Programmatic Advertising is still one of the online industry’s newest technologies and marketers are beginning to notice the success of businesses taking advantage of these new targeting capabilities. However, the majority of businesses wanting to learn more about Programmatic Advertising still don’t fully understand the benefits it can offer. In an effort to explain how this new technology can target different customers, this blog will focus on the marketing advantages of Programmatic Advertising in the automotive industry.

With Programmatic Advertising, you’re able to use hundreds of targeting parameters in order to serve ads to the right customers when they are most likely to engage and purchase your business’ product. This allows you to know the exact amount of people who saw your ad, interacted with it through a click, and even converted a purchase or subscription.

In order to see how Programmatic Advertising works in the automotive industry, we first need to take a look at the buying cycle of a customer when they buy a vehicle in today’s digital age. It’s unrealistic to think that customers are going to see an ad for a new truck, click on it, and buy it right there on the spot. There’s a lot of research and trust that needs to be built between a customer and a dealer before a purchase can be made. Car buyers are more likely to trust what other customers say versus brand-generated content. Some of the top trusted sources include reviews, comparisons, blogs, and forums. They want to hear an unbiased opinion why one car is better than the other.

Using Programmatic Advertising allows marketers the capability to target people who are “in-market” for buying a car. In-market audience targeting is a way to connect with consumers who are actively researching or comparing products and services across various publishers and partner sites. To qualify someone as being in-market for a specific product or service, a number of different statistics must be considered. We analyze clicks on related ads and subsequent conversions, the content of the sites, different pages they visit, and the frequency of the visits. This way our technology accurately categorizes users so your business can target those customers most interested in your offers.

Some of the metrics used in order to categorize someone as “in-market” for automotive includes:

  • The content of sites browsed – websites like Cars.com, FindCars.com, any car maker’s website
  • The proximity and frequency of visits in such websites
  • Account clicks on related ads

It’s also possible to target specific users that have visited certain websites and frequently visited websites that buyers use while looking for new cars. In addition to sample websites, here are different audience examples that are possible to target through Programmatic Advertising for the automotive industry:

  • Auto > In-Market Predictors > Full Size Truck
    • Unique Visitors: 20,515,000
  • Automotive > Vehicle Make > Chevy
    • Unique Visitors: 13,811,000
  • Past Purchases > Autos > Makes > Mercedes Benz
    • Unique Visitors: 6,888,000
  • Past Purchases > Autos > Trucks
    • Unique Visitors: 68,326,000
  • Polk Automotive > In-Market > In-Market: Commercial Truck Owners
    • Unique Visitors: 25,996,000
  • Polk Automotive > Owner Targeting > Owner Targeting: Makes > Owner Targeting: Chevy Car
    • Unique Visitors: 9,307,000
  • Polk Automotive > Used Vehicle > Used Vehicle: Makes > Used Vehicle: In-Market Pickup Truck
    • Unique Visitors: 28,008,000

Large corporations and successful businesses are devoting more and more attention to Programmatic Advertising, but even though this technology is extremely effective, measurable, and advanced, it doesn’t have to require a huge amount of investment. Compared to other digital marketers that require $10,000 or more a month, KeyMedia Solutions is capable of serving these extremely relevant ads for a cost as low as $2,500 a month.