The digital marketing landscape is ever-changing and ever-expanding. In the constant search for progress and innovation, digital marketers have reached a point where practical use of new technologies has become a must in their CV.
This is the age of AI and machine learning, and the only way to move forward is to make the most of all the resources we now have readily available.
Programmatic advertising is a great example. Not only can you use it to automate processes you used to do manually, but you can elevate the knowledge of your customers’ behavior in a way that allows you to bring your advertising endeavors to a new level.
If you’re still blurry around the edges about what programmatic advertising can do for you, this article offers some insight to help you get started.
What is programmatic advertising?
If you’ve ever seen an auction in a movie or in real life, understanding programmatic advertising should be straightforward for you. In its essence, this is an automatic system that allows you to place a bid for buying ad space on a website.
These platforms act as a sort of middleman between people who want to buy ad space and those who want to sell it on their website.
With programmatic advertising, you can both sell and buy ad inventory (space for ads) through real-time bidding systems in a matter of seconds.
Before you start the process, you get to optimize its parameters so that it can find websites with ad inventory that will put your ads in front of the right audiences. Optimization and tweaking are crucial steps that will make programmatic advertising useful and profitable.
Not only does this system make it easier for you to reach your targeted audience, but it will also provide huge amounts of data that will help you fine-tune the processes. This is where AI and machine learning come in.
The Role of AI and Machine Learning in Programmatic Advertising
The main reason programmatic advertising is becoming so popular is the way it uses AI and machine learning to help you get the most out of your ads. Not only does this system amass millions of points of data, but through machine learning, it can analyze that data to find relevant information that will help you better place your ads.
AI can then help you understand your audience, what they need, and how you can give it to them. This type of real-time data is indispensable because it allows you to make better decisions both for the campaigns that are already running and the future ones. This part of the process can get overwhelming, especially in the beginning, and a lot of advertisers turn to an agency for programmatic advertising to show them the ropes. When professionals take the lead, your ad campaign can significantly benefit from all the perks that this type of advertising provides.
You get to delve deep into your customers’ behaviors, preferences, and interests. This will inform you about the changes you need to make in order to make your ads relevant and engaging to your users. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more benefits to be considered.
The Benefits of Programmatic Advertising
Automation is almost always a good idea, but there’s a big caveat – it needs to be done well. While programmatic advertising can do a lot for you, it’s very important you pay close attention to how it behaves and the information it provides.
You want to ensure that your ads are in fact placed on websites where your customers can see them and that they’re formatted in a way that resonates with your audience. While AI and machine learning can harness a lot of data and make some conclusions, they still need your say-so and management before they can put it to good use.
1. Better Targeting
One of the main advantages of using programmatic advertising is that it can bring your targeting to a whole new level.
AI uses all the data it gathers to better understand the behaviors and preferences of your users, as well as the context in which the ads are placed and how that context can work for you. The algorithms then find ways to adjust your ads so that they cater to the needs of your customers.
The result of better targeting and personalization is better customer experience and loyalty over time, which translates to more sales and ultimately profit.
2. Cost Reduction
For digital marketers funding is usually a sore spot, and the wiser you can spend the budget you have, the better. Programmatic advertising can help here, because you can easily put a cap on the amount of money you want to spend on a certain campaign, and then let AI do its magic and use that money in the best way possible.
There’s also the fact that automating processes costs less and there’s less room for human error, which is a big cost reduction in the long term. And not only are you saving money, but also time, which can be spent on innovation and problem-solving.
3. Real-time Optimization
Programmatic platforms use algorithms and data analysis to make real-time adjustments to ad placements. This optimization ensures that ads are shown to the most relevant audience, improving campaign performance and return on investment (ROI).
Key aspects of real-time optimization include:
- Immediate Analysis: Real-time optimization relies on the quick analysis of incoming data and metrics to identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement. This analysis is done in real-time, allowing for timely decision-making.
- Continuous Monitoring: Real-time ad optimization requires constant monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure that campaigns are on track and achieving the desired outcomes.
- Optimizing Resource Allocation: By making adjustments in real-time, resources can be allocated more efficiently, focusing on strategies that are proving to be successful and adjusting or discontinuing those that are not performing well.
- Adapting to Audience Behavior: This optimization allows advertisers to respond to changes in audience behavior and preferences, ensuring that campaigns remain relevant and engaging.
- Enhanced ROI: It can lead to improved return on investment (ROI) as campaigns are refined based on actual performance data, leading to better outcomes.
4. Time-Saving
Programmatic advertising involves the use of automated technology and algorithms to purchase and display ads to a target audience. This automation reduces the need for manual intervention in various stages of the advertising process, including ad buying, placement, optimization, and reporting.
Automated advertising allows for highly targeted campaigns, reaching the right audience at the right time. This precision minimizes wasted impressions and increases the likelihood of engagement, saving time and resources.
Advertisers can easily scale their campaigns to reach larger audiences without significantly increasing manual effort. Automated processes handle the complexities of reaching a wider audience.
There’s Always Room for Improvement
One of the biggest perks of programmatic advertising is that it leaves plenty of room for you to innovate.
With all that data at your fingertips and AI to help you make sense of it, you have the freedom to explore new formats for your ads, discover new pain points that you can solve for your customers, and get fresh ideas for your content strategy and upcoming ad campaigns. The only limit to what you can do is your imagination and ability to get a piece of data and spin it into gold.
