But are all vendors that offer programmatic advertising pretty much the same? Hint: They\u2019re not. Capabilities differ quite a bit. If you\u2019re hoping to reach an agriculture audience, you need a vendor that knows how to do it. Unlike marketing for, say, Coca-Cola, a product that most people might buy, ag products require a more complex strategy appealing only to farmers or ag audiences. Within that segment, your product or service probably will have even more specific targets\u2014such as growers of a particular crop in a particular location. You\u2019ll save money by only spending your budget to reach the ideal audience segment.<\/p>\n
To ensure that you find a vendor that can deliver the ROI you want from your ads, be sure you ask the following questions:<\/p>\n
What kind of experience do you have in ag marketing and advertising?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n As you know, the agriculture industry is unique, with its own systems and cycles, its own highly individual audiences. Not all programmatic vendors have worked on an ag campaign. You want a vendor that specializes in ag, one that can guide your campaign with hyper-focused ag expertise.<\/p>\n How will you help me reach my ag audience?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019re paying the vendor to enable you to target the ag producers and retailers who are most likely to respond to your ads. That vendor needs to have the right data to deliver the ad impressions to the right audience. If you\u2019re trying to reach Farmer Jones, you don\u2019t want to pay to also reach his neighbor or his mail carrier or every person in the vicinity who has googled \u2018organic fertilizer\u2019 for her backyard garden.<\/p>\n The key to precise targeting is first-party data, which companies collect\u2014with the user\u2019s consent\u2014from their own sources, such as their website, eNewsletter sign-ups, magazine subscriptions, commodity market price updates, social media, surveys and CRM. Most first-party data comes from sources that capture detailed information about the user, everything from their location and the size of their operation to their role within the operation and their product interests.<\/p>\n Farm Journal\u2019s industry-leading data base, which includes proprietary first-party data along with cleansed USDA data and is fed daily by the ag industry\u2019s most robust behavioral insights engine. Having audience segment data enables Agri-marketers to have confidence and certainty about who you are reaching!\u00a0\u00a0 Reaching the right ag audience with certainty gives value to every impression.<\/p>\n How broad and deep is your data?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n If the vendor you\u2019re talking to says they provide first-party data, remember that not all first-party data is created equal. You need to find out the source of the data. Where did it originate? You also need to know how many unique recipients they can target and how deeply they\u2019re able to target them. In other words, how much do they know about the person receiving the message. For a successful campaign, you want data that\u2019s as granular as possible.<\/p>\n Of course, you also need to know if they\u2019re able to reach the audience segment you want. Simply targeting \u201cfarmers\u201d can lead to a lot of waste if you need to reach 1,000+ acre Midwest corn growers. Segment coverage is essential.<\/p>\n How will you service my campaign?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Ask vendors if they will use an in-house team or will your campaign be managed by a third-party provider. An in-house team is always preferred. Communication with them is much easier and faster, and they have a firmer grasp on your goals. To reach those goals, they can use customized data recipes rather than rely on a generic, one-size-fits all approach. They\u2019ll treat you as a long-term ag customer\u2014prioritizing your goals and needs.<\/p>\n Can you provide timely reporting? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Not all vendors are able to provide reporting quickly enough to allow you to adjust your campaign on the fly. If a vendor can only provide performance reports when the campaign ends, you can\u2019t optimize based on what you learn while the campaign is running. You want to be able to get updates so that if, for example, the messaging is not working, you have time to adjust it.<\/p>\n Can you customize your reports?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Building on the previous question about reporting, will the vendor customize reports to measure a specific aspect of your campaign\u2019s performance? Again, you want to learn as much from every campaign as possible. Generic, off-the-rack reporting may not tell you what you need to know.<\/p>\n You also need to know how open the vendor will be in sharing information. Can you get answers to questions about the domains, reach and frequency of your campaign? Transparency is critical to fully understanding your campaign\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n