A Look Into Programmatic Trends

By Juan Alvarado on December 2, 2016

Pepperjam recently attended AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O New York 2016 conference. The event was filled with strong content from marketers, agencies and media partners.

There were three key takeaways that will help transform how we buy media in the short-term and long-term: 
  1. Determine the Right Programmatic Partner(s)
    American Express walked the conference attendees through their RFI process for determining which ad tech they should partner with and how many media partners should be on their plan. Below are three of the conclusions that they shared:
  • Invest in working media: In other words, make sure your budget is being spent on garnering more impressions, not paying a premium for ad tech
  • Select fewer partners and develop more strategic relationships: Marketer budgets and time are limited. Hone in on your top options and position yourselves to become valued business partners
  • Work only with partners who are transparent with data and pricing: When you have transparent pricing, you’re able to determine where you’re getting the best deal and invest more in working media

At Pepperjam, we’ve conducted DSP audits for existing and potential clients. This allows us to show our methodology for determining the best media partner(s) for a marketer. The three areas that we focus on are:

  • Does the ad tech have all of the basics in place? For example, a daily budget cap, one universal pixel for retargeting segmentation, integrations with a specific DMP, etc.
  • Does the potential media partner have a unique selling proposition? There are hundreds of options to choose from, but is there something that separates the company from the others that we talk to?
  • What’s the cost for the marketer? We look for transparent pricing options and do our best to get the best deal for a client, despite the size of their budget
  1. Utilize Marketer’s First-Party Data
    More and more marketers are utilizing their own data for targeting in media plans. The way that it was positioned at the conference is that getting set up is a journey, but ultimately, you’ll determine that it’s worth it.

At Pepperjam, more and more of our clients are utilizing their own data in marketing campaigns. This can be achieved with or without a DMP in place. The key is to have a solution that’s able to take CRM data (including emails, phone numbers, and home address) and translate that into online audience segments. Those segments can be used for targeting or exclusion purposes. Below are some use cases:

  • Reach people that have bought from your site last year during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and/or all of Cyber Week
  • Influence in-store shoppers to buy online instead
  • Suppress existing customers from prospecting efforts to help ensure that you’re driving new quality traffic
  1. Header Bidding continues to Evolve
    Header bidding is a way for ad tech companies to get higher priority access to inventory. Ad tech companies determine whether they want to bid on specific inventory or pass on it. For direct response campaigns, this gives those companies an advantage. It’s another way for them to drive stronger performance for clients.

Companies that were early adopters of header bidding have benefitted the most from it, including Criteo. Currently, Google, Facebook, and AOL (owned by Verizon), now have their own header bidding solution. Some tout the speed of their technology, meaning the time that it takes to determine what ad to show on a webpage is much faster. That helps improve user experience of the internet and also allows marketers to get their message out to their intended audiences, before they potentially miss the message.

To learn more, please contact Juan Alvarado at: jualvarado@pepperjam.com.

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Topics:   Pepperjam affiliate marketing