In programmatic advertising, we know the number of steps and parameters needed to set up a campaign can be overwhelming.

That’s why we’ve created a list which covers all the components that are a crucial part of every campaign. We’ve also included some practical advice that will help you get the small details right every time, helping drive success for your campaigns.

To make things even easier, we’ve summarised all the information in a short, downloadable document that you can use as a guide whenever you’re setting up a campaign in the Zemanta dashboard. You can access the guide by clicking on the button below. It’s also available to download at the end of the article.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now let’s get cracking!

 

1. CAMPAIGN GOALS

Your campaign goal is your benchmark of success so make sure you choose wisely. You can choose multiple campaign goals, however, you can only choose one primary goal that Zemanta’s algorithms will automatically optimise towards.

Available goals:

• Cost per Click
• Engagement
  • Maximum Bounce Rate
  • Pageviews per Visit
  • New Users
  • Cost per Non-Bounced Visit
  • Cost per New Visitor
  • Cost per Pageview
  • Time on Site – Seconds
• Cost per Action

Our Advice:

• If you want to track engagement metrics, make sure to connect your or your client’s first party analytics with the Zemanta dashboard.
• Ensure all pixels and tracking are properly in place. Check out our Help Center to learn how to set up conversion tracking using a Zemanta pixel or First Party Analytics.
• Your optimisation strategy should align with your primary goal. For example, if your campaign goal is Cost per acquired Lead and you want to make sure you generate good quality traffic, you should not be running a low CPC campaign.

 

2. CAMPAIGN BUDGET

Budget represents the amount of money you’re willing to pay to have ads from your campaign shown over the period you set it to run. Make sure your budget is significant enough to ensure our system is receiving sufficient data in order to optimise towards your KPIs.

Budget Components:

• Budget amount includes Total Spend: Media spend, Zemanta’s fee, Margin (optional) and Data Cost (optional)
• Budget Optimisation

Our Advice:

• Make sure to set  a campaign duration of at least 14 days, allowing you time to optimise the campaign after it has been explored in different networks. If you are aiming to receive conversions, we recommend setting the campaign for at least a month or more in order to gain enough traction.
• Always start with Budget Optimisation enabled. It will optimise your campaign budget across ad groups in order to hit your campaign goal.

 

3. PIXELS & CONVERSION TRACKING

Conversion tracking allows marketers to easily monitor goals such as sales, downloads, subscriptions or landing page visits. Pixels can also be used to group users into audiences available to target in future campaigns.

Types of Pixels:

• Conversion Pixel or Google Analytics/Adobe Analytics Goal
• Custom Audience (Retargeting) Pixel

Our Advice:

• Create multiple conversion pixels to track each step of the conversion funnel.
• Place the custom audience pixel across the entire website. This will allow you to build audiences out of each section of your website using URL filters.
• Zemanta supports pixels in image format.

 

4. TARGETING

Targeting plays an important role in campaign scale and performance. Make sure to keep your targeting wide enough in order to not compromise on scale.

Available Targeting Features:

• Device 
• Location & Language
• Bidding Type (CPC vs CPM)
• Publisher Targeting (whitelisting and blacklisting)
• Interest Targeting
• Custom Audience & 3rd Party Audience Targeting

Our Advice:

• Split ad groups per device. Costs tend to be lower on mobile and higher on desktop – separate ad groups will allow you to adjust the bids accordingly.
• Choose a bid that suits your goal (keep it higher for engagement and CPA campaigns as you want to reach the best quality inventory).
• Start with a higher bid. Our system will automatically reduce it if able to spend your daily budget in full.
• Use CPM bidding when running on a Deal ID.
• Exclude interest verticals that aren’t suitable for your audience, rather than including. However, if you decide to include interests, add at least 5 categories.
• If you are targeting a custom audience, make sure to increase your bids by at least three.
• We recommend that you include one audience targeting tactic per ad group – for example, combining interest and 3rd party audience targeting is not advised as it might limit your traffic too much and the ad group will struggle to spend. 
• Custom audience targeting/retargeting should be run by itself with no additional targeting aside from geolocation.

 

5. CONTENT ADS

Your content ads have one of the biggest impacts on campaign performance. To effectively reach your potential audience and customers, your content ads should be informative, authentic and engaging.

Creative Assets:

• Images
• Ad Titles and Descriptions
• Landing Page URL or a Click-Through URL
• Third Party Trackers (optional)

Our Advice:

• Use HQ images, at least 1440×900 pixels.
• Run multiple images and title variations allowing our system to test best combinations.
• Upload at least 5-10 creatives per ad group.
• Avoid using images with text and/or logos on them. Some networks tend to reject images with included text. Images with text and logos create a risk of being cropped of partially or fully, and images without these elements have been found to drive more clicks.
• Make sure images and titles address your target audience to achieve higher CTR. Images should also be light and inviting so they stand out to the users.
• Adapt your creatives for your primary goal. For example, if your goal is to drive sales, make sure you mention this in your ad titles. Content ads with a specific call to action tend to have a much higher CTR.