Practical Tips for Programmatic Ad Buying
Digital advertising today is much different than just a few short years ago.
Programmatic advertising is the way of the future for those looking to acquire visitors and prospects and generate a response. Unfortunately, it can be a rather complicated process but is essentially the buying and selling of advertising (demand and supply).
Programmatic technology organizes a retailer's data, as well as second and third-party data, and layers that data on top of digital media buys for increased targeting capabilities. By housing all of that data within one centralized campaign management tool, retailers have access to learning that serves to improve media across all channels, better inform their messaging strategies, identify the best co-op partner prospects, and so on.
Advertisers that aren't buying programmatically now, will most definitely be doing so in the very near future. Consider the following as you begin automating your advertising buys:
+ Engage in highly detailed audience segmentation as it makes it possible to target with greater precision and relevance - the keys to conversion.
+ Understand why the audience buys and you'll have a better picture of how and when they buy too; properly track audience behavior and actions as they visit a website and check with your data management platform to see what insights they can share.
+ Establish formal goals and objectives, and track key performance indicators; while monitoring traditional metrics such as conversions are important, look beyond to increases in branded searches, social media engagement and broader business impact in general.
+ Invest the majority of ad budget in premium inventory and test periodically test new opportunities; ask programmatic partners which platforms and exchanges they work with and what, if any, ad fraud security measures are in place.
+ Take advantage of any data available - your own and that of 2nd and 3rd parties; combining your data layers will transform your targeting capabilities and help your campaigns perform better in general.
+ Ensure creative and messaging assets are relevant for the array of personas; consider using Dynamic Creative Optimization platforms (DCO). DCOs can drive better engagement by swapping out components of an ad dynamically, in real time.
