Nick Gezzar is an independent brand consultant who owns Gezzar Consulting LLC. As a versatile business leader, he has over 10 years of experience leading people and projects in retail, marketing, advertising, and intelligence. Nick has worked for leading brands like Amazon, Lindt, Procter & Gamble, and The Hershey Company.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [0:00] Former Amazon executive and military intelligence officer Nick Gezzar returns to discuss sponsored products
- [3:32] How to optimize Amazon sponsored products
- [8:57] Nick explains how product reviews boost relevance
- [12:00] Leveraging sponsored products to drive sales through PDPs
- [14:12] Strategies for sustaining relevance with sponsored products
- [18:59] The role of category searches in customer targeting
- [23:51] Nick decodes keyword switching strategies
In this episode…
When it comes to the digital landscape, why do some products sell while others rarely receive traffic? It all comes down to visibility, especially on a vast marketplace like Amazon, where appearing on the first page is key. What’s the secret to landing that coveted spot, and can sponsored products really make a difference?
According to ex-Amazon employee Nick Gezzar, sponsored products can make or break your sales, and developing a calculated strategy ensures consistent relevance. When capitalizing on this advertising strategy, prioritize your top-selling products to maximize sales and ROI. Additionally, Amazon’s search algorithm boosts high-rated products, so bidding on relevant keywords related to these products enhances visibility in search results. Your keyword strategy should be targeted toward your customers and contain related search terms from competitors.
In this episode of What The Teck?, Nick Gezzar of Gezzar Consulting LLC returns for the second installment of the sponsored product series. Nick explains why brands must dominate the first page of Amazon’s search results, how to bid on specific keywords, and how category searches can target customers with granularity.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Rolando Rosas on LinkedIn
- Dave Kelly on LinkedIn
- Global Teck Worldwide
- Circuit Loops
- Nick Gezzar on LinkedIn
- Nick Gezzar’s email: nick@gezzar.com
- Gezzar Consulting LLC
- “Ex-Amazon Ads Executive: ‘Sponsored Ads Isn’t Optional’ – Guide to Amazon Sponsored Content Part 1/4” with Nick Gezzar on What The Teck?
- How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know by Byron Sharp
Quotable Moments:
- “90% of Amazon shoppers never get past page one.”
- “Ads are not really an optional part of the equation anymore.”
- “You could fight for information. That’s kind of what you’re doing here.”
- “There’s always the top sellers in your catalog… Make sure that 20% that you are investing in there.”
- “Your most relevant products are showing up, both in the category and for the branded searches.”
Action Steps:
- Prioritize your top-selling products (primary ASINs) in Amazon ads: Focusing on your best sellers in ads can maximize ROI by capitalizing on their proven market appeal.
- Utilize sponsored products for visibility on Amazon’s first page: Being on the first page is crucial due to high shopper drop-off beyond that point, directly impacting sales potential.
- Understand and leverage the mere exposure effect in marketing: Consistent brand exposure can create familiarity and boost perceived popularity, influencing customer purchasing decisions.
- Optimize your ad keywords for relevancy and specificity: Targeting precise keywords ensures that ads reach the most relevant audience, leading to higher conversion rates.
- Maintain a high product star rating (above 4.0) for better ad performance: High-quality products are favored in Amazon’s search algorithm, which can reduce ad costs while improving visibility.
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by Global Teck Worldwide.
We are a full-service online retailer of professional headsets, webcams, and speaker phones from top manufacturers.
Since 2002, Global Teck Worldwide has provided affordable, high-quality communications equipment and customized telecommunications services to organizations of all sizes.
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Episode Transcript:
Rolando Rosas 0:00
I don’t think a lot of people know. 90% of shoppers never get past page one.
Nick Gezzar 0:05
That’s true. That’s why sponsored products matter so much relevance is gonna keep declining the further down you scroll. That’s a lot like walking into a physical store. The things at the front of the aisle are always gonna sell better than the stuff in the middle or the end.,
Intro 0:19
Nick Gezzar former senior account executive at Amazon and military intelligence officer equipping sellers with the right Intel for a profitable strategy for Amazon sponsored ads.
Nick Gezzar 0:30
One of the things you gotta really know is ads is not really an optional part of the equation anymore. Why is that? There was a term we had in the army you could fight for information. That’s kind of what you’re doing here. Go in, spend some money, see what works. Optimize from there.
Rolando Rosas 0:44
As an Amazon seller’s getting started, where would you say the first place to go to sponsored
Nick Gezzar 0:50
products is table stakes. If you are going to be on Amazon, this is the bare minimum that you need to do to be relevant. There’s
Rolando Rosas 0:57
some people that say you cannibalize your organic find to be the number one sponsor. What’s your opinion?
Nick Gezzar 1:04
They call it the mere exposure effect in marketing. What that does is it makes your brand appear more popular, something that I would advise every seller on Amazon to have you
Rolando Rosas 1:14
Nick, thanks for coming back to part two in our series of how to be an Amazon seller and looking specifically at sponsored products today. Joining me is Nick Gezzar, subject matter expert on Amazon, former employee of Amazon, but he has a little bit of a window into what’s going on with Amazon ads. So as we continue in this series, Nick we touched on a little bit on the ABCs on part one. Part two, we’re diving in a little bit more under the hood and specifically talking about sponsored products. But you know what I want to lead with, something you said to me a while back ago that I don’t think a lot of people know it’s a stat. You said it’s flying under the radar, but it’s in front of your face that 90% of shoppers never get past page one.
Nick Gezzar 2:14
That’s That’s true. That’s why sponsored products matter so much. If people are searching for your product, do you want to lose nine out of 10 of them every time you search and most of the page one now is ads at least the first half of that page. That’s why I sponsored products. I It’s not optional anymore. Maybe 10 years ago, you could get by without doing it. But today, you really need to be there if you want to drive that relevance in the algorithm and just have your product show up in front of the shopper. So
Rolando Rosas 2:44
I have to accept the fact that I have to pay an Amazon tax. I’ll call it that an Amazon tax in the way of Amazon ads. There’s just no way around that’s too much what it is.
Nick Gezzar 2:57
I wish I had better news, but if you want to be there, you want to be selling sponsored products is what you got to be doing. Okay,
Rolando Rosas 3:04
all right, so I’ve accepted the fact that as part of my playbook I need sponsored products. So tell me, as a seller or as an agency, what could I do better with sponsored products? How can I optimize and use it to my advantage. I’ve accepted the fact that I must use sponsored products to surface my products. How do I use it to my advantage?
Nick Gezzar 3:32
You know, we’re gonna have another video series where we’re probably gonna talk more about bidding and keywords really getting Okay, save it for that. We’ll save it for that. But the main thing you got to do is look at what are your primary ASINs that you want to be selling. You have an idea of what moves and what doesn’t, based on the price, based on the specific use of your product, every product family, and I’ve seen nothing that has ever been an exception to this, because I’ve also been a brand manager at firms like PNG and lint, there’s always the top sellers in your catalog and it down trails, down to the tail, you’re gonna have 20% of your products driving 80% of your sales. Make sure that 20% that you are investing in there and that that is what’s showing up to those customers. Your most relevant products are showing up, both in the category and for the branded searches. Now for sellers, it can be difficult, because not every seller has a unique product that only they sell. So branded terms aren’t always necessarily the best for you, especially if you don’t have a strong brand. Are people even going to search for it? But if you are selling, for example, give me example, Rolando, just generic
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