Programmatic advertising is one of the newest trends in the world of digital marketing. According to a report by eMarketer, 83.6 percent of all US digital display ads will be purchased through programmatic marketing.
What sways marketers and advertisers towards programmatic marketing?
Touted as the future of digital marketing, programmatic offers a more cost-effective, more efficient and faster digital media ad buying. Programmatic technology is all about automating the complicated process of traditional digital media buying.
In traditional media buying, advertisers manually search and buy media inventory from ad networks. Digital impressions are bought by ad networks from different apps and websites. They repackage them and sell to advertisers. As a result, advertisers have no control over where ads will be displayed and there is also a lack of transparency. Having middlemen in the transactions and being done manually, there is a high risk of human error. This process is unreliable, inefficient and can be frustrating.
With programmatic, ads are sold and bought in real-time bidding or Programmatic Direct through a platform. Programmatic allows advertisers to pay for impressions individually. But what’s even better is that programmatic platforms come with reliable, real-time metrics of your ad campaign, which you can use to strategically manage the campaign.
Benefits of Programmatic Marketing
This automated process of buying digital media ads offers a number of benefits that your brand can take advantage of.
Increased control and transparency
In programmatic marketing, advertisers get real-time data about where their advertisements are posted, the type of audience reached, and the associated costs. This level of transparency enables advertisers to make adjustments to optimize their ad campaigns to achieve desired results.
Real-time reporting
Real-time data measurement and reporting are vital in an effective digital marketing. With programmatic, you get an accurate picture of how your campaign is performing as soon as you launch the campaign. This can guide you on what changes to do to improve the outcome. In traditional advertising, you’ll normally need to wait until the end of the campaign to see the results.
Improved efficiency
The ability to track and measure the campaign enables advertisers to make optimizations and adjustments, resulting in improved efficiency. Since advertisers can control where the ads will be displayed and who will be reached by the ads, the campaign runs at total efficiency and optimum ROI. Furthermore, the process removes the middlemen and manual interventions thereby eradicating potential human errors.
More targeted advertising
Programmatic technology enables advertisers to directly and more effectively reach their target audience for any given goal. Some targeting strategies that can be implemented include contextual keyword, geolocation targeting, IP targeting, and re-targeting. A more targeted digital marketing campaign is a cost-effective approach since you won’t pay for unnecessary ads.
Wider audience reach
According to Statista.com, there are over 4 billion people connected to the Internet at any given time and this number is expected to further grow. Launching digital ads means reaching millions of potential consumers. While your goal is to segment and narrow down your reach, getting your brand across many audiences is also a good thing. You can also get useful data such as how many impressions were served, where they came from, etc.
Quality inventory
As the advertising world veers towards programmatic technology, high-quality inventory becomes available. More and more publishers are now participating in different programmatic marketplaces. For publishers, programmatic offers an exciting opportunity to sell their ad space. This means advertisers get better results with their ad campaigns.
Final Thoughts
Considering the many benefits of programmatic advertising, it’s not entirely surprising why this has become the hottest trend.
To maximize the programmatic technology, you need to choose the right programmatic platform. There are numerous programmatic solutions out there and each one offers unique features on top of the basic services. For example, War Room’s programmatic advertising platform Kedet gives you an advanced access to the advertising market thereby enabling you to make more informed decisions. A peek into the ad performance lets you make data-based decisions that are more than just “guesstimates.” Other programmatic solutions offer other advanced features such as a more sophisticated software or algorithm that adjusts the bids automatically, deeper and holistic insights about the audience, ability to create your own virtual private network, and programmatic premium and direct deals.
Choosing the right programmatic platform is a critical step in programmatic marketing. So if you are planning to make the switch to programmatic technology, make sure you spend time on this vital step.