Tag: programmatic advertising

Programmatic Advertising: Adding Value to Your Buck

Digital advertising has evolved from the simple “spray and pray” approach. Today, businesses small or big, are investing in programmatic advertising for its focused targeting approach. The added value of being able to track every rupee spent, automated execution, and ability to modify the campaign based on real-time data are variables that have digital marketers relying heavily on programmatic marketing.

However, is programmatic advertising giving the business the bang for their hard-earned buck? Let’s explore…

Reaching the right audience, at the right time

While the traditional digital advertising campaign simply meant putting up an ad on online platforms such as Facebook or Google Ads, programmatic advertising means understanding which type of audience is driving your revenue, and targeting your ads at them.

You can choose your audience based on their demographics, interests, online behaviour, geographical location, kind of device used, and even the time that they usually are online. For example, if you’re in the online fashion business and sell baby shoes, you can set your programmatic buying to include advertising to users aged 24-32, located in Mumbai & Delhi, only between 9 p.m-12 midnight on Fridays-Sundays. Why? Simply because your analysis of your audience shows that it is urban women most likely new mothers in the child-bearing age that shop for shoes late on weekends after their chores are over. You can set your ad bids to focus on this profile.

Regardless of the kinds of programmatic advertising platforms you are using, even your CTAs are more effective and see conversions as you are targeting the audience at the right time of the day, a time when they usually make their purchases.

So, instead of spending let’s say, Rs.1, 00, 000 on reaching 1,00,000 online users, you are now spending the same amount to reach to 1, 00, 000 online users who are most likely to buy your business’ product or service. This adds considerable value to your ROAS.

This basically means that you are getting more than what you’re investing with programmatic advertising.

Seamless ad buying and campaign management

Value can also be seen in terms of time and effort saved, too. With programmatic advertising, time-consuming tasks such as bidding in real-time for impressions is automated through the AI. However, the digital marketer still needs to conduct routine maintenance, monitor the performance and analyse the results of the campaigns to make modifications.

With time and effort saved, plus getting more returns on your investment, programmatic advertising is definitely one of the most effective and efficient ways of digitally advertising. It is challenging yet rewarding, and allows the team to focus on more dynamic tasks such as assessing and upgrading ad campaigns. For businesses, it’s getting the most out of their marketing investment.

It’s a perfect win-win.

March 23, 2020
Programmatic Advertising: The Future of Focused & Efficient Marketing
In this fast-paced, digital world of instant gratification where there are a million products and services for the consumer to choose from but little time to browse, advertisers have had to innovate. Long gone are the days when a flashy generic advertisement for a fashion brand or breakfast cereal would do the trick.

However, AI and machine learning has made digital marketing easier and effective with ‘Programmatic Advertising’.

What is Programmatic Advertising?

In order for every stakeholder- consumer, brand owner, marketer, publisher- to gain something from this ever-evolving digital world, Programmatic Advertising has been developed.

Simply put, in this medium, the advertiser uses a software to buy ad spaces aimed at their target population, instead of directly contacting the publisher and negotiating with them for the ad spaces.

There are two types of programmatic media buying:

1. Real Time Bidding

Making its way onto the automated media buying scene way back in 2009, real-time bidding allows the advertiser to bid for individual ad impressions. This allows the advertiser to focus on the target audience it wants to.

This is how it works:
- A visitor comes on to the website
- The publisher puts up the visitor’s behavioural profile up for auction
- All advertisers targeting this type of consumer profile enter a bid
- The highest bidder’s ad is displayed to the user
2. Programmatic Direct

Here, the advertiser is guaranteed a certain number of ad impressions with a particular publisher. While the advantage is the surety of getting an ad space, the downside is that the advertiser may be unable to target the audience it wants.

Spanning only milliseconds, this whole process is completed by the time the whole webpage loads. The result is a webpage displaying relevant, focused ads for the visitor.

What makes Programmatic Advertising the means of the future?

Programmatic Advertising’s inventiveness coupled with its practicality make it a brilliant form of digital advertising. Here are 4 key ways in which it holds an edge over other forms of digital marketing:

1. Scope

Let’s say a digital marketer for a fashion brand wants to put up an ad. They can choose from a plethora of digital ad spaces spread across the web and scale it as well. They could be sitting in one corner of the world and running a campaign on another continent using programmatic advertising. There are no phone calls, waiting period, back-and-forth that need to be engaged in to get the ad out.

2. Increased transparency

Both, advertiser and publisher/website owner know the status of the ads in real-time. The advertiser can decide where their ads will play and when, and make sure their ad is not displayed next to inappropriate content.

3. Improved targeting

Programmatic Advertising enables advanced targeting such as displaying the ads to an interest group i.e. visitors who have an online history of being interested in your product (if not the brand), and lookalike targeting which means targeting visitors who share a similar interest profile as your best existing consumers.

4. Real-time insights

The data about your ad placement and performance such as click-through-rate, is processed in real-time. Digital marketers can take action based on these data points and change their strategy almost immediately.

The ease of use, enhanced audience targeting capabilities, and the average customer’s growing dependence on online ads to browse and buy their products and services, compels every digital marketer to invest in programmatic media buying.

A caveat for digital marketers

One core assumption underlying the effectiveness of programmatic advertising is that you and the publisher will have access to behavioural profiles of users (potential consumers).

With increasing government regulations protecting users’ online privacy coupled with browsers such as Chrome, Safari, and Firefox restricting third-party cookie tracking, digital marketers using programmatic advertising need to be holistic in their approach.

The future is here

Digital marketers are allocating as much as 70% of their budgets on programmatic ads. More and more digital marketers, globally, are building an in-house programmatic advertising team to lead the way in the field. If digital marketers wish to stay relevant and make their promised deliverables happen, they definitely need to focus on creative programmatic advertising.

The limitation of privacy regulation and online activity tracking notwithstanding, the digital marketing industry has a successful track record of modernizing and rising to the occasion. So, go ahead, invest in programmatic advertising with an open mind and a clear vision.

Keep checking this space to remain abreast of the latest in the world of digital marketing!
February 28, 2020
Top 6 Programmatic Ad Trends That Ruled in 2019

December 10, 2019
Programmatic For Branding: A Crucial Marketing Tool
Programmatic ad buying is the use of software to acquire digital advertising. Usually, the process of acquiring digital advertising is done by human negotiation and manual insertion orders. But with the digital revolution, it is increasingly being automated.

Over the past couple of years, it has brought about a new change in online advertising. That is why it is so crucial for companies to implement this into their marketing mix.

E.g. Hilton hotels stranded traveller campaign serves real-time location-specific ads based on fight cancellation data in airports. It serves ads to frustrated travellers if they are stranded at a particular place after their flight is cancelled.

How is it better than traditional methods?

Before programmatic ad buying, the trade of digital ads was done by human salespeople. This proved to be costly and inaccurate. Programmatic advertisement technology guarantees to create an efficient and economic ad-buying system, thus eliminating humans from this process altogether. Human work can prove to be inefficient due to a wide variety of reasons such as illnesses or maybe some personal issues. With machines, all these problems won’t be a hindrance.

Does this mean machines will substitute humans?

Well, not entirely. Using programmatic in place of humans does not mean it is one versus the other. What the company is trying to achieve will always remain the same. It’s just that the need for efficiency when it comes to branding is higher with less room for error. The modernisation is in the “how” of it all. That is where the disturbance is happening, and the need for accuracy arises. Over time, programmatic is being looked at as an intensely powerful tool in the world of marketing.

So how will programmatic make a difference to a business?

Programmatic advertising is seen as a conversion driver due to which it is possible to achieve highly effective targeting possibilities. Given below are a few ways to take your branding to the next level using programmatic:
- Putting the spotlight on top-bottom and bottom-top audience approach
As it is, programmatic is excellent at targeting the right audience. In marketing, however, it needs to be more client-specific. Top-bottom approach basically means keeping the client in mind, targeting the audience that visits competitors websites, thus helping you narrow down the target audience.

The bottom-top approach is basically picking the target audience and selecting and setting the budget accordingly. Utilising modern day techniques: the dynamic market is forever coming up with new techniques to find the best marketing mix. When a brand chooses to implement new features in its marketing techniques that is when a brand will be able to use programmatic to utilise its full potential. Double Click’s custom target audience feature lets you use a unique mix of keyword targeting, URL targeting and app targeting to build a powerful audience segment.
- Devote resources to creative development
It is crucial to be open to the idea of new supplier relationships and test out new ways of performing regular advertising. One should always keep in mind that creative development is a dynamic process and the brand should be up to date with its processes.

In conclusion, programmatic will prove to be the future of advertising and effective branding if utilised to its full potential. It is certainly an amazing tool for branding.
April 19, 2018
3 Effective Ways to Better Personalise Programmatic Ads

The policy of personalising ads according to a user’s preferences and transactions has been gaining ground over the last few years. But it’s essential to distinguish and draw a line between the truly personalised and being obnoxious.

With almost unlimited data at our disposal, it sometimes becomes challenging as to where to draw the line. Businesses think that the ultimate use of their advertising resources would be where they are able to send users unique content and messages at the right time on the right platform and in proper context.

What has changed is the scale of programmatic ads

While this was done in small proportions previously, it has truly gained an enormous traction in the last few months. The reason for its emergence is personalisation engines and way more digital marketing platforms. With ad blocking growing 41% year over year, it was imperative for the advertisers to bring something new to the table to counter it.

Silly things like blocking users who use the ad blocking software or trying new tricks to get around ad blockers wouldn’t be able to solve the problem. It is no wonder that some firms like the New York Times even went to the extent of requesting users to avoid the ad-blocking softwares.

How to enhance the personalisation within programmatic?

Programmatic personalisation strategy should be more than pure data and technology. It should enable advertisers to create more lasting and memorable user experiences, make messages more relevant to them and even facilitate effective conversations with their current and prospective customers. There are multiple marketing touchpoints which can be utilised efficiently to get the most output for the advertiser’s money.

1) Start with data

By carefully analysing data you can reward scintillating outcomes in marketing. By carefully examining the data, advertisers can progress to make more personalised ads and messages for individual users. The relevancy of the ads with unique users is of prime importance. The key for delivering the relevant media to users is through an efficient data analysing strategy.

2) Nothing’s more effective than real-time advertising

By providing unique content to individual users on a real-time basis sharply increases the effectiveness of programmatic advertising. A person’s shopping profile and a history based on previous transactions can be used efficiently to create ads based on his interest.

3) Technology is the key

Technology is one of the wheels along with data that can help solve the personalisation in programmatic. With the help of efficient, reliable and scalable technology, data can be turned into a value of enormous proportions. By helping to create stronger ties between you and the consumer, technology can be of the great essence.

Now is the time for companies to increase their share of programmatic with personalisation. The entry of big players into marketing technology has given this market a kind of buzz. Most of these players already have significant consumer data along with industry data. For them monetising this information for personalised advertising will be the next logical step.

November 3, 2017
How to Compete with Large Marketers When It Comes to Programmatic Advertising?
Digitization has been significantly transforming the world of advertising. Currently, numerous advertisers prefer purchasing automated advertisements (also known Programmatic Advertising). Unlike traditional digital buying, programmatic ad buying is effective, efficient and a competitive option. Moreover, it enables brands to interact with its target audience at the right time and right place.

Large marketers are making waves in Programmatic Advertising by outsourcing agencies that have access to the most-advanced advertising technology and marketing technology stacks. Such agencies also own a programmatic trading desk that takes care of programmatic media obtained by means of a bidding system that aims to target a specific set of audience.

Since large marketers are reaping all the advantages in the world of programmatic display, video, and native advertising, it becomes essential for small and mid-sized marketers to utilise the benefits that an agency partner can offer, so that they can take the right steps to balance the large marketer advantage. Now let us spark some insight on how agency partners can help small or mid-sized marketers compete with big marketers when it comes to programmatic advertising:
- Having Access to Bigger Data: Big marketers have accesses to bigger data which makes them more powerful. In programmatic ad buying, having faulty or incomplete data may prove to be disastrous. Correct and comprehensive data enables big marketers to make accurate decisions on bidding—ranging from search, and social media to video, audio and display media.
- Invest offline: Big advertisers adhere to the practice of investing offline. Big marketers while creating awareness about their brand also reinforce the same by presenting programmatic video or programmatic display to their consumers and target audiences. Unlike big marketers, it may not be possible for small marketers to make use of offline media. However, small marketers can take various measures such as retargeting, hyper-local geo-targeting at their physical locations, custom audiences, and using free media significantly to ensure that their consumers and potential customers who are receiving their brand messages are aware of their presence.
- Frequently updating advertisement creative: Big marketers come up with unique ad creative and also update them regularly, which empower them to bid more insistently. Small marketers may not afford to create or update their ad creative on a regular basis; however, they can practise affordable measures such as— making use of templates for designing a creative, where one can easily alter the image or caption by keeping the logo intact.
At the same time, small marketers should be vigilant with budgets considering the overall size and ability to allocate budget, wherever required. Though predictable budgets are highly preferred by marketing departments, it is quite difficult to predict budgets in auctioned media owing to the ever-changing bid-landscape. This requires the media-buying department to keep a close eye on campaigns besides managing the volume, ROI and budgets at the same time.

Last but not least, the ambiguity of programmatic should not intimidate small marketers. In fact, they should use it as an empowering tool to subdue bigger marketers who lack nimbleness. By being nimble and by leveraging the benefits offered by agency partners, small marketers can go a long way in counterbalancing the big marketer advantage.
October 12, 2016

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