How to Optimize Your Programmatic Campaign in 2023

New tech and advertising opportunities emerge almost every day. When you combine that with increasing pressure to keep costs under control and ROI high, it’s no wonder programmatic fragmentation is the new normal. Programmatic marketing has been growing by leaps and bounds, driving a third of all digital advertising spending. But with so many ways to buy media and target audiences, choosing the right strategy can be daunting.

Which channels are worth your money? Which will give you the most significant return? How do you know if your current vendor isn’t cutting corners or doing something shady? Consider this your guide to optimizing your programmatic campaign in 2022. We’ll break down all you need to know about the programmatic campaign, including new trends and how they can help your business get more bang for your buck.

What is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling advertising inventory through real-time bidding (RTB) exchanges. It’s driven by data and insights, whether it’s your business goal, weather conditions, or what people are consuming. Programmatic is a digital media buying model that uses computer algorithms to purchase and sell advertising. It uses people’s data to decide what they might want to see and when.

A programmatic campaign is a scalable, cost-effective way to scale your media spending. It works based on the logic of “If X happens, then send user Y this ad.” It is the future of advertising, and many companies have recognized this by investing heavily in it. It’s important to note that programmatic doesn’t refer to the actual ads themselves but rather the process of buying and selling media inventory.

Why Is Transparency in Programmatic Marketing Important?

Transparency leads to trust – and with trust, you foster a mutually beneficial relationship with your vendors. You know what you’re getting and can identify areas for improvement. Vendors can better understand your needs and how to meet them.

Because of the large amount of money involved, digital media buying is a heavily regulated industry. If a vendor is not compliant, they put your company at risk for fines, losing data, and even brand safety issues.

Ensuring transparency within your programmatic campaigns means checking the following data sources,

•         Does your vendor have legitimate sources of data? What is their vetting process?
•         Vendor relationships- Are your vendors partnered with companies that would endanger your campaign?
•         Ad safety- Are your vendors using safe, brand-compliant creatives?
•         Anti-fraud practices- Do your vendors have robust fraud detection practices?

Better Together: Syncing Upstream and Programmatic Buying

Upstream buying is when you buy media directly from publishers. Because it’s a direct relationship, you can get insights into traffic quality and scale your buys beyond the inventory that’s available through ad exchanges.

Programmatic buying, on the other hand, usually occurs through exchanges, allowing you to access a much broader range of inventory. In some cases, you can even access a publisher’s Direct Bid inventory and tap into the same audience targeting options they use to sell their premium inventory.

By syncing these two types of buying, you get the best of both worlds. You can tap into a larger range of inventory while still having the option to purchase directly from publisher sites.

Importance of Video Ads in Programmatic Campaigns

Video has been on a tear lately. As marketers have been figuring out how best to optimize their programmatic campaigns, they’ve discovered that investing in video ads across every device performs well.

As internet users become more visual and mobile video consumption continues to grow, video has proven to be a great way to captivate your audience, build brand awareness, and lift click-through rates. In fact, CTRs are 2x higher for video ads compared to other types of online display ads.

Don’t just take our word for it – industry reports show that video advertising spending continues to rise. In 2022, social media video ad spending will grow by 20.1% to $24.35 billion. 

AI Won’t Be Just for Ads Anymore

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been creeping into marketing campaigns for a while now. We’ve seen AI used in everything from content and email marketing to sentiment analysis and sentiment-based product recommendations. AI has been applied to media buying, too.

But as it becomes more advanced, AI is no longer limited to just automating aspects of your campaign and helping to optimize it. AI can now be used to create and manage the entire campaign, even the creative content. This kind of AI, known as hybrid AI, is starting to be implemented by vendors. And it’s sure to change how we approach marketing and advertising campaigns.

Moreover, you need to use a reliable AI based website analyzer tool to measure the changes in your website traffic and SEO. That will allow you to gauge the effectiveness of your programmatic campaign.

Behavioral Targeting

Behavioral targeting is a crucial method for your programmatic campaign to achieve success.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Understand your audience- Who are they? What do they want? What makes them tick? By understanding your audience, you can tailor your ad copy, landing page, and offer to better match their needs.
2. Create a clear call to action- This can be as simple as a “Sign up now” button on the landing page or as detailed as an incentive that encourages the user to take action, such as entering a contest or sharing on social media.
3. Measure your impact- How effective is your campaign overall? Are there specific audiences that are more likely to convert? Are there specific types of content that perform better than others? By measuring and recording your performance, you can track your success and find out what works best for your brand so that you can replicate it in the future.

Blockchain Isn’t Just for Bitcoin Anymore

Blockchain has been making headlines for a few years now due to its association with Bitcoin. But the technology behind the cryptocurrency has many more applications, including in programmatic advertising.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger that facilitates transparent, auditable transactions. It functions as a secure record of ownership – making it an excellent choice for verifying data exchanges. Because programmatic campaigns rely on data exchanges to function, blockchain can help ensure data is legitimate and secure. This will be especially important for GDPR compliance.

Conclusion

Marketers have been using programmatic advertising to scale their campaigns beyond what they could achieve manually. And as the tools and technologies available to them continue to improve, they’ll be able to reach even more people with personalized, relevant messages. With so much on the horizon for programmatic advertising, it’s important that you stay informed and keep an eye out for new developments that could positively impact your campaigns. With the right strategy, you can reach more people and generate more revenue from your digital marketing campaigns.

Author Bio

Sahil Kakkar: Sahil is the CEO and Founder of RankWatch – a platform that helps companies and brands stay ahead with their SEO efforts in the ever-growing internet landscape. Sahil likes making creative products that help in the automation of mundane tasks and he can spend endless nights implementing new technologies and ideas. You can connect with him and the Rankwatch team on Facebook or Twitter.