Plenty of research and well-planned thought process goes into formulating the digital marketing strategy for customer acquisition. In the earlier days of digital marketing, the brand had to undergo a daunting process in a long trail to deliver the message to their target audience. Lately, new strategies such as part programmatic media buying which includes the audience, placement, timing and demographics are making their way across the plan of digital marketers to become faster, performance-driven and data-driven. However, without the proper KPIs, there would be no benchmark through which the success of the campaign can be measured. Whether the goal of the brand is growing the email list or boosting the sales of their products, reliable knowledge of programmatic media buying is necessary to get new customers.
Programmatic Media Buying: Boosting the marketing campaigns
Brands are keen to explore the providers which can help them to run ad campaigns which are suited for their goal on a relevant platform for a significant amount of time. With programmatic media buying the brands can combine the technology of big data in order to send the right message to the right audience in a hassle-free manner. The data is confined to a single dashboard that helps in efficient reporting and broad filtering options. The advertising can be sold and bought in real-time, which facilitates a clear insight into the campaign. Instead of waiting for the campaign to end and optimizing it later, the changes can be made on the mid-way which can ensure the desired outcomes. Knowing the benefits of programmatic media buying, it is also vital to know how to use this technique to improvise digital marketing campaigns.
The primary step for a brand is to know the marketplace
Brands are concerned about ad frauds and irrelevant content which tarnish their online reputation. This has led brands to consider moving their programmatic spending to premium exchanges offered by the private marketplaces. The private marketplace is an invite-only space where only the invited parties programmatically buy and sell the ad inventory. The PMP is gaining relevance due to planning and campaign tools, real-time bidding (RTB), inventory discovery and cost saving.
Setting programmatic advertising goals
Before starting the campaigns that could drive the growth of sales, proper goal setting must be the initial step. To reform a better strategy, the existing data must be used that could determine the advertising awareness needed for the campaign to be successful. The processes can also be segregated into long-term and short-term goals. The goals can include multiple KPIs depending upon the vision of the brand. These KPIs can include increasing brand awareness, reaching a target audience, boosting ROI, increasing visibility and more.
Facilitating a ‘human element’ in the strategy
Programmatic media buying is automated and relies on algorithms. However, it does not mean it should be devoured of the human element. Fundamentally the programmatic ecosystem is about incorporating automation with intelligent human intervention to make a successful marketing campaign. There are several platforms available in the markets that are providing fully or partially managed programmatic services with the provision to run programmatic buying activities. There is also the need to allocate marketers for planning, controlling, optimizing and buying. The needs of the brands can be understood efficiently by a human, therefore, the brands must not entirely rely on automated algorithms.
Protecting the brand from counterfeiting and fraud
In a few cases, the advertisements of the brand might appear in erroneous online spaces which are promoting fake news. It leads to the deterioration of the brand’s reputation. To ensure the ads are displayed to the relevant audience and platforms, the display side blacklist must be constantly updated and regularly monitored for inappropriate websites. The brands can consider some platforms that allow excluding the specific categories from the ad spends, which can be feasible for brand reputation. Another tactic to use by marketers is to consider whitelisting. This process includes narrowing down good websites on which companies can put on their advertisements for better results.
According to research by eMarketer, frauds cost digital advertisers from $6.5 billion to $ 19 billion each. Consumer privacy is hampered on smartphones and connected TVs making it challenging for the brands to retain their trust. To ensure this the ads can be compliant with privacy regulations. Instead of fixating on the reach, the quality of the traffic must be considered to generate optimum results.
All things considered
Programmatic media buying is a go-to strategy for digital marketers to reach out to wider prospective customers while being able to manage the campaign efficiently. The steps include pre-determined KPIs and tools to help a business reach its marketing goals. Marketers must possess this skill set to consider the right platforms and strategies for programmatic media buying with a comprehensive understanding of the campaign channel. Also including a data-driven approach with a strategic layer can help digital marketers in successful marketing campaigns. Marketers must also measure what they are promoting and significant KPIs must be pre-defined to have an analytical approach. There must be a collaboration of automation and human intervention to retrieve the right audience for the appropriate outcome.
Article is authored by Aanchal Gupta, Co-founder & Director, Quantafi Digital.
