• by Tal Hayek , Op-Ed Contributor, June 20, 2016

Programmatic advertising is a victim of its own hype. Its power has been obscured by a plague of buzzwords and industry jargon, distracting from data’s potential to transform digital marketing. That’s left marketers in nothing more than a dizzying data-driven spin: they know their objective, but they don’t know what they should expect from the very vendors who are promising to help them meet it.

That’s one of the biggest reasons why nearly half of marketers today are still struggling to make use of their data, according to an IDG Connect survey. Companies that take a data-driven approach to marketing are three times more engaged with their customers and almost three times as likely to have increased revenues, according to DataMentors.  So what should marketers expect from vendors if they want to harness the potential of programmatic marketing?

Flexibility

No two marketers are the same. Marketers should be able to choose exactly how much control and guidance they want from their programmatic partners – from step-by-step guidance to taking control themselves. They should have access to tools that allow them the flexibility to accelerate their own campaigns independently, or tap into hands-on service, to ensure they have the resources to adeptly power their programmatic campaigns at any time. What’s more, programmatic partners that offer flexible, scalable service options also allow marketers more transparency into costs, and help ensure brand safety.

Real-time Reporting

One of the biggest advantages of a data-driven programmatic strategy is the instantaneous feedback that data offers. If a marketer can’t get real-time insights into what works and what doesn’t, he or she is not extracting the most value from their data. Programmatic tools that provide real-time reporting allow marketers to pivot by leveraging customer and first-party data more effectively to gain valuable insights along every step of the customer journey. What’s more, marketers should be able to improve their campaigns quickly, rather than being too late to change the campaign’s outcome. Real-time insights empower them to do just that.  

Integration

Programmatic data shouldn’t live in isolation. Marketers should be able to integrate existing first-party and third-party data into their programmatic marketing campaigns through a data-management platform. Without that, their programmatic strategy isn’t as informed and effective as it could be. Ideally, a data-management platform becomes the unified repository a marketer uses to take advantage of all of his or her data assets across all activation channels, syncing seamlessly with demand-side platforms. The integration across these technologies allows marketers to provide relevant, personalized ads with more inherent value to users, as well as target and connect across multiple devices based on audience interests and demographics. This results in higher engagement rates, fewer lost ad impressions and higher campaign ROI.

Demystifying the programmatic data puzzle

Programmatic has become over-complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Marketers should seek a programmatic solution that encompasses these three important features – flexibility, real-time reporting and integration – to uncover the most from their audience data and get even closer to data-driven success.