Amazon Advertising Strategies for Seasonal Products - Episode 244
INTERVIEW WITH ROSS WALKER
DESCRIPTION
Ross Walker, Senior Advertising Manager at Bobsled, an Acadia Company, joins Kiri Masters on the podcast today to discuss his point of view on seasonal demand for categories and products.
Ross manages the advertising strategies for many of Bobsled’s large and enterprise brands. Ross has been in e-commerce and digital marketing for six years with a primary focus on Amazon for the last 5. He is based in Toronto Canada and is a massive data and advertising nerd.
“Brands think about peak season as when they will really invest. But Amazon demand info means you can tailor your activities for the whole year. Shoppers are there year-round. ”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Bobsled recently spoke with a large brand that has a highly seasonal business - 65% of all revenue in 3 months of the year. They wanted to know if you have to get lean at a certain part of the year, how to pare back? Ross shares his point of view.
You have to have your funnel in mind year-round. Several of Bobsled’s clients are very seasonal and we found that they have even stronger peak seasons when they invest throughout the year.
Spending on defense during the lean months is not the most valuable use of spend. In the off-season, sales are lower overall, but people are still shopping around. If they see your products, they will think of you in the season.
Ross shares several rules of thumb when it comes to allocating spend throughout the year:
Organic ranking matters - maintaining your organic even out of peak season should be a strategic goal. If not, incumbents get overtaken by more nimble competitors that nibble at the edges of your market share.
Any other seasonal events - Prime Day, Amazon’s beauty event, Halloween, Cinco De Mayo, Mothers/Fathers Day
DSP - some brands only want to do DSP in Q4, the purchase pool can go back 365 days - you should be building campaigns year-round and do retargeting campaigns
Awareness lift in Q3 getting ahead of Q4. They need to know that you exist before Q4. Make the first impression way back in the past. We’ve seen how those upper funnel activities translate
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Connect with Kiri Masters
Connect with Ross Walker
Learn more about Bobsled Marketing, an Acadia Company
