Self-serve vs. full-serve: is there a common ground? Yes, and it’s called Hybrid.

August 23, 2016

Today, most programmatic marketing platforms offer two levels of service, full-serve or self-serve. These options are quite distinct: under full-serve, the DSP manages the brand campaigns entirely, while with self-serve, a brand or agency is given the keys to the car and left to drive it on their own.

The programmatic industry is only about seven years old and, according to a recent eMarketer survey, 94 percent of US marketers had allocated at least 10 percent of their digital ad budget to programmatic by the end of 2015. The digital advertising industry has shifted to programmatic marketing platforms in a significant way, and will only continue to do so.

Introducing Hybrid

To facilitate this colossal shift to programmatic execution of digital advertising worldwide, we’ve introduced a more flexible approach to programmatic learning: Acuity’s Hybrid Program. This program makes the self-serve model more accessible to marketers who want to be more comfortable executing campaigns on their own. Bridging the existing gap between full-serve and self-serve, the Hybrid Program introduces tailored, comprehensive onboarding to programmatic marketing, including resources, one-on-one training and ongoing support as needed.

Why are we providing this type of program?

Using a self-serve platform to execute digital campaigns gives marketers unmatched visibility and control into performance and cost. However, research suggests that many marketers are still favoring full-serve models despite these benefits. Martech Advisor observed that the current choice offered by most programmatic platforms is total control or none at all.  Faced with this choice, many marketers are taking the safer option and relinquishing control in lieu of facing an unknown and possibly steep learning curve.

What makes the Hybrid Program accessible to all marketers?

The Hybrid Program allows marketers to learn at their own pace with ongoing support that guarantees success. As the programmatic industry continues to evolve, we believe that marketers should have a tailored support program, rather than a one-size-fits-all training course that doesn’t account for your individual programmatic expertise. Regardless of the level of expertise with programmatic platforms, within 3 to 6 months, the Hybrid Program ensures users gain total confidence executing campaigns using the Acuity Platform.

What’s your approach to programmatic? Are you using a full-serve or self-serve solution?

By: Jonathan Mayer