Best practices for selling local programmatic

Eight great ideas  we learned from  entries and nominations of  the 2017 Top Ads Awards - Programmatic, sponsored by AdCellerant, are  included in this report. 

1. Generate more leads a for client contests and quizzes
When advertisers us contests for lead generation programs, the ROI is usually high and more of the right aduience means extra  success.

The Portland Phoenix literally  doubled "leads" for a Cat Photo Contest, for a single location local cat veterinarian by  creating  $500 local programmatic campaign, focusing in  on pet owners in the area. Entries were "thanked" with an email asking them them stop by the veterinarian for a free cat toy.

This SMB was more than happy to engage their brand with  another 144 cat owners. 

2. Enable conference and convention exhibitors  to reach more attendees

Every market has a variety of local conventions.  One innovative company in the Top Ads program targeted attenedees at a home show without even buying a booth.

The microproximity campaign allowed the indoor pool retail store to  target attendees while they were logged on to their devices at the event  - even though the store had not purchased a booth at the event. 

The ad message, "Better than show prices" for indoor pools and spas, resulted in more sales than the company had when they had purchased an expenesive booth. 

3. Find customers who are shopping at competitors 

Address-targeting allows companies to reach customers of related businesses while they are physically on-site and loggeed on to their devices - plus retargeted them when they leave. 

For these campaigns to work, you do need a substantial list of addresses, provided by either the media or the customer. 

In one case, a home remodeler was able to target competitors across five states while they were visiting related businesses.

In a Top Ad Winner, The LA Weekly helped an historic  theater  to target audiences while they were attending 794  live, ticketed venues, supplied by the media company. Results were outstanding. 

Another example came from a remodeling company who targeted competitors across five states. 

4. Reach out-of-area markets, especially for travel destinations

For the travel category programmatic is a no-brainer.

A Las Vegas-based agency and TOP AD Winner did not even own a media asset in Las Vegas, but was able to broadcast ads for a ski resort, Brianhead Resorts,  to its drivable market in three states during the season. Conversions were through the roof. 

5. Boost traffic for a really, really big sale 

For companies which are planning a huge, but time limited, sale, programmatic is an efficient solution, that can both  extend the audience and also amplify the noise.  

A Denver-based urban scooter store - and TOP AD Winner - Sportique,   used programmatic ads to power up  its best revenues ever for a blow-out two day sale.

Continuing the programmatic campaign generated a continuing 40% YOY growth for the single location. 

6. Using native network for food related companies

Not only is AdCellerant's native food-related network very robust, but  also recipes are  just a natural type of content that people will use regardless of whether or not it is "sponsored."

One of the advertisers in Top Ads program, the New Mexico Beef Council, used the native ad network to boost sales of local beef. This type of native marketing could be used for any food-related association, farmers market, co-op, or grocery store. Working a bit with restrictions, liquor companies can get in the game with cocktail recipes from local restaurants that carry their brand.  

A super-savvy idea for companies who already have recipes online or published in some form. 

7. Add programmatic to self-serve real estate 

If your company is lucky enough to offer self-serve through a  partnership such as iPublish, you can add a unique programmatic strategy: Posting agent ads in the neighboorhoods they are farming, with an entirely DIY model. 

The programmatic display ads have DIY uploaded images of agents, so they act like "post cards" real estate agents used to send to neighborhoods.

Since there is no hassle of manual ad production, the price is affordable and outside media reps can pitch "packages" with their large buys to the major brokerage houses.  Here's a case study on one such initiative, LeadHax, at the Bay Area News Group. 

8. Support high end salesl such as homes 

One campaign  promoted high end apartments in a Seattle neighborhood that rented for $3000 to $5000 per month.

The corporate owner had just a few months to lease up the building but obtained a 75% occupancy  with a camapign that included a heavy programmatiic buy.

 The value of programmatic in this case was both the ability to target the right income, age and professional demographic, and to reach out of state areas where there was a known market of second home buyers.