So Facebook lowered your daily spend and Google gave you the slap after such a long love affair together... What to do next? What verticals should you focus on since the days of ripping an Acai Berry landers are gone and Mary's days of internet riches from home have dwindled? That's where WhatRunsWhere comes in, a service for publishers made by publishers. Haven't heard of WhatRunsWhere and it's capabilities you say? Well for your reading pleasure, below are some details and a quick Q & A from COO Max Teitelbaum, an industry veteran with a flair for all things related to media buying and a love for making affiliate managers earn his traffic.
AP: Max, can you give me your elevator pitch on WhatRunsWhere?
MT: Whatrunswhere provides intelligence for media buying online. Not only did the founders use it to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for their personal campaigns, but now anyone can use the same powerful information to help boost their businesses ROI and buy media online in a more intelligent way. Whatrunswhere show's the A-Z of anyone's online advertising campaign, from what creative they use, to where they're buying their media.
Whatrunswhere provides you with the data to see where sites are being advertised, what networks to buy the ads through, what's working and so much more. They're the most comprehensive and best media buying intelligence tool in the world. They also allow you to track advertisers and see when they launch new ads as well as historical split test variations (keep an eye on your competition today).
AP: That's quite the elevator pitch. SOLD. I'll take one in every color. So Max - tell what inspired the creation of WhatRunsWhere?
MT: Well my partner Mike actually made it. He identified a huge need for data, that wasn't too easy to do and then spent 1+ years doing nothing but developing a solution to fix it. I'm just a pretty face.
AP: And a humble one at that.
MT: Very. I mean, while it was being developed I just used it to run campaigns (through AKMG where I could) using the data I got from using the system.
AP: So this project started as something to use to help grow your own business - and then you decided since you have a need for it, every other media buyer must need this too?
MT: Sort of, we originally intended to have a limited member base, but decided to be generous and let everyone use it. It's a long term thing for us, we want to provide the best service possible, after all the best businesses (like AKMG) are based on customer service and support.
AP: Let's start with the basics here, if you were just getting into media buying and about to launch your first campaign post continuity mayhem – how would you start with WhatRunsWhere? Give me the run down.
MT: Well, I'd research via keyword or url the competitors in the niche. Look at their placements and use quantcast and alexa to figure out what demographics they're going for (and the site they advertise on are catering for). I'd then look at similarities between ads being run by the different advertisers. The point here isn't to just rip data, its to figure out what everything has in common, incorporate that into your advertising to limit risk and find new profitable things to test. So for example, if you saw animated gifs in a ton of banners, it may be worth getting your own done and seeing if that boosts your ROI. We're all about helping our users make more and spend less.
AP: So from the affiliate manager stand point – Tell me what benefit WRW brings to AM's and working with their affiliates?
MT: For an AM it allows you to see whats out there and running, it helps you give better tips to your affiliates and share better information than what's promoted on the network that week. It gives you a different view into what your affs should be running.
AP: Last question, give me your top 3 tips for any affiliate manager who is striving to achieve stardom in the AM Hall of Fame, other than to not wake you up from a nap? (Not that I have ever been cursed out by you before... lol)
For AMs, top 3 tips would be:
1. Don't push offers to your affiliates just to push offers to your affiliates, actually get to know them. Don't just show them what's doing best on the network, give them personalized recommendations based on your relationship with them, figure out what they like. They have a business to run like you, so treat it as that, and your affiliates will respect you more for it.
2. Even if I don't push traffic with you, reach out and be cool. Chances are I may in the future and showing me you care even if I'm not making cash with you is a great way to get me to start running traffic with you.
3. Don't call me when I'm napping... ever...
AP: Well thanks Max – I think we all learned a lot today about WhatRunsWhere and why only so few affiliate managers have been able to make it on your "acceptable to talk to” list. For all you readers out there, you can hit up your AKMG AM on WhatRunsWhere and they will glady give you all the details and make sure you get taken care of by Sir Teitelbaum. Just more proof that "big brother” is always watching =]
