Fragmented audiences. Fractured identity signal. A minefield of low-quality inventory. The digital advertising landscape can be treacherous. But programmatic curation emerges as a strategic superpower to help marketers conquer the industry’s biggest pain points.
Programmatic curation empowers marketers to:
Programmatic curation redefines how ad campaigns are built, bought, and optimized – representing a true paradigm shift. This guide delves into the intricacies of programmatic curation, exploring its definition, significance, benefits, and how marketers can leverage it to enhance their advertising outcomes.
Programmatic curation refers to the strategic aggregation, selection, and management of digital advertising inventory through programmatic channels, combined with enhanced audience targeting, and advanced optimization. It involves creating tailored Private Marketplaces (PMPs) that bundle specific inventory and data to meet precise advertiser needs, and deliver to the demand-side platform (DSP) as an easy-to-activate Deal ID.
The digital advertising landscape has its challenges: the impending demise of third-party cookies, a complex and opaque programmatic supply chain, and the delicate balance of user privacy and experience. Programmatic curation addresses these issues head-on by offering a transparent and efficient way to navigate the programmatic ecosystem.
The programmatic supply chain is notoriously complex, making it difficult for advertisers and publishers to ensure transparency and efficiency in ad transactions. The perception of efficient reach with free market pricing has attracted buyers to open auction programmatic, but hidden beneath the surface is a glut of low-quality, high-risk supply designed to “game” campaign KPIs, without true impact to a brand’s business. Programmatic curation streamlines programmatic ad auctions, offering a clear and consolidated path from advertiser to inventory, to ensuring that ads are reaching their desired audiences in relevant, effective contexts.
As the industry moves away from reliance on third-party cookies, marketers need new methods for targeting and measurement. Curated deals are built using universal IDs and first-party data from publishers which are packaged into PMPs and matched to audiences outside of the open marketplace, emitting a more precise and privacy-friendly Deal ID signal to DSPs. This makes programmatic curation a smart choice for advertisers looking for reduced reliance on third-party cookies and allowing them to utilize first-party data across multiple publishers for data-driven contextual targeting.
Programmatic curation offers numerous advantages for all parties involved in the digital advertising ecosystem:
Marketers looking to harness the power of programmatic curation can follow these steps to get started and achieve better advertising results:
Start by getting a clear picture of who your audience is, understanding their preferences, behaviors, and online habits. It’s crucial to set precise goals for what you aim to achieve with your advertising campaigns, whether it’s boosting brand awareness, generating leads, or driving direct sales. You can also use Lotame’s audience analytics tools to help define and validate your target audience.
Begin by evaluating your access to and the quality of first and third-party data. Successful curation relies on robust data to inform targeting and personalization strategies. Lotame Curate offers 150 data sources across every industry category, first- and third-party data enrichment, plus AI-powered contextual audience solutions.
Select technology partners that offer curation capabilities, with a focus on platforms that provide transparency, flexibility, and robust data targeting and inventory options. Seek out data providers or curators who can offer in-depth audience insights and curated ad inventory that aligns with your campaign goals. Lotame offers leading data assets and strategic know-how in delivering optimal campaign performance, making us an ideal partner to help agencies and marketers navigate programmatic curation.
Use the insights from your audience research to pinpoint specific criteria for your ad placements. This involves selecting environments that are not only relevant and engaging to your audience but also safe for your brand. Through programmatic curation, you can pre-select inventory that perfectly matches your targeting criteria, optimizing the relevance and effectiveness of your ads.
Begin with a pilot campaign to gauge the performance of your curated approach. Employ A/B testing to fine-tune your targeting and creative strategies. Utilize reporting from your DSP and real-time signals from SSPs to make adjustments, focusing on metrics that directly correlate with your objectives, such as engagement rates, conversions, and overall return on investment.
Conduct a thorough analysis of your campaign’s performance, assessing its impact on your business goals beyond just surface-level metrics. Use the insights gained to refine and expand your programmatic curation efforts, applying successful strategies to future campaigns.
By following this streamlined approach, you can effectively harness the power of programmatic curation to enhance the precision, efficiency, and impact of your digital advertising campaigns.
Programmatic curation represents a significant evolution in digital advertising, offering a pathway to efficient and effective ad placements. Lotame Curate gives advertisers a new curation solution tailored to meet the demands of the current advertising ecosystem, enabling marketers to overcome the challenges of audience fragmentation, inventory quality, and campaign management with unparalleled efficiency and effectiveness.
Benefits include:
Lotame is your audience expert. We know how to find the right audience to deliver superior campaign performance at scale. Contact us today to learn more about Lotame Curate and how it can help you make smarter, faster, and easier decisions with your data.