The Power of Branding and the Role Programmatic Advertising Plays

The Power of Branding and the Role Programmatic Advertising Plays

What is brand marketing and why it is important for brands & consumers

In a world with a lot of noise from the competition, getting consumers to affiliate, recall, and engage with your brand is top of mind for every marketer. Some of the challenges include:

• Consumers are faced with too many choices and not enough time
• Many brands offer similar products and features
• Humans base their buying choices mostly on trust

Building a strong brand takes more than a quirky name and an eye-catching logo, it is about building a lasting impression with your consumers.

Brand marketing can be viewed as a way to build trust and credibility with target customers - a way for brands to highlight their values and purpose in a way that resonates with consumers rather than promoting individual products or services.

For brands, marketing is a core part of the strategy. It is a way to move consumers along the customer journey - beyond intent and towards advocacy as consumers align their values with those of a brand.

So how does programmatic fit in?

Programmatic in the most simple terms can be defined as the use of automated technology to buy media. Think of it as the buying and distribution of ads with no direct human contact involved in the process. The introduction of programmatic advertising has allowed for a lot of benefits for marketers including:

• Enhanced targeting - the introduction of technology and automation means various targeting strategies can be deployed from 1st party data, GEO, URL targeting to contextual targeting. Advertisers can now use a more targeted approach towards personalising ads and ensuring users are taken on a connected journey.
• Real-time Insights - the ability to have real-time insights of the performance of an ad campaign is valuable to advertisers as they aim to better understand their target audience and the effectiveness of their campaigns
• Efficiency - with access to real-time data brought about by programmatic advertising, marketers can now allocate their budgets more efficiently in channels that generate the most ROI.

The scale, precision of targeting, and efficiency delivered by programmatic has enabled marketers to approach branding from a whole new perspective. Branding can now be achieved at scale with personalisation informed by data. The access to real time data and the ability to retarget consumers means today’s marketers can take advantage of the changing consumer behaviours with a personalised approach to build trust and loyalty.

Summary

Brand marketing is not just about promoting a product or service, it is also about highlighting a company’s values, mission and purpose. Brands should focus on shaping consumers’ perception of their company, products and services on an ongoing basis.

As marketers continue to embrace the importance of branding to ensure they remain top of mind of their target audience, programmatic advertising will increasingly become an essential tool for marketers moving forward. 

Author: Timmy Bankole, Director of Advertising Business Operations, South China Morning Post (IAB Hong Kong AdTech & Programmatic Committee)

 Please address any questions or comments about this blog to Alvina Chan, Secretariat Office, IAB (Hong Kong) - alvina.chan@iabhongkong.com