Keeping up with the latest marketing best practices is tough. Even large businesses are struggling to maintain the pace. It doesn’t take long for one to know what works and what doesn’t.
We have yet another new buzzword floating around in the land of television: audience buying. Small-business owners may now be hearing this buzzword as they meet with networks to consider their investment levels for upcoming calendar year. You may wonder just what its significance is.
Until today, buyers or businesses went into the annual upfront marketplace and purchase decisions typically were based on programming. Decisions on what to buy was based on ensuring one was not locked out of premium or live events that would capture a desired audience. An annual upfront may take on new meaning as more and more content is made readily available to reach a variety of audiences.
This means that more and more buyers (advertising agency and/or businesses) of this inventory are starting to look at following audience insights to purchase a variety of programming. This differs from using strictly the programming as the de facto factor in deciding a given audience. Many large advertising firms are in the process of developing tools to assist in purchasing an assortment of media programmatically. You may recall programmatic is a term closely associated with digital purchases. However, now this term has taken on broader implications of how advertisers can gain greater control on programming purchases and have schedules executed in a more efficient manner.
Remember, programmatic buying is still in its infancy stages. Many large advertisers are currently testing the proposition. However, that doesn’t mean it will take a decade to mature.
On the contrary, small-business owners should start now to understand this concept and how using this method will be beneficial in the long run. Review case studies that are starting to trickle out in the trade. After all, if a larger company has invested its time, money and other resources for testing, this knowledge can assist small-business owners with a head start of minimizing some common mistakes and potential loss in revenue.
Adele Lassere is a marketing/advertising consultant with 20+ years of experience, freelance writer, and author of “Elements of Buying: A How To Reference Guide on Advertising for Business Owners”; available at Amazon.com. Adele was listed as one of Black Enterprise’s 2011 Top Execs in Marketing & Advertising and Black Enterprise’s 2013 Top Women Executives in Advertising & Marketing. Contact: [email protected]
