DFO's chief marketing officer Alex Brown drops knowledge on direct site media buys during Ecommerce Mastery Live Las Vegas 2019.

1. Direct Site Media Buys
THE PATH TO ECOMMERCE DOMINATION
ALEX BROWN
Chief Marketing Officer

2. About Me
San Diego is My Home I’m a Family Man

3. About Me
Marketing Flows Through My Veins
Director of Marketing
Instant Checkmate/TruthFinder
Sports Marketing
Account Exec
Chief Marketing Officer
DFO Global Performance Commerce

4. What Is It?
Advertising relationship between an advertiser and publisher with no middle
man or traffic platform in between
Direct Site Media Buys
• Not beholden to a traffic platform or
policy team
• Price and bidding method can almost
always be NEGOTIATED
• Evergreen and consistent; these buys
can last for years
• Unique set of inventory
• Longer process for live traffic
• Optimization Limitations
• Traffic/Reach Limitations

5. Playing at the High-Stakes Tables
• 24 hour homepage takeovers (carousel, river, info pane)
• 100% SOV
• Must book in advance through rep – recommend
staggering them to avoid saturation
• CPM (you pay for all impressions, not just viewable
impressions)
• Limited ad rotation (1-5 ads)
• Publisher serves/rotates the ads
• Strict policy teams

6. AOL Buys
AOL DL5 AOL Mail Login
AOL DL3
Playing at the High-Stakes Tables

7. MSN River PaneMSN Infopane #8
MSN Buys
Playing at the High-Stakes Tables

8. AOL Buys – The Nitty Gritty
Playing at the High-Stakes Tables
• $17-$20K for 24 hour Homepage DL ($8.00 - $8.50 CPM)
• Approx 3MM Impressions
• Demo: 60+ M/F
• Lower Cost Option: DL3 Email Placement (~$10K), or Weekends
• Solid CTR: > 2%
• Ad Rotation: 5 Max
• Best Days: MON - THUR

9. MSN Buys – The Nitty Gritty
Playing at the High-Stakes Tables
• $100K+ for 24 Hour Homepage Buy – Infopane #8 ($1.25 CPM)
• Approx 91MM Impressions - not 100% viewable
• Demo: 45+ M/F
• Lower Cost Options
1. River Tile (better viewability/cheaper rate $0.50 CPM)
2. Dayparting [AM / Mid-Day/ PM]
• Solid CTR: 0.15%
• Ad Rotation: 1 😬
• Best Performing Days: Tues-Wed

10. Penny Slots: Smaller Sites Can Equal Huge Jackpots
Find Niche,
Aligned Sites
Less Traffic,
Better Conversions
Enduring
Partnerships
Low Time Investment
for Lucrative Gains

11. Finding Ideal Sites: Uncover Diamonds in the Rough
• Start with Alexa top 10,000; use VA or intern to highlight
the relevant ones
• Best sites are closely related to your industry OR broad
informational sites (news, weather, entertainment, etc.)
where users are killing time.
• Higher on Alexa is not always optimal
• Top placements on Google Display or Native campaigns
• Spy Tools: Where are your competitors are getting traffic
from? Similar Web is best
What Are the Best Sites for My Business?

12. Hack: Use a VA or intern to reach out to as many
as you can with this message…
FIND YOUR
CONTACT
Contact Us on site
LinkedIn Outreach Facebook Fan Page
WhoIs Domain Lookups
Find the Gatekeeper

13. Hi ___________,
I am interested in discussing a direct advertising relationship with your site.
My company operates the website _________ selling a wide range of
_______ gadgets direct to consumer, and your site is the perfect fit for our
audience.
We are currently allocating our digital budget for Q4 and would like to
hop on a call ASAP to see if we can work something out.
Please reach me at ________.
Email Outreach Template
More often than not, this will get you a reply
If not – don’t give up! PICK UP THE PHONE!

14. Review
the Website
Identify Where
You Add Value
Once You’ve Scheduled a Call:
Stalk Your
Contact
Come
Prepared
Next Step: Biz Dev

15. Listen
How are they
monetizing?
Brag
Tell them why your
brand is a big deal
Bro Down
If they like you, they’ll
work with you
Make it Easy
Explain that you’ll supply
everything they need
Close the Deal
Get them to agree to
CPA deal for test
Soft Sell
Sell them on a
2-week test
Get on the Phone
Bro
down
1 2 3 4 5 6

16. Getting the Right Rate
The Goal: CPA Agreement
Secondary Option: CPC/CPM
• You are adding supplemental revenue
• Must know and trust your metrics
• Leave some room for a CPA bump if they
need a few more bucks after the test
• Make sure to ask what they’re looking from a
revenue perspective - 5 sales/day? 10? 100?
• Limit your risk: Ask for a 24 hour out
clause, and even spend distribution
• Verify who’s numbers you’re billing off

17. Custom Ad Units Are 5x Better Than
Standard Banners
Best Creative for Direct Site Buys
• Unique ad units: search boxes,
container ads, heavy text, widgets
• Advertorials
• Product Reviews
• Listicles
Make It Native or Make It Stand Out!
Major Selling Point: Using custom creatives
won’t impact AdSense revenues or require
swaps during testing!

18. Ad Serving
Self Hosting (MSN, AOL, etc.)
You send content; they deploy and manage it
Ad Server:
You provide Ad Tag, they place, you can rotate,
pause & optimize creatives
Custom Ad Unit:
You design and code the asset; they host
1.
2.
3.

19. ➡️ Optimize Creatives
➡️ Optimize Landing Page
➡️ Split Test Different Angles
➡️ Negotiate the Rate
➡️ Ensure Profitability for Both
Parties
Test Is Live!
Optimization
Once live, optimize like you would any other traffic source

20. AVOID
Content Arb Sites
BTF Ads
ASK ABOUT
Viewability
Desktop vs. Mobile
Breakdown
LIMIT RISK
Ask For:
24 Hour Out Clause,
Frequency Cap, &
Even Spend
Delivery
LOCK IT DOWN
Once test
complete, sign
longest IO term
they will allow,
with first right of
refusal
Don’t Make My
Mistakes!
Avoid Pitfalls

21. Thank You!
ALEX BROWN
Chief Marketing Officer