Should you use an Amazon agency? Or hire an in-house team to manage all of your Amazon operations? Or should you do the hybrid approach and have both? This is one of the biggest decisions that many retailers face when they want to ramp up their Amazon sales channel.
We don’t believe there’s one right answer for everyone. No two businesses are the same, and each retailer has different short-term and long-term needs. Plus, there are a bunch of pros and cons to consider whether you’re keeping it in-house or using an Amazon agency exclusively.
To make it easier, here’s a breakdown of the considerations for each option, helping you decide on the best strategy moving forward.
As an Amazon agency, we know the benefits we can bring to online retailers looking to increase their bottom line with Amazon sales. This marketplace is unique, works with a different algorithm, and has its own rules and regulations. So just because you have online marketing experience, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll find Amazon easy to grasp.
Plus, many retailers have limited resources and their in-house teams can only take on so much. This is why letting an external agency take over all of your Amazon management makes sense for smaller brands.
In fact, it’s often the most cost-effective option because hiring in-house can be extremely expensive. Not only does recruitment cost time and money, but there has to be enough in the pot to cover initial training/induction, as well as continued training and development for team members.
By choosing to hire an Amazon agency exclusively, small businesses can free themselves from the strains of having more employees on the payroll. This is particularly helpful if you have seasonal highs and lows in sales, with certain months of the year when business is quiet.
There are many ways to work with an agency; including rolling contracts, short-term contracts, retainers, or even ad hoc work. Not only does it not tie you down, but you can often get the resource and expertise you require as and when. You can tap into talent on demand, without having to be the one who deals with HR issues, sick days, work grievances, pay rises, and more.
If you’re a small business, here are the reasons why working exclusively with an Amazon advertising partner could be the best option:
Hiring an Amazon agency saves you money, particularly in the short-term as there is no large initial outlay as you would see with recruitment and in-house training. Smaller brands with limited resources tend to find it more economical to outsource their Amazon operations, and there are various types of contracts to suit your level of commitment.
Working with an agency can ensure that your account is being managed by an experienced Amazon expert, and in addition, you can get this on demand, meaning no strings, and very little risk. This can be crucial for smaller brands that need immediate, effective results to grow.
By outsourcing to an agency, smaller brands can concentrate on core business activities such as product development and customer service, leaving the complexities of Amazon advertising to the experts.
There are some companies that prefer to keep as many things in-house as possible – including their Amazon advertising management. While we do understand there are some benefits to doing it this way, it’s also a very limited approach.
Here’s why using your in-house marketing team to handle Amazon ads can be limiting:
If your marketing team also manage other channels, chances are they won’t have the time to do manage Amazon as effectively as an agency. They will have to juggle multiple projects across multiple sales channels, and will have to learn how to deliver across various platforms.
Working with an Amazon agency gives you access to the best expertise because this is what the agency does all day, every day. They will have had focused training in this area, and they will know the latest methods and tools for achieving top results.
Furthermore, to keep your team fully up-to-date with the latest techniques, companies must invest in continued training and development.
Internal teams might not be as agile in adapting to Amazon’s rapid changes, potentially missing out on new opportunities or failing to address issues promptly. Things are changing all the time with Amazon, so that’s why using a specialist Amazon agency works so well.
However, we do recognize that there are some advantages to having an in-house advertising team. For instance, you may benefit from the following:
With an in-house team, it can usually be easier to control your brand’s messaging and strategy. This can be advantageous for maintaining a consistent brand voice across all marketing channels. If you do work with an agency though, there are many things you can do to ensure consistent brand messaging across campaigns, including brand documents and TOV documents.
Agency staff are used to working with multiple brands and adapting brand/tone of voice accordingly. So there should be no reason they can’t do just as good a job, as long as communication is clear from both ends.
If you intend on growing your marketing team in the future, hiring in-house can create long-term cost savings. However, this can be a big initial outlay and there are lots of costs involved when it comes to recruitment. For very small operations with tight budgets, managing advertising in-house might seem like a cost-saving measure – but it can often lead to suboptimal performance if the team lacks the necessary expertise and resources.
It’s clear that there is a case for both in-house and agency when it comes to Amazon advertising management. If you want to get the best of both worlds, the hybrid approach could be the answer. This is especially the case for larger retailers who have a bigger budget and want to spread the workload between an in-house team and a dedicated Amazon agency and advertising partner.
Here are some of the reasons to consider a hybrid approach for Amazon store management:
We think that a hybrid approach works extremely well for bigger brands because you can bring together both external expertise and internal insight, leading to much better execution of strategy.
Quite often, the marriage of these two factors can create the perfect sweet spot:
For larger brands, especially those with annual revenues exceeding $5 million, utilising both an Amazon ad agency and an in-house team can provide huge benefits. The agency can handle the technical aspects and the constant changes within the Amazon ecosystem, while the in-house team ensures that the brand’s unique voice and strategy are consistently applied.
This combined effort makes scalability easier, so you can deliver the same quality of campaign work for small and big projects alike.
Relying solely on an internal team can be risky when key staff members leave. An agency provides continuity, ensuring that your advertising strategy doesn’t suffer from turnover. So a hybrid approach helps you spread the risk and have a better solution for risk management.
Agencies often work with multiple clients, allowing them to bring fresh ideas and proven strategies to the table. They are typically more attuned to Amazon’s latest features and updates, which in-house teams might overlook due to their broader focus.
Using an Amazon advertising agency allows your internal team to focus on strategic initiatives rather than getting bogged down by the day-to-day management of Amazon’s complexities and nuances. This smart division of labour can lead to more efficient operations and better overall performance. It also means a healthier allocation of resource, meaning your team won’t be overstretched and overworked – which ultimately only leads to staff burnout, low morale and staff turnover issues.
There’s really no right answer as every business is unique, and every brand has its own goals and targets that it wants to reach. But if we were to pick the best solution in a more generalised way, we would have to say the following:
Many retailers, especially those with revenues over $5 million, find that a hybrid approach delivers the best results. This is because the combined strengths of both an Amazon agency and an in-house team can provide strategic alignment on two very important areas: Amazon strategy expertise + innovation together with internal insight + brand consistency.
Smaller brands, however, may benefit more from the expertise and cost-effectiveness of relying solely on an agency. By carefully considering your brand’s size, resources, and strategic goals, you can determine the most effective approach to managing your Amazon advertising.
Of course, there are advantages of having an in-house team when it comes to having complete control of your brand. We get that – and as an Amazon agency, we make it our priority to support that. If you are working with an Amazon agency for the first time, it’s important to have some things in place to ensure your brand identity is not watered down in the process. To make sure your agency understands exactly how your brand should be perceived, we recommend having the following:
Some smaller businesses may not have these in place, but that’s ok – we can work with you too. We ask all the right questions and will establish the right branding and Tone of Voice before we get started on campaigns. We also have an expert team on hand to support you with listing creation and optimisation – this includes copywriting with your brand’s voice and messaging in mind!
To find out more about working with Seller Presto, get in touch with our friendly team. We are a specialist Amazon advertising agency, offering a range of services, including Amazon advertising management and complete account management.
Drop us a message via our online contact form, call us on 01642 054694, or email our team on info@sellerpresto.com.
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