Programmatic Advertising Platforms offers an automated network of sellers and consumers wherein ad placement, performance tracking, media buying make for a successful digital ad campaign. As compared to traditional advertising which happens in a closed framework system. Online advertising has slowly replaced billboards, newspaper ads, proving to be a more effective way of reaching out to customers as they are surfing the net via various devices. By 2022, more than 50% of advertising budgets will be digital via different platforms : supply-side, demand-side, and data management platforms. Google Display Ads is one example of display advertising.
Role of various platforms in the field of Advertising
A DSP or Demand-Side Platform is a type of programmatic ad buying platform where advertisers can buy digital ad space and SSP or Supply-Side Platform is mainly for publishers to sell their ad inventory. Publishers are those who own a website or app, etc., where ads can be displayed to a visitor. A DMP or Data Management Platform is the source which contains the inventory of data and these are all connected with various ad exchanges where u put your media space for sale. An Ad Exchange is a marketplace where both advertisers and publishers buy and sell ad inventory. All in all these various platforms are bound together to a programmatic advertising platform and directly or indirectly contribute to the real-time bidding process. Real-Time Bidding allows for quicker targeting, meaning visitors who are your target audiences will be subjected to the ad. There are other ways of programmatic advertising namely: Programmatic Direct and Private Market Place(PMP).
Programmatic Direct
A way to buy a specified amount of impressions on specific sites. Usually suitable for large “premium” formats like full-page takeover ads. Often involves a fixed-price agreement.
Private Market Place (PMP)
A marketplace where one or a selected number of publishers invite specific advertisers to bid on their inventory space. Used as a means of bypassing ad-exchanges altogether, where your buying platform plugs directly into the publisher’s inventory. Programmatic Advertising tactics are used to segregate customers using data so that the advertisers pay only for ads targeted to the right people at the right time. It enables brands to locate and target users based on their individual characteristics, behaviors, affinities regardless of where they are on the web.
The following ways provides an overview of the different forms of Programmatic targeting:
Audience Targeting
Audience targeting involves buying and delivering ads to a particular audience segment. It takes into account any number of data signals, including behavioral, intent, demographic, and so forth.
Contextual Targeting
Contextual targeting is the proven traditional way of reaching and targeting new audiences based on the content of the page where the ad is served. For example, a car company might try to find potential customers by buying inventory on car enthusiast sites. It is totally based on potential interest of the user. Behavioral Targeting Behavioral targeting involves reaching users based on the actions they have previously taken, like what pages a person has visited, what products they have viewed, or whether a particular item has been bought.
Cross-device Targeting
Cross-device targeting involves recognizing a user by matching different data points across multiple devices, and then reaching those users with ads across those different devices. This is the most common case for cross-device targeting, but it’s just one subset of cross-device targeting. Cross-device targeting covers a broader scope that includes targeting users across:
- Different desktop devices (e.g., a work PC and a home PC)
- Different mobile devices (e.g., a phone and a tablet)
- Desktop and mobile devices (e.g., a phone and a PC)
- Non-traditional devices (e.g., a PC and a smart TV)
Location
As the name indicates, location targeting (also referred to as geo-targeting) involves posting ads to users based on their location data. IP addresses, Wi-Fi triangulation, and GPS data are the most common ways to geo-target users.
If the preferred method of advertising is not available on the chosen platform, then it can lead to poor campaign performance and wastage of one’s time and money. Employing an Agency: A programmatic agency can be hired to help out with choosing the right kind of platform to advertise your brand. This agency would have to be transparent in their dealings like pricing, optimizations of the campaign , metrics they track and have a successful plan to move clients through the various steps of the marketing strategy.
Factors to Consider While Choosing a Programmatic Advertising Platform
Certain parameters have to be taken into account while considering a platform that matches the agency requirements:
Cost:
Though digital marketing is less expensive than traditional advertising, some research needs to be done regarding the pricing structure as they vary on each platform like whether upfront fees are charged or could be negotiated, training fees are applicable or a margin rate has to be borne too. Privacy-Compliance: Ensuring that the platform leverages good quality data and reaches the targeted real customer, never to bots in a privacy-compliant manner is of primary importance. Also that the provider is reputable and demonstrates the ad placements, costs, guarantees transparency with everyone involved in the chain.
Customer Support:
The platform also needs to have a readily available customer service department who are able to solve customer issues within a scheduled time. Technology used: An advertising platform runs on algorithms, but not all suppliers have the same set of tools needed for a large audience, so scrutiny is required which technology is optimal for our business.
Advertising Formula:
If the preferred method of advertising is not available on the chosen platform, then it can lead to poor campaign performance and wastage of one’s time and money. Employing an Agency: A programmatic agency can be hired to help out with choosing the right kind of platform to advertise your brand. This agency would have to be transparent in their dealings like pricing, optimizations of the campaign , metrics they track and have a successful plan to move clients through the various steps of the marketing strategy.
Best of Programmatic Advertising Platforms:
Trade Desk, Smarty Ads, PUBMatic, MediaMath are some of the best advertising platforms. There are many more of them who manage campaigns, customize solutions, targets the preferred customers etc.
Pros and Cons of Programmatic advertising
The Pros
Highly Efficient: Earlier this process was slow and unreliable, but now most of the work gets done by algorithms.
Fast Developing Technology: With the industry getting better, faster, smarter these ads deliver striking results and gives you an idea to finding your winning formula.
Outstanding Return On Investment: This kind of buying saves time, maximizes your amount spent on the ad and gives a higher return on your investment too.
The Cons
Lack of Human control: It takes highly skilled ad professionals to execute successful campaigns, but if the agency has inexperienced staff a host of issues arises for the advertiser. So the right team is the key.
Online Traffic Fraud: Sometimes the views generated may not be real views of consumers but of bots.
Inappropriate Ad Matching: Sometimes the ad ends up being next to content on a website u do not want your brand to be associated with, now there are safety measures which helps prevent this kind of situation.
Conclusion
Programmatic platforms allow marketers to set the most advanced campaign configurations and ensures predicted results. While these platforms might seem a bit complex at first, but it is more efficient, cost effective and one of the best investments that you can engage in. Advancements in technology and various devices has taken programmatic ad buying to the next level.
Data Collection is one of the colossal drivers of marketing campaigns today. It can be sourced from First/Second/Third Party audiences making it a valuable asset for the companies to target their ads and highly benefit from it too. First partyRead More