Devin Partida offers advice for brands looking to succeed on Amazon. 

Competing on Amazon’s shopping app requires an in-depth understanding of your customers and what makes them tick. You want to ensure your listings pull up for the right people at the right time. While you have to stick to some basic Amazon standards, there are a few things you can do to grab attention.

Advertising is big business over at Amazon. The companys year-over-year ad sales grew 49 per cent in the third quarter, reaching $8.09bn. However, businesses can throw a lot of money at Amazon Marketplace advertising and not get the return they’d like.

Your first goal should be to increase brand awareness. You want consumers who love your products and return to your Amazon store to buy them repeatedly. You also have to get in front of your target audience in the first place.

Since many people use their smartphones to access the internet, you’ll find at least half of your customers visit via the Amazon app. Follow these tips to increase brand visibility for your mobile users.

1. Create posts
Amazon has been gearing its shopping site to allow online retailers a chance to show off their brand personality. Amazon has a few features to help you increase brand engagement, and “Amazon Posts” is one of them. Youll have to follow a few rules, though. You have to be based in the United States, registered with Amazons Brand Registry, and have an Amazon storefront. You also cant promote products such as adult items, tobacco, and combat weapons.

2. Choose gorgeous images
Amazon is still very much a visual medium. While people might dig deeper into your description and reviews, the first thing they look at is a long list of product images. Your photographs are the most important part of your product listing. The image should be crisp and clear. Make sure nothing distracts from the product. Watch out for harsh shadows or poor lighting. Invest in a photographer or the right equipment to take professional-quality pictures.

3. Register your brand
To become part of Amazon’s Brand Registry program, you must trademark your company name and go through a registration process. You’ll gain some perks by registering your brand with Amazon that help increase visibility, such as being able to post articles.

You can also customize your storefront, giving your brand image an additional boost. Another key advantage is better customization of your product descriptions. Most importantly, youll be able to create sponsored brand ads, which allows you to run video ads or a logo and slogan.

4. Embrace Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day is one of the most frequented online shopping days of the year and brings in new customers from all over the world. People look for unbeatable deals they can’t get any other time of the year. You can be part of this day by slashing prices. It’s a great opportunity to move stale inventory or introduce new customers to your store by making just enough to cover your costs. You can still make your sales profitable on Prime Day, but scale back your normal expectations and shoot for volume in sales.

It’s a good idea to study what other brands offer during Prime Day and how much of a discount users expect. Don’t be afraid to offer something outside the norm. You never know what people might buy on Prime Day. The key is offering a good enough deal that they can’t pass it up.

5. Improve customer experience
Strive to improve the customer experience so your customers sing your praises. Amazon mobile users see a product listing and the average star rating out of five. If you want to get them to click on your thumbnail and pull up the full product page, you must have an excellent rating and as many reviews as possible.

Offer great customer service and then email your buyers and ask if they’d like to leave a review. Be careful here. Amazon’s terms of service state you can’t specify whether the review is good or bad or buy reviews. However, it’s perfectly fine to reach out and ask the user to leave an honest review.

If you’re doing your job well, the review will be a positive one and may help increase brand visibility. Many users filter their searches by customer reviews to see which products are rated highest. Make sure yours is one of the top-rated options.

Prime your way to success
When people select Prime delivery, you don’t want your products excluded. Make sure you take advantage of delivery by Amazon to give you an edge on the time it takes to deliver to the customer and to appear on Prime-specific searches.

Using the tips above, you can easily increase the visibility of your brand on the Amazon app. Play around with different ads, place your logo so it shows up on the photo of the product, and look for ways to get your brand name out there consistently.