Target Your Advertising Dollars Online with Programmatic Buying

An Introduction to Programmatic Buying

As an advertiser, it’s easy to get lost on the Internet. Where to place ads? How much to spend? Through which channels can I place ads? YouTube, Google, Facebook? How should I be using Adwords? Well, if only to complicate things further, the latest avenue through which online marketers have been finding success is called Programmatic Buying.

What is Programmatic Buying?

Programmatic buying, or real-time bidding (RTB), is bidding on specified ad space, in real time, to show one customer a specific advertisement. In the split seconds that it takes to load a page, all the available ad space is auctioned off to the highest bidders. So, instead of advertisers having to pre-negotiate prices with sites, they can cherry pick specific sites where they want their ads shown and compete at a CPM (Cost per thousand impression) level. This can save advertisers money and allow them to compete in ad spaces that are normally reserved only for big spenders. The industry has been growing at a rapid clip. In 2010, advertisers spent only $396 million on RTB, this last year, advertisers spent $3.36 billion. (Source: eMarketer)

Selling Diapers to the New Mother

Another advantage to programmatic buying is that instead of paying for views by someone outside of your target demographic, advertisers can target a specific type of customer; sell diapers to the new mother, so to speak. The advantage to the advertiser is obvious. But in addition, you can pool data to target a specific type of new mother across an entire network of websites. Some customer specifics that advertisers can target:

• Gender
• Income
• Education
• Interests
• Recent Searches
• Credit Card Usage
• And many more.

Where Are the Ads Placed in Programmatic Buying?

Typically advertisements are placed in spaces throughout the display network. These are the banner ads that you see all over webpages all across the Internet. Google controls much of this space, and when you’re creating your programmatic campaign, you can still bid on space controlled by Google, but an advertiser can also bid on ad space on Facebook, Mobile apps, YouTube, and other third party display networks.

How to Get Started with Programmatic Buying?

There are a variety of platforms to start your RTB campaign on. I prefer Site Scout, (www.sitescout.com), but there are many good companies. As always, this is the Internet, and one must be careful, especially since the typical minimum spend in programmatic buying campaigns is around $500. If you have any further questions, or would like to start an RTB campaign, contact ecreativeworks today, and ask about our ongoing internet marketing services.