In 2018, programmatic advertising accounted for 73% of digital ad spending in the United States. And it’s only expected to grow in popularity. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) predicts that programmatic will reach $172 billion this year, representing 87% of total ad spend.

But many brands don’t know how to harness these new opportunities or even where to start when considering their programmatic strategies. In order to achieve maximum results from their programmatic efforts, brands must understand how to best leverage the technology that’s available.

They need a complete data strategy that includes first-party and third-party data so they can target consumers who have engaged with them directly as well as those who have shown interest based on their behavioural patterns alone

Programmatic advertising is a process that involves real-time bidding on ad space. This means advertisers can bid on online spaces based on the specific parameters they want to reach, like location, age range, and gender. It’s a way to reach audiences more efficiently than traditional methods.

As you set up your first programmatic campaigns this year or have already done so, it’s important to understand how they work so you can maximize ROI from your programmatic efforts.

In order to achieve maximum results from their programmatic efforts, brands must understand how to best leverage the technology that’s available.

 

Understanding the technology and how it works will help you know what is available to help you achieve your goals.

Focus on finding relevant audiences, not just targeting a large number of people.

Use ad extensions to expand reach and engagement with your audience across all devices and channels.

Evaluate multiple media sources within each campaign to identify best-performing placements and partners before planning future campaigns around these relationships.

Brands should be aware of what they want to achieve with their programmatic advertising before starting the campaign.

 

The first step of a successful programmatic campaign is to define your goals. This can be as simple as “increase awareness” or as complex as “increase brand engagement and make more sales.”

But before you tackle that, you should also think about the timeframe in which you want to achieve these things. For example, if your goal is to increase awareness of your brand and product, then set aside a year for this project.

Do not get too ambitious with setting up unrealistic timelines for yourself; be realistic about how much time it will take for your project to reach fruition and plan accordingly. It’s better to have steady progress than quick success followed by an eventual failure because you were too impatient and tried to rush through the process without planning ahead properly!

Brands should define their audience using data.

 

Define the audience.

Define the goals of this campaign.

Define what message you want to convey to your target audience.

Define which channels and formats will be used for delivering these messages, including social media and video content on YouTube and Facebook as well as banner ads on various websites.

Decide how much money you want to spend on each channel so that it matches their potential reach and engagement rates with your brand’s target audience.

Brands should use first-party data from owned and operated sites and apps to target consumers who have engaged with them directly.

 

As a brand, you know your audience best. You have first-party data on them. It’s time to put that information to use and target consumers who have engaged with your site or app directly.

Brands should take advantage of the first-party data they have about their own audiences and use it to create segments based on specific behaviours such as:

Purchased from us before – Consumers who have made a purchase from our site

Viewed X product page/visited X category page – Consumers who visited a specific product or category page on our website (e.g., someone visiting the “Women” section)

Signed up for our newsletter – Consumers who signed up for an email newsletter from us

Brands can also use third-party data for additional targeting opportunities if it aligns with their privacy guidelines.

 

Third-party data can also be used to enhance programmatic campaigns. However, brands need to ensure that they’re meeting their privacy guidelines and are aware of what data is available.

For example, a brand may choose to exclude consumers who have recently purchased its product or service from seeing ads for similar products or services; this helps create a positive customer experience by ensuring that ads match the consumer’s interests.

Programmatic buying has become an efficient and effective way for brands to reach their target audience online in real time and at scale through dynamic ad creation, real-time bidding (RTB), retargeting, cookie matching/remarketing and social media marketing capabilities such as Facebook’s Custom Audiences feature which allows advertisers access to targeted groups based on website cookies—all without having any direct contact with the consumer first.

Behavioural targeting is a vital piece of a complete data strategy for brands.

 

Behavioural targeting is a vital piece of a complete data strategy for brands. It allows them to reach relevant audiences while they’re consuming contextually relevant content, which enhances the user experience and boosts engagement.

It can be used in conjunction with other media buying strategies like retargeting or brand advertising to create highly targeted messages that resonate with users across all stages of the consumer journey.

In addition to leveraging behavioural targeting, brands should also look at contextually relevant placements for ads and share of voice so they’re reaching the right audience that is likely to engage with them.

 

While the foundation of the programmatic buying strategy is providing advertisers with high-quality inventory that can be targeted based on behavioural data, brands should also look closely at contextually relevant placements for ads and share of voice so they’re reaching the right audience that is likely to engage with them.

Additionally, measurement and analytics are critical to every ad campaign as they help determine whether it has been successful or not.

While there are several options available when it comes to measuring ROI from a programmatic ad campaign, marketers can use their website’s analytics tool (or other third-party tools) to track conversions and measure how much revenue each lead generated.

It’s important for marketers to keep in mind that this information should be used only as a rough estimate because it doesn’t include factors like brand awareness or consideration (the process of consumers researching different products before making any decisions).

Contextual targeting allows brands to reach relevant audiences while they’re consuming contextually relevant content.

 

Contextual targeting is a great way to reach your target audience while they’re consuming content that is relevant to them. In fact, it’s one of the most effective ways you can drive engagement with your brand and increase conversion rates.

Contextual targeting allows brands to reach relevant audiences while they’re consuming contextually relevant content. This can be done through the use of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, which allow advertisers to serve ads based on specific user behaviours (e.g., likes) or user demographics (e.g., age range).

For example, if you’re an e-commerce app selling women’s clothing, you might want to advertise your app during prime time TV shows which millions of women watch every day as well as during fashion-related YouTube videos from influencers who have high follower counts among millennial females in urban cities across America – aka exactly where your target market lives!

Conclusion

 

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this post and hopefully, you have a better understanding of the exciting opportunities that programmatic advertising can offer your brand.

It is imperative that brands understand how to leverage the technology that’s available, as well as define their audience using data and leverage first-party data from owned and operated sites and apps.

Brands should also look at contextually relevant placements for ads and share of voice so they reach the right audience that is likely to engage with them. Contextual targeting allows brands to reach relevant audiences while consuming contextually relevant content.