What is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising is a term that’s been making its way around the digital marketing space for a while now.  But for those who don’t work in the field, it sounds kind of robotic.  

Here’s what it means: programmatic advertising is a way to buy and sell ads using the best parts of technology – smart automation choices based on data. You can buy ads with less human involvement, but without error, because technology can do a lot of the job for you, based on data about your own ads, and the ads of others in your industry. 

At SEO Design Chicago, we make programmatic advertising even better  by offering a proprietary tool called the Active Pixel Program. 

Other digital marketing companies don’t offer this. 

 

The Definition of Programmatic Advertising?

Before we get into how SEO Design Chicago has finessed programmatic advertising for our clients, let’s just explain what regular old programmatic advertising is.

Programmatic advertising is the completely automated process of buying and selling digital ad space. The process is assisted by complex algorithms and technology.

 It allows advertisers to zoom in on specific audiences – targeting certain zip codes, genders, income levels, and other demographics. And the ads are created quickly, with personalized messages across various channels, including display, video, mobile, and social media.

At the heart of programmatic advertising lies information. By leveraging vast amounts of consumer data and insights into consumers’ behaviors, advertisers can make smart decisions about where to, and where not to, place ads. Companies can make quick decisions about which audiences to target, and how much money to spend on an ads in milliseconds.

This data-driven strategy means companies can  reach the right people, in the right places (text, apps, emails, or social media), at the right time, maximizing the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.

 

What Is the Active Pixel Program Available Only Through SEO Design Chicago?

Advertising pixels are a type of technology that digital marketers can implement to track and measure the performance of ad campaigns and automatically adjust future ad campaigns based on past performance. 

That was a lot to say in one sentence. 

We’ll go through it slowly. 

Ad pixels are snippets of computer code. They can be embedded on a website so that a person visiting a website can’t see the code. This code, called pixel code, comes in two types. 

• 1×1 image pixel: This is a type of code used to track consumer behavior or actions based on how often a person is exposed to an ad. This method is standard and the most common for advertisers to use.
• JavaScript: This type of code is used when advertisers want more detailed information, like how long the user stayed on the page, what they clicked on, and more. However, this type of coding  is not used as often because many clients, and regular users, don’t want their behavior tracked in such detail. 

Once the programmatic pixel advertising is placed on a web page, business owners can see which users are visiting their sites, and what they’re doing once they’re there.  

At SEO Design Chicago, we have a proprietary type of programmatic advertising called the Active Pixel Program. We don’t want to write too much about it. After all, if we divulge everything about it then it won’t be proprietary anymore. Our competitors will steal our best work. But we’re happy to tell you what we can about it during a consultation. 

 

Core Aspects of Programmatic Advertising

There are four terms associated with programmatic advertising that you want to familiarize yourself with before jumping into the advertising shark tank. 

1. Demand-Side Platform (DSP): A demand-side platform (DSP) is a type of software that allows an advertiser to buy advertising with the help of automated technology. 

Facebook allows companies and individuals to run ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Companies can then monitor the performance of their marketing campaigns and figure out the improvements to be made through simple tools like Insights. 

2. Supply-Side Platform (SSP): SSPs are tools that help publishers and manage their advertising spaces. This includes all the places they have ready to display advertisements to regular people. These spots include ad-supported streaming TV ad breaks or ads that appear when people play mobile games. An example of a SSP is Google Ad Manager, which helps social, game, and streaming publishers sell ad space to companies. 

 

3. Ad Exchange:  Ad exchanges are digital spaces where  advertisers and publishers buy and sell ads and ad space through real time bidding, and without needing a human to manage the transaction. The space for an ad is sold through real time bidding (RTB). This means businesses with ads bid for the right to display their ads on the selected ad space. Google Ad Exchange (AdX) is one of the most popular ad exchanges.

 

4. Data Management Platform (DMP): DMPs are tools that help companies better understand information about their clients’ demographics and motives for taking an action, whether that’s clicking on a button or completing a purchase. Amazon Redshift is a part of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the perfect example of a DMP. It helps companies that sell products on Amazon figure out what propelled users into making a purchase or adding an item to a cart. 

At SEO Design Chicago, our Active Pixel Program combines the best elements of all of these components into one complete and easy to use package. 

 

Benefits of Programmatic Advertising

What’s so great about programmatic advertising compared to the way ad buying and selling used to work in the good old days? There’s less room for human guesswork, which means less room for human error. You can also see results much faster, with much more reliable data. And once you have that in hand, you can make better decisions about what ads to try next, and where to place them. 

Some benefits, especially when it comes to SEO Design Chicago’s Active Pixel Program, include: 

 

1. Super Charged Laser Targeting of Audiences: The Active Pixel Program allows companies to target specific audiences with their ads, guaranteeing a maximum return on investment. Our technology means you’ll get top notch precision, ensuring that their ads reach the most relevant consumers based on demographics, interests, and past behavior.

 

2. Real-Time Data: With programmatic advertising, and especially with the Active Pixel Program, companies can monitor ad campaign performance in real-time and make instant adjustments to their content and strategy. This means you can quickly change where ads are placed and creative components like keywords, links and photos. 

 

3. Cost Efficiency: The Active Pixel Program erases the need for humans to negotiate ad space, create ads, and manage paperwork and payment. Less people = a thicker bottom line.  

 

4. Growth: The Active Pixel Program helps advertisers think beyond their current limits. Companies see they can reach  bigger and broader audiences through multiple channels and devices, including desktop, mobile, and connected TVs. We’ll help you get big. Fast. 

 

Things To Consider Before Investing in Programmatic Advertising

While programmatic advertising offers numerous benefits, it’s not right for everyone. Here are some things to consider before launching into this brave new world of digital ads. 

1. Ad Fraud: The automated nature of programmatic advertising makes it susceptible to ad fraud, including bot traffic, click fraud, and ad stacking. That said, what’s great about our proprietary Active Pixel Program is that we’ve developed unique safeguards to help protect our clients from bad faith actors. We can’t tell you our secrets, but we can share some broad strokes on how our Active Pixel Program is more secure than other types of programmatic advertising. 

 

2. Brand Safety: There’s weird stuff online. Advertisers run the risk of their ads appearing alongside inappropriate or harmful content on websites or apps if they utilize programmatic advertising. But again, this is where our Active Pixel Program has an advantage. We’ve included safety measures and using whitelists and blacklists to help mitigate this risk.

 

3. Data Privacy Laws: With increasing concerns about data privacy and regulations like the GDPR and CCPA, advertisers make sure they’re keeping up with relevant laws and regulations when collecting and using consumer data for targeted advertising. You’re not a lawyer. We did a lot of the legal leg work for you when we created our Active Pixel Program. We constantly update it to make sure we’re keeping up with data privacy laws in the United States and abroad. 

Remember when TikTok was new? And people said you had to jump on the TikTok game? Well, programmatic advertising is the new trend, and you need to stay on top of this trend. That said, TikTok is running into problems, right? It may be banned in the United States soon. That’s why you want to make sure you’re working with forward thinkers, like us at SEO Design Chicago, when it comes to programmatic advertising. Our Active Pixel Program can unlock new opportunities for you, and keep you compliant with laws and best practices. Reach out to chat with us.