Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

(Disclaimer: I’m part of the team at Traffic4u that develops TrafficSAM)

In the digital environment where quantification reigns, the importance of Online Advertising has become increasingly evident.
The worldwide success and adaption of Search Engine Advertising (PPC) is the most obvious example of this. Search Engine Advertising rapidly grew as the pull and results driven-channel because it is able to attract and convert visitors in an advanced manner.

Over the years competition has become more fierce, and all sorts of tools have been developed to cope with expanding accounts and the increasing complexity of this channel. The role of Search Engine Advertising is maturing. Companies understand the power of focusing on target groups and Search Engine Advertising’s strategic use for internal processes (competitive intelligence, market research tool, etc.). Along with the maturation of this channel, a demand has arisen for sophisticated technologies that are able to assist marketers in the decision making process.

This is where TrafficSAM comes in. It’s a tool that has been developed in-house from the experience we’ve gained over years of extensive (international) campaign management.

Two important aspects define TrafficSAM and the way it meets the needs of businesses:

1. First of all, we’ve tested and used conventional -automated- bid managers to understand how these systems optimise campaigns and results. Our experience is that the fine equilibrium between technology and human intelligence is not being exploited in these systems. Too much emphasis is put on technology and automation and not enough on the human -non replaceable- input that can alter performance in a way technology alone, cannot.
TrafficSAM utilises both by offering functionalities which assist the user by taking away time-intensive tasks, while at the same time allowing the user to be in full control of the decisions that need to be made.
By doing so, the system reaches a refined equilibrium, resulting in an equation of: Technology + Human knowledge & experience = 3.

2. The other important equation within Search Engine Advertising and Marketing in general is that Performance is the result of: Campaign(s) + Website + Product/Service.
Basically the system centralises the three direct influencers of performance, namely PPC data (campaigns), analytics data (website) and back office/CRM data (product/service).
By providing these insights and relationships, users can uncover what really triggers campaign performance to go up or down.
Example: A campaign is optimised and the products are in stock, but if the website is not user-friendly, performance will not be as optimal as it could be. There are numerous combinations that can be made to help find out why gaps exist between expected and actual performance.

Along with a more thorough understanding of advertising efforts (and understanding the interaction between the website and product), it provides two-way optimisation on a business level. Not only can users optimise their advertising campaigns, but they can also gain feedback that can be given to product managers and website builders based upon what has been learned from the system.
The second benefit on a business level is the use of the same data. Due to the customised connection with the back-office, the same figures can be used across the various departments within the company, solving the challenge of inconsistent data between platforms and departments. The disturbances that inconsistent data can cause can negatively effect decision making, which needs to be as optimal as possible in order to thrive and be a step ahead of the competition. As in any type of management, efficiency and effectiveness are key to being able to move forward within the given constraints.

What equilibrium do you seek in campaign management tools in order to successfully execute and understand advertising efforts?

TrafficSAM press release:

Traffic4u introduces its own bid manager

Traffic4u, specialist in Result Driven Online Marketing, is introducing TrafficSAM: a technology that makes managing Search Advertising campaigns more efficient and more profitable. TrafficSAM can couple data from the Back Office (CRM, turnover data) with Google AdWords, Yahoo! and Analytics data. The system has been developed by Traffic4u and is already being used by some of the biggest advertisers in the Netherlands.

Origins of TrafficSAM

Traffic4u began developing TrafficSAM in 2006. Due to the extensive and international campaigns of its clients, the need for a technology that could simplify the management of large campaigns increased. First comprehensive testing was conducted with existing bid managers that automatically take over the entire bidding process. “The large systems that were tested are based on the black box principle. The system makes all of the decisions based on predetermined earnings targets. We found that most advertisers wanted to remain in control and learn from their campaign. Only then can you outperform the market and consistently generate more sales from your campaign in the long term,” says Gert Jan Munneke, CEO of Traffic4u. TrafficSAM was developed in order to offer these advertisers a good solution. It is an intelligent management system that helps the online marketer make better decisions based on insights that the technology provides.

Technology: the future of Search Advertising

The increasing importance of Search Advertising for companies has been a trend for years now. Budgets grow, campaigns contain an increasing number of keywords, and advertising is being done in several countries and often in multiple search engines. With this growing interest, the awareness that campaigns need to be directed from different sources increases. A lot of important data can be attained from the Web Analytics package and the Back Office. By directing campaigns using multiple sources such as actual turnover, inventory or availability, they become more profitable, but also increasingly complex. Traffic4u expects that marketing intelligence systems will play a vital role in managing online marketing campaigns.

In-house, outsource or a bit of both?

TrafficSAM is used by both Traffic4u clients and advertisers that manage their campaigns completely in-house. The strategic importance of Search Advertising for many companies is so large that they have multiple employees that work on managing their campaigns. A good example of such a company is holidaycars.com. They were one of the first clients to use TrafficSAM to direct their campaigns. Robbert Jan Meerpoel, CEO of holidaycars.com: “By using TrafficSAM we now have a direct link with our reservations database, so we can see exactly how much revenue the campaigns generate. This used to be a time consuming task, for which we frequently had to use excel, but now we have an overview of all information with the click of a button.”

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