AD TECH INSIGHTS
by Roman Vrublivskyi
Posted on Jul 6, 2022
Outsourced Ad Ops: Where to Find and What to Consider
by Roman Vrublivskyi
by Roman Vrublivskyi
Today, the digital advertising market is no longer just about giving in orders to agencies or using advertising banners — it’s much more complex! Apart from creative skills, account managers in ad tech require technical know-how and continuous data analysis. It might be quite challenging to keep track of all tasks and accounts at the same time. To tackle this issue, many enterprises are outsourcing Ad Ops services. So, in this article, we are going to talk about outsourced Ad Ops, what they do, and when is the right time to attract them to your team.
Advertising operations, commonly known as Ad Ops, is everything related to managing and delivering online ad campaigns across different platforms in the programmatic buying landscape. Ad operations is a term that includes the duties of an account manager who is responsible for ad campaign management including all the complex processes in the ad tech.
Ad Operations workflow entails a bunch of different tasks and isn’t limited just to campaign planning and implementation. Ad Operations entails diverse tasks such as ad campaign management, platform administration, campaign measurement, campaign revenue optimization, inventory performance reporting as well as monitoring. Every task has the same purpose: to achieve better ad campaign delivery and higher revenues for the ad platform owner.
The Ad operations manager is responsible for structured planning, ad sales support, daily ad management, ad campaign trafficking, and optimization. To improve the overall sales and efficiency of a company, Ad Operations managers regularly research, create, analyze, and improve ad campaign procedures, tools and set up.
The business development team is responsible for onboarding new SSPs and DSPs partners to a company, and there comes in the Ad Ops. This is why another important task of an Ad Operations Manager besides controlling the implementation of programmatic campaigns are all the “post-sale” activities. They are also in charge of establishing relationships with the company’s partners. As well, they are managing internal ad operations to best meet those partners’ needs
One of the tasks of ad operations team is to tailor ad campaigns to match the supply with demand by optimizing the inventory. It is no surprise that the more company’s supply matches the demand, the more there is revenue, which is the core and main goal of optimizations. Furthermore, the performance of the ad campaigns is sometimes determined by the timing of the placement. A good example would be the election of the USA President in the year 2020 when revenues of all ad campaigns jumped up high dramatically. Advertising Ops should configure system settings so that the traffic reaches relevant partners increasing the bidding and winning rates. Also, Ad Ops helps resolve any technical issues and requests related to the platform by reporting timely and accurately. Ad performance optimization performed by ad ops also helps to achieve the desired metrics and reduce advertising costs, as large numbers of campaigns do not guarantee large numbers in profit, but optimizations directly affect the revenues.
In order to increase operational efficiency, the Ad Operations manager has to develop strategies for the improvement of ad campaign processes, tools, and set up. This implies implementation and fine-tuning of new ad campaigns with already-existing partners, adjustment of the current ad strategies, and renewing ad campaigns with old partners.
Since digital Ad Ops are the ones who actually run ad campaigns, they also carry out the responsibility for increasing revenue generation. They specialize in yield management and revenue generation that’s why they always look for opportunities to achieve greater profits. However, there are some factors on which Ad Ops do not have any impact, such as the quality of the traffic.
Every platform requires regular monitoring and analysis to identify and prevent issues before they arise and have a negative impact on the overall income. In case of any tech issues, bugs, or additional integrations to the platform, the Ad Ops knows how to report cases and follow up with the fix and/or implementation.
In order to enhance sales of ad campaigns KPIs, the ad operations specialist should manage and maintain relationships with the partners, keep the campaigns up to date, negotiate the changes that can be implemented after the optimizations. In a programmatic environment, Ad Operations should review the inventory submitted by SSPs and make sure it meets the requirements of DSPs and that it adheres to the specifications set by the platform. Ad Ops also performs as client success manager, as they provide insights on best-performing inventory. This requires strong communication skills to better connect with publishers and advertisers.
Running efficient ad campaigns is crucial for successful ad business functioning. To succeed, your team should be able to provide quick response, it should have deep expertise to continually increase revenues, plus, it should have bulletproof troubleshooting. Building such a team might be quite challenging. So, before going ahead you’ll have to decide which option is more beneficial for your business — an in-house team or an outsourced one? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Let’s take a closer look.
Taking on the responsibility of Ad Ops can be an unnecessary waste of time. Leaving this to the professionals will allow you to free up a big chunk of time to focus on your primary business tasks.
The digital ad space is full of complex systems and tools that require regular monitoring and maintenance. With a reliable outsourcing agency, you can hire industry experts with an appropriate skill set and advanced level knowledge.
If you have little or no technical knowledge, it may be difficult for you to design and execute ad revenue optimization strategies. To achieve the best possible results you’ll need to measure each ad campaign element to make sure it performs well. An outsourced team of Ad Ops specialists will help you manage such tasks in the right manner.
Hiring people always brings a lot of expenses. With an outsourced specialist, you won’t have to pay for office space, technical equipment, health insurance, and other stuff.
It’s no secret that ad optimization processes require some technical knowledge. This involves understanding the fundamentals of languages such as HTML and JavaScript, as well as proper use of advanced tools such as ad serving tools and the ability to measure and analyze performance data.
Furthermore, keeping up with ever-changing industry trends can be daunting. However, there is a way out — a good outsourcing agency will help you hire the right specialist who is well-versed in cutting-edge techniques and methodologies.
Ad tech business owners usually don’t have much time since they are fully engaged in business scaling and networking. This means, if you have other tasks on your plate, you won’t have enough time to dive deep into ad operations. As a result, you might be struggling to optimize ad campaigns without the necessary skills. Moreover, it can be challenging to even decide whether you’re recruiting the right candidate for the Ad Ops position.
If your ad revenue is lower than the industry average it might indicate improper ad operations management. By outsourcing Ad Ops you will be able to generate continually growing revenue.
The recruitment process may require a lot of time. Finding the right talents and building a team from scratch is a time-consuming task. Moreover, you’ll have to invest some extra time in onboarding. On the other hand, with an outsourcing agency, you won’t need to hire people by yourself. Furthermore, an outsourced team of Ad Ops can hit the ground running and be immediately productive without training.
We have to admit the fact that it can require a lot of effort and money to find an Ad Ops expert because of the specialized nature of this area. With an outsourced team of Ad Ops, you’ll pay only for what you need. This means no overhead costs on training, equipment, employment package, and so on.
After growing to a certain point, you understand that you need to move to advanced ad tech solutions for your business to evolve and promote technological innovation. But it’s not that easy to implement high-tech solutions without the help of an advertising operations expert.
Most companies have fixed working hours, however, if your ad platform works round-the-clock it needs round-to-clock support and management. Your ad platform is complex and multilayered so this means that something might go wrong at any time. In such cases, the best option is to outsource an ad operations team that will provide you 24/7 tech support in urgent issues.
Digital Advertising Operations covers different systems that enable you to create, implement, manage, and adjust ad campaigns. These can be either non-programmatic or programmatic systems. You may have a blend of both direct-sold campaigns and programmatic ones on your platform. However, statistics show that programmatic has become a larger piece of the puzzle.
According to US Programmatic Digital Display Ad Research, advertisers increased their spending on programmatic digital ads by 10,4% in 2020. And numbers continue to grow. In 2021, ad spending is expected to increase by 24,1% and reach $81,5 billion dollars. Quite impressive, since this is 86,5% of total digital ad spending!
Programmatic advertising helps the buying and selling processes of ad inventory using technological platforms such as ad exchanges, ad networks, ad servers, DSPs, and SSPs. Together they automate the procedure of bidding, purchasing, and placing ads. Ad Ops role is to follow up on all these processes with the existing ad marketers.
In a programmatic environment, the main goal of ad operations managers is to make sure that the ad campaigns work properly as well as to search for ways to increase their performance. The main aim is to increase revenue while maintaining a seamless user experience.
Since ad business owners often don’t have enough resources and expertise to cover all advertising needs, there may be some areas representing a challenge. Thanks to white label advertising, you don’t have to be an expert in everything to ensure smooth business functioning. So, you might have a question: what does white label mean?
White label is a concept that assumes that one company can produce a product or service, and the other can sell it on its own behalf. Here arises the next question: what is white label marketing? White label marketing encompasses many things — from ad campaigns and reports to ad products, or even rebrandable advertising platforms. Moreover, white label services help businesses create, manage and implement various digital marketing campaigns. A significant advantage of white label branding is that it is time- and cost-effective in terms of production.
Having your own white label ad exchange platform such as SmartHub will allow you to expand your business, generate the maximum potential ad revenue, and become one of the most in-demand full-service ad exchange platform owners.
But how to manage the ad exchange platform if you don’t have enough expertise for this? On one hand, you can hire an in-house team of Ad Ops specialists, on the other hand, you can save your time and money by outstaffing heavy lifting tasks to Ad Ops. At SmartHub, apart from white label solutions, we also offer outsourced ad operations services. To best meet your needs, we accurately select specialists who will manage the platform and work explicitly for you. The best part is that we are in charge of the recruitment process. This means we will provide your potential employees with everything they need — salary, training, equipment, employment package, and so on.
We believe that business owners shouldn’t waste their time on operational tasks. Once you start paying less attention to primary business needs, it might stifle the company’s growth. Therefore, the best way to maintain a competitive advantage in business is by outsourcing Ad Ops. Contact us and we’ll select the right ad ops that meet your qualification requirements and particular business needs.
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