Recent data reveals that when searching for products, 63% of consumers begin their searches on Amazon. And while that’s a whopping majority, 48% of consumers indicate they also use search engines as starting points. Retailer sites, other marketplaces, and brand websites round out the top 5 channels.

Amazon is a juggernaut, but 48% of consumers is still a huge amount of traffic that you are losing if you do not think about off-Amazon marketing, such as Google Paid Search and your brand’s website and social presence.

The health and wellness industry, more than many other product categories, relies on brand awareness, brand trust, and brand loyalty. This can take the shape of driving trials on new consumers, earning repeat purchases of consumables like beauty products or supplements, or cross selling one-time buyers on additional related products, like baby goods. 

When we’re crafting the strategy for our brands on their brand strategy and Amazon marketing strategy, brand points of differentiation, brand equity, and consumer awareness are incredibly important.. And because we work exclusively with e-Commerce-first consumer health brands, we see a lot of business owners that sometimes struggle to get the brand fundamentals right.. 

As Chris Giacolone, Intrinsic’s VP of Brand Management puts it, “No matter whether you’re communicating to consumers off Amazon or on Amazon, you need to focus on what you want your brand to mean to consumers. What is your brand promise? Why are you different? Why are you better? Why should consumers trust you?  You have to create trust in your brand to drive trials, and then have to cultivate that connection over time to build loyalty. That first purchase transaction may happen on Amazon, but the true relationship develops everywhere.”

Amazon marketing strategies

Today, there are approximately 9 million products in health, wellness, and beauty categories listed for sale on Amazon,including:

• 1.5 million baby products.
• 2 million beauty products.
• 5.5 million other health and wellness products.
• Possibly thousands, tens of thousands, or more that are miscategorized or targeting your keywords from another category.
  

And according to Amazon, the lucky few that rank on the first page of any given search result will garner a whopping 81% of clicks.

So if you don’t rank on the first page, what chance do you stand?

The good news is that every small business, every Amazon seller, and every product started at the same place - with 0 clicks and 0 sales when they first launched.. So whether you want to get your product to rank just a little bit higher on page 1, or are languishing a few (or many) pages behind the top results, you need to understand the Amazon marketing options, and develop a comprehensive plan. 

The challenge is that the myriad of marketing features and options on Amazon are increasingly complex, and often confusing. We’ll cover an extensive list in this guide, and reveal when you should dig deeper as you market your health and wellness brand. We’ll explore:

• Health and wellness branding on Amazon
• Organic search optimization 
• Amazon deal & discount strategies 
• Amazon advertising (aka Sponsored Ads or PPC) for health and wellness brands
  

After reviewing these foundations of Amazon marketing strategy, you’ll come away with a clearer picture of which ones matter most for you. But you shouldn’t stop there. Read on, because there’s that large share of traffic that begins product searches off of Amazon, remember? 

Using external marketing to drive Amazon sales

“If I’m selling on Amazon, shouldn’t I just focus on Amazon marketing?” 

This is a common question for brand owners we support. But you’ve got a lot of reasons to focus on external channels, too.

Using external channels to drive traffic to Amazon helps you:

• Increase your access to the group of customers who don’t begin their product searches on Amazon (like search engines).
• Leapfrog competitors that outrank you in organic Amazon listings.
• Impact your organic rank if you have a high-converting product.
  

But external channels can be important for any small business marketing program on their own. Concentrating on building a community of customers gives you the ability to build a relationship directly with them, encourage feedback and reviews in a compliant way, and cross sell new offerings effectively.

We’ll explore examples like: 

• Paid search - advertising to those buyers who use Google or Bing to search for a solution for a health problem, or wellness goal
• Organic social media - growing a community of followers that you can interact with, or drive back to your Amazon product listings
• Email - cultivating an email list to which you can promote new products, specials, and other updates
• Influencers and Affiliates - Creating partnerships with influencers, content creators, or even other brands, in order to sell directly to their audiencePaid social media - advertising to new or existing customers on Facebook, Instagram, or other communities

Should I work with an Amazon agency?

It’s a fair question. If you’re reading this guide, you already know that you need marketing if you want to grow your business. But - is marketing one of your best skills? Many wellness business founders have a passion for the product, but not all of the things involved in running the business. You may have extensive knowledge about all-natural formulas and nutrients, but do you know what it takes to profitably advertise a supplement on Amazon? Do you feel confident that you can optimize an Amazon listing to hit the first page of customer search results?

If you don’t, working with an Amazon agency can be a huge benefit to your business trajectory. At Intrinsic, our mentors often advise our brands to engage with one of our partner agencies, because having an expert on your side ensures you’ll have knowledgeable support to overtake competitors and capture the maximum share of potential customers.

Even if you’re a natural marketer, and want to oversee your sales directly, engaging with an expert Amazon agency can help you. A temporary agency relationship can help you to establish a strong foundation that you can eventually take back. Or, an agency could help you uncover new trends and opportunities in Amazon marketing strategy. 

It’s even more effective if you partner with an agency that can help your brand on Amazon - and everywhere else you’re selling. 

One great example of this comes from a well-known skincare brand - whose leadership decided to partner with an agency to balance new customer acquisition with reseller relationships.

It was a complicated initiative and so working with an agency made sense. The agency could bring experts with diverse specialties together to collaborate on different parts of the buyer’s journey. The agency prioritized specific strategies for advertising and content, targeted at different audiences - and drove 83% growth in revenue. 

A business owner’s time is valuable, so decide if your time is better spent on marketing, or elsewhere. If you’re a better fit in some other part of your business, let Intrinsic recommend an Amazon agency for you.

The Foundation for Marketing Wellness Products

If you’re selling on Amazon now, you’re already neck-deep in marketing already. But that doesn’t make improving your marketing foundations any less important.

Create a timeless brand that will create passionate customers

There are wellness brands that are hot for a time, and then fade away. And then there are brands that have true staying power. 

A brand is less about colors, images, and flashy videos - and more about how your customers feel about you - your business, and your products. If your products give buyers a certain feeling, the way you present your business should underscore that feeling in every single interaction.

That consistency builds trust. Because so many health and wellness products make bogus claims or emerge as Amazon counterfeits, consumers often feel skeptical about trying a new product. Creating trust with your brand is critical for the success of any product that goes into, or on, the body.

Putting your wellness brand into practice

So how can you create a brand? It starts by understanding how your customer feels after using your product. Then, harness that customer feeling into the way your brand appears on Amazon and beyond. Let’s look at a simple example for cleansing products.

Perhaps your company sells women’s facial cleansers. To drive the trust you need through brand consistency, every marketing asset should reflect the clean, crisp, and pure feeling that a customer experiences when using your product. That should include:

• Design - your Amazon brand page and product descriptions
• Imagery - every product image should align to your design
• Your language and written copy - write everything in a tone that reflects your visual designs
• Packaging - every interaction counts in building trust, even after the sale
  

Everything that your customers see impacts their decision about whether you’re trustworthy, and often that decision is subconscious and instantaneous.

This is another place where a marketing agency partner can help. The Intrinsic team can help you find the right marketing partner to level up your brand.

Content creation for health products

One of the most important marketing activities you can invest in is quality content creation. The content you create is what will sell the lifestyle that your products support.

We’ve already identified that customers can feel skeptical about claims they see on Amazon wellness products. Instead of hoping that your product descriptions will convince the buyer that your product works, there are many types of content that can tell that story in a trustworthy way.

Use real customer testimonials everywhere you can

Marketing wellness products has the unique challenge of convincing a buyer, but without overstepping on claims or overpromising. Even if your products do support weight loss, you have to be extremely careful in how you express that with marketing supplements, for example.

If you can highlight customer experiences to tell your story, do it. A single satisfied customer can become the basis of multiple touchpoints. 

Sharing customer results, success stories, and testimonials is a key step in trust building. To get started, reach out to any happy customers you have. Some ways that work include:

• Offering product discounts for permission to document their story
• Holding a contest to see who has the best transformation or progress while using your product
• Investing in a social media group or community that offers online support to customers
• Actively listening on social media for mentions of your products, and then contacting the poster to expand on their story
  

What to do with customer stories

There is so much you can do with customer testimonials. There is one thing you must do, though, and that is: make sure you use each story in as many ways as you can.

It’s easy to think about doing this in terms of marketing supplements, or remedies, or treatments for problems. But any wellness product can tap into the power of customer stories.

For example, a company that sells shaving products could run a contest looking for the thickest facial hair shaved with their products. Gathering those customers, and their stories, in a single video recording could yield many pieces of content, like:

• A photo comparison of before and after 
• A video testimonial 
• Audio for ads on Amazon Alexa
• A written customer story 
• Multiple quotes that you can visualize in your product descriptions

One more way customer stories help you in Amazon marketing

Talking to customers is always a great idea, but there’s one final hidden benefit to contacting your happy buyers. By hearing them explain what they love about your product, you will be able to uncover new ways to talk about your product, and may even find new keywords to include when optimizing your listings.

So, Are You Looking for More Amazon Marketing Strategies? Here’s Where to Turn Next.

Intrinsic is here to help you take your next step towards growing your Amazon business.

If you’re curious about how you can further grow and scale your brand, start by scheduling a consultation with the Intrinsic team. As experts in both Amazon and consumer health products, we can talk through your unique situation, and guide you transparently about the right next steps for you.

During your free consultation, we’ll discuss your vision and your goals, as well as the concrete steps you can take in the coming months to increase your consumer health brand value.

Regardless of how far you’ve come or how far you have yet to grow, it’s always a great choice to think about the future. Get started on your next chapter by connecting with Intrinsic.