The best practices for creating a strong programmatic ad strategy.

AD TECH INSIGHTS

Getting people’s attention is a task that becomes more challenging every single year. That is because the competition in various industries keeps growing, and people have their attention pulled away by all kinds of content and gimmicks all the time. This trend has put tremendous pressure on advertising agencies and professionals to develop better strategies to get brands and messages out to the right people at the lowest cost possible.

Here enters programmatic advertising. Just what is it, and how does one maximize opportunities from this new trend? Programmatic advertising uses automations and software to determine and target ads to more high-converting audiences. Imagine a system that launches a campaign, measures the results, determines who likes the ad, and shows that ad to people just like the booming segment. It’s that innovative approach that helped the programmatic ads sector made $129.1 billion in 2020. That number could rise to reach $155 billion by the end of 2021.

Programmatic advertising is one of today’s most promising advertising and technology careers. But where does one start, and how can companies maximize this approach? Here are programmatic best practices for creating effective ad strategies.

1. Set up targeted demographics

The first step is nothing new under the sun but golden in its effectiveness nonetheless. Like any other marketing strategy, programmatic advertising starts with setting up targeted demographics. As fundamental as this step might seem, it’s still alarming how many companies say that “everyone is the target market” and waste thousands if not millions in wasted ads.

Being specific with one’s demographics is key to getting relevant traffic and improving conversion rates. It gives a good starting point and allows the ad to collect better information and inform measurable results. Demographics can be targeted based on person’s age, preferences, gender, income bracket, location, and so on.

2. Target behaviors

Another rising best practice in the advertising sphere because of programmatic practices is behavioral targeting. These behaviors could include actions like visiting a website, clicking on a button, viewing a specific social media profile, liking a post, watching a video and so on.

Programmatic advertising tools can help track people’s behaviors and target ads based on that action. For instance, one ad could gather information on teenagers and kids that watch Marvel movie trailers on YouTube and Facebook and retarget ads that promote Marvel character merchandise and toys for their age group. Pairing those action targeting strategies with specific demographics is a great combination for successful advertising campaigns.

3. Create retargeting campaigns

Many programmatic advertising platforms do more than just target ads. Another feature one must learn how to use is setting up strong retargeting campaigns. It’s not news that people don’t always buy at first sight of an advertisement. But if a brand could build up a set of ads in the correct succession, it could improve brand awareness and turn that familiarity into a sense of curiosity or liking.

Programmatic ads retargeting makes it possible to talk to multiple prospects with a fully customized roadmap for each based on a retargeting campaign. Here’s how that might look like. Let’s say you target two people with the same ad for a running shoe brand. One clicks on the ad while the other closes it automatically. The programmatic ad system can track that and take two different approaches. The first one— the person who clicks— will get a discount coupon to close the deal on the shoe he clicked on. The second person who exited could receive an offer for a different shoe brand that could meet his fancy. These are just some examples of great retargeting strategies.

4. Maximize your creatives and content

Many types of programmatic advertising could help create better conversion and results. But the approach isn’t the only key to a good strategy. One has to have good content too. Sometimes, where ads fail aren’t in the targeting strategy or demographic building. It’s in the content itself.

An important question to ask, whether you’re running an internal ad or advertising on the white-label service platform is, “does this ad creative add value to my audience?” The holy trinity of advertising value is as follows:

Education — Will people learn something new or feel enriched?
Entertainment — Does the content entertain the audience?
Intrigue — Does the ad spur curiosity?

5. Set up strong hooks

The last step is to develop a strong hook. It’s not just enough to put a “buy now” button. Create a compelling reason for people to act now. When leads delay an action, there’s a big chance they’ll never take it— whether it’s subscribing, buying, or joining. Creating a sense of urgency by putting in a timed offer or making them feel like acting as soon as possible is the best decision.

Programmatic Advertising as the Future of Ads

The future of programmatic advertising looks promising. Programmatic advertising now makes up 72% of the digital ads spending pool. Moreover, we could be looking at a time where automations and programs rule the digital advertising world. In the near future, this development could propel brands to the next level of awareness, authority, and profitability.