Advertising has evolved, and recruitment advertising has moved with the times. In recent years, there has been a growing trend toward programmatic advertising. It offers distinct advantages over traditional manual job board posting and the time-consuming process involved in media buying.

This article examines programmatic advertising as a recruitment trend that offers advantages ranging from real-time advertising strategy management to enhanced reach and compares it to older methods still used by many recruitment professionals.

What is programmatic advertising?

As the name suggests, programmatic advertising uses software that automatically purchases and places online job ads to target specific audiences. It uses advanced algorithms to determine which platforms are the most likely to deliver the desired results specified by its users. Then, it places bids for advertising space, remaining within preset budgeting parameters. 

This automated approach saves time and allows recruitment professionals to budget effectively, track ad performance, and fine-tune advertising strategies. Unsure of how many qualified candidates you should expect your campaign to attract? Market benchmarking will help you evaluate your performance so that you can maximise your ROI.

Want to dive deeper? Check out our Beginner’s Guide to Programmatic Recruitment Advertising.

Key differences between programmatic and traditional advertising

Although some people still see traditional advertising as the placement of print ads, taking an educated guess when choosing job boards, social media, and other online advertising platforms is not vastly different. However, traditional approaches often come with challenges such as:

• Labour-intensive ad strategy planning
• Unnecessarily high costs
• Difficulty targeting the right audience
• Lack of flexibility
• Limited reach
• Less than optimal results

Programmatic advertising allows recruiters to address these challenges, achieving better results than their budgets would otherwise allow. Best of all, it streamlines the process, requiring less effort while still keeping recruiters in control. This stands in contrast to the manual nature of direct buying or the perceived simplicity of Google Ads.

Direct buying vs programmatic advertising

Buying ad space on print platforms is notoriously costly, and exposure is only as good as circulation. More importantly, only a small percentage of readers are active job seekers, so your ad reaches an even smaller, less targeted audience. That brings us to direct buying from job boards.

Direct buying

We asked our AI how many job boards there are out there, and it came up with an astonishing estimate of 50,000. Even if a portion of these focus on international roles, you’re still left with thousands to sift through when planning your media buying campaign. Not all of them will be relevant, and reach can vary significantly from one to another.

As for your budget, you are essentially casting your bread upon the waters, and the results may be less than appetising when it comes to sampling your results. However, there are instances in which direct buying can be very effective. 

For instance, advertising in a trade publication that’s well-read by industry professionals can be worthwhile. Serious job seekers within these fields will be highly motivated to remain up-to-date, and they will be looking for job ads. Similarly, specialised job boards may attract candidates who hope to find fresh opportunities within their fields. 

Programmatic advertising

Programmatic advertising, by contrast, does the heavy lifting for you. It identifies the most relevant platforms, bids for space based on your budget, and lets you stay in control with minimal manual effort. Simply track performance and adjust as needed.

With expert support, such as Broadbean’s Media Buying and Planning service, direct buying becomes more strategic and manageable, helping you identify the most effective platforms while saving time and spend.

Google Ads vs programmatic advertising

Google Ads

At first glance, using Google Ads to target specific keywords might seem like a smart move, and in many cases, it is, especially when promoting a product. But when it comes to advertising a job vacancy, the approach may fall short.

Established job boards are likely already competing with your keywords of choice. However, Google does offer advice on how to advertise a post using its tools. To use it effectively, you will need access to a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising expert, and unlike job boards, there is no built-in applicant flow. 

In general, a Google ad is most likely to be effective when there is little competition for your keywords. While it may be helpful for advertising niche roles, it will be more difficult to get visibility when searching for people to fill more typical, mainstream roles. It may also be difficult to track attribution, making it hard to know whether applicants are coming to you through your Google Ad.

Programmatic advertising 

Programmatic advertising tracks all ad performance and automatically posts your role on job boards, meaning you are not paying extra to compete for high-profile positioning. The job boards attract the applicants, and your keywords guide them toward your ad. You will likely have greater reach if you do not attempt to compete on generalised platforms like Google Ads.

Choosing the right advertising strategy

A successful recruitment campaign may consist of a combination of strategies. For example, you may target specific platforms and publications with direct media buying while spreading your net to win a more extensive applicant pool with the help of programmatic advertising. 

When deciding on the right strategy for the roles you aim to fill, consider the following points:

• The volume of hires you have been tasked with: More roles to fill means that you will need more applicants. Reach will be a vital consideration, and programmatic advertising can help you increase exposure.
• Your budget: If your budget allows you to explore high-cost options along with wider exposure, you may decide to adopt a hybrid approach. If a range of options is open to you, take advantage of all opportunities that may bear fruit. 
• Talent needs: When you are looking for people with specific, scarce skills, you may decide to target your campaign using a combination of Google Ads and programmatic advertising. If you are looking for more widely available skills, traditional media combined with programmatic advertising should attract a large talent pool. 

It can be difficult to generalise, and we recommend testing the waters and determining ROI across channels. Whichever strategy you choose, consider using programmatic recruitment advertising AI to track results and help you perfect your approach to recruitment advertising.

Broadbean: Programmatic recruitment advertising at its best

Looking to scale your hiring with less effort and more impact? Broadbean’s Programmatic Job Advertising platform uses intelligent automation to place your roles in the right places at the right time, maximising your budget and your reach.

With advanced targeting, real-time performance tracking, and fully automated job ad distribution, our platform helps you attract more qualified candidates and improve ROI without the manual grind. Request a demo to see how it works in action.