Top 8 Challenges in Online Advertising Today • Perfect Audience Blog

Research of the Week filters through hundreds of research studies and finds the most interesting and thought-provoking research for marketing professionals. Then we provide practical strategies and tips on how to apply the research to influence your marketing programs. Enjoy!

This week’s research looks at the top challenges that marketing professionals experience with programmatic advertising programs.

The research study, The State of Programmatic Advertising, was a joint venture with Ascend2, a leading research company. The study was fielded in May 2020 and represents the opinions of 213 marketing professionals from businesses with up to 500 employees. Serving the right ad, to the right person, at the right time requires an enormous amount of data, tracking, and technology. That is why 46% of small and mid-size businesses report that audience targeting is a top challenge when it comes to programmatic advertising. Allocating enough budget to execute their strategy is also an obstacle for 37% of those surveyed.

QUICK TIP from the research: Follow the ROI and data to find your best audience to target. Facebook and Google allow you to reach half of your audience. Perfect Audience will help you reach the other half. Get more tips when you listen to the webinar replay, Retargeting Beyond Facebook and Google.

ROI and data should drive audience targeting

Experts we talked to were surprised that ‘achieving ROI’ was not #1 on the list of top challenges when executing a programmatic advertising strategy. Yes, audience targeting is important, but everything you do needs to be driven by ROI, even audience targeting. The more data you have, the better you will be able to target your audience and drive higher ROI.

Example of how ROI and data should drive audience targeting

You may be shocked where you find your best audience is not an easy and direct choice. Follow the data and you may discover hidden audiences that your competitors ignore. A pool company may discover that the direct choice of those interested in swimming may not be your best audience (highest ROI), instead, it may be those that have an interest in certain types of cruises because of their demographics (disposable income, age, etc.), interest in relaxation, and that they are not being targeted by your competitors. This is just one example, each business needs to follow the ROI and data to determine their best audience.

Perfect Audience is set-up to help follow the ROI and data to find and reach your best audience. If you want to discuss your audience targeting, the Perfect Audience team is available to meet with you. Click here to schedule a meeting.