Benchmarketing & TrinityP3 Programmatic Buying and Digital Marketing Event in Sydney
Programmatic buying may not be in everyone’s vocabulary yet, like Google is. But similar to Google, this technology-based advertising trend is on the verge of changing how businesses reach their clients and target audience. And this has serious and massive implications to buyers and consumers like you and me.
Is programmatic buying the big game changer?
In a recent event dubbed Game Changers 2015 in Sydney, programmatic buying was one of the topics discussed by chief marketing officers from a number of big Australian companies. The event was co-sponsored by Benchmarketing, Australia’s leading programmatic advertising platform and TrinityP3, a strategic marketing management consulting company. It focused on the role of technology in the fast-changing marketing landscape and how marketers need to make the shift in their approach to winning clients and consumers to their brands.
Before we get into the details of how programmatic and native advertising will affect all of us (the way Google did and still doing), let’s start with the basics.
What is programmatic advertising/buying?
A simple definition may describe it as automated media buying, which means the placement, buying and optimisation of ads is easier and faster compared to traditional media buying process.
Gil Snir, Chief Marketing Officer at Benchmarketing, said “Gone are the days of going through the content process and then having to get in touch with publishers to enquire about the rates and availability of their limited ad space,”
“Nowadays, programmatic advertising offers an automated solution to this manual process, saving advertisers both time and money.”
But there’s more to this simple definition. At the heart of programmatic advertising is the technology that enables advertisers to reach specific markets or audiences with focused messages rather than with generic and bland advertising.
For example, stockbroking firms that advertise in major newspapers may think they are reaching thousands of readers because of the mass circulation. But the reality is out of the thousands of readers (according to publishers’ claim of their readership number) only a handful may be interested in share trading. This means the advertisement may not be effective or it may even be wasted because it is too generic and does not reach out to any specific target market.
By using programmatic buying, businesses can tailor their messages and buy ad space only in relevant mediums or channels. By analysing consumer behaviour and online search patterns, advertisers can immediately adjust their messages depending on what customers are searching for online.
Who is using programmatic media buying?
While programmatic advertising/buying is relatively new, a number of Australian businesses in the finance, energy, tourism and white goods industries are already using it and reaping the benefits from it. For example, a large insurance company used programmatic buying to retarget client segments with dynamic messages that resulted in massively lowering of its cost per acquisition.
Sydney-based Benchmarketing is recognised as Australia’s leading programmatic media buying platform. Though the company has only been in business for three years, it has garnered a strong leadership position in the industry due to its advanced offering. The company has also been nominated for the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Rising Star Award in 2014 in recognition of its fast rate of annual revenue growth.
By analysing data and utilising ‘Real Time Bidding’ technology, Benchmarketing is consistently able to outperform their clients’ targets. By creating an audience map and analysing how a customer interacts with a client’s website, Benchmarketing is able to dynamically display relevant ads, and adjust bids in real time to optimise media buying.
How big (business) is programmatic buying?
Thought still considered in its infancy, programmatic buying is projected to gain more dollars from traditional advertising. Some industry estimates said programmatic buying could account for $14.8 billion of the approximately $58.6 billion digital advertising spend in 2015. In 2014, programmatic buying only accounted for about $9.9 billion, according to eMarketer.
In Australia, programmatic buying is also gaining traction as more businesses and industries adjust their marketing strategies to the rapid changes in customer buying patterns.
Benefits of programmatic buying
In his presentation at the recent Game Changers 2015 event, Snir outlined some of the immediate and major benefits of using programmatic buying. He said from the advertisers’ perspective, it can eliminate assumptions about customers and what they want.
“It also helps define audiences and identify creative options that will speak to specific audiences in a meaningful way,” said Snir.
“Programmatic advertising is not just advertising. It is more of a personalised conversation with customers,” he added.
Compared to traditional advertising which assume the audience is static and most people have the same mindset, programmatic buying tracks actual consumer searches. This means less room for making (wrong) assumptions about customers and potential clients.
Using big data and real-time analytics, programmatic buying helps define audiences almost instantly and can adjust the messages accordingly.
“Programmatic buying is very useful in segmentation of clients and it allows advertisers to offer different things to customers and potential clients according to their profile,” said Snir.
In our next post, we will discuss the changing role of the Chief Marketing Officer into a Chief Customer Officer, which is being ushered in by the change in consumer behaviour and buying patterns.
