As big brands turn to automated buying platforms for their video ads, just how can they ensure they are getting the most from this powerful new form of advertising? Patrick Kelly, Director of Agency Sales at BrightRoll offers five key steps to help build the best programmatic video strategy
The programmatic video industry is in a constant state of evolution. Every year, there are better ways of collecting and analysing data. Brands and advertisers have greater access into insights with each new campaign they run. That being the case, it’s best practice to test new strategies often.
Here are five key steps to help build the best programmatic video strategy:
1. Establish Your Goals
Start at the beginning: establish campaign goals. Your KPIs (key performance indicators) will obviously depend on the results you’re looking for. For example, completed view rates are better for measuring awareness, and click-through rates are best for measuring engagement. Are you hoping to drive awareness? Engagement? Conversions? Think critically about what results will best align to those goals.
2. Establish Your Audience
Next, you need to determine the details of your target audience. What demographics are you hoping to reach? What behaviours are you looking to capture? Do you want to reach people who’ve seen your creative before, or only fresh pairs of eyes?
3. Choose Your Tactics
Once you have worked out the metrics and audience that will drive your analysis, you need to decide on the tactics you’ll use to reach that audience. Fortunately, with demand side platforms, you can test several tactics at once with ease. The added benefit of real-time feedback gives you the ability to alter and optimise your campaigns on-the-fly. In fact, our recommendation for this testing process is that you do alter your campaigns when you start seeing results you’d like to change.
There’s a wide variety of options when it comes to how and where your creative will be displayed. Ad length, content length, category, player size and placement, device, and interactivity are just a few of the options available when considering ad placement. Narrow your decisions down to make testing more efficient. If you choose four testing areas with two options in each, that leaves you a huge number of possible permutations for your ads.
4. Monitor Your Campaigns
One of the key benefits of programmatic platforms is rich data on your video campaign. Whether your partner is helping you manage your campaign, or you’re managing it hands-on, daily reviews of your campaign’s performance will help you learn and react quickly. The insights you gain from these tests will help you to shape your future campaigns, and hit your targets more effectively.
5. Keep Reinventing
As technologies continue to evolve, better insights will be available to you. As user behaviours and preferences change, adjustments will need to be made for campaigns to keep up with the shifting tides. Continue to leverage the power of rich data to learn more about how to make your video campaigns more effective, both in reach and cost. Test new strategies, and closely monitor the results, so that you can be sure that as the landscape continues to change, you’re changing alongside it.
By Patrick Kelly
Director of Agency Sales
BrightRoll EMEA