Adclick Africa is a leading player in the performance marketing industry, bringing a wealth of experience to the table. With over 10 years of experience in campaign management across many successful brands and campaigns, it is time for us to share valuable tips for beginners in ad operations. We will provide insights and best practices to help you get started, whether you’re just starting out in the field or are looking to improve your skills, our expert advice will be invaluable.
Ad Operations is the management of campaign creative assets and budgets in paid media campaigns. This includes search, display and video across online, mobile and social media channels. It also involves the use of programmatic techniques and platforms to measure and optimize digital marketing advertising campaigns.
Here are Adclick Africa’s top tips for beginners in ad operations and campaign management.
1. Know your audience.
Knowing your target audience and creating buyer personas are crucial steps in creating successful advertising campaigns. A target audience refers to the specific group of people you are trying to reach with your ads. A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer, based on market research and data about your target audience. Understanding your target audience and buyer personas helps you tailor your messaging and select appropriate channels to reach them effectively.
2. Set clear goals.
Define your key performance indicators (KPIs) for your ad campaign to guide your bidding strategy. Your campaign KPIs may differ depending on your campaign objectives. For example, if your objective is brand awareness, then your KPI will be impressions and reach.
3. Bid strategy
A bidding strategy is where you set an average for how much you’re willing to pay for every thousand impressions. It optimizes bids to maximize your campaign’s unique reach. You must always monitor competitors’ bidding strategies to stay ahead in the auction. You must also utilize automations, automated bidding strategies can optimise bids in real time based on performance data. Choosing the right bidding strategy depends on the advertiser’s goals, the type of ad, and the target audience. An ad operations team will continuously monitor and adjust the bidding strategy to maximize campaign performance and reach business objectives.
4. Negative keywords
Negative keywords in advertising refer to words or phrases that you don’t want your ads to show up for. When someone searches for a term that includes one of your negative keywords, your ad won’t be triggered. This helps to focus your advertising efforts on relevant and qualified leads and can also improve your click-through rate (CTR) and reduce your cost-per-click (CPC). To use negative keywords in an ad campaign, simply identify words or phrases that are either ambiguous or irrelevant to your target audience or product and add them to your campaign’s negative keyword list.
5. Monitor and measure performance.
Track Key Metrics
Monitor metrics such as clicks, impressions, cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-action (CPA), conversion rate, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Use Attribution Models
Utilize different attribution models, such as last-click, first-click, and time decay, to better understand the impact of your ad campaigns.
Integrate with your Marketing Stack
Integrate your ad operations tools with your marketing stack to gather data from various channels and make informed decisions.
Analyze Audience Behaviour
Study audience behaviour, including demographics, interests, and actions, to refine targeting and improve campaign performance.
Regularly Check for Fraud
Regularly monitor for ad fraud, including click fraud and impression fraud, to ensure the validity of your metrics.
Continuously A/B test
Conduct A/B testing to compare different elements of your ad campaigns, such as ad copy, images, and landing pages, and make data-driven optimizations.
Stay Up-to-Date with Industry Changes
Stay informed of new technologies and best practices in ad measurement and analytics to continuously improve your ad performance.
6. Stay up to date.
Read Ad Ops Industry Publications
Regularly read trade organisation publications and blogs to stay informed of the latest advertising standards, as well as industry trends and updates.
Attend Ad Ops Events
Attend industry conferences and events to network with peers and learn from experts.
Join an Ad Ops Communities
Participate in online communities and forums to share best practices and keep up with the latest industry developments.
Follow Ad Ops Thought Leaders
Follow key thought leaders in the ad ops industry on social media and subscribe to their newsletters.
Monitor updates from ad platforms: Stay informed of updates and changes to ad platforms and tools and adjust your ad operations strategy accordingly.
Experimentation is Key to Learning
Continuously test and experiment with new ad formats, targeting strategies, and technology to stay ahead in the game.
Adclick Africa has a wealth of experience in performance marketing and ad operations, and their tips for beginners are a great starting point for anyone looking to succeed in campaign management. Take advantage of Adclick Africa’s extensive digital marketing experience and start your performance marketing journey with a team of dedicated campaign managers today!