Whether you're working on your first digital media plan or trying to improve your understanding of the different media buying methods, these seven easy to understand steps will help you improve your strategies and deliver the best results.

1. Best Practices in Digital Media Buying

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Media Planning and Buying Fundamentals
• Best Practices
• Future Trends

3. Introduction
James Windrow
What I’ve done:
Director of Interactive Marketing for a boutique digital agency.
VP of Interactive Marketing for Fortune 25 company.
Director of Marketing for an eCommerce start-up.
Led digital marketing efforts for a global luxury brand.
What I’m doing now:
Developing comprehensive internet strategies for companies of all sizes and models.
Working with agencies to improve the effectiveness and sophistication of their digital
strategies, introduce new service lines, and improve the delivery of existing services.
Focus on: Growing accounts, improving retention and new client acquisition.
How to contact me:
@jameswindrow
james.windrow@gmail.com

4. The Fundamentals
Key Terms:
• Impressions
• Click-throughs
• View-throughs
• Cost per Thousand (CPM)
• Cost per Acquisition/Action (CPA)
• Cost per Click (CPC)
• Run of Site (RoS)
• Remnant Inventory
• Conversion
• Retargeting

5. First Things First

6. Best Practices
1. Know your client!
• What is the business need?
– Drive leads, increase sales, educate, increase awareness, etc.
• What is their level of understanding?
– Spend time nurturing and educating your clients
– There are many misconceptions about display advertising
• What are their expectations?
– Determine if they are realistic. If not, educate then reset
expectations.
• What have they done? What worked? What didn’t? Why?
– Ask for examples of creative, reports, etc. Don’t rely on “I sort of
remember…”

7. Best Practices
2. Define your campaign objectives.
• Identify your key metrics (KPI’s)
– Visitors, page views, # of leads, revenue, CPA …
• Establish your baseline metrics.
• Precisely define the expected campaign results.
– Increase total number of website visitors and generate leads.
– Drive 10K additional website visitors during the first 30-
days, generating 250 qualified leads.

8. Best Practices
3. Know your prospects/target consumers.
• Who do you want to reach?
– Moms w/ children under 10 vs. CIO/Director of Technology.
• Why should they care about your product/service?
– Clearly define the benefits in terms of your target consumer.
• What do you know about them?
– Demographics, psychographics, behavioristics.
– Consider creating a persona for each.
• What motivates or influences them?
– Money, convenience, safety
• Where are they in the product/service lifecycle?
– Do they have a need yet?
– Do they know about your brand?
– Have they used?

9. Best Practices
3. Know your prospects/target consumers.
• How do they search for information?
– Search engines, discussion groups, expert resources
• What related websites do they visit?
• What ultimate action do you want them to take?

10. Now you’re ready to start shopping!

11. Best Practices
4. Choosing the Best Approach
• Do it Yourself
– Free Tools: Google Ad Planner, Quantcast, Compete.com, Search Engines,
Open Directory Project, Alexa, Technorati, etc.
– Pro’s: Inexpensive, great for small budgets or single site advertising, first hand
exposure to content, layout, etc.
– Con’s: Primarily subjective approach, limited data accuracy, time consuming,
limited scope.
About Open Ad Exchanges:
Digital marketplaces that directly connect advertisers with content
publishers.
Examples: AdBrite, DoubleClick, Right Media Exchange, Datran Media
Exchange, ADSDAQ Ad Exchange.

12. Best Practices
4. Choosing the Best Approach
• Ad Networks
– 24/7 Real Media, Advertising.com, ValueClick, Tribal Fusion, Yahoo!
Advertising, etc.
– Pros: Expert assistance, niche targeting, detailed audience and website
analytics, expanded reach, ease of campaign deployment and ongoing
management.
– Cons: Minimum monthly budgets, expensive, not all Ad Networks are created
equal, best rates are tied to category targeting, contracts.

13. Best Practices
4. Choosing the Best Approach
• Affiliate Marketing
– Commission Junction, ShareASale, Link Share, PepperJam Network, etc.
– Pros: CPA model, niche targeting, work directly with content producers.
– Cons: Time intensive, requires constant monitoring and management to
protect the brand.

14. Best Practices
5. Campaign & Creative Logistics
• Determine which campaign format best fits your needs
– CPM: Vast majority of available media
– CPC: Facebook, Google Content Network
– CPA: Affiliates, Retargeting (Fetchback)
– Which will give you the best results? Know the difference!
• Determine which creative format best communicates your message
– Images, text, rich media, video, site peel, expandable, etc.
• Determine was ad sizes are available and most effective
– Leaderboards, Skyscrapers, Medium Rectangles
– Depends on the location, content and format.
– Internet Advertising Bureau (iab.com)

15. Best Practices
6. Site Selection and Ad Location DO Matter
• Banner blindness is real. Get creative. Be smart.
Do: Focus first on choosing targeted websites for best results.
Don’t: Pick the cheapest options and hope for results.
Do: Design ad creative that is relevant to each site.
Don’t: Run the exact same ad creative for every site.
Do: Carefully choose your ad placement within each site.
Don’t: Choose Run of Site (RoS) if its not relevant.
Do: Carefully evaluate remnant inventory opportunities.
Don’t: Buy remnant inventory in obscure locations.

16. Best Practices
7. Test, track, report, rethink, adapt.
• Test your creative (A/B, Multivariate).
• Track your results.
• Reporting is a tool, not an outcome.
• Rethink your creative and placements regularly.
• Adapt by shift dollars away from ineffective media buys to
more effective opportunities.
Do you need a third party ad server?
This is a great option if you are running multiple campaigns across a large number of
websites/networks, spending significant dollars and want highly accurate, real-time
tracking.

17. Additional Thoughts
When working with an Ad Network:
• Do your own research to supplement their recommendations.
• Ask or quantitative data to support their recommendations.
• Be prepared to ask and answer important questions.
• Be transparent, share your objectives.
• Treat them as a trusted resource.
• Negotiate the best possible price but be realistic.
Consider hiring or contracting an expert media planner/buyer when:
• Dealing with very large complex, high dollar national campaigns
• Building in-house expertise
• Pitching new business
• Looking for fresh ideas

18. TRENDS IN DIGITAL MEDIA BUYING

19. Imagine an advertising world where…
• Spending on interactive, one-to-one advertising formats surpasses
traditional, one-to-many advertising vehicles.
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

20. Imagine an advertising world where…
• Spending on interactive, one-to-one advertising formats surpasses
traditional, one-to-many advertising vehicles.
• A significant share of ad space is sold through auctions and exchanges.
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

21. Imagine an advertising world where…
• Spending on interactive, one-to-one advertising formats surpasses
traditional, one-to-many advertising vehicles.
• A significant share of ad space is sold through auctions and exchanges.
• Advertisers know who viewed and acted on an ad, and pay based on real
impact rather than estimated “impressions.”
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

22. Imagine an advertising world where…
• Spending on interactive, one-to-one advertising formats surpasses
traditional, one-to-many advertising vehicles.
• A significant share of ad space is sold through auctions and exchanges.
• Advertisers know who viewed and acted on an ad, and pay based on real
impact rather than estimated “impressions.”
• Consumers self-select which ads they watch and share preferred ads with
peers.
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

23. Imagine an advertising world where…
• Spending on interactive, one-to-one advertising formats surpasses
traditional, one-to-many advertising vehicles.
• A significant share of ad space is sold through auctions and exchanges.
• Advertisers know who viewed and acted on an ad, and pay based on real
impact rather than estimated “impressions”
• Consumers self-select which ads they watch and share preferred ads with
peers.
• User-generated advertising is as prevalent (and appealing) as agency-
created spots.
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

24. 4 change drivers shifting control w/in the ad industry:
1. Attention – Consumers are increasingly in control of how they view,
interact with and filter advertising in a multichannel world.
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

25. 4 change drivers shifting control w/in the ad industry:
1. Attention – Consumers are increasingly in control of how they view,
interact with and filter advertising in a multichannel world.
2. Creativity – Thanks to technology, the rising popularity of user-generated
and peer-delivered content, and new ad revenue-sharing models (e.g.,
YouTube, Crackle, Current TV), amateurs and semi- professionals are now
creating lower-cost advertising content.
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

26. 4 change drivers shifting control w/in the ad industry:
1. Attention – Consumers are increasingly in control of how they
view, interact with and filter advertising in a multichannel world.
2. Creativity – Thanks to technology, the rising popularity of user-generated
and peer-delivered content, and new ad revenue-sharing models
(e.g., YouTube, Crackle, Current TV), amateurs and semi- professionals
are now creating lower-cost advertising content.
3. Measurement – Advertisers are demanding more individual-specific and
involvement- based measurements, putting pressure on the traditional
mass-market model.
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

27. 4 change drivers shifting control w/in the ad industry:
1. Attention – Consumers are increasingly in control of how they view,
interact with and filter advertising in a multichannel world.
2. Creativity – Thanks to technology, the rising popularity of user-generated
and peer-delivered content, and new ad revenue-sharing models (e.g.,
YouTube, Crackle, Current TV), amateurs and semi- professionals are now
creating lower-cost advertising content.
3. Measurement – Advertisers are demanding more individual-specific and
involvement- based measurements, putting pressure on the traditional
mass-market model.
4. Advertising inventories – Will be bought and sold through efficient
exchanges, bypassing traditional intermediaries.
The End of Advertising as We Know It - IBM Institute for Business Value, 2009

28. THANK YOU