PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING FOR DUMMIES: A 6-STEP GUIDE

If your goal is to up your digital advertising game and reach your target audience with greater efficiency, then programmatic advertising may be the solution for you!

If you're new to the concept, don't worry - in this blog post, we'll break down everything you need to know about programmatic advertising and share some tips to help you create a winning strategy.

In the meantime, do not forget that our creative management platform is here for you to unleash your creativity on your HTML5 ad designs!

Programmatic advertising. Let's start with the basics.

Programmatic advertising is a neat digital advertising technique that connects advertisers and content publishers to buy and sell ad space using various online tools. While it may seem similar to regular PPC advertising on search engines or social media, programmatic advertising is its own thing. Both types of advertising let you bid for ad space and target a specific audience, but programmatic advertising has an extra advantage. You get access to a huge inventory of ad space! Unlike traditional ads that rely on a single ad network, programmatic tools search across the web and connect you to various sites. This means you can reach your target audience in so many different ways online. Pretty cool, right?

Let's say you're a company selling shoes and you want to advertise your products on various websites. You decide to use programmatic advertising to help you out. First, you use a demand-side platform (DSP) to purchase ad placements on a variety of websites, including blogs, news sites, and video streaming platforms. Meanwhile, publishers who own these websites use a supply-side platform (SSP) to offer up the available ad space they have for sale.

Now, an ad exchange comes into play, connecting advertisers like you with publishers who have ad space to sell. This is where the magic happens. In real-time, a super-fast automated bidding process called real-time bidding occurs, allowing advertisers to bid on available ad space based on the audience they want to target. The highest bidder gets their ad displayed in front of the Internet user on that specific website.

But here's the best part: you don't have to manually choose which websites you want to advertise on. With programmatic advertising, you can simply choose the ad exchanges or marketplaces you want to work with within your DSP, and the programmatic tool takes care of the rest, sorting out all the details for you.

Now that you have a better understanding of programmatic advertising, let's explore how to create a winning strategy.

Six steps to consider in programmatic advertising:

1. Set your budget and goals

They will be your compass throughout the campaign journey. Knowing how much you can afford to spend will help you determine just how much you can invest in bidding to try to win over your audience. Once you've nailed down these crucial elements, it's go-time to start crafting the perfect strategy.

2. Get your hands on the right programmatic platform

As an advertiser, you'll need a trusty tool with DSP capabilities to get your strategy off the ground. Luckily, you can choose from a variety of platforms like Choozle, MediaMath, Adobe Advertising Cloud, and Xandr. Before taking a final decision, make sure to research all the mentioned platforms to see which one suits best your needs and budget.

3. Know your audience

Don't take a one-size-fits-all approach. If you're a fashion retailer, you wouldn't show the same outfit to a teenager and a middle-aged adult, right? So why advertise to them the same way? Instead, use data to create different segments based on your target audience’s interests, behaviors, and characteristics. You can gather information from your customer's purchase history and emails, or from third-party sources like a programmatic ad platform or data management platform.

4. Select an ad format

You've got a bunch of formats to choose from, so make sure to pick one that'll really stand out. You can go with a display ad campaign, which will pop up all over the web. Or, maybe you want to create a vivid CTV ad that'll play on your favorite streaming service. If you feel like this is the right choice, you could even focus on an audio-only format. There are tons of options, so pick one that'll really catch people's attention.

5. Produce your ad creative

When producing your programmatic ads, make sure to speak your audience's language and keep your goals in mind. If you're trying to increase the sales of your new fashion collection, you wouldn't want to use the same language for your loyal customers as you would for someone who's never heard of your brand before. For your loyal customers, try messaging like "We miss you," while for new customers, focus on why they should trust your brand name. With personalized messaging for each audience, your programmatic ads will be a recipe for success! Check out what HTML5 ad designs you will be able to create on our platform.

6. Keep an eye on your ad performance

If your campaigns aren't delivering the desired results, dig deep into the analytics to identify what's amiss. With insights from the data, you can tweak your bid, target audience, or creative content to get back on track. Give yourself the time to explore and figure out what's not working and what can be improved to make the most of your programmatic advertising campaigns.

As you embark on your programmatic advertising journey, remember that it's a constantly evolving landscape. But with a bit of creativity, strategic thinking, and willingness to learn from your mistakes, you can create effective campaigns that connect with your target audience.

If you've already picked your programmatic ad platform, and set your budget, but still finding it hard to come up with your HTML5 ad designs, don't hesitate to book a demo with us. Our team is always ready to assist you!