Sponsored Brand Video ads have INSANELY high click through rates, almost 6 times higher than Sponsored Product ads. Moreover, they take up 4 organic listings worth of real estate on page 1 of search results!
As a smart seller, you already know that video is a powerful way to get people interested in your product. Yet, creating video ad creation seems cumbersome and expensive. We're here to tell you that it does not have to be that way. You can create video ads fairly inexpensively with a little planning and a few tools yourself.
In this guide we want to outline the steps to get you over to the finish line with your first video ad. Here we go...
About Sponsored Brands Video Ads
A type of Sponsored Brands ad, available to brand registered sellers
Links directly to the product detail page
Can showcase only 1 product
Is a short video clip
Can target Keywords, Categories and Products
No creative messaging available
Shows up mostly on Page 1, but slowly being rolled out on Product Detail Pages
Is generally autoplaying and will loop endlessly
Don't begin with black slide
No pillar-boxing allowed (No black bars on any side)
Needs to be 6-45 sec long (shorter the better, ideal 10-30 sec)
File size should be 500 MB or smaller
Dimensions need to be 1920 x 1080
File type could be MP4 or MOV file
Ideal bit rate: 1200
Video Ad Styles
We examined hundreds of video ads and categorized them down to styles.
1. 2D Pan and zoom
Use the lifestyle photos you already created to put together a slide show with panning and zooming with an editor like Canva or Biteable. Adding in some animated text can deliver the message quite effectively and inexpensively.
2. Show and tell:
Show off your product's best feature or benefit to wow the viewer, like in this knife video, the sharpness. You can use your smartphone or professional videography. The choice is yours. Both can look great. Just keep the shopper in mind when you come up with the storyboard. You don't need a ton of ideas, just one or two best ones are fine.
3. Animation
This is great for depicting certain aspects of your product's features or benefits that are hard to depict through video or still photos. For example for showing multiple layers inside a mask or data transfer across devices. It could also be great for 360 videos or eye catching 3D renders.
This generally requires a skilled graphics expert to build and can be somewhat expensive to produce.
Tools you'll need to create a 2D Pan and Zoom ad
5-6 high quality lifestyle photos
Video storyboarding app: e.g. Biteable.com, Canva.com, Promo.com
Image processing app: Canva for high quality images
Background removal: Lunapic, Preview app (on Mac)
Bit rate adjustment: Handbrake
Steps: With Canva
Create a Design -> Video
2. Pick any simple template
3. Upload your photos
4. Select Transitions
5. Add text
6. Add text animations
7. Switch audio track if needed
8. Download
9. Use Handbrake to adjust bit rate to 1200
10. Upload asset to Amazon and create ad
11. Wait for approval (24 h)
Steps: With Biteable
Upload 6-7 photos/video clips to Biteable or pick from their gallery
Pick the Product Slideshow template
Create 6-7 scenes and set background to each of your photos
Add captions as needed
Animate captions
Animate transitions
Modify music as needed
Download
Use Handbrake to adjust bit rate to 1200
Upload asset to Amazon and create ad
Wait for approval (24 h)
Resources:
Best Practices
Video should not rely on audio since these are muted by default
The first few seconds are the most important
Use fast motion to grab attention
The first frame will serve as a thumbnail so pick wisely
Use your existing keyword research to create as many video ads as you have Sponsored Product ads. Same video, just separate keywords
Separate your ads by match type
No keyword stuffing. Have no more than 10 - 20 keywords for each ad for best budget utilization
Don't forget to create a category targeting ad, it's the easiest one to setup
Use your competitor target ASIN list and target them
Best to use long tail keywords since the min CPC is 0.25
Best match types: Phrase, Exact
Avoid Broad Match, use Broad Match Modifier instead for clean data (eg. +garlic +press)
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to comment down below or email us at support@ppcninja.com!
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