The number of steps and parameters needed to set up a campaign in programmatic advertising can sometimes be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve created a list covering all the crucial components of every campaign. We’ve also included some practical advice that can help you get the details right every time, driving the success of your campaigns.
To make things even easier, we’ve summarised all the information in a short, downloadable document that you can use as a guide whenever you’re setting up a campaign in the Outbrain DSP. You can access the guide by clicking on the link below.
Campaign Goals
Your campaign goal is your benchmark of success, so make sure you choose wisely. You can choose multiple campaign goals, but only one primary goal that Outbrain DSP algorithms will automatically optimize towards.
Available Goals:
Cost per Click
Engagement: Maximum Bounce Rate, Pageviews per Visit, New Users, Cost per Non-Bounced Visit, Cost per New Visitor, Cost per Pageview, Time on Site – Seconds
Cost per Action
Our Advice:
If you want to track engagement metrics, make sure to connect your or your client’s first-party analytics with the Outbrain DSP dashboard.
Ensure all pixels and tracking are properly in place. Check out our Help Center to learn how to set up conversion tracking using the Outbrain DSP pixel or First Party Analytics.
Your optimization strategy should align with your primary goal. For example, if your campaign goal is Cost per Acquired Lead and you want to generate high-quality traffic, you should not run a low CPC campaign.
Campaign Budget
The budget represents the amount of money you’re willing to pay for your ads to run over a set period. Ensure your budget is significant enough to ensure our system receives sufficient data to optimize toward your KPIs.
Budget Components:
The budget amount includes Total Spend: Media Spend, Outbrain DSP Fee, Margin (optional), and Data Cost (optional).
Budget Optimisation.
Our Advice:
Set a campaign duration of at least 14 days. This will allow you time to optimize the campaign after it has been explored in different networks. If you aim to receive conversions, we recommend setting the campaign for at least a month or more to gain enough traction.
Always start with Budget Optimization enabled. This will optimize your campaign budget across ad groups to hit your campaign goal.
Pixels & Conversion Tracking
Conversion tracking allows marketers to easily monitor goals such as sales, downloads, subscriptions, or landing page visits. Pixels can also be used to group users into audiences that can be targeted in future campaigns.
Types of Pixels:
Conversion Pixel or Google Analytics/Adobe Analytics Goal
Custom Audience (Retargeting) Pixel
Our Advice:
Create multiple conversion pixels to track each step of the conversion funnel.
Place the custom audience pixel across the entire website. This will allow you to build audiences out of each section of your website using URL filters.
Outbrain DSP supports pixels in image format.
Targeting
Targeting plays an important role in campaign scale and performance. Make sure your targeting is wide enough to avoid compromising on scale.
Available Targeting Features:
Device
Location & Language
Bidding Type (CPC vs. CPM)
Publisher Targeting (Allowlists and Blocklists)
Audience Targeting (Interests and Demographics)
Our Advice:
Split ad groups per device. Costs tend to be lower on mobile and higher on desktop – separate ad groups will allow you to adjust the bids accordingly.
Choose a bid that suits your goal (keep it higher for engagement and CPA campaigns as you want to reach the best quality inventory).
Start with a higher bid. Our system will automatically reduce it if able to spend your daily budget in full.
Use CPM bidding when running on a Deal ID.
Exclude audience segments that aren’t suitable for your campaign.
When targeting a custom audience, make sure to increase your bid accordingly.
We recommend you include one targeting tactic per ad group. For example, combining audience and contextual targeting is not advised, as it might limit your traffic too much, and the ad group will struggle to spend.
Custom audience targeting/retargeting should be run by itself with no additional targeting aside from geolocation.
Content Ads
Your content ads have one of the biggest impacts on campaign performance. To effectively reach your potential audience and customers, your content ads should be informative, authentic, and engaging.
Creative Assets:
Images
Ad Titles and Descriptions
Landing Page URL or a Click-Through URL
Third-Party Trackers (optional)
Our Advice:
Use HQ images, at least 1440×900 pixels.
Run multiple images and title variations, allowing our system to test the best combinations.
Upload at least 5-10 creatives per ad group.
Avoid using images with text and/or logos on them. Some networks tend to reject images with included text. Images with text and logos risk being partially or fully cropped off, while images without these elements have been found to drive more clicks.
To achieve higher CTR, make sure images and titles address your target audience. Images should also be light and inviting so they stand out to users.
Adapt your creatives for your primary goal. For example, if your goal is to drive sales, make sure you mention this in your ad titles. Content ads with a specific call to action tend to have a much higher CTR.