It’s easy to assume that marketing is a right-brained arena. After all, creative imagery, multi-sensory processing, and artistic expression all help craft compelling advertising campaigns. What many fail to realize is that all the pretty pictures in the world won’t mean a thing if you don’t also engage that math-minded, analytical left side to figure out where, when, and how often to display them.

There’s no doubt we need both sides of our brains to function as humans; your marketing campaign is no different. And a good way to ensure high returns is through programmatic media buying. And the best news, you don’t have to do the math yourself to get results.

Programmatic buying helps bring order to an otherwise fractured and chaotic audience base. It uses the wealth of knowledge generated during campaigns—things like devices used, channels and times watched, engagement depth, and spending patterns—to consolidate consumer behavior onto a single dashboard and into a single strategy. It’s automated, and it’s extremely useful for both businesses and buyers alike.

Stay on target.

One of the most important features of programmatic media buying is its ability to target ideal audiences and deliver specific messages that resonate. Translation: Higher return and better leads.

Bid in real time.

Programmatic buying works with real-time bidding. In other words, the higher demand for audience attention, the higher the price for that particular impression. It operates like a paid internet search return with each bidder paying $.01 more than their competitor, except across wider platforms. This can get pricey, especially with undisclosed pricing floors; however, in most cases, it’s better to talk when your audience is listening, rather than shout after they’ve logged off.

Hit the sweet spot.

Traditional methods target demographics. Programmatic buying targets individuals. Since programmatic buying typically uses first, second, and third party data, advertisers can buy very specific audiences on their favorite devices at their most impressionable times. Sweet spot, indeed.

Programmatic media buying sounds complicated, but it can save you time and money while automating processes to improve your overall results. However, it is still only a tool; it may provide you with what your audience likes, wants, and needs, but if you don’t engage a creative strategy to match the data, you may do more harm than good.

Your business deserves a whole-brain approach to marketing. Let’s put our heads together and make it happen.