How do we navigate the shift to Programmatic Advertising for mid-sized retail brands?

All answers to this question.

Don't forget to look at your "Ads.txt" compliance settings. Ensuring you only buy from authorized sellers is the easiest way to prevent domain spoofing and ad fraud in your campaigns.

   Answered 2024-03-14 by Arthur Ward

• Totally agree with Arthur. Ads.txt is a basic but often overlooked setting in the DSP that can save a huge chunk of your budget from being siphoned off by fraudulent inventory.

     Commented 2024-03-15 by Heather Collins

Transitioning to programmatic is a massive step for scaling. To protect your brand, start by using "Private Marketplace" (PMP) deals instead of the open auction; it gives you more control over where your ads land. You should also integrate third-party verification tools like DoubleVerify or IAS directly into your DSP. We’ve found that using a strict "Inclusion List" of vetted publishers, rather than just a "Block List," significantly improves lead quality even if the initial reach feels slightly smaller. It's much better to have 1,000 high-intent views than 10,000 on junk sites.

   Answered 2024-06-16 by Megan Foster

Megan, that's a great point about the inclusion lists, but doesn't that drive up your Cost Per Mille (CPM) significantly? How do you justify the higher cost to stakeholders who are used to the cheaper rates of the open auction?

   Answered 2024-07-22 by Gregory Stevens

• Gregory, you're right that CPMs are higher on inclusion lists, but you have to pivot the conversation to "Return on Ad Spend" (ROAS). In our last project, while the CPM went up by 15%, the actual conversion rate doubled because we weren't wasting budget on "made-for-advertising" sites. I always show stakeholders the "Quality CPM" metric—basically what we pay for a view that actually stays on the site for more than 10 seconds. That usually clears up any concerns about the initial price tag.

     Commented 2024-07-28 by Megan Foster