Tom:
Welcome to the Clear Ads Podcast: Highway to Sell. As usual, you’re listening to Tom, and I’m joined again by one of our fantastic account managers, Morgan Gillam. You’ve definitely heard him drop knowledge bombs before. This week we’re discussing the signs that suggest you need help with your ad budgeting.
So Morgan… what is ad budgeting? Throwing you straight under the bus.
Morgan:
No worries. Ad budgeting is the money you’re willing to spend on ads and how you split it across campaigns, product groups, and strategies.
Tom:
Cheers. A few basics: there are different levels to set and control budgets.
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Account-level budget (Settings → Daily account budget): If you know you want to spend, say, $100/day overall, set it here. Everything stops once you hit that cap. Great for beginners.
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Campaign-level budgets: More control but more monitoring. If you have 1,000 campaigns, each can spend its own cap.
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Portfolio-level budgets: Useful to group strategies (e.g., Autos, Product Targeting, Cross-selling) and allocate different budgets by objective or seasonality.
When you start, I like account-level budgets. Once profitability is under control and you’re scaling, move to campaign/portfolio-level so nothing gets restricted.
Morgan:
Exactly. Portfolio budgets are great when you don’t want autos to eat the same budget as your keyword campaigns. And for seasonality—e.g., pushing Christmas SKUs—use a “Holiday” portfolio.
Tom:
There’s also a newer Average Daily Budget Increase setting (under Settings). Two options:
Example: daily budget = $1,000. Yesterday you spent $750. Today Amazon can spend up to $1,250 to “catch up.”
Watch out: if you raise your daily budget mid-month (e.g., $500 → $1,000), the system may think you’ve been underspending and start adding the extra % daily. Also, this cap applies only to Sponsored Products—not Brands or Display. So if you blow past your cap, it may be because (a) the up-to-25/100% kicker kicked in, and/or (b) Brands/Display kept spending.
Common Budgeting Mistakes & Consequences
Tom:
What are the most common mistakes sellers make—and the consequences?
Morgan:
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Caps fighting each other: An account cap of $1,000 with a single campaign allowed to spend $600 means that one campaign can starve the rest. Autos often run away with budget.
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High-traffic shocks: Campaigns that usually spend pennies suddenly surge on Prime Day/peak periods and chew through cash you forgot they had.
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Over-funding upper-funnel: Sponsored Brands/Display can swallow budget quickly. Great for reach, but if you’re not careful, you’ll underfund high-intent Sponsored Products.
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Under-funding winners: If a campaign runs at 10% ACOS vs a 20% target and hits budget early, you’re leaving money on the table.
Tom:
Exactly. If these feel familiar, it’s a sign you may need help—via an agency or a tool. On “dayparting”: control when you spend. I don’t usually recommend turning off completely; I prefer lowering bids (e.g., −50% from 1–5am) to catch cheap impressions and delayed conversions without burning cash.
The Budgets Tab (Beta)
Tom:
Amazon’s Budgets tab (beta) is handy. Thoughts?
Morgan:
Love it for an at-a-glance budget view. We filter for campaigns that:
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Weren’t in-budget 100% of the time, and
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Are under ACOS target, and
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Have meaningful orders.
We then nudge budgets up incrementally (biweekly is common). Avoid doubling/tripling overnight—that often nukes ACOS.
Tom:
Set the right date range (e.g., Prime Day window vs last 30 days). And take Amazon’s suggested budgets with a pinch of salt—99% time-in-budget doesn’t mean you need 10× the budget. The tab also estimates missed sales/impressions (data often lags 24–48h).
Why Professional Budget Management Helps
Tom:
Benefits of bringing in pros?
Morgan:
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Time saved and less stress.
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Cross-account, cross-market experience that informs strategy.
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Budget segmentation (e.g., reserve Prime Day pot vs the rest of month).
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Reallocation—moving budget from waste to winners (keywords/products/ASIN targets).
Tom:
DSP budgeting is different from PPC:
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PPC budgets reset daily.
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DSP is cumulative. If your July order has $1,000 total, and you spend it, August starts at $0 until you top up.
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DSP can throttle late in the month to avoid overspend. We extend flight dates/budgets beyond month-end so the system doesn’t panic and underspend.
Morgan:
Also: when you pause waste, reallocate that freed budget—don’t just shrink total spend if you’re trying to grow. Push it into your top 3 keywords for that ASIN (Brand Analytics helps pick them).
Tom:
And if one keyword eats all the budget in a multi-keyword campaign, don’t move the winner. Leave it (history matters); spin the others into their own campaigns so they get oxygen.
Budgeting for Seasonality & Competition
Tom:
Seasonality tips?
Morgan:
Review last year’s performance. Are you up YoY? Do you need more/less than last year? Use historicals to plan, then adjust for current market conditions.
Tom:
Competition matters too. If a rival concentrates budget on one hero product, you may need to fund the fight on that ASIN/keyword. If CPCs are sky-high, try PAT (Product Attribute Targeting):
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Target competitor ASINs (often cheaper than keywords).
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Prioritize competitors with higher prices and worse reviews.
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Bonus: conversions from competitor PDPs can deliver a strong ranking boost.
Morgan:
Same logic with BSR. We saw a Father’s Day product holding #1 BSR long after the event. Offensive 1:1 campaigns against temporarily inflated leaders can be smart—if you have the edge on price, reviews, and listing quality.
Tom:
On Sponsored Brands: currently one top-of-search slot, but Amazon is testing tabbed multiple-brand SB placements. Expect more competition, higher bids, and potentially more budget needed.
For Sponsored Display, use filters when category targeting:
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Price: target items above your price.
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Ratings: target products with lower star ratings.
This keeps spend focused and stretches budget.
CPM model exists but use cautiously—attribution can be fuzzy; CPC is safer for control.
One Top Tip
Tom:
Morgan, one gem to leave listeners with?
Morgan:
Plan monthly, adapt weekly. Enter the month with a clear allocation, then adjust as data comes in—especially around peak events.
Tom:
Brilliant. If this episode helped—or you thought “that’s me!”—share it with a peer. And if you’d like expert help with budgeting, audits, or ongoing management, reach us at clearadsagency.com.
Hit subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes.
Bye from me—
Morgan:
—and thanks from me, too.
