Workflow of an online ad campaign

Today I am going to trace the start to finish cycle of a campaign i.e. the work flow of a campaign. To those readers who are not in the online advertising trade, this should be interesting information.

Where does the campaign start?

Good question! A campaign usually starts with a campaign brief, usually prepared by an advertising agency on behalf of a client, at times by clients themselves.

The brief usually gives details of the campaign like –

Product / Service being advertised

Target Demographic – An example could be men between 18 – 40, women between 30 and 50 etc

Target Geography – Campaigns are usually targeted to one or more countries/cities/states – a campaign could thus be targeted to the US, UK or within the UK to the South East etc

Interest of the Demographic - A laptop campaign could be targeted to a demographic of a certain age group interested in technology

Type of Campaign – CPC, CPM….

Campaign Objective – A campaign usually has a campaign objective. For a example a CPM campaign could have a CPA goal of £ 40 i.e. for every £ 40 spent, the client would expect an action – a sale, a registration etc

What does the network do with the brief?

On receipt of a campaign brief, a network quickly matches it up with the kind of inventory it has on board. If the requisite inventory is not available ( or if requisite number of impressions are unavailable), the network quickly ‘recruits’ more publishers to ensure that it has the right number of impressions.

Once the number of impressions are on board, the network usually rolls out a proposal which covers the following areas

Campaign Name and Objectives

What kind of targeting the network proposes to meet campaign goals and number of websites / impressions it can make available

CPM/CPC rates for the campaign

USPs of network – What the USPs of the network vis-a-vis the campaign in question and any similar campaigns it has run in the past

Reporting mechanisms i.e. how the network will keep the client informed of the campaign progress

Expectations of client – What feedback the network expects of the client to ensure that the campaign is on track

What does the client do with the proposal

On receipt of the proposal, the client understands it in context of the brief and examines percentage fit. If necessary, the client would call the network in for a meeting to seek clarifications on the proposal. Rates would be discussed and negotiated keeping in view campaign ROI goals and what the client perceives as ‘value for money’ on the campaign.

Once the campaign nitty-gritties are agreed upon, the client gives the network the go-ahead for the campaign.

What next?

On receipt of the go ahead from the client, the network prepares an Insertion Order (IO). The IO is the equivalent of a contract. An insertion order is an online or printed document that specifies the terms and conditions surrounding an online advertising campaign. The IO mentions

Name address and contact people in the client and network organizations

Campaign Details

Targeting Details

Commercials – Budget, CPM/CPC rates, Number of impressions/clicks to be delivered, payment terms, campaign stoppage clauses etc

Reporting – What the report modalities between network and client will be for the campaign.

The network usually emails the IO to the client. Once the client signs the IO , the network can legally start the campaign.

Campaigns are started by the client within 24 – 48 hours of receipt of IO.

Post ‘go live’

Once the campaign goes live, for the first few days, both client and network keep very close tabs on campaign performance. The network sends daily reports on number of impressions/clicks etc. And the client would send statistics on Cost per action statistics data to the network. If the campaign is under performing, the network would optimize the campaign to ensure that client CPA goals are met.

This, then is the workflow of a campaign from the time the campaign is conceived until it goes live.