Pitfalls to avoid in digital marketing

Pitfalls to avoid in digital marketing

Thanks to the opportunities it brings, programmatic advertising is the most widely used online media buying method in the world. The success of this advertising space buying mechanism can be explained by its high degree of complementarity, enabling access to a large number of media spaces and audiences very quickly.

However, simply implementing this technology is not an end in itself, as there are a number of pitfalls to avoid before you can get the most out of it.

In order to succeed, it's important to make sure you don't make any mistakes when it comes to broadcasting and managing your programmatic campaigns. Here, we take a look at 3 mistakes to avoid.

Campaign activations without a precise media plan

It's sometimes tempting to settle for a global or even summary vision of what you want to achieve when it comes to Social, Search or Display distribution: a few clicks here, some page visits there, a few keywords here, and you've got a deal.

This somewhat caricatured approach is not without a grain of truth, as we sometimes overlook the possibilities offered by programmatic media in terms of targeting, but also in terms of anticipating performance. Particularly in the pre-campaign phase, it's strategic to be able to set clear objectives and validate them against a precise media plan.

Of course, it's easy to collect the performance forecasts provided by the various platforms, but you still need to be able to aggregate them to produce a coherent media plan.

In fact, when steps are not taken to monitor objectives and results, the campaign can be compromised even before it is launched:

• Identify a short list of objectives and compare them with potential estimates (Reach, Impressions, etc.) as well as performance estimates (CPC, CPA, VIEWS, CLICKS etc.), all comparable from one platform to another.
• Make the necessary trade-offs to allocate the right budgets in the right proportions according to the potential of each objective.
• Set clear expectations in terms of performance, and compare them with the results at the end of the campaign.

Hunting several hares at once

Programmatics can be used to set up advanced purchasing strategies, but it's important to be able to clearly identify what works and what doesn't in terms of targeting for a given objective.

For example, targeting by affinity towards a particular product or content will have a significant impact when faced with a conversion objective such as a purchase. On the other hand, broader targeting will be of interest in the context of building awareness via pre-launch video.

That's why it's strategic not to assign more than one KPI to a single purchasing tactic. To do this, you need to compartmentalize the distribution of the different indicators, so as to be able to distinguish between them. In this way, each "Line Item" is assigned an objective and a targeting tactic. For example, one Line Item might include conversion-related formats, while another might be dedicated to video awareness.

Overly random optimization

During broadcast, performance optimization is a decisive factor in maintaining budgets and performance.Acting on a broadcast is based on 2 axes: When and why?

When, i.e. with what timing, and therefore via a program established at the start of the campaign to take stock of bids on a daily basis, for example. On the other hand, on a more occasional basis, it's better to concentrate on monitoring results by creative support, as part of a "test and learn" approach.

Why would you want to do this? The reasons for taking action on a campaign's performance can be many and varied, depending on your objectives and the broadcasting environment.However, this same approach to performance improvement must always be based on consolidated data. Indeed, the impact of campaign optimization is multiplied tenfold when each intervention is based on data that has been previously flattened, then standardized so that it can be compared from one platform or targeting to another.

Finally

So, we've just seen 3 points that come into play before and during a digital media campaign. Yet, more often than not, these parts are dealt with in a segmented way, sometimes even by different parties. Not to mention a very long list of other key points that need to be taken into account to ensure the proper execution of a campaign. Many digital marketing professionals point the finger at the growing complexity of setting up and managing campaigns, resulting in a lack of visibility and responsiveness, and therefore performance below expectations.

That's why The Programmatic Company has developed its own platform for creating, deploying and optimizing digital media campaigns, with two objectives in mind: to make digital media buying simpler and more efficient. This solution ensures access to all audiences and media locations, as well as the best optimization recommendations and automated data management.