Author: Speakol

Beauty and Cosmetics Industry in the MENA

Check the industry’s latest statistics in the MENA, the products you can promote & tips to run successful campaigns on Speakol.

How Thndr Partnered with Speakol to Build a Successful Acquisition Channel

For decades, financial markets have targeted large established institutions. It has always been easier and more affordable to reach out to entities with strong financial standing, rather than individuals, for securing individual customers, willing to contribute with small ticket sizes, required a substantial marketing budget and big operating teams.

The Inspiration:

Wanting to bring the financial market to the average Joe, the Thndr team capitalized on technology to drastically reduce the cost of acquisition and reach millions of individuals through a sophisticated application with a smooth interface. By catering for individuals, democratizing access to financial services by availing different investment projects and services, Thndr challenges the established financial institutions and markets, ending their monopoly. It aims to offer people financial independence and invests in educating and empowering its users ending the exclusivity created by big players in the past.

“Invest…Discover…Learn”:

Today, Thndr grants individuals access to the Egyptian stock market licensed by the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA). Users can now set up and fund their accounts in a few steps through a seamless account opening process with no brokers or branches involved. With commission-free trading, they can also invest in the Egyptian stock market and Homegrown Stocks of companies they know and love with unlimited access to the latest news and market data. Thndr mainly offers investment products (stock market) and has recently launched investment in mutual funds.

Marketing Efforts:

Thndr is diligently working on telling its story, gaining more visibility, and sharing the user journey with potential customers to market its brand. The team has also experimented with digital and social media advertising to reach more potential customers. Despite the low cost of download and the high volume when marketing on social media, the team realized that they need a more defined targeting strategy to reach users with a specific mindset and knowledge, concluding that securing quality leads will significantly impact their business. That is when the team decided to explore the world of native advertising.

Partnering with Speakol:

Having an extensive publishers’ network of more than 500 premium websites in the MENA, Thndr turned to Speakol to help them realize their marketing goals. Speakol was able to boost Thndr’s brand awareness and exposure by displaying its ads on specific economy and finance publishers. Speakol’s account managers also worked with the Thndr team to refine the targeting process by experimenting with different formulas, assessing the performance, and optimizing the campaigns at every stage. The two teams worked hand in hand to target specialized websites and narrow and widen the targeted audience based on the seasons and competition. Thndr also experimented with various creatives, which resulted in higher numbers of installs and submitted forms and decreased CPA (Cost Per Acquisition).

The detailed insights and reports gave the team insight into which visuals and creatives, titles, and CTAs have engaged and converted users. These insights also enabled the team to optimize their resources, pivot and rethink their marketing strategy when needed, and empowered them to scale up and expand even further.

Collaborating with Speakol, Thndr secured more qualified users and decreased the CPL by 50%.

Speakol also granted Thndr a vast reach across the MENA to tell their story, convey their message, and win over more interested users.

Ad Campaign Details:

Ad Type: Recommendation Ads

Impressions: 14 Million

Clicks: 100 Thousand

CTR: 0.50%

Installs: 1,120

Submitted forms: 135

Target: Egypt

Duration: 3 months

Advertise with Speakol:

Marketing your startup through native advertising has proved successful in reaching out to engaged, interested users, securing many qualified leads, increasing sales, and maximizing advertisers’ profits.

So whether you want to promote a startup, an NGO, a real estate business, an automotive brand, banking, e-commerce, or any other sector, Speakol has a diverse portfolio to serve your every need.

Don’t believe us! Try us out yourself.

How can Native Advertising Boost the Brand Awareness and Sales of your Real Estate Projects?

One of the most successful businesses in the world of construction is the Real Estate industry. This industry covers many aspects of property, including developing, leasing, appraisal, marketing, and management of commercial, residential, agricultural, and industrial properties. Like any other industry, it fluctuates depending on the economy; still, amid all the uncertainty of the past year, it has remained consistent since people are constantly in need of homes, businesses, and commercial spaces.

Real Estate has long been a core economic sector and investment choice in the MENA. Realizing its importance in shaping economies, acting as a catalyst for growth, and diversifying the economy, many governments champion real estate development projects and establish ambitious mega-cities and urban developments.

MENA countries have established many major real estate projects in many of their capital cities, including Riyadh, Dubai, and Cairo; there is a growing pressure owing to an increase in supply. Cost-conscious residents have a wide range of projects to choose from, forcing developers to increase incentives and exert more efforts to secure customers.

Decades ago, newspaper ads, television ads, and billboards would have been the dominant marketing channels to promote a company’s real estate project; now, companies have to look for other media channels as customers spend more and more time online. Faced with the challenge of raising brand awareness, driving interest in their properties, generating more qualified leads, and increasing sales, real estate companies have looked towards digital and native advertising to reach potential customers.

So Why Use Native Advertising?

1. Offers non-disruptive experience, native ads are better received by the target audience.
2. Enables you to raise your brand awareness and influence users at a subconscious level to see your native ads as part of their experience of consuming relevant content.
3. Enables you to reach mobile users more easily.
4. Offer top-notch targeting capabilities. Now, you can target your audience based on their browsing and reading interests by targeting specific publishers in the MENA, geographical location (country and city), devices (desktop, android, or iOS), and ISP (internet service providers).
5. Provide a variety of native ads format that enables you to reach out to various audience segments including recommendation ads, inline ads, and video ads.
6. Offer multiple payment models, including CPC (cost per click), CPM (cost per thousand views), CPV (cost per video view), and CPA (cost per action).

How can you run a successful Real Estate ad campaign?

1. Research your competitors before launching your campaign to get inspired and create your unique marketing angle.
2. Feature people in your images. This trick increases your brand familiarity, purchases, and recommendations, especially to mobile users. Use interesting, high-quality images to attract your audience.
3. Use your logo in your ad; this can increase fixation by 25%.
4. Use high-quality video content that is 15 seconds long; this can increase purchase intent.
5. Avoid using clickbait captions as consumers can tell when they are misled.
6. Mention any offers or promotions in your title.
7. Ensure that your CTA (call to action) is clear.
8. Create easy-to-navigate landing pages with easy signup steps.
9. Make sure your ads are always mobile-friendly.
10. Segment your audience and run different campaigns for each group that shares the same location and interest.
11. Target premium publishers in the country you are targeting to maximize your exposure and increase the chances of landing quality leads.
12. A/B test various ad images and titles to assess which combination engages people more.

If you are trying to market your real estate project, we do suggest you explore the world of native advertising. The Real Estate industry is one of the most booming industries on the Speakol network. Real Estate ads have been displayed more than 240 million times, securing over 1.1 million clicks. With a reasonable CPL, our customers have secured thousands of qualified leads, which significantly increased their sales and maximized their profits.

Now is the time to try native advertising.

What Types of Advertisements Do We Provide?

An overview of the different types of advertisements that advertisers have access to.

Speakol provides you with a diversified product range of digital advertisements for you to capitalize on. Below are the 4 types of ads you can use to secure maximum reach and increase product awareness.

Recommendation Ads:

Recommendation ads allow you to promote your products and brands along with other recommended articles on our extensive publishers’ network. This will enable you to reach a wider audience of more than 75 million monthly unique users.

Our platform detects content relevance and ideally displays your ads to users along with other related content that users are more likely interested in viewing. You can feature your ads alongside exciting content that appeal to users’ preferences, current interests, and browsing modes, which renders them more likely to engage with your ads. This precise targeting grants a non-disruptive and smooth user experience and maximizes click potential and conversion.

Once you prescribe to Speakol’s recommendation ads, your ads will be featured on targeted publications that contain more than 10 million articles and content pieces.

Campaign Requirements:

1. Title ( the maximum length of ad title is 70 characters.)
2. Landing page
3. Image (dimension 640×360 with a size not exceeding 300KB)

Mobile Feed:

Since most potential clients are on their mobile phones, then so should your ads. Millions of users are using their mobile phones, creating unprecedented traffic that should optimize your brand visibility to ensure that your ads reach your target audience in the best possible way.

Speakol’s mobile feed provides continuous scrolling of relevant content, which mirrors the way users are accustomed to on social media platforms. Our platform detects users’ devices and displays ads in the best possible format that matches the type of devices. This feature provides an enjoyable user experience.

Campaign Requirements:

1. Title ( the maximum length of ad title is 70 characters.)
2. Landing Page
3. Image (dimension 640×360 with a size not exceeding 300KB)

Inline Ads:

Speakol’s Inline ads feature your brand every time your targeted keywords are mentioned on our publishers’ network.

To promote your brand, you can bid on relevant keywords to narrow down and target your potential customers. Every time your chosen keywords appear in any article or editorial content, your contextual ads will appear to users.

This feature will increase your brand visibility, ensure wider reach, and boost your conversion rates.

*Please Note:

i) you can have a maximum of 3 inline ads per article.

ii) Speakol recommends targeting 4-5 keywords per adset.

Video Ads:

Video ads enable you to promote a video alongside articles in the recommendation section. This features your brand using one of the most effective marketing tools, which has proven to be more exciting and engaging. Many businesses employ video to prompt company profiles value propositions, products, services, as well as instructional and informational videos.

Launch your video ad campaigns and watch out conversion rates skyrocket, boosting your engagement, and maximizing your optimal ROI.

Campaign Requirements:

1. Title ( the maximum length of ad title is 70 characters.)
2. Landing page
3. Video (the maximum length of the video is 30 seconds)

Video Specs:

• Size should not exceed 15 MB.
• File format needs to one of the following (MP4, MOV, WebM, WAVE, PCM).
• Recommended Dimensions: 374*219.4 (600×315 Recommended)
• Video Duration: 30 seconds (maximum length) with no minimum length
• The maximum number of frames is 30fps.

*Please Note:

i) the CPV($0.01) will be calculated after the video runs for 5 seconds.

To get started, visit our website and sign up to take advantage of the digital space and take your business even further. You can click on our interactive chatbot to get quick help and talk to an Account Manager for any further inquiries.

Please read our full guide on pricing for the details of all minimum prices for CPC, CPV, and CPM

Speakol Pixel Overview

Everything you need to know about tracking using Speakol’s Pixel Code.

What is the Speakol Pixel?

Speakol’s Pixel is an analytic add-on that allows you to comprehend actions users take on your website or landing pages and track user conversions originating from Speakol’s recommendation platform. It enables you to optimize your marketing campaigns, achieve your goals, and secure valuable actions. Once users take the desired action on your website, the Speakol Pixel will be activated and directly update your Speakol campaign report.

Why Use the Speakol Pixel?

Speakol Pixel serves as a link that connects between your landing page and the Speakol dashboard. Once you set up the Speakol Pixel, you can track conversions to learn more about user behavior and, consequently, modify and update your targeting options. You can use it to improve performance and track metrics such as conversion rates and values. The Pixel will provide you with invaluable information to measure the performance, ROI, and ROAS.

What type of Data does the Speakol Pixel Collect?

The Speakol Pixel collects data relevant to monitoring and optimizing performance, including page views, leads, purchases, add to cart, add to wish list, and sign up.

1. Website Conversions: This includes new leads, purchases, and email signups.
2. Website Actions: This includes button/link clicks on your website.
3. Pageviews: This means tracking the pages a user visits after they click on your campaign ad and the number of times visited

How does the Speakol Pixel Work?

Once users click on one of your campaign ads displayed on one of our Speakol Widgets, they will be directed to your landing page. If the Speakol Pixel code is enabled, the information will flow from your landing page to your Speakol dashboard. Speakol will be able to collect relevant data to generate a detailed report about your campaign’s performance, the behavior of users, and the actions they have taken on your landing page.

Campaign Device Targeting Options

Targeting the right audience who is more likely interested in your campaign ads raises the chances of your Speakol campaign’s success. Therefore, you must determine the devices you want to target. Speakol allows you to target Desktop, iOs, and Android devices.

With Device targeting, you can choose the devices, where your campaign ads can be displayed. This feature will help you make the best of your Speakol Ad campaigns, especially if some of your products or services appeal more to users of specific devices. So, for instance, if you want to promote a mobile application, it will be better to target mobile devices only rather than include desktops.

If you plan to target multiple devices, it will be best if you set up separate campaigns for each device, to better access the strengths and shortcomings of each campaign, enhance the drawbacks, and achieve the best possible results.

How to set your Device Targeting Options:

1. Press Create Campaign
2. On the Targeting Options page, Press Advanced Options.
3. When asked about Targeting devices, you can select the ones you want to include and deselect the ones you want to exclude. You can choose between targeting desktops, iOS, and Android devices.

Customize Your Targeting Options with Speakol

Why Native Video Advertising is the New Best Thing?

Native Video Advertising is one of the fastest-growing segments of digital marketing. According to eMarketer, advertisers had spent around 38.7% of their digital video advertising budgets on native videos in 2020. This is hardly surprising since videos have attracted web users when display ads were less noticed. Therefore, if you aren’t already using native ads, it is hay time you start.

So What is Native Video Advertising?

It is the seamless integration and display of an in-feed branded video into existing content on the open web. Like native advertising, native video advertising matches the look, feel, and visual context of any website or app they appear on. Native video ads blend in with their surroundings and take on the natural environment where they are seen just like chameleons.

Native Video Content employs two of the most appealing online marketing trends, which are native advertising and videos, which are informative and engaging. Since videos focus more on storytelling than product centricity or sales orientation, you can easily convey your message to interested and engaged users without disrupting their browsing experience; on the contrary, you encourage them to click. This way, video boosts conversions and sales and provides great ROI.

Why Use Native Video Advertising?

Video Ads are great to boost your brand awareness, generate engagement, and build trust. You can also use video marketing to drive post-click landing page traffic and generate sales by including a compelling CTA (call to action).

Video ads are also recommended because:

• 80% of viewers can recall a video ad they have seen within 30 days, which is the highest of any type of digital advertising.
• 95% of viewers are more likely to recall a CTA after watching a video in comparison to only 10% after reading it in text.
• 90% of users report that product videos encourage them to settle purchasing decisions.
• Users are 27.4 times more likely to click-through on videos.

Besides, video ads do not start to play until it comes into the users’ full view; it will begin playing without sound to avoid disrupting the user, but the view can click on the ad to activate the sound giving him full control to engage and interact with the video ad.

So what are some of the Top Video Advertising Trends?

1. Shorter Video Ads: Brands have been challenged to create engaging videos that are valuable, convey a message, and short enough to beat the skip button and short attention spans. Some videos are as short as 15 sec, which calls for impactful content that induces an immediate emotional response from viewers.
2. Mobile-first advertising: 73% of generation Z and millennial consumers watch more videos on their mobile devices. Reports have found that consumers spend an average of 47 minutes on video on mobile in comparison to 24 minutes average on their laptops.

So, why don’t you try video ads on Speakol?

In January 2020 alone, video ads on our platform have received:

1. 34% VTR (video through rate)
2. 18% saw the last two-quarters of the video.
3. 15% Video Completion
   
   

Marketing is about giving the audience what they want. Native videos do just that. They tell a story, engage your audience, trigger emotions, create a sense of affinity, raise your brand awareness and encourage action.

Don’t believe us. Try us out yourself.

Spiritual Art / Entrepreneurship – Mariam Gaber

Throwback to one of our insightful talks on entrepreneurship and art.

“It isn’t just about loving something; you have to be consistent and persistent. You can’t deal with your passion at face value; it has to consume your body and soul, and drive you to keep going even when it isn’t convenient.”

Mariam Gaber is a Product Designer at Speakol. In an extraordinary, inspiring talk, she shared with the team how she discovered her passion for Moroccan art and spirituality, and how she managed to establish a profiting project by exploring the beauty and depth of her newfound interest.

Mariam says, “it all started with my graduation project. I wanted to create an artwork based on “Obet el Gholy” in Egypt; it is an old place that hosts cultural, spiritual, and artistic performances. Through my extensive research, I learned more about Sufism in various countries, which introduced me to Sufism in Morroco and led me to further explore the beauty of Moroccan art. It became the spark that ignited my passion for I instantly fell in love. I was inspired by the beauty and spirituality of Moroccan culture, patterns, and artworks; all my paintings and drawings reflected my fascination.

In 2016, I launched “Roh” which is Arabic for Soul. I started making notebooks and planners using the beautiful and vibrant colors and designs of Moroccan art. The content, however, was spiritual, reflecting divine qualities. A sense of ‘belonging and connection’ developed between me and this form of art, especially after my trip to Morocco. There, I immersed myself into everything Morrocan.

There is a vast international community that shares the same passion and enthusiasm; therefore, I am lucky to learn more and be able to express my passion through art.”

About Speakol

Speakol is the most extensive content discovery and native advertising network in the MENA and GCC region. Our technology enables publishers to boost users’ engagement and monetize their online presence and allows advertisers to target potential customers and promote their brands.

Speakol believes it is only as strong as it’s people. We are always on the lookout to infuse our team with new talents. If you are interested in joining the team, visit our Careers Page.

Animal Love – Alaa Amr

Putting the passion in compassion, Alaa Amr, our Inbound Account Manager inspires us with her love for animals and reminds us of the importance of understanding and living in harmony with these beautiful souls.

“I discovered my love for animals 10 years ago when my friend’s cat gave birth, and I received one of the kittens. I was a little indifferent at the beginning but thought I would give it a go. Little did I know it would turn into an obsession. Now, a decade later, I dream of opening an animal shelter to help these beautiful creatures find the homes they deserve.”

Alaa actively reports animal abusers and saves strays from people, who attempt to poison them. “You have to be compassionate and connect with these animals, they have souls, and it’s not their fault. Those who adopt, their pets aren’t pets; they’re part of the family as any other member.”

She continues, “I would like to remind people that during these difficult times, it is important to remember that animals do not carry the COVID-19 virus. I see people abandoning their pets under the misconception that they may become infected. Animals are safer than all of us.

Alaa concludes with advisory words of wisdom: “I think one of the best decisions new parents can take is to provide their babies with pets. It teaches responsibility, love, and kindness instead of aggression. It’s simpler than people think once you start.

Cats can be a little less demanding than dogs in my view. It’s good to remember that cats (and most pets) will adapt to their owners, so don’t be surprised if you see yourself in your furry best friend”.

About Speakol

Speakol is the most extensive content discovery and native advertising network in the MENA and GCC region. Our technology enables publishers to boost users’ engagement and monetize their online presence and allows advertisers to target potential customers and promote their brands.

Speakol believes it is only as strong as it’s people. We are always on the lookout to infuse our team with new talents. If you are interested in joining the team, visit our Careers Page.

Speakol Speaks Out On Being Back In The Office

“We are back to our regularly scheduled program”.

Months ago, the world was overtaken by storm with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries announced lockdowns and companies had to make tough decisions regarding their employees and their operations, which impacted the world economy to a downfall.

However, the hard work of sleepless medical personnel, the commitment of rule-abiding citizens, and the strict government regulations have finally started to pay off. We finally see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel with the lifting of restrictions and life slowly going back to normal.

As the saying goes, “The show must go on,” and eventually it has. With companies placing safety regulations and welcoming their staff back to their offices, Speakol has joined the conversation.

We talked with our colleagues to get their take on being back in the office during these times after working from home for such a long time.

Our Chief Commercial Officer (C.C.O), Youssef Assaad, gave us an enlightening perspective:

“Managing a team from home has its challenges. However, having faith in their commitment, and capabilities has helped the boat sail smoothly. Being back has proved a greater advantage in synchronizing and harmonizing the team to reach the goals we all work hard to achieve. I’m also very pleased to see our management and HR department take the necessary precautions regarding the novel coronavirus, prioritizing our people’s safety and health.”

Alaa, our HR wiz, who is making sure everyone goes back to a safe environment, comments:

“Very happy. I feel like I’m taking the first steps back to my normal life, and I can’t wait to go back to a full sense of stability and familiar routine. I’m very grateful.”

We all are Alaa, especially since returning to the office, has also meant enjoying the new office for the first time. With the celebration of the new office, we have not overlooked the importance of maintaining social distancing, sanitation and wearing face masks.

“I’m really excited to be working in the new office and I’m loving the seating arrangements and design, and I’m definitely happier to be able to see all the new people whom we were introduced to and communicated with over zoom.”

From our newcomers, who have joined the team during our working from home period:

“I feel united with the family, and felt what Speakol is actually all about.”

“As a newcomer, I’m glad that I’m in the office soon after starting, interacting with the team better compared to doing it online. It’s easier to learn here than it is through zoom calls since my colleagues are right next to me.”

We’re all glad to have each and every one of you, and it’s definitely a pleasure to welcome everyone on board.

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, we thought a boomerang was worth a million. We asked our Publishers Relationship Manager how she felt, being back in the office after so long. Her response:

Well received Shorok.

It’s normal that with change comes a buffer period before finding a resemblance of “normality”:

“It feels a little weird after being home for so long and it took some time to adjust mentally and emotionally, but definitely way more excited to work among everyone rather than alone in my room”

“It’s taking some time to get used to the old sleeping hours, rather than waking up 10 minutes before our morning meetings, but productivity as a team is definitely clearer.”

It seems excitement and satisfaction have been all around during this first week back.

“The greatest thing of being back to the office, other than reuniting with my colleagues and having a clearer image of working hours – since working from home for an extended period of time can be challenging as the lines between work and personal time can get blurred at times – is being able to go back to our normal life again.”

“I’ve recharged my productivity and its a change from my home routine. It’s also much easier compared to online communication especially when it comes to designs work.”

Thank you to all those who have helped make the transition period smoother and safer for us all.

About Speakol

Speakol is the most extensive content discovery and native advertising network in the MENA and GCC region. Our technology enables publishers to boost users’ engagement and monetize their online presence and allows advertisers to target potential customers and promote their brands.

Speakol believes it is only as strong as it’s people. We are always on the lookout to infuse our team with new talents. If you are interested in joining the team, visit our Careers Page.