Is Your Programmatic Health Partner Right for Your Needs?
In any working relationship, the time eventually arises to sit back, take a wide angle and macro view, and weigh the pros and cons of your partnership.
And when it comes to evaluating potential ad tech and programmatic partners for your brand — and assessing where you stand poised for success with your current partner, too — this rather unromantic but necessary step is one any healthcare marketer should tackle sooner rather than later.
After all, in order to reach and engage audiences at scale, what you’re looking for in programmatic that truly delivers results is a purchasing partner that’s your perfect match.
It’s not so unlike embarking on any other relationship in your life — just be sure to go into things leading with your brain instead of your emotions, of course.
A tool that can help you find your perfect match
It’s essential for your brand or agency to team up with the best partner possible to make sure they understand — and can act upon — the nuances and processes that help you effectively target your audiences, set bid prices and optimize your overall goals.
So how, exactly, do you assess a potential partner for your programmatic needs in order to ensure a successful long term relationship?
It’s a bit more complicated than just swiping right and crossing fingers and toes, unfortunately.
But when you know what to look for from the get go, your odds are bound to be good, rather than the other way around.
Start with the Ad Tech Partner Assessment Tool from PulsePoint.
It works as a simple form you fill out online, taking you through a series of yes/no questions to help you evaluate your current match and highlight gaps in your current partnership.
The form takes just a few minutes to answer. And by the end, you’ll know if your current relationship is a keeper or still salvageable, at least — or if it’s quite simply time to cut ties and move on (if only true love were so simple, right?).
Read on for more about the three areas targeted in the survey that can help you find the ideal programmatic partner — then dive in and answer ten easy questions that will help you get a clearer picture of where you stand, and what you ultimately still need.
Figuring out the right platform capabilities for your brand
Successfully harnessing data for your ultimate benefit is at the heart of programmatic victory for your brand.
But not all platforms have the ability to deliver for you equally. Finding a partner who understands how to break down these nuances is essential.
The right programmatic partner for you must be able to use technology and seamlessly integrate it in order to reach audiences across various channels and at scale (after all, more than 90 percent of the U.S. online population is accessible to programmatic — and if you’re not reaching them, you’re definitely missing out).
Our survey form takes you through a checklist of questions to determine your current partner’s capabilities to optimize your campaigns in both self-service and managed-service environments.
A few areas to consider are whether your partner offers omni-channel capabilities (including things like connect TV, digital out-of-home and podcasts) and whether they can provide cross-device attribution across desktop, tablet mobile and in-app purchases.
If you don’t know the answer to those questions already, the time to find out was yesterday. Because it all comes down to scale and reach in successful programmatic, and you’re looking for the partner with the most potential to get you there.
Targeting a partner with the right industry knowledge and expertise to help you succeed
Demonstrated experience running healthcare professional and patient campaigns is a good start when it comes to how your programmatic partner can prove to you that they have expertise needed to succeed—but there’s more to the equation than that.
In today’s rapidly changing environment, where third-party cookie data will be eliminated by Google in 2022, it’s vital that your programmatic partner has the expertise and know-how to integrate first-party data and unify multiple-data sources in a privacy-first way.
Empowering your customers to share with you in a way that feels rewarding and above all safe to them is essential. And only the savviest programmatic partners — with deep knowledge of things like advanced patient and advanced HCP targeting — have the power to deliver the benefits of first-party data to your brand.
Track record and reputation matters when it comes to a top programmatic match
It’s easy enough to look at your current partner’s success in demonstrating relevant ROI and bringing clear results to your bottom line as a mark of how they’re performing for you.
And our survey can help answer broader questions you may have when determining your overall compatibility—and if there might be an even better match out there on the horizon.
Considering a new programmatic partner? You’ll want to preview their capabilities first by having a look at their track record and reputation.
If more than 70 percent of their clients are top health agencies and brands, chances are you’re sniffing down the right trail.
Asking for references is another good place to start when assessing whether a partner has a trusted reputation in the industry. And you’ll want to request to see some of their case studies, too, for a black and white view of how they’ve made things work for their current and past clients.
Speaking of past clients, look for programmatic partners who can demonstrate an 80 percent or above client retention rate.
It’s an indicator they’re doing their job well—and are likely to continue doing it well for you, too.
You don’t have to make this decision alone
We understand that this can be a big decision. Replacing your programmatic partner can be driven by a lot of different factors. Maybe you need different functionality? Maybe you need better algorithms? Whatever the reason, it’s a big decision as your programmatic platform plays a key role in your sales and revenue. That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to select the right partner for your programmatic needs. With this guide, the survey, and our assessment tools, you should have a good foundation of information and guidance to help make the selection of a new programmatic partner less painful.
