6 Reasons Why Bobsled Marketing Is NOT The Amazon Agency For You

Many brands want to know: what sets Bobsled apart from other Amazon agencies? We’ve been recognized by Business Insider as one of the top Amazon firms, we are an official Amazon partner and our PPC work has been featured on the Amazon Advertising blog, and we recently made the Inc. 5000 list. Our glowing client reviews and testimonials also paint a fair picture of who we are and what we stand for.

But why would we be the wrong choice for a brand looking for an Amazon partner? Read on for 6 reasons why Bobsled Marketing is not the Amazon agency for you.

1) We don’t exist in an Amazon echo chamber

While Amazon may be the largest ecommerce platform in the world, we’re not blind to the fact that other major platforms exist and can play a role in driving overall growth for your brand. In addition to Amazon, Bobsled guides brands through other online marketplaces such as Walmart and Instacart.

Our team can help align expectations with realistic goals for each marketplace using our wealth of in-house performance data. In this fragmented omnichannel world, brands are confused about which platforms to prioritize. Bobsled will help you decide whether to double down or expand far and wide so you can smash your ecommerce goals.

If our team identifies an expansion opportunity for your brand, we’re going to approach that conversation with a wealth of relevant data points outlining all the major pros and cons, allowing you to make the best decision for your brand.

• Learn more about Bobsled’s Omnichannel Playbook
• Learn more about Bobsled’s Walmart Playbook
• Check out Instacart for CMOs by Bobsled CEO Kiri Masters

2) We don’t just blindly follow Amazon’s best practices

This is particularly relevant when it comes to Amazon PPC. The reason is simple; Amazon makes predictions based on historical data which simply can’t account for your brand’s unique growth goals. This means that:

• Suggested bids are often not accurate because the suggestions are based on previous data sets instead of current data, meaning they are often too low

• Amazon doesn't tell you how you should change your budget based on bids in order to maximize delivery
• The budget suggestion is based only on budget spend and doesn’t consider your target ACoS for example

The Bobsled PPC team analyzes account and advertising sales data against the backdrop of product category benchmarks. This allows us to make strategic adjustments for our clients that keep them ahead of the competition.

💡Check out Are You Spending The Right Amount On PPC?

3) We don’t stick with the easy path

Taking your brand international can be a fantastic way to diversify and grow your ecommerce business. However, this can be an overwhelming process if you don’t have the right knowledge or resources at your disposal!

If potential exists on international Amazon marketplaces and expanding will help you reach your revenue and market penetration goals, we'll methodically begin adding new marketplaces such as Canada, Mexico, EU, Australia, etc on your behalf. This is by no means an easy feat, and the road to success is paved with numerous obstacles. However, the long-term payoff is well worth all the blood, sweat, and tears.

“We worked with Bobsled to launch our Amazon Vendor Central account in Canada. Lauren was an awesome project manager and the whole team of experts was very knowledgeable and easy to work with. We plan to work with them for our Amazon.com launch soon. They provided a helpful off-boarding packet to help our team take over day-to-day management.”

– Lauren Archibald, Left Coast Naturals

These expansion opportunities may not be relevant for your entire catalog. We’ll clarify that for you by identifying which SKUs have low, medium, and high potential within each new marketplace. Find some new marketplace research samples below.

Here are some of the questions we ask during the research phase of an international launch to determine the level of opportunity in a marketplace for your brand:

• What do sales and demand look like in this marketplace for a product like yours, at a similar price point?
• How saturated is this category in the marketplace, and what does the competition look like?
• What are the barriers to entry into this marketplace? This could include many things from labeling requirements, to import restrictions, HAZMAT ingredients and so much more!

Once a decision has been made to move forward with expanding internationally, we’ll work with you to strategize the best launch plan, utilizing all the right software tools for each new marketplace.

• Learn more about How To Become An International Seller On Amazon In 2021
• Check out a Bobsled Amazon International Launch Case Study

4) We don’t believe Amazon growth tools only help
the Amazon channel

We’ve facilitated great success with Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP), and we want our clients to truly grasp the power of the platform. DSP allows advertisers to programmatically buy display, video, and audio ads both on and off Amazon using Amazon’s proprietary customer data. 

There are two main types of display ad inventory that can be purchased through DSP:

1) Amazon-owned and operated such as Amazon.com, the Amazon mobile app, IMDb, etc.

2) Third-party advertising exchanges. In other words, all other websites and apps that serve ads.

DSP allows advertisers to target anyone who has searched for, viewed or purchased your ASINs on Amazon. This type of retargeting leads to an increase in sales and fosters a closer relationship with both potential and existing customers. In addition to Amazon, DSP can boost sales on an advertiser’s DTC website or even within offline Whole Foods stores!

💡Check out Amazon DSP Retargeting - The First 30 Days

In order to avoid audience overlap, Bobsled’s PPC team defines dedicated DSP segments for product searcher, product viewer, or product purchaser excluding other audiences:

Many online shoppers implicitly trust the Amazon platform and appreciate the perks of fast Prime shipping, making conversion easier. Brands can decide for which products it makes the most sense to send DSP traffic to Amazon, versus other campaigns which should lead users to a DTC website.

The Bobsled advertising team have written extensively about DSP. For a deep dive, check out the articles below:

• Amazon DSP 101: Beginners Guide to Understanding Amazon's Demand-side Platform
• Amazon Sponsored Display vs DSP
• Growing Brand Awareness: Utilizing Amazon Advertising & Amazon DSP

5) We don’t bite our tongue when we see a disaster on the horizon

Every day we’re faced with new challenges as we navigate the Amazon marketplace. Bobsled works with brands across all product categories and which gives us exposure to all the key ‘Big Picture’ marketplace trends. This allows our project team to quickly identify whether challenges are widespread or isolated within a product category or single account.

Inventory management is an especially tricky aspect of selling on Amazon due to fluctuating storage volume and restock limits. If you’re faced with these challenges, our team can help you understand which products are most critical to restock, how to plan for replenishing more frequently, or alternate fulfillment options that may need to be implemented.

💡Check out Winning Strategies for Amazon Inventory Management

Other potential disasters we can help identify are product and account suspension issues. By identifying these types of problems early, we can be proactive and take action immediately, limiting the amount of time your offer is down and sales are lost.

Additionally, we’re familiar with the general challenges of Amazon and potential mishaps that come with things like:

• Planning for delays in receiving times around holidays or other key events such as Prime Day that may prevent you from having sufficient inventory in place
• Labeling issues that are common disasters for brands that utilize Amazon’s labeling services
• Account-wide penalties for ‘review manipulation’
• Trigger words that may flag your product as HAZMAT resulting in the removal of your listing

To summarize, if you’re looking for an agency to be reactive rather than proactive, Bobsled is not the agency for you! If we see any possibility for things to go wrong, we’re going to raise a red flag and make sure you’re aware of the potential risk, consequences, and options at your disposal to avoid or mitigate the mishap.

“Our team at Wynd really enjoys working with the folks at Bobsled. They are knowledgeable about everything Amazon but more importantly, they really care about the brands they work with. We got started in Q4 of 2017 during the middle of the holiday season, and despite the hectic time, they were spot on in helping us get integrated and ready to go. We had a fantastic launch and continue to grow with Bobsled today.”

– Raymond Wu, Founder & CEO at Wynd

6) We don’t think it’s possible to be truly successful on Amazon overnight

It doesn’t matter whether you represent an emerging or established brand – it’s not possible to ‘fix’ or optimize your Amazon presence over a short period of time. Sustained success on Amazon takes time and depends on several factors including:

• Whether you’ve already launched your own account or whether you’ve been using a reseller
• How many products you wish to promote via PPC advertising
• The size of your product catalog
• Your SKU by SKU profit margin in relation to corresponding Amazon fees
• How your direct competitors are performing on Amazon
• Seasonal traffic and buyer intent fluctuations
• Your price point
• The reputation of your brand in the marketplace
• The quality and quantity of customer reviews

💡 Check out How long before I start seeing results on Amazon?

The majority of brands that Bobsled works with will see results in the first 2 to 3 months, however, each Amazon account has its own challenges. Brands need to decide whether they can commit to building a profitable and healthy presence over the long term, or whether they want to roll the dice and try to achieve instant results.