What Is Programmatic Advertising & What Can It Do For Your Business?
Programmatic advertising, even just the name can feel a little intimidating.
With so many marketing tactics, it might be exhausting to learn about another strategy, especially when it is described using complicated words like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
But, if you run a local business, you don’t need to become an expert in programmatic advertising. You just need to know the basics about what programmatic is and more importantly, what it can do for your business.
Let’s look at what you need to know about programmatic advertising so you know how to use it to increase brand awareness, target ideal customers, and increase revenue.
What Is Programmatic Advertising?
In the simplest terms, programmatic advertising refers to using software to buy digital advertising. While the name may sound technical and confusing, programmatic advertising is actually more simple than traditional digital ad buying.
Traditional ad buying requires working with multiple partners to negotiate ad rates and terms.
Programmatic advertising automates the process of buying digital ads.
Through programmatic advertising, you work with one partner and system that sets up, manages, and optimizes all of your digital ads across multiple platforms.
Related: Demystifying Digital Advertising: 12 Ways Local Brands Can Run Paid Ads
The Benefits of Programmatic Advertising
As you can see, programmatic advertising isn’t as complex as it sounds. It actually simplifies the process of buying digital ads and provides a variety of benefits for businesses.
- Easier setup and management. Rather than working with a variety of publishers and ad partners, you work with one provider to set up and manage your campaigns.
- Access to more channels. By having access to a variety of publishers and platforms, you can reach more channels and see your ads in more places where audiences are likely to see them.
- Better audience targeting. Not only can your ads show up in more places, but your ads can also show up in the right places. With programmatic advertising, you can use audience segmentation and targeting to reach the people most likely to be interested in your business.
- Optimized results. With programmatic advertising, you can get more out of each campaign by leveraging algorithms that learn from your campaign results and optimize based on what they learn. The system reviews campaign results to determine which platforms and messages should be amplified and which should be removed to improve reach and results.
Whether you are looking to build brand awareness and reach new audiences or increase customer frequency, programmatic advertising can help you reach the right people at the right place at the right time.
Where Do Programmatic Ads Show Up?
To help you visualize programmatic ads in action, let’s look at a few places where ads will reach your target audience.
Programmatic ads can show on mobile devices, desktops, and even on television screens as display, video, or text ads. For example, ads may appear as:
- Display or video ads on websites and in apps. While browsing the web on either a mobile or desktop device, audiences may see your messaging as a static display or video ad.
- Video ads before a YouTube video. While waiting for a YouTube video to start, audiences may see your video ad.
- Video ads on streaming platforms and connected TV (CTV). Programmatic ads even reach television sets. Your video ads may appear on over-the-top (OTT) streaming services as commercials on the big screen.
- Native ads on popular websites. Audiences may see responsive, text-based ad units that match a publisher’s content and look like they belong on the site the audience is viewing.
How Can You Target Audiences With Programmatic Ads?
The magic of programmatic advertising is that you can decide who you want to target and design settings that put your ads in front of the people most likely to be interested in your business.
Here are a few ways you can use audience targeting within a programmatic ad strategy.
- Context and Keywords: Target audiences who view content related to your business or content that has keywords in common with your industry and brand.
- Browsing History: Reach audiences based on their past website history, and target them based on the websites they have visited in the past.
- Geography: Identify the audiences you want to reach by targeting their specific address or zip code. Also, use geofencing marketing to set a boundary around a location such as a business, event venue, or other building to target audiences who enter or exit the property.
- Retargeting: Tag people who visit your website, and reach them with retargeting ads that display messaging related to the pages or products they viewed on your site.
- Customer Data: Combine information from your customer data platform with your programmatic advertising platform to reach people who have already done business with you.
- Recency: Reach customers based on their last brand interaction. Target them instantly or up to 30 days.
- Device and Operating Systems: Choose to reach audiences based on their device type (such as computer, mobile, or tablet) and operating system such as (iOS, Android, and Windows).
How to Get Started with Programmatic Advertising
As you can now see, programmatic advertising isn’t as scary as it sounds.
While on the surface it may sound like a complicated tactic out of reach for your business, it is actually an easy and effective tactic -- especially when you work with the right partner.
To run a programmatic advertising program, work with a partner who has the technology and systems to set up and run your campaigns. While there are self-service options available, you can maximize your budget by working with a partner who can help you design strategic campaigns, audience targeting, and high-quality ad creative.
If you’re interested in using programmatic advertising to reach new customers and stay top-of-mind with existing customers, MyArea Network is here to help. Contact us today to see how we can help you set up your a programmatic advertising program primed for success.
