Media Buying Series (Campaign Execution) – Part 4
Welcome to the critical element in the topic of Online Media Buying – Execution: Putting everything we’ve covered into full motion and watching the results roll in. Assuming you’ve made a decision on the size of campaign (how much money to spend), what type of ads to run, and where to place them…it’s time to bring this Trifecta together.
Set Your Objectives
Even though the total budget has been set (say it’s $500.00), in this example we’ll be spreading it out over a set amount of time. You need to make a plan and determine several things:
* Identify which increments will be used to spread the budget (weeks, days, hours..etc)
* Will the budget be geared towards one offer?
* What ROI (Return-On-Investment) are you expecting from your $500.00
The above steps are critical because a budget can be drained in 30 minutes if you’re not careful. Going back to the example of AdBrite.com, after you’ve made the selections spoken about in Part 3 (demographics)…it’s time to set the budget and finalize our targeting options.
So you understand the example, let’s nail down several things:
Product: Black & Decker Drills (since, I’ve became obsessed with this…we’ll stick with it.)
Campaign Length: 7 Days
As you see in the screen shot, I checked the following boxes:
Ad Type: Banner Ads (the concepts being discussed can be relayed to Text ads as well)
Location of Users: Choose Countries, or US Cities-the screenshot shows “show my ad anywhere in the world”; I did this to seperate the drop-down windows. For this campaign we’ll be targeting users strictly in the United States.
Keywords: Do Not Target by Keywords
Preferred Sites: This is a more targeted option. In this example, we’re not running a branding campaign. The goal is to sell drills, dang it.
Gender: Male – I’m sure woman buy drills (for the occasional birthday present), and this can be changed later…but the campaign is going to start out focused, and then expanded if all goes well.
Age: Target All Ages – we plan to sell to the 18-year old contractor as well as the seasoned journeyman. With the increase of debit cards for all ages…this should be a calculated decision.
Once all of these options are made…the number of available impressions drops from 119 million > 630,577. Again, it’s all about focus.
Allright, let’s set the budget:
Daily Budget: $70.00 (this will leave a surplus of $10.00 at the end of the week…nothing wrong with saving some for later.)
When deciding the financial metrics of the campaign, AdBrite gives you several options: When deciding HOW you want to be billed, you can pick either; 1.) Clicks, or, 2.) Impressions. I’m going to pick clicks since we’re running an action based campaign.
I did some research on the average cost of a contractor worthy Black & Decker Drill (18V Drill/Driver Kit – Pack of 2)…that just sounds cool. Since this is my article – and our website really doesn’t exist – I found 10 stores selling this item and went with the average price: $90.00. After taking into account all of my fictional overhead I want to spend $22.00 to acquire each customer.
That brings us to the next question…how much can I pay per click? Well, if I’m willing to spend $70 / day, and I’m allowed to spend a maximum of $22 / sale…we need to estimate how many clicks it will take for each sale. Since I’m running somewhat of an exploratory campaign…my hypothesis is, it will take an average of 75 clicks to acquire each sale. Here’s the formula to find my desired CPC: CPA (Cost Per Action) $22.00 / 75 (Clicks) = 29.33…rounding down to $0.29 / click. Using this formula I’ll be looking for roughly 3 sales / day.
Max CPC Bid: $0.29
Now that the budget has been set, and all targeting metrics completed…it’s time to finalize the campaign creation process.
Decide on Campaign Creatives
In this section you have the option of what type of banner(s) you wish to upload…you can pick from the following sizes -
728×90, 468×60, 120×600, 160×600 and 300×250. If you have a nice campaign manager (and your budget increases)…they may be able to upload some custom banners for you. For this example we’re using a 468×60 creative. Also, this would probably be a good time to put in my plug for Black & Decker just to satisfy the FTC….FTC Disclaimer: “I don’t work for Black & Decker, and I’ve never really used their product…and I will reap no financial benefit from using the example – the idea was spawned from too much coffee and pure randomness; and I’ll give a charitable donation to… ok, thats good.
Since I have that covered, it’s time to upload the banner…
There are three options on this page – 1.) Upload Your Image, 2.) File Name (what you want to name your banner), 3.) Destination URL (where the visitor will be directed once they click on your ad.) Pay close attention to option # 3…have you built a custom Landing Page to send traffic? If all traffic is going to the homepage..than copy & paste your root URL here…you get the idea. Next, save the Ad.
As you see on the screen shot, the advertiser is given the option to upload 100 different ad variations. To start out, I would recommend using at least 3-5. You can’t go wrong when it comes to utilizing all options of testing during a marketing campaign. Just be sure to allocate enough funds for each creative.
After I upload my desired banners, AdBrite brings me to the order conformation page…enter credit card…etc. I’ll let you use your own intuition on this part.
Tracking Your Campaign
If you forget everything else I’ve said throughout this Media Buying series, and I believe I mentioned this earlier….don’t forget to TRACK your campaigns. I don’t care if you have the best looking creatives, cleanest & most target keyword list…or best looking (in your opinion) website. And, in case your wondering…most quality networks give you the option to do this - including AdBrite. Not tracking your ad campaign leads toward guessing, assuming…more assuming…and you know what that does. The network will give you a snippet of tracking code to place on the conformation page of your site. Be sure the pixel is placed on the page that confirms the ACTION / SALE (Thank You page). This is critical – if not done correctly your stats will be useless and you won’t be able to make educated marketing decisions.
Let’s Review the Critical Rules of Executing a Media Buying Campaign:
# 1 – Set Clear Goals. This includes: Overall Budget, allocating the budget, length of campaign..and how much you plan to make from your ads.
# 2 – Understand Your Target: Location of users, gender, age…etc.
# 3 – Use Smart Creatives: When deciding what offers to run (Banner, Text ads..etc) ask yourself what your goals are. Don’t just run one ad...consider the true definition of marketing: TESTING.
# 4 – Track Your Campaign: Remember, “It’s the Economy Stupid.” Get back to the basics and use conversion tracking. I’m not teaching you how to play the lottery…if you like gambling then go to Vegas.
