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GROWTH HACKS Tips & Tricks

Taktical Growth Hacks – #94

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Taktical tips and tricks - bad email

Growth Hack #1 – Break Up With Bad Email Subscribers:

Segment out subscribers that haven’t engaged with your recent messages and send them another email telling them you’re breaking up with them if they don’t respond.

Use a subject line that makes this very clear: “This is the last time you’ll hear from me …” / “I’ll never email you again, unless ….”

Within the email, ask them to click a link to re-confirm that they want to keep receiving your emails. You’ll maintain a much more engaged, focused, and valuable subscriber base.

Source: https://www.drip.co/blog/tips-and-tactics/email-marketing-tips/
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Growth Hack #2 – Reduce Facebook Ads Cost by 41%:

Facebook ads pro Aaron Zakowski found that displaying right side ads is the best choice if you’re working with a small budget.

Though you can’t get the same volume as Newsfeed ads, cost per signup from right side ads is about 41% lower than from desktop newsfeed ads.

Source: http://aaronzakowski.com/how-reduced-invision-cost-per-signup-facebook-ads/
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Taktical tips and tricks

Growth Hack #3 – Increase Signups by 26% With Gradual Engagement Instead of a Hasty Sign Up:

Instead of asking visitors to sign up immediately, why not ask them to first perform a task through which something of value is demonstrated?

During such initial interactions, the product can show off its benefits while also lending itself to personalization. Once users begin to see your product’s value and see how they can make it their own, they will then be more open to sharing additional information with you.

Gradual engagement is really a way to postpone the sign up process as much as possible while still allowing clients to use and customize your application or product.

GoodUI tried this and found a 26% increase in signups.

Source: http://www.goodui.org/evidence/test025
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GROWTH HACKS Uncategorized

Taktical Growth Hacks – #93

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tips from Taktical - abandoned e-commerce cart

Growth Hack #1 – What’s the NUMBER ONE Reason People Abandon Shopping Carts on Ecommerce Sites?:

Unexpected shipping costs. Seriously.

A survey by Visual Website Optimizer found that 28% of shoppers who abandoned their carts did so because of unexpected shipping costs, the greatest cause cited by respondents.

The solution: You can charge for shipping, but be visible about it. Include it on the product page so that your users know exactly what they’ll be paying.

People don’t mind paying for shipping; they just don’t like being surprised.

Source: http://ecommerceloyalty.com
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Growth Hack #2 – Bullets are Sharp:

  • Bullets make
  • your copy
  • more readable

A case study by Lemonstand found that switching from a wall of text to bullet points helped some stores increase conversion rates by 78%.

Source: http://blog.lemonstand.com/ab-testing-lessons-from-unbounce-conversion-road-trip/
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tips from Taktical - B2B leads

Growth Hack #3 – Trying to Gain B2B Leads? Change Your Tone:

Which copy tone will result in a higher rate of lead inquiries?

  1. Selling tone: You are one step away from getting free access to …, our award winning [product] quickly…made…try
  2. Helping tone: We are just here to provide you with whatever assistance you need in [reaching customer’s goal] …

Result? A helping tone led to a 349% increase in total lead inquiries.

Source: http://www.marketingexperiments.com/blog/
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How To Guides

A Two-Step Guide to Improve Your SEO Rankings Using Digital Marketing Strategies

When it comes to SEO, there are a plethora of different tactics you can implement, from technical on-page optimizations to more basic everyday improvements.

Each advancement you make can better position your company in search engines.

Understanding more about how to optimize your website will also help to better serve users and improve your overall site functionality.

As you make your site easier for people and search engines to use and explore content, you put yourself in a better position to rank and improve your online visibility.

If you’re looking for ways to quickly optimize your website, keep reading.

This article will highlight 6 important on page optimization tactics to help improve your SEO rankings.

Step 1: Good SEO Marketing Strategies Start with the Basics

When considering how to optimize your website, it is important to start with the most basic elements.

Things such as title tags, meta descriptions, image alt tags, and headings are all easy to improve.  

Let’s start with your title tag and meta description.

SEO strategies - SERPs

Your title tag and meta description will be what Google displays on their search engine results page (SERPs).

These are important elements in your SEO marketing strategy because they will determine if someone decides to click on your result.

When writing your title tag and meta description in a way that optimizes a website, there are a few things you will want to do.

Title Tags

  1. Place your keyword as close to the front as possible.
  2. Include a call to action that will entice a user to click your listing.
  3. Don’t make your title too long or too short. It only has a small amount of space, so if you write too much it will be cut off on your listing. The general rule of thumb is to keep your title tag to 60 characters or 575 pixels.

Meta Description

  1. Include your keyword phrase.
  2. Input a call to action.
  3. No more than 120 to 158 characters or 920 pixels.

Alt Attribute – Alt Text

After you have optimized your title tag and meta description, it is time to move on to image alt tags.

An image alt tag is alternative text for an image that is used in cases when the image cannot be displayed.

Search engines also use this information to better understand what your image is.

That’s why ensuring that your image alt text is descriptive and includes your keyword phrase (when appropriate) is so important for achieving the best results from your SEO marketing strategy.

Here is an example of what an image alt text might look like when viewing the HTML on your site:

<img src=”https://www.website.com/imagename.jpg”  alt=”dog walking with owner on the beach”>

Headings

Heading on a webpage serve to breakup sections of content and help search engines better understand the different categories on your page.

There are six levels of headings as defined by HTML.

The elements are H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6, with H1 being the highest and most important level.

Each page should have no more than one H1 tag.

Here is an example of what the code might look like when structuring your headings:

SEO strategies - html version

Structuring your page in this way helps search engines better understand your page to benefit your SEO strategy.

OPtimizing your website like so also helps users to more easily digest and scan your page for the information they need.

Step 2: Optimize the Website User Experience

The Google algorithm has evolved over the last decade, and so have the SEO strategies used to optimize a website.

A key element when optimizing for the current algorithm includes tracking user metrics.

Search engines such as Google might reward sites that are user-friendly.

Important metrics to pay attention to in your SEO marketing strategy can include dwell time and bounce rate, among others.

When a user stays on your site longer, clicks around, views more pages, and continues to revisit your pages, it sends positive signals to a search engine.

These user signals might suggest that your optimized website is relevant for the keyword phrase that originally brought them to your site.

While this is great, it’s important to remember that you might not get many visitors if you don’t have a good title tag and meta description that gets people to click on your post from the SERPs.

Be sure to refer to the section on title tags and meta descriptions above as necessary when optimizing your website.

SEO strategies

6 SEO Strategies to Improve the User Experience

As you consider how to optimize your website for users, you might consider the following:

  1. Is my content useful to a user?  
  2. Does my content link to additional internal resources so that visitors can explore and consume additional information?
  3. Is there enough content on my page? Content length matters, and descriptive posts could help users who are looking for detailed answers.
  4. What is my load time? Both Google and Bing consider load time when ranking a site.  When optimizing your website for load time you can usually earn some quick wins by reducing image sizes (100kb or less per image), caching plugins, minimizing redirects, and reducing the number of plugins used. If you’re interested in additional SEO strategies to help speed up your site, I wrote an article about load time here that you can read.
  5. Do I offer different types of media? Not everyone wants to read, and not everyone wants to watch a video. But when you provide different forms of content, everyone wins. Some of the different content types include images, videos, slideshows, audio, infographics, and, of course, written content.
  6. Is my content easy to read? Do you need a PhD to understand it? Use some of the tools below to test the readability of your content:
  1. Webpagefx.com Readability Test Tool
  2. Readability statistics in MS Word   

With a few careful considerations and attention to detail when it comes to your SEO marketing strategy, you’ll be able to enjoy the payoff from your hard work as you rise in the rankings on the SERPs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Foerster

Chris Foerster is a technology junkie and digital marketer who currently manages the digital marketing school promotion at Fremont College.  With more than a decade of experience marketing businesses online, Chris brings a unique skill set of SEO, PPC, social media, lead nurturing, and content marketing to the college’s website Fremont.edu. 

Categories
GROWTH HACKS Tips & Tricks

Taktical Growth Hacks – #92

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Taktical tips - long tail SEO

Growth Hack #1 – 200K Visitors a Month from Long Tail SEO:

The longer the keyword, the easier it is to rank well on Google.

Neil Patel gets 238,195 visitors/month from long tail phrases.

Here’s how you can start using long-tail keywords in your content:

1. Log into your Google Analytics -> “Acquisition” -> “Keywords” -> “Organic”

2. Take each short keyword phrase (<4 words) and type it into Google one by one to see what other long tail phrases (>/=4 words) it might suggest

3. Edit your page, utilizing these long tail phrases.

Note: Make sure your keyword density is below 3%.
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Growth Hack #2 – +40% Contest Conversions by Being Specific:

What’s the difference in this contest copy: “$500 giveaway” vs “October $500 giveaway”?

A research project that analyzed 3 million visitors showed that, when you specify the month of the contest, conversion rates increase by an astounding 40%.

Source: http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/hidden-power-of-giveaways/
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Taktical tips - more sales

Growth Hack #3 – 300% More Sales Leads When You Address a Customer Pain Point:

Gr8tFires – which makes wood-burning stoves and fireplaces – discovered that one of the biggest customer pain points is the cost of installation.

So what did they do?

1. They installed an exit popup (shows up when you are about to abandon the page).

2. In the popup they offered an installation calculator for free in exchange for an email address.

Result: a 300% increase in monthly sales leads.

Source: http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/
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How To Guides

How to Use Facebook Stories in Your Ad Strategy

Facebook Stories has hit the 150 million user mark.

It doesn’t feel like long ago where Instagram Stories were at that same point in user growth and acquisition.

Now, Instagram is up to 400 million users.

It’s conceivable to think Facebook Stories are quickly following the same trajectory.

As a result, the platform announced they would be testing Facebook Stories ads in the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico.

Facebook Stories - DAUs across platforms
Image source: https://techcrunch.com

So how can brands get ready to use Facebook Stories to boost their business?

In many ways, the functionality of Facebook Story video ads will be similar to Instagram Stories.

They’re also easy to format from existing News Feed or other Facebook ad types.

We’ll take a look at what Facebook Stories are.

We’ll also discuss how exactly to use Facebook Stories to boost your campaign success, using Instagram Stories as examples of best practices for video ads on Facebook.

What Are Facebook Stories?

Facebook first began testing their Stories feature in 2016 within the Messenger platform.

At that time, it resembled Snapchat in many ways, with similar camera overlays and filters.

And like Snapchat, users created Facebook Stories that were shared moments from their days.

After 24 hours, the videos disappeared.

Facebook Stories - on platform example
Image source: https://blog.bufferapp.com

When Facebook Stories came to the main platform in 2017, it continued to be used in a similar fashion as when it was on Messenger.

However, by moving to the main Facebook app, it expanded the potential user base to all 1.47 billion DAUs.

On mobile alone, monthly users exceed 1.7 billion people.

So far, millenials prefer to use Facebook Stories for its engaging filters and overlays that make even a mundane moment seem more fun and engaging.

Additionally, most users tend to watch Stories with the sound off and in a vertical orientation.

Keep in mind, too, that Facebook Stories are only available for mobile.

Like Snapchat and Instagram, these use a smartphone’s camera for capturing video.

How Can Businesses Use Facebook Stories?

In late 2017, Facebook introduced Stories for Pages.

Facebook Stories - Story ad example
Image source: https://techcrunch.com

By doing so, it made Facebook Stories for businesses all the more appealing and simple.

Here’s how a business page can launch Facebook Stories:

  • Open the Facebook mobile app
  • Go to your business’ page
  • In the area titled “Your Page’s Story”, press “Create a Story”
  • Once you’re done creating your Facebook Story, press “Next”
  • Select the option to share as “Your Page’s Story”, then press the send button on the bottom right of the screen

Why It Works

Original content sharing has become increasingly popular among younger audiences.

As a result, it’s one of the best ways for businesses to reach their target audiences.

Platforms like Snapchat and Instagram have already capitalized on this trend.

Facebook Stories - Instagram Story vs. Feed ads
Image source: https://www.agorapulse.com

On Instagram, Story ads achieved a 23% higher conversion rate than Feed ads, and 78% higher CTR.

Now, Facebook Stories offer similar advantages for businesses.

Additionally, these apps portray the rise of camera-first communication.

With Facebook Stories, the platform is making sure it stays as relevant as possible with target audiences.

By figuring out how to use Facebook Stories, your brand can capitalize on the higher engagement and conversion rates now possible.

Facebook Video Ad Best Practices

Why Video Ads Succeed

As previously mentioned, original, user-generated content and camera-oriented applications are on the rise.

Facebook Stories - video ad spend trend
Image source: https://www.emarketer.com/

As a result, video advertising is quickly becoming the most popular format for marketers.

One of the reasons video ads are so successful is due to the emotional impact they can create with viewers.

And the results prove the effectiveness of video:

With more consumers expecting and wanting video content, it’s time you understand the best way to launch video ads on Facebook.

What to Know About Video Story Ads on Facebook

The most important fact is this: Facebook Stories are up to 15-seconds long.

There are other Facebook video ad design recommendations to keep in mind for this placement, too.

First, you should avoid placing text or logos within 14% (250 pixels) of the top and bottom of the video.

Also, video captions are not available.

Facebook Stories - Facebook video ad examples
Image source: https://www.adweek.com/

Considering most people watch Stories with the sound off, make sure your video gets the point across clearly.

Alternatively, include integrated text or subtitles that don’t rely on an exterior source/Facebook’s own captioning.

Keep in mind the following for your Facebook video ad strategy:

  • Available Facebook Story ad objectives include Traffic, Conversions, Reach, Video Views, and App Installs
  • Calls to Action can range from “Shop Now” to “Request Time” to “Send Message”.

Like with other Facebook ad formats, consider your ad objective and goals before deciding on the best CTA.

Case Studies

Facebook Stories are still relatively new to the scene.

And Facebook Story ads are still in limited release for businesses.

So, Instagram Story marketing examples are the next best role models.

Chinese Laundry

Facebook Stories - Chinese Laundry example
Image source: https://www.facebook.com/

Taktical’s own Instagram campaign for Chinese Laundry is an excellent example of Facebook video ad best practices.

Using both text overlay and the boomerang feature, the ad appeared more organic and less sales-y.

For the skeptical Instagram audience, this was a highly influential strategy to convince them to engage and convert.

As a result, the campaigned earned 8.8X ROI from Instagram Stories.

In considering how businesses can use Facebook Stories for the same success, there are a few points to keep in mind.

One of them is to create Facebook video ads that are relatable and stand out from other branded content.

Another best practice is to utilize the features offered from the platform.

In this case, boomerang and text overlay were advantageous to design.

For Facebook Stories, you should leverage native design elements that make your ads more engaging.

STX Entertainment

Facebook Stories - STK example

When movie studio STX Entertainment launched their Instagram Stories campaign, they were focused on driving attendance to a new film release.

To do so, they followed both industry and video ad best practices.

They then targeted audiences based on their own moviegoer data to determine who would be most likely to convert.

In just two weeks, the campaign earned the following results;

  • 12.1-point lift in ad recall
  • Over 4.2 million people reached
  • 5.1-point lift in intent to attend the film

So what did STX do on Instagram that can be translated to Facebook Stories for businesses?

Well, one of the most important things to consider is your industry.

STX combined both industry and platform recommendations to earn their results.

Consider what works well in your brand’s vertical, and how that can integrate into your social media strategy.

Additionally, STX conducted extensive user research to determine their best targeting opportunities.

Make sure you have user data at your disposal before launching your Facebook Story ads.

This way, you can begin optimizing your campaign from the get-go by not wasting time on building the foundations for targeting.

Facebook Stories

Facebook Stories for Business Should Be a Part of Your Strategy

The rise of Facebook Stories doesn’t mean Instagram Stories and other platforms are obsolete.

Integrate Facebook Stories with the rest of your ad strategy for a fully optimized and robust marketing plan.

It’s clear that video ads on Facebook and the rest of the digital sphere are on the rise.

Facebook Stories are at the cutting edge of this trend.

As a result, your brand should consider how to use Facebook Stories for boosting engagement and conversions.

This guide is just the beginning in understanding what are Facebook Stories and how to leverage them for your benefit.

You won’t fully reap the rewards until you launch and optimize a campaign of your own.

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Small talk

These 3 Ads Prove This is the Best Way to Advertise on Amazon

So remember when everyone was talking about Amazon becoming a leading advertiser in 2018?

Well, it’s happening.

In Q1 2018, Amazon’s ad sales exceeded $2 billion for the first time.

In fact, it’s predicted to be the third-largest advertiser by 2020, just behind Google and Facebook.

Amazon also has a native advertising strategy that’s bringing more customers to the platform.

In Q1 of this year alone, it accounted for 10% of total programmatic ad spend.

That’s 1.5X what Microsoft spent, which took second place.

best Amazon ads - ad revenue
Image source: https://www.emarketer.com/

Let’s not forget, too, the massive acquisition of Whole Foods in the middle of 2017.

With every indicator pointing to the continued growth of the e-commerce company, it’s time to really understand how to advertise on Amazon.

It’s not just traditional retailers that can benefit from an Amazon advertising campaign strategy.

Now, the reach of the company is so great that almost any vertical across industries can take advantage of its services.

Consider the facts:

One of the simplest ways to learn how to advertise on Amazon is to look at case studies.

These success stories point out the best ways to advertise on the platform.

best Amazon ads - Amazon ad options
Image source: https://www.slideshare.net/

Let’s take a look at three of the best ads on Amazon.

We’ll discuss why they’re successful and what best practices they utilize to reach that point.

Then, you can go out and optimize your own Amazon advertising campaign strategy.

1. Green Gobbler Earns 10-20X ROI With Their Amazon Advertising Strategy

best Amazon ads - Sponsored Product ads

The Campaign

This household product company’s Sponsored Product campaign began in 2016.

Even from the beginning, Green Gobbler’s Amazon ads achieved success.

However, they wanted to optimize their advertising strategy even further to create their best Amazon ads yet.

So, they partnered with Teikametrics, an Amazon-focused software platform.

By leveraging both the analytics and tools from Teikametrics and Amazon’s own ad platform features, Green Gobbler grew their monthly sales an astounding 614% compared to the previous year.

They sustained an 11X ROI from August 2016-August 2017.

Now, Sponsored Products account for 30% of their monthly sales revenue as they continue to optimize their Amazon advertising strategy.

best Amazon ads - GG sponsored product example

Why It Worked

Sponsored Product Ads are consistently one of the best ways to advertise on Amazon.

Using broad keywords, you can reach more customers through keyword targeting.

Your products appears at the top of search results page, encouraging shoppers to click on them first.

Sponsored Products have been shown to have a high ROI when high-quality images are used, the product receives good reviews, and overall quality is high.

Green Gobbler took advantage of this Amazon advertising campaign strategy by doing all of the above.

However, they also conducted extensive keyword research that they continued to review and optimize over time.

Partnering with an analytics software was an additional way for them to review their results frequently in order to optimize their ads.

The best Sponsored Product Amazon ads include the keywords their customers are searching for.

Additionally, the brands behind these ads continuously review and optimize their Amazon advertising strategy.

Pairing up with an Amazon advertising agency or other platform can also help.

2. Linenspa Re-Engages Amazon Customers Using Ads That Doubled Sales

best Amazon ads - display ads
Image source: https://advertising.amazon.com

The Campaign

When Linenspa wanted to re-engage customers that showed high purchase intent on other platforms, they leveraged Amazon display ads.

The Amazon advertising strategy complemented their search advertising and earned amazing results.

What were those results exactly?

  • 1.6X higher ROAS than search campaigns
  • 34% more organic impressions for brand products than before campaign was launched
  • Double the number of average daily sales vs. pre-campaign time period

All they did was re-target users that had previously visited one or more of their brand product detail pages on Amazon.

This proved the shopper had a level of interest in Linenspa, and were therefore more motivated to purchase.

To truly make theirs the best Amazon ads possible, the company also included unique features like Customer Reviews and Shop Now CTAs.

best Amazon ads - Linenspa example

Why It Worked

Linenspa’s Amazon advertising campaign strategy used Product Display ads in just the right way.

Especially when paired with a search advertising strategy, display ads can be incredibly effective.

If placed below an Add to Cart button, it’s possible to increase the value of the cart at checkout.

When placed along competitors’ products, it’s an easy way to piggyback off of their success.

Whether for cross-selling or upselling, display ads can appear on specific product pages and target either your own related products or a competitors’.

Linenspa also took advantage of the platform’s shopping features customers enjoy.

Specifically, including customer reviews on ads is one of the best ways to advertise on Amazon.

By creating quality ads and placing them thoughtfully on their own brand product pages and those of competitors’, Linenspa’s Amazon advertising strategy was a true success.

3. The RB Group Boosts Total RoAS 4% YoY With the Best Amazon Ads

best Amazon ads - Headline Search ads

The Campaign

Reckitt Benckiser (RB) encompasses a range of household and hygiene brands like Veet, Lysol, and Finish.

They first launched an Amazon advertising campaign strategy in 2015 to increase brand awareness and drive sales.

In order to optimize their ads, they partnered with Performics, a marketing agency.

With Performics’ assistance, the company learned the best way to advertise on Amazon for specific product lines in their brands.

The way they did this was to specifically leverage Headline Search ads and custom landing pages.

Each Headline ad directed to a curated Amazon Store, which created a more pleasurable and immersive experience for shoppers.

They also doubled down on advertising during holidays like Mother’s Day and Prime day with coupons and special offers.

Throughout the campaign, RB optimized their Amazon advertising strategy.

Using auto-targeted campaigns that ran for a few months, they continuously checked keyword performance.

Then, they applied the best-performing keywords to evergreen campaigns to boost their profitability.

With this multi-faceted Amazon advertising strategy, RB earned the following results:

  • 113% increase in ad-attributed sales YoY
  • Ad-attributed units increased 169% year-over-year
  • RoAS increased 4% YoY

best Amazon ads - RB Amazon Store exmaple

Why It Worked

Though RB took an approach that incorporated all three types of Amazon ads, their use of Headline Search ads is particularly worthy of looking into.

The best way to advertise on Amazon using Headline ads is exemplified in their campaign.

First, they made sure to use keywords they continuously optimized over time.

In this way, as customers searched for related terms, RB ensured their product lines would appear.

Second, they directed Headline Search ads to curated Amazon Store pages.

These pages feel like you’re shopping directly on the brand’s website, encouraging greater awareness while looking better than traditional Amazon listings.

Finally, RB succeeded in making the best Headline Search Amazon ads by featuring more than one brand in some of their ad copy.

For example, their performance analytics showed that customers often shopped for Lysol and Finish products together.

Therefore, RB’s Amazon advertising strategy began incorporating ad copy that referenced both Lysol and Finish.

The use of custom landing pages was just the cherry on top for this company’s Amazon ad campaigns.

What RB’s Amazon ads prove is that Headline ads, keyword research, and customized product pages all lead to immense success on the platform.

best Amazon ads - Amazon logo

How to Launch Your Best Amazon Ad

Amazon’s advertising platform is incredibly accessible.

It’s free to create product pages and stores, which is the basis of an excellent Amazon advertising strategy.

Then, it’s just a matter of selecting which ad type best suits your brand and objectives.

You can select one or all three – just remember to keep optimizing!

What these three examples prove is that anyone can succeed on Amazon.

The shared characteristics of all three are high-quality ads, great keyword research, and continuous performance tracking and optimization.

We didn’t say it was easy.

But, these three examples of the best Amazon ads show what a little effort, thoughtfulness, and creativity can accomplish.