target During the Holiday Season06:10 - Leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud for Audience Targeting07:00 - Retargeting Cart Abandoners: A Strategy for Boosting Conversions07:50 - High-Value Customer Segments: Targeting Big Spenders for Q408:35 - Optimizing Ads During Black Friday & Cyber Monday: Key Tips09:15 - Lowering Bids to Avoid Wasting Budget During the Holiday Rush09:55 - How to Set Up New Campaigns Early for Black Friday and Cyber Monday10:35 - Final Tips for Effective Q4 Campaigns and Optimizing Sales----------------------------------------------Follow us:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28605816/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenpopemag/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/myamazonguys/Twitter: https://twitter.com/myamazonguySubscribe to the My Amazon Guy podcast: https://podcast.myamazonguy.comApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-amazon-guy/id1501974229Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4A5ASHGGfr6s4wWNQIqyVwSupport the show

In this Retail Technology Spotlight Series episode, Julie Haleluk, Global Head of Growth at Amazon Shopping Video, and Wayne Purboo, VP of Amazon Advertising and Amazon Shoppable Video, join Omni Talk to reveal the future of social commerce and how AI is transforming the way we shop. From the evolution of shoppable video to agentic commerce, Julie and Wayne break down why social commerce isn't going away, how to measure video content beyond the live moment, and why brands need to clean up their data NOW before AI agents start shopping for customers. If you've ever wondered what's next in retail video and social commerce, this episode is for you.

In this episode of Local Marketing Trends, Gordon & Corey dive into Amazon's move into the audio landscape. As Amazon forges partnerships with Spotify, SiriusXM, and traditional AM/FM radio groups, the e-commerce giant is redefining how SMBs can buy geotargeted audio commercials. Gordon sits down with Amazon DSP director Meredith Goldman to explore whether traditional radio should see Amazon as a competitor or a collaborator. The conversation reveals how technology, targeting, and a renewed focus on SMBs are reshaping the ad game. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join our Research Alert Lists. As always, thank you for listening. If you like the episode, leave us a review!  Want to join the conversation? Share your comments at borrellassociates.com/podcast.

What's Amazon doing in the local advertising space? Beyond offering geotargeted video and display ads on its own massive network, will Amazon make purchasing a radio, TV, or newspaper ad as simple as its "BUY NOW" button? In this episode, Gordon & Corey take their questions to Jennifer Mock Donohue, a former local radio and TV executive now heading up Amazon Local Advertising. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join our Research Alert Lists. As always, thank you for listening. If you like the episode, leave us a review!  Want to join the conversation? Share your comments at borrellassociates.com/podcast.

Everyone says Amazon is the Wild Wild West. Back in 2012 it sure was. We've come a long way from then, however. In 2025 most categories are growing YOY, there are more competitors, Amazon is releasing incredible amounts of data, and everyone wants in on the fun. Things sure are heating up. Will Haire, Co-Founder of BellaVix, a marketplace agency, and one of Michael's peers, joins us on this episode of The Longer Game to talk shop and take cheap shots at each other.Want to know how much to spend on ads? Well, it depends. Think SEO is dead? Think again. Everything you thought you knew is the same and yet oh so different. If this doesn't make sense, just give it a listen! Put on your thinking cap and get ready to follow these fellas down the portal of the world of Amazon.The Longer Game is a podcast focused on leaning into the trends and advancements in retail so brands see a clearer path to success across ALL channels. We're looking at retail in a whole new way, looking to better understand the future of retail. It's Retail Reimagined. Sharing hope about the future. No one channel can a business sustain. Go omni-channel.Like what you're hearing? Subscribe to our channel and make sure to click or tap the bell so you get notified whenever new episodes drop.Want to learn more about The Longer Game? Head over to https://thelongergame.com to read show notes, watch more episodes, or contact us.Follow us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/thelongergameFollow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thelongergameFollow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thelongergameOur guest's name is Will Haire. Will Haire is the Founder and CEO of BellaVix, an agency helping brands grow on Amazon and Walmart. He has over a decade of experience in eCommerce, specializing in Amazon Advertising, Seller Central, and DSP. Based in North Carolina, Will is also the host of the Selling on Giants podcast, where he shares insights for marketplace operators.You can find them at...Website: https://www.bellavix.com/Find them on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willhaire/Find them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellavixmarketplaceagency/Find them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BellaVixMarketingMichael Maher, the host, would love to connect with you. Reach out to him at…Email: michael@thinkcartology.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/immichaelmaherThis podcast is sponsored by Cartology and Podcastify Me.Cartology is a customized done-for-you service agency that helps brands accelerate growth and get profitable on the Amazon marketplace. They work directly with brands to create strategy and then go right out and execute it. Want to find out more?Website: https://thinkcartology.comFind Cartology on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/cartologyFind Cartology on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thinkcartologyFind Cartology on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thinkcartologyPodcastify Me is designed to help coaches of all kinds enter the podcasting space with minimal lift for them. And, inviting past, current and future clients to your show as part of your marketing and sales process sets you apart from your competition, in a time where podcasting is really gaining popularity.Website: https://podcastify.meFind Podcastify Me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/podcastify-me/Find Podcastify Me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastify.me/Find Podcastify Me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2biqOTN2UbZ5aaM4Sx6NQ

Has ChatGPT changed e-commerce forever? New Amazon ad tax updates, the return of a new Project X series, and more top stories on this week's Weekly Buzz.

This week we welcome Melissa Burdick, Co-Founder and President of Pacvue, the leading Commerce Operating System that unifies retail media, commerce management, and measurement. A former Amazon executive with nearly a decade of experience, Burdick helped launch Amazon's CPG/Health & Beauty retail business and was an early leader in Amazon Advertising. In 2018, she co-founded and bootstrapped Pacvue, scaling it from a startup into a global company with over 700 employees, supporting more than 70,000 brands and agencies across 95+ retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart. Under her leadership, Pacvue tripled its revenue annually, leading to a high-profile acquisition in 2021. Recognized as a thought leader in the commerce and retail media space, Burdick has been named an Inc. Top 100 Female Founder, Ad Age Leading Woman, P2PI Woman of Excellence, and Campaign's Most Inspiring Woman. She is also a designated Amazon Ambassador and a frequent media commentator, appearing on platforms such as Bloomberg Technology. In this episode, Dave and Melissa cover:The founding story of Pacvue and its explosive growthWhy retail media needs more than automationHow TikTok is rewriting the rules of discovery commerceThe AI use cases that are actually workingWhy ROAS might need a rebrandConnect with Melissa on LinkedInFollow Beyond the Shelf on LinkedInLearn More about It'sRapidGet the It'sRapid Creative Automation PlaybookTake It'sRapid's Creative Workflow Automation with AI surveyEmail us at sales@itsrapid.io to find out how to get your free AI Image AuditTheme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Have you optimized the seven essential elements of your Amazon book page before you even consider marketing? Are you making the most of A+ content, and advertising with Amazon? Amazon Ads expert Geoff Affleck gives his tips. In the intro, potential TikTok US changes [BBC]; Special editions [Written Word Media]; Self-Publishing with Dale Kickstarter books; […] The post Amazon Advertising For Books With Geoff Affleck first appeared on The Creative Penn.

AI or rules, what really wins in Amazon PPC? Uncover the truth about Amazon ads automation, smarter bidding, and scaling Amazon strategies sellers need to know today. ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Curious about how AI and Rules can revolutionize your Amazon advertising strategy? Imagine harnessing the power of emerging AI tools to supercharge your PPC campaigns and keep your brand ahead of the competition. Join us as Destaney Wishon shares her expertise on striking the perfect balance between AI, automation, and rule-based approaches to unlock the full potential of your Amazon advertising efforts. Our conversation takes an insightful turn as we explore the complexities of managing advertising campaigns for brands with intricate SKU lines and varied objectives. Destaney unpacks the nuances of using AI and rules-based systems, revealing how to leverage these tools without losing sight of your brand's unique insights and goals. We get into the importance of contextual understanding when evaluating key metrics like ACoS, ensuring that your strategies align with your specific product types and campaign goals. Plus, uncover the trade-offs between automation and manual control, and learn how agencies can enhance operational efficiency while maintaining that all-important personal touch. But that's not all. We offer a comprehensive guide to optimizing your advertising strategies with Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) and audience targeting techniques. You'll learn how to use Helium 10 Ads to set up AMC instances and discover practical tips for building profitable audience segments. From increasing your Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) to avoiding campaign cannibalization, we equip you with the tools and insights necessary to thrive in a competitive Amazon marketplace. To top it off, we invite you to subscribe to the Serious Sellers Podcast's new YouTube channel for a chance to win a one-on-one session with either Carrie, Bradley, or Shivali, offering personal insights and a unique opportunity to enhance your advertising game. In episode 701 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Destaney discuss: 00:59 - AI vs Automation in Amazon Advertising 06:47 - Optimizing AI for Different Goals  09:30 - Advanced Strategies for Amazon Advertising 10:14 - Interpreting ACoS for Amazon PPC Success  15:53 - AI vs. Keyword Harvesting in Marketing 18:38 - Importance of Video in Amazon Advertising 22:37 - Strategies for Amazon Ad Console 31:23 - Optimizing PPC Campaigns for Improved ROAS 34:24 - Engagement Incentives for Video Viewers

In this episode, we explore the challenges of standing out in crowded marketplaces and driving real e-commerce growth.Noah Wickham, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at My Amazon Guy, shares his approach to helping brands succeed by focusing on differentiation, understanding the competitive landscape, and creating a strong brand identity. He also gives actionable advice on advertising, keyword research, and using data to boost sales.Topics discussed in this episode:  Why building a brand is crucial for long-term growth. What goes wrong when brands don't plan for a launch. How to differentiate your brand in a crowded market. What to do before your product launch on Amazon. How to optimize your product listing for customers and search. Why good design and imagery are so important. What advertising strategies to use for a new product. How to use a launch strategy for early sales success. What the four pillars of holistic growth are. Why investing in growth is essential for business. Links & Resources Website: https://myamazonguy.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/myamazonguyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noahwickham/X/Twitter: https://x.com/myamazonguyGet access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at https://tinyurl.com/44c74nhf______________________________________________________ LOVE THE SHOW? HERE ARE THE NEXT STEPS! Follow the podcast to get every bonus episode. Tap follow now and don't miss out! Rate & Review: Help others discover the show by rating the show on Apple Podcasts at https://tinyurl.com/ecb-apple-podcasts Join our Free Newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommercecoffeebreak.com/ Support The Show On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EcommerceCoffeeBreak Partner with us: https://ecommercecoffeebreak.com/podcast-sponsorship/

In this episode of TACoS Tuesday, we'll examine the latest Amazon Ads updates, from smarter targeting and AI tools to new keyword harvesting and bid strategies, which are reshaping how sellers run campaigns today. ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Vince Montero, former senior product marketing manager at Helium 10 and now CEO and Founder of Evinced Digital, joins us to uncover the transformative updates in Amazon advertising that are revolutionizing campaign management for sellers. Vince breaks down the latest innovations, including the game-changing keyword harvesting update in Helium 10 Ads, which clears the path for more efficient and focused advertising by eliminating redundant keyword suggestions. With Vince's expert insights, you'll learn how to leverage the new automation toggle to streamline your campaign efforts and maximize the potential of Amazon Marketing Cloud for smarter audience targeting, as well as benefit from new-to-brand bid adjustments. Explore the future of Amazon advertising with advanced AI-powered creative tools that are setting new standards for campaign strategies. From the AI video generator that crafts engaging, dynamic content in no time to the AI audience query generator that refines targeting precision, these tools are reshaping the way sellers approach advertising. Alongside these creative advancements, we discuss Amazon's strategic pivot to long-term metrics and forecasted ROAS, offering a fresh perspective on the enduring impact of ads beyond immediate sales. This episode promises a ton of actionable strategies and forward-thinking insights, essential for anyone eager to outpace the competition in the evolving Amazon PPC landscape. In episode 696 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Vince discuss: 00:00 - Amazon Advertising Updates for Sellers 02:14 - Automating Keyword Harvesting for Campaigns 06:52 - Amazon Ads Brand Bid Adjustments 10:14 - Amazon Ads Audience Capabilities Update 13:41 - Amazon Advertising Strategies and Audience Targeting 14:55 - Testing Bid Adjustments for Successful Campaigns 18:01 - Introduction to Audience Management Console 20:25 - Advanced Creative Tools and Long-Term Metrics 23:59 - Amazon Video Ads with AI

Discover how to strategically optimize Amazon ads for growth and profits with personalized ad strategies and AI-powered solutions, all while navigating the complexities of a large catalog.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Elizabeth Greene, co-founder of Junglr, who shares her expertise in helping Amazon brands grow through precision-targeted advertising strategies. With years of experience in the field, Elizabeth emphasizes the importance of tailoring ad strategies to a brand's unique goals, creating customized campaigns, and utilizing data to inform informed decisions. She also reveals the key to scaling businesses successfully with Amazon ads, all while maintaining the human touch and avoiding simple shortcuts.   Key Takeaways: → Common misconceptions about Amazon advertising and the impact on organic growth. → How Junglr helps brands balance growth with profitability by tailoring ad strategies. → Strategies for managing extensive product catalogs and variations with Amazon ads. → The value of understanding both the art and science of Amazon advertising to generate real results. → The challenges of simplifying processes without sacrificing the complexity needed for success.   Elizabeth is the Co-Founder of Junglr, a prominent firm specializing in Amazon Advertising. With a keen expertise in digital marketing and e-commerce strategies, Elizabeth has played a crucial role in shaping Junglr's innovative approach to leveraging Amazon's advertising platform. Her background combines a deep understanding of online consumer behavior with practical insights into maximizing ad performance and ROI.  Elizabeth's leadership and vision have been instrumental in helping brands effectively navigate the complexities of Amazon's advertising ecosystem, driving significant growth and visibility for their clients.   Connect With Elizabeth: Website TikTok X Facebook LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mansour Norouzi from Incrementum Digital sits down with Michael to discuss 12 free Amazon features your brand should be using. From Brand stories and profiles, to B2B pricing and marketing, the pair discuss a wide range of free options to help elevate your brand. This episode is a rerelease of one of our most popular episodes. Please note the resources and link section for any relevant updates.We'll see you in The PPC Den!

In this episode of Talk Commerce, Brent Peterson speaks with Will Haire, co-founder of BellaVix, a marketplace marketing agency. They discuss strategies for brands to maximize their sales on platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and Target, particularly during key sales events like Prime Day. Will shares insights on advertising strategies, the importance of brick-and-mortar presence, and the role of social media in driving traffic to e-commerce sites. The conversation emphasizes the need for brands to focus on platform mastery and the significance of understanding consumer behavior in the digital marketplace.TakeawaysBellaVix helps brands scale on Amazon, Walmart, and Target.Prime Day is a crucial sales event for Amazon sellers.Brands should focus on one platform before expanding.Post-Prime Day requires a reset for many brands.Walmart's e-commerce strategy focuses on buy online, pick up in store.Target's advertising platform is limited but offers less competition.Brick-and-mortar presence can enhance brand visibility.Discounts can drive sales, but profitability is key.Social media can drive traffic to both websites and Amazon.Understanding consumer behavior is essential for e-commerce success.Chapters00:00Introduction to Will Hare and BellaVix03:44Understanding Prime Day and Its Impact08:38Advertising Strategies for Amazon and Beyond09:43Walmart vs. Target: E-commerce Strategies13:57The Importance of Brick-and-Mortar Presence17:06Key Shopping Days for E-commerce Brands20:19Social Media and E-commerce Integration22:06Closing Thoughts and Shameless Plug23:08TC - Outtro All AV version 1.mp4

In this special summer edition of the Remarkable Retail podcast, hosts Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis return to the mic for a jam-packed Month-in-Review episode. With interviews from the CommerceNext Growth Show rolling out all summer long, the duo takes a break from the regular cadence to reflect on the key developments dominating retail headlines.Kicking things off, Michael and Steve catch up on their summer travels, from retail safaris to personal DIY projects, before diving into on-the-ground observations from recent store visits. They note intensified promotional activity, flagging department store performance, and struggling retailers like Kohl's—whose housekeeping and inventory issues speak volumes about the deeper structural challenges facing legacy banners.A major theme is the ripple effect of evolving tariff policies. Steve breaks down the shifting landscape of trade "deals"—or lack thereof—impacting everything from apparel to automobiles, including the end of the de minimis clause that could reshape the business model of players like Shein and Temu. While retailers have largely absorbed tariff costs for now, Q4 pricing and profitability are big question marks, particularly for cash-strapped players.The conversation turns to macroeconomic conditions and a surprisingly resilient U.S. consumer. However, Steve warns against viewing “the consumer” as a monolith, emphasizing growing bifurcation between income brackets. The luxury market underscores this divide—Hermès continues to thrive, while Gucci and more aspirational brands struggle, and Saks Global faces mounting losses and vendor tensions.The episode also unpacks Amazon's latest earnings, with standout 23% growth in ad sales, despite investor jitters around AWS and an uncertain outlook.Other hot takes include AI's expanding role in customer interaction, the controversy around American Eagle's “gene/jeans” ad featuring Sydney Sweeney, and the headline-grabbing soap opera surrounding Hudson's Bay's failed resurrection attempt in Canada.Looking ahead, Michael and Steve preview August retail earnings, the fall retail conference season, and the ongoing evolution of AI-enabled search.  About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

Welcome to the PPC Den Podcast, Badger Nation!In this episode, your host and CEO Michael Badger breaks down the ultimate checklist for Amazon PPC campaign structure—just the way I laid it out on air. Michael takes you through everything from clear campaign naming and smart ad group organization to tackling duplicated search terms and optimizing your ad spend. It's a no-nonsense, real-world discussion with actionable tips, so if your campaigns need a little more order (or a lot more profit), this episode is your must-hear guide. We'll see you in The PPC Den!

AI is changing advertising—and fast. In this episode, Joe and Maarja break down how AI is impacting the world of Amazon and retail media, from generative creative tools to AI-driven customer journeys and predictive campaign optimization. They explore what's real, what's hype, and what it all means for brands and marketers.

5 Steps to Auditing your DSP Account is the Amazon Advertising guide you've been missing.If "5 Steps to Auditing your DSP Account" doesn't scream clarity, this episode will, because we show exactly how to fix viewability, incrementality, and KPIs without burning cash.Amazon PPC pros: we split campaigns into granular line items, bid up for Amazon-owned inventory, cap frequency, rotate creatives, and clean audiences so you're not paying for invisible impressions.We also match attribution windows to each funnel stage and wire the tech right (brand/ASIN associations, pixels). Bottom line: treat DSP like a precision tool. Measure what's actually seen and only pay for impressions that move revenue. Hit play and start the audit.

In episode 164 of The Ad Project, Joe Shelerud (CEO) and Matt Wiklund (CTO) break down how to select the right KPIs for your Amazon advertising strategy—whether you're selling high-ticket one-time purchases or repeat-consumable goods. They explore how ROAS, TACoS, new-to-brand metrics, and customer acquisition costs should flex based on your brand's goals and product lifecycle.

We welcome back a long time contributor and one of the faithful 48 from years ago! Jeremy Dodge, now runs his own agency The Horse Consulting, where he works with some of the most well known brands on their Amazon strategy. We talk all kinds of Amazon advertising, what tools you need and is agency or internal the best move for brands?  Enjoy Always Off Brand is always a Laugh & Learn!       FEEDSPOT TOP 10 Retail Podcast! https://podcast.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/?feedid=5770554&_src=f2_featured_email   Jeremy Dodge  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremydodge/ Company Website: https://www.thehorseconsulting.com/ Quickfire Podcast Network Shows: Brain Driven Brands  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SarahLevinger Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629   QUICKFIRE Info:   Website: https://www.quickfirenow.com/ Email the Show: info@quickfirenow.com  Talk to us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickfireproductions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quickfire__/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@quickfiremarketing LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/quickfire-productions-llc/about/ Sports podcast Scott has been doing since 2017, Scott & Tim Sports Show part of Somethin About Nothin:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/somethin-about-nothin/id1306950451 HOSTS: Summer Jubelirer has been in digital commerce and marketing for over 17 years. After spending many years working for digital and ecommerce agencies working with multi-million dollar brands and running teams of Account Managers, she is now the Amazon Manager at OLLY PBC.   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerjubelirer/   Scott Ohsman has been working with brands for over 30 years in retail, online and has launched over 200 brands on Amazon. Mr. Ohsman has been managing brands on Amazon for 19yrs. Owning his own sales and marketing agency in the Pacific NW, is now VP of Digital Commerce for Quickfire LLC. Producer and Co-Host for the top 5 retail podcast, Always Off Brand. He also produces the Brain Driven Brands Podcast featuring leading Consumer Behaviorist Sarah Levinger. Scott has been a featured speaker at national trade shows and has developed distribution strategies for many top brands. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ohsman-861196a6/   Hayley Brucker has been working in retail and with Amazon for years. Hayley has extensive experience in digital advertising, both seller and vendor central on Amazon.Hayley is the Director of Ecommerce at Camco Manufacturing and is responsible for their very substantial Amazon business. Hayley lives in North Carolina.  LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-brucker-1945bb229/   Huge thanks to Cytrus our show theme music “Office Party” available wherever you get your music. Check them out here: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cytrusmusic Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cytrusmusic/ Twitter https://twitter.com/cytrusmusic SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VrNLN6Thj1iUMsiL4Yt5q?si=MeRsjqYfQiafl0f021kHwg APPLE MUSIC https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cytrus/1462321449   “Always Off Brand” is part of the Quickfire Podcast Network and produced by Quickfire LLC.  

Dynamic UP & DOWN bidding on Amazon PPC can be the difference between bleeding cash and printing profit.In this centennial episode of That Amazon Ads Podcast, Brett Messieh shows exactly when to flip Dynamic UP & DOWN bidding on Amazon PPC to crush ACoS and explode sales velocity.

Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations. In today's episode, we're diving into a topic that's been heating up since Amazon unveiled it at Unboxed last October: using AMC audiences for Sponsored Products.  It's a conversation that's gone from a slow simmer to a full-on boil in recent months, and we've brought in two of Acadia's sharpest retail media minds to break it all down: Ross Walker and Carlos Sastre. We'll be exploring where the real impact is showing up, what's working, and what this shift means for the future of Sponsored Search. Tune in to find out more! "I don't care about winning every single eyeball for a keyword. I only care about winning the subset of eyeballs that are most likely to convert, be a high lifetime value customer, or be most likely to purchase multiple products in my assortment. That is the new game that we are moving towards in the future." Ross Walker KEY TAKEAWAYS In this episode, Julie, Jordan, Ross, and Carlos discuss: Overview of AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads: The distinction between using AMC audiences in DSP vs. Sponsored Ads. In Sponsored Products/Brand Ads, AMC audiences act as bid modifiers rather than strict targeting mechanisms. Limitations and Current Capabilities: Advertisers can only boost bids for specific audiences, not exclude or exclusively target them. Only one AMC audience can be applied per campaign currently, which introduces campaign complexity. The "crawl, walk, run" approach: Start simple by identifying the campaign goal (upper vs. lower funnel) before layering in AMC audiences. Recommendations to duplicate existing campaigns and layer AMC audiences for more efficient targeting. Strong results from using purchaser and subscriber lookalike audiences (doubling ROAS and improving conversion rates). Cautions against hyper-granular audience building, which may limit scale and statistical significance. Leveraging “out of the box” audiences first before building complex custom audiences. Keep initial testing straightforward, scaling complexity only if justified by results. Notable reductions in CPCs and significant increases in ROAS for test campaigns that adopted AMC audiences. Dual campaign strategy allows efficiency gains without sacrificing overall volume. The introduction of more AMC-style features directly in the Amazon Ads console (e.g., new-to-brand bid boosting). The shift from keyword/product targeting towards audience-based bidding and what that means for campaign architecture and ROI. Amazon's continued pace of innovation in ad products enables proactive brands to gain an edge. The future of advertising on Amazon involves refining audiences beyond keywords, focusing spend on high-value customers. The importance of adapting campaign strategies to stay ahead as the platform evolves.  

In the second episode of The Four Pillars of Amazon mini-series, Destaney and Gabi discuss the fast growth of Amazon Advertising. They look back on how much CPCs have grown over the past several years, especially with how they have increased their competitiveness on the platform and the need for strategic ad investments.Focus of This Episode:Why brands willingly pay for premium CPCs and how to maintain profitability despite rising ad costs.The importance of moving beyond isolated search strategies to adopt a holistic, full-funnel approach.Leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) for advanced audience targeting, optimizing your advertising spend, and enhancing campaign efficiency.How creative advertising formats on Amazon (like Sponsored Brands Video, Sponsored Display, and streaming placements) can significantly impact your brand's performance.The critical role of external traffic sources and multi-channel touchpoints in maximizing overall brand conversion rates.Connect with Destaney on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/destaney-wishon/ Connect with Gabi on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaviljoen/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Neha Bhuchar, co-founder of Atom11 and former Amazon Advertising insider, shares Amazon Advertising secrets—revealing the game-changing concept of "retail-aware advertising" that integrates inventory, pricing, and search rank signals with advertising automation to maximize ROI. Discover how Amazon's algorithms work, from the critical difference between click-through and conversion rates to strategic approaches for the newly democratized Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC). Neha breaks down complex concepts into actionable strategies for sellers at every level, from optimizing audience targeting to balancing conversion improvements with cost efficiency. The conversation explores 2024's pivotal changes to AMC access, practical thresholds for implementation, and bold predictions for the future of e-commerce advertising. Whether you're managing campaigns in-house or evaluating automation tools, this episode delivers a rare insider perspective on Amazon's advertising ecosystem and Atom11's transparent approach to helping sellers thrive in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace. This is for Amazon sellers, e-commerce marketers, advertising strategists, and anyone looking to understand the future of retail advertising technology. Episode Notes: 00:26 - Neha Bhuchar Introduction 00:20 - Neha's Background and Atom11 06:00 - Retail Aware Advertising 07:25 - Dynamic Bidding & Audience Creation 10:39 - Amazon Marketing Cloud 13:36 - Audience Targeting Challenges 14:01 - Look-alike Audience 15:50 - Mainstream Adoption of AMC 26:45- Tariff and Amazon Ads 31:05 - Impact of AI on Ads Related Post: Amazon PPC Services: A Guide to Boosting Sales and Choosing the Right Partner How to Reach Neha:   LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nehabhuchar Website: https://www.atom11.co/   Scott's Links:   LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/scott-needham-a8b39813 X: @itsScottNeedham Instagram: @smartestseller YouTube: www.youtube.com/@smartestamazonseller2371 Newsletter: https://www.smartscout.com/newsletter-sign-up Blog: https://www.smartscout.com/blog

Today, Elizabeth Greene and I dove into one of the most misunderstood topics in Amazon advertising — vCPM in Sponsored Brands campaigns. Mike still hears people say how great the low ACOS looks for vCPM, but we broke down why that can be misleading.We talked about the difference between CPC and vCPM, how attribution works (clicks vs views), and how ACOS is calculated depending on what data source you're looking at — ad console, bulk files, API, or AMC. We also discussed when vCPM actually makes sense and when it doesn't. Spoiler ⚠️: don't use it for brand defense.We walked through how vCPM can become cheaper than CPC if your CTR is high enough, the creative and retargeting advantages it can offer, and why Mike sees less than 5% of ad budgets going to vCPM even in his best accounts.If you've ever been confused about why you can't switch from vCPM to CPC, or how to measure true performance in SB campaigns  this episode is for you.We'll see you in The PPC Den!

In this episode of the PPC Den podcast, Michael dives into the world of Amazon PPC metrics, and trust us, things get tasty. He compares your PPC performance to TACoS —yes, TACoS! Michael breaks down key metrics like ACOS, TACOS, and ROAS, explaining how each one impacts your campaign's flavor and success. Grab your Amazon PPC metrics (or maybe just a really tasty Mexican taco) and tune in for this savory breakdown!We'll see you in The PPC Den!

In the latest episode of the Remarkable Retail podcast, hosts Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis continue their conversation with retail media expert Andrew Lipsman, founder and chief analyst at Media, Ads and Commerce, exploring the evolution and future of retail media networks.The episode kicks off with an in-depth news segment covering significant economic developments. The hosts discuss the recent GDP drop in the US, which they note is primarily driven by increased imports and inventory buildup as retailers front-loaded inventory ahead of tariff implementations. They analyze the recent disconnect between poor consumer confidence numbers and actual retail spending patterns. The hosts also examine tech company earnings, with most reporting strong results except for Apple, which is facing challenges related to tariffs and China exposure. Apple's response to tariffs—shifting manufacturing to India and Vietnam rather than the US—highlights unintended consequences of the trade policies. The news segment concludes with a discussion of Amazon's earnings and the surprising termination of Kohl's CEO Ashley Buchanan over an improper vendor relationship.In the interview segment with Andrew Lipsman, the conversation centers on the mechanics of successful retail media networks and future trends. Lipsman explains his concept of the "retail media flywheel," noting that when this flywheel takes off, it produces exponential rather than linear growth. He emphasizes that while Amazon pioneered this approach, other retailers can build their own flywheels tailored to their specific assets.A significant portion of the discussion addresses concerns about whether retail media might compromise customer experience. Lipsman acknowledges this concern but believes it can be managed with thoughtful execution and relevant advertising. He points to Trader Joe's as an interesting counterexample—a retailer explicitly rejecting retail media to focus on merchandising excellence.For retailers considering or developing retail media networks, Lipsman advises realistic expectations, particularly for mid-size and smaller players who may benefit more from joining aggregated networks rather than building walled gardens. He cautions that many retailers overvalue their first-party data and underestimate what's needed to monetize it effectively.Looking to the future, Lipsman predicts that while on-site search advertising will continue to drive significant revenue, the big growth opportunities lie in streaming TV advertising and in-store media. He estimates in-store advertising represents a potential $20-40 billion opportunity, noting that physical stores account for about 5% of all media time spent but currently capture only 0.1% of ad spending. While acknowledging implementation challenges, he points to successful examples outside the US, particularly in the UK and Asia, as evidence of the model's viability. YouTube episode Photo by Nathan Cima on Unsplash Here is a 10% off code for the CommerceNext Growth Show exclusive to Remarkable Retail listeners: REMARKABLE. About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

Are you Scared Sammy or Aggressive Andy? In this solo episode, Michael walks through takeaways from The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, and how those lessons apply to your Amazon PPC Campaigns. He'll discuss the importance of luck, the bias of recency, managing search term reports,  different scenarios implementing these lessons through Scared Sammy and Aggressive Andy, and more!This episode is a rerelease of one of our most popular episodes. Please note the resources and link section for any relevant updates.We'll see you in The PPC Den!

In the latest episode of the Remarkable Retail podcast, hosts Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis deliver a powerhouse episode split between urgent retail news and a highly anticipated interview with returning guest Andrew Lipsman, Founder & Chief Analyst Media, Ads + Commerce, one of the world's foremost authorities on retail media networks.The episode opens with a comprehensive review of the week's most pressing economic developments. The retail industry faces mounting challenges as tariffs continue to disrupt supply chains and pricing strategies. Cross-border tourism is in sharp decline—down 37% from Canada alone—impacting major cities like New York, Miami, and San Francisco. Chair of the Federal Reserve Jay Powell warned that proposed tariffs could trigger slower growth and higher inflation, further rattling markets.The retail response? Stockpiling. Sales of big-ticket items like furniture and autos are surging as consumers rush to beat looming price hikes. Shein and Temu are already raising prices and cutting back on U.S. advertising, signalling early effects of lost de minimis exemptions. Meanwhile, luxury brands such as Hermès are increasing prices. The news also covers Ulta's paused Target expansion, sluggish leasing activity in retail real estate, and IKEA's increasing bet on small-format stores.Shifting gears, the second half of the episode features the first part of an in-depth conversation with Andrew Lipsman, who offers a masterclass on the growth and complexity of retail media networks. Andrew traces the emergence of retail media as the “third wave” of digital advertising—following search (Google) and social (Meta)—and explains how closed-loop measurement and first-party data are transforming the economics of media buying.He explores how retail media isn't just stealing share from traditional platforms but unlocking new advertiser segments, particularly among third-party sellers and challenger brands. Andrew also tackles common criticisms, including the effectiveness of point-of-purchase ads and the often-misunderstood ROAS metric.With retailers like Amazon and Walmart now generating billions in high-margin revenue through media, Andrew argues that retail media is not just an ancillary channel — it's fast becoming a core growth engine.This episode is a must-listen for retailers, marketers, and media professionals seeking clarity on the headwinds of today's economy and the structural shifts reshaping the future of retail. About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you realize you've been looking at something the wrong way this whole time? Yeah, that's exactly what happened in this episode.Michael from Ad Badger sat down with Abe Chomali, and they got real about something a lot of Amazon sellers don't want to admit—just because your ads are bringing in sales doesn't mean you're actually making money. They talked about why ACOS can be super misleading, how some brands are spending more and somehow making less, and why profitability is the real metric that matters. Also, did you know there's an entire eBay market for failed startup swag? Because I didn't, and now I can't stop thinking about it.We'll see you in The PPC Den!

Send us a textStop overspending on Amazon ads! Learn how to use day parting in 2025 to manage your budget, cut costs, and improve sales. This guide shows you how to set budget rules, analyze reports, and identify the best hours to spend.Get smarter with your ad spend. Download our PPC guide now: https://bit.ly/3XY6rYa#AmazonAdvertising #AmazonSellers #EcommerceTipsWatch these videos on YouTube:Common Amazon PPC MYTHS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32_NakX81X0&list=PLDkvNlz8yl_a1PRDJWRoR4yIM8K5Ft569Amazon PPC Tier Rankings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9s9vjtU5l4&list=PLDkvNlz8yl_a1PRDJWRoR4yIM8K5Ft569&index=2-----------------------------------------------Having trouble with SEO, PPC, or listing issues?  Send it to us: http://bit.ly/3B1LvHtNeed expert advise? Book a free call with us: http://bit.ly/3B3HMJATimestamps00:00 - Why Day Parting Matters in 202500:30 - Common Mistake Amazon Sellers Make01:20 - Step 1: Access Your Campaign Manager02:10 - How to Set Budget Rules for Day Parting03:45 - Using Performance Metrics for Day Parting04:30 - Best Times to Increase Your Budget05:40 - How to Analyze Campaign Reports06:55 - Identifying Low-Performance Hours07:50 - Reducing Costs with Smart Budgeting08:15 - Final Tips for Effective Day Parting----------------------------------------------Follow us:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28605816/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenpopemag/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/myamazonguys/Twitter: https://twitter.com/myamazonguySubscribe to the My Amazon Guy podcast: https://podcast.myamazonguy.comApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-amazon-guy/id1501974229Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4A5ASHGGfr6s4wWNQIqyVwSupport the show

Master Amazon PPC with Mansour Norouzi of Incrementum Digital! Discover data-driven ad strategies, AI insights, and expert tips to optimize your campaigns for growth.  Amazon advertising expert Mansour Norouzi, Director of Advertising at Incrementum Digital, shares his transformative journey from civil engineering in Iran to becoming a pivotal figure in the Amazon PPC space. Join us as Mansour unravels his unique experiences in Amazon PPC optimization strategies and his role at Incrementum Digital. He highlights the challenges of restricted U.S. travel and how these hurdles have shaped his career, emphasizing a strategic shift towards location independence and e-commerce.   We navigate the rapidly changing landscape of Amazon advertising, exploring how it has evolved to match, and sometimes surpass, the capabilities of giants like Google. Mansour dives into the advanced functionalities of the Amazon Marketing Cloud, a tool that grants advertisers an unprecedented level of customer interaction insights. This episode also addresses the transformative role of AI in marketing, balancing skepticism with the benefits of AI in streamlining tasks and enhancing client relations while underscoring the irreplaceable need for human strategic input.   Listeners will gain valuable insights into the intricacies of managing PPC campaigns, including common pitfalls and expert advice on optimizing budgets and campaign structures. Mansour candidly discusses the importance of maintaining a balanced organic and paid sales ratio, offering a roadmap for achieving sustainable growth. As a bonus, Mansour and Kevin also tease upcoming content from the Billion Dollar Seller Summit Iceland and an exciting future episode featuring Shivali Patel from Helium 10, ensuring our listeners stay ahead in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape. In episode 436 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Mansour discuss: 00:00 - Amazon PPC Strategies With Mansour 06:43 - Scaling Supplement Brands Through Advertising 09:46 - Marketing Passion Project 11:24 - Evolving Amazon Advertising Strategies 15:44 - Amazon Marketing Cloud Audience Customization 25:28 - Future Impact of AI in Amazon PPC 30:26 - Generative AI Tools for Video Production 33:04 - AI Improving Agency Selection Process 35:25 - Amazon Advertising and Client Management 37:06 - Client Growth Incentives and Compensation 40:23 - Amazon Advertising Services and Brand Management 43:15 - Amazon PPC Campaign Optimization Strategies 50:58 - Grouping Keywords by Volume and Intent 54:45 - Kevin King's Words Of Wisdom

In this episode, we're bringing back one of the first-ever guests on SSP from 2018. He'll discuss a wide range of topics, such as AMC, TikTok shop, influencer marketing, and more. ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Can understanding the latest trends in Amazon ads and influencer marketing transform your Amazon-selling and brand-launching strategy in 2025? Join us as we welcome back Liran Hirshkorn, CEO and Founder of Incrementum Digital, one of our earliest guests, who brings his expert insights into the rapidly evolving world of Amazon selling. This year marks a transformative period for platforms like Amazon, where changes in fees and advertising dynamics have forced sellers to realign their focus toward profitability. Liran shares compelling strategies for navigating these shifts and highlights the innovative use of Amazon AI search, Rufus, which is personalizing shopping experiences by customizing search results based on individual habits. Explore the power of enhanced data visibility in Amazon advertising and uncover the secrets to optimizing your strategies. In this episode, we unravel how understanding the customer journey through expanded data insights can significantly boost purchase rates and ad efficiency. Discover how Amazon's strategic expansion beyond its own marketplace opens new avenues for sellers familiar with its advertising platform, allowing them to broaden their reach across different channels. Liran's insights into leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud to create lookalike audiences for more targeted advertising are not to be missed. Finally, we navigate the dynamic relationship between TikTok and major retail giants like Amazon and Walmart. Hear the captivating story of a seller's transition from Amazon to TikTok, illustrating the platform's impact in driving demand through engaging content and viral potential. We discuss how TikTok's algorithm enhances product discovery, especially for visually appealing items, and the implications of strategic partnerships that could reshape the e-commerce landscape. Throughout this episode, we emphasize the importance of building a strong brand identity and utilizing diverse marketing channels to stand out in today's competitive market. Tune in for a plethora of insights that promise to redefine your approach to e-commerce success. In episode 638 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Liran discuss: 00:00 - E-Commerce Trends and Strategies for 2025 01:29 - Amazon PPC Changes and Current Challenges 03:54 - Personalized AI Shopping Experiences 11:00 - Shift in Search Results and Analytics 11:46 - Amazon Advertising Trends and Strategies 14:32 - Amazon Advertising's Expansion Into Other Retailers 17:59 - Advanced E-Commerce Strategies and Influencers 21:52 - Influencer Marketing's Impact on Brand Launches 27:57 - TikTok and Amazon Integration Strategy 29:57 - Beauty Product's Success on TikTok 36:04 - Amazon Sales Boosting Strategies