Walmart Ads: A Step-by-Step Guide on Walmart Advertising

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital commerce, effective advertising is the key to capturing the attention of potential customers and driving sales. When it comes to online marketplaces, Walmart offers businesses a vast and dynamic platform to showcase their products to millions of shoppers. However, navigating the intricacies of Walmart advertising can be a daunting task for newcomers and seasoned marketers alike. Whether you’re a small business seeking to expand your reach or a marketing professional looking to harness the full potential of Walmart’s advertising ecosystem, the following information should be a part of your roadmap to success.

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Does Walmart Have PPC Advertising?

Walmart does offer pay-per-click (PPC) advertising opportunities through Walmart Connect. This means businesses and advertisers can utilize PPC advertising on Walmart’s platform to promote their products and reach a broader audience of potential customers. Walmart’s PPC advertising allows for precise targeting, budget flexibility, and access to their substantial customer base, making it an effective tool for businesses looking to enhance their online visibility and drive sales. If you are looking for a simple way to manage your Walmart ads, try out Helium 10’s advertising tool Adtomic for Walmart.

How Does Walmart Advertising Work?

Advertising on the Walmart Marketplace involves a step-by-step process designed to effectively promote your products to a wide audience of potential customers. The journey typically begins with establishing a Walmart Seller account, which is a prerequisite for advertising on the platform. Once you’ve secured a seller account, you proceed to create and optimize your product listings. This entails providing comprehensive information, including high-quality images, detailed descriptions, competitive pricing, and accurate inventory data.

Next, you will need to apply to Walmart Connect to get access to Walmart Advertising. Once you are approved to advertise on the Walmart Marketplace, you’ll need to select the appropriate advertising format that aligns with your campaign objectives. Walmart offers a few options, including Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands Ads. These formats allow you to tailor your advertising strategy to suit your specific goals, whether it’s increasing sales, boosting brand visibility, or highlighting particular products.

With your objectives set, you can then create advertising campaigns within the Walmart Advertising Partner (WAP) interface or you can use a third party solution like Helium 10’s Adtomic for Walmart. Here, you’ll define your keyword targets and set up your preferred types of campaigns.

For keyword-based campaigns, conducting thorough keyword research is essential to identify the search terms potential customers might use when seeking products akin to yours. We recommend utilizing Helium 10‘s Research tools Cerebro and or Magnet to find the most relevant keywords for your campaigns. Cerebro is a reverse product ID tool that can tell you all of the keywords that you or your competitors are indexing for on the Walmart Marketplace at the click of a button. Magnet allows you to search specific phrases to find similar keywords. These tools will provide you with relevant keywords with monthly search volumes.

Budget management is crucial in this process. You’ll determine your advertising budget and select a bidding strategy that suits your objectives. You will want to manage your budget an your bids to make sure you are getting impressions, clicks, and sales while remaining within your budget.

Upon completing these steps, you’ll launch your campaign, specifying its start and end dates, and closely monitor its performance throughout its duration.

Regular performance monitoring is pivotal to assess key metrics like clicks, impressions, click-through rates (CTR), and conversion rates. Based on this data, you’ll optimize your campaigns by refining keywords and adjusting bids to maximize your campaign’s effectiveness.

Remember to adhere to Walmart’s advertising policies and guidelines to ensure compliance, as violations could result in the suspension of your advertising account. Additionally, use Walmart’s reporting tools to generate comprehensive reports on your campaign’s performance, which will inform your decisions for future campaigns. As you gain insights and experience, you can consider scaling up successful campaigns or expanding your advertising efforts to reach a broader audience. Advertising on the Walmart Marketplace is an ongoing journey that demands regular attention and optimization to achieve success and drive growth for your business.

Why Should I Advertise on Walmart?

Advertising on the Walmart Marketplace offers numerous advantages for businesses aiming to promote their products or services. One of the primary benefits is the access to a substantial and targeted audience. The Walmart Marketplace typically boasts a large and diverse user base, enabling businesses to reach potential customers who align with their specific demographics, interests, and behaviors.

Another key advantage is increased visibility. The Walmart Marketplace draws significant daily traffic, creating opportunities for businesses to enhance their brand’s exposure and connect with potential customers who might not have encountered their products otherwise.

Budget flexibility is another asset, with the ability to set daily or campaign budgets that align with financial resources and objectives. This makes advertising on the Walmart Marketplace accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Moreover, the highly measurable ROI of these campaigns is a significant advantage. With the aid of tracking and analytics, businesses can gauge the success of their advertising efforts, identify what works, and make necessary adjustments.

Advertising on the Walmart Marketplace can confer a competitive edge. Effective campaigns can make products more appealing when compared to those of competitors in the marketplace.

Additionally, businesses can capitalize on seasonal or promotional opportunities with ease, leveraging the platform’s capabilities to run campaigns for holidays, sales events, or product launches to boost sales during specific periods.

A well-conceived and executed advertising strategy on the Walmart Marketplace can enable businesses to maximize these benefits.

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Advertising on Walmart vs Amazon: Which One Is Better?

Advertising on Walmart and Amazon is a vital necessity for businesses engaged in selling products on both platforms. These two e-commerce platforms are distinct marketplaces, and if you are selling on both platforms, it is important to advertise on both platforms. To clarify, you can only advertise products on a particular platform if you’re actively selling on that platform. This makes advertising on both Walmart and Amazon not a matter of preference but a practical imperative to make sales on both platforms. Advertising on both platforms is indispensable for reaching a broad spectrum of potential customers, optimizing sales potential, and achieving success in the highly competitive e-commerce landscape. By advertising strategically on both Walmart and Amazon, businesses can ensure their products gain maximum visibility on both marketplaces to reach as many potential customers as possible.

How Much Does It Cost to Advertise a Product on Walmart.com?

Determining the precise cost of advertising on the Walmart Marketplace can be quite variable, influenced by a range of factors. Your specific advertising goals, the level of competition in your product category, and the chosen advertising format all play a pivotal role in shaping the expenses. Walmart provides businesses with budget control, allowing them to set daily or campaign budgets according to their financial resources and objectives. The bidding model, employed for certain ad formats like Sponsored Products, introduces an element of competition, where the cost per click (CPC) depends on the competitiveness of keywords or placements. Notably, highly competitive keywords may demand higher CPCs.

Additionally, the overall cost is closely linked to campaign performance. The efficiency of your advertising campaigns, as measured by metrics such as click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates, can significantly influence how far your budget stretches. The choice of advertising format also matters, as Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands Ads may come with different cost structures.

Furthermore, seasonal fluctuations can impact advertising costs. During peak shopping periods or holidays, increased demand and competition may result in higher costs. The product category you’re operating in is another determinant; more competitive categories may necessitate higher bids to secure visibility. It’s worth noting that the quality and relevance of your ads and product listings can affect costs too, as platforms like Amazon use quality scores to determine placement and cost. Finally, if you’re targeting specific geographic regions, advertising expenses may fluctuate based on local demand and competition.

To obtain an accurate understanding of your unique advertising costs on the Walmart Marketplace, it’s advisable to create a Walmart Connect account so that you have access to the Walmart ad center, set up your campaigns, and start bidding on keywords or placements. As you do so, you’ll gain insights into the actual costs based on your specific advertising strategy and campaign performance. Regular monitoring, bid adjustments, and optimization of your ad content are essential to ensure you’re maximizing your return on investment (ROI) within your advertising budget.

What Are the Eligibility Requirements for Advertising on Walmart.com?

The main requirements to start advertising on the Walmart Marketplace through Walmart Connect are to possess an active Walmart Marketplace seller account and have at least one active listing on the Walmart Marketplace. Having a Walmart Marketplace Seller Center account allows sellers to list their products on the Walmart Marketplace and lays the groundwork for accessing Walmart’s advertising platform. Once this requirement is met, sellers can can create and manage advertising campaigns to effectively promote their products on Walmart.com. This allows sellers to harness the power of advertising on one of the world’s largest online marketplaces and boost their brand’s visibility and sales potential.

What Are the Different Walmart Ad Types?

Walmart Connect offers a range of advertising options to help businesses boost their visibility and sales. These three primary types of advertising on the platform are Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Demand-Side Platform (DSP) campaigns. Sponsored Products enable businesses to promote individual products, increasing their visibility in search results and product pages. Sponsored Brands allow for the promotion of a brand’s entire product line with custom banners, providing a cohesive brand presence. Finally, DSP campaigns are designed for more advanced advertisers, offering programmatic display advertising to target customers across Walmart’s digital properties and partner sites. These advertising options offer a diverse toolkit for businesses to tailor their marketing strategies and reach a wide audience on the Walmart Marketplace.

Walmart Sponsored Products

Walmart Sponsored Product Ads are a targeted advertising feature within the Walmart Marketplace. These ads enable sellers to spotlight specific products by selecting relevant keywords or search terms associated with those items. When shoppers search for products using those keywords, the Sponsored Product Ads appear prominently in search results and on product detail pages. Sellers have control over their budget with options for daily or campaign spending limits, and they bid on keywords with a cost-per-click (CPC) model, paying only when a shopper clicks on their ad. Performance metrics are tracked, allowing sellers to fine-tune their campaigns for maximum effectiveness. These ads are a valuable tool for sellers looking to enhance product visibility and attract potential customers actively searching for products on Walmart’s platform, ultimately driving sales.

Search In-Grid Results

Walmart Sponsored Search in Grid Placements is an advertising feature offered by Walmart to help businesses increase their product visibility and reach a broader audience within the Walmart Marketplace. With this advertising format, sellers can promote their products to customers as they browse and search for items on the Walmart platform. Sponsored Search in Grid Placements allows sellers to display their products prominently (potentially at the top of the search results page) within the grid of search results, ensuring that their items are more likely to catch the attention of shoppers actively looking for similar products. This strategic placement enhances product visibility, drives potential customers to product listings, and can result in increased sales for businesses operating on the Walmart Marketplace. It’s an effective way for sellers to connect with their target audience and boost their overall online presence.

Carousels

Walmart Sponsored Products Carousel Placements is a dynamic advertising feature offered by Walmart to enhance product visibility within its online marketplace. This format enables sellers to prominently showcase their products in a scrolling carousel at the top of relevant search results pages or on product detail pages. When shoppers search for specific keywords or browse related product categories, these sponsored carousels appear, featuring products that align with the search terms or category. By placing their products in these carousels, sellers can capture the attention of potential customers right at the beginning of their shopping journey. This strategic advertising placement not only increases the chances of clicks and conversions but also enables businesses to effectively target and engage their desired audience, ultimately driving sales and brand visibility on the Walmart Marketplace.

Walmart Buy Box Placement

Walmart Sponsored Products Buy Box is a strategic advertising placement that allows sellers to shine on the product detail pages. It provides a prime opportunity to outshine the default product listing by positioning your sponsored product prominently underneath the Buy Box, the highly visible section where customers can instantly add items to their cart. This coveted spot could potentially showcase your product’s superiority in look or price, grabbing the attention of shoppers as they are at the point of purchase. By securing this prime placement, you not only enhance product visibility but also convey that your offering is a compelling choice. This can significantly boost conversions and sales, making it an invaluable asset for sellers aiming to win sales from competitor pages.

Walmart Sponsored Brands

Walmart Sponsored Brand Ads are a powerful advertising feature offered within the Walmart Marketplace for brands with a registered trademark or patent. These ads allow businesses to promote their brand and a selection of their products in a visually compelling and cohesive manner. Sponsored Brand Ads typically consist of a custom banner that features the brand’s logo, a headline, and a selection of products. These ads are prominently displayed at the top of relevant search results pages and product detail pages when shoppers search for or interact with keywords or products related to the brand’s offerings.

The key benefits of Walmart Sponsored Brand Ads include increased brand visibility, improved product discovery, and the ability to capture the attention of potential customers at the beginning of their shopping journey. This format not only helps businesses boost their brand presence on the Walmart platform but also drives traffic to their product listings and can lead to increased sales. Sponsored Brand Ads are a valuable tool for businesses looking to enhance their brand recognition, engage with their target audience, and achieve success on the Walmart Marketplace.

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Walmart Display Advertising

Onsite

Onsite Walmart DSP, or Onsite Demand-Side Platform, is an advanced advertising solution offered by Walmart that allows businesses to display highly targeted display and video ads to shoppers directly on the Walmart.com website and across Walmart’s digital properties. Unlike traditional advertising, which primarily appears on external websites, Onsite Walmart DSP leverages Walmart’s vast e-commerce ecosystem to reach potential customers right where they are actively shopping.

With Onsite Walmart DSP, advertisers can use sophisticated targeting options to tailor their ads to specific audiences based on demographics, behaviors, interests, and past shopping activities. These ads are displayed within various placements on the Walmart.com website, including search results pages, product detail pages, and even the homepage.

This advertising solution provides businesses with a unique opportunity to engage with Walmart’s extensive customer base, drive brand awareness, and influence purchasing decisions during the shopping journey. By combining precise targeting, creative ad formats, and access to Walmart’s online marketplace, Onsite Walmart DSP is a potent tool for advertisers looking to maximize their reach and impact on one of the world’s largest retail platforms.

Offsite

Offsite Walmart DSP, or Offsite Demand-Side Platform, is an advertising solution offered by Walmart that allows businesses to extend their reach and display highly targeted display and video ads to potential customers beyond the Walmart.com website. Unlike Onsite Walmart DSP, which focuses on advertising within the Walmart ecosystem, Offsite Walmart DSP enables businesses to reach audiences on external websites and digital platforms.

With Offsite Walmart DSP, advertisers can leverage Walmart’s vast customer data and sophisticated targeting capabilities to create personalized ad campaigns that target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. These ads can be displayed across a wide range of third-party websites and apps, allowing businesses to connect with potential customers wherever they browse online.

This advertising solution is particularly valuable for businesses looking to expand their brand’s reach and engage with a broader audience. It provides access to Walmart’s data-driven targeting capabilities and allows advertisers to create compelling ad campaigns that can influence potential customers even when they are not on the Walmart.com website. Offsite Walmart DSP is an effective tool for businesses seeking to boost brand visibility and drive traffic to their products or services across the digital landscape.

How Do I Set up Walmart Ad Campaigns?

Setting up ad campaigns on Walmart Connect can be confusing which is why we are going to walk you through how to create ads on Walmart Connect step by step.

The first step is to login to Walmart connect. You can either login directly to Walmart connect or click the ad link at the top of your Seller Center account. Once you are logged into the Walmart ads platform, click on “Create Campaign.”

Once you click on “Create Campaign,” create a campaign name that will help you remember what products and strategy you are using in this campaign. Everyone has their own methodology for naming campaigns so creating a method that you can remember and works for your goals is the best way to go in naming your campaigns. Once you name your campaigns, choose whether you want to do a Sponsored Product campaign or a Sponsored Brands Campaign and also whether or not you want to do manual or automatic targeting. In the screenshot below, we chose sponsored products and a manual campaign. You can choose either manual campaigns which give you a bit more control or automatic campaigns.

Manual Campaigns

A manual campaign on Walmart is an advertising approach where advertisers have more control over the customization and management of their ad campaigns. In this type of campaign, advertisers manually select and specify the keywords, placements and other targeting parameters for their ads. They also set their own bid amounts for each keyword or targeting option and manage their budgets. Manual campaigns offer a high degree of precision and flexibility, allowing advertisers to align their campaigns with specific goals and strategies. Overall, manual ads are more targeted ads.

Automatic Campaigns

An automatic sponsored product campaign on Walmart is an advertising campaign where the platform’s algorithms determine when and where to display your ads based on relevance to user searches and product categories. Advertisers provide a list of products to promote, and Walmart’s system automatically selects relevant keywords and targets based on the product listings. This hands-off approach is designed to simplify campaign setup, making it accessible for advertisers who may not have the time or expertise for manual keyword selection. While it offers convenience, automatic campaigns may require ongoing monitoring and optimization to ensure they align with your advertising goals and achieve the desired results.

Next, you will choose your ad start date, add either your total budget or daily budget limit. We recommend setting a daily budget and monitoring spend. In this section, you can also choose your ad placements. Search in grid is always the default but you can select Item Buy box ads, Search Carousel ads, and/or Item Carousel ads. Selecting a bid multiplier is an optional feature that allows you to increase your bid by a preset percentage when your ads are eligible to serve in premium placements.

Then, choose the product that you want to advertise. We chose our coffin shelf in this particular campaign.

The next step is extremely important because it is where you choose the keywords that you want to target. The best way to get a list of relevant keywords for sponsored ads is by using Helium 10’s product research tools Cerebro and Magnet.

Cerebro allows you to do reverse product ID searches that will show you all of the keywords that your competitors are indexing for on the Walmart Marketplace. It will also show you search volume, organic rank and sponsored rank. Cerebro also allows you to search more than one competitor at a time so that you can compare your keyword performance to your competitors. This allows you to see where your competitors are beating you so that you can better optimize your keyword target strategy with your ads.

Magnet allows you to search main phrases and it will show you related keyword search volumes as well as a list of related, relevant keywords.

By using either Cerebro or Magnet to do your keyword research, you will have a better chance at achieving highly profitable and highly targeted campaigns.

Once you have your list of keywords, you can add them manually to your campaigns by clicking on the “additional keywords,” tab then typing them into the box and clicking, “add keywords.”

When your keywords are added to your campaign, you then have the option to adjust the bid on the keyword. There is a suggested bid that you can start with to make sure that you get impressions and placements. If you don’t get any impressions with the bid that you choose, you will want to increase your bid to get some impressions.

The next step is to click, “Launch Campaign,” and your new ad will be live very soon!

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How Should I Measure Success for My Walmart Ad Campaigns?

Measuring success on a Walmart advertising campaign requires a focused approach, primarily through tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with your campaign objectives. Start by monitoring your Click-Through Rate (CTR), which reveals how compelling and relevant your ads are to users. A higher CTR indicates better engagement. Conversion Rate is equally crucial, representing the percentage of users who take the desired action, like making a purchase, after clicking on your ad. A robust Conversion Rate signifies effective campaigns.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is pivotal; it measures revenue generated from your advertising efforts compared to the costs. A ROAS greater than 1 suggests profitability. Keep an eye on impressions for brand awareness; more impressions often lead to increased visibility. Actual sales and revenue figures are direct measures of campaign efficacy. Ad position within search results and on product detail pages impacts visibility and click-through rates. Also, manage your ad spend efficiently, ensuring it aligns with your budget while delivering results. Evaluating Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) helps assess long-term campaign value, while metrics like click and impression share indicate your ad’s visibility compared to the total opportunity. Lastly, delve into search term performance to optimize keywords for conversions, and if applicable, consider Quality Score, which can affect ad placements and costs based on ad quality. Successful Walmart ad campaigns are contingent on monitoring and interpreting these metrics to refine your strategy effectively.

How Can I Optimize My Walmart Ad Campaigns?

To optimize a Walmart Campaign, regularly analyze key performance metrics like click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS) to identify areas for improvement. Adjust your bids based on performance data, raising them for high-performing keywords and lowering them for underperforming ones. Continuously refine your list of targeted keywords, add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant queries, and test different ad creatives for better results. Allocate your budget based on campaign performance, increasing spend for successful campaigns while reducing it for less effective ones. Stay updated with Walmart’s advertising policies and guidelines to ensure compliance, and leverage reporting tools for insights into your campaign’s performance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, advertising on the Walmart Marketplace is a dynamic and essential strategy for marketplace sellers aiming to thrive in the competitive world of e-commerce. This platform offers a vast and diverse audience of potential customers, and by harnessing its advertising capabilities, you can effectively promote your products, increase brand visibility, and drive sales. From creating compelling ad campaigns to meticulous keyword research and performance optimization, navigating this advertising landscape demands dedication and strategy. However, the rewards are significant, with the potential to reach millions of shoppers actively seeking products like yours. As the e-commerce landscape continues to evolve, embracing the opportunities offered by advertising on the Walmart Marketplace is not just an option; it’s a vital component of success for businesses in the digital age. So, dive in, refine your strategies, and unlock the full potential of this retail giant to elevate your brand and achieve your e-commerce goals.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Walmart Performance Ads?

Walmart Performance Ads, often referred to as Walmart Sponsored Product Ads, constitute a pay-per-click advertising format designed to assist brands and sellers in amplifying their product visibility and brand presence within the Walmart Marketplace. These ads serve as a cornerstone of Walmart’s advertising offerings, playing a pivotal role in helping customers explore and acquire products on Walmart.com. By leveraging the pay-per-click model, advertisers can strategically promote their products, ensuring they appear prominently in search results and on product detail pages. This advertising solution empowers businesses to connect with a diverse and extensive audience of potential customers, driving engagement and sales on the Walmart platform.

How Long Does It Take for Walmart to Approve My Ads?

Walmart typically requires approximately 24 to 48 hours to review and approve ad campaigns. This turnaround time is an important consideration for advertisers, especially when planning campaigns for specific occasions, holidays, or promotional periods. To ensure that your ads run on schedule and align with your marketing strategies, it’s advisable to factor in this approval timeframe when setting up your advertising campaigns on Walmart’s platform.