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How To Improve ROI Of Your Programmatic Advertising Campaign

EMarketer estimates that programmatic advertising will account for 86.5% of all digital display advertising this year. For 2022, that’s expected to increase to 88.2% or $94.9 billion.

Brands have spoken, and in the ever-changing world of algorithms, automation and machine learning, programmatic advertising has made a mark as a preferred channel for securing digital ad space.

Let’s look at a series of ways brands can improve the return on their programmatic advertising campaign performance.

Define, then refine, your audience with data. Ensure your ads are being shown to the right audience during the right phase of their customer journey.

It’s critical to form a 360-degree understanding of your target audience if you want to see programmatic success. How old is your target audience? Where do they live? What’s their household income? What podcasts, if any, are they listening to?

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When able, use first- and third-party data sources to go beyond traditional demographic and psychographic targeting. 

Work to define your audience through contextual, behavioral or AI-based targeting parameters, then segment your audience by where individuals are in their specific customer journey: awareness vs. consideration vs. decision-ready.

Lead with audience-centric creative. High-performing creative is eye-catching (effective in grabbing attention) and compelling (effective in driving action). But there’s always room for improvement, so consider these factors:

1. Audience alignment. The more your target audience sees themselves in your creative, the better the performance of that creative. This could be something as simple as using imagery that mirrors the demographics of your target audience, or it could mean highlighting specific frustrations or moments in your consumers’ lives that they’ll recognize. Communicating your brand not only understands them but can relate to them.

2. Compelling copywriting.Your ads need to drive action. If your current creative isn't hitting desired goals, step back and take a closer look at your copy.

Ask yourself if the copy conveys a key benefit of your product or service: Are you asking the audience to commit to a sale? Does the copy communicate a sense of urgency? If you answered no to any of these questions, it’s time for a copy refresh.

Provide a landing page optimized for conversions. With campaigns, ROI is generally driven by one key performance indicator: conversions. A strong ROI is directed by what happens after your target audience engages with an ad.

Use different landing pages depending on where customers are on their journey. For example, a decision-based ad featuring a specific product should take someone to that product page. An awareness-based ad, on the other hand, should take a user to a page where they can learn more about your brand or broad product offering. Think catalog page or list of services.

What is your most challenging programmatic advertising issue? Let me know in the comments below.

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