Top 10 Mistakes Marketers Make With Programmatic
In our industry, we see a lot of marketers making mistakes both large and small with the ways they use programmatic for their campaigns — and it has cost them in both budget and visibility. Thankfully, you can learn from their trial and error — we’re here to give you our insights about the top 10 strategies to avoid when using programmatic.
- Don’t Think Your Job Is Being Replaced — It’s Just Changing
Marketers are all too aware of the massive time and effort it takes to negotiate and secure quality ad space — that’s why the thought of programmatic technology swooping in and “improving efficiency” makes some of you hesitate. But programmatic doesn’t replace decades of experience; it maximizes your efforts. By handling the drudge work involved in planning and optimizing omnichannel ad campaigns, programmatic frees up time to focus on creative messaging. You get more time to refine strategy and CRM, while programmatic handles grunt work. Win, win.
2. Don’t Limit Your Creative Strategy
If you limit yourself to one piece of ad copy or image, you’ll be robbed of some of the key advantages of programmatic. There’s no need to put all your money on one ad type when you can let the market decide for you. Run different creative versions of your ad simultaneously to see which performs best with your target audience. Programmatic tracks the response to each version and identifies the winners. That way, it’s easy to find out which elements work best and polish your ad over time.
3. Don’t Assume Programmatic is Rife With Ad Fraud
Part of why marketers are slow to go programmatic is due to the fear of ad fraud. This is because programmatic reduces their involvement in the bidding and buying process. Ad fraud is not exclusive to programmatic — it’s a common problem for any digital advertiser. Some publishers have “third-party traffic” from paid vendors sending traffic to their website, ultimately increasing the value of their inventory. This is very hard for marketers to detect. Since programmatic takes the sweat out of negotiating ad space, why not take the sweat out of verifying publishers? Create strategic partnerships with ad fraud technologies such as White Ops and Ads.Txts to automatically verify publishers for authentic impressions and clicks.
4. Don’t Isolate Your Different Strategies
Traditionally, advertisers separated their digital marketing teams based on channels. Search marketers pored over analytics reports, and display ad buyers built relationships. There wasn’t much overlap. The rise of programmatic has changed that; these different skill sets can complement one another. Media buyers and sellers accustomed to negotiating in-person can still use that experience to guide them to profitable programmatic deals. Having experts designated to one channel is an asset, but it can also create data silos. The first-party data from your social campaigns complement your search and video campaigns. They can reinforce each other or inspire different strategies.
5. Don’t Confuse Programmatic with Real-Time Bidding
A common misconception is that programmatic equals real-time bidding. Programmatic is just an umbrella term used to describe automated media transactions. Instead of manual negotiations, you buy and sell media through digital technology platforms. This isn’t limited to online advertising; it’s expected to dominate TV advertising as well. Real-Time Bidding (or RTB), is a specific type of programmatic buying where buyers and sellers bid on ad inventory in real-time. Search marketing has used RTB for over a decade to price the cost-per-impression and determine which publisher’s ad shows up in the search results. Understanding the difference between these terms can help you comparison shop for the programmatic solution that works for you.
6. Don’t Forget to Have a Sound Strategy Before Launch
Trying to do too much at once with programmatic makes it impossible to identify which aspects are working well and which aren’t. A winning approach is akin to scientific testing; it starts with doing your homework. Then, after you set up assumptions and tests, you collect data to validate (or disprove) your assumptions and adjust your strategy going forward. Having an organized plan helps you identify variables and create controls. Programmatic platforms are only as strong as their inputs.
7. Don’t Abandon Your First Party Data
1st party data is valuable because it’s from the source: Existing customers. It is the key component of retargeting campaigns to push potential customers further down the purchase funnel. Not using or integrating 1st party data sources means your campaigns will most likely underperform.
8. Don’t Get Stuck Manually Optimizing Your Campaigns
Today’s media buying consists of algorithmic ways to optimize. Individuals don’t have the ability to analyze large sets of multivariate data. Why manually optimize when you can rely on algorithms to do the job? That way, you free up time for you to focus on important campaign aspects such as creative.
9. Don’t Skip out on High Quantity User Segmentation
Most marketers agree targeted messaging boosts ROI. Conversion rates are much higher when messaging targets specific audience segments. With a quality DMP and DSP, you can create these segments with your first and third-party data. This is the best use of your ad budget because money isn’t wasted on consumers who have no interest in your product. Showing up to niche audiences is also a powerful way to build brand awareness. If you want to convince consumers to choose your product or service, it’ll be easier and less expensive to persuade those most interested.
10. Don’t Monitor your Media Campaigns in Silos
Consider running cross-channel instead of running all channels in isolation. Running campaigns in silos make campaign optimization and accountability less efficient and scattered. As mentioned in point 4, your paid search, display, and social data should not exist in separate buckets. Once you’ve established around 15–20 conversions, you will have an idea of what kind of consumer you attract. You can then target audience segments identical to your existing customer base. If you notice a different type of consumer buying your product on your social channel, target a similar audience in your search campaigns. It’s an efficient way to manage and optimize campaigns to yield high conversions and lead generation.
Programmatic is revolutionizing modern digital advertising. You can leverage it to expand your reach, save money and time, and deliver targeted messages to potential customers. The 10 mistakes above trip a lot of marketers up, but you can learn from them and make programmatic painless and profitable. Get started today!
For more information on our services, contact us at katana.media/contact. Be sure to check out our blog weekly for expertise and thoughts on the latest trends in programmatic, business intelligence and digital marketing.
