Amazon Advertising
How to Choose the Right Amazon Agency (Without Wasting 12 Months)
Over the past year, we reviewed over 100 discovery calls from brands, many of which are now our clients. Different categories, different budgets, different internal setups… but the same issue kept coming up. Despite the fact that their teams weren’t short on effort or attention, many felt unclear on how growth was actually supposed to happen next. What they were really struggling with was that Amazon had expanded far beyond what most Amazon advertising agencies are built to handle. Today, growth spans paid media, first-party data, creative strategy, catalog structure, and operational decisions, while many agencies still operate in a narrower, PPC-centric lane.
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Show me howThat gap is what’s made choosing the right partner harder than it used to be, not because brands are inexperienced, but because the scope of Amazon itself has changed. This shift is also visible in where marketing budgets are going. According to eMarketer, retail media is one of the fastest-growing advertising categories, with Amazon representing the largest share of that spend. As Amazon absorbs more upper- and mid-funnel investment, brands are expected to think beyond keyword performance and into audience strategy, measurement, and incrementality.
The 4 Types of Amazon Agencies (And When Each Works)
Not all Amazon agencies are built to solve the same problem. Understanding the differences makes it easier to evaluate fit without defaulting to brand names or case studies. The goal here is not to rank agencies, but to help you self-sort based on what your business actually needs right now.
1. Execution Vendors – These are classic Amazon PPC agencies. They focus on keyword management, bids, and day-to-day task execution.
- PPC-focused and task-driven
- Limited strategic input
- Best for early-stage brands or accounts in maintenance mode
They work when the goal is to keep ads running cleanly, not to unlock new growth.
2. Channel Specialists – These agencies are strong in one specific area, such as Sponsored Ads or Amazon DSP. Amazon DSP operates as a full-funnel media platform that allows advertisers to reach relevant audiences both on and off Amazon using Amazon’s first-party shopping and streaming signals. Amazon positions DSP as a way to support awareness, consideration, and conversion goals, not simply as an extension of Sponsored Ads. When DSP is treated as secondary, it usually reflects a PPC-first operating model rather than a full advertising strategy.
- Deep expertise in a single channel
- Useful for filling a narrow capability gap
- Limited cross-functional strategy
They can add value when you know exactly which lever you want to pull, but they rarely connect that work to the bigger picture.
3. Performance Optimizers – Often positioned as a more advanced Amazon advertising agency, these teams are heavily focused on efficiency.
- ROAS and cost control driven
- Strong reporting and optimization discipline
- Growth often stalls once efficiency peaks
They are effective at tightening performance, but less effective at creating new demand or expanding reach.
4. Growth Partners – This is what most brands are actually looking for, even if they do not describe it this way.
- Full-funnel and proactive in approach
- Senior-led strategy, not junior-only execution
- Built to manage media, data, creative, and catalog together
These partners operate like a full service Amazon agency and are designed for complexity and scale, not just ongoing optimization.
The 7 Questions Strong Brands Ask Before Hiring an Amazon Agency
Most brands don’t fail at choosing an agency because they ask the wrong questions. They fail because they ask questions that are too surface-level. Strong brands use agency conversations to understand how decisions get made, not just what services are offered.
Below are the questions that consistently separate execution-focused vendors from true growth partners.
1. How do you proactively identify new growth opportunities?
Listen for process, not ideas. A credible Amazon advertising agency should be able to explain how opportunities are surfaced on a regular cadence, not only when performance dips or budgets increase.
2. What happens when Sponsored Ads are already efficient?
If the answer stops at bid adjustments or keyword expansion, that’s a ceiling. Strong agencies explain how growth continues once PPC efficiency has peaked, especially beyond what a typical Amazon PPC agency can unlock.
3. How do you use DSP and AMC in practice?
This is where theory shows up quickly. Amazon Marketing Cloud is Amazon’s privacy-safe clean room that allows advertisers to analyze aggregated, anonymized data across campaigns, audiences, and time. Amazon describes AMC as a tool for generating insights that inform media planning, audience creation, and measurement beyond standard attribution models. Agencies that actively use AMC can clearly explain how those insights change targeting, creative, or budget decisions.
Ask for real use cases, decision logic, and how insights from AMC actually change media strategy. Vague answers usually mean these tools are optional, not operational.
4. How often does creative strategy evolve?
Creative is not a one-time project. A capable full service Amazon agency should treat creative as a performance lever with a defined testing and refresh cadence tied to media results.
5. Who actually owns strategy day to day?
This question reveals more than titles. You want to know who is responsible for setting direction, prioritizing tests, and making tradeoffs, not just who attends monthly calls.
6. What does reporting help us decide?
Reports should drive decisions, not just visibility. Measurement in commerce and retail media is evolving fast, and leaders are pushing for stronger standards around incrementality, audience impact, and how media influences outcomes across channels. If reporting only restates spend and ROAS, it won’t help a team plan or prioritize. Strong partners use reporting to guide what happens next, and strong Amazon account management agencies can clearly explain how reporting informs what changes next and why.
7. How do you protect performance during transitions?
Whether it’s onboarding, scaling spend, or introducing new channels, growth always creates risk. The best agencies can explain how they preserve what is working while layering change intentionally.
These questions are not about catching an agency off guard. They are about understanding how that agency thinks. When the answers are clear, specific, and connected, it becomes much easier to tell whether a partner is built for your current stage of growth.
Red Flags That Matter More Than Pricing
Pricing is easy to compare. These signals are not. They show up in how an agency talks about the work, not how they package it. Ignoring them often leads to months of stalled progress, even when results look acceptable on paper.
- “We’ll start with PPC and layer strategy later” – This usually means there is no strategy yet. PPC is an execution channel, not a growth plan. A serious Amazon advertising agency should have a clear point of view on where growth should come from before campaigns ever go live.
- Vague answers about DSP – If DSP is described in general terms without concrete examples, decision logic, or tradeoffs, it is likely not part of the agency’s core operating model. For many Amazon PPC agencies, DSP remains optional or theoretical rather than integrated.
- Reporting without recommendations – Dashboards are not insight. Reporting that explains what happened but never clarifies what should change next creates visibility without direction. Over time, this erodes confidence and slows decision-making.
- Junior-heavy account ownership – Execution support is important, but strategy cannot be delegated entirely to junior teams. If senior involvement is limited to sales or quarterly check-ins, strategic leadership will be inconsistent at best.
- No clear opinion on where growth should come from next – This is the most telling signal. A capable full service Amazon account management agency should be able to articulate where incremental growth is most likely to come from and why. Without that perspective, optimization becomes maintenance.
These red flags often matter more than fees or contract terms. They indicate whether an agency is built to manage complexity and change, or simply to keep the current system running.
What the Best Agencies Do Differently (Behind the Scenes)
From the outside, many agencies look similar. The difference shows up in how the work is led and how decisions are made once the engagement is underway. The strongest Amazon advertising agencies separate themselves by how they operate day to day, not by the tools they list on a services page.
- They lead conversations instead of waiting for direction – Strong agencies do not rely on client prompts to move forward. They set the agenda, raise issues early, and bring ideas before performance forces the conversation. This is where the gap between an execution-focused Amazon PPC agency and a strategic partner becomes obvious.
- They connect media decisions to business outcomes – Bids, budgets, and audiences are never discussed in isolation. Media decisions are tied back to revenue quality, margin, inventory health, and long-term growth goals. This is what turns advertising management into real account leadership.
- They bring a point of view, not just options – Presenting choices without guidance pushes decision-making back onto the brand. The best agencies take responsibility for recommendations. They explain tradeoffs, make a call, and stand behind it, even when the answer is not to spend more.
- They plan six to twelve months ahead – Short-term optimization still matters, but it is not the strategy. High-performing full service Amazon agencies operate with a forward-looking roadmap that accounts for seasonality, creative cycles, and channel expansion, rather than reacting week to week.
These behaviors are rarely visible in a proposal. They only become clear once work begins, which is why understanding how an agency operates behind the scenes matters as much as what they promise upfront.
How to Tell If You’re Ready for a Different Kind of Agency
Not every brand needs to change agencies. But many teams reach a point where the current setup no longer matches the complexity of the business. This quick self-check helps clarify whether that moment has arrived.
- You’ve outgrown PPC-only growth – If Sponsored Ads are efficient but no longer unlocking meaningful upside, the constraint is no longer execution. This is often when brands realize an Amazon PPC agency alone cannot support the next phase of growth.
- Performance is stable, but momentum is slowing – Flat results are easy to rationalize, especially in competitive categories. Stability without forward movement is usually a signal that the strategy has stopped evolving, even if the numbers look acceptable.
- You need clarity more than more activity – More campaigns, more reports, and more tests do not always create progress. When teams start asking for clearer direction rather than additional tactics, it points to a need for stronger leadership from an Amazon advertising agency.
- You want fewer vendors, not more – As Amazon expands, managing multiple specialists can create fragmentation. Many brands reach a stage where consolidation under a full service Amazon agency is less about convenience and more about control and coherence.
If several of these feel familiar, the question is not whether something is broken. It is whether your current agency model is still aligned with where the business is headed next.
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