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Advertiser User Guide

Running targeted campaigns to the GCC automotive industry

Audience: Any Guild user activating the Advertiser Workspace

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Advertising is self-serve. Any Guild user can activate the Advertiser Workspace and launch campaigns across Community, Events, Tools & Reviews, Academy, Jobs, and Consulting surfaces. This guide covers activation, campaign setup, targeting, creative standards, billing, and reporting.

1. Activating the Advertiser Workspace

The workspace is a sub-profile any user can switch on — no separate role required. Start at /advertise.

  1. 1Open /advertise.
  2. 2Click 'Become an advertiser'.
  3. 3Complete the onboarding form at /advertise/onboarding — company name, billing entity, VAT details, contact.
  4. 4Submit. The workspace activates immediately.
  5. 5You'll now see Campaign Dashboard, Billing & Invoices, Ad Library, and Advertiser Settings in the navigation.

2. The Campaign Dashboard

Your dashboard at /advertise/dashboard shows active campaigns, lifetime spend, impressions, clicks, and click-through rate (CTR). Drill into any campaign for granular reporting.

Tips

  • •Reporting is near-real-time — refreshed every 5 minutes.
  • •CTR and CPC vary by placement and creative — see the benchmarks in Section 8.

3. Ad formats & placements

We support four formats across six placement pages.

  1. 1Hero Banner (728×90) — top of page, below hero. Best for brand awareness.
  2. 2In-Feed Card (300×250) — between content sections. Best for engagement.
  3. 3Sidebar (300×600) — right column on desktop. Best for lead generation.
  4. 4Sponsored Listing (full width) — in Directory and Tools pages. Best for product promotion.
  5. 5Available pages: Community, Events, Tools & Reviews, Academy, Jobs, Consulting.

4. Creative standards

All creatives are reviewed before going live (within 2 business days). Standards summary:

Tips

  • •Images: high-res (2× display), JPG or PNG, ≤500KB, no watermarks, automotive-relevant.
  • •Copy: headline ≤60 chars, body ≤120 chars, CTA ≤20 chars, no ALL CAPS, no misleading claims.
  • •Destination: HTTPS only, must match the ad promise, no auto-play audio/video.
  • •Prohibited: adult, gambling, tobacco, counterfeit, political, religious, malware.
  • •Full standards: /admin/ad-guidelines (shareable link).

5. Creating a campaign

Campaigns are built in three steps: targeting, creative, budget.

  1. 1Open /advertise/dashboard → 'New campaign'.
  2. 2Targeting: choose pages, roles (Dealer Principals, Managers, Recruiters, All Members), and countries (UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar).
  3. 3Creative: upload image, write headline / body / CTA, set destination URL.
  4. 4Budget: choose CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) or a fixed-rate package. Set daily and lifetime caps.
  5. 5Submit for review. Once approved, the campaign goes live at the next pacing window.
  6. 6You can pause, edit, or duplicate any campaign from the dashboard.

6. Pricing

All prices in AED. VAT (5%) applied at invoicing. CPM ranges by placement and tier:

Tips

  • •Hero Banner: AED 120 (standard) / 180 (premium) / 280 (exclusive) per 1K impressions.
  • •In-Feed Card: AED 80 / 130 / 200.
  • •Sidebar: AED 60 / 100 / 160.
  • •Sponsored Listing: AED 150 / 220 / 350.
  • •Fixed-rate monthly packages: Starter AED 2,500 → Premium AED 12,000.
  • •Volume discounts: 10% quarterly, 15% semi-annual, 20% annual. Suppliers: +5% loyalty.

7. The Ad Library

Your saved creatives live at /advertise/library. Reuse approved creatives in new campaigns without re-uploading or re-review (provided the creative is unchanged).

Tips

  • •Edit a creative and it goes back to review.
  • •Tag creatives by product or campaign for fast retrieval.

8. Reporting & benchmarks

Per-campaign reporting includes impressions, clicks, CTR, CPC, spend, and pacing vs budget. Export CSV from any report view.

Tips

  • •Typical CTRs: Hero 0.6–1.2%, In-Feed 0.8–1.6%, Sidebar 0.3–0.6%, Sponsored Listing 1.5–3%.
  • •Optimise for the metric that matters: CTR for awareness, CPL for lead-gen, CPM for reach.

9. Billing & invoices

Billing happens monthly in arrears or as prepaid for fixed-rate packages. Invoices are issued under your billing entity with 5% UAE VAT where applicable.

  1. 1Open /advertise/billing.
  2. 2View current balance, paid invoices, and upcoming charges.
  3. 3Download any invoice as PDF.
  4. 4Payment terms: Net 30 from invoice date.
  5. 5Update billing details from /settings/advertiser.

10. Sponsored content & newsletter ads

Beyond placement ads, you can sponsor a News Feed article (AED 3,500), a newsletter banner (AED 2,000 per send), a dedicated send (AED 5,000), a WhatsApp broadcast mention (AED 1,500), or an event (from AED 8,000). Contact the team to scope.

Tips

  • •All sponsored content is clearly labelled.
  • •Editorial team retains final approval over copy.

11. Compliance & cancellation

Minimum campaign spend AED 1,000. Cancellation: 7 days written notice. All campaigns subject to editorial approval at any point during their run.

Can I run an ad in multiple countries at once?+

Yes — country targeting is multi-select.

How long does creative review take?+

Up to 2 business days. Most are reviewed within hours.

Can I A/B test creatives?+

Yes — create two campaigns with identical targeting and different creatives, then compare CTR after 7 days.

12. Getting help

Advertiser support: support@themotorguild.com. For urgent campaign issues (live creative pulled, billing dispute), mark the subject [ADS-URGENT].

13. Worked example: 4-week awareness campaign

End-to-end view of a typical brand-awareness run for a regional supplier.

Worked example

4-week Hero Banner across Community + Tools & Reviews

You are a CRM vendor running a brand-awareness push targeting Dealer Principals and Managers across UAE and KSA. Budget AED 12,000.

  1. 1Day 0 — Open /advertise, click Become an advertiser, complete onboarding (billing entity, VAT).
  2. 2Day 0 — From /advertise/dashboard click New campaign.
  3. 3Day 0 — Targeting: pages = Community + Tools & Reviews; roles = Dealer Principals, Managers; countries = UAE, KSA.
  4. 4Day 0 — Creative: upload Hero Banner (728×90), headline, body, CTA, destination URL.
  5. 5Day 0 — Budget: CPM Premium tier (AED 180 / 1K impressions). Daily cap AED 500, lifetime cap AED 12,000. Submit for review.
  6. 6Day 1 — Creative approved. Campaign goes live at next pacing window.
  7. 7Week 1–4 — Monitor near-real-time reporting on /advertise/dashboard. Pacing on track; CTR ~0.9%.
  8. 8End of month — Invoice issued under your billing entity with 5% VAT, Net 30. Download PDF from /advertise/billing.
  9. 9Week 5 — Pause the campaign, duplicate it for a follow-up retargeting run, reuse the approved creative from /advertise/library.

OutcomeImpressions delivered: ~66,000. Clicks: ~600. CTR: 0.91%. Spend: AED 11,880 (within cap). Creative saved to library for re-use without re-review.

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