The Rise of the Platform Marketer: Performance Marketing with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, Plus the Latest High-Growth Digital Advertising Platforms

Chapter 7Media Optimization

Special Contributor: Megan Pagliuca

As advertising technology has evolved over the years, the methods by which we buy and sell media have changed drastically. Technology enables the use of data and analytics within media, giving rise to the world of platform marketing. Competitive advantage is now created by a marketer's ability to leverage first-party data in media to personalize content for customers and prospects. Technology enables marketers and agencies to connect with publishers easily, and at unprecedented scale, to target the right individual with the right message in the right context. This method of media buying is defined as “programmatic.”

This chapter focuses on media optimization, which is the continuous iteration of improving media performance in market. More specifically, it covers the base knowledge required and best practices for buying and optimizing digital media campaigns, with a focus on how programmatic can be used throughout the process.

First, we review the evolution of advertising technologies, followed by their impact on each of the market constituents: marketers, agencies, intermediaries, and publishers. We then review the foundational knowledge and best practices for optimizing media today, including the methods by which media is bought, the tactics used to buy it, the ad decisioning process, inventory quality, and pricing models. Finally, we highlight the market challenges we see in adoption of programmatic media.

The ...