Ad Tech: Understanding Misconceptions

Ad tech and marketing can be a tricky combination. With so much technology available, it can be hard to know what works and what doesn’t. Unfortunately, this leads to marketers making mistakes and having misconceptions about ad tech that can be detrimental to their success. How can marketers avoid these issues and get the most out of their ad tech? By understanding the common misconceptions around ad tech and taking the necessary steps to ensure they’re getting the most out of their investment. Our article “Maximizing Ad Tech: Understanding Misconceptions” will discuss the common misconceptions marketers have about ad tech and how to avoid them.

AD TECH EVOLUTION: THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISING

Ad tech is essentially the technology used to help marketers display advertisements. The main types of ad tech are ad servers, ad networks, yield management systems, programmatic buying platforms, and real-time bidding (RTB) exchanges. These technologies come with various capabilities, but the main purpose of ad tech is to help marketers automate the buying and selling of advertising inventory. Ad tech has been revolutionized by the rise of programmatic buying. Programmatic buying allows marketers to buy ad spots using software and algorithms. This can help them optimize their ad spending, target the right audience, and get the most value out of their advertising budget. Ad tech is an evolving industry that is seeing a lot of innovation, especially in the areas of AI and blockchain. You can learn more about contextual targeting in programmatic advertising here. 

DEBUNKING AD TECH MISCONCEPTIONS: UNDERSTANDING THE GOALS

As with any new technology, it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking you know how it all works, even when you’re wrong. This is especially true when it comes to ad tech since there are so many different systems and components involved. Unfortunately, this can lead to misconceptions, poor decisions, and wasted ad spending. There are a few common misconceptions or myths marketers have about ad tech that you’ll want to avoid.

Misconception #1: The Goal Of Ad Tech Is To Sell More Inventory

There’s a misconception that ad tech companies exist to sell more ad inventory. While this is true in some cases, it’s not the overall goal. The goal of ad tech companies is to sell ad impressions as efficiently as possible. The amount of inventory being sold isn’t as important as how well the technology optimizes the selling of that inventory.

Misconception #2: Ad Tech Myths: More than Impressions

Another common misconception is that ad tech is only about impressions. While impressions are a part of the process and certainly matter, the overall value of an ad impression is much more than just impressions. It also includes things like click-through rates, cost per click, and conversion rates.

Misconception #3: 360-degree Customer View: Ad Tech’s Role in Achieving it

A 360-degree customer view is a comprehensive picture of your customers that is obtained by collecting signals from the numerous ways they interact with a brand. Such knowledge can help brands create better, more relevant consumer experiences, which is something we’re all aiming for. Unfortunately, it is also incredibly difficult to achieve. According to Gartner, a technology research and consulting group, only 14% of companies claim to have a 360-degree view of their customers. But that doesn’t mean it’s unattainable.

Brands today require more than simply media providers; they require trustworthy partners to assist them in creating a positive value exchange with customers. Only then would they be able to get insights into a wide range of signals that tell a relevant tale.

Technology providers can assist in developing a more comprehensive 360-degree view of current and prospective clients. That is, as long as they provide a variety of touchpoints, such as Amazon, where our hundreds of millions of active customer accounts across the world are either purchasing, streaming movies, or listening to their favorite music, audiobooks, and podcasts.

AD TECH OPTIMIZATION: MEASURING AND TRACKING PERFORMANCE

To ensure you’re not making any of these common ad tech misconceptions, you need to be able to effectively measure the effectiveness of your ad tech. This means understanding how to effectively calculate metrics like cost per click (CPC), click-through rate (CTR), and conversion rate. This also means being able to track these metrics and the performance of your ad tech in general. Many marketers will use a media analytics tool like Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics to get a high-level overview of the performance of their ad tech. This will help them understand things like the number of impressions being served, the number of clicks being received, the number of conversions being generated, and so on. But for a more in-depth analysis, marketers will generally use an ad server. This is software that runs on the ad buyers’ side and tracks the performance of your various ad tech components.

AD TECH OPTIMIZATION: USING CUSTOMER DATA TO INCREASE CONVERSION

Another important factor that often gets overlooked when it comes to ad tech is understanding the customer data that you’re targeting. This can help you avoid the common misconception of just targeting random people and hoping they’ll buy your product. Instead, you can target people who already have an interest in your product, which will increase the likelihood of them converting and buying your product. Customer data can come from a variety of sources. It can be information that people have willingly shared with you, like their email addresses, demographics, interests, or previous purchases. It can also be information that people have unwittingly shared with you, like their device IDs, browsing history, or IP addresses. The better you understand this customer data, the better you can use it to narrow down your targeting and make sure that your ads are positioned in front of the right people. This can help you avoid the common misconception of having a low CTR because you’re targeting the wrong people.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE THE VALUE OF AD TECH

Once you’ve avoided the common misconceptions around ad tech and have a good understanding of your customer data, you can start to maximize the value of your ad tech. This will depend largely on the type of ad tech you’re using, but there are a few things that are generally applicable across most systems.

REVOLUTIONIZING AD TECH WITH AI ALGORITHMS

As mentioned, ad tech is seeing a lot of innovation in the areas of AI and blockchain. One way this is being incorporated into ad tech is through machine learning algorithms. This can help advertisers better understand their customers and make more informed decisions. For example, an advertiser using a machine learning algorithm could use customer data like purchase history or browsing history to determine which customers to target and which keywords to use. Another way that AI is being incorporated into ad tech is through robotics. This includes things like autonomous vehicles and delivery systems. This can help ad tech companies deliver their products faster and more efficiently. Another way that AI is being incorporated into ad tech is through natural language processing. This allows systems to understand how people are talking about them and respond accordingly. For example, if a customer is trying to figure out how to use a particular ad tech system, they’ll likely search for terms related to that system. If the system is equipped with natural language processing, it can understand the customer’s question and respond appropriately.

AD TECH SELECTION: MATCHING WITH BUSINESS GOALS

Once you’ve avoided the common misconceptions around ad tech and have a good understanding of your customer data, you can start to choose the right ad tech for your business. This will depend largely on your business goals, budgets, and the type of customer you have. While there are many different types of ad tech available, not all of them will be suitable for your business. Once you’ve determined which ad tech systems are best for your business, you’ll need to integrate them with your existing systems. This will depend largely on the types of systems you’re using and the type of ad tech you’ve chosen. You may need to hire outside help to do this, but it’s an essential step to make sure everything is working together as intended.

UNDERSTANDING AD TECH SYSTEMS: KEY TO INTEGRATION

There are a few strategies that can help you integrate ad tech into your existing systems. First, it’s important to understand how each system works and what data it requires. This will help you determine where each system should be integrated. For example, if you’re using an ad server, it should be integrated with your ad tech systems that require data like the number of clicks, impressions, clicks per impression, and so on. It shouldn’t be integrated with systems that require data like e-commerce data, customer data, and other sensitive information. If you’re not sure where to integrate your ad tech, or if you’re using a wide variety of different systems, it can be helpful to use a data hub. This is software that sits between all of your systems and acts as a central hub for all data. This will help you avoid having to manually transfer data between systems and make sure nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

CONCLUSION: AD TECH EVOLUTION: MOVING BEYOND MISCONCEPTIONS

Ad tech has come a long way and has revolutionized the advertising industry. However, with any new technology, it’s easy to make the common misconceptions marketers have about ad tech and fall into the trap of thinking you know how it all works. This can lead to poor decisions, wasted ad spend, and a general lack of optimization that can be detrimental to your success. Luckily, once you’ve overcome these issues and avoided these common misconceptions, you can start to maximize the value of your ad tech and get the most out of your investment.

Written by: Sadaf Kashif