The demands of selling successfully on Amazon are easily a full-time responsibility – if not more. Whether launching new product listings, optimizing them for your customers and the algorithm, setting up and maintaining your Storefront, or integrating your social media plan, there’s a nearly endless list of to-dos. 

Rather than spend your time trying to stay up-to-date on Amazon’s latest trends, tools and features, wouldn’t you prefer to have a team of experts who are passionate about doing precisely that? More importantly, relying on experienced professionals can give you insight into the areas you should focus on and which tactics will have the most significant impact on your business goals.

One of the primary advantages of working with a full-service Amazon marketing agency is that it allows you to enjoy a more robust team at a lower cost. While you could hire an internal team to achieve similar capacity, it would be expensive. And in most cases, you would need to prioritize specific skills over others, resulting in expertise gaps that an Amazon agency would have provided. 

For a cost similar to just one or two full-time employees, you can outsource various Amazon marketing services and enjoy better results. In addition, an experienced external team already has the expertise you seek and will be poised to make the proper adjustments quickly instead of risking missed opportunities while you hire and train new employees. 

Of course, the bottom line is that outsourcing your Amazon services is only viable when accompanied by increased sales. While every business is unique, the advantages that come from an outsourcing partnership are impressive. In most cases, this is thanks to the increased number of people laser-focused on your success. 

What can an Amazon agency help with?

With a full-service agency partner, you’ll have the knowledge and experience of Amazon specialists to grow brand awareness and assist your company in the most important areas. Their in-depth data analysis can guide your creative content, ad spending and inventory management. And you can rest easy knowing your customer service and returns are handled with industry-leading professionalism. 

Still unsure if outsourcing Amazon marketing services is the right option? Read more about how they can help your business grow. 

Launching listings better & faster

Your Amazon sales start with your product listings. Creating, organizing, and tracking is only part of the process but can be among the most time-consuming. It’s particularly true when your product catalog is constantly expanding. Onboarding and training in-house specialists is one option but not necessarily the best approach. 

If you want to deploy your products quickly on Amazon, a better strategy is to outsource the work to a partner with a staff that already understands all of the elements that underpin a successful Amazon product listing. Doing so can also help you avoid the negative ramifications of a trial-and-error learning curve or the possibility that your sales will suffer due to employee turnover. 

Once your products are listed, you still need a comprehensive optimization plan. It’s really the only way to compete for the Buy Box and achieve the conversion rates that will allow you to excel. 

All of your listings need accurate details, high-quality images and, in many cases, helpful videos. They should also be monitored for threats from fraud or competition. Creating an Amazon Storefront and crafting A+ Content that includes engaging copywriting and answers to FAQs is not a simple task. But it can substantially improve a listing’s ability to attract shoppers and close sales. 

A failure in your product listing optimization can be challenging to spot and nearly impossible to overcome. However, outsourcing to an Amazon marketing agency means your listings will have the perfect title, a description your customers will appreciate and the keywords to ensure they can find them. 

Maximizing PPC advertising

Every brand on the platform is looking for ways to strengthen its Amazon sales. However, while Amazon SEO can give sellers the edge when it comes to organic search results, it’s not the only path to a better bottom line. 

Pay-per-click (PPC) Amazon ads can be a more direct way to drive traffic to your product listings or Storefront. Paid advertising, like Sponsored Product, Sponsored Brand and Amazon DSP, allows e-commerce businesses to break through the immense competition on Amazon and increase their reach. But it requires a solid plan, a broad understanding of the tools available and skilled execution on behalf of the advertiser. For many sellers, turning to an agency with experience in managing Amazon advertising is the best way to achieve digital marketing success and control your ad spend. 

Streamlining warehousing & logistics

Amazon seller success hinges on a company’s ability to get its products to customers quickly. Whether a brand is shipping to Amazon as a vendor, supplying Amazon FBA inventory, or fulfilling customer orders directly, the storage, packing, labeling and shipping of a product need to be expertly managed. Long-term growth is unlikely if your products don’t arrive on time, show up damaged or don’t match what a customer ordered.

In addition, poorly-managed inventory can negatively affect a company’s bottom line. Customers who find the products they are shopping for are out-of-stock often turn to alternatives. At the same time, companies can end up paying extremely high prices for storage fees and penalties if their inventory is not managed correctly. Brands struggling with warehousing and logistics are ideal candidates to partner with a company experienced with overcoming these hurdles for an Amazon seller. 

Optimizing FBA operations

Selling on Amazon is complex, and fulfillment is just one of many challenges. Fortunately, the launch of Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) services simplified this aspect of running an Amazon business. Seller Central brands now have the option of letting Amazon handle much of the packing, shipping and customer service duties necessary to meet shopper expectations. 

While selling FBA products can be less costly and more streamlined than managing all the logistics independently, it’s not the only step brands can take to optimize their Amazon sales. Integrating Amazon FBA consulting into their operations can ensure a company has the support and expertise necessary to make the most of the FBA option. 

Managing an Amazon Storefront

Amazon store setup is designed to be relatively simple for brands utilizing the platform. While joining the Amazon Brand Registry, and other necessary steps, are within the capabilities of most sellers, achieving the desired results is often more complicated. Successfully pursuing the initiative requires a strategic approach similar to developing a direct-to-consumer website. 

Product organization, enhanced brand content, creativity and ongoing refinement are essential on the Amazon platform. However, an Amazon Store also unlocks access to new customer data that can increase conversions and ROI if used effectively. So, rather than an isolated tactic, Storefronts should be implemented as part of a broader campaign to develop followers and strengthen your Amazon business. If this combination of creative design, data analysis and campaign synergy seems overwhelming, you’re not alone. That’s why, for many Amazon businesses, choosing a partner to help build and manage an Amazon brand store is the ideal solution. 

Identifying weaknesses 

Mistakes that lead to listing suppression, descriptions that give customers the wrong expectations and products that aren’t optimized for your most valuable prospects will all be detrimental to your conversion rate. And they are all realistic possibilities for an overwhelmed Amazon seller. But if weaknesses are an opportunity to grow, the more people you have trying to identify deficiencies, the more opportunities you’ll find. 

Instead of waiting for problems to appear in your sales statistics, a capable Amazon marketing agency can resolve them quickly and create an improvement plan. Experienced Amazon partners can unlock opportunities and provide actionable insights to optimize and grow sales by leveraging data you might have overlooked.

Unfortunately, experience alone is not enough to guarantee that a service provider will be a good fit for your company. It’s also critical that any Amazon partner aligns with your brand’s goals, team and budget. 

Finding an agency match means knowing your needs

Judging experience may seem straightforward, but examining a prospective agency’s claims is helpful. Focus on more than just how long the agency has existed. For example, a newer Amazon consulting service may have a talented team with decades of relevant experience. In contrast, an established agency could have had lots of turnover resulting in leadership or specialists who have spent minimal time in the industry. 

Remember to also pay close attention to an agency’s current roster of clients and past results. Any reputable agency should be able to provide detailed case studies that shed light on their capabilities and tactics. Ask for examples that have parallels to your company’s challenges and will reveal whether the agency would be a good fit as an Amazon consulting expert. As important as who they have been able to assist is when their seller support took place. Amazon’s tools and policies are constantly evolving, and a service provider needs to be able to adjust accordingly. An agency with continuous success over time is more likely to be effective regardless of what lies ahead for the platform.

You should also inquire how the resume of those managing your Amazon account matches your company’s goals. An agency with direct experience in your product category may seem ideal, but sellers are often better served by comparing an agency’s strengths with the brand’s goals.

Of course, experience alone is not enough to guarantee that a service provider will be a good fit for your company. It’s also critical that any Amazon partner aligns with your brand’s goals, team and budget. 

Set your goals

The Amazon marketplace is an $800 billion business. The services needed by the largest companies on the platform vary drastically compared to smaller brands. Finding an Amazon agency that aligns with your brand’s business model, sales level and service requirements is crucial. 

Providers usually break down into those serving brands with less than $500k in annual sales, agencies specializing in mid-sized sellers with $500k-$2 million of annual sales, and partners targeting companies with more than $2 million in sales each year. Your brand should align with the size the provider focuses on to limit the risk of low-quality service, overly-high costs, or the possibility of not being a priority for the provider.

Amazon consulting services are typically split between firms that help brands following a 1P Vendor Central model (selling products to Amazon) and those pursuing growth on the 3P Seller Central marketplace (selling products on the Amazon marketplace). Therefore, picking a provider that focuses on your brand’s business model is best. If a provider says they do everything, you may find they are not good at either. 

In your search for an optimization partner, consider creating a list of the functions necessary to run your Amazon business. Then, when comparing proposals from partners, confirm who will be responsible for each of those tasks. It’s a common mistake to overlook the specific services offered and simply choose the lowest-priced provider before realizing that some responsibilities will still need to be done internally and for an additional cost.  

Align your teams

It is easy for firms to claim to be Amazon Buy Box experts, but what differentiates most providers is their ability to deliver the quality level that a brand expects at a reasonable cost. The number one reason brands leave Amazon seller consulting services is a misalignment of the quality of the team they are working with. By asking to meet the team upfront, a brand will quickly see if there is an appropriate alignment. 

Sometimes, a service provider consists of five people in a townhouse claiming to offer expert Amazon marketing services. These smaller providers have difficulty providing the consistency and breadth of the service many brands require. Larger, established companies have learned from their mistakes with previous clients and can likely provide a higher quality of consistent service. In addition, understaffed providers that rely heavily on contractors usually have difficulty delivering high-quality work. 

A brand should look at the provider’s client roster to determine if they match up well in size and product category. If the brands that a prospective Amazon consultant is currently working with have similarities to your business, the likelihood of success is much higher. 

Coordinate your budget

Amazon claims it is easy to run a brand on its platform. In reality, it requires a lot of expertise in various areas ranging from graphic design and customer service to copywriting and advertising strategy. All of these specialties cost money and need to work together flawlessly. As a result, it is easy for a brand to underestimate how much work is involved and focus on price rather than quality. 

Low-cost Amazon consulting is more likely to rely on offshore teams with less quality control, while the most expensive Amazon consulting experts will often provide your brand with director-level staff capable of accelerating growth. 

People with valuable Amazon marketing experience are expensive to hire, and it’s important to remember you get what you pay for. A common rule of thumb is that it requires one employee for each $1 to $2 million of Amazon revenue. 

Amazon is a huge opportunity, but it is also very competitive. It will take a brand many months or years to reach its potential on Amazon. Brands that expect huge success in the short term will usually be disappointed by the results, regardless of which agency they choose. 

Partner with Amify

At Amify, we have helped premium brands achieve their Amazon goals for more than a decade. Our Amazon experts give your marketing strategy world-class, up-to-the-minute platform knowledge to unlock the full potential of a product listing. 

If you’re looking for a comprehensive, results-oriented approach to building a successful sales campaign and growing your Amazon presence, contact us today to learn more.