Programmatic Advertising in 2023: Target the Right Audience
Programmatic Advertising
If you’re in the advertising industry, you’ve probably heard of programmatic advertising. But what exactly is it, and why is it becoming increasingly popular among advertisers? Programmatic advertising is a form of automated media buying for ad spaces. In other words, programmatic is the process in how ad spaces are bought. Traditionally, media buying takes a lot of manual work, but programmatic is a way to seamlessly show ads to the right audience at the right time. It allows advertisers to target relevant users through display, OTT/CTV, and audio ads.
Call your account manager today to see our non-branded media decks that walk you through the specifics of programmatic advertising.
Think of a billboard you see on the road. Programmatic works in much the same way, trying to show content to everyone that navigates its selected format. The benefit of programmatic advertising is that we can select target audiences at a granular level using demographics like age, income, location, and even visitors of exact building locations.
Benefits of Using Programmatic Advertising
So, why is programmatic advertising becoming increasingly popular among advertisers? For one, it offers a more efficient and cost-effective way to reach target audiences. With programmatic, advertisers can set specific parameters for their campaigns, which means they can reach the right people without wasting money on those who are unlikely to be interested in their products or services.
Programmatic advertising offers a distinctive advantage in reaching audiences through display, audio, and CTV ads. Within the platforms, we gain exclusive access to audio and CTV deals, allowing us to precisely target individuals who are engaged in content that aligns with our audience’s interests. It’s the ultimate tool for pinpointing the perfect audience.
Programmatic for Small Businesses
Many believe that programmatic advertising is too costly and exclusively reserved for big corporations with substantial budgets. However, this is a misconception. Programmatic advertising offers a wide range of audience selection and media-buying options, making it accessible to companies of all sizes. Therefore, whether you’re a small or large business, you can still leverage programmatic advertising to boost your brand awareness.
Programmatic is an ideal fit for small businesses with events, seasonal initiatives, or competitor targeting that doesn’t fit into traditional advertising scopes.
Types of Programmatic Campaigns
Programmatic has a suite of campaign options, and each one has its own benefits in reaching specific audiences:
Search and Contextual
Search and contextual targeting is great for more intent-driven users, similar to a Google search campaign. Search campaigns will take keywords from our keyword list and show ads to people searching for those terms. Contextual is a broader variation of search that will match campaign keywords to those that appear on websites that audience members are browsing.
Addressable Audiences & Retargeting
By utilizing addressable audiences, we have the ability to precisely target particular demographics and audience characteristics. This includes factors such as location, marital status, income, age, interests, and more, which enable us to refine our target audience. Through this process, we ensure that our ads are displayed to individuals who are most likely to engage with the promoted services/products.
Additionally, we can employ programmatic site retargeting, which is an excellent method to re-engage users who interacted with the advertiser’s website and encourage a return to the site or a conversion action.
IP Targeting & Exclusions
These campaign types work by targeting specific households and other physical locations by their IP (Internet Protocol) address. Imagine a physical mail campaign—only on the internet! This is especially effective in trying to reach people around a local business who may be interested in their goods or services. In a similar fashion, we can exclude irrelevant or personal IPs from your promotions.
Detailed Geotargeting
Besides the traditional geotargeting methods, our programmatic platform allows us to create detailed geofences around specific buildings or areas, and target individuals who have gone within those visual boundaries. Geofencing is an extremely beneficial strategy when our objective is to focus on areas where our competitors operate or relevant audiences gather. This enables us to present advertisements to prospects precisely at the moment they are showing interest in similar goods or services.
The Perks of Geofencing
Programmatic advertising is often employed for the purpose of geofencing, enabling advertisers to target individuals who have visited a specific location within the last month or less. This ensures that the advertiser remains top-of-mind during the decision-making process. Additionally, geoconversion tracking allows us to monitor whether an individual has viewed our ads and subsequently visited our location. (Foot traffic) This is a valuable tool for tracking offline conversions that result from the ads.
For example, say you are a furniture store owner. You can set up a geofence around your competitor’s location targeting potential customers who visit them. These customers can then be served with ads for up to a month, providing ample time for them to consider their furniture purchase. By strategically targeting them, you can entice them to visit your store and browse your options.
Programmatic for Sensitive Industries
Sensitive industries, like medical or cannabis, face additional challenges when running paid ads among traditional platforms. Federal and industry regulations coupled with market restrictions mean that every impression counts. Programmatic advertising offers a landscape where sensitive industries can be served at affordable price points with impressive results. SharpNet has experience navigating multiple sensitive industry promotions and is your partner in each step of a successful programmatic campaign. Our experienced team has you covered, from building graphics to reaching the target audience and creating deliverables that convert, no matter the industry.
Programmatic Graphics
Because of the various available dimensions of digital ad estate, the need for an assortment of high-quality graphics can be greater than traditional ad platforms. SharpNet’s programmatic team can provide you ad graphic assets that will drive conversions and fit the metrics for each specific platform. Your account manager can help you determine the best course of action, and provide the pricing and timeline for any programmatic ads strategy.
Programmatic Overview
Programmatic advertising is a cost-effective and highly efficient way to increase brand awareness and promote products and services to a large audience. It is particularly useful for sensitive content, geotargeting, and events. But how does it best fit into a comprehensive advertising strategy?
- Programmatic Ads excel in promoting brand awareness and products or services to a vast audience. Utilizing one or multiple campaign strategies, we can make sure the ads are showing to the right audience. However, due to the broad reach programmatic has, there is generally less user intent, and therefore less conversions. Due to this, programmatic is most effective when combined with other advertising programs.
- Google Ads are strongly fueled by user intent and target individuals precisely when they’re most receptive, which typically results in a much higher conversion rate. Google Ads can fill the gap left by programmatic’s lower intent focus, ensuring that you connect with potential customers at the moment they’re ready to engage or purchase.
- Facebook Ads focus on a medium-intent basis; Facebook primarily targets users fitting specific customer profiles. This strategy effectively builds brand awareness and increases interest in a product or service, providing an invaluable avenue for nurturing potential customers and facilitating their journey toward conversion.
Combining this unique platform with a strong SEO foundation allows businesses to leverage the strengths of each, while reaching the exact audiences they prefer. Programmatic advertising is a service that fills needs for most industries and approaches—let your account manager know today what questions you have and how we can get started building together!