As an advertiser it can take some time for you to get a successful campaign going because many ideas don't always work out. Once you have a great converting campaign it can also quickly die out, so that's why it is imperative that you get the maximum profit out of it by scaling up. Remember that it is much easier to scale a well performing campaign than devising a brand new campaign to achieve the same impact. Here are eight tips to help you scale up your campaign:
Speculate to accumulate
Don’t just stick to one ad format on your traffic source. Test out other options, such as different banner sizes and positions, popunders, interstitials, video pre-rolls, etc.
Raise your daily budget on the successful campaign to get more traffic. Also, if you are not the top bidder it's time to increase your bid to see if it will also raise your volume. But keep a close eye on your ROI.
Try different placements
Don't just stick to one ad format on your traffic source. Test out other options, such as different banner sizes and positions, popunders, interstitials, video pre-rolls, etc. Don't give up if the new ad format doesn't bring results straight away, it might be that you just need to tweak your creative and call to action.
Try more sites
If you are using a network such as ExoClick which offers multiple sites to advertise on, scale your campaign out to similar sites. But to get them to work you will probably need to do some optimisation.
Launch more campaigns
If there is more volume you could get from your current ad spot, make more campaigns for it. Try creating the same campaign but with new or similar style ads. That will help to reduce campaign burnout. On most RTB traffic sources, it is a good idea to separate the bids for each campaign you create with a bid difference of 1-3 cents to avoid competing with yourself.
Try more GEOs
If your offer is available/or you have seen similar offers in other countries, try out the campaign in those GEOs. It is important that you translate all calls to action correctly, including slang words, or your ads will not be credible in that market.
Experiment with keyword targeting
Keyword targeting is becoming increasingly relevant for niche marketing. For example, perhaps you have an offer targeting fans of Kim Kardashian or you want to reach traffic that watches videos from specific brands, simply add these keywords into your campaign and your ads will show on sites next to content about Kim or next to relevant videos from brands.
Don't stop split-testing
It's easy to think that once your campaign starts getting profitable you can cool down on split-testing. This is a mistake, keep testing landing pages, new offers and ad creatives. Testing is one of the key strategies in order to increase your ROI.
Try automation algorithms
Some traffic sources, such as ExoClick, let you use intelligent algorithms to give you automated control over the traffic you receive on your offer's variant landing pages. For example, the “automatic optimisation” algorithm optimises traffic distribution based on conversion tracking results. So the landing page that is performing the best will automatically receive most of the traffic, while continuously A/B testing against existing landing pages and any new page that is introduced.
To scale up a campaign can be an art form in itself and your first couple of attempts may not work, but don't give up, keep at it and you will find ones that do work. Also, make sure that you scale gently, don't go from $20 a day to $2,000 the next.
Try first by doubling your spend and see if your profits are constant. If you have an account manager they will be able to help you with tips to maximise your scaling potential, after all the long term goal is to scale up and spend much more on the network, so it is to the account managers advantage to be there for you. Finally, don't sit back and relax when you are achieving scale, keep going and ride the wave of profits, until you see it start dying, then take the knowledge that you have learned to scale up your next offer.
Giles Hirst is marketing and communication manager at ExoClick.
