Throwback: The Data-Driven Approach to Amazon DSP - Targeting Like a Pro!

In this episode, Josh interviews George Meressa, founder of Clear Ads, about effective Amazon DSP advertising strategies. George explains how to vet DSP agencies, select high-performing products for campaigns, and leverage remarketing, cross-selling, and competitor targeting using Amazon’s data analytics. He emphasizes the importance of choosing certified partners, analyzing product conversion rates, and methodically building campaigns. The discussion includes actionable tips for maximizing ROAS and practical advice for supplement brands and other sellers aiming to scale with DSP. The episode concludes with key takeaways for listeners interested in leveraging Amazon DSP for business growth. Chapters: Introduction & Guest Background (00:00:00) George Meressa’s experience in digital advertising and focus on Amazon PPC and DSP. Vetting a DSP Agency (00:00:40) Checklist for choosing a DSP agency, importance of official partners, and due diligence questions. Transition to DSP Strategies (00:03:16) Emphasizing the importance of agency selection before starting DSP strategies. Selecting Products for DSP (00:03:41) Criteria for choosing products: retail readiness, sales volume, impressions, and conversion rates. Remarketing as First Strategy (00:03:45) Remarketing setup: targeting product viewers who haven’t purchased, and audience segmentation. Product Data & Conversion Rate Analysis (00:04:59) Importance of product data, minimum impressions, and conversion rate benchmarks for DSP success. Audience Segmentation for Retargeting (00:06:27) Creating and excluding specific audiences for more effective retargeting campaigns. Cross-Selling & Market Basket Analysis (00:07:14) Using brand analytics and market basket analysis to build cross-sell campaigns. Advanced Audience Targeting & Overlap Reports (00:08:18) Utilizing overlap reports, refining audience targeting, and future of display ads. Bespoke ASIN Targeting & Subscribe & Save Strategies (00:09:13) Custom ASIN targeting, strategies for subscribe & save products, and using purchase window data. Competitor Targeting for Supplements (00:11:17) Targeting competitor’s customers for supplements and the strong DSP fit for supplement brands. Episode Wrap-Up & Actionable Takeaways (00:11:41) Summary of key strategies, actionable steps, and importance of methodical DSP campaign building. DSP Product Fit & Data-Driven Decisions (00:13:37) Discussion on product suitability for DSP, importance of impressions and conversion rates. Layering DSP Strategies Up the Funnel (00:14:37) Methodical approach: start with retargeting, analyze results, and progressively add advanced strategies. Closing & Contact Information (00:15:27) How to contact George Meressa and Clear Ads for DSP services and further advice. Links and Mentions: Amazon Accredited Partners Page: "00:01:48"  Brand Metrics: "00:05:47"  Overlap Reports: "00:08:18"  Prosper Show: "00:08:18"  Nozzle: "00:10:12"  ClearAds: "00:15:53" Transcript: Josh 00:00:00  I am super excited to introduce you all to George Meressa. George has been in digital advertising since 2009, working on a wide range of platforms including Amazon, Google, Bing, LinkedIn and Facebook. Paid advertising. Using these platforms, he has worked with hundreds of advertisers across the world in numerous industries and sectors to maximize their ROAS. His agency, Clear Ads, now focuses purely on Amazon PPC and DSP advertising, helping deliver the best results for his clients. So with that introduction, welcome to the show, George. George 00:00:38  Thank you so much for having me, Josh. It's a pleasure. Josh 00:00:40  What are some of the what's a checklist that you should kind of go through and walk through to vet an agency that you're looking to have, do DSP for you? George 00:00:48  The first thing is don't go with Amazon. Right. But I'm sure they won't mind me saying this. Right. But actually they will. But I'm going to say anyway, Amazon's core strategy is to get you to spend as much money as possible. That's their KPI because that's how they get promoted. George 00:01:02  Right. So the way they treat your account is they go, hey, look at all these amazing impressions that you've got. Isn't that great? And as I said, you're like, hold on one step. Precious isn't really the key thing for us. Like we're trying to get. We're trying to we're trying to grow our business. Not not just increase our reach. So that's the big thing that they go with, especially with the slight uncertainty with attribution at the moment. It could look to to their favor. Right. That's the first thing. Now second, when you do go to an agency, the first step you should take is go onto Amazon's accredited partners page. Right. And check out DSP providers. So Amazon DSP providers just put stuff on Google. Go onto Amazon's page and there's a list of DSP providers. Right. So what you tend to find if you find any company. Right. If they're if they're if they are an official partner with Amazon, they will tend to have a partner badge somewhere which links straight to that page which shows you, hey, their official partner. George 00:01:58  Now, if they're not an official partner, they might be piggybacking off someone else's suit. Right. You don't want to get into that. Because if they're piggybacking off someone else's seat. Right. Let's just say there's some internal issues and they get kicked out of that seat. They no longer have access to your account. Who do you contact? Yeah. Who do? Who do you reach? You don't know. Right. So you want to make sure you've got someone who's got their own first thing. The second thing is, I'm sure every seller that's listening to this, they're savvy. They have a pool. An audience of other savvy sellers. Speak to them, find out who are they using that's doing DSP. That's working really well. Right. Get their first, first, first glance and say, okay, what's your experience been like? and ensure that they're happy with whoever it is. So they're the steps that I would recommend taking when trying to find a DSP agent. I would even go as far as ask them questions about the business. George 00:02:49  What's the purpose of the business? What are you looking to do? How big is it? How long has it been going? Is it? Is it a brand new business that's business. Me starting up for a bit and might not be there tomorrow. Yeah. Is it one that's been there for a while? Is it, you know, you want to you just want to really find out how many DSP, agents you have. How many of them are certified? how many have taken the exams? I would just do your due diligence. Ask those questions before it's too late, and then before you're stuck with someone. Josh 00:03:16  Yeah, I think that is foundation number one for sure. So I hope our listeners follow those best practices because it's true. You make this decision, and it's not like you could just change course after six months or a year. otherwise you're just starting from ground zero all over again. All right. Now let's jump into these strategies. Let's say you have found the right agency to work with. Josh 00:03:41  What's the first strategy you should be implementing with DSP? George 00:03:45  Yeah. So the first strategy is 100% remarketing. You want to you want it. You want to okay. No, n...

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