How to launch a successful advertising business: The basics

1. Understanding inventory management and engagement

When it comes to starting your advertising business and planning your go to market strategy, you'll need to start with the fundamentals of inventory management and advertiser engagement. Having these fundamentals in place will ensure you create a valuable platform for your advertisers and users. Here's how to approach these fundamentals:

‍Preparing advertising inventory supply

• Create ad slots in your user interface (UI): Your first step in effective inventory management is to design and implement spaces within your app and website where the adverts will be displayed. This includes:
  
  
  • Specifying the type of ads: Choose between various advertising formats such as native product ads, banners, videos which match your marketing goals.
  • Determining the format and location: Decide on the size and placement of these ads to optimize visibility and user interaction without disrupting the user experience.

Once you have prepared and optimized your advertising inventory, the next step is to fill these slots.

Creating advertising demand to fill ad inventory

• Engaging with advertisers: Connect and collaborate with potential advertisers who are interested in using these slots to reach their target audience.
  
  
• Understanding advertiser needs: Discuss their marketing goals, the products or services they wish to advertise, pricing models, and other specifications. This ensures that the ads will meet their expectations and achieve optimal results.
  
  
• Optimizing ad placement: Use the information from advertisers to place ads strategically across your platform for maximum effectiveness and ad engagement.

However, launching an ad business successfully requires both technical implementation and organizational alignment, as well as significant investment from non-technical teams.

2. How to prepare for a successful launch

Once you lay the groundwork for your advertising business, it's time to establish strategies and resources for a successful launch. Here's what you need to do to prepare:

‍Steps for a successful ad business launch

• Identify sales channels: Determine who will sell your new ad product and appoint dedicated individuals with digital marketing experience to maximize outreach and ad engagement.
  
  
• Establish go-to-market strategy: Develop a commercialization go-to-market strategy that identifies your goals and outlines the strategies and paths you plan to take to achieve those business goals. To do this, you'd first need to segment your seller or brand base. You can do this by various categorizations, but the most common is by ad spend potential. Then, you need to develop marketing messaging for internal and external use to educate and help your internal teams market the new ad opportunity to your sellers and brands.
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• ‍Partner with analytics and finance teams: Collaborate with analytics and finance teams to forecast the potential size of the new business. This is a vital part of ensuring you are setting achievable commercialization goals, resourcing for your growth and keeping internal stakeholders aligned.

3. Setting up your governance infrastructure

To ensure the sustainable growth and smooth operation of your advertising business, you’ll need to establish a strong governance infrastructure. Here are three ways to go about it:

‍Elements of a Governance Infrastructure

• Executive sponsors: Engage senior leadership to back the new venture, providing clout and decision-making power.
  
  
• Business review forum: Create a forum for regular review of business performance and strategic decisions.
  
  
• Determine key metrics: Define and monitor key performance indicators that will help track success and identify areas for improvement.

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4. How to best market your advertising business

The launch of your ad business is as successful as how you promote it to garner attention and attract clients. You can do it in two ways:

• Use multiple marketing channels: To spread the word and increase outreach, use various communication channels, such as your company's internal and external websites, blogs, newsletters, and social media.
  
  
• Engage with vendors: Hold regular meetings with top vendors and organize vendor symposiums to discuss collaborative opportunities and gather feedback.