Much like physical real estate, internet real estate exists. Certain companies own space on various websites and publications that they sell to businesses who want to advertise to certain audiences and in association with certain brands. There are many different ad networks that exist, enabling organizations to more effectively advertise to their digital audiences.
What does a business need to know when choosing an ad network? Here’s what to make sure you check before following through on choosing an ad network.
1. Network size
An ad network with more advertisers may cost you more but will give your brand better exposure. Plus, a larger network will enable you to potentially connect with more of your target audience. Creating a target audience is a better way to reach customers who are more likely to find your product necessary or relevant, therefore increasing conversions. But it also, by default, creates a smaller pool of people to expose to your brand. The solution is advertising with a larger network that helps you create relevant advertising segments but has a larger built-in audience so that segmenting doesn’t limit you too much to be effective.
2. Ad quality
People are more likely to click better looking or more feature-filled ads. Certain ad networks don’t concern themselves with the quality or user experience of their ad units – just that the spot is filled with an image and headline. Many customers don’t know that ad networks have the ability to take copy and imagery from a publisher and configure them independently into an ad that meets whatever criteria are necessary for the website the ad is appearing on. If the ad looks low quality, even if it’s not the advertiser’s fault, it may reduce your brand’s impact. Investing in a network that can consistently display high-quality appearing ads is important.
3. Available ad formats
Does the network offer a variety of formats, such as display units, text ads, media and video ads, popups, search box, or other formats? Having a variety of formats available enables your brand to experiment with an ad campaign and see which format or type of ad performs better over time.
4. Payment model
In today’s digital marketing world, there are several ways that ad networks can collect payment from advertisers. This includes:
- Cost per click (CPC): For this model, networks are paid a certain amount each time an ad is clicked.
- Cost per mile (CPM): CPM is a fixed cost model where ad networks are paid for every 1,000 customer impressions.
- Cost per view (CPV): This is the model that supports payment for video ads, wherein an ad network is for every view of an ad video.
- Cost per action (CPA): This is the payment structure that helps companies who want to drive actions like software installations, product downloads, or registration and form completion.
Finding the right ad network means considering how they charge and figuring out which model works best for your brand or product.
5. Analytics
Every ad network is going to have their own analytics structure. This is an important consideration because every ad campaign needs to be monitored so it can be optimized. Having strong ad management and reporting tools can be a huge benefit to your business and give you better control over your ad campaigns.
Don’t leave the success of your ad campaign with just any network. Finding and working with the right ad network can be crucial to the success of your paid digital campaigns. Get recommendations from other businesses or advertising professionals or do your research and contact ad network representatives with questions before signing a contract or committing your campaign to a certain network.
