Amazon PPC Management Agency vs. Software | Pros, Cons & Cost

If you have to read one FBA article in 2023, I suggest you complete this one because it's packed with years of experience, honest feedback, and cost-efficient tips when it comes to hiring an amazon PPC company.

Amazon advertising can make or break your FBA business. Thus, it’s paramount to work with the right Amazon PPC service provider that understands the cosmos of Amazon, rankings on Amazon and can implement marketing strategies that aligns with your needs.

For the most part, Amazon sellers are either outsourcing PPC to agencies, software or utilizing a freelancer or in-house talent.

And having worked for Amazon marketing agencies, launched my own B2C brand, and tested couple of Amazon advertising softwares, I’m going to share with you the pros, and cons of each, and what’s the best form to manage Amazon ads in 2023.

Before we compare these PPC service providers in detail, I want to preface this article with the increased competition on Amazon, and the CPC inflation as a result. You’ll see why by the end of the article.

Competition on Amazon

Selling on Amazon in 2023 is no easy feat, and unlike how many ads you’ve seen served on Youtube by FBA Gurus who don’t sell on the marketplace, the reality of the matter is that it’s getting more competitive and no sings of it slowing down in the future.

So much of that competition is the increased number of new sellers, ranging from small businesses to renowned brands.

According to a study by Marketplace Pulse, Amazon was projected to add 665,000 new sellers in 2021. And if that current rate continued throughout 2022, we’re looking at 1,824 new sellers joining everyday or a total number of 665,760 new sellers joining every year. In addition to the existing 6.3 million Amazon sellers worldwide.

This too is evident in Amazon ad business which grew 25% in the third quarter to $9.5 billion in 2022, and accounts for $31 billion in revenue (revenue reported in 2021).

For Amazon sellers, this CPC inflation is plain as day once you look at your own CPC history. See the example below for one of the brands I’m managing.

Now that you know you have to spend big to play, let’s look at who should you hire to spend your advertising dollars.

Amazon PPC Agency

Amazon PPC agencies are a great solution to many sellers but not all. For sellers who can afford them.

A lot of Amazon PPC agencies charge a % of total sales which can hurt the seller returns, especially when they’ve got to bear all of the costs associated with running an FBA business.

The other major downside with Amazon marketing agencies is underdelivering, and overpromising.

A Good Amazon PPC agency charge premium for their services, and rightfully so because it requires a lot of capitol to hire great talent. Also, the benefits of hiring a marketing agency is you get to have multiple people working on your account which’s especially important if you’re looking for a full-service provider.

If you’re a large brand, and need help with setting up coupons, submitting deals, and dealing with listing issues, a full-service agency is likely the best option here. That said, just because you need full servie, doesn’t mean you should hire the next full service Amazon PPC agency.

It all boils down to how effective they can run ads to increase your topline revenue while ensuring maximum returns and profits. And that’s a collaboration that needs to be established by both the agency, and the Amazon seller.

I created the table below to help you vet a good agency from the bad and layout the characteristics, and deliverables you should expect from hiring one.

Amazon PPC Software

Without mentioning names, I’ve tried couple of Amazon software tools that swear by their AI magic, yet I’ve yet to see one that’s merely good let alone able to scale an account.

These Amazon PPC tools sell you the idea of time savings and exclusive AI that you can count on while you don’t have to do anything. Though they lack the important feature for PPC: custom strategy.

There’re good semi-automatic Amazon tools that can help sellers make bidding, budget, changes in bulk, though you still need human cells to assess the data which’s CUSTOM to every account, and make a strategy accordingly.

If you’ve tried some of these Amazon PPC softwares, I’m sure you’ll be familiar with the following issues:

These pay per click issues can prevent Amazon products that have potential in terms of product quality, reviews, inventory…etc. from scalling and become the best seller in their category.

Discover the pros, and cons of using Amazon PPC tools:

Amazon PPC Expert

Hiring an Amazon PPC Expert is another affordable option. Though, the more experienced the advertising manager, the higher they’ll likely charge premium for their services.

What’s most important is the ad-manger’s experience, and character.

When I say character & experience, I mean this for example. Imaging a scenario when you’re already a best-seller, and the best use of your dollars is to play defense instead of offense.

To allocate ad-spend towards other products that can be scaled OR simply cut back on ad-spend than just spend money for the hell of it (allowing you to increase your organic revenue, thus profitability).

For large brands, sometimes it’s cost-efficient to hire an in-house Amazon ad-manager via Linkedin Or Indeed as that might yield more benefits.

Some of the benefits of hiring an In-house ad manager is:

Bottom Line

Amazon advertising can be used as a life raft, a sailboat, or a yacht, it all depends on who’s the captain of your ship.

via GIPHY

Amazon advertising can be time consuming thus outsourcing PPC is likely the case for most successful sellers. However, finding and working with the right Amazon marketing partner will be key for your brand to fail or thrive on the biggest e-commerce marketplace.

I hope the above comparisons and tips will help you learn more about Amazon PPC management agencies and tools. And so the next time you hire one, you’re choosing a great partner.

Wondering if your Amazon PPC game is top-notch?

Contact me today for a free account audit that will uncover a lot of things advertising related including spend allocation, concentration, organic sales and rankings…etc.

And before you bounce, feel free to check out this guide about Amazon bundling AND Amazon PPC cost best practices.

And if you’re a tacos fan, check out our Free Amazon TACoS calculator to help you measure your TACoS and organic revenue with a click of a button.

Lastly, if this guide added value to you as an Amazon seller, feel free to say so in the comment section below.

Cheers & keep scaling!