Programmatic advertising has exploded in popularity thanks to its ability to use data and automation to target specific audiences and buy digital ad space. Now, artificial intelligence and marketing automation aim to optimize programmatic buying even further. In this post, we’ll look at what programmatic advertising is, the impact AI and automation will have on it, and why brands need to leverage these technologies.
What is Programmatic Advertising and How Does it Work?
Programmatic advertising automates the buying and selling of online ad impressions through an auction-based system. Specialized software allows advertisers to identify and bid on ad slots in real-time to reach their target users. This eliminates much of the manual work traditionally required to negotiate and purchase digital advertising.
Advertisers can create highly customized campaigns by leveraging user data to identify audience segments likely to engage with their ads. They can tailor ads directly to these high-value users’ interests and behaviors as they browse websites and apps where ads are served. Programmatic provides advanced targeting options and efficiencies not possible with analog advertising buying methods.
How Can AI and Marketing Automation Transform Programmatic Campaigns?
Artificial intelligence employs machine learning algorithms to analyze the wealth of audience and campaign data now available to digital marketers. AI can determine the best high-performing audience segments and ad strategies to get superior ROI from programmatic campaigns.
Marketing automation systems take over the busywork of launching campaigns, A/B testing creative, monitoring performance, optimizing based on insights uncovered, and more. This frees up advertiser time and resources for high-level strategy.
Together, AI and automation enhance programmatic buying through:
– Increased efficiency at scale
– Faster testing and innovation
– More impactful ad creative driven by data
– Continuous optimization
Why Brands Must Adopt AI and Automation in Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic ad spending already dominates digital marketing budgets. As AI and automation infiltrate programmatic workflows, advertisers who don’t adapt will get left behind.
Those leveraging AI-powered automation will steal share through:
– Better audience targeting and engagement
– Higher quality scores resulting in reduced costs
– Improved campaign performance and ROI
Rather than replacing marketing pros, AI and automation amplify their efforts. The brands seeing the most programmatic success combine automated solutions and human insight, creativity, and strategy. They understand technology and processes alone can’t account for the feel and messaging nuances that connect with audiences.
The increased use of automation will require marketers to double down on the marketing science driving business results. To stay ahead of the competition, continual education and skill-building around data, analytics, and systems integrations will be mandatory.
The programmatic environment changes fast; AI and automation accelerate the pace. Brands must commit to adopting these emerging technologies or risk losing customers to competitors more skilled at leveraging data and automation.