Has it ever happened to you that you check flights for some destination on Google and after you close the tab, hotel ads of the same destination appear on your social media? (Oh, the Internet is a stalker we assume!)
But, here’s the truth – advertisers using programmatic advertising optimize their ads based on their user behavior. Thus, reaching out to the right people at the right time. This way advertisers hosting ads to targeted audiences increase their sales because the sole reason is that they cater to what the customer exactly wants.
So, does it mean programmatic ads are just putting out ads based on your search? Absolutely not.
Programmatic advertising involves using AI, data analytics, machine learning and marketing tools and tactics to cater to customer needs.
This means providing a personalised experience catering to every customer’s interests and behaviours.
By applying programmatic advertising, brands give an extra nudge to their customer to make a purchase in real-time.
This way if one of your customers is in a consideration stage to try your product, you can play a captivating video ad on their social media to nudge your buyer into the delight stage. Thus, increasing your brand awareness and sales.
According to the Statista report, programmatic advertising costs have skyrocketed on digital platforms including social media, podcasts, pay-per-click (PPC), Spotify, and many more.
Programmatic Advertising the Smart Way: 4 Easy Steps
But, is bidding for the right ad space enough?
To be brutally honest, nope it’s not. Along with the budget, having the right strategy is important for you to make an impact online.
When you use the right marketing strategy with the programmatic tools, you deliver the message on the right platform to the relevant audience at the right time.
So, how does it work?
Programmatic advertising is an automated process of the algorithms that give you data to evaluate and bid for ad spaces that ensure where your ad money is best spent online, depending on who will see it.
And, how can you make it work for your business?
1. Make a Plan & Set Measurable Goals
Ahead of planning your ad campaign, like any other campaign, set goals.
Ask the right questions to assess the direction you must bid on.
Jotting down realistic goals and desired results will help you map out the success of your strategy.
Your plan should be a deliberately crafted vision of how your ad will accomplish a mission or goal.
Campaigns, content, channels, and tools, etc come together to execute your plan.
Programmatic Ad Goals: Possible Programmatic That Makes A Successful Strategy
- To increase the number of website visitors.
- Increase the engagement rate or clicks on your webpage.
- To increase brand visibility and awareness.
- Improve social media engagement.
- Increase the number of your followers.
- The hike upon product sales.
Therefore, set KPIs you can measure at the end of your campaign.
Fact: A report from Aptitude Research 2021 shows that programmatic ads for job seekers can be a highly effective tool for recruitment and talent acquisition.
This implies a good plan can help you use programmatic advertising beyond just products and services. But, to reach the target audience who desires.
If you find it difficult to come up with your goals, programmatic marketing companies can assist you in building your measurable goals.
2. Understanding Your Customer & User Behaviour
Know your audience and understand their behavior when it comes to engagement on social media.
To gain insights on this, you can assess users on the basis of the frequency they use social media, gender, age group, location, behaviour and interests.
Closely capture their likes and dislikes to build a digital customer persona that will help you resonate emphatically with your audience.
To make sure you make your customer feel heard, refer to market surveys, polls, and like/dislike questions to identify what kind of content will engage what kind of audience.
In this way, you can compare the data of the website visitor with the supply-side platforms (SSP) resulting data.
If they correspond, then place your bids for the particular advertising channel to reach out to your desired target audience.
Researching where your audience spends most of their time and how you can convey your message through programmatic ad campaigns will help you achieve your goals.
To throw light on the benefit of programmatic ads, take a look at this case study:
Amanda Foundation, a non-profit organisation in Beverly Hills, decided to use programmatic marketing for their adoption camp.
They were in search of a platform to reach out to the right people with these ads.
The advertising head of Amanda Foundation knew that every individual has different choices and lifestyles.
Determining which users will like dogs and the others who would be interested in adopting cats was challenging because of the extensive audience.
With programmatic advertising, they could play the matchmaker.
By dividing programmatic ads by lines of the user behavior/locations and likes, they were successfully able to run their adoption camp.
3. Craft Your Programmatic Ad Purchase On The Demand Side Platform (DSP) According to Your Preference
Advertisers use the Demand-Side-Platform tool to execute their programmatic ad buys and campaigns.
DSPs are of different ad formats and placements.
Buying a DSP catering to the platforms, types of content and objectives will help you automate the process of buying ad inventory from publishers and successfully achieve your goals.
To act on your programmatic ad campaign effectively, include buying ad spaces that allow you to cater to the demography and the type of medium you desire for your brand/product.
| Top 10 DSPs in the market: 1. Facebook Ads Manager 2. Rocket Fuel 3. MediaMath 4. Amazon(AAP) 5. DoubleClick 6. LiveRamp 7. Choozle 8. TubeMogul 9. BrightRoll 10. AppNexus |
At times bidding for ad spaces can get tricky online.
Do take the guidance of programmatic marketing companies to be 100% sure about the right path. At least for the first couple of times.
4. Your Programmatic Ad Content Must Be Straight Forward And Goal Oriented
The next step after setting goals and understanding your audience is to curate effective programmatic ads.
Based on your goals and the mood of your customer, direct them to the action you need from them.
There is no time for you to be subtle or beat around the bush.
Be direct with your audience about the purpose you’re seeking them out for.
For instance, if you want to engage your audience on your social media page, put up stories and posts telling them about what you have been up to.
Give them reasons for engaging with your page.
OR If you want to sell your products on Instagram. Run programmatic ads for your products and their benefits.
Make sure you curate ads depending upon the platform you are using it on.
Advertisers curate programmatic video, audio, posts, etc to build an innovative and engaging ad campaign.
H&M Programmatic Ad Success Story: Shop-the-Look Campaign
Instagram shopping ads are a quick way for businesses to sell their products online.
One of the examples of programmatic advertising you might have definitely come across is H&M’s ‘Shop The Look’ campaign.
By using this, buyers can shop the entire trendy look without wasting much time choosing or navigating the website directly via Instagram.
Helping buyers visualize what they would look like reduces their effort. Thus, making them purchase the product.
To give options for those who want to shop but wouldn’t want the same look, H&M also has a view shop button to easily access their website or app.
Similarly, many fashion brands use programmatic strategies to sell apparel online in innovative ways stepping up to their competitors.
Programmatic advertising makes the advertisers more effective and efficient with impactful results in this digital world.
Programmatic advertising provides transparency in providing customer information thus, creating more opportunities for brands to engage with real-time audiences.
By implementing these steps in curating your programmatic advertising strategy you will successfully achieve your desired goals as well as promote your brand on various platforms.
The rise of programmatic advertising trends has brought enormous benefits to marketers and ad efficiency in reaching the targeted audience.
It has made quite the impression in the field of digital marketing by leveling the insight of the consumer and transparency in the system creating more opportunities for brands to engage with real-time audiences.