Getting started with Amazon Marketing Cloud?

Harvest Group helps high-growth brands achieve sustainable revenue growth on Amazon. Our team has industry-leading expertise in using AMC to target niche audiences and create high-converting campaigns.

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Amazon Ads Published Case Study:
DUDE Wipes + Harvest Group

DUDE Wipes increased NTB sales by 53% and increased new-to-brand acquisition by 209% with help from Harvest Group utilizing deeper audience insights with Amazon Marketing Cloud. Learn more in this Amazon Ads published case study.

Amazon Marketing Cloud

Amazon Marketing Cloud continues to gain momentum and curiosity among Amazon advertisers, sellers, and brands looking for advanced, transparent, flexible solutions to drive highly targeted AMZ advertising across media channels. Amazon launched Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) back in 2021 to help brands achieve greater clarity into cross-channel media performance. The solution supplies advertisers with customizable reporting and aggregated data, and enables them to expand audience options on top of using AmazonDSP audiences.

Read below for more information on how to leverage AMC attribution and AMC targeting capabilities in your Amazon advertising strategy—as well as how to use Amazon’s Demand Side Platform and DSP ads to hone in on high-converting on- and off-platform audiences and increase your ecommerce revenue.

What is Amazon AMC?

Amazon Marketing Cloud is a secure, cloud-based solution allowing brands to perform cross-media analytics and build bespoke audiences for direct activation via Amazon DSP ads. The solution enables advertisers to expand and customize audience options on top of using DSP audiences—making DSP advertising even more powerful.

AMC only accepts pseudonymized inputs, so advertisers can only access aggregated and anonymous outputs from AMC (no individual user data can be accessed). AMC uses cross-source and cross-media (video, audio, display, and search) signals over a lookback period of up to 12.5 months to help advertisers build very specific audiences. With AMC, you can drill down into precise ad engagement considerations, multi-channel touchpoints, custom queries, and detailed segmentation.

This all means that brands can get incredibly detailed on the audiences they want to retarget off-platform with AMC. Here are a few of many AMC use cases:

Focus on advertising products most likely to drive new-to-brand (NTB) purchases
Target certain shoppers who haven’t purchased within 24 hours of viewing a product
Build brand awareness and category share to drive a significant increase in sales
Map path-to-conversion across campaigns and Amazon attribution models
Understand your collective media mix impact and pinpoint incremental impact

There are so many things you can do with AMC, and many intricacies of setting up and leveraging the solution, that some advertisers benefit from Amazon Marketing Cloud certification. Many leading Amazon brands and sellers rely on the expertise of a specialized Amazon DSP agency or full-service Amazon advertising agency that has a team that understands how to run Amazon DSP campaigns without sacrificing your budget and omnichannel retail media mix.

Here at Harvest Group, we’ve seen incredible results not only on paid performance and ROAS, but with organic lift. Looking for AMC/Amazon DSP ads examples? Read how DUDE Wipes increased NTB sales by 53% and NTB acquisition by 209% using Amazon Marketing Cloud.

How to access Amazon Marketing Cloud

AMC is built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud platform. Eligible advertisers can access AMC via web-based UI and advertising API, and advertisers receive a dedicated Amazon Marketing Cloud clean room environment setup.

To be eligible for Amazon AMC account access, you should:

Sell on one of the following marketplaces where AMC is currently available: Amazon US, CA, MX, BR, DE, ES, FR, IT, NL, SE, TR, UK, AU, Asia Pacific, Middle East
Be registered for Amazon Ads/have an account
Have an executed Amazon DSP MSA (Master Services Agreement)
Have planned or live Amazon DSP campaigns in the last 28 days
Have a technical resource familiar with SQL
Amazon Marketing Cloud API users should have an AWS account

Full technical requirements, details on how to get started with AMC, Amazon Marketing Cloud API and login information, and more can be found via Amazon here.

Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform) Meaning

AMC is leveraged with Amazon DSP ads, but what exactly is Amazon’s Demand Side Platform? We’re so glad you asked.

Demand-side platform means advertisers can programmatically (using automated technology) buy audio, display, and video ads both on Amazon and across the internet. DSP ads also include OTT (Over-the-top video) ads, which are streaming TV ads. So, when you wonder what “Amazon programmatic advertising” is, it’s Amazon DSP. With DSP advertising on Amazon, you can create custom dynamic, static, or video ads, or you can leverage Amazon’s creative templates and video builder.

Why is Amazon DSP important? With the advertising industry’s departure from third-party cookies, it’s harder than ever to hone in on relevant and engaged audiences. That’s where DSP comes in. DSP ads also use machine learning models to help advertisers with addressability, campaign performance, and cost-efficiency. If you’re looking to get granular in your Amazon Ads targeting, DSP and AMC are solutions that can help.

How much does Amazon Marketing Cloud cost?

AMC is free, meaning it’s available at no additional cost to eligible advertisers; eligibility includes brands or sellers who sell on a qualifying marketplace, have an Amazon DSP MSA, planned or live Amazon DSP campaigns in the last 28 days, and for AMC API users, an AWS account. The real “cost” associated with Amazon Marketing Cloud comes more with the time, expertise, and resources needed to use its capabilities successfully.

Amazon also offers a “Paid features (beta)” powered by Amazon Ads and third-party providers, allowing brands to create more flexible insights and shopping analytics from standard reports including total browse, Subscribe and Save (SNS), and purchased products metrics. Premium AMC datasets are also offered at a cost, but pricing varies drastically by brand—our team has seen brands pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per month for the same dataset.

We must clarify that running Amazon Ads for your business is not free by any means—Amazon PPC cost and DSP cost depends greatly on your specific category, product, budget, competition, audience, and goals. If you’re stumped on how to optimize your Amazon Ads and DSP budget/goal setting, there are some excellent Amazon DSP companies and Amazon Ads agencies that excel in DSP and PPC management, as well as AWS advertising campaigns. Just be sure you choose a partner who gives your Amazon advertising strategy the proactive, highly detailed attention it deserves, and who also leverages proprietary technology and industry-leading tools to ensure your campaigns are always pivoting and evolving based on performance.

Looking for Amazon DSP Managed Services?

Harvest Group is a top Amazon advertising agency, verified Amazon Ads partner, and Amazon Marketing Cloud service provider here to help established brands achieve sustainable revenue growth. We’re a dedicated team of long-time Amazon experts, ex-Amazon employees, and former Amazon sellers who understand the strategies, nuances, and frustrations that come with crushing your retail goals. We are a true extension of your team, acting as your Amazon DSP and PPC agency, Amazon 1P/3P seller consultant, Amazon marketing agency, Amazon brand agency, and full-service Amazon growth agency all rolled into one.

Unlike other DSP Amazon advertising companies out there, we leverage our expertise not only on Amazon but also across other big-name retailers (Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, Costco, Kroger, Albertsons) to ensure your retail media strategy stays fully connected and provides the best possible experience for your customers wherever they are.

Connect with our team for more on our DSP Amazon advertising and omnichannel retail media capabilities.