Programmatic advertising has significantly simplified the process of placing digital advertising by automating the purchase and display of ads based on user data. Today, launching such advertising is available not only to large companies but also to medium and small businesses thanks to convenient tools such as the self-serve ad platform. These platforms allow advertisers to independently set up, launch, and optimize campaigns without intermediaries. In this article, we will look at the main stages of launching programmatic advertising and analyze which technologies help make the process as efficient as possible.
How Does Programmatic Buying Work?
To understand how the programmatic buying process works, we first need to clarify who is involved.
Process participants:
- SSP (sell side platform) is a platform that represents the seller’s side.
- DSP (demand-side platform) is a platform that represents the buyer’s side.
- DMP (data management platform) is a user data provider.
- Ad-Exchange is an advertising space exchange, a programmatic buying auction room.
- Ad Networks, banners, and teaser networks are networks of platforms that sell their inventory and are part of the SSP in the programmatic ecosystem.
How Do Programmatic Buying Participants Interact?
Let’s look at the actions of each party in the process:
SSP (which includes Ad Networks, teaser, and banner networks):
- sends information about the user who visited the site to the DMP to get more information about him;
- sends information about the user to the ad exchange;
- receives information about the advertiser who won the auction and places their ads.
DSP (advertisers, brands):
- receives information about users from ad exchange;
- chooses which ads (of which brand) can be shown to them — the choice is made by comparing user data and the preferred audience that advertisers are interested in;
- sends bids to ad exchange.
DMP:
- receives cookie ID from SSP;
- processes the request and sends user information back to SSP ad exchange receives user information from SSP;
- sends user information to DSP;
- holds an auction where DSPs bid for ad impressions, and accepts bids from DSPs;
- processes bids, calculates the winner;
- sends the winner’s ad to SSP
Programmatic Buying Algorithm
The programmatic buying process is carried out according to the following principles:
- Stage 1. When a user enters the site, their cookie ID is read and the programmatic technology transfers it to the DMP.
- Stage 2. The DMP searches for information about the user with the corresponding cookie ID and transfers it back to the SSP.
- Stage 3. Information about the user is transferred to ad exchange.
- Stage 4. Ad Exchange makes a request with user data to all DSPs.
- Stage 5. DSPs that are interested in showing ads to this particular user place their bids and send them to the ad exchange.
- Stage 6. Ad Exchange processes the bids, selects the winner, and reduces the impression price to the level of the bid that took second place.
- Stage 7. Ad exchange receives the winner’s ad and sends it to the SSP.
- Stage 8. The SSP ensures that the ad is shown to a specific user in their browser on the site where they visited.
How to Use AdTech Advertising Technologies?
AdTech advertising technologies, like self-serve advertisement platforms, offer a wide range of tools for the automation, optimization, and personalization of advertising campaigns. Let’s consider how to use them for maximum efficiency of advertising campaigns.
Planning an advertising campaign
The first stage is to create a plan for a future campaign, during which you need to:
- conduct market research, study how competitors are promoting, find out what trends and tendencies are relevant in your niche;
- define key goals using the SMART system – for example, increasing sales by 10% per month or attracting 2 thousand new subscribers by the end of the year;
- set a campaign budget taking into account the forecast of advertising payback;
- designate the parameters of the target audience – demographic data, interests, behavior on the Internet, and motivation to buy.
Creating an advertising campaign
The next stage is the development of creative materials for placement. Depending on the objectives of the campaign, these can be banners, videos, text ads, content with gamification elements, and other formats. When creating, it is important to take into account the characteristics of the target audience: pain points, interests, triggers, and red flags — topics that should not be touched upon. To study the target audience, you can use data from DMP platforms that provide information about users. This makes it possible to develop catchy content that will actively bring conversions.
Buying advertising spaces
When the advertising material is ready, the next step is to buy places for placement on various channels. For this, DSP platforms are used that automatically buy advertising spaces based on the established campaign parameters. The advertiser sets targeting, maximum bids, and other conditions, after which the platform participates in real-time auctions to buy the best places for advertising. DSP helps to optimize costs since the advertisement will be shown to the audience that is most likely to perform the desired action.
Delivery of advertising materials
After purchasing advertising spaces, the process of delivering advertising materials to users begins. To do this, SSP and ad exchange platforms are used to ensure that ads are displayed on sites where the target audience is present. Delivery platforms (ad servers) manage the process of placing ads and ensure that they are shown to users who meet the specified criteria (gender, age, interests, behavior, location). This makes creatives as relevant as possible since they do not irritate users.
Measurement and optimization
When advertising is launched, the process of tracking its effectiveness begins — this is necessary in order to promptly make changes to the strategy. For this, analytics tools are used, such as Google Analytics and specialized Ad Tech platforms, allowing you to track key indicators: the number of impressions, clicks, conversions, cost per click, and other metrics. This data is collected in real time and provides advertisers with a complete picture of how their campaign is working, which channels bring the best results, which aspects require improvement.
Conclusion
Launching programmatic advertising includes several key stages: from selecting the target audience and creative content to setting up rates and analyzing the results. Thanks to tools such as the self-serve ad solution, the process becomes intuitive and accessible even without deep knowledge of digital marketing. Using a self-serve ad software helps brands quickly adapt advertising campaigns to market changes, manage their budgets, and achieve high efficiency in digital promotion. One of the best such platforms, the advantages of which you can evaluate right now, is SmartyAds.