5 Tips for Writing a Winning Programmatic Display Brief

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, programmatic advertising has become a cornerstone of successful marketing campaigns. It allows advertisers to reach their target audiences with precision and efficiency. However, the success of any programmatic campaign starts with a well-crafted brief. A clear and comprehensive brief ensures that your vision is communicated effectively To help you get started, CT360 has five tips for writing a good programmatic display brief.

1. Define Your Objectives Clearly

The foundation of any successful programmatic display campaign lies in a crystal-clear understanding of your objectives. Before you start writing your brief, take the time to define your goals. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, or boost conversions? Your objectives will shape the entire campaign strategy, so it's crucial to get them right from the start.

Be specific about your key performance indicators (KPIs). For instance, if your goal is to boost conversions, specify how many conversions you aim to achieve and within what time frame. The more precise your objectives, the easier it will be for your team to develop a tailored programmatic strategy.

2. Know Your Audience

Understanding your target audience is essential for creating a successful programmatic campaign. Provide detailed information about your ideal customers, including demographics, interests, and online behaviours. The more you know about your audience, the better you can tailor your messaging and creative assets to resonate with them.

Additionally, consider any buyer personas or customer segments you want to target within your campaign. This will help your team create highly relevant and engaging ads that speak directly to different audience groups.

3. Budget and Timing

Clearly outline your budget constraints and campaign timelines in your brief. A well-defined budget ensures that your team can allocate resources effectively and make the most of your ad spend. Be realistic about what you can achieve with your budget, and don't forget to factor in the costs of creative production, ad placements, and any third-party tools or services you plan to use.

Timing is also crucial. Specify the start and end dates of your campaign, as well as any important milestones or events that may impact your campaign's timing. This information will help our team plan and execute the campaign effectively.

4. Creative Requirements

Your programmatic display brief should include detailed creative guidelines. Describe the key messaging, branding elements, and imagery you want to use in your ads. If you have existing creative assets, provide them to your team. If not, specify whether you need new creative materials to be produced and include any relevant brand guidelines.

Keep in mind that programmatic campaigns often involve dynamic creative optimisation (DCO), where ad content can be personalized based on user data. If you plan to use DCO, make sure your brief includes guidelines on how personalisation should be implemented.

5. Measurement and Reporting

A successful programmatic campaign isn't complete without robust measurement and reporting. In your brief, outline the metrics you want to track to evaluate campaign performance. Common metrics include click-through rates, conversion rates, return on ad spend (ROAS), and viewability.

Specify how often you want to receive reports and what format they should take. This will help you stay informed about the campaign's progress and make data-driven decisions to optimize performance.

In conclusion, a well-crafted programmatic display brief is the cornerstone of a successful campaign. By defining clear objectives, knowing your audience, setting budget and timing expectations, providing creative guidelines, and outlining measurement and reporting requirements, you'll set your campaign up for success from the very beginning. Collaboration between you and our CT360 team is key to executing a programmatic campaign that achieves your goals and delivers impressive results!