The role of marketers is changing rapidly, with the discipline becoming ever more sophisticated as a result of an increasing number of channels and consumer touch points. Marketers are consequently faced with a key challenge of selecting the right marketing mix from a plethora of channels with a clear emphasis on measuring and demonstrating ROI. In fact, the old phrase ‘50% works but I don’t know which 50%’ couldn’t be further from the truth. Many businesses now rely on ‘guaranteed returns’, with ROI instantly possible to track through click through rates and subsequent conversions.
This change has been driven by the evolution of digital at break-neck speeds, particularly following the explosion of mobile and tablet devices. With over 50% of media content now consumed on a mobile device, marketers are wising up, putting mobile the channel at the forefront of their strategic decision-making rather than as an add-on to more conventional and traditional philosophies.
One area in which this has become particularly prevalent is through the rise in advertising technologies and particularly programmatic. Having just celebrated its 20th Birthday, the banner advert is now so much more than just an animated Gif. It is a clear route to reaching the right consumer, with the right message, at the right time, wherever they are on the web.
With the opportunity clear, it is still a surprise that many marketers are yet to implement programmatic, often due to a lack of digital skills and understanding. When it comes to selecting a provider, new challenges emerge. With industry jargon like real-time bidding and demand-side platform floating around, alongside claims of industry-leading technology, it is getting difficult to distinguish the true performers from the bunch. Through my experience, I’ve gained insight on what to look for when considering adding programmatic to your marketing mix.
Relationships are essential
Within an industry that has the word ‘innovation’ ringing in everyone’s ears, some fundamental basics are always necessary. With marketers often managing 10,000 to 50,000 placements at any time, through 10-15 publishers, relationships are essential. By choosing the right partner, advertisers can effectively form extensions of their own marketing teams through a business partner who can provide guidance on campaigns, help identify new segments and even pitch in on developing creatives. Unsurprisingly, providers that are honest and clear about the strength of their technologies, and that provide round the clock support, quickly standout from the crowd.
All about the tech
With transparency and honesty key, it makes logical sense that, to be successful, marketers should be able to clearly evaluate what is actually innovative about the technologies on offer. Marketers are, of course, unlikely to stay with any provider that doesn’t deliver – even if they are honest and transparent.
Clearly, checking any provider’s experience and credentials counts for a lot, along with their capacity to drive traffic and audience reach. So, when selecting a provider, identifying their key proof points to back up their ‘industry leading’ tagline is essential. Adding to this, the best providers should enable a low risk entry point to start a relationship so that claims can be put to the test before committing significant budgets.
Data insights are essential
This is where digital, and particularly programmatic, really comes into its own. Although advertising through premium publishers still has an extremely important place within the digital marketing mix, programmatic focuses more on identifying key audience segments and finding them across the web at a time when they are most responsive.
Knowing exactly when consumers are receptive to adverts, along with the general profile of those that click through, can be critical to a business – something that is only going to become more sophisticated. Yet at the same time, there is a war of attrition, as competitors are also privy to the same information. In many cases, those with the biggest marketing budgets are able to drive the most traffic and the most success which can be a tough, but inevitable, consequence of bidding for impressions.
Being able to sort the quality impressions at a high enough quantity is also a significant challenge, however, and the reason why so much investment is going into the sector. Using 1st and 3rd party data, insights on geographies, psychographics and demographics can be gleaned. In an age where a one-to-one consumer led approach is essential, data security is a top priority – with consumer privacy at the top of the agenda – something that providers should be quickly able to share comprehensive policies on.
It pays to be successful
This impact can be seen clearly in the games industry where publishers fight for placements to ensure that their games go viral. Publishers are battling for immediacy, as games require heavy promotion to make a quick impression within a saturated marketplace. This goes hand in hand with reach, as marketers need to spend big, buying a huge wealth of inventory across the whole web, to ensure that impressions are not made in isolation.
Vitally, marketers need to have their wits about them when selecting the blend of digital tactics to use. In the current climate, it is not a surprise that programmatic is growing so quickly, but it is also best used in sync with a wealth of other available tactics. In particular, Facebook is still extremely popular due to the level of targeting that it delivers and the sheer amount of inventory available. Having said that, market conditions are changing and programmatic will only become more and more sophisticated, driven by marketers to gain a competitive edge over the competition.
By Adam Jaffe, VP Marketing at Social Point.
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