AM/PM Podcast #479 - Taking Back Control of Your Amazon Advertising
Learn how to take back control of your Amazon PPC, fix costly agency mistakes, and use rules-based ads plus new Sponsored Products video formats to scale profitably on Amazon.
In this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, Bradley dives into one of the biggest pitfalls he sees Amazon sellers fall into: handing their PPC over to an agency before they truly understand how advertising works. That loss of control doesn’t just cost money; it keeps you in the dark on whether your campaigns are actually growing your brand or quietly draining profits in the background.
To prove it, he spotlights a real case study from the new Helium 10 Outsourced to Optimized series. Helium 10’s own Carrie Miller and Destaney Wishon from BetterAMS walk through what happened when they opened Carrie’s account: profitable campaigns randomly shut off, creatives that didn’t match search intent, and VCPM display campaigns that looked like rock stars in the dashboard but weren’t driving incremental sales. From there, they rebuild the entire strategy on the fundamentals: a clean campaign structure, SKUs grouped intelligently, 10-30 targets per campaign, and rules-based bid management tied to real business objectives, such as organic rank, BSR, and strict ACoS targets.
Throughout the conversation, you’ll see how a self-described “non-PPC person” can learn to manage sophisticated Amazon ads with the help of Helium 10 Ads and their Ads Academy training. Destaney shows Carrie how to utilize bid rules, keyword harvesting, negative targeting, and Amazon’s newer tools, such as Creative Studio and Sponsored Products video ads, without turning PPC into a full-time job. They also break down off-season strategies, what to fix when you’re getting impressions but no conversions, and how much of your revenue should realistically flow back into ads. The big takeaway: whether you keep an agency, lean on software, or run everything yourself, you need to understand the basics of Amazon PPC so you can keep partners accountable and finally take back control of your Amazon advertising.
In episode 479 of the AM/PM Podcast, Bradley, Carrie, and Destaney discuss:
- 00:00 – Introduction
- 05:48 – Carrie's Amazon PPC Agency Issues
- 07:19 – Carrie Learns PPC From Scratch
- 10:23 – Rules-Based Bidding With Helium 10 Ads
- 14:24 – When To Automate Your Amazon Ads
- 18:11 – Scalable Campaign Structure For Sellers
- 23:16 – Single-Keyword Campaigns & Dayparting
- 28:36 – Keyword-Specific Creatives & Creative Studio
- 30:54 – Off-Season Strategy & Fixing Conversions
- 33:08 – Sponsored Product Video Ads Launch
- 36:00 – Scaling Benchmarks & Ad Spend Targets
- 40:09 – Final PPC Lessons & Next Step