Programmatic Advertising: The Inside Scoop

This year, National Programmatic Advertising Day is Monday, November 7. I sat down with David Fahr, ComGroup’s media director and one of our advertising experts to give us the inside scoop on the industry and what it entails.

Programmatic advertising is buying and selling internet display space using algorithmic software. It’s a sophisticated technique to position advertising that leverages traffic data and online display targeting to create impressions at scale, resulting in a higher return on investment for marketers and exceptional outcomes for brands.

“We primarily work with Google and its different platforms like Display, Keyword and YouTube. We work with Facebook and Instagram and to a lesser degree, with LinkedIn,” Fahr said. “We develop profiles that try to target our clients’ potential customers, and we build campaigns directed to reach those target audiences based off those profiles.”

Fahr said one of his favorite things about programmatic advertising is how results are close to being instantaneous.

“We can review results daily and see what’s working and what’s not,” Fahr said. “If an ad starts declining, we can quickly go in, find the problem, and change whatever is needed to achieve better results.”

Fahr suggests taking advantage of the instantaneous nature of programmatic advertising and being number driven when working with clients. Fahr believes recommendations based on research and results instead of personal experience provides something more tangible to move forward with.

“Developing and executing a successful plan is the most rewarding part of what I do. Seeing a plan set in place and it actually working and achieving the goals we aimed for is satisfying,” Fahr said.

Successful plans don’t come easy, however. Fahr called attention to the stigma based around advertising and how television and movies glamorize the occupation.

“A lot of tactical, grunt and detail work goes into successful advertising. Creating ads is just a tiny part of what advertising consists of,” Fahr said. “So many other disciplines go into it like media, public relations, research, account services, and so much more behind-the-scenes work that many upcoming professionals don’t realize.”

To see how The Communications Group can take your advertising to a new level, visit ComGroup.com.