When working in a service industry, you’re more successful when you place the focus on clients first rather than yourself; that’s no different in digital advertising. However, for as long as I’ve worked in this industry, the focus has largely been placed on the technology being used buried under acronyms and complex ad tech jargon. This has slowed the original promise of programmatic which was to simplify the process through automation ultimately making it easier for clients to achieve their business objectives. In order to continue providing value, our focus should shift to what clients truly care about – how can we help them move their businesses forward and make their jobs easier in the process.
Shift to Outcomes
At Xaxis, we’ve shifted all our communication to our clients’ business objectives which we refer to as outcomes. First, we establish what outcomes our clients are hoping to achieve with their digital advertising campaign. This can sometimes be challenging but is a necessary first step to ensure our media is having a direct impact on what they care about. Once this is determined, we work backward to develop the best strategy to achieve those outcomes and how to measure them. Technology has made this more easily attainable than ever before.
Business and Technology
An example of how we merge technology with business objectives to make clients’ jobs easier is through the use of custom optimization with Artificial Intelligence. Our AI tool, Copilot, allows auto-optimization towards a desired outcome, removing a lot of the questions about who to target and when or where to achieve them. This would allow us to automatically optimize towards people who are most likely to sign up for a test drive or make a purchase online. However, many clients do not have online actions that affect their business as obvious as these. For these types of clients, we can help determine the most effective way to measure online media’s impact on their businesses. For example, one of our jewelry clients wanted to get people into their retail partner’s brick and mortar stores. We ran a foot traffic study and determined that the same media tactics that drove people to click “Where to Buy” on their website also resulted in the highest lift in in-store foot traffic. We were then able to use Copilot to optimize directly towards people who were clicking on “Where to Buy” and understand that we were providing demonstrable value to their business.
This is why it’s so important that we place our focus on our clients and what’s going to move their businesses forward. If we choose the outcomes that have a direct impact on their businesses, use the right measurement strategy, and are able to achieve those outcomes while protecting their brand and providing great customer service, we will always be providing value. So, let’s eliminate the complex ad tech jargon and shift the focus from ourselves to our clients to fulfill the original promise of programmatic, making client’s jobs easier to achieve their business objectives.
