NetworkEffectWorking With a Network to Optimize Ads and Maximize Results

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10 Steps Every Network Must Employ to Drive Stellar Ad Performance

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How did the campaign do, and can we do better?If you’ve spent even a week in the advertising world, chances are you’ve heard this question. For this reason, advertisers have looked to ad networks to help them drive better results and optimize their campaigns.

Optimization plays a critical role in today’s advertising strategy. Since the online world is always changing, it's important to periodically evaluate each ad campaign and make tweaks that will help keep it running effectively. Depending on your goals and the type of changes you make, optimization can have a major impact on several aspects of the performance of a campaign; from driving more clicks to your website to lowering overall media costs.

Ad networks have played a crucial role in identifying optimization opportunities and helping advertisers meet their performance goals. Choosing the right network based on your needs is critical to the success of your campaign. Below are 10 vital steps that any good network should be able to do to help you answer the question above with, “yes, we can do better!”

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1!"#"$%&'()%*")+&(*%),-)!"./".Choosing the correct ad server allows a network to set up a campaign properly and optimize according to specific campaign metrics pulled by placement and creative and according to delivery, interaction, conversion data and site delivery. Proper set up of

Did you know? The first ad server was introduced on July 17, 1995*.

the ad server also allows a network to recognize the correct channels to use and the most efficient outlets in order to maximize the target goals: CPA, CPC or CTR.

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Did you know? There are at least a trillion Web pages in existence, which means the internet’s collective brain has more neurons than the average human**.

By placing pixels on publishers, a network is able to accurately track the kinds of users that frequent a site. This allows an operations team to target a specific audience more

effectively. Data collected through the use of publisher pixels allows a network to establish audience patterns and specific audience segments which can be catered to an advertiser’s needs and goals. The right ad is delivered at the right time to the right audience.

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Did You Know? 41 percent of consumers became more comfortable and were 27 percent more willing to receive targeted, relevant ads in exchange for free content. ***

Targeting cookies can be placed on a user’s browser as soon as he or she visits a page on the network. The cookie data contains a user’s behaviors on that site and his or her shopping intent/interests based off of tracked site behavior. Audiences exhibiting certain types of behaviors such as shopping for beauty

products, can be placed in targeting segments which allow an ad server to find that same unique user anywhere on a network. Behavioral targetingallows the advertiser to target any specific audience on a network which most of the time renders increased performance metrics due to the “in-market” types of behaviors.

3 ,)$('-&+,'3%)2+0-+4$-5'-&+$-5+/0-6%#2'0-+,$&%2By placing pixels on landing pages and conversion pages, networks can help an advertiser identify its most receptive customers; this affords the ad server a chance to minimize wasted impressions on uninterested users, while serving impressions more effectively to relevant users who have expressed an

Quick Tip: Landing pages are often linked to from social media, email campaigns or search engine marketing campaigns in order to enhance the effectiveness of the advertisements.

interest in a particular product or service. Conversion pixels placed on multiple “steps” in the conversion help the advertiser identify the purchase intent of users in the conversion process and effectiveness of the conversion process. (i.e. Are there too many steps and are people quitting too early in the process? Are users exiting the conversion process too early?)

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Quick Tip: A combination of data collection, audience modeling, and surveys can provide keen insight into the most receptive buying audience.

If you want to know how someone thinks or feels, why not just ask them? Surveys can be a great way to understand the value of your brand message on certain audiences. Asking just one simple question can help gauge how effective a potential ad campaign can perform. Aside from identifying the audience, surveys

can also measure how much brand lift a campaign is getting for a live campaign. Working with the advertisers to identify key questions and competitors, a network can create a series of surveys that can provide valuable insight.

5 !()4)'()*'(*3%(014(1*3%"",('41'%(Daily interaction between multiple teams on both the network and advertiser side provides the maximum attention needed to monitor an advertiser’s campaigns.Constant optimization tweaks are evaluated on their effectiveness. Clients work with Sales who work with Account Managers who work with Traffickers on

advertiser needs. Effective communication from the top down helps everyone stay on top of advertiser goals and work to constantly increase performance metrics.

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Did You Know? 81% of agencies use ad networks to place digital ads****

A network’s Operations team can identify similar campaigns that have run in the past in order to effectively and properly set up future campaigns with comparable targeting and revenue goals. This ensures that a network can start off on the right foot with their advertisers and start performing right out of the gate. Instead of starting every campaign like a new campaign,

Operations can look at past successes involved with targeting, channels and creative units. By continuously looking at these past successes, a network will be able to ensure that similar campaigns can be equally successful.

7 1"2"$-('%()3"456$7)8'0'9','4:By working with a network, an advertiser can gain reporting insights into how a campaign is performing, as well as receive granular metrics and information about the campaign. By hitting a larger audience on a network, more information can be gathered and reported. Due to this larger audience, an advertiser is able to choose to target specific audiences based off of geography and

demographic data, depending on the advertiser’s needs. Impressions can be moved around to the regions or target audiences that have yielded the best results. The ability of a network to hit these granular audiences in volume is what makes a network valuable.

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Did you know? The IAB’s Portrait is a premium ad unit that is noticed 2x as fast and is viewed 4x more often and 4x longer than standard banners*****

Custom ad units and high-impact creativeallow a network to perform better than networks that can only serve standard banner ads. CTR and interaction on these types of units is higher than standard units and is always pushing what level of engagement an advertiser can offer an

9 4&.5.0$'(),6")7$(6,)8/3$'()-,&+,"(3By offering the correct buying strategy for an advertiser, a network is able to maximize the effectiveness of an advertiser’s buying power. A network can better advise on best practices and buying strategies based off historic data and similar campaigns, which will in turn yield a betterperformance result. For example, a branding and awareness

campaign will need to be run and set up differently than a direct response campaign; reasons for this are due to the fact that the needs for these campaigns are completely different. Proper buying strategies ensure that both parties are satisfied throughout the life of the campaign.

audience. Operations teams can help to identify strengths and weaknesses in an advertiser’s high-impact creative campaign and work collaboratively to create the most effective creative.

Martini Media is the platform for engaging people with the most influence and money online. Martini allows advertisers to build

campaigns influence-first by scaling niche sites—the places these people prioritize because they cater to their passions—into an audience of more than 120 million. Martini provides a publisher network of 1,000+ sites in lifestyle and business with revenue support encompassing Web,

video, mobile, email, social and data. For more than 270 premium advertising clients, Martini combines proprietary audience targeting

and tracking with full-service marketing support.

About Martini Media

*Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_server**Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired Magazine, 9/11***PreferenceCentral on Consumer Attitudes Towards Behavioral targeting, 7/10****Strata, Survey of Media Biying Companies, 10/10*****Evolution of Digital Branding, IPG Media Lab w/Affectiva, Dynamic Logic, & AOL, 6/11 www.martinimediainc.com