During your search for the best digital advertising strategies, “programmatic” probably pops up once or twice. This emerging media channel continues to explode in popularity. In fact, forecasts reveal that approximately 90% of digital display budgets will be processed programmatically this year. But what does that mean? More importantly, is programmatic advertising right for you?
What is Programmatic Advertising?
Programmatic advertising is the use of advanced software and technology to purchase digital media placement in real-time, deliberately, and effectively. Specific, geo-fenced locations, page context, and browsing history inform audience development. Simply put, programmatic advertising means reaching consumers at the right time with the right content.
No matter the ad format, keep the “content-first” strategy in mind. Analyzing hundreds of millions of pages, programmatic algorithms help identify which users demonstrate interest in campaign topics. Relevant content consumption translates into engagement and ultimately conversion.
Why Invest in Programmatic Advertising?
Efficiency and scalability! The biggest advantage of programmatic advertising is its vast ability to serve targeted ads. Programmatic targets intended audiences based on demographics, geography, online user behavior, first-party to third-party data, and predictive online behavior among other methods. In addition to having granular targeting capabilities, programmatic advertising has flexible ad formats from display ads to Connected TV to native ads and beyond!
Programmatic is incredibly beneficial for advertising efforts, but there are a few important things to consider before diving in:
- A multi-platform approach is key.
- Understand what exactly the technology is offering.
- Your creative content really matters.
- Speak the same language when it comes to measurement.
- There is no “one size fits all” solution. Transparency is key.
- Quality over quantity, always.
Winning Conversion Strategy
What happens when Marketing Doctor clients approve a multi-channel media plan, including programmatic? Conversions boom! One current programmatic campaign has converted qualified leads into thousands of appointment sign-ups for one of our national elective medical clients. All while maintaining major cost efficiencies.
How did we achieve this? In addition to targeting by intent and relevant content consumption, contextual ad placement across major media publishers plays an important part., tapping into a personalized online experience to maximize campaign performance.
Programmatic ads also allow us to geofence a specific radius, enabling us to retarget users after they pass through the area. For example, our media buyers converged traditional media and digital media by applying hyper-specific geo-radius capabilities to retarget users who drove past billboards for the same client.
No matter the ad format, programmatic is a critical touchpoint on the journey to conversion.
Programmatic advertising is an excellent tool–when used by media professionals with comprehensive expertise and experience behind them. Working with a media agency that can manage programmatic is an essential part of “getting with the programmatic media.” As efficient and effective as programmatic advertising is, support, guidance, and management from real-life media planners cannot be built algorithmically.
Ready to take your digital media strategy to the next level? Let’s talk.
