Understanding Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and the Programmatic Advertising Revolution

Understanding Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and the Programmatic Advertising Revolution

by | Jun 13, 2023 | Blog, Business, Performance, SEO

Understanding Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and the Programmatic Advertising Revolution

Adam Latham

The Cowbell Agency

Programmatic advertising has revolutionized the way digital ads are bought and sold. Instead of manual negotiations and direct sales, programmatic advertising uses data, algorithms, AI, and automation to streamline the ad-buying process. It allows advertisers to target specific audiences, optimize campaigns in real time, and achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness. In this blog post, we will delve deeper into programmatic advertising and explore how it enhances targeted advertising efforts.

What is Programmatic Advertising? 

Sometimes, the most fundamental or basic questions are the most difficult to answer. If you were to ask two different marketers you might get two different answers. Here’s the way I like to explain it. Let’s look at the different “functions” of advertising. There’s creating content and messaging, and then there’s delivering that content and messaging. Pretty basic concept. 

Now, we have DSPs, or Demand-Side Platforms that are asking for ads. They have demand, and they want that demand filled so they can get paid. They can be part of the Google display network, an independent website, an app, or a video news site, or…geez, this list could go on forever. Let’s just say they deliver content, even as far up the food chain as an entertainment provider like Hulu, Tubi, or Netflix. 

What happens very quickly is a transaction. And this happens constantly, 24 hours a day, and simultaneously. There’s no way any individual could see the request, read the request, and agree to the request. So what happens is you configure a campaign that is programmed to respond to these requests. That is why it is “programmatic.”

And just to confuse things even more, the content providers could never agree to these things in advance because they don’t know the parameters of the deal until that final variable is in place: YOU are watching the content. Each and every one of us merits a new negotiation.

This isn’t as complicated as you may think (or maybe it really is and I’m just so dived into this my perception of reality is altered). Let’s say individual A, who is a 65-year-old male who lives in a specific geographic area, is watching a college football broadcast on a Saturday afternoon. There may be a thousand different campaigns that want to show him ads as long as they don’t exceed $1.50 to show him. The demand goes out, the order is filled, and he is seeing ads. Now, let’s change that slightly. Individual B is watching the same exact broadcast from the same exact content provider and lives right next door to Individual A, but, this individual is a 35-year-old who owns a Porsche and has 7X the discretionary spend level of the average American. For this individual, the request goes out, and it finds that a company that makes Porsche-branded leather jackets is willing to pay up to $3 to show that person an ad. Guess what, the content provider finds, offers, gets acceptance and shows him this ad so that they double their money.

If you want to learn more about the many different ways we can target including geo-fencing, go to this link HERE

These offers and acceptances take place while you are waiting for commercials. This real-time bidding (RTB) is a key component of programmatic advertising. It enables ad inventory to be bought and sold in milliseconds through automated auctions. Advertisers can bid on ad impressions based on their targeting criteria, and the highest bidder gets their ad displayed to the desired audience. This dynamic bidding process ensures efficient allocation of ad spend and maximizes the potential reach of campaigns.

The “programs” that run these campaigns use a combination of Big Data and AI to keep these running in the background. They are called Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs). These software platforms provide advertisers with a centralized interface to set campaign parameters, target specific audiences, and optimize ad spend. DSPs integrate with ad exchanges and supply-side platforms (SSPs) to access ad inventory from multiple publishers, ensuring a wide reach for advertisers.

The capabilities offered by DSPs are diverse and powerful. Advertisers can leverage audience targeting features to define their ideal customer profile and deliver ads to the right individuals. Real-time bidding on ad exchanges enables them to bid for ad impressions based on predefined criteria, ensuring that their ads reach the most relevant audience.

Furthermore, DSPs offer ad creative management tools, campaign tracking features, and comprehensive reporting capabilities. These functionalities enable advertisers to monitor campaign performance, make data-driven optimizations, and gain valuable insights into their ad campaigns’ effectiveness.

That’s how I describe the whole thing, acronyms and jargon included at no extra cost.  But if you’re the type of person who likes the Wikipedia sort of way of answering that question of “what is programmatic advertising”  it might read:

“Programmatic advertising empowers advertisers to leverage sophisticated targeting options to reach their desired audience segments. By utilizing demographic information, browsing behavior, location, and interests, advertisers can tailor their ad campaigns to specific audiences. This level of precision targeting ensures that ads are shown to the right people, at the right time, and in the right context.”

That actually wasn’t as painful as I thought. 

Conclusion

Programmatic advertising, facilitated by Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs), has transformed the digital advertising landscape. It offers advertisers greater efficiency, precision targeting, and real-time optimization capabilities. Through programmatic advertising, businesses can reach their target audiences more effectively, improve campaign performance, and achieve a better return on investment (ROI).

DSPs play a critical role in programmatic advertising by providing advertisers with the tools and infrastructure to manage and optimize their ad campaigns. These platforms enable advertisers to leverage data-driven insights, reach the right audience at the right time, and make informed decisions to drive their digital advertising success.

As the digital advertising industry continues to evolve, programmatic advertising and DSPs will remain key components in the arsenal of advertisers seeking to maximize their online advertising efforts. By harnessing the power of programmatic advertising and utilizing DSPs effectively, businesses can elevate their digital advertising strategies and achieve their marketing goals. Embracing programmatic advertising opens up a world of opportunities for targeted advertising, enabling businesses to connect with their audience in a more precise and impactful manner.

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Personalized holiday greetings provide better impact

Personalized holiday greetings provide better impact

by | Sep 30, 2021 | Blog, Brand, Business, Marketing, Messaging, P.R. & Social

Personalized holiday greetings provide better impact

Adam Latham
The Cowbell Agency

The Christmas season is almost here! Wait a minute…can that really be true? It’s still pretty hot and humid out there. But yes, the time to start planning your holiday season marketing push is NOW. After all, you’ve got to have everything in place well before the season begins to take full advantage. And, having a well-thought out seasonal marketing strategy can deliver tremendous ROI for your business or brand.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a Top 10 list of things to remember or consider when putting together your Christmas or Holiday Season marketing strategies.

Drumroll please….

10. Don’t just slap on some lights and tinsel and call it Christmas.

In other words, don’t just apply some lame holiday clip art to something and think you’re achieving anything. Great Christmas branding incorporates the season in a meaningful way. It should evoke an emotion that has your customers looking forward to celebrating. We’re talking about real emotion and connectivity. If not, most of your efforts will look shallow and meaningless, and worst of all, forgettable.

9. Have a defined reason or purpose for incorporating the Holiday Season

This may seem overly simplistic, but remember the key emotional motivators for your customers. It doesn’t have to be sappy. For example, if you want to focus on convenience, as in a restaurant that features curbside full-meal delivery, remember how busy families are during the season and how your services remove key stress points. It isn’t that hard, but your success will depend on your creativity and planning.

8. Deck out packaging

Oh yeah, disregard Point 10 here. Do slap some tinsel and lights on some things. If you are a retailer, either online or storefront, there’s nothing wrong with providing an upscale Christmas theme packaging. This applies to even bakeries who might look at special seasonal boxes. The goal is to add some distinctive look that applies to only you. The benefits are long-term. You may not believe this, but if someone gets used to seeing a certain color or box design sitting on their sideboard during Christmas or Thanksgiving, they want to see it every year. You want to make your brand part of their celebrations.

For websites and social media, a simple banner change to Christmas greetings that aligns with your brand colors and themes can bring cheer to your customers and seasonal spirit to your brand.

7. Use the holiday to redefine your discounts

Everybody loves a bargain. In fact, you may be offering some great discounts year round. But, that doesn’t mean that same discount you ran in June shouldn’t now be called a Christmas discount. And if you’re using online discount codes, change them.

But an even more creative approach, which allows a benefit to consumers without devaluing your brand is to offer an added value. Consider pairing your product with a free gift, which customers can either keep for themselves or give to someone else.

Kick it up an even higher notch by branding those paired items, like tote bags and mugs with your logo. So the discount was providing my customers with a way to walk around promoting my products. That’s a win win if I ever heard one.

6. Stress mobile

Let’s be serious. You can throw all the statistics about how often people are connecting via their phone and throw them out the window during the holiday season. Why? Because it’s even higher during the holidays. We’re out and about. We’re stuck in lines at checkout, at restaurants, or wherever. We’re busy. And because of that, you should be connecting with your customers while they’re out.

For example, what if for every customer you had a cell number and permission to communicate with, you counted down the days of Christmas with a special offer or just a sentimental thought?

5. Consider Christmas gift cards to extend brand loyalty

It can be difficult to choose the perfect gift – that’s why more shoppers are turning to gift cards. Despite what some try to tell you, the recipients actually like choosing their own gifts. The trick is to design cards that both extend your brand with a memorable attachment to the season. That’s where really good marketing and creative types like us come in hand. (nudge nudge, wink wink)

4. Communicate with your current customers

The Christmas season is an opportunity to increase brand loyalty by reaching out authentically to your current customer base. You’d be surprised at the impact an unexpected and pleasantly surprising gift can be.

3. Let your customers be your marketers

Imagine if you will, a Holiday program that offered a prize to the winning entry in a contest. The contest is to say why your company’s product or service is part of their holiday season. All entries are posted on your Facebook page or YouTube channel. And of course, they post on theirs and share with their friends and family. Before you know it, you got an incredible marketing bang for a very small buck.

2. Get personal and festive on social media

In order to engage with your brand authentically, your customers need to know that there are real people behind the brand. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to show your Christmas spirit on social media channels like Facebook. This can easily be achieved by posting videos and photos of your staff incorporating Christmas into their lives. Don’t forget to use this opportunity to highlight all of your corporate giving and charitable causes.

1. Stay local on social media

Let’s face it, Christmas and seasonal holiday celebrations are pretty universal. But every community has a lot of traditions or shops that are uniquely local. Whether it be a local bakery or pumpkin patch, find those things and highlight them through your social media. Again, it is all about making connections with your customers.

So what does all of this add up to: Christmas branding doesn’t have to be complex or expensive. But what is necessary is a plan and a commitment. And even though it doesn’t feel like it, the time to start making those marketing plans is now.

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Beginning a Social Media Program

Beginning a Social Media Program

by | Jul 7, 2021 | Blog, Brand, Business, Marketing, Messaging, Metrics, P.R. & Social

Beginning a Social Media Program

Adam Latham
The Cowbell Agency

To some, getting a social media program off the ground seems like some sort of black magic. You have a Facebook page, but no likes or follows. You have a twitter handle, but no followers. So, you think, why even post. And if you did, what is the value?

You know you should, and you know that eventually it may be worthwhile, but getting started seems daunting. 

The first thing I like to do is forget about the woeful size of your audience right now and think about these channels or platforms from a purely strategic perspective. What is their purpose and how do they fit my needs?

Let’s start with your needs. Apart from just advertising your product or service, ask yourself what type of information do you want to deliver to your audience? What, from you, do they want to hear? 

The answer to these questions will vary widely based on what your organization does or produces.

To help you answer these questions, let’s create a few hypothetical organizations. Let’s say you were a government or NGO who has a vested interest in pushing out a lot of information to the public, as in activities and schedules of events. Every time you push out a press release, it costs money. So instead, you’ve decided to use Twitter as your distribution channel. You are not looking to get into a lot of discussions with your audience there, just a public channel to broadcast that something new is available. 

This channel is very effective at this because most of the media itself follows organizations they regularly report on. 

Let’s also assume your organization wants to also build a community with relationships and conversations. This will most likely take place on Facebook. 

But, if you want to reach the generation between 16 and 23, then you should also include Instagram.

Let’s say your leadership, C-level executive and management, wants to be seen as thought leaders. If so, you need to include LinkedIn as part of your strategy.

So, before I even concern myself with building audiences and managing the pages, I build a matrix that includes the types of information I want to disseminate, and I choose the platform on which I want to broadcast that information. 

Secondly, I then, knowing the culture of those different platforms, will know how many different topics and amount of posts I need to create. 

This is how you begin building a Social Media Strategy.

The next phase is all about tactics. Connecting and automating where you can, getting the resources to fill the pipes with content, measuring and building audiences. 

Notice I put building audiences last. There’s a reason for that.

Everyone usually likes to start there. They go to their platforms and don’t see any audience and they think what is the point. Well, the point is, if you don’t have a regular flow of information, nobody will ever follow or subscribe. It would be like trying to get subscribers to a streaming service without shows for anybody to watch. Unfortunately you DO have to show a value for others to value your content.

And trying to build an audience before you can show value, is like kicking yourself in the butt. Every time someone goes to your page and is disappointed, the least likely they are to come back. Remember, when someone shares some of your content, you want to build and convince others to get there first.

Once you have your channels ready… you know, a good amount of videos on YouTube, articles on LinkedIn, posts and events scheduled on Facebook, an active Twitter feed that is constantly sending out links to interesting articles… then you begin paying occasionally to boost your circulation on your best, most valuable content.

Lastly, be humble. Share other people’s information if it is of value. Now, this can get misunderstood. I’m talking about Ford sharing GM information. What I’m talking about is the reality that every industry has resources from other sources that their customers might find interesting. The more you look like a channel of non-stop advertising, the less relevant your channel will become. 

Lastly, don’t be afraid to have a personality. At the end of the day, beyond special offers and announcements, people want to be entertained. Never lose sight of that. The object is to get as much of your followers to want to share your info with THEIR followers and friends. It isn’t only about building your audience, but rather, inspiring your audience to spread the word for you.

Good luck and have fun.

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Understanding and Measuring the ROI of SEO

Understanding and Measuring the ROI of SEO

by | May 6, 2021 | Blog, Marketing, Metrics, SEO

Understanding and Measuring the ROI of SEO

Adam Latham
The Cowbell Agency

Communicating the true ROI of programs like SEO can sometimes be difficult. I recently completed a White Paper that looked at several different key metrics that can easily be measured in real-world dollars, which then allow an easy calculation based on the investment in SEO activity.

The program used for this study was a client that recently completed the first four months of an ongoing SEO program.  The strategy and tactics were developed by myself and colleague Owen Yorio (fast becoming a young SEO Jedi).  The resulting benefits could be measured both in monthly organic search traffic, annual organic search traffic, non-branded organic search traffic, and closing those gaps with their competitors.

If that sounded at all confusing (because you have a life), it probably won’t be after you’ve read.

The ROI of this program ranged from 3X to nearly 10X

Download White Paper: Understanding the ROI of SEO

Read on LinkedIn

 

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Why Chat Rules

Why Chat Rules

by | Apr 7, 2021 | Blog, Business, Chat, Lead Nurturing

Why Chat Rules

Adam Latham
The Cowbell Agency

Why does chat rule? Well, the answer to that question is simple, and it is the same reason why no one over thirty is really considered “cool.”

Ever looked at how the next generation communicates? They’ve got their head in their phones constantly, and they’re chatting.

The generation just before them seemed to live in email. And the divide is getting greater as we become more chat-entrenched. As someone with teenage children or grandchildren if they are more likely to get a response by text than any other form of communication.

Major corporations realized this a long time ago, moving a lot of their customer interaction to chat. And here’s the surprising thing. An automated bot in chat isn’t nearly as annoying as an automated voice system. I don’t know why that is. It just is.

And now, there are finally a whole host of platforms out there that small to midsize companies can implement to both improve their customer relationships and lighten their workload. And the costs are typically less than an expensed lunch a month.

So the question isn’t really “should I be using chat?”, but rather, “what’s the best way to be using chat?”

At Cowbell we’ve looked at a number of easy-to-install plugins for most websites, and here’s what we’ve found.

There are two basic levels: 1) I just want to chat, or 2) I want to actually embrace chat and use it as a competitive advantage.

For those who want to “embrace chat” for all it can deliver, we’ve recently discovered a tool that actually replaces most of your lead nurturing and similar drip campaign platforms. It uses an “omni chat” feature that links your facebook messenger to your website chat. This not only means they can chat to you in an environment they’re familiar with, but they are instantly a lead in your CRM. 

You can also configure pre-programmed bots to help your customers quickly get to the information they need without someone on your team having to hold their hand.

Let me make sure we’re completely clear about this. I didn’t mention CRM to scare you away. I’m not talking about having to invest into a holistic software solution for customer relations and lead nurturing.  The chat tool itself IS its own CRM. 

In other words, once they begin a chat conversation with you, they are converted. They are a lead, and all of their contact information, like name, email address or phone number that they have on Facebook, is now attached to their record in your chat tool. 

In the backend, we can develop a whole series of drip campaigns that can run directly through the facebook messenger or through SMS text. In other words you are communicating with your customers in the space they actively communicate throughout their day.

If this sounds too good to be true, it gets even better. Imagine if you will, that you are running an online banner ad campaign and someone is on a mobile device. And, someone then clicks on that ad. What if, instead of going to a landing page, they were launched immediately into a chat session with someone on your team. And, you immediately had all of their contact information and were in your system as a lead. You didn’t have to worry about whether they would find your call-to-action on your landing page. There is no landing page! 

In fact, conversions through chat are now as much as 10X greater through landing page or email-based drip campaigns. Why? Because…and some marketing professionals may be afraid to admit this… we have moved past the email-to-landing page-to-contact list paradigm. We are now in the instant mobile chat phase, and those who recognize that first will reap the lion share of benefits.

If you want to learn more about how the different chat platforms work and which one is best for your business needs, contact us at Cowbell, or better yet…why not just chat.

 

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