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In the word of the great Gary Vee, marketers looking to sell the stuff will always need to be where the majority of their target audience’s attention is focused. If it’s on Facebook, they need to be on Facebook. If it’s on their mobile screens, they need to be on mobile screens (just throw in a few f*cks every now and then and you’ll get his exact words).

It’s been happening since forever, and it’s not going to change. You and we are both very much aware of that. But keeping track of new trends and new places where our target audience is hanging out also means we need to employ new strategies, and most importantly – use new ad technology.

New adtech allows us to be more precise when we aim our ad campaigns to reach audiences that we believe need to see our products or services. It helps us a budget and tracks progress across the board, lowering our customer acquisition costs. In the following post, we will touch on some of the most influential adtech elements, which rightly represent the holy grail of modern advertising.

Targeting

Before pulling the trigger, you will need to know which adtech targeting methods you want to utilize in order to hit your desired target. Behavioral, demographic or some other type of targeting? While adtech developments have offered various tools to target audiences, the secret on how to utilize them escapes many. Your key is to know how to define your audience and where to go for data that will help you steer your campaign correctly. Keep in mind that there is no silver bullet for campaigns or one-shoe-fits-them-all approach. You will have to use numerous approaches. However, if you are limited to one, the most recommended to use is geo-targeting, and here is why:

Geolocation

Image source:thinkwithgoogle

“Location, location, location” the often-repeated mantra holds true today more than ever. It is the most dynamic targeting condition (random changes are a common occurrence, especially in the world of mobile internet), and it holds the most value for local businesses. There are two ways in which this targeting occurs:

• IP Based Geolocation: IP addresses of users offer a general idea of where the user is in the world. It can represent an efficient way of targeting a country, city or region.
• Hyperlocation (for mobile apps): This targeting is based on the GPS and offers a more precise location (requiring location services on a device). This allows delivery of location-specific ads.

Hyperlocation allows an advanced feature called geofencing which allows you to focus on a specific location up to a hundred meters accuracy. Ad networks, such as SelfAdvertiser, offer services of geo-targeting, so be sure to check them out.

Video Advertising

Video advertising represents one of the fastest-growing sectors of online advertising, and experts predict that it will double in size by 2020. This is why this type of advertising is both the present and the future, and you need to get in on it. Here are some concepts to get to know and utilize in your everyday business.

• Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) This is basically an XML schema developed by the IAB that allows ads to be displayed in video players found online. They’re served from video ad servers and played in media players across the internet and across various devices. The importance of this schema is that it represents an industry-standard that solved compatibility issues between video ad servers and players. However, your main focus needs to be on the following concept in this ecosystem.
• Video Player Ad Interface Definition (VPAID) This technology enables video ad units and video players to interact with each other. Why is this relevant to you? Well, it allows advertisers to serve rich, interactive ads to users and collect data on user interaction with ads. Basically, it has a double advantage for advertisers: You serve your ad and immediately get the relevant information on how consumers interact with your content. A popular example of such an ad is the Cadillac ATS DoubleClick ad that you can check out:

Real-Time Bidding (RTB)

Advertisers and publishers rely on RTB more and more each day for both media buying and selling. Here are the advantages they provide.

• Data-Driven: No more hit and miss tactics, RTB allows continual optimization of campaigns based on all types of data (ad placement, time of day, page content, customer data, etc.). Since this data is slowly becoming an industry standard, having and expecting this data from adtech tools is a must.
• Scalability: Tapping into a global inventory at an amazing speed and in real-time is now possible. What does this mean? It means that you are now able to target markets across countries or individuals all without having direct contact with the sellers of media or their platforms.
• Personalization: Being able to personalize your ads to the tiniest detail is now a reality. Now, when a customer reaches your site he/she can see a highly personalized ad that is distinct and appeals to their needs, which in turn has a greater appeal. The conversion potential is high for this type of ads, and you can also use this to maximize the value of every single impression since it allows you to connect a brand directly to the visitor in real-time.

Of course, there are other benefits of RTB that are not mentioned here. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned represent the three that we believe highlight the benefits that you can glean from this concept. The more you use RTB, the more you won’t be able to do without it.

Conclusion

Monumental changes in online advertising will definitely come. What we’re witnessing today, though, are smaller changes that still hold a lot of value, from RTB to video ads and the ever-increasing changes in mobile ad display. The big change that we can expect in the future will probably have to do with AI assistant advertising. As we prepare for this future, the above-mentioned concepts of adtech represent the holy grail in today’s world of online advertising.