CMOs: 3 Tips to Increase your Market Share using Amazon

As a CMO, you're always trying to find the smartest way to increase market awareness of your brands. As a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, I have been researching Amazon and its power to really impact your market and have found two articles which really show its potential.

Skip McGrath, an accomplished seller, lists 20 steps for new sellers on Amazon. His tips start with the basics of setting up your account as a new seller all the way down to tips for using the keyword tool. You can check out Skip McGrath's website here.

 

Image via Wired.com

Armando Roggio, an editor at PracticalEcommerce, gives us 5 tips for increasing sales on Amazon by 50%. While this percentage might seem unattainable, what have you got to lose? Tips range from competing on price to automating your listings to save time. Check out the 5 tips here and browse around the other PracticalEcommerce articles, there's a lot to learn!


1. Register as a PRO and prosper! Setting a professional seller account is a no brainer. You're not representing a single person, you're likely representing a company. This is what all buyers will see so it should be your company name or something similar to it. What not as many people are familiar with is Amazon's Brand Registry program. Once you do this it gives only you (or your company) the power to edit details on a product's page. This will be come extremely important if there are many sellers selling on the same listing. 

2. Eyes on the competition. Spend some time getting lost on Amazon.com. Are your competitors on Amazon? See what they're selling and what they're pricing their products at. Are they bundling items? Are they listing items at MSRP or at a discount? Also, check to see if any of your products are currently being sold on Amazon, if they are, this will save time later on. But check to see who these sellers are, are they your distributors?

3. Pick your products! Not every product you carry is going to be a good fit for Amazon's Marketplace. It is often recommended that you don't waste your time selling anything that's less than $10 due to Amazon's fees. Also, it's important to remember Amazon's customers are mostly consumers. So if you're someone who primarily sells in B2B, you need to think if any of your potential customers will actually be looking for your product on Amazon. You also may want to stay away from complicated items that require a lot of customer hand holding. 

It’s time to take the leap and start selling on Amazon. So register a professional account, track the competition, and select your products to sell. These tips are just the tip of the iceberg. Amazon's Seller Central can be overwhelming and complicated at times but there’s so much potential from an increase in sales to an increase in exposure and an increase in new customers. Just go for it!

About the Author: Allison S. Fine has over 5 years of experience in business to business marketing. She specializes in digital marketing and Amazon Marketplace strategies. In 2014 she increased her company’s Amazon sales by 150% compared to the previous year. Allison has consulted with a number of companies on their Amazon strategies. She currently is the Marketing & Ecommerce Director at Neil Enterprises, Inc. and has a masters degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. She is not affiliated or sponsored by Amazon or any Amazon marketplace companies mentioned. Allison is available for consulting and speaking engagements, please contact her via Twitter or LinkedIn for more information.