Part of the reason that Amazon stock has gone through the roof is that people are finally beginning to realize its potential as a marketing platform as well as a retail space. Huge brands such as Kenmore and Nike are now partnering with Amazon directly to sell instead of dealing with the overhead of physical stores. Not only do customers get products from the comfort of their own homes, but less overhead means even more dollars for marketing!
Some marketers who are stuck in 2010 may still view Amazon as a platform that is made solely for e-commerce. However, the ecosystem of this online giant has expanded far beyond static picture sets and wordy product descriptions.
Amazon Spark
The beginning of the new generation of Amazon will almost certainly include Spark, the relatively new and unknown social media network on the Amazon website. Amazon has already taking heed to the mistakes of major social media platforms and created a platform that is actually quite impressive.
Because people already trust Amazon as a retailer and fulfillment center, the calls to action here will likely spawn more conversions. This will definitely make advertisers happier, and one can only imagine how the marketing potential on Spark will expand once Amazon starts promoting it to the mainstream. If you have not taken a look at Spark, you should definitely get in before the rush comes.
Product Placement
Amazon knows a thing or two about product placement and the sponsored content. There is perhaps no platform with the ability to move a prospect through the sales funnel more quickly. Amazon is also the first platform to implement exciting customer journey tools such as augmented reality incorporated into visual search.
The closer that you can get to connect the prospect to the product before the sale, the quicker the sale comes. This is product placement on the next level, and Amazon is at the forefront of this concept.
Amazon already holds more than 70% of the market for home voice assistants. This is an incredible opportunity to open up the rest of the platform. This is just the opportunity that is waiting in the wings – the immensely popular Amazon Alexa is already giving marketers brain aneurysms trying to figure out how to best employ its new opportunities to customers.
Certain brands such as Purina are getting it right. Tide is another brand that is creating incredible new marketing content on Amazon. For instance, Tide currently has a skill giving prospects the opportunity to move through a virtual world of stain removal. With each skill comes an advertisement for a product that would solve the problem, of course easily purchased via the intuitive Amazon platform. One can only imagine the opportunities that will be available when products like Alexa Show hit the mainstream.
The question is not if Amazon will become a marketing giant in the near future – the real question is when. Moreover, the world seems to be working on Amazon’s timeline. The company has more technologies ready to usurp market share from other industry giants than any other industry giant. However, these innovations will only help the companies that are not in direct competition with Amazon. Woe be to the consumer who does not know how to control his or her wallet – things are about to get really simple to buy.
