DoubleClick Search Academy: Make the grade with customized, self-paced training

Last week, we shared some digital marketing flashcards to help you go back to school, DoubleClick style (Take a look at our day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, and day 5 flashcards).

Today, we're helping you further your DoubleClick Search education by introducing DoubleClick Search Academy, an easy-to-use, self-paced learning path designed to guide you through core DoubleClick Search online help and training courses -- based on your role and how you use the tool.

We’ve heard from users that they need more customized learning based on how they use DoubleClick products. If you’re a trafficker, you might need a broad understanding ranging from the basics all the way to advanced features to maximize search campaign performance. If you’re an analyst, you might not need to know all the details a planner might be responsible for, but you might still like to know how conversion data is tracked and how to monitor day-to-day performance for reporting insights.

DoubleClick Search Academy includes these checklists:

• Basics for new users: Understand the benefits of a search engine management tool using our core curriculum, including DoubleClick Search Fundamentals eLearning and certification.
• Implementation guide: Learn how to implement a new DS account and launch a basic campaign.
• QA and troubleshooting: It’s not shop class, but you’ll learn all about QA’ing tags, troubleshooting common Floodlight tag issues, and more.
• Advanced topics: Become an expert by learning about advanced DS integrations and topics. Learn about formula columns, shopping campaigns, bid strategies, inventory-aware campaigns, and executive reporting.

Since DoubleClick Search Academy covers a lot of material, we’ve set it up in checklist format so you can track progress by checking the boxes at the end of each step. Your progress will be saved so if you have to take a break, you can come back anytime and pick up where you left off.

Whether you’re a freshman trafficker adjusting your search marketing beanie, an analyst on the Dean’s list, or a planner feeling like a 5th year student, you can find customized training based on your role to help you ace DoubleClick Search.

Go for extra credit and sign up to receive DoubleClick training updates in your inbox.

Posted by Justine Thomas, DoubleClick Search Product Trainer

Learn DoubleClick Search fundamentals: join an upcoming webinar

If you're interested in developing your DoubleClick Search expertise, try our online eLearning and certification, then join our upcoming webinars to learn more. Register through the Training page in the DoubleClick Search Help Center (sign-in required). While you’re there, you can also learn more about our latest product releases.

DoubleClick Search Fundamentals eLearning and Certification 
Get an overview of how to manage large search campaigns in DoubleClick Search. This online, self-paced training course is designed for new and current DoubleClick Search users who want to understand the basics of campaign management, reporting and bid optimization.




Review the material, test your knowledge, and print out your certification when you pass. The course and exam are now available in select languages, including Spanish, Japanese, German, and Portuguese-Brazilian – try it today. Register



Upcoming webinar: Using Analytics Data Successfully in DoubleClick Search – 3/11 
Join this webinar to learn more about Analytics best practices, analyzing Analytics data in DoubleClick Search and how Analytics integrates with specific features, such as formula columns, bid strategies and rules. Co-led with our Analytics trainer. Register

Pre-recorded webinars available 
In case you missed a previous webinar, check out the recorded webinars page in our Help Center – you might be able to find a pre-recorded session ready to watch. We offer numerous videos, including previous New Feature Trainings, as well as videos on the Performance Bidding Suite, Reporting, Campaign Management, and more.

For more DoubleClick Search training updates, stay tuned on the DoubleClick Search blog, or follow us on Google+.

Posted by the DoubleClick Search Team

What industry leaders value in a digital marketing platform

-- The following is cross-posted from the DoubleClick Advertiser blog --

A few months ago, we launched the new version of DFA - DoubleClick Campaign Manager - globally.

The launch coincided with DFA’s 15th anniversary, so we wanted to use this opportunity to hear from some of our longtime partners. Surely, the world has changed since the early days of DFA, 15 years ago. With new opportunities to reach consumers in more ways than ever, come many new challenges for digital marketers. And marketing platforms must continuously evolve to meet the demands of a shifting and ever-growing industry. 

We asked industry leaders Kurt Unkel, President of Product & Solutions at VivaKi, Megan Moldovan, Director of Platform Logistics at Annalect, and Angelina Eng, VP of Digital Media Ops at Carat what they value in a platform in this day and age, and how DoubleClick has evolved to address those needs. Here’s what they told us:

1. Efficiency, reliability, and simplicity are crucial to helping marketers streamline the campaign management process. Kurt Unkel said, ”What we get with DoubleClick that we struggle to see anywhere else is simplicity - the ability to integrate a lot of disparate technologies into a common stack. That’s something that really makes a difference in our business, because it allows us to focus on the bigger, strategic things.”
2. Marketers need integration across channels and screens, and to be able to track and execute across their efforts within one system. Angelina Eng notes, “When we talk about all of these different things that are coming out - verification, video, mobile - how do make that work all together? A company that’s embracing that is one that we want to work with.” 
3. Platforms must help marketers gain more actionable insights and act on them in real-time. “We have almost too much data at our disposal,” Megan Moldovan tells us, “and it can sometimes be hard to sift through all of that information and understand what it really means, and particularly understand what everything means when you look at it together.”

With DoubleClick, we are investing in tools to help your digital teams work more efficiently to maximize your results across channels and screens. 

In the coming weeks and months we will deep dive into many of the new product features available in DoubleClick Campaign Manager. Stay tuned to the blog to learn about the new tools that will simplify digital, help you engage across channels, and enable better decisions.

If you’re an existing DFA customer, reach out to your account manager about upgrading to DoubleClick Campaign Manager today. You can stay on top of new updates by following us on our Google+ page.

Dialing up better measurement: Announcing integration with top call tracking services

Today, we’re happy to announce new integrations that make it even easier for DoubleClick Search customers to track and report on conversions that happen via phone after interactions with search ads. Recent research shows that over half of smartphone users are taking advantage of click-to-call ad features from Google and others. In addition, around 7% of all mobile searches result in a phone call to a business, so understanding the impact of call data is important to analyzing and optimizing campaign ROI.

Ever since DoubleClick Search introduced the Conversions API, advertisers have been able to upload and report on the offline activities and conversions that make sense for their business, and take advantage of those insights in near real-time. Now we’re happy to announce official integrations with many of the major call tracking service providers in the US, EMEA and Australian/SEA markets.

Americas: CallCap, Century Interactive, Infinity Tracking, Marchex, Mongoose Metrics, ResponseTap  

UK/Europe: Infinity Tracking, ResponseTap

Australia/SEA: AVANSER, Delacon

We’re continuing to evaluate other providers for integration on an ongoing basis.

How advertisers and agencies benefit

Cramer Krasselt, an ad agency based out of Chicago, had historically used a number of tactics to measure offline conversions that resulted from their online campaigns. “We knew a lot of conversions were happening where the primary conversion occurs offline,” mentions Rocky Yost, Senior Analyst at Cramer Krasselt, “but we didn’t have an easy way of connecting it to our online campaigns.”

Yost continues, “Because of call tracking integration into DoubleClick Search technology, we now have one place to get reporting. And because it’s automatically uploaded into DoubleClick Search, conversions from customer calls are now also a part of DoubleClick Search bidding models. This integration has improved ROI by decreasing cost per click, giving us better positioning in search results, and in general, the bid management system is able to make a better choice because it has a more complete picture of completed transactions.”

Moreover, advertisers are able to see these conversions in near real-time, and can use the insights gained in both reporting and automated bid optimization immediately, instead of waiting 24 hours or more. As always, all reporting is aggregated and anonymous, and these conversions are not used to target advertising.

Continuing to invest for the future

We’re currently planning the next extensions of the Conversions API and offline conversion tracking. Stay tuned to the blog and our Google+ page for more.

Attend an upcoming DoubleClick Search training

If you're interested in boosting your DoubleClick Search expertise, join our upcoming webinars to learn more. Register in the DoubleClick Search Help Center, or through the links below. While you’re there, be sure to read about our latest product releases.

DoubleClick Search Fundamentals eLearning and Certification

This on-demand, self-paced training course is designed for new and current DoubleClick Search users who want to understand the basics of campaign management, reporting and bid optimization. Review the material, test your knowledge, and print out your certificate when you pass the exam.

Register

Once you're comfortable with the fundamentals, join us for one of our monthly webinars.

New feature release webinar

Stay up to date on all the latest DoubleClick Search features. This monthly webinar will review new features and updates launched over the previous month.

• Thursday, August 1st at 4:00PM GMT Register
• Thursday, August 1st at 10:00AM PT / 12:00PM ET Register

Advanced new features webinar

This webinar will review advanced topics to help automate key daily tasks. Topics include Rules-based automation, scheduled edits and Landing page testing.

• August 7th 1:30PM AEST (Australia) Register

Advanced reporting

This webinar reviews key advanced reporting features like formula columns, budget pacing reports, and web queries.  

• August 8th  at 4:00PM GMT / 10:00AM PT Register

Automating key tasks

This webinar reviews key features to help you automate and streamline key workflow elements including scheduled reports, scheduled edits, landing page testing, and DoubleClick Search labels.

• August 15th at 4:00PM GMT / 10:00AM PT Register

You can register for all trainings through the training registration page in our Help Center. Be sure to check the time zone to make sure you’re registering for the most convenient class.

And, if you can’t join us for a live webinar, we also make recordings available.

We hope to see you soon!