10 Programmatic Marketing Considerations You Should Be Aware Of

MadMen may have been sexy and teeming with nostalgic charm, but in today’s marketing world technology is a dominating factor and continues to dig its way into the core of all growth strategy. The ways in which businesses big and small reach their target audiences is changing by the day. Of these changes, one of the biggest has been programmatic marketing and advertising. Considered a game changer in digital advertising, it focuses on reaching target audiences in real-time through the algorithmic purchase and sale of advertising space. By using special software to automate the buying, placement, and optimization of media inventory, a bidding system can be used to get the most bang for their buck, letting digital marketing experts tailor specific messages to the right people at the right time. While the entire process is controlled by computers and algorithms (thus eliminating the need for human touch points) some marketers are wary of this approach. However, since many other people value this type of marketing for its financial and advertising efficiency, it has numerous positive benefits as well. To gain a further understanding of programmatic marketing, here are ten considerations you should be aware of.  

A Bigger Piece of the Pie

Programmatic buying will begin to gain a bigger piece of the digital advertising pie. Based on ours and others predictive data, it will be responsible for nearly $15 billion of the $58.6 billion digital advertising industry. That said, you may want to delve a little deeper into this technology and ask yourself how your marketing efforts fit within its framework. That said, you still shouldn’t deviate away from marketing devices that work or that are emerging. For example, Google Similar Items is expanding and would be an ideal source for generating sales, in addition to a programmatic advertising campaign.

Programmatic Marketing is Much More Than Just Direct Response

With programmatic buying now having access to limited traditional TV inventory, as well as TV delivered via the web, it’s becoming a more attractive option for brand marketers. With this option, it’s now possible to serve a branding commercial on a person’s TV and then follow it up with a Facebook ad or display ad on the person’s mobile device. This is HUGE, as prior to programmatic there was no real way to measure conversion data from television.

Data Evaluation

What digital marketing experts love about programmatic marketing is that it gives them the ability to evaluate data in mid-campaign and make changes to their advertising as needed. By doing so, they know they’re only paying for ads that will be highly effective.

In-House Branding

In-house branding is quickly becoming the fastest-growing category of programmatic spending. Within the past three years, 15 percent of ads bought through programmatic spending were done via  in-house branding teams.

The Mobile Issue

Since the ability of programmatic systems to track user behavior is tied to cookies, it causes a problem since cookies are ineffective on most mobile devices. As a result, marketers wanting to run ad campaigns across desktop and mobile devices may experience problems. However, since it’s an emerging technology, cross-device solutions are still in the works.

The Influence of Social Networks

With Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn buying programmatic ad-tech companies, these social networks are now able to use their login data to connect user identities across devices, resulting in them selling ads across the web rather than just their own platforms.

The Problem of Fraud

Unfortunately, since this technology is still very new, fraud is still a major problem. Most of the time, programmatic buying is susceptible to a type of fraud called URL Masking. With this type of fraud, a publisher lists its website in ad exchanges as a more well-known and reputable website. In doing so, the buyer has no idea where their ads might actually be running. As analytics possibilities grow out, this problem will eventually be laid to rest.

A Game for the Big Players

While in many industries there are new companies that seem to pop up and take their place at the top, that’s not the case with programmatic marketing. The top players in the industry are so entrenched that it’s very difficult for a new company to make any headway in establishing itself as a key player. As a result, more and more venture capitalists have started to shy away from investing in ad-tech, making it even harder for a new company to get started.

It’s Not Only Banner Ads

Due to its popularity, many brands now plan to move their entire display-ad spending through programmatic channels. Because of this, many tech players now build functionality, allowing brands to buy more than standard banner ads.

Great Viewing

Controls are available within this technology that let buyers purchase ads that are more easily viewed than others. Because of this, customers can buy only the top 10 percent of ads that are viewed for the longest time, which is an even better deal for advertisers.

As the technology within this ever-growing industry moves along many new and exciting paths, it’s clear companies and customers will have more and more choices when it comes to advertising. By being able to customize ads in ways that will target audiences more specifically than ever before, the future of advertising is brighter and getting a lot more aggressive!