How to select an ad network partnership

Audience extension is rapidly becoming a core product for local media because it allows fulfillment of very targeted buys, especially in the  mobile geo-targeted space. With thousands of options, here are the key criteria to consider:

1. Do you want an ad network that offers more agency services?

If the answer is yes, look for either an agency partner who offers  audience extension, such as Dream Local, or, conversely,  an ad network that also offers agency services, such as Digital First-owned AdTaxi. These partners can help with other aspects of the sales, from web and landing page development to addition of email or SEM. 

2. What is the minimum buy?

Networks with high quality local inventory typically have minimuns; AdTaxi Network  is about $2000, while and CentroLift's both have minimums of $1500 plus a month. The trade off for these minimums is that they force the advertiser make a "big enough" buy to see results, and offset the cost of additional services, such as optimization.

3. What kind of targeting and inventory type does the network include?

Typically networks offer three main kinds of targeting: Behaviorial, Channel, and Mobile GPS-based geo-fencing around zip code areas. Mobile/locational  is so critical to local merchants that mobile inventory should be especially strong, and gps-based targeting available.

There are also types of inventory, such as video ad networks, opt-in email databases with a variety of targets and even networks that specialize in placing ads on other enewsletters, such as LiveIntent.

Finally, some networks specialize in categories such as jobs, as in the case of AfterCollege,  or even, in the case of LURE, a new company, buys that include retargeting, used to boost sales of newspaper subscriptions. 


4. Quality and strength of inventory

Low quality inventory leads to lower CTR's and results, while inadequate reach means that some buys can not be fulfilled at the desired level. This is especially true of geo-targeted ads, and behaviorial targeting, where even Yahoo buy can be supplemented with additional network inventory. 

Media-owned networks such as AdTaxi (see case study on their partnership with The Dallas Morning News) and Propel have the advantage of tapping into their own inventory in network, which tends to be higher quality, and which they claim also performs better.

CentroLift also boasts an especially strong network that can serve local audiences for marquis national brands such as ESPN. Centro provides outstanding customer support and optimization but is exclusive by DMA.

Performance in some specific categories, such as auto or real estate, may be important. AdTaxi has worked with media partners to adding and subtracting media properties to lift the network's CTR for certain categories. 

Today, Simpli.fi also offers unstructured data, whhich is a fancy way of saying that the searches for targets are done individually each time, on the fly, which they claim delivers a more relevant result with less competition for sought after targets than pre-fabricated channels.

To see ratings and reviews of ad by media companies, go to  MediaExecsTech (MET), also available from the "vendor" tab of this site. 

5. Dashboard with customer-facing access.

Simplified integrated reporting is a key element of selling audience extension. How will audience extension reports integrate with  reports for the core media site sales, social media conversion and search results?

ClickFuel provides integrated reporting directly to media companies, or via one or more of its agency partners. If your company uses ClickFuel, or plans to, ask if it is able to integrate the ad network selected and, if not, how long it will take. Most agency services partners already use ClickFuel to generate central reporting. 

6. Back end optimization services

Look for a dedicated campaign manager on call to optimize campaigns. The Google Display Network, for example, does not have phone support. So if your media has limited internal resources to use for opimiztion, the more important it is to look for a partner that has a  dedicated optimization team, and is prepared to optimize weekly or even daily for large campaigns that meet the minimum.

7. Onboarding capability and speed

Targeted campaigns often need landing pages, click to call and map features, for a variety of different platforms and apps.

Similarily, unless your media company is prepared to turn around ads that have all these features, make sure your partner can do so, an in a competitive turn around time. Nothing is more discouraging to a slaes person than making a sale that takes weeks to onboard. 

8. Track record of success with media company resellers.

 For a fast way to see who uses and has endorsed a network and contact them directly, join  MediaExecsTech, a referral network, is $45 or free to members of LocalMediaInsider. One benefit of the site is that you can  call or email other members who gave the endorsment directly from the site to get additional referral information. 

9. Consider multiple adnetworks and combinations that work together.

Best practice is to use a variety of networks, and test them to see which achieves a better results.

See also The Dallas Morning News succeeds wtih AdTaxi partnership and 10 tips for selling Audience Extension. 

The author, Alisa Cromer is publisher of a variety of online media, including LocalMediaInsider and  MediaExecsTech,  developed while on a fellowship with the Reynolds Journalism Institute and which has evolved into a leading marketing company for media technology start-ups. In 2017 she founded Worldstir.com, an online magazine,  to showcases perspectives from around the  world on new topic each month, translated from and to the top five languages in the world.

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