a beginner's guide to media buying
TRANSCRIPT
Today’s Presenter
David KellyVP of Business Development
WhatRunsWhere
3A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying
What we will be discussing...
• The proper steps to take before starting your media buying
• Direct Media Buy vs. Ad Network
• The power of running split tests right away
• How to properly track your media buys
• How to optimize once you’ve begun collecting data
4A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying
There’s some ground work to
cover before you go about buying
media...
Let’s get started!
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 5
Before You Buy...
Audience Research
– Who are you targeting?
– What are the different segments of the audience you are targeting?
– How can you target the different segments of your audience?
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 6
Before You Buy...
Competitive Research
– Who are your competitors targeting?
– How are your competitors buying there media
– Where are your competitors placing their ads?
– What has your competitor already deemed effective or ineffective?
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 7
Before You Buy...
Goals & Budgeting
– What is a realistic budget for this campaign?
– Set Clicks/Conversions goals
• What does a desirable CPA look like?
• Use WhatRunsWhere’s Media Buying Calculator
– Use accurate tracking software for precise results
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 8
Time to start buying your
media...
The initial pre-buying work is done!
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 9
How will you buy your media?
Direct Buy
– Buying ad space directly from a website owner
• Ex. Buying an ad directly on huffingtonpost.com
Network/Agency Buy
– Buying ad space through a third party network or agency
• Ex. Using Google Adwords, BuySellAds, Rubicon Project, etc. to place
your ads on other sites
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 10
Let’s weigh the pros
and cons ...
Which type of media buy is better for you?
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 11
Direct Buying
Pros
– Tap into high volumes of traffic
– Cut out middle man (Improve ROI!)
Cons
– Risky (If you don’t do your research)
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 12
Network/Agency Buy
Pros
– Set up quickly
– Make swaps and changes quickly
– Work with representative to optimize the media buy
Cons
– Can be more costly (Paying the Network/Agency a cut)
Split Testing
• Start split testing before you even begin collecting data
• Run at least two variations of your ad evenly to see which
one performs better
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 14
VERSION
A
VERSION
B
Tracking Your Media Buys
• Use your tracking platform to track clicks + conversions
• Using your pre-established goals, you will be able to
determine how you can scale your efforts
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 15
Now that you have let your
campaigns run and have
collected some insightful data,
you can begin the process of
optimization.
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 17
Test, Optimize, Repeat
• Which of your initial tests won?
• How can you further split test the winning variation?
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 18
VARIATION
2
VARIATION
3VARIATION
4
VARIATION
1
So, how do I get started in media buying?
Before You Buy
– Audience Research
– Competitive Research
– Goals & Budgeting
How will you buy your media?
– Direct But vs Network/Agency Buy
Campaign Setup
– Split Testing
– Tracking your media buys
Optimization
– Further split test
A Beginner's Guide to Media Buying 19
Thanks from WhatRunsWhere
& AffiliateFix
What questions can we answer?Use Google Hangouts Q&A Box
David KellyVP Business [email protected]
Contact us to get the intelligence you need to improve your online advertising.