• Stating the case for display as a relevant advertising strategy
• Campaign planning and KPIs to measure
• Pricing and ad units to consider
• Targeting tactics and retargeting overview
• Mobile web and app campaigns
• Campaign optimization strategies
• A tour of the Google Display Network platform
• B2B topics; lead nurturing, native advertising, LinkedIn advertising
• Display measurement; View-throughs, attribution modeling
1. The Great Online Display
Advertising Guide
Or, How Did That Ad Get There?
Paul Mosenson, NuSpark Marketing
August 2014
2. About Paul Mosenson
Digital Media Strategist and Planner/Buyer
30-year advertising experience; last corporate position as
Media Director at renowned Delaware ad agency
Currently is President of NuSpark Marketing; a digital lead
generation firm since 2008 servicing clients around the world.
Paul has been managing digital campaigns for 15 years
successfully, covering a mix of B2B and B2C clients
Paul is fluent in paid search, display, social media, conversion
rate, SEO, and content marketing
Previous eBooks cover SEO, paid search, content strategy,
lead generation optimization, marketing automation, and
more.
3. What I Cover
Stating the case for display advertising
The display landscape; how ads are served
Those abbreviations; DSP, DMP, SSP, RTB, and
Programmatic buying
Campaign planning and KPIs to measure
Targeting strategies and retargeting
Pricing, ad units, and buying display
After the buy; tags, cookies, and pixels
Mobile web and Mobile app campaigns
Campaign optimization
Google Display Network Tour
B2B Display topics; Lead nurturing, Native, LinkedIn
Measuring Display; View-Through, Attribution, Multi-channel
funnels
5. Display is Media
It’s not about clicks
◦ It’s about delivering a large number of
impressions to the right audience so that
the audience becomes familiar with a
brand that could lead to conversions.
(Display is “media”)
Display boosts other online campaigns
◦ Display creates awareness and interest;
other mediums such as organic and paid
search may drive more “last click”
conversions, but those conversions can
be influenced by the power of display
6. Media Strategy 101
Any comprehensive media strategy
works best when targeted channels
work together rather than used
independently. Combining display with
search is no exception
Recent display usage studies and effect on other
channels
7. More Supportive Display
Research
A 2013 Harvard Business School study found that display advertising significantly
increases search conversions. According to HBS, “Both search and display
ads…exhibit significant dynamics that improve their effectiveness and ROI over
time.” In addition, “…we find that each $1 invested in display and search leads to
a return of $1.24 for display and $1.75 for search ads…”
A study by comScore showed that the combination of search and online ads
results in a sales lift of 119%.
An iProspect study revealed that people initially respond to online display ads as
follows:
◦ 31% respond by directly clicking on an ad
◦ 27% respond by searching for the product, brand, or company by launching a search on a
search engine
◦ 21% respond by typing the company Web address into their browser and directly
navigating to the website, and
◦ 9% respond by investigating the product, brand, or company through social media venues
◦ Overall, 52% of Internet users actively respond IN SOME WAY to online display advertising
The study also found that one third of users who respond to online display
advertising eventually purchase from the company, and that thirty-eight percent of
users who respond to online display advertising learn about a brand for the first
time as a result of their exposure to such an ad.
8. The Lift Effect of Display Advertising
The research by comScore also indicates that display advertising has an effect on user
behavior even at low CTR. In the research, which included 139 display campaigns from
seven verticals, comScore recorded substantial effects on traffic, sales and branding
despite low CTR. The campaigns yielded a 46 percent lift in advertiser website visits over
a four week period. During the same period, exposed users were 38 percent more likely
to conduct an advertiser-related branded-keyword search, and 27 percent more likely to
make a purchase online.
11. Marketers are Listening
63% of marketers will increase their budget for online
branding, with one in five saying the jump will be 20% or
more
48% will be shifting dollars from TV to online ads
61% will be shifting from online direct response to online
branding
70% will be increasing spending for social media and mobile
60% of ad sellers say more of their revenue this year will
come from online branding
89% of sellers predict an increase in online branding
spending, with almost a third saying the increase will be more
than 30%
2013 Online Advertising Report: CMO Council and Vizu
Study
13. How Ads Are Served To Your Browser
A TOUR OF THE ONLINE
DISPLAY ECOSYSTEM
14. Welcome to the tour. Here I explain
how the ads you see on websites are
served to you, and at the same time
explain the role of those acronyms you
may have read about, like DSPs and
DMPs. Let’s get started!
15. It starts with you: the website
you’re on via your browser
Your browser points to a Web publisher and communicates via a publisher Web
server. The publisher Web server responds back to the browser with an HTML file.
In the HTML file is a pointer back to the publisher ad server. The browser calls the
ad server looking for an ad. The ad server responds with the ad's file location. In this
case, the file is sitting on a content delivery network (CDN).
The browser calls out to the CDN requesting the specific file containing the ad's
creative content (JPG, GIF, Flash, etc.). The CDN sends the file back to the browser.
16. If the ads aren’t in the publisher ad server (meaning ad
are bought from the publisher directly), they may be
stored within an ad agency server or an ad network
server
Instead of the publisher ad server pointing toward its own CDN, the ad
server delivers a secondary ad tag, a simple piece of HTML that points
toward the agency ad server.
The browser calls the agency ad server, which returns the final location of
the creative in its own CDN.
The browser calls to the agency ad server CDN requesting the specific file
with the ad's creative content (JPG, GIF, Flash, etc.). The CDN sends the
file back to the browser.
17. Definition:
Ad Networks
Ad networks connect advertisers to
publishers. They aggregate ad inventory
and offer it to advertisers.
Networks provide a way for media buyers
to coordinate ad campaigns across
multiple sites (ranging from dozens to
thousands) efficiently. Ad networks vary in
size and focus: large ad networks may
require premium brands and millions of
impressions per month, while small ad
networks may accept unbranded sites with
thousands of impressions per month.
18. Now it gets interesting; the tag the browser
gets from the publisher server may also
include an SSP tag- now the concept of real
time bidding (RTB) begins, featuring DSPs,
DMPs, and Ad Exchanges. Definitions to
follow!
19. SSP: Supply Side Platform
(For Publishers)
SSPs allow publishers to jump into ad exchanges via DSPs to
make their inventory available and optimize selling of their
online media space. Through SSPs, publishers can gain the
highest eCPM for their inventory rather than selling remnant
space at lower costs.
20. Ad Exchanges
Display space that’s unsold by either sites or networks is usually collected by an
ad exchange, where it is auctioned off to the highest bidder among advertisers,
networks and agencies. It’s a very simple way to buy ad space, and for publishers
to squeeze value from their unused inventory. Exchanges let buyers purchase
very specific audiences, especially when using real-time bidding technology.
Advertisers and agencies typically use DSPs to buy display
21. DSP: Demand Side Platform
A demand side platform (DSP) is a system that allows digital
advertisers to manage multiple ad exchange and data exchange
accounts through one interface. Real time bidding for display
online ads takes place within the ad exchanges, and by utilizing
a DSP, marketers can manage their bids for the banners and the
pricing for the data that they are layering on to target their
audiences.
22. DSPs, Exchanges and SSPs Together
DSPs are used by marketers to buy ad impressions from
exchanges as cheaply and as efficiently as possible, SSPs
are designed by publishers to do the opposite: to maximize
the prices their impressions sell at.
SSPs allow publishers to connect their inventory to multiple
ad exchanges, DSPs, and networks at once. This in turn
allows a huge range of potential buyers to purchase ad space
and for publishers to get the highest possible rates.
When an SSP throws impressions into ad exchanges, DSPs
analyze and purchase them on behalf of marketers
depending on certain attributes such as where they’re served,
and which specific users they’re being served to. By opening
up impressions to as many potential buyers as possible via
real-time auctions, publishers can maximize the revenues
they receive for their inventory.
This process takes place in milliseconds!, as a user’s
computer loads a webpage.
23. DMP: Data Management Platform- 3rd
Party Data Overlay for More-Precise
Targeting
A data management platform (DMP) is a centralized data management platform
that allows advertisers to create target audiences based on a combination of in-depth
first-party and third-party audience data. DMPs enable advertisers to
consolidate online and offline customer data from various sources into a single
location, then use it to create demographic and behavioral segments that can be
used to target online advertising. Performance data from each campaign is then
fed back into the DMP, creating a feedback loop that improves optimization efforts
and can be used for related reporting and analysis
Companies use DMPs to collect and analyze huge amounts of data from many
different sources. DMPs are now so powerful that companies can track users and
customers who visit from banners, Facebook pages, Tweets, mobile, video and
even offline applications. They collect and analyze data from cookies, small files
that keep website settings and also record user behavior. For example, DMPs can
allow e-commerce sites, publishers and advertisers to find out how many users
who bought a big screen TV online also searched for high-end digital cameras in
the past week.
24. DSPs and DMPs
Together
DMPs can be used to store and manage any
form of information, but for marketers, they’re
most often used to manage cookie IDs and to
generate audience segments, which are
subsequently used to target specific users with
online ads.
Advertisers buy media across a huge range of
different sites and through various middlemen,
including DSPs, ad networks and exchanges as
you read. DMPs tie all this activity together in
one, centralized location and use it to help
optimize future media buys and ad creative.
So in summary, a DMP is used to store and
analyze data, while a DSP is used to actually buy
advertising based on that information.
25. RTB: Real Time Bidding
Real-time bidding (RTB) is a
digital ad buying process that
allows advertisers to evaluate
and bid on individual
impressions.
Component of a DSP, ad
exchange or network, RTB lets
buyers use their own data and
targeting options to bid for each
ad impression.
Advertisers can take factors
such as site, placement, price,
and user data into account
when bidding on each
impression. The winning bidder
gets to serve the ad, which is
often customized on the fly to
better tailor the message to the
audience. The entire bidding
process for each impression
takes less than 25 milliseconds
Thanks to real-time bidding, ad buyers
no longer need to work directly with
publishers or ad networks to negotiate
ad prices and to traffic ads. Using
exchanges and other ad tech, they
can access a huge range of inventory
across a wide range of sites and
cherry-pick only the impressions they
deem most valuable to them. That
cuts down the number of impressions
wasted on the wrong users.
26. How Bidding Works
It works on an auction model. Each buying source makes
their bid, highest wins, pays $0.01 more than the next highest
bidder. Here’s an example which illustrates this:
Bidder 1 $0.50
Bidder 2 $0.60
Bidder 3 (winner) $0.80
Price Paid $0.61
The actual bidding process which takes less than 100
milliseconds looks like this:
1. The Exchange makes a call to the DSP with an available
impression.
2. DSP checks to see if they want this impression – it could
be someone in their retargeting pool, or in a desired audience
segment according to a third party data vendor. If yes …
3. DSP makes a bid for it based on how much they think it’s
worth or can afford to pay
4. Exchange sells the impression to the highest bidder.
5. Ad is delivered by the winning bidder.
27. So here’s a summary- ad server
needs to find an ad to fill a space on a
webpage, it will either check the
publisher ad server, or call a SSP to
find other ad units via DSPs or ad
networks. An advertiser’s creative tag
is sent to the publisher ad server and
loads the tag into the ad unit which in
turn calls the advertiser’s third party
ad server to serve the ad
More on ad servers in a bit!
28. Programmatic Advertising
Buying
“Programmatic” ad buying typically refers to the use
of software to purchase digital advertising, as
opposed to the traditional process that involves
RFPs, human negotiations and manual insertion
orders. Jack Marshall-Digiday
Programmatic buying is the art and science of trading media at
scale using technology or data.
29. Programmatic Buying
Benefits
Programmatic buying today provides an opportunity where you
can not only attach different value to each ad-impression based on
100+ parameters but also optimize for the media buying on a real-time
basis (RTB). The benefits of RTB vary based on audience
segments as well as the intelligence of the algorithm optimizing for
the bidding and creative based on it but can be huge when done
right.
32. Set Campaign Objectives
Attract targeted traffic to your website
Increase sales or conversions
Find new customers
Enhance or build your brand
Contribute to the buying process
◦ Target audiences throughout their buying cycle
34. Other KPI Considerations
Brand recall: Perform pre-post
campaign branding study to measure
awareness
Increased branded search and direct
website traffic during display
campaign
Overall cost-per-website visitor and
overall site conversion rate lift
Sales and revenue boost
35. Conversion Metrics To
Monitor
Total conversions; when a visitor
performs a desired action on your
website
Conversion rate: the percentage of
time visitors perform a conversion
Cost per conversion: the average
media dollars spent for each
conversion
36. Choosing a DSP Partner;
Considerations
Reach; All have strong reach- ask
about mobile options and Facebook
Exchange integration
Scalability & Flexibility; The DSP
should be able to quickly optimize
based on performance.
Costs; Evaluate fees and minimal
spends needed, which vary by DSP
Data; Review all targeting options, 3rd
party data partners, retargeting
capability
37. Buying Ads Direct from a
Publisher- Advantages
Access to a site’s full inventory
Premium inventory & placements
Higher share of voice & reach on the
specific site
Custom sponsorships
Increased placement options:
enewsletter native ads, eblasts, apps
38. RTB/DSP versus Publisher
Direct
Ad Buying
Targeting
◦ RTB: Impressions sold to highest bidder if
site matches client target audience
◦ Direct: Impressions purchased in bulk
Supply
◦ RTB: Impressions not guaranteed on
specific sites due to unpredictability of
marketplace
◦ Direct: At fixed CPM, site impressions are
guaranteed
39. RTB/DSP versus Publisher
Direct Pricing
◦ RTB: You’re buying eCPM, or Effective CPM, since impressions are being
bid on thousands of sites that meet your criteria. eCPM is used to
compare performance of various campaign types (CPM, CPC, CPA).
Everything is converted to eCPM in order to compare campaign
efficiencies easily
◦ Direct: Fixed CPM pricing
40. Site Traffic Research
Quantcast, Compete, Alexa provide unique tools to measure traffic
and demographics of specific sites
42. Benefits of Google Display
Planner
Find new inventory that meets
targeting criteria
◦ Includes mobile apps and video channels
Generate targeting ideas based on
your customer’s interests and your
website
◦ Keywords, specific placements, topics, in-market
segments, and age/gender
demographics
45. Yahoo! At a Glance
Yahoo!
Rated #1 in the U.S. in 10 online
categories including mail, news, sports,
finance, entertainment news,
autos, shopping, and real estate
Rated #1 globally in seven categories,
including news, sports, finance,
entertainment news, real estate, and
comparison shopping
Rated #1 for major event coverage of
the Super Bowl, Olympics, World Cup,
March Madness, and the Oscars,
Emmys, and Grammys
Yahoo’s homepage has more than 100
million global visitors every day
Yahoo News draws more than 200
million global consumers a month
50. Contextual Targeting
Target ads on site topics or categories/subcategories, or web pages
that include keywords within its content.
51. Behavioral: 3rd Party Data
Example segments
The wealth of data segments as compiled by DMPs allow you
to target specific groups of sites that target meet targeting
criteria. DSPs will optimize in real time based on click through
rate, lead conversions, and sale conversions, and reallocate
impressions to better performing segments
53. Facebook Exchange
FBX is a real-time bidding ad exchange in which advertisers fire cookies
on users' browsers as they surf the web -- shopping, for instance -- and
then retarget those users with ads once they enter Facebook, to remind
them to come back to the sites they were shopping on and convert
54. Geographic Targeting
Some bidding models let you bid higher to audiences in close
proximity to retail locations, to ensure auctions are won in
these areas
55. How GeoTargeting Works
For those who want to know- it’s
technical. Review the links below!
http://www.adopsinsider.co
m/ad-serving/how-geotargeting-
ads-works/
http://www.adopsinsider.com/
ad-serving/geotargeting-explained-
how-ad-servers-understand-
physical-locations/
http://www.geoedge.com/meetu
s_university/40/how-does-geo-targeting-
work
56. Geo-Targeting Strategy
• Study in detail the markets, cities, zips your audience purchases from, and
buy more impressions in those key markets
• Test off-line direct mail performance with accompanying display within specific
markets and measure offline lift.
• Combine retargeting and other target strategies with geo-targeting to optimize
performance
57. Retargeting or Remarketing
You’ve seen them; they follow you
around; those pesky ads that found
you seconds after you’ve been to a
website! Retargeting has emerged as
the premiere online advertising tactic.
Retargeting’s goal is firmly one thing;
come back to your website if your
prospect hasn’t made a final decision
to buy or convert.
58. Retargeting Effectiveness
Retargeting is effective because it focuses your advertising spend
on people who are already familiar with your brand and have
recently demonstrated interest. That’s why most marketers who
use it see a higher ROI than from most other digital channels.
59. How Retargeting Works
Retargeting is a cookie-based technology
that uses simple a Javascript code to
anonymously ‘follow’ your audience all over
the Web.
Retargeting pixels are placed on every page
of a website
Every time a new visitor comes to your site,
the code drops an anonymous browser
cookie. Later, when your cookied visitors
browse the Web, the cookie will let your
retargeting provider (DSP, network, or
specific retargeting firm) know when to serve
ads, ensuring that your ads are served to
only to people who have previously visited
your site.
60. Retargeting in Action
Target prospects who visited certain
pages on your website with relevant
message
Target prospects who abandoned
shopping carts with additional incentive
to purchase
Target those who downloaded white
papers with additional content or free
trial offers
Target past leads or purchasers with
additional product
61. Dynamic Retargeting
For e-commerce sites, dynamic retargeting allows you to show ads for
specific products on your site that a visitor viewed but did not purchase.
For non-Google retargeting platforms, dynamic retargeting serves ads based on cookies
delivered via smart pixels on websites, whereby ad creative is dynamically changed based on
the pages a prospect as seen.
For Google remarketing, accounts are linked to merchant centers. You need to add a
remarketing tag across all your site pages with a custom parameter for the product ID (and a
few other custom parameters). When people visit your site, the remarketing tag adds them to
a remarketing list and associates the product ID with the visit. Later, when these visitors are
browsing a website within the Google Display Network and your ad is shown, Google uses
the product ID to get the product image, name, and price from your Google Merchant Center
account, and includes it the ad.
When you set up a dynamic remarketing campaign, a dynamic text and dynamic display ad
will be automatically created for you using Ad gallery templates.
62. Retargeting Best Practices
Utilize Frequency Caps; a setting that limits the number
of ads a user sees within 24 hours (15-20 impressions
per month ideal) to avoid message burnout
Test all of your retargeting segments for Conversion
rate and CPA
Test creative strategies and retargeting offers. Perform
A/B tests
Make sure ads are well branded; ensures ads are
notices from your recent visitors
63. A Myriad of Targeting Options
Can Be Available, Depending on
DSP
65. Pricing Models
Fixed Cost: Paying a flat rate for a premium position;
typically negotiated direct with publishers.
CPM: Cost per thousand impressions; this is the most
popular pricing model for publishers and many DSPs.
You pay for the number of times your ad is served
CPC: Cost per Click. Popular with the Google Display
Network, you only pay per click, depending on your bid.
A higher bid, the more likely your ad will show on highly
viewed websites
CPA: Cost per Action or Acquisition. Here advertisers
and publishers agree to pay only for a website activity,
such as a quote, a sale, a download, or a sign-up.
eCPM: Effective Cost per thousand. eCPM is used to
compare performance of various campaign types (CPM,
CPC, CPA). Everything is converted to eCPM in order
to compare campaign efficiencies easily
66. Viewable Impression Model
Google is now measuring viewable
impressions as a bidding option on their
Display Network.
Called Active View, advertisers are
charged only for impressions that are
“50% viewable for a minimum of one
second” This includes “above the fold”
ad positioning. The goal is to allow
advertisers to only pay for impressions
that are more likely to be viewed by a
user.
68. Display Rising Stars
In coming up with these
‘stars’, the IAB did away with
several other standards. The
IAB also tested the
effectiveness of these ad
units with several leading
marketers. Results
suggested that consumers
are 2.5 times more likely to
engage with the Rising Star
formats and spend 31%
longer with these ads than
with other ads.
The IAB as new ad unit guidelines,
offering publishers new ad formats
with the goal to stimulate
engagement and CTR.
70. Rich Media
A Rich Media ad contains images or video and involves some kind of
user interaction. While text ads sell with words, and display ads sell
with pictures, Rich Media ads offer more ways to involve an audience
with an ad. The ad can expand, float, peel down, etc. You can access
aggregated metrics on your audience's behavior, including number of
expansions, multiple exits, and video completions. Rich media ads get
increased engagement and CTR, but also cost much more to develop
than standard ads.
The links below can give you more info on rich media ad
units
http://www.richmediagallery.com/formats/
https://support.google.com/richmedia/answer/117420
http://www.iab.net/guidelines/508676/508767/displayguid
elines
71. Creating Effective Banner Ads
Keep copy and design simple; use powerful
words
Attention- getting headline
Have a clear and visible call to action
Include company logo for brand awareness
Support your value proposition with readable
offer
Choose relevant images, and only use when
necessary
Use interactivity when possible
Limit font styles
Less is more!
76. Deliver Ads via Ad Server or
Campaign Managers
Ad servers allow you to distribute and manage your campaigns across your entire media buy.
For example, you can update your creative across hundreds of publishers with an ad server, and
it provides centralized reporting on impressions served, clicks, conversions, creative
performance, etc., across every ad placement.
An ad server also performs a critical audit function-a third-party check and balance on delivery of
its campaign, which comes in handy at billing time.
If you need more than the basics, look for more advanced capabilities:
Tag management
Attribution modeling
Landing page optimization tools
Integration with website analytics
77. Doubleclick Campaign Manager:
Google’s Leading Ad Management
Platform
Learn More:
http://doubleclickadvertisers.blogspot.com/2013/09/introducing-all-
new-dfa-doubleclick.html
78. A Recap of Site Tagging
Websites are assembled fresh each time they are displayed in a browser.
Content, advertisements and other customizations are provided by various
partners and are stitched together to form the website viewed by the user.
The website 'calls' to web servers for these individual bits of content using
JavaScript or HTML code. These lines of JavaScript or HTML code are
called tags. In the interactive advertising ecosystem, tags are essential
because for making calls to various ad servers, as well as for transferring
information between parties to help tailor an experience for the user.
79. Floodlight Tags: How Doubleclick
tracks conversions
A Floodlight tag is an HTML tag that
you place on your web site to track
conversions, such as a consumer
making a purchase or completing an
online form.
A Floodlight activity stores data
recorded by a specific Floodlight tag and
makes the data available within all
DoubleClick properties, such as
DoubleClick Search (DS) and
DoubleClick Campaign Manager (DCM).
80. Cookies
Cookies are a technology that have been around since
the early days of the web. They are pieces of code that
web servers use to put information on a user’s browser,
and then retrieve that information at a later time for
various uses. Cookies are privacy conscious by design,
so that only the server domain that sets a cookie is able
to retrieve it.
Ad servers use cookies to set unique IDs so they can
identify the same user across multiple touchpoints.
When an ad server receives an ad display request from
a user who does not have an existing cookie, the ad
server assigns a new unique ID. On each subsequent
request the cookie returns the same unique ID, thus
allowing the ad server to know that it is the same user.
Because all requests are recorded by the ad server,
reports can be created that provide a record of all the
touchpoints for each user.
81. 3rd Party Cookies Don’t Generally Work or are unreliable
on Mobile Devices, depending on app or mobile web
environments
What exactly is a cookie?
Cookies = small text files for saving settings in your browser for a website
1st Party Cookie = the website’s cookie, maybe to keep you logged in or keep items in your
shopping cart
3rd Party Cookie = a cookie loaded through a data company integrated with a website you
were on
82. Mobile Cookie Issues and
Alternatives
a) The Mobile Web:
Cookies do exist on the mobile web just as they do on the desktop. Users who browse the Internet
using mobile web browsers get cookies placed on their browsers. Every mobile browser, just like
desktop browsers, has different cookie settings and handle first party and third party cookies
differently. In essence, cookies are fully functional on the mobile web. The main limitation of
cookies on mobile browsers is that they reset when the browser is closed or when the phone is
shut down/restarted. Additionally, cookies are unable to track users when they move between
mobile apps and Web browsers, making conversion tracking difficult.
b) Mobile Apps:
Cookies also exist within apps when a browser is needed to view certain content or display an ad
within an app. However, the cookies are completely “sandboxed” in apps. This means that cookies
from one app cannot be shared with another app and that they remain private to each app. This is
a handicap for mobile marketers as it is extremely difficult to track user activity & behavior across
apps. Being able to track user activity and behavior is the foundation of ad targeting and thus the
inability to do so makes it extremely challenging for mobile marketers to improve ad effectiveness.
Alternatives to cookies are device IDs, such as Apple’s IDFA and Google’s Android ID, but
these are intended to work only in mobile apps and cannot track the same user across apps
and mobile Web browsers.
Device recognition is an upcoming alternative that creates device IDs based on a list of
attributes of a device like device type, operating system, fonts, date and time settings,
language settings, and more. Regular device updates are the Achilles’ heel of this
alternative but it has a very high accuracy rate if you are tracking over a very short window.
Other alternatives include using a universal login like Facebook, Twitter, or Google but it
does require users to log in, which may not be an option for tracking users that have not
decided to buy.
84. Tracking Pixels
A Tracking pixel is a small code placed on a website,
unnoticeable to visitors. When new visitors arrive to a
website the pixel drops an anonymous browser cookie.
Later, when cookied visitors browse the internet, the
cookies inform your retargeting provider or ad network
when to serve ads, ensuring your ads are served to a
relevant audience.
Even though the pixel is virtually invisible, it is still
served just like any other image you may see online.
The trick is that the web page is served from the site’s
domain while the image is served from the ad server’s
domain. This allows the ad server to read and record
the cookie with the unique ID and the extended
information it needs to record.
The tracking pixel allows to track how many times a
webpage have been viewed. Tracking pixels could be
used also track conversions.
85. Use Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager is a free tool that makes it easy for marketers to add and
update website tags -- including conversion tracking, site analytics, remarketing,
and more—with just a few clicks, and without needing to edit your website code.
http://www.google.com/tagmanager/
86. Tag Ad URLs with Google’s URL Builder
Track source,
medium,
campaign names,
and unique
content with
Google Analytics
By campaign, by
source, by medium, by
content…
Track site engagement
and conversion activity
87. Google Analytics Goals
Track conversions on your
website:
* “Thank you” pages after
leads/sales are confirmed
* Event actions for key conversion
activities that do not require a
separate page to track.
88. Campaign Optimization
Networks/DSPs in real time will optimize
based on agreed upon metrics; CTR
(Click-Through Rate), Conversation rate
(leads or sales, as long as tracking pixels
are placed on conversion pages) in order
to shift impressions to groups of sites
and audience segments that perform
better after benchmarks are set (perhaps
after 10,000 impressions). As learnings
are gathered, audience modeling is
developed, and campaigns are
constantly optimized
89. Optimization Variables
Creative:
◦ Message, ad unit size, standard vs rich media
Placement:
◦ Website, Audience segments, Ad position
Strategy
◦ Behavioral, Contextual, Look-a-Like, Retargeting
Campaign:
◦ Time of day, Day of week, Geography
Device:
◦ Desktop, tablet, mobile
90. Beyond the Click Optimization
Because of the nature of the “clicker”
audience, clicks should not be the key
measure of success. Consider:
◦ Understand your audience and placement
strategies. Audiences who view ads without
clicking are also potential conversions.
◦ View-based conversions and attribution
modeling (discussed later) allow you to
understand how display and all channels
contribute to conversions
◦ Use the eCPA (effective call-to-action) to
measure your entire ad investment across all
tactics
94. Mobile Advertising
Landscape:
Mobile networks and exchanges continually to grow; and get
sold (Twitter buying MoPub, Yahoo buying Flurry, for
example)
95. Many Mobile Ad Platforms to
Consider
View the fill list here
http://appflood.com/blog/list-of-mobile-ad-networks-february-
2013
97. Mobile Ad Planning
Strategy Considerations
• Consider the platform for creative development; mobile phones are a
highly personal device
• Balance mobile web ads with in-app ads. Mobile web ads have
greater reach, and in-app ads can be more interactive
• Duration: the campaigns need to be long enough to reach a healthy
sample of users and strong enough (3-5 million impressions) to make
an impact
101. Mobile KPIs to Measure
Mobile Web
◦ Like Display: CPC, CTR, Conversion Rate, Cost per Conversion
Mobile App Campaigns
o Conversion Rate (click to install)
o Cost Per Install (CPI)
o Conversion Rate (install to custom action)
Benchmarks from Tapsense (Mobile
exchange)
102. App Install Measurement
The following table shows some of the largest mobile advertising partners in the industry
and how they measure conversions for installs. As you can see, all of them operate by
measuring the install on the first “app open” event. They also support measuring
additional events (such as registration, signup, activation, and other post-install events).
App Install Measurement Best Practices
• Define an install as the first "app open" event by a user (whom your system has
never communicated with before).
• First measure the app install before any other app event(s).
• Measure important post-install events (such as registration/activation) to help
detect fraud and ensure accurate billing.
103. Mobile App Conversions
Conversion tracking starts with the user clicking on a link from a
channel such as an email or mobile ad. The user is then taken to the
app store, where they download the app onto their device. Once the
app is downloaded, the mobile app conversion tracking technology
matches that user to the marketing source.
The basis of this technology is a small piece of code inserted into
the app that is called the SDK (Software Development Kit). The SDK
communicates with the server and sends data from the app,
matching downloads to the links that users clicked from a marketing
channel.
Once conversion tracking is in place, you can go beyond the
download numbers and see deep into your conversion funnel. This
allows you to optimize campaigns to get the greatest return on your
marketing investment. For retailers, this would mean measuring
registrations, purchase data, repeat purchases, and even total
revenue per purchase. For travel marketers, it means measuring
hotel bookings, airline reservations and car rentals. For other
verticals, marketers should measure data that is most relevant to
their business. With conversion tracking in place, you can move
beyond measuring just cost per download and start fine-tuning your
marketing to the goals that matter most to your business.
Source:
Tapsense
104. Mobile Campaign
Optimization
Network: Leverage multiple
networks; determine the right
balance between traffic volume and
traffic quality
Time of Day: Clicks and Installs
Vary by Hour and by Device; Have a
daypart strategy
Device: Perform a campaign
analysis by device and operating
system, and optimize share of
impressions accordingly
106. Google is the
Largest
Google’s reach is 94% of the
online audience
107. Target By Page Topic
With Topic Targeting, your ads
can appear on any Web page
Google believes is related to
the topic(s) you select.
108. Target By User Interest
While Topic Targeting is web-page-focused,
Interest Targeting is people-focused. Here you
reach people who have shown an interest in
products and services related to your business,
no matter what web page they may be on at a
given moment.
Google uses browsing behavior history and 3rd
party data DMPs (remember them?) to associate
interests with a visitor’s anonymous cookie ID.
Using this data, you can show ads to prospects
based on their demonstrated interest in the
categories you select for your campaign.
110. In-Market Audiences
Select from these
audiences to find
customers who are
researching
products and
actively
considering buying
a service or
product like those
you offer
111. Other Audiences
Use these more
granular audience
categories to reach
customers who may
be likely to visit your
site. You can also
use these audiences
to show your ads to
people who have
interests that aren't
included in the
affinity audiences or
in-market audiences.
112. Google Remarketing
Option 1: Target audiences
who have been to your
website or landing page or
certain pages of your site
Option 2: The "similar
audiences" feature enables
you to find people who share
characteristics with your site
visitors. By adding "similar
audiences" to your ad group,
you can show your ads to
people whose interests are
similar to those of your site
visitors, which allows you to
reach new and qualified
potential customers.
More here:
https://support.google.com/adwor
ds/answer/2676774?hl=en
114. Target By Keyword
Keywords are part of contextual targeting
on the Display Network, which uses the
keywords or topics you’ve chosen to
match your ads to relevant sites that also
include those keywords within the
content
Google analyzes the content of each
Display Network webpage or URL,
considering factors such as the following:
◦ Text
◦ Language
◦ Link structure
◦ Page structure
Based on this analysis, the central theme
of each webpage is determined. When
your keyword matches a webpage’s
concepts or its central theme, your ad is
eligible to show on that webpage
115. Target By Specific Website
(Placements)
If you'd like your ads
to show on certain
sites that are part of
the Display Network,
add them as
placements to your
ad groups. These
could be placements
related to your
products or services,
or online
destinations that
your customers visit.
117. Combining Targeting for More
Relevant Placements
If your goal is to sell
products and reach a
specific type of audience,
you might want to add a
few targeting methods to
your ad group that are set
to “Target and bid.” Then
your ads can show only
when the specific targeting
methods you've selected
match.
118. Planning an App Ad
Campaign
Before you create your campaign, think about your advertising
goals. Are you interested in getting people to download your
app? What about encouraging people to open your app and
take action? To see which campaign is right for you, review
some of their features in the table below.
119. Target By App Category,
Operating System, or Specific
App Name Apps are part of the
Display Network
The ads in your Display
Network campaigns are
automatically eligible to be
shown in mobile apps if you
selected “All features” (the
default option) when creating
your campaign. Your ads may
show in mobile apps when a
mobile app placement (think
of it as an ad spot) matches
the targeting that you've set
for your campaign.
Ads placed in mobile apps
have worked particularly well
for driving clicks and
conversions on websites.
120. The Google
Display Planner will
give you Ideas on
placements and
apps based on
keywords your
prospects may be
interested in
121. Display Bidding Options: CPM vs. CPC
Viewable cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) bidding lets you pay only for impressions measured
as viewable.
What it does: Viewable CPM bidding optimizes your bids so your ads show in ad slots that are more likely
to become viewable. An ad is viewable when 50% of it has been on screen for one second or more.
Benefits: You don't pay when the ad impression is not viewable.
122. Google Display Network
Campaign Optimization
Although CTR is a measure of
relevance, focus more on conversions
and conversion rate
Increase bids on higher performing sites
or targeting strategies; likewise decrease
bid or remove sites/targeting that are not
performing
Fine tune targeting combinations and
test various options together
Review frequency cap settings so that
your ads aren’t serving to often to the
same users
124. Display Influences the Entire
Lead Funnel
Brand awareness
Education &
engagement
Lead generation
125. Conversion Influence
Landing Page for lead capture
◦ Focus on benefits (what’s in it for me)
◦ Limit form fields
◦ Professional look/feel design with relevant
image
◦ Include testimonials and proof statements
Offer
◦ A/B test content download offers with free
trials/assessments
127. B2B Retargeting & Lead
Nurturing
Place retargeting pixel and landing page & thank you
page
◦ Send prospects who do not download or sign up and
alternative offer via a banner ad. A free trial may seem
like a commitment, so retargeting with content offers
allows you to keep in touch with prospects without
having their email address
◦ Send leads additional content offers. For those who did
download content from your landing page, send them
additional content offers via retargeting banner ads that
can continue to educate prospects, increase lead score,
and shorten sales cycle
Place retargeting pixel on HTML email newsletter
◦ Target prospects who open emails with additional
content or trial offers via retargeting banner ads
129. About Native Advertising
Native advertising is an
online advertising method in which the advertiser
attempts to gain attention by providing content in
the context of the user's experience on a
website.
The goal of native advertising is to provide a
content promotion platform that doesn’t interrupt
user experience, and to offer helpful content
similar to other information on the website
When someone clicks on content that is placed
on a relevant web page, users go to a content
landing page where they can read more, and see
offers within the article or on landing page
sidebars (for lead generation)
138. Last Click is Easy Way Out…
Attributing credit to the last click is still
the norm
◦ Rewards Search
◦ Punishes Display, Email and Social
We need to:
◦ Identify all interactions that precede
conversions
◦ Attribute value to each touch point that
plays a supporting role
139. Addressing Online Display
Conversion Credit with Google
Analytics
View-Through Conversions
Multi-Channel Funnels
Attribution Modeling
140. View Through Conversion
A View-through conversion measures the number of conversions that
occurred within 30 days of your display ad appearing for which there was no
ad click generated. View-through measures conversion performance after a
user has seen an ad, but did not click or convert when the ad was served,
but rather converting via another digital channel within typically the next 30
days.
* A cookie is dropped on every user that views an ad (which means
almost every visitor)
* Even if the user does not click on an ad, the cookie remains with
their browser
* If the user visits the advertiser's website or somehow completes the
defined "action" for the advertiser, attribution is given to the
appropriate campaign
141. The Case for View-Through Conversion
View-Through Conversions allow you to:
◦ Assess the contribution of Display campaigns to your overall conversions
◦ Measure the ROI of your Display campaigns
◦ Assess latency to conversion for exposed users
◦ Compare performance of Display against other channels and networks
◦ Optimize your targeting based on post-impression and post click activities
Similar to offline media campaigns; that online display impressions contribute to
branding, and eventually conversion or purchase
Adds an analysis component to the effectiveness of digital ad channels and
targeting tactics
View-through account for over 90 percent of website visitors and will be
responsible for over 90% percent of page views when they get there.
But keep in mind
◦ View-through impressions by channel are not scientific; an ad served on a site does not
mean it was viewed by a user
◦ Be careful with DSPs/networks that offer CPA pricing, and include view-through along with
actual conversions
142. Adjusting View-Through
Window
When running display on the GDN, you can adjust the view through
conversion time period. For example, if you select a window of three
days, your view-through conversion count would include people who
see your ad on Monday and then convert anytime between Monday
and Wednesday.
143. Multi-Channel Funnels
In Google Analytics, conversions and ecommerce transactions are
credited to the last campaign, search, or ad that referred the user
when he or she converted. But what role did prior website referrals,
searches and ads play in that conversion? How much time passed
between the user's initial interest and his or her purchase?
The Multi-Channel Funnels reports answer these questions and
others by showing how your marketing channels (i.e., sources of
traffic to your website) work together to create sales and
conversions.
For example, many people may purchase on your site after
searching for your brand on Google. However, they may have been
introduced to your brand via a blog or while searching for specific
products and services. The Multi-Channel Funnels reports show how
previous referrals and searches, and of course display campaigns,
contributed to your sales.
Through multi channel funnel reports you can determine:
◦ How marketing channels, like display, work together to create conversions.
◦ How much time elapsed between visitors’ initial interest and his purchase
◦ What role did prior website referrals, searches and ads played in a conversion.
◦ How to attribute conversions to a marketing channel.
144. Conversions in the Funnel
A channel can play three roles in a conversion path:
◦ Last Interaction is the referral that immediately precedes the conversion.
◦ Assist Interaction is any referral that is on the conversion path, but is not the last interaction.
◦ First Interaction is the first referral on the conversion path; it’s a kind of assist interaction.
Assisted Conversions and Assisted Conversion Value:
This is the number (and monetary value) of sales and conversions the channel assisted. If a
channel appears anywhere—except as the final interaction—on a conversion path, it is
considered an assist for that conversion. The higher these numbers, the more important the
assist role of the channel.
Last Click or Direct Conversions and Last Click or Direct Conversion Value:
This is the number (and monetary value) of sales and conversions the channel closed or
completed. The final click or direct traffic before a conversion gets Last Interaction credit for
that conversion. The higher these numbers, the more important the channel’s role in driving
completion of sales and conversions.
First Click Conversions and First Click Conversion Value:
The number (and monetary value) of sales and conversions the channel initiated. This is the
first interaction on a conversion path. The higher these numbers, the more important the
channel’s role in initiating new sales and conversions.
Assisted/Last Click or Direct Conversions and First/Last Click or Direct Conversions:
These ratios summarize a channel’s overall role. A value close to 0 indicates that a channel
completed more sales and conversions than it assisted. A value close to 1 indicates that the
channel equally assisted and completed sales and conversions. The more this value exceeds
1, the more the channel assisted sales and conversions.
145. Assisted Conversion Report
The assisted conversions report shows how your Google Display
campaigns assist other site traffic toward conversions.
146. Conversion Paths
Channel Interactions
◦ The Top Conversion Paths report shows all of
the unique conversion paths (i.e., sequences of
channel interactions) that led to conversions, as
well as the number of conversions from each
path, and the value of those conversions. This
allows you to see how channels interact along
your conversion paths.
Conversion Path Length
◦ The Time Lag report shows how many
conversions resulted from conversion paths that
were 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12+
days long. This can give you insight into the
length of your online sales cycle.
147. Conversion Path Report
Conversion paths are confirmation that visitors really don’t always
convert on the first visit. The screen shot shows various paths visitors
take before they take action and by using secondary dimensions, you
can break down your display campaign conversion path data even
further.
148. Attribution; Weighting the Credit
Display Contributes to
CoAtntrivbuetirosn iMoondeling is the science of determining the
value of each customer touch point leading to a
conversion. It helps you understand the customer
journey and justify your marketing spend.
150. Planning Attribution Modeling
Start by identifying your marketing goals. Are you
focused on branding and awareness, lead generation,
developing new business, or repeat business?
Identify the channels that you want to track
Map out the consumer conversion path. Develop a
basic outline for your customer journey, including path
length, time to conversion, and the relevant marketing
channels. You can find this information in the Multi-
Channel Funnels.
Determine how much ‘value’ to assign against each
touch point. Define the role and expected impact of
each campaign element.
Plan your next steps. If you learn that a certain
campaign or source is performing differently than
expected, you will need to take action.
153. Setting Up Attribution Modeling
Attribution Modeling give you the ability to compare up to 3 models to
observe what changes in value a channel has based on these models.
This type of observation affects your decisions on where to put your
marketing efforts.
154. Attribution in Action
For further reading on using
attribution modeling effectively,
please review some of these
insightful articles
http://searchengineland.com/effec
tively-using-attribution-135916
http://www.optimizesmart.com/6-
keys-to-digital-success-in-attribution-
modelling/
http://blog.crazyegg.com/2013/02/
07/how-to-use-google-analtyics-attribution-
modeling-tool/
155. Attribution Modeling;
Campaign Optimization
Examples
Reallocate Budget
Strengthen campaigns along the most profitable position in the
purchase funnel.
Revise CPA (cost-per-acquisition)
Better reflect the true contribution of your marketing activities to
the whole consumer journey.
Reduce Time-to-Conversion
Look for opportunities to improve the efficiency of your
conversion path and reduce the number of paid clicks required
to drive a purchase. For example, provide price guarantees so
customers don’t have to price shop, quick coupon codes, or
more detailed product information so they don’t have to look
elsewhere.
Reschedule campaigns
Change the timing of particular campaign types, such as email
promotions.
.