With digital marketing being the dominant form of advertising, and only predicted to continue growing, it's crucial that your business is heavily involved in digital advertising. But just as this sector has grown for marketers, so has an alarming problem; ad fraud. If you're unsure if your digital ad campaigns are being hijacked or sabotaged by ad fraud, these stats seem to suggest the answer is probably:
And it's only expected to get worse. By 2024, it's expected that US companies will be losing $100 million per day due to ad fraud. This is an increase of 125% since 2018.
But how can you begin to get answers as to how your campaigns are affected? Here are three things you can do to protect yourself:
Look for Clues: Track the signature metrics like IP Addresses, Click Timestamps, Action Timestamps, Websites & Referral Sources. If something looks fishy, don't ignore it. Don't feel you need to do this yourself. The Wheeler Team is happy to look at your analytics with you to find the telltale signs.
Use Reliable Platforms: Another commonsense step is to move your ad dollars to platforms that have a reputation and track record of eliminating ad fraud. Ad platforms like Facebook (Meta), and Amazon might be a better alternative than Google PPC or unspecified ad servers.
Adjust Your Targeting: Don't make it easy on fraudsters to hijack your campaign. Even if, theoretically, everybody is in need of your product. Being specific pays off in multiple ways.
Those pointers are a great place to start, but the best way to protect yourself from this pervasive problem is to partner with an ad agency that's got your back. Whether your handling your digital campaigns in-house, or you're using another partner to execute them, make sure you're doing the following things to protect your campaign. Or switch to Wheeler to ensure your dollars aren't wasted!
Use DoubleVerify: The leading verification platform for digital media measurement, data, and analytics. Their mission is to be the definitive source of transparency and data-driven insights into the quality and effectiveness of digital advertising for the world’s largest brands, publishers, and digital ad platforms. DoubleVerify’s technology platform provides advertisers with consistent and unbiased data and analytics that can be used to optimize the quality and return on their digital ad investments.
Since 2008, DoubleVerify has been protecting the ad spends of over half of Fortune 500 companies. ALL WHEELER DIGITAL AD CAMPAIGNS INCLUDE DOUBLEVERIFY FILTERS AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE.
If that wasn't enough, here are some other ways that Wheeler makes sure your campaigns don't fall victim to fraudsters:
Blacklist: By default we have an exhaustive blacklist of websites and apps that is added to all campaigns, filtering out low-quality sites & apps.
Premium Providers: We work with an estimated 444 Private Marketplaces (PMPs) and 1385 Ad Exchanges, through our Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) partners. We pick these providers because of their historic and continuing track record of having genuine, high-quality traffic that's protected from bots, fraud, and other scams.
Optimize: Our campaign managers don't do "set it & forget it". Multiple times a week, the team is combing through the results & analytics, shifting for maximum ROI.
To build on the importance of #2, here are just a few of the top providers that we are proud to partner with to ensure both exhaustive reach of your audience and thorough protection of your ad dollars:
In closing, ad fraud is a serious problem that you need to be aware of. And it's only one of a myriad of isses that are involved in executing an effective, profitable digital marketing plan. If you're unsure of where to start, or if your campaigns are adequately protected, we would love to talk with you and help you make sure that your marketing plan is geared for success!