MarketStar Blog | Articles (6)

Key Takeaways

• AdTech and MarTech companies need to implement several business growth strategies in 2023

• To be successful in marketing and digital advertising, companies need to invest in AdTech and MarTech

• Artificial intelligence will play a key role in both AdTech and MarTech in the years to come

• AI will help businesses automate repetitive tasks, freeing up time for more strategic work

The advertising and marketing industries have been evolving rapidly in recent years.

With the rise of new technologies, the way businesses reach and engage with their target audiences has changed significantly. 

AdTech and MarTech companies continually look for new ways to reach and engage their target audiences. In 2023, there will be several new business growth strategies that these companies can use to stay ahead of the competition. 

Some of the most popular business growth strategies for AdTech and MarTech companies include using data to drive decision-making, investing in customer experience, and using AI and machine learning to automate processes.

To learn more about these business growth strategies, read on!

The Increasing Importance of AdTech & MarTech

AdTech has become increasingly important in the world of marketing and advertising of late. 

The growing popularity of digital advertising has made AdTech an essential tool for reaching and engaging consumers. 

AdTech allows marketers to target consumers more effectively, track the performance of their campaigns, and measure the ROI of their advertising spend. 

In other words, AdTech is essential for anyone who wants to be successful in digital advertising. Several different AdTech platforms and solutions are available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.  

Choosing the right AdTech platform for your business can be challenging, but it’s worth taking the time to find the one that best suits your needs. 

As AdTech continues to grow in popularity, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to understand and invest in it. Those who don’t may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. 

Marketing was essentially a manual process in the past. But with the advent of new technologies, marketing has become much more data-driven and scientific. As a result, MarTech has become an essential part of the marketing process. 

Many MarTech tools are available, from customer relationship management (CRM) software to marketing automation platforms. And as marketing continues to evolve, the importance of MarTech will only continue to grow. 

So if you’re a marketing professional, it’s essential to familiarise yourself with the world of MarTech. By doing so, you’ll be able to stay ahead of the curve in the marketing industry.

5 Effective Business Growth Strategies for 2023

As we move into the new year, it’s time to start thinking about your company’s growth strategy for 2023. 

And if you’re in the AdTech or MarTech industry, you’ll need to be prepared for the ever-changing advertising, marketing, and technology landscape. 

To help you get started, we’ve put together a list of AdTech and MarTech growth strategies. From new platforms to new strategies and trends, these are the things you’ll need to keep an eye on in the coming year. 

1. Zero-Party Data Gathering

In 2023, gathering zero-party data will become the norm for businesses and organizations across the globe. Zero-party data is data that an individual willingly and knowingly provides. This data is often used to improve customer experiences and target advertising. 

The rise of zero-party data gathering will be driven by the increasing need for businesses to personalize their products and services. 

In a world where customers can choose from various options, businesses must find ways to stand out from the competition. By gathering and using zero-party data, businesses can better understand their customers and provide them with a personalized customer experience.

2. Make Sure You’re on The Right Platforms

Advertising is constantly evolving, and new platforms are constantly emerging. 

To stay ahead of the game, you must ensure you’re advertising on the right platforms. Keep an eye on the latest trends and ensure you’re present on the platforms your target audience uses.

3. The Need to Become Video-First

Most companies today have started creating bite-sized videos, such as Instagram reels and TikTok videos. These help them increase engagement among millennials.

The average user spends about 88% more time on a website with video content and is 64% more likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it.

With these statistics in mind, it’s no wonder that so many companies are switching to becoming video-first.

By 2023, it is estimated that 80% of all internet traffic will be video traffic. If your company needs to produce video content, you must start doing so ASAP.

4. Artificial Intelligence in AdTech

In 2023, artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to play a significant role in the AdTech industry. 

With the help of AI, AdTech companies will be able to target ads more accurately, personalize the user experience, and track engagement. AI will also help improve ad campaigns’ efficiency, reducing the cost of advertising for businesses. 

With AI becoming more sophisticated, the future of the AdTech industry looks bright as it will continue to grow and evolve. We expect to see more AI-powered AdTech products and services in the coming years.

5. Artificial Intelligence in MarTech

In 2023, AI will be deeply embedded in MarTech. It will touch on every aspect of marketing, from customer segmentation and targeting to content creation and distribution.

AI will help marketers automate repetitive tasks, freeing time for more strategic work. It will also provide real-time insights that will help marketers make better decisions.

And, as AI gets better at understanding human behavior, it will become increasingly adept at creating personalized experiences that drive engagement and conversions.

Growth Awaits in 2023

The AdTech and MarTech industries are forecast to experience significant growth in 2023. 

Companies that want to take advantage of this growth should consider adopting key strategies, such as developing innovative products, expanding their customer base, and investing in new technologies. 

If you’re interested in learning more, fill out the form and let’s connect to help you grow your business today!

The way we sell today is being shaped by the evolving customer journey, technological advancements, and changes in customer behavior. Additionally, sales processes differ from one business to another, and so do the terminology and data management practices associated with them. At MarketStar, we fully comprehend these dynamics and possess the adaptability to align with and enhance our clients' processes through our proven and reliable practices. We bring our expertise to every task, seamlessly integrating our teams into our clients' organizations. However, occasionally we encounter minor inaccuracies that, despite their size, can significantly impact our efforts.

Key Takeaways

Research has proved that influence is the foundation of selling. It is what inspires others to take an idea seriously and act on it. Information alone will rarely persuade someone to act. (If it could, then salespeople would be unnecessary.) Rather, what moves people is how that information is presented and who presents it to them. As neuroscientist Gregory Berns explains, “A person can have the greatest idea in the world—completely different and novel—but if that person can’t convince enough other people, it doesn’t matter.” Source: Hoffeld, David. The Science of Selling (pp. 4-5). Penguin Publishing Group. 

Growth mindset is the belief that intelligence can be developed. It is contrasted with a fixed mindset: the belief that intelligence is a fixed trait set in stone at birth. A fixed or growth mindset may shape adaptive behaviors, acceptance of virtual selling tools, confidence recovery following failures, as well as the effectiveness of product marketing campaigns. People with a fixed mindset are more likely to seek products and brands in line with their goals to burnish their self-image and demonstrate their positive qualities, while people with a growth mindset seek products that help them pursue their goals to improve and learn new things. (Dweck, 2018) 

In the world of digital advertising, achieving sustainable and profitable growth requires a strategic approach suited to various stages of business maturity.  Identifying the stage you’re in and its corresponding challenges and goals will allow you to make informed decisions and choose the right partners to help you accelerate your growth.

Let's explore the maturity levels of digital advertising operations and highlight their unique characteristics to help you find out the stage you're in and ways to level up faster and more efficiently. 

Key Points

• Inefficient Ecommerce operations can lead to higher costs, reduced profitability, and increased competition from more efficient rivals. 

• Advancements in Ecommerce technology, such as AI and machine learning, are enabling businesses to provide more personalized customer experiences and drive sales.

• MarketStar’s customized Ecommerce solutions enable businesses to scale their operations without compromising customer experience.

Introduction

With increasing numbers of consumers turning to online shopping post-pandemic, digital shopping has experienced a paradigm shift. Forbes reports that an estimated 24% of retail purchases will occur online by 2026.

However, most SMBs find it difficult to deal with continuous fluctuations in consumer behavior, technological transformations and the economy.

As companies expand their online presence, they often lack the resources or expertise to manage all aspects of Ecommerce. This is where outsourcing comes in, providing businesses with the flexibility and support they need to succeed in Ecommerce.

This article focuses on the benefits of Ecommerce outsourcing and how businesses can focus on their core competencies while benefiting from the expertise and experience of a dedicated Ecommerce partner through outsourcing.

The Benefits of Ecommerce Outsourcing

Ecommerce is well-suited for outsourcing due to the ease of remote collaboration and communication and the extensive use of cloud-based systems by Ecommerce enterprises. Here are a few reasons businesses choose outsourcing to optimize their operations and boost productivity. 

Leverage Expertise to Minimize Expenses

Outsourcing Ecommerce operations can help businesses reduce costs associated with staffing, infrastructure, technology, and other overhead expenses. By outsourcing, businesses can benefit from the economies of scale of a specialised service provider, who can leverage their expertise and resources to offer cost-effective solutions. 

The business messaging application Slack outsourced their product design team to successfully launch their application from the beta version, thus slashing costs and garnering more investors.

Scaling Business Operations

When a business outsources its Ecommerce operations, it can leverage the expertise and resources of a third-party provider to quickly and easily expand its capacity to handle more orders, customers, and sales. This can include everything from order processing and fulfilment to customer service and technical support. The outbreak of the pandemic saw a boom in Ecommerce operations, and numerous SMBs scaled their operations quickly.

As of 2022, 17% of outsourced enterprises believe that organizations choose outsourcing part of their operations for scaling. By setting up manufacturing and assembly units in the US and Southeast Asia, Apple has managed to outsource their supply chain and concentrate on product design and scaling. By treating outsourcing as a mutually beneficial relationship, Apple meets its rising consumer demand, thereby easing its production costs.

Focus On Core Competencies

One of the most significant benefits of Ecommerce outsourcing is the ability to free up valuable resources and personnel to focus on what they do best. By outsourcing non-core tasks such as order processing, inventory management, and customer service outsourcing, businesses can reduce their operational workload, allowing them to concentrate on their core competencies, such as product development, marketing, and sales.

By outsourcing AdWords support and development of Project Ara to tech service providers worldwide, Google could concentrate on its core operations.

Improve Customer Experience

Poor customer experience has forced 89% of consumers to discontinue relations with an Ecommerce business. Providing a seamless and exceptional customer experience is paramount in today’s highly competitive Ecommerce landscape. However, managing all aspects of the customer journey, from website design to order fulfilment and customer service, can take time and effort for businesses. This is where Ecommerce outsourcing can play a critical role in improving the customer experience. By outsourcing certain Ecommerce functions to a specialized third-party vendor, businesses can tap into the expertise and resources of the vendor to enhance the customer experience. 

For instance, outsourcing customer service to a vendor with experienced and knowledgeable agents can provide customers with a responsive and helpful support team. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth recommendations. Similarly, outsourcing website design and development to a vendor focusing on user experience (UX) can result in a more intuitive and user-friendly website, increasing customer engagement and conversion rates. 

How MarketStar Can Help

MarketStar is a leading provider of Ecommerce outsourcing services, specializing in partnering with Ecommerce establishments to optimize their operations and deliver outstanding customer service. With extensive experience working with clients across multiple industries, MarketStar understands the unique challenges that businesses face in the competitive Ecommerce landscape and come up with tailored solutions for effective results. 

MarketStar prioritizes efficiency and effectiveness in all aspects of their operations. 

`MarketStar’s multichannel strategy ensures that their clients’ customers can reach them through their preferred channels, while MarketStar’s multilingual customer support teams are available around the clock to provide assistance in multiple languages and time zones. MarketStar’s seasonal staffing model allows for optimal scalability without incurring additional expenses. 

MarketStar’s research reveals that Ecommerce platforms suffer from issues such as

• Dealing with customer expectations especially during peak seasons.

• Dealing with customers from different time zones and geographic locations. 

• Balancing cost-effectiveness and operational efficiency.

Choosing the Right Ecommerce Outsourcing Partner 

When it comes to Ecommerce outsourcing, choosing the right partner is essential for businesses looking to streamline their operations and improve their bottom line. However, selecting the right Ecommerce outsourcing partner can be a daunting task, with many factors to consider. Here are some key points to note while choosing the right partner to outsource essential operations: 

Expertise and Experience 

When choosing an Ecommerce outsourcing partner, look for a company with a proven track record of success. This means finding a vendor with years of experience in the industry and a portfolio of clients that are like your business. The vendor should have deep expertise in your Ecommerce needs, such as website design, development, order fulfilment, and customer service. A partner with expertise in your industry will also bring valuable insights and best practices that can help you optimize your Ecommerce operations. 

Scalability and Flexibility

Your Ecommerce needs will evolve as your business grows, and you will require more support from your outsourcing partner. Therefore, choosing a vendor that can scale its services to meet your changing needs is essential. The vendor should also be flexible enough to adapt to your business needs and should be able to customize its services to meet your unique requirements. This will ensure that your outsourcing partner can grow with your business and meet your long-term goals. 

Data Security

Data security is a crucial factor to consider when choosing an Ecommerce outsourcing partner. The vendor you choose should have strict data security protocols in place to protect your sensitive information and that of your customers. The vendor should comply with all data protection laws and regulations and have certifications which ensure the safe handling of payment card data. Look for a vendor that can provide you with transparency and visibility into its security measures and certifications. 

Cost-Effectiveness

Outsourcing should provide cost savings for your business. However, it is essential to consider the overall value that the outsourcing partner can provide. The vendor should offer transparent pricing and no hidden costs, with a clear understanding of the services and resources included in the pricing. Compare pricing and services from multiple vendors to ensure you get the best deal. Remember that the cheapest option may not always be the best, and a partner offering high-quality services may be more cost-effective in the long run.

Communication and Collaboration

Clear communication and collaboration are essential for a successful outsourcing partnership. The vendor should have a responsive and transparent communication strategy and should be available to assist you with any questions or concerns. Look for a partner that offers a dedicated point of contact or project manager to ensure clear and effective communication. Additionally, the vendor should be collaborative, working closely with your business to ensure that your outsourcing strategy aligns with your overall goals and objectives. 

Technological Advancements

An ideal outsourced partner offers access to technological advancements as part of their Ecommerce outsourcing services, allowing businesses to leverage the latest tools and technologies for improved efficiency and customer experience. When choosing an outsourcing partner, businesses should consider their expertise in Ecommerce technology, ability to innovate, and willingness to stay up-to-date with emerging trends and technologies. 

Customer Service

Finally, choose a partner that values customer service. The vendor should have a dedicated support team to assist with any issues or concerns. Look for a partner that offers 24/7 support, ensuring you can always reach out for help when needed. The vendor should also proactively identify and address issues, ensuring that your Ecommerce operations run smoothly. Consider reading customer reviews or testimonials to gauge the vendor’s level of customer service. 

Conclusion

According to a survey conducted among executives, 96% acknowledged outsourcing providers as the primary source for developing data and analytics capabilities. 

MarketStar, a leading provider of Ecommerce outsourcing services, offers a unique value proposition that can help businesses thrive in the Ecommerce space. Achieving a 95% average customer satisfaction rate (CSAT%), MarketStar’s team of Ecommerce experts can assist businesses with everything from website development to digital marketing, content creation, and data analysis. 

MarketStar’s unique value proposition can help companies thrive in the highly competitive Ecommerce landscape. By partnering with MarketStar, businesses can access specialized expertise, customized solutions, and the latest Ecommerce technologies to achieve their goals and drive revenue growth. 

Introduction

There is no doubt that the rise of AI tools in sales has the potential to revolutionize the industry. And whether we love it or not, AI is here to stay for a while. It appears that the majority of high-performing sales organizations (57%) are using the technology to improve internal processes and customer experience and studying Salesforce’s “State Of” Report proves that this number is on the rise.

The capability for AI to transform the sales industry is vast, and its adoption is only set to increase. As businesses become more data-driven and customer-centric, there is an increase in the need for AI tools to manage and analyze customer data in real-time. And with the market for AI software expected to reach $37 billion by 2025, there is no doubt that the sales industry will be a major driver of this growth. However, the potential of AI extends far beyond what we have seen so far. As the technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications emerge, from complex predictive sales analytics to even more developed automated customer service. Today, with Open.ai’s Chat GTP writing page-long text in seconds and algorithms inventing drug molecules to cure OCD, the array of AI capabilities seems endless, and so do the opportunities to leverage artificial intelligence.

The B2B sales model is changing. Where outside sales reps were once seen as a cost-effective and efficient way to close new deals and build revenue, more companies are bolstering their inside sales team. The migration from the traditional sales approach to inside sales is helping B2B companies more closely align sales and marketing, improve lead generation, and create a better customer experience.

Growth is a positive thing. Whether it’s financial or personal, growth means progress. When we talk about the growth of a business, we are referring to the process of increasing the size, revenue, and market share over time. At MarketStar, we are proud of our purpose to “Create Growth”, because over the last 35 years this is what we have done successfully for our clients and our people all over the world. However, the growth we create isn’t about a quick fix and rapid expansion.

Practicing the art of creating sustainableand profitable growth is a combination of expertise and experience. And while it may appear easy on paper, there are numerous examples of companies who could not keep up with their own growth. We often find that organizations focus on intense growth instead of creating scalable processes to sustain that growth in the future. According to Business Harvard Review“today’s medium firms are larger and older than at any other time in the past 35 years; yet an increasing percentage of medium firms incur losses, have lower profits, and have lower growth despite spending larger amounts on experimentation and innovation.” 

With a phone in almost every hand today, Short Message Service (SMS) marketing's popularity has only been growing from strength to strength recently. Bulk SMS marketing is at the peak of its demand for various reasons today, especially in the e-commerce sector.

Key Takeaways

• Businesses can promote advertising through numerous online channels like social media ads, video streaming ads, and in-game ads.

• Omnichannel advertising identifies programmatic advertising as the preferred solution for online ad markets.

• Personalization is more important than ever in digital advertising, as businesses look to provide tailored experiences that resonate with their customers and drive conversions.

Introduction

‘It’s important to remember that your competitor is only one mouse click away.’

In today’s digital age, it’s imperative for small and medium-sized businesses to keep up with the latest advertising and digital marketing trends to remain competitive. With the COVID-19 pandemic prompting a significant shift towards digitalization, the advertising landscape has undergone a transformation, and adapting to these changes has become more important than ever.

The digital advertising industry is continually evolving and developing new AdTech trends, enabling businesses to innovate and reshape their revenue strategies. Staying up to date with these trends in digital advertising and adopting them in marketing campaigns can be a game-changer for businesses, leading to increased visibility and higher conversion rates.

This blog will provide the latest insights and updates about digital advertising trends in 2023.

Introduction of Adtech into Small Businesses

The colossal rise of social media has enabled AdTech and MarTech technologies to target prospects with minute brand interactions. Over 8000 marketing and digital advertising tools that can leverage technology for the planning and execution of marketing campaigns have thus emerged.

Data further strengthens the ability of SMBs to target their advertising to specific demographics, interests, and locations.

The following section highlights some key benefits of paid advertising for SMBs.

• Targeting your customers precisely: The most crucial challenge an SMB faces is gaining online exposure and inaccurate targeting of customers, especially in industries where enterprise-level players reign supreme.
  
  SMBs should focus their marketing and advertising plans on niche customers through AdTech. With AdTech, SMBs can cut through oversaturated markets and reach their ideal customers with precision and impact. This explains why 93% of SMBs invest in digital advertising strategies that can increase their expenditure in 2023.

• Optimal resource allocation: How can SMBs target customers using audience insights from AdTech resources on a budget? With the advanced targeting capabilities of digital advertising, SMBs can apply an organized approach to attract new customers.
  
  Instead, they can precisely manage their ad inventory and budget, enabling even modest advertising budgets to have a significant impact. Moreover, cross-channel marketing can be leveraged to retarget potential customers through direct mail or drive responses. 

• Ensuring organizational level efficacy: Adtech tools provide a wealth of data and metrics that advertisers can use to quickly analyze and optimize their ad content, placement, and inventory, resulting in maximum effectiveness with faster results.
  
  Forbes reports that sharing-worthy content can enable businesses to target specific segments, especially with the changing landscape of audience attitudes. AdTech tools can give valuable insights into customer behaviors, including site-wide navigation statistics and session duration. This helps customize or personalize campaigns best suited to your purpose without wasting resources. 

Digital Advertising Trends 2023

Trend 1: Omnichannel SMB Advertising

The omnichannel approach to digital advertising for businesses involves the usage of several channels like social media advertising, email marketing, search engine marketing, display advertising, print ads, and direct mail campaigns simultaneously. 

While implementing these strategies, however, businesses must focus on consistency and marketing intent. Data and analytics can help track the performance of these campaigns for increased brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Let us look at the various wings of omnichannel advertising in brief.

• Display ads: Display ads date back to the initial days of the internet and appear as static or moving texts or images with links to various products. Depending on the goal of a particular advertising campaign, these ads are often designed to educate, entertain or engage customers through an interactive interface.

• Social media ads: Local ad purchase statistics reveal that 22% of businesses plan to increase their expenditure on social media ads in 2022-23. This suggests that marketing and advertising on social media have gathered tremendous pace and are about to cross the $300 billion mark by 2024. Social media ads can be curated easily by understanding the target audience and the rate of expected impressions or engagement and periodically optimizing ad performance.

• Video streaming ads: The gradual decline of linear TV advertising and the boom in video streaming services proves the tremendous potential of video streaming ads in generating revenue. With video streaming over YouTube and OTT platforms, the demand for video ads has seen an unprecedented rise in attracting audiences and converting them into customers. Statistics reveal that 64% of the Indian audience of video streaming channels respond to streaming ads, and 33% of them make a purchase.

• Audio streaming ads: Audio streaming ads have also increased, with brands like Spotify and YouTube Music joining the race. Audio streaming ads are also ideal for younger consumers, as audio streaming services attract a younger population. Podcast ads are highly effective, with 54% of podcast listeners considering a brand after hearing an ad.

• Native ads: For an even more organic and contextual feel of approaching customers through advertising, businesses often turn to native ads. Native advertising refers to advertising content that mimics the form and function of the site or app on which it is placed. While only 55% trust social media ads, experts reveal that 68% of consumers trust native ads.

• Phy-digital advertising: Out-of-home advertising, like billboards, public transportation, etc., has also experienced a digital shift, with many businesses presenting a phy-digital experience by introducing digital elements in offline advertising modes

Trend 2: Short Video Advertising Reign Supreme

The video format is evolving rapidly due to the popularity of mobile devices and content platforms like TikTok. The short-video content format has facilitated micro-ads, with over 50% of adults closing a video after just 20 seconds. Advertisers face the challenge of creating impactful and relevant content that engages the customer quickly.

Researchers also claim that consumers watch video ads without sound, especially on FB or Instagram. In 2022, online videos garnered more than 100 minutes each day per person on average in watch durations. With an approximate 41% rise in video usage from 2016-22, it would only benefit the SMB sector in 2023 to adopt video marketing.

Short-form videos are efficient digital advertising tools that promote higher engagement and help create a niche customer base. Short video ads can present SMBs with immense opportunities as they are cost-effective, engaging, and can be easily shared on various social media platforms.

Short video ads can target specific audiences, making them an effective tool for reaching and engaging with target customers. Micro-ad platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram use animation and graphical outlook to create an everlasting impact. Creative tools and substantial audio libraries make advertising competitive, especially for small businesses.

Trend 3: Unleashing the Power of In-game Advertising

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, online gaming has transformed into a family activity, with 74% of parents playing with their children weekly. 63% of parents believe that educational games are effective learning instruments—additionally, 77% play games online or with others for social interaction.

Market forecast experts claim that the in-game advertising market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.25% from 2023 to 27. This accelerating growth momentum throws light on the customer adoption rate and determines the sensitivity of price changes.

Through digitally distributed downloadable in-game content, Activision Blizzard Media generated more than $7.53 billion in revenue (2022). In-game advertisers can generate revenue from microtransactions, banner ads, interstitial ads, rewarded ads, in-game ad placements and licensing royalties.

A remarkable rise in gamers implies a growing popularity of in-game advertising. The US, China and Japan are the most significant consumer countries for in-game advertising.

Trend 4: How Programmatic Advertising Helps Navigate the Fragmented Digital Ad Market

Programmatic advertising streamlines the buying and selling of digital ad space. It uses algorithms to make real-time decisions on which ads to buy and how much to pay based on user data. In addition to saving time and cost for advertisers and publishers, programmatic ads fortify the ad inventory across multiple publishers, which can be accessed based on the specific audience niche.

According to IAB research, programmatic advertising has seen a 39% annual growth in revenues. The digital music and podcast service Spotify allows businesses to share their message with programmatic advertising through engaging video and audio formats. Such advertisements can reach millions of subscribers through their enhanced audience-targeting capabilities.

Programmatic advertising can produce opportunities like cross-device campaign strategies and a large-scale audience reach. Experts believe that SMBs can expand their brand awareness among customers at a cheaper rate than display ads.

Trend 5: Beyond the Typical Walls of Google and Social Media Advertising

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) typically advertise on Google and Facebook due to their access to valuable user data for targeted advertising. Facebook’s 2.7 billion monthly active users allow for granular targeting based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and life events.

Google’s focus on search enables ads to reach users with high purchase intent. Both companies also offer user-friendly interfaces, accessible analytics, and budget-friendly campaigns for SMB advertisers.

However, digital advertising trends in the current realm call for a unified outreach strategy because paying attention to each one costs money and time. Developing a comprehensive customer profile is challenging due to varying metrics and analytics across different platforms. Advertisers also rely on these platforms’ policies and algorithms, prioritizing platform growth over individual advertiser success.

What is to be done, then?

Self-service technology is reducing processing needs for publishers and streamlining ad buying for advertisers. This benefits SMBs as smaller deals can be profitable at a scale for publishers.

Liaising with publishers and networks is multiplying ad inventory and reach, making direct programmatic advertising with these publishers more lucrative for SMBs, despite not having the reach of Google and Meta.

Google, YouTube and Meta are common platforms for purchasing programmatic advertising space.

AdTech Stack in 2023

Digital advertising thrives on automation of several processes and leveraging appropriate tools. Digital ads in modern times should cater to both mobile and desktop users with the former reporting a 55.8% CAGR against 6.1% for the latter.

Some common tools and techniques in the AdTech umbrella include:

• Social media ad automation tools: Automation tools to manage social media ad campaigns are more efficient than manual management on different platforms. It allows advertisers to measure multiple metrics, gain insights into campaign performance, and optimize campaigns using AI and machine learning.

• Paid search automation tools: Using automation tools for pay-per-click or paid search campaigns can significantly simplify and enhance the process. Rather than manually managing and evaluating campaigns, which can be time-consuming and monotonous, these tools enable advertisers to optimize their bidding activity, analyze data from multiple sources, test and refine ad content, and focus on strategic decision-making. By providing actionable insights into both advertisers’ and competitors’ traffic, automation tools can help to optimize campaign strategies and maximize results.

• Creative management platforms: Digital advertising for businesses requires creative modifications to ad content especially for omnichannel and personalized advertising. Creative management platforms can automate the creation and management of ad content, enabling advertisers to make innumerable changes to creatives and optimize content in real-time using algorithmic inputs.

• Demand-side platforms (DSPs): DSPs allow advertisers to purchase impressions and submit ad prototypes while setting targeting factors, such as demographics, behavior, location, or context.

• Supply-side platforms (SSPs): With SSPs, publishers sell ad inventory to advertisers via different ad exchanges, maximizing the publishers’ ad revenue. They connect publishers’ ad inventory to multiple ad exchanges and DSPs.

• Ad exchanges/private marketplaces: Ad exchanges are interfaces that connect advertisers’ and publishers’ tools, facilitating the ad buying process. Major tech firms provide public ad exchanges, and providers also allow companies to create private exchanges.

• Data management platforms: Digital advertisers increasingly search for platforms to collect, store, manage, and analyze data to create comprehensive user profiles for targeted advertising. With data management platforms, the effectiveness of digital campaigns is greatly simplified thanks to reliance on the quality of data used for manual or automated decision-making. Choosing the right data management platform is essential for identifying and targeting customers.

• Targeting tools: Advertisers often need to segment their audience based on demographic, contextual, and geographical factors. Specific targeting tools solve their purpose with ease.

• Brand safety solutions: Brand safety tools allow advertisers to display ads only on suitable websites that align with the brand’s messaging context.

• Analytics and reporting tools: Sophisticated analytics and reporting are crucial components of AdTech as advertisers need raw data and clear insights into how their target audiences interact with their advertising to ensure its effectiveness and secure sufficient ROI.

Choosing Outsourced AdTech Partners over Hybrid Models

Small businesses often prefer to outsource their advertising processes to partner organizations instead of running an in-house team.

Three primary reasons why small businesses choose outsourcing these services instead of following a hybrid model are as follows:

• Slash costs: SMBs prefer an outsourced advertising platform to reduce their expenditure on hiring, training and managing their in-house teams. Since outsourced services seldom compromise on quality, businesses prefer to retain the resources reserved for hiring and training full-time employees.

• Leveraging technical expertise: Tech experts believe the AdTech industry is experiencing a steady growth momentum, especially after 2020. The inception of data-driven technologies like machine learning, customer data handling, standardization of metrics etc., have disrupted expectations, with the US AdTech market reaching an estimated $225 billion by 2024.

• Ease of scaling: The freedom to choose your scale of operations becomes easier with outsourcing AdTech services. While businesses may need more AdTech support during peak seasons, they can reduce their expenditure on outsourced services in lean seasons.

Bottom Line

The ever-evolving digital advertising landscape poses innumerable challenges for new and existing SMBs alike. From social media advertising to programmatic advertising, the opportunities for SMBs to reach their target audiences have never been more numerous.

Adtech offers a data-driven approach to SMB advertising, ensuring that brand messaging reaches the right audience. While AdTech technologies can automate this process, their adoption may require a steep learning curve. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with limited resources and budgets can turn to AdTech partners for focused expertise and experience, significantly contributing to advertising success.