If you are a client of ours or follow us on social media, you’ve probably heard us rave about programmatic advertising. You might recognize the term but not truly understand what it means. Today, we’ll be walking through the basics of what programmatic advertising is, how it works, and the benefits of using it.
What is Programmatic Advertising
In its simplest terms, programmatic advertising is the use of software to buy, sell, and place digital advertising. This process cuts back time and costs associated with traditional advertising. Now the machines and algorithms purchase display space for us, which gives us more time to optimize and improve your ads.
History of Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising is nothing new. According to War Room, the first display advertising was in 1994 on hotwire.com. A few years later, Google and similar sites became ad networking giants and had the ability to reach huge audiences — which was unlike anything ever before. Soon after, real-time bidding software was created, which connected supply-side and demand-side platforms to ad networks, and then finally, hyper-targeted ads were delivered.
Fast forward to today, and it is a widely used tool. In 2019, 65% of digital media ads were traded programmatically, with an industry price tag of $84 billion, according to Zenith Programmatic Marketing Forecast.
How it Works
As the programmatic advertising trend continues to grow, we’re thrilled to be a part of it. We make it possible for our clients to easily and affordably engage hyper-targeted audiences on primetime TV, streaming media, and the best digital properties on the web. No more guesswork and crossing your fingers in hopes that it works. But, how exactly does it work?
- 1. We build your audience. Using verified 3rd-party data, we are able to hyper-target ads to the exact audience you want to reach. Campaigns can be very targeted if they need to be. They can be filtered down to specific buying intents, habits, voting records, weather events, or hundreds of other factors. Most campaigns aren’t that specific, but building the right audience profile is key to increasing efficiency ad eliminating waste… and we are experts at that! Here are some approaches that we can take when it comes to targeting…
- Audience Targeting
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- • Demographics
- • Psychographics
- • Purchase intent
- • Online behavior
- • Household info
- • E-commerce
- • 1st-party data
- • Look-a-like audiences
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- Device Type Targeting
- • Web
- • Connected TV
- • Connected audio
- • Mobile devices and apps
- Geo-Tracking
- • 200+ countries
- • Regional targeting
- • City-level targeting
- • DMA targeting
- • Postal and zip
- Timeline
- • Campaign duration control
- • Hourly/flight times
- • Frequency of activation
- • Weather event targeting
- • Auto recurrency enable
- 2. We design your ads. We design your ads with your audience in mind. Our goal is to create an ad that will draw attention and connect with them! Our graphics have ranged from static banners to animated videos — all of which vary in size so that they appear properly online. Here are some general guidelines we typically follow and elements we use when designing…
- • Company name and logo – Whose ad is it? Brand recognition is so important.
- • A value proposition – What’s the purpose of the ad? Make a tagline that will catch someone’s eye.
- • An image, illustration, or video – What kind of visual represents what you do? A picture or video will almost always be the first thing someone notices, so make sure it’s high quality and relevant.
- •A call-to-action button – What should the audience do next? Tell them the next steps they should take and include a link that will further their interest.
- 3. We deploy your ads. Now that we know your audience and have the designs, we will launch your campaign using a self-service platform. However, before hitting the submit button, there are a few significant details to still work out like…
- • Objectives – What kind of campaign do you want to run? Do you want to reach the most people, be placed in a highly visible area, or get the most clicks?
- • Budget – How much money do you want to spend?
- • Schedule – When should the campaign run? What time of day should your audience see your ad?
- 4. We report back to you. We will never leave you in the dark about how your ads are performing. We have the resources and tools to monitor and report the success of your ads every month. Here are the three key metrics that we look at…
- • Impressions – How many times did we place your ad?
- • Views – How many times was your ad viewable on a screen of a member of your target audience?
- • Clicks – How many times did a member of your target audience click on your ad?
Benefits
Why are we so excited to share programmatic advertising with you? Here are the main benefits…
- • It levels the playing field for all businesses
- • It’s a modern way to use technology to win leads and grow your business
- • It is trackable for marketing budgets and avoids costly mistakes
- • It stretches your marketing dollars
- • It can stand alone or work as a component of a larger online strategy
Overall, programmatic buying is a highly effective marketing strategy that will get you results.
TM Can Help!
Are looking for a new way to streamline your promotional efforts? Programmatic advertising may be the solution for you. At Transformation Marketing, we will work with you to build your desired audience, create unique messaging, deploy your campaign within perimeters, and report the results back to you. Your job is to sit back and help your new customers as they roll in! To learn more about programmatic buying, call us at 402-788-2896.