Enterprise Paid Media Campaign Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

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Introduction

Paid search, mobile, display/banner ads, and social media advertising lead an expanding group of paid media that are now being managed by paid media campaign management platforms. This report examines the current market for enterprise paid campaign management platforms and the considerations involved in implementing paid media software. If you are considering licensing an enterprise paid media campaign management platform, this report will help you decide whether or not you need to.

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from “Enterprise Paid Media Campaign Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide,” published by our sister site Digital Marketing Depot. You can download the report here for free.

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The benefits of automating paid media campaign management

The paid media marketing landscape has become increasingly complex, as the speed of search engine algorithms and development changes accelerate and marketers demand more integrated channel capabilities. Automating paid media campaign management through an enterprise platform can improve ef ciency and productivity by providing the following benefits:

  • Workflow efficiency. Workloads can reach unmanageable levels when you have to manage site links, product extensions, retargeting, and support for Facebook, Instagram, and other social marketing platforms in addition to managing search engine ad groups, ad copy, keyword lists, and bids. An automated paid media platform can simplify day-to-day campaign management and reporting.
  • Increased productivity. By freeing up time once spent on manual tasks managing keywords, bids, and campaigns, search marketers can spend more time on creative aspects of their campaigns, such as testing ad copy, headlines or landing pages.
  • Integrated view of digital marketing. As the breadth of paid media channels increases, advertisers need a more holistic view of their campaigns across channels. Automating campaign management can lead to more seamless integration of first- and third-party digital and offline data through interconnected campaigns in search, mobile, display/ retargeting, and social media.
  • Improved campaign performance. Paid media technology optimizes bidding in near real time, potentially increasing performance and campaign ROI through a more intelligent allocation of dollars. To reap these benefits, marketers need to carefully evaluate platforms to find the best fit and the one they agree will not only improve campaign performance but also increase efficiency.
  • Streamlined reporting. Reporting functions and capabilities are built into most paid media campaign management platforms, reducing the amount of time spent on (and errors that can creep into) manual reporting. Automated reporting can be a huge benefit for agencies that must report to multiple clients with different needs, and for marketers who create internal reports.
  • Scalability. Many marketers find that their paid media marketing programs are growing and becoming more time-consuming without automating manual tasks. Most platforms are built to handle the uploading and management of millions of keywords across search engines, as well as multichannel campaigns in social and display advertising.

Do you need an enterprise paid media campaign management platform?

  1. Does it make more sense to buy or build the technology? Issues to consider include resources – both staffing and financial – as well as data control. Are you comfortable with a third party having access to your data? Do you understand the total cost of ownership of a third-party platform? Can your internal staff keep pace with the rapid pace of changes in ad formats, search engine requirements, and tracking methods?
  2. What features are most important for our business needs? If you’re an online retailer, robust bid optimization for millions of keywords towards a CPA goal will be an important factor. If you’re a B2B marketer focused on lead generation, a platform that can optimize based on CPL targets will be a key capability. Other companies that are short on internal resources may find that a partner with a full-service approach is critical. Make sure you have gathered all of the relevant feedback from your team so that you can prioritize your criteria.
  3. Who will use and/or maintain the platform? Staffing is key to the successful adoption of any digital marketing platform. Without the proper skilled people in place, the tool can end up becoming an expensive reservoir of untapped data with unfulfilled potential to increase revenue and improve user experiences.
  4. Do we need self serve, full service, or something in between? Different platform vendors provide different levels of customer service and strategic consulting services. For example, can you internally manage keyword creation, landing page optimization, bidding, ad text testing, account structure development, integration with site analytics, and integration with cross-channel data? It’s important to have an idea of where you fall on the spectrum.
  5. Are we spending more time ‘doing the math’ than running a campaign? If you find yourself with no time to manage creative, or evaluate overall campaign performance, it might be time to automate.
  6. Do we want or need to integrate display and social media advertising campaigns? For many marketers, paid media marketing now includes search, display, and social media. If this is true for your organization, you may need a platform that can integrate these channels, and you may need better internal alignment across teams to make it work.
  7. Do we have complex or ongoing reporting needs? When marketing staff or agency clients have requests for specific reports and ongoing reporting needs, campaign management tools can automate reports across all the major search engines and social networks.
  8. How will we define and then benchmark success? What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you want to measure and what decisions will you be making based on campaign performance? For example, do you want to measure increases in search engine rankings? Or the impact display retargeting has on website conversion? Set your business goals in advance to be able to benchmark success later on. Without them, justifying the expense of the platform or paid media marketing programs to C-suite executives will be difficult.
  9. What is the total cost of ownership? Paid media campaign management platform vendors typically charge clients a percentage of their monthly advertising spend. There may be additional fees for platform set-up, integration or staff training. Professional consulting services may also be available if you need additional expertise in paid media channels such as display and social media marketing.
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Learn More!

Download “Enterprise Paid Media Campaign Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide,” The 54 page PDF includes additional valuable information including:

  • Updates on the current trends and issues in enterprise paid media campaign management, including how the increasing capabilities of mobile management tools and how marketers, search advertisers and vendors are keeping pace with changing ad formats
  • Profiles of 9 leading vendors.
  • Analysis of the impact of recent acquisitions and funding activity.
  • …and much more
Enterprise Paid Media Campaign Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide
  • Table of Contents
  • Section I: Scope and Methodology
  • Section II: Paid Media Market Overview
  • Section III: Paid Media Market Trends
  • Section IV: Enterprise Paid Media Campaign Management Platform Capabilities
  • Section V: Choosing an Enterprise Paid Campaign Management Platform
  • Section VI: Conclusion
  • Section VII: Vendor Profiles
  • Section VIII: Resources
  • View complete Table of Contents

Companies/Tools Profiled:

  • [24]7 Customer Acquisition Cloud
  • AAcquisio
  • Adobe Advertising Cloud
  • AdStage
  • DoubleClick Search
  • Kenshoo
  • Marin Software
  • QuanticMind
  • SearchForce
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