Twenty-six years ago, the first digital banner ad appeared on HotWired.com, now known as Wired Magazine. Although its design would now be considered a digital advertising faux-pas, the national ad ran for three months and cost AT&T $30,000. 

Digital advertising has come a long way since that black and rainbow-colored ad.  Savvy marketers now have a wide variety of specialized ad formats, targeting and inventory at their fingertips. 

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancelling of out-of-home campaigns and in-person events, many advertisers have turned their attention to digital advertising. Specifically, programmatic advertising. 

So, what is programmatic advertising and how can it enhance your company’s marketing efforts? Here are three things you need to know: 

• To put it simply, programmatic advertising is the automated process of buying and selling digital media ad inventory through sophisticated online software that works like a  real-time auction

• The biggest advantage to programmatic advertising is its ability to create hyper-targeted campaigns based on audience demographics, geolocation, specific interests and behaviors. Throughout the campaign, budgets can be optimized through real-time bidding to ensure audience reach

• No matter your campaign objective — brand awareness, e-commerce, public education, etc — programmatic advertising is a cost-effective way to quickly and effectively communicate with people online in today’s socially-distanced world

If your traditional marketing efforts have been put on hold due to the pandemic, consider a digital marketing approach. We can help. With dozens of statewide and national campaigns under our belt, the SalterMitchell PR team uses the latest advertising trends to plan and execute strategic media buys on behalf of our clients.