What is programmatic display advertising?
Programmatic advertising typically refers to the purchasing of digital and online advertising space. The bread and butter of programmatic advertising falls within its reach and granular demographic targeting capabilities. Why is programmatic display ‘perfect’ for holiday parks and travel companies, you ask?
1. Demographic targeting
Unlike other forms of advertising, programmatic offers the ability to target a specific demographics. Using the customer data you have already acquired through website interaction and bookings, you could use it to further target potential customers. After establishing and building a customer profile, we can provide a strategy for specific targeting. Demographic data pulled from Google consists of;
- Age
- Gender
- Parental Status
- Household income bracket
Using this information, it’s possible to sub-sets of these demographics, as precisely as you see fit - do bear in mind that audience sizes can reduce rapidly if you're too granular.
Example demographic
By specifically targeting this demographic, it is possible to show ads showcasing a holiday park with deals on kid’s activities, which has a good chance of being personally relevant to the target audience. Display is often the first interaction the target audience will have with your brand as at this point, however, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are in the market for what you offer right away.
2. Knowing where to show
Going back to the previous demographic of a female aged between 25-40, we can use tools and insights to replicate trends and audiences to show ads on websites and spaces the specific demographic are likely to use. By doing this, we are again increasing the chance of the ads being relevant to the target demographic, thus increasing the chance of interaction and engagement.
Using tools that source data from audience surveys, we can make informed ad placement decisions based on brand loyalty. A user that is deemed to have a high level of disposable income and is in the market for a 5-star holiday may be more likely to visit websites for designer clothing brands or read The Times or Guardian newspapers over other alternatives; it is important to get this right in order to appeal to the correct target demographic.
3. Highlighting USP’s
What are your USP's and how can you showcase them to relevant parties? Does your travel business offer pet, children’s or sports facilities? If so, why not target pet owners, sport enthusiasts or parents in the market for holidays with tailored ads highlighting these factors. Targeting and relevance is the key factor in running successful and efficient campaigns. The granularity of these lists enables us to go even further with the targeting and target people with specific interests such as surfers, tennis and rock climbing enthusiasts… The possibilities are endless!
4. Locating the right market
Are they in the market for a holiday and if so, how can we target them?
Much like targeting demographics based on trends and interests, we can also target audiences based on their previous searches. We can target audiences who have already started to look for holiday breaks by targeting users who have gone to holiday price comparison pages, or similar sites. Social is also a fantastic tool for this, as we are able to tap into user data to determine what they have liked, what they are interested in and what their consumer trends are likely to be.
5. Delivering the right message at the right time
Display and programmatic ads are often the first step on the path to purchase. Because of this, it is important to be showing the right message at the right time. This could be the first and potentially the last time a user sees your ad, which means it has to be relevant, useful and highlight your key USP’s and brand targeted specifically for their demographic.
Remarketing is also a fantastic way to entice users back to your website. If a user has already been to your site and viewed what you have to offer, why not show them an ad based on that, to give them the reminder they need.
