3 Strategies for Optimizing Your Next Ad Campaign
By: Maggie Clapperton
Tags: Programmatic, Advertising Agency, Digital Marketing, Media Buying, Advertising

The theory behind programmatic advertising campaigns is simple: automatically target specific users who are likely interested in your product or service across the web.

But the process of getting the most value out of your programmatic platform, like anything, is more likely to succeed with a little strategy behind it.

Here are three omnichannel campaign strategies straight from the minds of our Customer Success team:

STRATEGY 1: Simple “Plug & Play” for Video

Who does this strategy work best for?

Your goal is Awareness

You can’t place a pixel on your landing page but you have a lot of video content

You lack time, control, or technological experience

Many media buyers track those who have completed video views but do nothing with that information. Retargeting users who have completed your video significantly increases brand awareness and makes the most of your programmatic budget. In today’s programmatic ecosystem, retargeting is the follow up required in order to make an impact with consumers.

STEP 1: Create a StackAdapt retargeting pixel and place it as a 100% completion tracker. This pixel only fires when the video is completed so you guarantee your pool of users demonstrates intent.

STEP 2: (This is the part many advertisers neglect…) Use your retargeting pixel to advertise to completed viewers with either native or standard display advertising.

STRATEGY 2: Sequential Targeting for Native

Who does this strategy work best for?

Your goal is Engagement

You have the ability to place pixels on landing pages

You have a significant well of content to draw from

A common challenge among self-serve media buyers is proper placement of page pixels. Many advertisers confuse data collection (through custom iframe codes) with retargeting (through retargeting pixels). This is where things get confusing… Data collection and retargeting originate from the same pixel. When the pixel is placed into the custom iframe code, it collects user data. When a campaign is targeting that pixel, we are enticing the audience we previously collected with our ad campaign.

STEP 1: Set up your native advertising campaign and populate a custom iframe with a retargeting pixel.

STEP 2: As your native campaign gains momentum, drive engaged users further down the sales funnel by retargeting with a display or video campaign.

STRATEGY 3: Omnichannel Performance Campaign

Who does this strategy work best for?

Your goal is Conversion

You care about performance; You want to combine all of your resources to drive conversions

You have the bandwidth to keep an eye on the campaign and adjust when necessary

The key to a winning performance campaign is keeping a keen eye on how it is progressing and experimenting with different strategies along the way. It’s not something you can set and forget.

Imagine breaking down your campaign into two parts: prospecting/awareness and performance.

STEP 1: During the awareness phase, you are testing the waters with a wide net. At this point, keep your targeting options broad (ex/ all contextual categories, broad behavioural targeting and large geographic areas).

STEP 2: Once people start spending time on your content, you will get an idea of which targets are working nicely and which are falling flat. Tweak your audience accordingly, while simultaneously targeting engaged users with a specific offer or incentive.

STEP 3: In addition to retargeting users who have already shown intent, use Custom Audience Segments to laser target people who are similar to those who have already been exposed to your brand. A custom audience segment targets users who have visited sites relevant to your industry but have not yet had a chance to engage with you. You also have the opportunity to target specific domains.

Optimize your campaign all the way down to creative! Download our ebook: CREATE BETTER CONTENT!

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