A well-executed programmatic advertising campaign can be incredibly advantageous to any company that conducts business online. It can make marketing efforts over the Internet more efficient, cost-effective, and easier to manage, and it allows businesses to tap into markets they wouldn’t normally have had access to.

With that in mind, one question you might be asking is how exactly to go about setting up your own programmatic ad campaign. Generally speaking, it’s best for first-timers to seek the assistance of an agency that specializes in programmatic ads when getting started. In this guide, however, we’ll outline the basic idea so you have a better grasp of what to expect.

1. Specify your goals

As with most processes, the first step is to clearly state your goals. This is even more important in programmatic advertising because doing so will allow you to take advantage of the real-time results it provides. You’ll be able to identify which metrics you need to keep an eye on, allowing you to readjust your approach where necessary—ultimately making your goals more attainable.

Ask yourself exactly what it is you want to achieve with your programmatic campaign. It might be to reach new audiences or improve the ROI of your marketing strategies. Whatever your goals, knowing what they give you a framework on which to base your next steps.

2. Select the right DSP for your objectives

Knowing what your goals are will allow you to find the right demand-side platform (DSP) to facilitate your programmatic campaign. If you’re not familiar with what a DSP is, it’s essentially a service you sign up for that gives you access to ad exchanges where you will acquire your ad spaces from.

Different DSPs will vary in the quantity and quality of the ad space they can give you access to (also called inventory). In this sense, you need to choose from the many options available the best one that will suit your specific needs.

3. Choose the appropriate types of programmatic ads

Additionally, you have to determine what sorts of advertisements you want to display with your campaign. Choose between the different types available, such as banner, video, and mobile ads. You’ll also need to actually design those ads, so go back to what your goals are, remember your target audience, and create ad concepts that are able to address those effectively.

4. Set your campaign specifics

Once you have your ads completed and ready for launch, return to your DSP of choice and start inputting the information needed to run your programmatic campaign. Doing so will allow the system to automate the entire process of buying ad space and displaying your ads, which was the entire point anyway.

Input what your ad budget is, and provide targeting information such as customer demographics and location. Many DSPs allow you to go into great detail to clearly identify who your target customer is. You must also select which of your ads are displayed on which ad spaces, and then finally, you will be ready to launch your campaign.

5. Launch and optimize based on results

Now that your programmatic ad campaign is up and running, make sure you do your best to continually improve it. Track those metrics you identified in the past steps, and address inefficiencies that could be preventing you from reaching those goals.

Conclusion

The steps outlined here are admittedly a simplified representation of the amount of work that actually goes into programmatic advertising. The good thing is that the strategy is affordable, flexible, and allows plenty of opportunities to experiment and eventually learn how to do it right. However, there can also be a steep learning curve and plenty of wasted resources on the way.

As we said, it’s best to work with professionals when implementing your first programmatic advertising campaign. We’re a programmatic agency based in London and New York. If you’re looking for a team of experts to help you launch your own programmatic ad campaign, get in touch with us today and we’ll be happy to help.