Buy-side platforms offer marketers wider reach, and a space to buy inventory programmatically. The costs for that inventory differ greatly, even as you target, because the network is driven by real-time bidding. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with some best practices for real-time bidding before you launch your first campaign.

Bidding Basics

When we look at bidding in real time, the effects are somewhat hard to grasp because so much happens so quickly. To break things down, let’s say two people bid for an ad placement. There is also a visitor factored into this equation, and let’s say she will visit five pages before ending her session. Whichever advertiser holds the highest bid will serve his ad to that visitor for all five views, assuming he has not capped the frequency of his ads.

If he has capped his ad frequency at three, for example, the visitor viewing five pages would see advertiser A’s ad three times, and advertiser B’s ad for the other two. This is because the winning advertiser stops bidding on auctions for that visitor after the frequency cap has been reached.

Frequency and Brand Integrity

Frequency plays an important role in your auction. You want the best chances of securing a conversion, but you dilute your brand a little bit each time you show one ad too many. The magic number is not easy to gauge. Some ads will follow you all around the Web while others will appear only a few times per day. Testing is the best method you have for learning which frequency is right for you.

Bio: As the CEO and co-founder, Ted Dhanik is responsible overseeing all business affairs for engage:BDR. Ted Dhanik began in the early 2000s, where he sold engaging advertising for Myspace.com, and he understands the power of direct marketing. To launch your first campaign with engage:BDR, contact Ted Dhanik.