There is no doubt a rapid shift is underway amongst marketers and advertisers towards programmatic tactics, and the reasons why are obvious, but before they can even think about tasting success in this area, some vital elements need to be addressed.

According to a new whitepaper by Oracle Marketing Cloud, ensuring the right combination of tech and content is key for marketers to fully embrace a programmatic advertising program.

“Either via agency partners or directly, the tech to help manage the volume and variations of audience segments is critical,” it says.

“Additionally, planning cannot be under invested or underestimated.”

To that end, Oracle has identified the six questions marketers must have answers to in order to achieve programmatic success:

1. What are your specific goals for acquisition, retention, and nurturing campaigns? Who will manage and how will they be measured?
2. Do you have the people and systems to obtain these metrics, and have the ability to refine them and iterate?
3. Where will data informing the campaign come from?

• First party (Which ones? Who manages? How will you ingest data?)
• Second party (Who? How? What?)
• Third party (Who and how will you test for accuracy and modelling?)

4. What does repeatable success look like and how will you operationalise for continued program growth?
5. Do you have the right team in place to manage and assess success? If not, who do you need and where do you get them?
6. Do you need or have the right partners? Assess them based on their technical strength as well as background in media execution.

The report also notes the importance of advertising agencies being tech-focused to reap the full benefits of programmatic for their clients.

“Agencies are key influencers and technology system integrators, with the ability to recommend and evaluate platforms on behalf of the brands they represent and/or on behalf of their own business to garner even more strategic insights pre-buy,” it says.

“Agencies are required to add value and ensure brand success by not only conceptualising key campaign creative, but also by monitoring and tweaking performance to meet business objectives – or hopefully exceed them.”

Oracle has even gone so far as to identify four questions that agencies specifically need to address when it comes to programmatic.

To find out what those questions are, along with other crucial tips on how to carve up in the programmatic space, download The Programmatic Guide for Modern Marketers, Publishers and Media Planners here.