Mark Twain once wrote that “many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” It was true when Mark Twain spoke these words over a century ago and it still rings true today. The right kind of advertising, however, is what has changed. The world no longer depends on physical print to sell services and goods. With so much time spent in front of a screen, be it a computer, cell phone, or tablet; it is the digital ad that is king. The best way to make your digital presence work for you is by using programmatic advertising!
What is Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising dates back to the first banner ad in 1994 and is the use of artificial intelligence software to purchase ad space. This is performed using RTB, or real-time bidding, which involves purchasing advertising at the same time a visitor loads a website. The goal of programmatic advertising is to improve accuracy and transparency for both advertisers and publishers.
Why Use Programmatic Advertising
Save Time and Money
Before programmatic advertising, companies would spend four hours over a course of many days bidding for and receiving advertising space. This is for a single campaign. Exchanges with programmatic advertising happen within milliseconds, in the time it takes to open and load a webpage. Every time someone loads a website a bidding war is happening behind the scenes to see what ads they will see. The ads will differ for each person who visits the website. This means you can have thousands of bidding wars going on thousands of websites at any given time to showcase your product or service and all of it happens in the blink of an eye.
Gatherer Data in Real-Time
If you're going to be spending money on advertisements, then you want to know how successful that advertisement has been. How many people have clicked on the advertisement? How many of those clicks resulted in actual purchases? Programmatic advertising is a data-driven form of advertising. It tells sellers not only how productive their ads have been but also what kinds of people are clicking on these ads and then purchasing a good or service. So, you will know if, for example, 57% of the people who clicked on your ad were white males in their 50s who make $50,000 or more per year.
This data is gathered in real-time. In the traditional methods of advertising, companies may have to wait days or weeks to know if their ad was effective. They may also have to rely on in-person polls or sales figures that could take even longer to gather. This means that by the time any snags are noticed, great losses may have already occurred. With real-time data gathered from algorithms in programmatic advertising, companies will know instantaneously how productive their ads are and can make changes as needed. There is no more waiting until next quarter to fix this quarter’s problems.
Target Your Ads
In addition to being a great time saver, programmatic advertising also allows companies to foster more targeted ad campaigns. Instead of buying space on a site you hope will relate to potential customers, programmatic advertising uses special software to gather data about website and mobile app visitors such as demographics and search history.
The data is then compared against your target audience. If the visitor to the website or mobile app fits the criteria, you set forth then your ad will begin the bidding process. If they do not fit the parameters set, then no bidding will take place. This saves you money but also ensures you are not trying to sell to people who are unlikely to purchase your product. For example, garlic bread would not be advertised to someone who data reports have a gluten allergy. Remember that getting your name out there is not as important as who your name gets out there too!