Programmatic vs. Traditional Advertising: Which Is Better for Your Business?

Both programmatic and traditional advertising can help you promote your products and services and reach your target audience. But which will produce the best results for your efforts? If this question is currently on your mind, we’ve got you covered.

On this page, we’ll explain some key differences and benefits of programmatic vs. traditional advertising so you can evaluate which strategy is the right fit for your business. So, keep reading to learn more!

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Programmatic vs. traditional advertising: What is programmatic advertising?

Programmatic advertising is a form of digital advertising that enables you to automate your ad management process.

With programmatic advertising, you can reach more members of your target audience through multiple online channels like search engines, social media platforms, and more.

Instead of manually managing your ad sales and purchases, programmatic advertising uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the process.

Programmatic vs. traditional advertising: What is traditional advertising?

Traditional advertising involves any form of advertising that doesn’t take place online. In most cases, traditional advertising involves promoting your products and services through advertising channels like:

  • Television and radio
  • Telemarketing
  • Magazines and newspapers
  • Direct mail
  • And more

As a result, traditional advertising enables you to reach a wide audience of consumers who may or may not be interested in your products and services.

Programmatic vs. traditional advertising: Benefits of programmatic advertising

There are several benefits of programmatic advertising, including:

1. Programmatic advertising reaches your ideal customers

Programmatic advertising offers advanced audience targeting features to help you reach the consumers who are most likely to purchase your products and services.

For example, with programmatic advertising, you can target users based on their:

  • Location
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Purchase history
  • Interests
  • And more

On the other hand, traditional advertising doesn’t offer the same refined targeting that programmatic advertising does. As a result, you can create more personalized marketing messages that resonate with your target audience with programmatic ads.

That means you can encourage more conversions and sales for your company.

2. Programmatic advertising streamlines your ad campaign management

Perhaps one of the best benefits of programmatic advertising is that it helps streamline your ad campaign management. With programmatic advertising, you can eliminate time-consuming processes like placing bids.

Instead, AI takes over, using your goals and budget as a guide to bid and purchase ad space for your business in real-time, saving your business a ton of time and resources. That means you can spend more time improving your advertisements to achieve even better results from your campaign in the future.

3. Programmatic advertising is measurable

If you want to maximize your return on investment (ROI), it’s essential to track and measure the success of your advertising campaigns. Programmatic advertising enables you to measure your campaign results with ease.

For example, you can view essential audience insights to learn more about your target audience and current customers. You can also see valuable metrics like your conversion rate, click-through rate (CTR), and more to view the impact of your advertisements.

As a result, you can continually improve your advertising strategy to reach your ideal customers and drive the best results for your business, earning you a higher ROI in the long run.

Programmatic vs. traditional advertising: Benefits of traditional advertising

Now that you know more about the benefits of programmatic advertising let’s dive into the benefits of traditional advertising.

Here are three key benefits of traditional advertising:

1. Traditional advertising enables you to connect with your local audience

If you want to attract more local customers to your store or website, traditional advertising can be an excellent option for your business. You can create posters, flyers, and billboards to promote your brand around your local area with traditional advertising.

As you promote your business with visual advertisements around your region, more local consumers will become familiar with your brand and the products and services you offer, increasing your brand awareness in the process.

2. Traditional advertising helps you reach consumers who don’t use the Internet

Not only does traditional advertising help you reach your local audience, but it can also enable you to reach consumers who aren’t very active on the Internet. Traditional advertising mainly consists of TV and radio commercial ads, printed ads in newspapers and magazines, and physicals flyers and posters.

These are promotions that consumers encounter during their day-to-day activities, like watching cable TV or listening to the radio in their car. That means that consumers might come across one of your flyers or other advertisements who never heard of your brand before.

They might then go to a search engine like Google to learn more about your business.

3. Traditional advertising can offer opportunities for consumers to interact with your promotions

Another benefit of traditional advertising is that it can also offer opportunities for consumers to directly interact with your promotions.

For example, if you create a mural in your local region, consumers can take pictures and share them with friends and family on social media platforms.

Plus, consumers can physically hold on to your flyers and posters. They can see the flyer or poster in their hand and take it with them or hang it up at home, which makes them less likely to forget your promotion.

Traditional vs. programmatic advertising: Which is better for your business?

So, how can you decide between traditional vs. programmatic advertising? Which strategy is best for your business can depend on several factors.

If you have a small marketing budget and looking to reach a local audience, traditional advertising methods could be an excellent option for your company.

On the other hand, if you want to maximize your ROI, track your campaign performance, and use advanced targeting options to reach your ideal customers, then programmatic advertising is the way to go.

Programmatic advertising enables you to create personalized advertisements that resonate with your target audience, driving more sales and revenue for your company. Plus, programmatic advertising streamlines your ad management so that you can save time and resources in the long run.

So, what’s the bottom line? Programmatic advertising is the best way to increase your brand awareness and expand your reach by promoting your brand to potentially billions of users on search engines, social media platforms, and more.

If you’re looking to drive more sales and revenue for your business, programmatic advertising is your go-to strategy.

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Take your business to new heights with programmatic advertising services from WebFX

Are you ready to drive more sales and revenue with programmatic advertising but aren’t sure how to get started? That’s where WebFX can help!

WebFX is an industry-leading digital advertising agency with over 450 advertising experts. Our team can help you develop, implement, and manage a custom programmatic advertising strategy that suits your company’s needs and enables you to achieve your business goals.

Speak with one of our strategists today by calling 888-601-5359 or contact us online to learn more about how our programmatic advertising services can take your business to new heights. We can’t wait to help your company grow!