Display ads are one of the oldest digital marketing formats. But recently, they’ve fallen out of vogue with local marketers. Instead, these marketers are choosing to focus on other channels and formats, like local SEO, paid search ads, and social media.
In doing so, they’re ignoring the advancements and advantages of modern programmatic advertising.
The programmatic ads of today represent a big leap forward over display ads of the past. Programmatic ads offer extraordinarily precise targeting and tracking capabilities. They’re available in a range of dynamic and interactive formats, encouraging clicks and conversions. And through programmatic ads, you can reach consumers on the websites and apps they love to use.
Most importantly, programmatic ads have a proven track record of boosting awareness and sales. Studies have found that programmatic ads can boost:
- Branded search queries by up to 25%
- Conversion rates by up to 30%
- Word-of-mouth recommendations by up to 10%
- Event registrations by up to 25%
And thanks to their targeting capabilities, programmatic ads are a gift to local marketers in particular.
The Importance of Programmatic for Local Marketers
For local marketers, precise targeting can make or break a campaign. To connect with the right consumers, you need to carefully target your audience based on who they are and where they live/work. At the same time, you’re typically working with smaller budgets, which means that every single dollar needs to count.
In the past, display ads offered limited capabilities when it came to user targeting. Essentially, the only control marketers had over targeting was which website the ad ran on.
With programmatic ads, you can target users with the level of precision that local marketing demands. Thanks to the reach and targeting methods of the Google Display Network and the Facebook Audience Network, you can target your ads based on individual users’ characteristics, behaviors, and location.
This way, you aren’t limited to local websites for targeting local consumers. Instead, you can serve ads to local consumers wherever online they happen to be.
5 Advantages of Local Programmatic Ads
1. Awareness & Trust
Programmatic ads are highly effective at building awareness and trust with local consumers. Compared to paid search, local SEO, and social media, you’re less dependent on user actions. You don’t need to wait for users to find you. Instead, you can serve ads directly to your audience. What’s more, you’ll be doing so on the websites and apps they trust most.
2. Precision Targeting
The core strength of programmatic lies in its targeting abilities. Local marketers can target programmatic ads via a user’s location, either via a set geographic radius or by targeting specific ZIP codes. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You also have the option of targeting users based on their demographics, interests, search behaviors, and their history of online interactions with your business.
3. Dynamic Ad Content
On top of serving your ads to a highly targeted set of users, programmatic allows you to tailor your ads according to users’ features and behaviors. If a user has recently searched for a product you offer, you can serve them an ad with an image of this product. If they’re within a short distance of your location, you can serve them an ad with directions to your business.
4. Detailed Analytics
Like other digital marketing formats, programmatic ads are extraordinarily rich in terms of data and analytics. The same level of precision used to serve ads can be harnessed to measure their performance, with the ability to micro-segment data for specific campaigns, specific ads, and specific audience groups. Programmatic ads are also ideal for A/B testing, allowing you to quickly optimize your campaigns for higher click-through and conversion rates.
5. Cost-Effectiveness
One more reason why local marketers should use programmatic ads? Their cost-effectiveness. While programmatic campaigns cost more than traditional display ads, they remain much less expensive than other types of digital marketing campaigns. They also deliver more immediate and tangible results, allowing you to measure the ROI of your ad spend more easily and more quickly.
