Author: Speakol

Speakol Celebrates World Mental Health Day

Today the world celebrates World Mental Health Day to remind us of the importance of being aware of how other people around us might be suffering from things we know nothing of, and Speakol celebrates with it.

Life is not always easy; in fact, for most people, it rarely is. It’s full of expectations & duties: duties towards your family, job, society, and even your friends and social life. When there aren’t any duties, there are problems to solve, losses to grieve, or simply the pressures of juggling everything at once.

However, staying aware of this fact can help alter our behavior and take us a long way. Our HR guru, Alaa Hassan, gives us a powerful note on how this matter is crucially important within the corporate world.

“This year specifically was a big hit to a lot of people’s mental health. Jobs were lost, families destroyed, and even lives lost. So much has happened in a matter of months. Whether you have managed to keep your job or not, everyone was locked up in their homes, unable to live a natural life, which made matters harder. There were many blogs and videos on how to make the most out of this experience, and thankfully we’re starting to come out of it, but it would be naïve to think that people are coming out of it the same way they entered.

As a ‘People Partner’, it is my job to care about people, to maintain a balance between having the business’s best interest at heart but even more so, our colleagues’. For me, even before COVID hit us, it has always been vital to notice the small details. I start worrying if I see someone is crouching or walking around the office with his/her face to the floor, or catch someone, who is generally calm, constantly fidgeting. I also worry if someone is typically outgoing and talkative, suddenly becoming silent and quiet; or notice a steady and gradual decline in someone’s performance, who is generally very hardworking and productive. I am not saying all these changes can be traced back to mental health issues, but I want to highlight that they could be signs; therefore, we must pay attention to these small things.

At Speakol, we incorporate awareness by adding “casual” leave days, besides our regular “annual” leaves, because we understand that there are days that are just more challenging than others to get out of bed and that people just need a breather. We are also aware of how hard our teams work, their dedication and commitment, and how pressuring work can get, which is why it’s important to constantly come up with ways to make people’s day. It can be as simple a gesture as providing everyone with morning donuts, or more significant and elaborate events such as frequent work retreats that help us all unwind.

It’s important to remember to treat employees as human beings with lives and difficulties, who have ups and downs. We should be mindful of this fact and recognize the signs when we see them, stay calm, understand, and act accordingly. We’re all part of one team, and we’re all working towards achieving the same goal.

I encourage every HR member to try and help their colleagues migrate back into the workplace, stay mindful of their behaviors, and be kind and understanding of their teammates’ personal lives and the challenges that they may be going through. Always stay kind.”

Speakol on Women’s Equality Day

The Women of Speakol Speak Out

A famous riddle:

A father and his son are driving and get into an accident, the father doesn’t make it, but the son survives and is rushed to the hospital. Upon arrival, the doctor says, “I can’t operate on this boy because he is my son”. How is this possible?

If you haven’t figured it out, the answer is at the end of the article.

Initially, this day was to commemorate women’s right to vote in the United States in 1920. However, the right to vote was merely the beginning of a movement addressing the oppression women faced within society. Women gaining the same rights, opportunities, and status as men is a fight that cannot be won by one group alone.

We asked the women of Speakol how they feel about this movement, especially in Egypt, what areas are more affected, and what needs to be done.

“As a mother first and an HR Business Partner second, I realize that it starts by raising my kids. I constantly teach my son to depend on himself and not expect the women in his life to “serve” him in any way, for the responsibilities are the same for both genders. As an HR person, I have to be gender-blind and give everyone a fair opportunity, seeing candidates as human beings not as “men” or “women”. Companies need to be mindful of women’s empowerment and equality. Management should never assume or think that women have more duties that would hinder their commitment or focus. Egypt still doesn’t enjoy full equality, but it is getting better than it was in the ’80s. Now we see more women as ministers, so I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

Powerful words from our HR Business Partner, Alaa Hassan. Hopefully, we keep moving towards that goal. We continue with a statement from our Branding Manager, Sarah Marsafy:

“Women worldwide have come a long way in terms of seeking equality. Still, I believe it is a work in progress. We, women, are not done yet; we work every day to prove our worth, capabilities, and talents. Therefore, it is inspiring to work with women, true leaders, who are constantly challenging themselves and their teams. We need to continue empowering women and granting them room to grow and realize their potential.”

And women continue to prove that there should not be a need to prove their capabilities in the first place.

“We’re still not there yet, but we’re seeing change. I think rural areas suffer the most; we need to raise awareness, organize campaigns, and educate the general public for equality to become part of everyone’s life. In Cairo, the situation is better, and people realize the importance of the issue. Parenting is the first step to achieve this goal. We have to treat our sons the same way we do our daughters and teach them that they get the same treatment, share the same responsibilities and duties. Companies have a large role to play; they cannot discriminate based on gender and discard all prejudice against married women and mothers, which we see a lot in Egypt. If there is a vacancy for a managerial position, it has to depend on proficiency and qualifications. We have to make sure we train and empower women the same way we do with men.” – Asmaa Alim, Sales Manager.

It’s not enough for women to support this movement alone, and our Chief Commercial Officer, Youssef Assaad, gave us a strong statement on the matter:

“Women equality is something that should have never been an issue, to begin with, and it’s not enough to support it verbally. It’s important to remember the word equality that men and women should get equal rights, opportunities, and, consequently, returns. But this is a fight women should not go through alone. It’s everyone’s responsibility to acknowledge the problem that has existed for a long time, and men have to make sure they stand firm beside women on this. Most of my team are women, and I can confidently say that my reliance on them and my acknowledgment of them have never been hindered based on their gender. Every day, they prove that it’s important to give women equal rights in every aspect of the business”.

Speakol is also very proud of its ladies in tech. Our Chief Technology Officer, Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah, shared his perspective with us.

“Women equality is an issue that should be addressed by society as a whole. In tech, we need to be gender-blind, and remove any bias or prejudice; we should grant equal opportunities, recognize talent, hard work, and perseverance. We should empower women and support them to realize their full potential. I am privileged to work with talented women, who are not just brilliant at what they do, but who are also leaders, and mentors. They are extremely reliable and hardworking and bring much-needed balance to the team.”

It seems like a long road, but one worth taking, and it can’t be achieved without a collective effort.

And if you haven’t figured it out by now, the answer to the riddle was:

The Doctor was the boy’s mother.

The Ultimate Payments & Billing Guide to Speakol

In this article you will be able to find everything you need to know concerning pricing and billing options and policies at Speakol.

Lets start with the basics,

CPC Pricing Model:

Speakol charges advertisers on a CPC (Cost per Click), CPM (Cost per One Thousand Impressions), CPL (Cost per Lead), and CPV (Cost per Video) basis.

Your CPC bid is the amount of money you are willing to pay for each click one of your campaign ads receives. You want to set a CPC that allows you to meet your performance goals. If the CPC rate is too modest, you will not be able to obtain the number of clicks required; at the same time, if the CPC rate is too high and you fail to secure the number of clicks needed, the transaction will fail to meet its purpose. The minimum required CPC value is $0.01. We do advise, however, that advertisers set a value between $0.2 – $0.70 to start. Speakol recommends that you start with a high CPC rate when you launch your campaign to ensure that it is competitive, which increases its visibility and subsequently increases the number of clicks. That way, you can have enough data to make informed optimized decisions on how to run the Speakol campaign.

Your CPM bid is the amount of money you are willing to spend for each one thousand impressions of your ad campaigns; CPV (Cost per video click) refers to the amount of money you are willing to pay every time a user clicks or views your videos to completion. While the CPL is the amount of money you are willing to pay for each time users are converted into leads or potential customers by completing an action on your landing page that may include filling in a form, signing up, adding a product to cart, or purchasing a product.

If you encounter any issue or have any questions related to your billing and payment method, you can easily reach out to the team in charge. You can either chat with one of our support team members on your dashboard or email us at [email protected]. However, Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we receive:

1. How to Unfreeze Your Account

What to do if your account is frozen? If the account is frozen it may be due to a variety of reasons including billing issues, or spending limit. Once your account is frozen, your campaign ads will not be displayed on Speakol’s network.

If your account is frozen, you will be notified via email.

Until your account is unfrozen, you will be able to create and edit existing campaigns, but none of your campaign ads will be displayed on Speakol’s network until the pending issues are resolved.

Why would Speakol Freeze your Account?

-Credit Limit:

If you reach your credit limit, your account will be frozen. To unfreeze your account, you need to recharge your balance for your campaigns to continue running. If you face any more issues, please chat with one of our support team members on your dashboard or email us at [email protected].

2. What Happens if your Credit Card is Overcharged?

If you feel like your credit card is mistakenly overcharged, please chat with one of our support team members on your dashboard or email us at [email protected].

If you do choose to email us, kindly include the following information:

1. Account Name
2. Company Name
3. Amount charged
4. Date transaction was processed

A member of the sales team will review the issue and contact you at the earliest.

3. Viewing Your Account Balance

As a prepaying customer, you will receive a statement at the beginning of each month that will show you your current balance as of the end of the previous month.

You can also easily check your available balance once you log in to your account. On the top left of the screen, you will see the available balance next to the Fund Button.

4. Requesting a Refund

If you believe you should be issued a refund for any reason, please reach out to us, chat with one of our support team members on your dashboard or email us at [email protected].

Our team will review your request, and get back to you at the earliest.

5. What Are The Payment Methods Available?

1. Online Payment: We accept payment in USD only to be paid through the Advertisers Dashboard.
2. We Transfer: We accept payment in USD and EUR.
3. PayPal: We accept online payment.
4. Cash: We accept payment in EGP, USD, and EUR.

6. What is our Prepayment Billing System?

Prepayment Billing

This means that you need to pay first before your campaign can run.

So, for example, if you pay 500$ to start, you will able to run campaigns with up to 500$, before you need to recharge your balance or add more money to keep your campaigns running.

Your account manager or local billing team will notify you when you approach your spending limit alerting you to recharge your balance when needed.

How to Set Up your Prepayment billing?

1. Once you log in, Press Fund to add balance to your account.
2. You have two options either to pay using Credit Card, or Paypal.
3. If you choose to pay using Credit Card, you will be asked to write the name on the card, and the amount you want to pay. Please note that you will be charged 2.7% credit card fee.
4. If you choose to pay using PayPal, you need to email Speakol as [email protected] first in order to enable this service. Please note that by choosing Paypal, you will have to pay a 5% Fee.
5. If your billing address is in the UAE, you will be subject to 5% VAT.
6. Once your payment transaction is completed, you can easily create a new campaign.
   

Changing your Payment Method:

You can change your payment method at any time.

You can easily add a payment method or a credit card.

Speakol’s Ad Review Process

Below are the 4 phases an ad goes through before being approved by our Speakol team.

Step 1: Compliance Check.

Speakol’s account manager checks and approves ads to ensure that policy compliance is upheld before publishing. This process usually takes place within 48 working hours.

Step 2: Content Review.

The reviewer checks the content, image, text, target, and landing page of any given ad.

Step 3: Status Notification.

Once the review is completed, the advertiser receives a status notification indicating the result and outlining the required changes.

Step 4: Revision.

In non-compliance, the advertiser can edit and revise the content, targeting options, or landing pages. Then, he can resubmit for approval.

Speakol Glossary

1. A/B Testing

A/B Testing is a process of comparing two versions of one different element while maintaining all other variables. This variable can include a title, thumbnail, or landing page. A/B testing aims to increase user engagement, leading to the ad campaign’s success.

2. Actions

These are activities that take place on the advertisers’ website; they may vary but are not limited to pageviews, sign-ups, or purchases. These Speakol Pixel tracks these actions and records them on the advertisers’ tracking page.

3. Account ID

This is the Speakol account unique identifier.

4. Account

Advertisers have particular accounts associated with their unique email addresses, passwords, and billing details. An advertiser’s account can consist of one or more campaigns.

5. Automatic Billing

It is a form of scheduled billing. Advertisers are charged an amount that has been previously settled on with Speakol. This amount is the budget that the ad campaign can spend before advertisers have to pay again. Typically, the billing fee is around $100.

6. Average CPC

The Average Cost Per Click represents the average amount of money advertisers are charged every time one of their campaign ads is clicked. You can calculate the average by dividing the total cost of clicks by the total number of clicks the campaign ads receive.

7. Brand Name

The text appears under the advertisers’ campaign ad titles or thumbnails within the Speakol Widget. The branding text informs users of the brand behind the article, which gives the product or website a sense of credibility.

8. Campaign

It is the advertisers’ ad campaigns. It is where advertisers can set their branding text, budget, and CPC, specify their target audience, and add campaign ads. The advertiser can have more than one running campaign at a time.

9. Campaign Ads

Campaign Ads are displayed within the Speakol Widget to be viewed by users.

10. Clicks

They are the total number of user clicks that the advertiser’s campaign ads have received.

11. Contextual Targeting

This feature allows advertisers to target particular publishers or websites interested in specific fields that their ad campaigns aim to promote. If advertisers settle on a particular content-type to target, their campaign ads will only appear on websites that present the same content. So for instance, if the advertiser has a beauty product, the campaign ads for this campaign will only appear on beauty and skincare websites.

12. Conversion

Conversion takes place once a user takes action on your landing page. This conversion can be a pageview, an email sign-up, or a product purchase, among other measures that may be relevant to you and your line of business.

13. CVR

Conversion Rate indicates the percentage of users who have clicked on your Speakol campaign ads and successfully completed a conversion. This conversion may include but is not limited to purchasing of a product, a pageview, or email sign-up. You can calculate the Conversion Rate by dividing the number of users, who completed a an action, by the number of users who clicked on your campaign ads.

14. Conversion Tracking

By installing the Speakol Pixel, advertisers can track conversions that take place on landing pages after users click on their Speakol campaign ads.

15. Conversion Tracking Code

Advertisers need to place a code on their website to track the conversions that occur after users click on their Speakol campaign ads.

16. CPA

Cost Per Action indicates the amount of money advertisers pay when users become new customers. By completing an action on the advertiser’s website such as filling in a form, signing up, or adding a product to cart, the reader becomes a lead. You can calculate a campaign’s average CPA by dividing the total amount of money spent by the number of actions.

17. CPC

Cost Per Click indicates the amount of money the advertiser pays for each click one of his campaign ads receives.

18. CPV

Cost per Video Click indicates the amount of money the advertiser pays every time a user clicks or views his videos to completion.

19. CPM

Cost per One Thousand Impressions is the amount of money the advertiser pays per one thousand impressions of the campaign ads.

20. CTR

Clickthrough Rate is a metric that determines the percentage of user clicks that your campaign ads receive. You can calculate your CTR by dividing the number of user clicks obtained by the number of impressions of your campaign ads.

21. Destination URL

Advertisers add URLs to directly lead readers, who click on their campaign ads, to their landing pages. The landing page can be a web page, a gallery, a blog, an article, or a video.

22. Impressions

It is the total number of times users have seen the advertiser’s campaign ads. Every time the advertiser’s campaign ads are displayed, Speakol counts it as one impression.

23. Landing Pages

When readers click on advertisers’ campaign ads, they are directly led to other pages, known as landing pages. There is no doubt that the more engaging the landing page is, the easier it will be for users to navigate it. Readers, who like advertisers’ landing pages, are more likely to turn into potential leads.

24. Pageviews

This metric, known as Pages Per Vist, indicates the number of pages a reader surfaces after they click on advertisers’ campaign ads.

25. Prepayment Billing

This type of billing necessitates that advertisers pay a certain amount before Speakol can run their ad campaigns. For instance, if an advertiser pays $100, he will be able to run his campaigns with $100 worth of services before making another payment to keep his campaigns operating.

36. ROI

Return on Investment is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment. You can calculate the ROI by dividing the net profit with the total investment multiplied by 100.

31. Spending Limit

It indicates the budget advertisers set for their campaigns. It is the maximum amount advertisers are willing to spend over a selected period of time monthly or otherwise for their campaigns.

32. Spent

It is the total budget spent on advertisers’ ad campaigns over a selected period of time.

33. Thumbnail

It is the image that appears above a title within the Speakol widget.

34. Title

It is the text that appears under a thumbnail within the Speakol widget.

35. URL Parameters

Speakol Pixel offers an advanced tracking tool that helps monitor users’ activity after they have clicked on advertisers’ campaign ads. These URL parameters demonstrate valuable information that reflects users’ behavior once they have clicked on Speakol campaign ads.

36. Video Views

This indicates the number of videos a user watches after he/she clicks on your campaign ad.

37. Viewable Impressions

This indicates the total number of times the users view the advertisers’ campaign ads. Each time a campaign ad is on the screen for 1 sec (per MRC standards), it is calculated as one impression.

38. vCPM

Viewable Cost per Thousand Impressions indicates the amount of money advertisers pay per one thousand viewable impressions of their campaign ads. For instance, if your vCPM is $0.25, you have paid $0.25 for every 1,000 viewable impressions of your campaign ads.

39. vCTR

Viewable Click-through Rate indicates the percentage of users who actively clicked on the advertisers’ campaign ads that were displayed. You can calculate the Viewable CTR by dividing the number of clicks of your campaign ads by the number of viewable impressions of your campaign ads.

Native Advertising, Simply Put.

A simple & 5 min read into what native advertising is and why it’s the latest trend for those looking to sell more and grow their business.

This article has three main parts to describing native advertising:

What it is. How it Works. The Money part.

What is it?

To jump right into it, native advertising is a “non-disruptive” way to sell your products or services by reaching people who are more likely interested in engaging with your advertisement. You have a business idea, a product or service, you’re a small firm or a large well-established business, in any case, you want to sell more, strengthen your market position, increase your brand awareness and ultimately, grow.

Historically, advertising was probably the most efficient way to do that. You want your business to reach as many people as possible, but more accurately, as many interested people as possible, and that’s what we call a qualified lead. Someone who has an interest in buying your product or signing up for your service, as well as the ability to. Even after reaching as many qualified leads as you can, you now face the harder step of converting those leads into customers, and that percentage is what we call conversion rates.

So how do you stand out? Yes, the internet has given way for advertising to reach billions of people around the globe, but the excitement of this advantage has also lead to “disruptive advertisements”. When you’re trying to watch a video on YouTube, or clicking on content you want to view, or even scrolling through an article, you’re bombarded with pop up advertisements that ‘disrupt’ your feed and dis-engages you with what you originally are trying to watch. As a result, more often than not, you probably feel annoyed and just skip the ad or try to get it out of your face as soon as you can without really giving it a chance, even if in reality, this could be a product or service you would be interested in investing it. So there’s a lot of lost opportunities for advertisers because of this.

Hence, the newest adaptation and advertising solution, native advertising.

To put it simply, instead of popping up in your face, the native method is to place ads on widgets, located somewhere on the page you’re viewing in a way that doesn’t disrupt you, on the contrary, it’s listed under “recommended for you”, or “more like this”, or even “more articles you might be interested in”. The point is, your product is now given a fair chance to actually be viewed. Then comes the targeting bonus. If you’re selling a beauty product or service for example, advertising it on a fashion or cosmetics website would usually mean that the millions of viewers going to that website on their own, are probably people who already have an interest towards your content, apply this to anything. At the core of it, native advertising is a way of advertising your product so that it looks like a part of the page you’re viewing it on. Yes, it’s a paid advertisement, but it doesn’t look like that because the widgets and the content advertised in those widgets are both relevant to the platform, as well as designed to blend in with the look and feel of it.

With this, you:

1) Reach millions of viewers every month.

2) Know they are potentially interested since your product is placed on a relevant platform that they are visiting from their own accord.

3) Give your product a chance to be considered because it does not disrupt them, knowing that they freely chose to learn more about you.

Great, so now you know what it is, here’s how it works.

First off, you have to define your target audience, the more accurate the better. Then you need to start creating attractive visuals (picture of video) and come up with engaging captions and titles that also blend in with your product and the platform. After that, its important to link your ad to an aesthetically pleasing and engaging landing page that has all the information a qualified customer needs, as well as a Call to Action (CTA) or submission form to fill out, and a way to reach you. Try to keep it short, sweet and effective.

But how is all this financed? This is the money part.

Basically, publishers agree to have a third party (such as a native ad agency like Speakol) include widgets on their platform, be it a website or application. These widgets contain the ads that you create, whenever a viewer clicks on an ad for example, the publisher receives a certain fee. We’re talking cents, but imagine the thousands of clicks that happen, these cents add up pretty quick and pretty fast to very large numbers. This is what we call Cost per Click (CPC) and is more relevant when you’re goal is to drive conversion rates by having people directed to your linked landing page.

There are other metrics and ways of financing it, such as Cost per Impression (CPM), charged based on how many times your ad was viewed, if your goal is brand awareness. Cost per View (CPV), is you’re launching a video ad and have a goal of wanting your video ad viewed by as many people as possible. As well as Cost per Lead (CPL). Of course, your money comes from your increased sales (and hence, revenue) when these qualified leads are converted into customers, helping you increase your return on investment (ROI) from paying money to launch these ad campaigns.

Account Managers at Speakol are always available to help guide you on best practices, from how to make your ads more engaging, to how to optimize your spending and budget, as well as how to target your ads to the right people, making sure you’re return, is always higher than your investment.

In a new age of advertising, companies all over the world are realizing the value of native advertising, you’ve already been subjected to it by companies such as Facebook or Google, and you might not even be aware of it, & that’s the beauty in it.

So, does all this sound interesting to you? If so, then jump onto the latest advertising solution and join Speakol, the leading AdTech company in the MENA region for native advertising and content recommendation. With the most extensive and premium publishers network in the region, expanding to over 400 websites and applications, we’ll make sure your business starts seeing the growth it deserves, targeting any country or industry you need. With partners and advertisers from every country, industry and background there is.

What are you waiting for? Don’t believe it?

Note from the CEO: Speakol in 2020!

As 2020 draws to an end, we look back at the year’s challenges to learn from our setbacks and plan for the future. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world by storm, devastating many companies and affecting many industries, which led to many people losing their jobs, companies, and businesses. To them, our hearts go out. Despite the pandemic’s catastrophic effect, Speakol was able to rise and grow.

As more people started to work remotely and spend more time online, whether reading the news or socializing on various social platforms, businesses had to pivot and address customers on the digital platforms they were using. Nothing could serve marketers better than native advertising; it enables them to promote their products and services in a non-disruptive manner to interested customers who are more likely to engage with the ads. In 2020 alone, Speakol had more than 5500 active campaigns with more than 12 billion impressions securing over 81.5 million clicks and an astounding 0.7% CTR.

Believing in the power of native advertising and the importance of performance-based marketing, we are committed to serving advertisers, publishers, and users alike. We have noticed the importance of optimization and quality performance to advertisers and their need for specialized products during the last year. In response, we are constantly working on broadening our portfolio to acquire more specialized content websites to diversify our network and cater to various industries to serve the ever-increasing number of different advertisers. To sharpen our targeting, we will employ AI to better relate Arabic content and enhance content discovery to improve the user experience and address the gap in the Arabic content market. The precise targeting options will further enable advertisers to pinpoint their desired target audiences, allocate their resources more efficiently, and continuously optimize towards achieving higher ROI.

The MENA region has only witnessed the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full potential of native advertising. The more technology permeates our lives, the more native advertising will boom. Users will continue to engage less and less with disruptive ads, especially as their attention spans continue to decrease; they will be more inclined to interact with video ads and non-disruptive ads that fit well with the look and feel of the content they are viewing and relevant to their interests and preferences. Native ads will continue to develop to adapt with the ever-evolving media outlets and mediums; for instance, as mobile phones have taken over our lives, we will develop integrated means to provide relevant content and ads that would be sent directly to their phones, based on their chosen preferences and relevancy. The biggest goal will be to provide the most personalized user experience that caters to individual preferences and interests, where content and ads co-exist.

Mahmoud Talaat

CEO of Speakol

Speakol DMCC, the Egyptian Tech Giant, Joins the Global Initiatives to Stop Cyber Crimes and Increase Transparency and Trust in the Digital Advertising Industry

Speakol cements its position as the leading native advertising and content recommendation platform in the GCC and MENA region by joining IAB Europe and TAG. – June 2021.

(Dubai, UAE) – Speakol DMCC, the region’s leading native advertising and content recommendation platform, is proud to announce its approved status as a Native Advertising Platform to join IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework and Trustworthy Accountability Group. This is a testament to the company’s longstanding commitment to increasing transparency, building trust in the native advertising industry, and providing the best global standards, strengthening Speakol’s aim of expanding its trusted global publisher’s network and solidifying its leading role in the industry.

Speakol DMCC proudly announced its approved status by IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework. Launched in April 2018, IAB is designed to help all parties in the digital advertising chain comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ePrivacy Directive when processing personal data. The Framework collaborates with other organizations and professions to provide transparency to consumers about how, and by whom, their personal data is processed enabling users to express choices. The TCF also notifies advertisers ahead of time whether their own or their partners’ transparency and consent status and allows them to lawfully process personal data for online advertising and related purposes. In addition, the TCF guarantees that publishers can continue to monetize through native advertising while maintaining and protecting consumer privacy.

Speakol DMCC also announced completing the “Verified by TAG” process. Trustworthy Accountability Group is the leading global certification program fighting criminal activity and increasing trust in the digital advertising industry. It aims to eliminate fraudulent traffic, combat malware, prevent Internet piracy, promote greater transparency in digital advertising, and ensure brand safety. It connects industry leaders, analyzing threat intelligence, and sharing best practices.

As a company, Speakol DMCC is invested in ensuring brand safety and considers the IAB and TAG certifications as crucial milestones to guarantee transparency and build trust. Speakol is a 100% Egyptian company established in 2016. The company prides itself on being a homegrown company thriving on its leaders’ vision and its dedicated team’s hard work. In a record time, the company transformed from a local native advertising platform to an industry giant earning the trust and recognition of regional and global advertisers and publishers. Currently 5 years after its foundation, Speakol proved an impressive increase in revenues of 180% YTD in 2021.

Speakol’s in-house built technology parallels and exceeds that of all its competitors; it sets the pace for the industry, acquiring the largest portion of the market share of 46.6% of all monthly unique internet users in the MENA region. Employing the latest technological standards, Speakol earned the international community’s recognition, growing its scope and expanding all over the globe. Its extensive network includes more than 500 premium websites and thousands of advertisers serving more than 150 million unique monthly users and generating a massive 1.5 billion monthly ad impressions.

Mahmoud Talaat, Speakol’s founder and current CEO, expands that “ever since the company’s inception, we have strived to carve a place for ourselves in this industry believing that content recommendation and native advertising offer the best solutions to marketers, publishers, and end-users. We offer the highest eCPM in the region. We are proud of the expansion of our network and confident that these new and formidable partnerships are major steps in maximizing our market share and cementing our position. We are committed to offering the best service to all our partners”.

About Speakol:

Speakol prides itself on being a native advertising and content recommendation platform. Our in-house built technology and the AI implementation allow marketers and publishers to thrive and grant users access to the most personalized content and non-disruptive ads that correspond to their interests. Our network includes more than 500 premium publishers across the globe. Advertisers use Speakol to access our top-notch targeting options, advanced ad customization preferences, detailed reports, and campaign insights to better promote their services and products. While publishers collaborate with us to monetize the traffic and inventory of their websites or applications and drive engagement to their platforms. We collaborate with the region’s top publishers, including AlMasrsry ElYoum, Masrawy, YallaKora, Elconsolto, Sabq, Ajel, Okaz, Times of Oman, Khaleej Times, MSN Arabia, and CNN Arabia.

Learn more about us at www.speakol.com.

Evaluate & Enhance: How to Improve Campaign Performance?

To benefit the most out of your Speakol Ad campaigns, you must regularly evaluate and enhance them.  By continuously assessing your performance, you will be able to introduce new positive modifications that will see your campaigns thrive. 

To find out how you can improve the performance of your Speakol campaign, check our list of optimization recommendations. 

1. Define your Goals: 

• Before you launch your campaign, you must set clear, achievable goals. You need to define the purpose of your campaign and what exactly it is you mean to accomplish. It is also imperative to specify your target users; this will help you better direct your campaign and ensure that you reach out to the right audience. This organized planning will direct the flow of your work and will massively influence how you create your ad titles, ad Images, and your landing pages. Likewise, this will allow you to choose the most appropriate publisher websites, countries, ad types you want to release, and the platforms you want to target. Based on your goals, you will also be able to set a budget and settle on the appropriate rate of CPC (cost per click), CPM (cost per thousand impressions) or CPV (cost per video view).

2. Constantly Assess The Efficiency of your Campaign Variables:

• Throughout your campaign, it is quite useful to initiate an A/B testing from time to time. A/B testing is a critical technique employed to maximize the efficiency of your campaign. It means testing two or more options while maintaining one variable at a given time. This procedure aims to find options that will improve the performance of your campaign and increase your ROI (Return On Investment), whether it is based on short-term conversions, long-term customer loyalty, or other parameters.
• Acknowledging the value of A/B tests, we recommend that you choose a single campaign variable to test at any given time. Among the testable variables are ad titles, ad images, landing pages, locations, and platforms. You can run your test at a minimum of 7 days (1 week) so that you can have enough data to analyze. Based on the report, you can set more optimized strategies to enhance your Speakol campaign. We do recommend testing different variables from time to time to ensure the best results for your campaigns. 

3. Utilize the Speakol Pixel: 

• To optimize your marketing campaigns and increase your CPL (cost per lead), it is fundamental that you employ and utilize the Speakol Pixel code. Once users perform a specific action on your website, the Speakol Pixel is activated and automatically reports this action to help you better understand and build your custom audience, as well as enable you to measure the impact and return on ad spend.
• To ensure the best optimization of your resources, we deem it necessary that you implement and utilize the Speakol Pixel hand in hand with your own tracking tools. The Speakol Pixel not only aims to drive better performance through data-based optimization, but it also allows the tracking of conversion rates and values. Once users take the desired actions such as purchasing a product, viewing a page, or signing up, conversion occurs. This feature allows you to track this conversion to determine whether Speakol is positively influencing your numbers by monitoring conversions that take place after users click on your campaign items.

4. Promote Highest Performing Campaign Ads:

Once a campaign is launched, you will have the chance to assess the performance of your campaign ads. In order to make an informed decision regarding those ads, you need to consider a few KPIs including CTR (clickthrough rate), conversion rates,  CPA (cost per action), as well as CPC (cost per click).

• CTR (Clickthrough Rate), which measures the percentage of users who clicked on your campaign ads, is an essential measuring tool to verify the effectiveness of your campaigns. It is also a determining factor that, if high, guarantees a good standing in Speakol’s widget.  The recommended CTR is 1% or above to ensure the highest performance of your ad campaigns. 
• CPC (Cost Per Click) is the amount you are willing to pay every time a user clicks on one of your campaign ads. Assuming many people will view your campaign ads, you will only be required to pay when someone actively clicks on them.  You want to set a CPC that allows you to meet your performance goals. If the CPC is too low, you will not be able to obtain the number of clicks required; at the same time, if the CPC is too high and you fail to secure the number of clicks required, this ad will fail to meet its purpose. Still, Speakol recommends that you start with a high CPC  when you launch your campaign to ensure that it is competitive, which increases its visibility and subsequently increases the number of clicks. That way, you can have enough data to make informed optimized decisions on how to run the Speakol campaign.

5. Set a Budget that Works for you: 

• Having a substantial budget is highly recommended, for it will allow you to garner enough data to make informed decisions, which will subsequently improve the performance of your campaigns.  
• We do recommend that you balance your budget and do not spend it all too quickly without first assessing the performance of your campaign. Otherwise, you risk running out of money, losing your edge, and incurring more financial burdens due to the rise of the CPL rate. 
• Daily budget and end date have an impact on campaign performance and may affect the results of your campaign especially if your goal is to convert leads.

6. Be Unique: 

• Avoid repeating adsets with the same titles, images, or target groups. This will prevent you from compiling accurate data and achieving good results. 
• Pick different ad titles and ad images from those publicized by your competitors or advertisers, who are promoting the same product, to ensure that you reap maximum profit from your campaigns.

7. Widen Your Scope to Optimize Your Reach:

• By choosing to promote your ads across Speakol’s publisher network, you will be granted a comprehensive overview of the work dynamics of the system and how you fit into it. Based on data-driven information, you will be able to optimize and make informed decisions. Then, you can choose appropriate publishers where your campaign can thrive. 

Your Return on Investment (ROI)

Understanding your ROI and how to calculate it.

Once you launch your Speakol campaign, you must regularly review your campaigns’ performance. You need to constantly assess which campaign ads, platforms, targeted locations, and publishers drive the highest ROI.

What is ROI?

Return on Investment is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment. It measures and points out the gain or loss generated on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. ROI is usually expressed as a percentage.

For instance, let’s assume Speakol helps you sell 50 items that cost around $50 to produce and are sold for $100; you spend about $500 for advertisement. So your total cost is $5500, and your revenue is $7,5000. To calculate your ROI, you need to subtract your income from the total cost and then divide it by total cost; in this case, your ROI will amount to 36%. So for every $1 you spend, you will gain $1.36.

We offer you Comprehensive Reports

Speakol has created a sophisticated reporting service to help you optimize and drive the highest ROI possible based on precise insight. If you notice that users are using their mobile devices more often, you need to target mobiles rather than desktops. If you observe that particular countries are purchasing more than others, you should widely target these countries, or enhance your campaign items to retarget your desired locations.

There are several means by which you can optimize the ROI of your ad campaigns, including:

1. Run creative A/B tests to examine which combinations of titles and thumbnails can drive the best results.
2. Modify and adjust your budget and CPC.
3. Vary your targeting options to find out where your best-performing customers are.
   

Tip:

Speakol advises you to allow a campaign to run for a minimum of seven days before altering or modifying any parameters. This is crucial to ensure that your campaign has enough data to make informed decisions regarding the campaign’s optimization.