Throwback: Unlocking the Secrets of Amazon Advertising - Insights from a CEO

In this episode, Josh interviews Destaney, CEO of Better AMS, about advanced Amazon advertising strategies. Destaney shares insights on setting ad budgets based on brand goals, structuring campaigns for profitability and growth, and the importance of campaign-level organization. They discuss the challenges of managing large SKU counts and the need for software tools like Pacvue, highlighting that expertise is crucial to leverage such platforms. Destaney emphasizes using data-driven, white-hat strategies and staying proactive with Amazon ads. The episode wraps up with actionable tips and an invitation to connect with Better AMS for further learning and free brand audits. Chapters: Introduction & Guest Background (00:00:00) Josh introduces Destaney, CEO of Better AMS, and discusses her background in Amazon advertising. Destaney’s Experience in Amazon Ads (00:00:49) Destaney shares her journey, starting young in Amazon ads, and her experience managing large ad spends. Budgeting for Amazon Ads (00:01:23) Discussion on how brand owners should approach setting budgets for Amazon ads based on goals and growth. Structuring Campaigns for Different Objectives (00:02:05) Destaney explains campaign-level structuring for profitability, keyword research, brand defense, and market share. Fluid Budget Allocation & Campaign Adjustments (00:03:05) How to fluidly adjust budgets between campaigns based on product launches and changing objectives. Challenges Managing Many SKUs & Need for Software (00:04:05) Josh describes the difficulty of managing 1200 SKUs and the need for software to optimize Amazon PPC. Evaluating Amazon PPC Software & Automation (00:05:14) Destaney discusses the importance of having knowledgeable staff and choosing the right software for automation. Advanced vs. Automated Software Solutions (00:07:08) Recommendations for advanced users (rules-based tools like Pacvue) vs. automated solutions for less experienced teams. Limitations of AI in Amazon Ad Tools (00:08:10) Destaney explains the current limitations of AI in Amazon ad software due to restricted data access. Pacvue & Importance of Expertise (00:09:04) Josh and Destaney discuss why Pacvue is powerful but requires deep Amazon ad knowledge to use effectively. Actionable Takeaways for Brand Owners (00:10:33) Josh summarizes three key action items: focus on brand metrics, shift mindset on ranking strategies, and invest in expertise. Closing & Where to Find Destaney (00:13:38) Destaney shares where listeners can follow her and learn more about Better AMS, including free brand audits. Links and Mentions: Tools and Software "Perpetua": "00:07:08" "Pacvue": "00:08:40" Websites and Social Media "Better AMS" now BTRMedia: "00:13:52" "LinkedIn": "00:13:52" Transcript: Josh 00:00:00  Today I'm super excited to introduce you all to Destaney with Sean. Destaney is the CEO of better AMS and better. AMS is a retail media agency managing over $50 million of spend across Walmart and Amazon. So with that, welcome to the show, Destaney. Destaney 00:00:16  Thank you so much for having me, Josh. Really excited to be here. Josh 00:00:19  I'm super excited to have you on the show. My team is also excited to have you on the show, because they watch your YouTube videos and all the content that you're putting out, and oftentimes in our own strategy meetings, it will be, hey, I remember Destaney said this, Destaney said that. And so to have you on the podcast, I'm super excited to have you here. And I think I want to encourage our listeners to pay attention, because Destaney knows what she's talking about as it relates to Amazon advertising. Destaney 00:00:49  I hope so. I have been in this space for like six years, and I have done nothing but Amazon ads. So, you know, a lot of people are forced to go wide, whether it's because you're brand building or how quickly the industry industry changes. Destaney 00:01:02  I was super thankful to be thrown into Amazon advertising management at like 22 years old. I think my first large brand was managing around $10 million spend a quarter, so I, I had to learn really fast and this is all I know at this point. So thank you everyone for supporting my content because you are, you know, paying for my meals at night. Josh 00:01:23  I love it. A lot of brand owners come to you probably and say, oh well, my budget is unlimited if it's profitable, right? Like if it's profitable, then spend as much as you want. And I think I've fallen into that camp at some times. So Destaney, based on your wealth of knowledge and experience working with even higher level brands, doing 300 million a year, what, like how would you recommend a brand owner comes up with a budget for their products? Destaney 00:01:53  Yep. Yeah. So a budget's obviously so dependent on goals and growth and all of those things. So I always struggle to give that. I will say I interviewed a ton of the other agency owners. Destaney 00:02:05  I think we're managing in total. I kind of like over $500 million worth of spend. And what everyone said an average tacos for a high growth brand that's trying to be competitive is around 10 to 15%. I don't love giving that as a general gauge, because I know a lot of people have certain SKUs that are going to be a lot higher because they're more competitive category, different goals. And I hate giving like one size fits all solutions. Anyone who's listened to me or follow me knows that. It's like my biggest pet peeve. but I will say something to remember is that Amazon advertising is actually really precise. you know, sometimes like Facebook ads where you're doing audience targeting and behavioral aspects are combined in Amazon. Ads are not like that. You can be so granular. So one thing we recommend is we we set up all of our strategies on the campaign level. So when a brand comes to us we're going to have campaigns for profitability. We're going to have campaigns for keyword research. We're going to have campaigns for brand defense, and we're going to have campaigns for rank or market share. Destaney 00:03:05  And when we have all of those set up, that means we can take that budget and fluidly adjust based on our needs. So if we have a $20,000 a month budget and this month we're launching a new product, we're going to shift more of that budget to be focused on rank. And that's going to take away from our profitability campaigns, which means we're probably going to have a higher ACOs, but we're launching now the moment that becomes steady. We're going to lower our budget on our rank and move to profitability. So that way we can be really fluid with those adjustments that make your Amazon advertising align with your actual top line sales goals. Josh 00:03:40  Now that makes a lot of sense. Now I think we I could dive in even further with you. We could get into some real nitty gritty stuff here. Maybe that would have to be a part two. because what I'd like to shift into is we went through this last year in terms of trying to identify a software solution that could execute a lot of these good strategies. Josh 00:04:05  So for our team, you know, we hired an internal PPC manager. We were formerly with an advertising agency for I think four years. So we'd been with them for a long time. But to your point, you know, it's hard for an agency to really get into the details of every single product and tracking their metrics. And w...

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