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Real-time Bidding (RTB) is one of the hottest buzzwords in mobile, but it can be confusing – read our article explaining what it all means here. But the key is how much control it gives mobile marketers over their ad campaigns. The following tips have been gleaned from the RTB experts:
1. Pick your RTB solution carefully by using due diligence to ensure that you work with the right partner
2. Give RTB time. The systems need to learn, and it will require you to test and optimise your campaign. Patience is needed before making any big decisions.
3. Always track your ads because this allows you to re-target users and even old customers. Ragnar Kruse, CEO of Smaato, says it “tells advertisers where they have spent their money efficiently”, and it allows them to measure as well as predict the ROI and lifetime value of a customer. With tracking this becomes immediately transparent, and that to Kruse is “marketing heaven”.
4. Keep up-to-date with the latest technology such as rich media advertising formats in order to gain better engagement with the target audience of an advertising campaign.
5. Always use mobile as part of an overall campaign because it’s cheaper. You get high quality and visibility for a reasonable price. Due to supply and demand, the prices for mobile advertising tend to be lower with RTB. 
6. StrikeAd’s Alex Rahaman advises that you should dive into the data. “Look at the platform and ask the DSP to show you under the hood to see where the success has come from, in order to deliver your next campaign better.”
7. Manage the expectations of the advertiser if you are an agency or a trading desk, as the campaign needs a learning period to allow the trading desk to work out which advertising impressions you do and don’t want. James Connelly, co-founder and MD of Fetch, suggests that you should be able to see how a campaign’s results are improving after 100 impressions.
8. Think big – the media in the real-time bidding exchanges is global, so you can run an advertising campaign in any corner of the world with one DSP.
9. Use all of the response mechanisms available to you to stay in contact with customers – click to call, click to navigate, SMS, or even push notifications. By using the full range of these response capabilities it will be easier to connect advertisers with consumers. It’s also important as part of this activity to collect the data and then use it to improve your mobile marketing and advertising campaigns.
10. Think about licensing the technology and doing it yourself. StrikeAd, for example, licenses its platform and trains advertisers and agencies to do it themselves.
