As part of our Day in the Life series, we talk to programmatic specialists in the digital media industry. Programmatic account managers have to juggle a lot of roles. Not just in their day-to-day work, but also when it comes to keeping up with the rapidly changing digital landscape. To keep up with all the changes, they need to stay current on new technologies, strategies and best practices. And they need to be able to adapt quickly to any changes that come their way. This often means staying up to date on the latest trends and tools in order to service clients. This article hopes to unveil the role of a programmatic account manager in a publisher.
What does a Programmatic Account Manager do?
In a nutshell, programmatic account managers are responsible for all aspects of programmatic activities: client servicing, account management, revenue growth.
What’s in the job?
There are essentially 3 components to the job regardless of seniority:
Client Services
Drive ongoing conversation with agencies/direct clients through pitching. This usually requires working closely with the Sales team to identify sales opportunities and to lead and guide them in closing programmatic deals based on technical programmatic knowledge.
Account Management
This involves managing and growing a key set of accounts and onboarding new clients. It also involves deal management, covering setup, monitoring, optimisation and reporting.
Revenue Management
This refers to sales revenue targets and also looking at monetisation opportunities on a company wide level which might involve product management.
Typical Day of a Programmatic Account Manager
0900
Check emails and publisher site
Sounds foolproof, but emails are a form of essential communication for client servicing roles. Especially for roles that cover international markets, there are times when you might have an hour that overlaps and can quickly troubleshoot/close the sale. All these emails are categorised neatly by labels.
Being on the publisher end, it’s always good to also read your own content and understand the product that you are selling. I always make it a point to open the publisher domain on both desktop and phone, to check if there are any technical issues that I should flag up – e.g. ad refresh rate, unable to see some ad slots, some ads have been re-sized etc. It’s also a good note to keep a lookout on the top content topics so you can share in a client pitch – it’s a form of engagement and demonstrates your understanding of your own product!
0930
Check calendar and plan my schedule/to-do list for the day
Unlike operational or administrative roles, client facing roles with a sales function tend to be more fluid as meetings can be pretty last minute. This is especially so when working with internal stakeholders such as Sales and Adops.
Often, Sales might invite account managers to a meeting because the client expressed slight interest in programmatic. Or, AdOps might schedule a meeting to clarify technical specifications of a client’s request. I’ll also take this time to do a quick sweep of internal chats to check if there is anything I have yet to follow up on from the day before.
1000
Check Deal Pacing and Performance
If there are no meetings (internal or external), I’ll take time to check in on my deal delivery and performance. My priority levels are:
Guaranteed Deals – Always of utmost priority, would be to check if the deal is pacing well daily and are hitting the daily impression goals.
Non-guaranteed Deals –
Campaign – Ensure if the campaign is pacing up to the daily spends and if performance goals are met.
Always On – If there is activity, I’ll check the average spends per day and general performance metrics. For Always On, there might be different advertisers tapped on to the same deal, so I’ll pull a report and check on the spends and performance per advertiser. If activity is irregular, I’ll do a frequent check in with the client to understand the advertiser and campaign goals and how I can be of assistance.
1100
Internal meetings
A few days in the week there are internal meetings that discuss individual and team performance and how we are tracking against our quarterly goal. These meetings are often divided into:
- Digital Team: This meeting would involve the entire digital team that includes but not limited to: ad operations, analytics and the programmatic team.
- Programmatic Team: We would understand what the roadblocks are (if any), what support is needed from the other teams. It also outlines our strategy and focus for the week and individual performance that contributes to the team performance.
- Programmatic Sales: This meeting focuses on our current revenue performance and what our focus of the week is. The team would look at sales opportunities and tracking against our sales target.
1200
Prepare for any upcoming client meetings
Most of my client meetings tend to be during or after lunch time and I will usually take this time before lunch to look through my pitch deck and add any additional data that I think might be relevant for the client I am speaking to. I also like to tailor my presentations to make the pitches more interactive and to demonstrate the easy application of our solutions to their needs.
If it’s not a pitch and a campaign review, I will do a quick analysis and offer some insights and recommendations. Usually these client review meetings are for us to understand if there are any upcoming campaigns from the client, and their feedback of our solutions and services thus far.
1300
Lunchtime
I tend to eat lunch closer to 1pm to match the timing of my colleagues as I like to be un-disturbed. While there are certain instances that meetings are scheduled during lunch time 12-2pm since some clients are only available then, it is not a common occurrence.
I avoid suggesting this time window and for other time zones I will check the timing to ensure it’s their early morning/early evening. Even when it’s scheduled during this time and it’s an introductory call, I will make it a lunch & learn session and send some treats their way!
1400
Meetings
This is a popular time slot for client pitches, partners and/or even internal meetings to speak about ongoing briefs/campaigns. These meetings can take up to 3 hours of time in a day.
1600
Organisation of notes & internal communications
After my meetings, I like to take some time to internalise what was discussed and the immediate next steps. It’s old school but I do like to take notes by pen, and I will organise my thoughts accordingly. I will reach out to relevant salespeople on the specific accounts and gathering of data points as per clients’ requests. I will also discuss the roles and responsibilities in following up with the client.
Account Managers often build and grow the relationship established by Sales. However, depending on each organisation, sometimes Sales team holds the client relationship. In this case, as a Programmatic Account Manager, I focus on programmatic clients i.e. agency trading desks, in-house trading teams and etc. For partner meetings that can get too technical, I will work with internal ad ops or vendor teams.
1630
Industry updates & development
If there is nothing imminent for me to attend to, I often take a short breather in the day to read through relevant industry sites such as AdExchanger and AdWeek. I subscribe to AdWeek’s email updates and they send emails at least twice a day. For advertising nerds out there, I would recommend borrowing AdWeek from the Libby app (you can connect it to your local libraries) as they have a monthly issue available there.
I also like to scroll through LinkedIn to view the discussions happening within my network – it’s also a good chance to expand your network if you are looking to grow into your sales role!
1700
Update internal sheets & analysis of deal pipelines
As sales functions tend to be individualistic, there is a need to frequently update our client communication as a team and if there are any ongoing sales opportunities that we are working on. It is not a good sign for us to not have anything in the pipeline for the week and we often take time to update any upcoming meetings, how close we are to our meeting and revenue targets. These different data points help us to formulate a strategy for the week ahead and to see if there are any missing touch points.
It gives me an opportunity to reflect on my sales prospecting strategy – e.g. how is my agency coverage for the week? Is my focus more on agencies or direct clients? What are some ads I have seen when browsing other sites that would be a good fit for my company?
1800
Preparing for the next day
Just like the start of every day, I end my day by checking on my emails and to send out any remaining emails that I’ve left in draft. The reason it could be in draft is mostly due to checking internally on the technical possibilities and compiling necessary data for clients. I’ll also do a quick calendar check to make a rough schedule on what is the priority for the next day.
In essence, a day of a programmatic account manager is never boring. There are always new challenges to face and new opportunities to take advantage of. The job can be demanding, but it’s also very rewarding. If you’re looking for a career that’s always exciting, then this may be just the right fit for you. Check out other roles within Programmatic as well.
Image Credits
Time Icons – Marta Ambrosetti via NounProject
Imagery – Mimi Thian, Brooke Cagle, via Unsplash
GIFs – GIPHY
