Programmatic Advertising - Robots & Marketing

Photo by Andre Benz on Unsplash

what is programmatic advertising

When I explain the internet to my children, it’s easy to forget how fast our world has changed from my childhood. Years ago, the nightly news and morning paper reigned supreme to learn about local and national topics. Hard cover encyclopedias were still an effective way of learning a subject and were revolutionary in their own time. In college, I did all of my papers via online research, a concept previous generations couldn’t fathom.

In a similar fashion, marketing looks just as different today as it did before the dawn of the internet. Thirty years ago traditional media reigned supreme - newsprint, magazine, radio and TV held a commanding share of the marketing industry and were very successful. Today, the internet and digital marketing now hold the lion’s share of advertising as a whole, a trend we expect to only grow in the coming years.

As digital marketing has developed, so has a term that has confused many: programmatic advertising, or, the automation of ads. This topic has been an industry buzzword for some time, but is not easily understood.

why you need to be using programmatic advertising

At its core, programmatic advertising is effective, targeted marketing across the internet. In real time, ads are being tailored to users based on criteria unique to them, with robots making these decisions in milliseconds. This allows for brands of all sizes to effectively reach potential customers, in real time, for an effective price. To demonstrate the difference between standard & programmatic ads, let’s use a hypothetical example of a billboard which can target ads to drivers as they pass by.

We’ve all experienced billboards while driving, either in our local cities or on the highways. The traditional static board displays a message held in place, such as your local carpet company’s annual sale. You could drive by that billboard once, twice, or a hundred times and it would remain the same until the static image is replaced.

Let’s say that a new form of digital billboard was developed, which could cater ads to you as a driver, complete with recognizing who you are by your license plate. As you drive by, the ad would change from the previous driver to you, based on your interests, purchases, household income, car you drive, etc. Instead of having a static ad displayed the same for all drivers, the ad is custom to you.

In concept, this is what programmatic advertising is. Placing ads on a single site is similar to placing a static billboard ad; you are putting a general, un-targeted message in front of the site’s audience. You are hoping that someone visiting the site sees your ad, clicks on it, and purchases your product. Programmatic, by contrast, would take this ad and display it in a far more targeted format across demographics, geography, income, etc. This can make marketing dollars become far more effective by using a targeted, focused approach over a “shotgun” wide-audience targeting method.

how programmatic works

Ads are displayed on brand-safe sites and mobile apps, following the host of places potential customers visit on the internet. What makes programmatic so effective is that it “follows” users across sites they visit; news, shopping, blogging, etc. Repetition is key to any marketing strategy, and having your ads displayed multiple times helps the likelihood someone will engage with your brand.

Once a brand knows who they would like to reach, they can set the criteria for the ads to launch in a set area (say, Santa Clarita, CA). Once a user is selected, the ad will likely follow them to the news sites they prefer, the blogs they enjoy, the online videos they watch, and the apps they use. This can lead to ads which are more effective in capturing someone’s attention.

Make programmatic marketing work for you

Programmatic marketing is an incredible tool for modern brands. What was once a marketing guessing game has given brands the ability to effectively reach who they would like, driving down financial waste. If your marketing plan does not have this type of marketing built in, you should seriously consider doing so.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, however, there is no “magic bullet” to a digital marketing plan. An effective marketing strategy leans on a variety of types to drive successful metrics. Programmatic marketing should be a portion of your plan, but ideally will pair with another type (such as Search Engine Marketing). Given a world where hundreds of brands are vying for our attention, consumers are also looking beyond ads to make decisions. I always recommend that a brand include content development to their marketing, such as informative videos, blogging, or white papers. A content strategy alongside digital marketing can gain hearers in a noisy world. Set up a free consultation with us today and let us help you get started.