Display ad purchases aren't just a matter of bidding for available space. Other factors enter the equation, particularly when it comes to the type of website where ad space is purchased. Brands tend to be concerned about where their advertising dollars are spent, and they weigh all the pros and cons of their associations with television shows, print publications and, yes, websites.
This is where a digital consultant can be invaluable in directing your brand safety efforts. Programmatic advertising has made the process of matching ads to available spaces much easier, not to mention hands-free. But it's also created an increasing need for brand safety solutions — technical measures that can help you ensure that you're only placing your ads on quality websites that align with your company values.
Fortunately, there are technologies and strategies available to make this desire a reality. Here's a quick guide on some of the ways that a digital marketing consultant can help you see these changes through.
Ad Verification
In the programmatic world, ad verification is a form of quality assurance — it oversees ad placements to make sure that the location is appropriate and that the ad has been delivered as desired. Ad verification can identify and screen inappropriate content. It can also monitor geotargeting fulfillment and make sure your ads run as you had intended.
Verification can also watch out for instances of ad placements too close to the ads of competitors or on websites created by competing brands, and it can alert you when possible signs of fraud turn up. As eMarketer notes, verification's benefits aren't limited to brand safety issues — ad verification can help measure the quality of ad spending as well as the ad's overall effectiveness.
Real-Time Filtering
Even as campaigns are occurring, you can take certain steps to avoid potentially bad situations. Real-time filtering solutions can remove undesired publishers quickly, blocking out either certain pages or entire URLs. You can use this to keep ads off of new negative destinations as they are discovered.
Because it's hard to know which websites might pose a brand safety hazard, the need for this flexibility is important. To stay on top of this in-progress management, you might want to seek out additional help.
Ensuring Brand Safety
With brand safety technologies and their strategies fairly new — in fact, it's possible that none of your managers or peers will have heard of these solutions — it could be helpful to enlist the support of a digital consultant to assist in the implementation. An expert in programmatic advertising, as well as the requisite brand safety measures involved, can help you leverage an effective ad verification solution and interpret the data from campaigns incorporating brand safety measures. Leveraging post-impression analytics, meanwhile, will improve your brand's strategy for future campaigns. Over time, this aid will help you manage brand safety measures on your own.
Brands are reaping huge benefits from programmatic advertising, but effective campaigns need the additional brand safety support of new technologies. Addressing these challenges through relevant technology and updated strategy will allow your brand to embrace programmatic ads without worrying about the risks.
