First of all, welcome to a new section of our blog. Here we will discuss situations that arise when launching advertising campaigns based on the experience of our team. We will also ask managers for their recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns and share valuable statistics that you won't find anywhere else. Does that sound good to you?
As you might have guessed from the title, today we won't be covering general aspects of launching advertising campaigns that everyone is familiar with. Instead, we've asked our managers what they frequently encounter in our clients' advertising campaigns that leads to lower ROI and higher unnecessary spending, but which no one talks about. These are the top 10 mistakes HilltopAds advertising network affiliates make .
Launching an advertising campaign without using campaign objectives
Running an advertising campaign without targeting can be difficult, especially if your budget is not large enough to attract customers from a wide audience. Based oman whatsapp number on our experience in the sector, launching advertising campaigns without direct targeting can be used by large companies (e.g. Coca-Cola) looking to access new audience segments.
Solution : Start using campaign targeting. In HilltopAds, you have several options available including GEO, Browser, OS, Device Type, Language, Interests, etc.
Neglecting the trackers
Even the best advertising strategies can lose effectiveness if the advertiser does not track their campaign analytics. Of course, in some cases (such as testing), setting up tracking is an unnecessary procedure. But keep in mind that this type of blind approach requires an advertising budget of $500 or more.
Solution : Integrate trackers into your workflow. You can find detailed guides on how to connect HilltopAds ad campaigns with the most popular trackers on our blog .
Promoted offers are not supported for specific GEOs.
Beginners may not know, and experienced affiliates may forget, that promoted offers may not be supported in certain GEOs. For example, the gate.io cryptocurrency exchange does not operate in the Netherlands (NL). Therefore, promoting gate.io-related offers in that region would be a waste of your advertising budget.
Solution : Always check which countries your offers are supported in, and only then use them as campaign targets.
Selecting too many GEOs in a campaign
Let’s examine how GEO targeting affects your campaign. When you select a specific country, you’re purchasing traffic associated with that GEO, which comes with a specific bid. The total available traffic can vary greatly between different GEOs. If you run an ad campaign with all GEOs selected, you might get a lot of traffic from the most popular countries and very little from the smaller ones. However, those smaller GEOs could be a goldmine, but you might never unlock their potential.
Solution : To perform effective traffic testing, follow this simple rule: 1 ad campaign = 1 GEO. This way, you can test all traffic in roughly equal amounts and evaluate whether it benefits your goals or not.
Too narrow segmentation (not even potential customers can be reached)
This is the flip side of the coin we talked about in paragraph #1. Setting up too many targeting options at once can lead to a very small portion of traffic matching your criteria, resulting in a significantly higher bid than you're used to.
Solution : Keep a balance between necessary targeting and settings that unnecessarily narrow your audience. It may seem obvious, but a similar effect occurs if you choose to target "desktop" devices along with an OS that corresponds to mobile devices.
Combining multiple offers in one campaign
Another golden rule: 1 offer = 1 ad campaign. You might be wondering, “Why can’t I use one ad campaign to promote multiple offers if the settings are the same?” First, if one of the offers violates our terms and conditions, the entire campaign will be rejected, forcing you to fix the problem or even separate the offers into different campaigns. Also, our managers may think you’re trying to pass off one offer as another, which is also against our company policy and could lead to rejection.
Solution : Stick to the 1 bid = 1 ad campaign rule, or make sure all bids in your campaign are compliant and won't cause issues.
Unconventional offers in conventional channels
This mistake can happen accidentally or out of a desire to find a more effective combination of promoted offer and traffic. But imagine targeting an advertising campaign to a completely uninterested audience – this is exactly what you are doing when you publish unconventional offers on conventional channels. Unconventional content can scare away potential customers and waste your advertising budget.
Solution : Drive traffic to your ad campaigns using the right traffic type. In HilltopAds, you need to select the non-prime category for age-restricted offers.
Setting low CPM rates and ignoring recommendations from estimating tools
This problem often affects newcomers who are unaware of the appropriate rates for specific niches and traffic types. By choosing low rates, advertisers can receive minimal traffic.
Solution : Use the estimating tool and pay close attention to the recommended rates and premium.
Incorrect Postback configuration or missing Postback configuration
While it's important to identify the most profitable traffic sources, it's equally crucial to know which ones are draining your advertising budget.
Solution : Set up conversion tracking, which will allow you to set up automated rules that immediately cut off underperforming areas. Keep in mind that the more complex the conversion, the more time it will take to optimize.
Please note that the more complex the conversion, the more time-consuming the optimization will be.
Tracking parameters in the URL will help you collect detailed data about users and traffic sources. You can then use this information to fine-tune targeting and create white/black lists.
Key parameters are {{zoneid}}, {{ctoken}}.
Ignore network rules
Finally, always make sure your ad campaigns comply with the network's terms and policies (i.e. avoid inappropriate bids, make sure creatives don't violate guidelines, etc.).