By Ankit Oberoi
Ad Ops, a.k.a advertising operations, is a world of its own. It involves tasks such as ad management, ad revenue optimisation, ad performance reporting, site management, and more; all directed towards ensuring higher ad revenue for the publishers.
More often than not, publishers find it difficult to manage ad ops since it comprises many facets, ever-changing features, and limitless possibilities.
If you’re here, you probably have the same question as other publishers, ‘Should I outsource ad ops or do it internally?’
In theory, the answer to this question is easy; with the right people, you can do everything internally. However, in the practical world, it turns out to be a bigger challenge than expected.
Ad ops requires rigorous man-hours to make things work and move in the right direction. Hence, publishers often outsource their ad operations, which contributes to their revenue growth without having them spend internal time and resources.
Still on the fence? Look for these five signs to confirm whether it’s time you need external help.
Technical Challenges are becoming roadblocks
The highly-technical ad operations tasks could easily create roadblocks and distract your team from the ultimate goal. Ad ops require multiple time-consuming tasks such as website audit, performance optimisation, consistent balancing of UX, CTR management, addition or removal of ad units, and more.
If you find your team getting weighed down in the technical minutiae, it’s time to find a trusted ad ops partner so they could focus on things that’ll grow your audience.
You lack a fresh perspective on your ad ops strategy
Do you find your in-house ad ops team working around the similar strategy, outdated perspective, and age-old data? If so, try expanding your in-house ad operations team to include third-party vendors. This will not only provide you with a competitive edge, but also bring a fresh perspective on your ad ops strategy, goals, and tactics.
With their insight, you can discover a variety of ways to improve your ad operations. Those improvements can lead to positive gains, like better UX, increased conversion rates, improved CTR, and more.
You want to focus on content
The biggest indicator that it’s time to outsource ad operations is that the time you are spending on ad ops is taking away from your ability to create great content. If you’re a content creator, think about why you started your website.
If you notice that the quality of your content is slipping, it’s time to outsource.
You want better ROI
An outsourced ad ops team can boost your revenue by introducing strategies, tools, and techs that you as a publisher can’t easily get hands-on.
For example, you might have heard of the ad blockers, which can drastically eat up a publishers’ earnings. One of the techniques to resolve this issue is anti-adblock, a tool that helps publishers pull back lost dollar from the market.
You’re struggling to optimise campaigns
A successful ad campaign is a result of precise calculation, proper planning, and industry expertise.
If you are struggling to optimise campaigns, it could be a sign that you need to upskill or find ways to get up to speed. Outsourcing your ad operations tasks will allow you to break this barrier, instead of spending resources trying to upskill.
Outsourcing ad ops : Is it cost-effective?
For many publishers, certain tasks such as constant monitoring, campaign management, ad revenue optimisation, UX balancing, CTR improvement are too expensive and time-consuming to be done in-house.
When publishers outsource ad ops tasks, they don’t need to conduct recruitment drives to find skilled people or arrange training programmes for the unskilled employees. The work is simply handed over to people who are already experts.
The outsourced ad tech vendor will already have a pool of talented employees, latest technologies to provide optimal solutions, and deep industry knowledge. This allows publishers to avoid large expenditures so they can utilize their capital for growth investments.
The right ad ops solution should align with your company’s needs. Publishers need to review their requirements and compare the cost of recruiting, onboarding and training ad ops technicians over partnering with ad ops experts.
When you decide to outsource your ad operations to an agency, make sure to have complete transparency with your ad ops vendor. Good two-way communication and a transparent environment is the key to building reliable partnerships.
The author is CEO and founder of AdPushup. Views expressed are personal.
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