Incorporating advertisements (ads) in your messages is a great way to partner with another organization; whether for financial gain or partner promotion, an ad can help develop your organization's business relationships.

In this article, we'll take a look at how to create and manage ads, as well as insert them into a message.

IMPORTANT: MD1 supports both image- and-HTML-based ads; MD2 only supports image-based ads.

Create an ad

Before you create an ad, we recommend first creating/choosing the image you're going to use. Here are a few things to consider:

Ad considerations

• If using Template Designer 1 (TD1), identify which Advanced Template you're going to insert your ad to (ads cannot be added to Standard Templates).
• Ensure your image's dimensions are appropriate for the location in your template. For example, if you're planning to display the ad in a right sidebar with a fixed width of 100 pixels, don't use an image wider than 100 pixels.
• If you plan to run a full width banner ad, a recommended width is 600—650px wide.
• Find out whether your image already has padding incorporated into its design or if the template's HTML needs padding added to it.
• Make sure the image file's size does NOT exceed 90KB and that its name doesn't have any spaces or special characters.
• Only use GIF, PNG, or JPG file types.
• Know what URL you want the clicked image to redirect to.
• Decide what folder you plan to store this image in.

Create an image-based ad

IMPORTANT: Image-based ads are supported in both MD1 and MD2.

1. Access the Admin interface.
2. Navigate to Messages > Options > Advertising.
3. Click Create at the top of the page.

4. Type a name for the ad.
5. Select a folder to store the ad.
6. Set the Ad Type to Image.
7. Click the Upload button to browse to and select the image file.
8. In the Link prompt, enter the URL to redirect contacts to when they click the ad.
9. Optionally enter text describing the ad (to be used in non-HTML messages).
10. (MD2 only) Set the Status to Active.
11. Click Save.

Create an HTML-based Ad

IMPORTANT: HTML-based ads are only supported in MD1.

1. Access the Admin interface.
2. Navigate to Messages > Options > Advertising.
3. Click Create at the top of the page.

4. Type a name for the ad.
5. Select a folder to store the ad.
6. Set the Ad Type to HTML Code.
7. Enter the HTML code to retrieve the displayed image from another web page (this is typically code you've received from a third-party, like the organization or vendor the ad is for OR from a designer in your organization).
8. Optionally enter text describing the ad (to be used in non-HTML messages).
9. Click Save.

Insert an ad in your message (TD1 & MD1)

Advertising has always been part of email marketing, and it's a great way to share information from your organization or your partner organizations. Regardless of your reason for advertising (finances or promotion), let's take a look at how to insert ads in your messages.

If your organization uses Template Designer 1 (TD1) and Mailing Designer 1 (MD1), follow the steps below to add an advertisement to a message.

NOTE: If you haven't already created your ad, refer to the Create an ad section above before proceeding.

Step 1 - Add an Ad Location Tag to your template

When inserting an ad to your message, the first step is to ensure your template contains an Ad Location Tag.

NOTE: Remember, ads can only be added to Advanced Templates.

1. Navigate to Messages > Templates and edit your Advanced Template.
2. In the editor, place your cursor where you want to position the ad, and in the HTML toolbar, click the Content Codes icon.

3. In the resulting window, click Location Tag in the Ads section to insert a location code.
4. By default, it will be %%AD(#)%%, but it must have a numeric value between the parentheses, as this is how the system defines the ad's location. So, change the # to an appropriate number (e.g., if an ad already exists with a 1, change it to 2, etc.).
5. Click Update to save your template. You'll see a preview of an advertisement location in the editor, like you see below:

Step 2 - Insert the ad in your message

While editing a message in Mailing Designer 1 (navigate to Messages > List and edit a message):

1. Click the Design tab.
2. From here, as long as the message you're editing is using the template you updated in Step 1, you'll see an advertisement location, like you see below:

3. Click Attach Ad.
4. Select your ad from the menu.
5. Click Attach.

Insert an ad in your message (TD2 & MD2)

Advertising has always been part of email marketing, and it's a great way to share information from your organization or your partner organizations. Regardless of your reason for advertising (finances or promotion), let's take a look at how to insert ads in your messages.

If your organization uses Template Designer 2 (TD2) and Mailing Designer 2 (MD2), follow the steps below to add an advertisement to a message.

NOTE: In the New Admin Experience, Mailing Designer 2 is known as Message Designer.

NOTE: If you haven't already created your ad, refer to the Create an ad section above before proceeding.

Step 1 - Add an Advertisement content block to your template

When inserting an ad to your message, the first step is to ensure your template contains an Advertisement content block.

1. Access the Admin interface.
2. Navigate to Messages > Templates and edit your template.
3. In the Structure section, drag and drop a Message Content block in the editor to the right (or edit one, if one is already in place that meets your needs).

4. Set the Content Type to Advertisement.
5. Save the template.

Step 2 - Insert the ad in your message

While editing a message in Mailing Designer 2 (navigate to Messages > List and edit a message):

1. Click the Design tab.
2. From here, as long as the message you're editing is using the template you updated in Step 1, you'll see an advertisement location, like you see below. Click the Add Advertisement placeholder and select your ad from the resulting menu.
3. Set the alignment for your ad (left center, or right).

4. Click Close to close the ad properties panel. You'll see your ad displayed in the message.
5. Save the message.

Create an ad image with Mail To

NOTE: You can only complete this process with MD1 and QuickMail messages.

Instead of redirecting to a URL after an advertisement is clicked, you may want to allow an email to be sent. This involves first uploading the image to the Asset Manager, copying the path to that image, and then creating an HTML type of advertisement to use with your messages.

Step 1 - Get the ad's image URL

1. Navigate to Messages > List
2. Edit any existing message.

MD1

1. Navigate to the Design tab and create or edit a story.

2. Click the Insert/Edit Image button in the editor toolbar.
3. Click the folder to the right of the Image URL field.

1. If the advertisement image you're going to use has been previously uploaded, select it and click Insert.
2. If the advertisement image is new, click Upload, locate and select the file, and click Open to insert it. Click the Insert button on the Asset Manager dialog box.

4. Copy the entire image path in the Image URL field.

QuickMail

1. Click the Insert/Edit Image button in the editor toolbar.
2. Click the folder to the right of the Image URL field.

1. If the advertisement image you're going to use has been previously uploaded, select it and click Insert.
2. If the advertisement image is new, click Upload, locate and select the file, and click Open to insert it. Click the Insert button on the Asset Manager dialog box.

4. Copy the entire image path in the Image URL field.

Step Two - Create HTML ad

Next, create an HTML ad that references the copied URL image address you obtained in Step 1.

1. Navigate to Messages > Options > Advertisements.
2. Click Create.

3. Name the ad and set the Ad Type to HTML Code.
4. Copy and paste the HTML below in the HTML Code field but:

1. Replace "INSERT SOURCE CODE" with the path to the image you previously copied.
2. Replace "INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS" with the email address you'd like to use.

<p><a href=mailto:INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS><img src=”INSERT SOURCE CODE” width=”IMAGE WIDTH” height=”IMAGE HEIGHT” border=”0”></a></p>

5. Create a text version.
6. Click Save.

Now, when a contact clicks this advertisement, they'll be able to send an email to someone at your organization.

Management actions

You can perform several management actions using the buttons above the list:

• Click Search to display a dialog where you can search for an ad. Click [+] to add a search criterion, and configure it with the available filters. You can click [+] to add multiple criterion, if needed. Click the Find button to initiate the search.
• If you've performed a search, click Reset to set the list back to the original view.
• Click Export to export the current list to an Excel file. This is a great way to share data with others in your organization. Keep in mind that exporting respects any search filters you have set, so if you want to only export specific ads be sure to perform a search first.
• Click Show Deleted to display any items that have been deleted (they're shown in red). If you want to restore a deleted item, mouse over its menu and select Undelete.
• Select one or more items by checking the boxes to their left, and then click Delete, followed by OK in the confirmation pop-up, to remove it.
• Select one or more ads by checking the boxes to their left, and then click Move to Folder to select a folder to move them to.

Manage an ad

To the left of each ad is a menu; mouse over this menu to access several options:

• Click View to see a full-size view of the ad content in a pop-up.
• Click Edit to update an ad's details.
• Click Copy to make an exact copy of an existing item with a new name.
• Click Report to display a pop-up showing the click metrics for an ad.

NOTE: See Advertisement Reports to learn about two ad reports you can run to view additional metrics.

• Click Delete, followed by OK in the confirmation pop-up, to remove the item.

NOTE: Click the Show Deleted button above the list to display any ads that have been deleted (they're shown in red). If you want to restore a deleted ad, mouse over its menu and select Undelete.

Folders

Like most content, you can create folders for your ads to keep them organized and easily manageable.

Click the Edit button above the list to the right to display a dialog where you can add, edit, and delete folders.

The folder you're currently viewing is shown next to this button, to the left. Click this menu and select a folder to display only its ads in the list.

Run ad reports

To learn about the ad reports available to you, see Advertisement Reports.