If you're setting up your first campaign you have come to the right place. Campaign creation in Outbrain DSP (prev. Zemanta) only takes a few quick steps. You'll be able to customize, review and edit all your campaign's attributes along the way. By following this article you’ll learn how to:

Let’s get started!

First things first, as a general rule, always follow the Orange button on the left when creating a new item!

Each account represents a separate client or brand that you will be running campaigns for. You’ll first have to Name the account after the client or brand you’re promoting, set up the Currency (same as the currency set in the contract), and the Brand logo.

Next, move on to the Media Sources panel. By default, every media source currently supported on the platform is on the Allowed list on your right. We generally recommend that you try as many media sources as possible when starting, as our algorithm will learn and optimize for the best-performing sources. If you need to block a particular media source on this account for any reason (such as already having a relationship with an SSP), you can move them over to the left by selecting a media source and clicking on the Remove from allowed button.

Finally, you have the option of applying Publisher Targeting groups - you can also apply these on the campaign and ad group levels.

Perfect! Now you’re ready to create your first campaign!

First, select a campaign type that matches the content you are trying to promote. You can select between Native (traditional CPC and/or engagement campaigns), Video (Video Placements), and Display (Display placements).

Give your campaign a Name, assign the appropriate Campaign Manager, choose a Category relevant to your promoted content, and set the Language of that content. The next step is defining the main Goal for this campaign - you can choose between traffic, conversion, or performance goals (to optimize towards the latter, Engagement Tracking is required).

You then have the option to set up Performance Tracking via your or your client’s first-party analytics. Both Google and Adobe are supported. With Google, you can use either e-mail tracking or set up an API connection - an API connection is recommended.

One of the most important features on the campaign level is Budget creation - this is where you allocate a budget from your agency’s available credit and set the start and end date of that budget. Make sure to include Outbrain DSP's fee when setting up the budget. Remember that all spend on Outbrain DSP will be reported as Total Spend, which includes both your Media Spend and our Fee.

The last feature in campaign settings is Budget Optimization - this feature will automatically optimize and pace your campaign so we highly recommend you keep it enabled.

Great! Now you’re all set to move to the next section - ad group creation!

Ad groups define your targeting and contain your creatives. It is recommended that you break up ad groups by targeting strategy (i.e. Desktop vs. Mobile or Retargeting vs. Prospecting).

Delivery type enables you to decide if your ads will be pacing evenly throughout the day or delivered as soon as possible. Dayparting allows you to schedule your ads to be active for specific hours and days of the week.
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Next, it's time to define the Bidding type, strategy, and ad group's daily spend. You can learn more about the Bidding strategy here.

Next, define your Targeting. We recommend grouping Tablet and Mobile together, and Desktop separately. You can refine this even further through advanced targeting options, which allow you to target devices by the operating system and version, mobile placement type (website or in-app), as well as connection type, and browsers. Do not forget to define Location targeting as well. Outbrain DSP supports both inclusions and exclusions. You can target countries, cities, regions, DMA zones, and postal codes.

Hit Save and you're now ready to upload your creatives!

Outbrain DSP allows you to upload all your creatives easily via a single workflow. We know most marketers have blogs and sites that publish content regularly, so our creatives management system was built to support thousands of articles. You can arrange the uploading of ads by either uploading your ads one by one, or you can upload a CSV or Excel file with the assets (the latter is recommended if you’re uploading a larger amount of ads at once). To learn more about required assets and add creation, click here.

Once you’ve uploaded your content, make sure to double-check the setup, and then you’re ready to go live!

To do that, click the toggle button next to the ad group name in the info box on your top left, and you’re all set!

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