It’s funny to call it the Programmatic “Age”.  In today’s digital media and media technology world, an “Age” can last a year or two.  But here we are.

According to eMarketer, nearly one in five display ad dollars this year to go to RTB.  “Programmatic buying continues to gain traction in the US online ad market, and eMarketer’s latest forecast projects growth this year of 73% on spending on digital display ads purchased through real-time bidding (RTB).”

I hear the question being asked, “What is the role of the salesperson in a digital media or media technology context? “

From my perspective, sellers will always be a part of the process.  Planes did not end trains, TV did not end radio, and Programmatic will not end the need for strategic, intelligent, tech-savvy, outgoing salespeople.  What is required in terms of skills will evolve, but that personal touch, that relationship, will always be a necessary variable in the sales equation.

Digiday wrote an article called How Programmatic is Changing Ad Sales Teams.  The article starts, “Technology is rapidly changing the way online advertising is traded, and the way sales teams are staffed and structured as a result. Just as agencies adapt and evolve their employee skill sets, publishers too are searching for a new breed of data-driven, technology-savvy salesperson. Digiday reached out to some major to publishers to learn how programmatic ad trading is changing their sales teams, and what the sales force of the future might look like.”

I encourage you to click above to hear what they said.  In a later article, Josh Sternberg of Digiday explored how digital publishers are paying their sales teams for programmatic.  Another good read.

“Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make.”
William Bernbach