In nine out of ten cases, the evaluation of a programmatic campaign is based on a quantitative KPI. Quality in terms of data, inventories, technology, etc. often falls by the wayside and is not taken into account. However, according to Sven Metz, Director Programmatic Advertising at CROSSMEDIA in Düsseldorf, a meaningful campaign evaluation is only possible with a holistic view of all facts.
The quality of programmatic campaigns is measured by more than just fulfilling a KPI. In addition to measurable indicators, other factors also play key roles for optimal and high-quality campaign implementation. In this context, preparation and follow-up are particularly important. Both can significantly raise the quality standard of a campaign.
Even before the actual campaign implementation, successful strategic planning and conception come into play. This way, the measures can also achieve the most effective target group outreach as well as a high advertising impact in the advertiser’s interests. Already during the planning phase, the agency and the client should address some important questions that will form the backbone of the subsequent successful implementation. At first glance, these questions may sound like media planning 101 – which makes it all the more surprising that they are only dealt with in a very superficial way in numerous plans.
Preparation is everything: 5 important questions to set you up for success
1. Who do I want to address with my measures?
How (and as accurately as possible) do I describe my target group in general and, specifically, for this campaign? Is there only one target group or possibly several, and how can I address them (as needed) separately and/or combined as effectively as possible?
2. What is the objective of my campaign in relation to the target group(s)?
What exactly would I like to achieve/effect with the advertising measures? For example, is my goal to increase brand awareness or to increase sales? The specific campaign goals significantly influence the strategic approach. Thus, a detailed clarification of these questions will significantly increase the chances of the measures’ success.
3. Where and how can I use levers to efficiently address my target group within the programmatic ecosystem?
In particular, cost-effective, data-driven buying of individual users is what sets programmatic advertising apart from other media buying models. Therefore, addressing questions such as cost vs. rate metrics and a varied selection of relevant inventory and deployed data, based on cost and quality at the outset, provides for an optimization edge even before the campaign launches.
4. Based on questions 1-3, do I have a projected reach that makes achieving the targeted KPI seem realistic?
Naturally, in all considerations of the preceding questions, one has to consider obtaining a “break even” between the inventories and targetings used, and a residual reach that corresponds to the budget. If this is not the case, even the best pre-planning will not lead to success.
5. What technologies (platforms, tools and data) do I need to provide the appropriate answers to the first part of my planning?
The tech landscape is at least as extensive as the definition of diverse target groups and personas. Here, it is important to ensure you select the most suitable technology for the task at hand. Failing to do so, means you will not be able to meet the objective’s requirements – or you will give away valuable performance through inefficient technology use.
Only when these questions have been answered, do we have a basis we can use to determine which KPI is the most suitable for the specific campaign and what should be focused on in the optimization.
However: Whether the focus is on CPC (depending on the current objective), a visibility rate, the number of videos viewed, or a specific percentage of target group reach – all of this does not exclude the fact that other quality factors should also be taken into account.
What about data quality?
Programmatic relies heavily on data usage to increase efficiency and avoid wastage. Ipso facto, data quality decisively impacts the campaign’s success.
The quality of the data used depends on various factors, thus meaning we have to assume different gradations in data quality. In detail, data quality results from the type of collection, the data topicality and the fit with the target group. These factors can be measured and classified with the help of audience verification service providers. They offer us valuable insights on our target group, both during and after a campaign, in addition to providing us with the opportunity of using these insights in follow-up campaigns, thereby further improving the quality of future measures.
However, despite our love of data-based planning, we shouldn’t forget context: Even though programmatically-bought campaigns clearly have a user-centric approach, context still plays an important role in successful campaign implementation.
A justified effort
When it comes to programmatic advertising CROSSMEDIA, as an independent agency, also operates differently from many competitors on the market. Since we are not obligated to work with specific marketers, we have the liberty to freely align the inventory setup of our campaigns. This way, we can optimally reach the relevant user target group, purchase as cost-efficiently as possible, and maintain a consistently high inventory quality, all in the interest of our clients.
Here, we always ensure that we aim for the largest number of quality features. These include: high visibility of the ads, continuously strong view-through rates and relevant premium environments, in a valid combination. We negotiate these criteria with our marketing partners – as opposed to purchase volumes – with great pleasure and on an ongoing basis, to ensure that our clients’ interests are met.
We also follow the very same principle when selecting the tech stack, which is indispensable for every programmatic campaign. The market has produced a plethora of vendors, each with their own, individual USPs. Therefore, we advocate making the selection depending on the campaign objective and, if necessary, also determining the choice of technology setup from campaign to campaign if this leads to the best possible result in clients’ interests.
This approach certainly generates more effort than using a standardized approach across all clients, yet experience shows that our flexible and, sometimes unconventional, approaches allow us to improve campaigns’ success.
Ex-post analysis can provide valuable insights for other channels
As often as only the KPI is used as an indicator to evaluate a campaign’s success, it also happens that the data and insights generated during the campaign are not used to continuously optimize one’s own approach. Yet it is precisely this data, along with the data used for targeting, that is one of the most valuable building blocks for the client’s programmatic development.
That is why we at CROSSMEDIA place particular emphasis on the use of data generated during campaigns, its systematic processing, analysis and transfer into media-strategies. Together, this ensures that we become better for our clients with every step of the campaign. We thus pursue numerous projects in the fields of ex-post campaign analysis, all with the aim of continuously developing our programmatic approach.
For this reason, ex post analysis of programmatic campaigns is at least as crucial to success as preparation is. Moreover, the insights gained in this way are by no means only profitable for the programmatic planning approach. Much rather, time and again, we found that they can also be transferred to other media channels. They make for a holistic view and provide relevant performance uplifts or serve as evidence for observations made in these channels.
From individual KPIs to a holistic approach
When buying a product, everyone is looking for optimum quality. This applies (to put it simply) to clothing or furniture, as much as it does to programmatic campaigns. Here, too, the following applies: If I don’t look into it properly – think about exactly what I want, in advance, consider what’s important to you, and what it is that determines quality for you – you won’t necessarily get the optimum result for you. Quality comes from an interplay of many factors and is usually never reflected by just one single KPI. It is adjusting this multitude of factors which makes for good and successful campaigns.
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