In the digital landscape of PPC in 2024, there are so many more factors digital marketers need to focus on when it comes to digital marketing
What is Programmatic
Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of online ad space using software. Instead of traditional methods that involve human negotiation (i.e. reaching out to individual website owners to advertise on their site), programmatic advertising relies on algorithms and real-time data to target specific audiences more precisely. It involves real-time bidding (RTB), where ads are bought on a per-impression basis in an auction environment. This process allows advertisers to reach the right users at the right time with greater efficiency, improving campaign performance and reducing costs compared to manual ad-buying methods.
Why does it significantly differ from Paid Search and Paid Social since none of them involve human negotiation?
ClickTech’s Niki Grant gives a clear view of that:
The opposite of programmatic is traded and that means that you ring someone and go – “Hi, can I put an ad on your website, please? Thank you so much. Bye.” And then if you want to place an ad on a separate website, you then have to ring them and ask them to place an ad. That is traded display. Ringing lots of people, talking to them.
As computers happened, programmatic display became a thing because you don’t have to ring people to buy the ad anymore. You have never run Google or Facebook or any other social media or search platforms to buy media. They have always been programmatic because it’s always been bought by a program, but displays used to not be programmatic.
So that’s why we call Display – Programmatic Display and the others are programmatic, but get no credit for it.
Benefits of using programmatic:
There are several benefits to using programmatic advertising:
- Precision Targeting: Reach specific audiences based on demographics, behaviour, and interests.
- Real-Time Optimization: Adjust campaigns on the fly for better performance.
- Cost Efficiency: Reduce wasted ad spend by paying only for impressions that matter.
- Scalability: Manage and optimise multiple campaigns across various platforms.
- Data-Driven Insights: Access detailed analytics to understand and improve campaign outcomes.
- Automation: Streamline the ad buying process, saving time and resources.
- Access to Premium Inventory: Reach audiences on top websites and app
Downside of using Programmatic:
For the downside that are quite significant – Niki gave us two significant ones:
Brand safety – Brand Safety is a concern with display because you’re in the big wide world. Lots of weird content gets uploaded in the big wide world and your ad could appear right next to it – the joys of display.
Attribution – Display is also fairly difficult to attribute as well, because when you look at user journeys, you’re trying to go – “which ads did this person see before they bought our stuff?”
Because display is so broad reaching, most of those journeys are going to include display. Not necessarily that they looked at it, they may not have even moved their eyeballs to where the display ad is, but the probability that a display ad will be included in that attribution journey, in that customer journey, is quite high.
Which means it tends to over index on even the most in depth of studies. Um, so that can be a little bit tricky with it.
Programmatic and AI
AI has significantly improved programmatic advertising by enhancing targeting accuracy, optimising bidding strategies, and automating complex tasks. Machine learning algorithms analyse vast amounts of data in real-time, allowing advertisers to target the most relevant audiences more precisely. Here are the three ways it truly affects programmatic:
Enhanced Targeting: AI improves how ads are targeted by analysing large datasets to find patterns, making ad placements more accurate and relevant.
Automated Decision-Making: AI automates the bidding process, ensuring real-time adjustments based on user behaviour and context.
Personalization: AI enables more personalised ad experiences by predicting what content will resonate with individual users, boosting engagement.
Programmatic and data privacy regulations
Both Paid Search and Programmatic advertisers should be concerned about data privacy in these several common ways:
- Compliance with Regulations: Advertisers must adhere to laws like GDPR and CCPA, which impose strict rules on data collection, storage, and use.
- Third-Party Data: Even with third party cookies remaining, it has been essential to start gathering first party data as it’s the most reliable. We are already in the era where relying on alternative data sources requires careful consideration of privacy and legal implications.
- User Consent: Ensuring that user consent is properly obtained and managed is crucial to avoid legal repercussions.
- Data Security: Protecting consumer data from breaches and misuse is essential for maintaining trust and avoiding penalties.
What the experts say
After putting a post up on my LinkedIn I also got very interesting insights from several PPC experts on how they would recommend you working on Programmatic:
Veronica Höller highlights the ways savvy advertiser have been approaching it:
Programmatic advertising acts like a matchmaking service, automatically connecting your ads with the perfect online audience. Advertisers use specialised platforms (DSPs) to set their budget and define their ideal customer, while publishers offer their website’s ad space on other platforms (SSPs). These platforms converge in ad exchanges, where a speedy auction determines which ad gets displayed.
John Adeoti emphasises that one should approach this channel it strategic clarity:
I’ll say know what you want from your programmatic strategy, be intentional about partnering with the right publisher and be agile in your approach. Don’t just go trying out the next big name in publishing.
Those who are involved in Paid Social will like Chris Lloyd’s answer as he gives a very tactical advice on how to approach it:
Treat it like a walled garden platform e.g. social media as much as possible. Layer on those audiences, contextual targeting, exclude mobile apps, and manually look up the quality of each placement. Maybe also only run on trusted domains (.com, .org, .co.uk, not .xyz, .test)
Matt Beswick pleads that we go into this area of advertising with the right partner because “partnering with the right people makes a big difference.”
And we couldn’t agree more! It is why ClickAds was launched. With brand safety and targeting issues running amok, ensuring you are partnered with the one platform that will help you capture the perfect audience at the right moment with an all-in-one platform is more vital than ever.
