Programmatic buying has been a game changer in digital advertising, with programmatic display advertising projected to be a US$53 billion industry by 2018 (Magna Global). The term programmatic refers to the automation of digital media delivery though technology, with the purpose of improving campaign efficiency.

While programmatic ad buying is the latest buzzword, not enough marketers have started implementing it yet. As with any new technology, both parties at separate ends of the spectrum – from agencies to publishers – are only quick to sit up once tangible results speak for themselves.

Data is powerful because it helps advertisers engage people as individuals, rather than just a number. Programmatic technology crunches staggeringly huge amounts of valuable data. This is key to helping advertisers understand their customers in a new way – as human beings.

Programmatic can help marketers cut costs. Transactions become more efficient when complex ad-operation tasks are cut out. In an ideal world, automated technologies take over data-heavy tasks and allows humans more time to do what they do best – to drive the creativity in marketing campaigns.

How To Use Audience Data

In a programmatic environment, the more data you have, the better. But the quality of data matters too. Not all data vendors are the same.

Even brands and publishers with their own first-party data need to supplement their campaigns with third party data. By using a combination of different types of data, it empowers you to build actual user profiles of your target audience. While there is a common misconception about first versus third party data, the fact is that third-party data is simply someone else’s first party data.

Third-party data allows marketers to target prospects at scale and find look-a-like prospects. According to a January 2015 study by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Adroit Digital, nearly six in 10 respondents relied on third-party data “moderately or extensively to inform their digital media strategy.” Third-party data lets marketers minimise ad spend wastage because you get to reach real people and not robots.

How To Choose Your Data Provider

Here are some questions you should ask your data provider before choosing to work with them:

Where do you collect your data?

Not all data is created equal. The quality and breadth of data used in performance campaigns is a critical success factor. You need to ascertain from your data provider where the data has been derived from. Is it from a publisher’s website, an ecommerce site? Is it based on surveys or through a partnership? This is important because it will enable you to determine its relevancy to your campaign and flag up any limitations.

How fresh is your data?

Some forms of data, such as Purchase Intent, have a very short shelf life. In today’s digital era, any data older than 30 days is unlikely to deliver the desired outcome.

How can I use your data?

It is important that in the early planning stages of the campaign, you think about how the data you buy will be used, and communicate that to your data provider. For example, do you want to use it for search, display, social, or mobile? Are you trying to target a particular demographic? What do you want to track? The more detail you can provide upfront, the more your data provider can work with you to ensure that the data they deliver is as precise as it can be.

Do you offer local market data that takes into consideration local language, culture and consumption habits?

A lot of online marketing can sometimes feel a little robotic. However, if data has local significance and is delivered via a channel that it is in tune with local consumer behaviour that can go a long way towards building brand advocacy. To that extent be sure that your data provider can testify to the integrity of their data, its regional relevance, as well as additional context for the data that proves this. Additionally, it is important to question them about local registration information.

What Data Segments Marketers Need

Depending on the sector, buyers need to find the data segments most relevant to them. Some of these segments include:

  • Demographics: Data segments that relate to the characteristics of a user such as gender or age.
     
  • Intent: Data segments that relate to the purchase of goods or services by visiting comparison sites, product review sites, booking engines or ecommerce sites.
     
  • Interest: Data segments that allow you to target based on a user’s specific interest and hobbies.

  • B2B: Data segments that allow you to target based on business criteria such as industry, size of company, profession.

  • Seasonal segments: A range of seasonal segments to help target your campaigns around holidays, special occasions and sporting events.

How to show ROI

The easiest way to track ROI of your programmatic buys is via straightforward tracking activity-based measures that have been employed for years, such as click-throughs and views translating to higher sales figures.

Within the ecommerce space, the return on investment can be measured by comparing the amount of money going into the campaign (cost of generating automated emails reminding users that they still have items in their shopping carts) versus the amount of shopping carts with completed transactions.

Viewability has become the top priority for buyers as brands demand for proof that consumers have seen their ads. A recent comScore study reported that Kellogg’s observed a 75% increase in sales by increasing its viewability rates by 40%.

As a marketer, it is important to request for an audience performance report from your DSP. This allows you to track where your target users are indexing highly in any audience data segment. Data fuels programmatic buying because it allows the buying platform to learn and optimise, so you always know you are maximizing your audience data expenditure.

 

By Kevin Tan, CEO at Eyeota. 

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