By TIM NICHOLS, EXACTDRIVE CO-FOUNDER
ELEVATOR PITCH
ExactDrive designed and developed its media buying platform to provide small- to mid-size ad agencies (and independent resellers too) with a media buying platform that provides a turnkey solution to plan, manage, traffic, analyze, report and optimize digital display campaigns for their clients.
PRODUCT/SERVICE DESCRIPTION
Online advertising, simplified. Difference-making online advertising campaigns require innovative strategy, leading technology, careful planning and insightful analysis. ExactDrive’s self-serve advertising platform and managed services team provides all four, making it easier for you to generate the results you want most. Our ad platform delivers online advertising solutions that make it faster and easier to reach more people who are ready to embrace your brand.
Our turnkey solution allows businesses to log onto the platform quickly and manage their entire campaign details, from specific online targeting to placement and inventory. This gives the client not just market-specific optimization, but also a tailored campaign for a specific budget.
FOUNDERS’ STORY
I worked at various startup and technology companies before realizing with my business partner (Eric Greener) that the online advertising industry was in need of a simple and high tech, yet easy-to-use, online advertising platform with offered managed services. From there we put together the right team and started developing and rolling out various online advertising solutions and services with very positive feedback.
MARKETING/PROMOTION STRATEGY
In regards to search engine optimization and social media, we want to continue generating high quality content on our website for our customers, visitors, and followers. In the past 12 months we have experienced more than 800 percent growth in our incoming organic search and social media related traffic. This has led to increasing organic leads 400 percent in the past year.
We plan to continue to invest time and effort into this growth opportunity. We also want to support team expansion by growing our account management and support team. This allows us to support our growing amount of users and resellers signing up for our online advertising platform. Continuing to grow our white label reseller reach also enables us to expand our reach in the industry and increase our foothold among leading clients and brands.
MARKET OPPORTUNITY
As online advertising becomes a standard channel for any business to reach and expand their customer base, the amount of money being spent on campaigns continues to increase every year. Although popular marketing strategies such as social media targeting campaigns may be considered to be less expensive than other media, the average cost per action (CPA) can be difficult to measure and may therefore not give the advertiser an accurate insight of the campaign’s actual impact.
Advertisers traditionally have very little control over online ad campaigns. This can sometimes lead not only to increased costs, but an overall lack of direction when it comes to determining specific targeting, inventory selection, and placement. We look to redefine the role of the advertiser to results in a successful, tailored campaign that aligns with their business brand, budget, and schedule.
HOW WE’RE UNIQUE
a) We built a simple and transparent media buying platform: As a result, ExactDrive makes Internet marketing easy, and that’s no small feat. We packaged our unique approach in an intuitive tool that helps automate your campaign.
b) Use ExactDrive to launch a campaign in no time: The ExactDrive self-serve ad platform guides you through the process of target selection, ad placement, scheduling and budgeting in a few simple steps.
c) Generate results, not regrets: Our ad platform includes everything you need to create and execute online marketing strategies that increase sales, attract new customers, and open new channels.
d) Buy in real-time: Acquire individual impressions as they become available, instead of paying for large buckets of inventory you may not need—or that may not fit with your brand.
e) Become a branded reseller: Exact Drive offers a white-labeled reseller solution so you can brand your media buying software to look and feel like it is your own. Leverage our ad platform to manage and execute your clients’ online advertising campaigns. The white-label solution allows you to create resellers as well as manage multiple user accounts allowing you roll this software out to anyone on your team.
BUSINESS MODEL
ExactDrive takes a percentage of the overall media buy based on the size of the ad campaign’s budget.
CURRENT NEEDS
More experienced campaign traffickers and more warm weather days in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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HEADQUARTERS: Minneapolis, Minnesota
WEBSITE: www.exactdrive.com
FOUNDERS: Tim Nichols, Eric Greener
INVESTORS: Bootstrapped
YEAR FOUNDED: 2008
TWITTER: @ExactDrive
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/exactdrive
