Brands that are new to Asia-Pacific, or keen to push out their programmatic plans in the region but don't know where to start, will find this week's feature handy. James Sampson, DataXu's Asia-Pacific vice president and general manager, dishes out a selection of top tips to help brands find success with programmatic marketing in this part of the globe.

DataXu entered the Asia-Pacific market last year upon the request of numerous multinational brands that were keen to deploy programmatic marketing in the region. We expected to find an industry in its infancy, but we've been (pleasantly) surprised to find otherwise.

While not as mature as the US and European markets, Asia-Pacific is hardly a newbie. Precision targeting, private exchanges, third-party data… it's all here. This isn't surprising, of course, since you'll find in this region a collection of some of the world's most developed as well as developing economies. This wide spread also means general observations still have nuances.

Now that we've had a chance to help MNCs launch and optimise campaigns in the region, as well as help local brands and agencies ramp up their programmatic efforts, I'd like to share some insights. Here are five tips for succeeding with programmatic in Asia-Pacific markets:

Tip #1: Engage a global platform that scales beyond a country or region

Asia-Pacific has a handful of country-specific DSPs, such as those operating in Japan and China. These are good options if you plan to focus exclusively on those markets, but that's not typically the case for multinational brands. With a few exceptions (China, for instance), you can get equal scale and additional capability in each market by working with a global DSP.

Global platforms are game-changers in the region, paving over many of the complexities of executing multinational campaigns. For example, dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) ensures consumers see ads in their local language. They also allow marketers to reap the benefits of coordinated branding, streamlined operations, centralised audience and campaign data, and global insights into consumer behaviour. Moreover, the global platforms can provide a more robust suite of services, such as audience and cross-device management.

Tip #2: Partner with someone that can work with your existing media plan, and beyond

In Asia-Pacific, traditional direct deals with large publishers still dominate ad spending, and there are a handful of publishers that dominate each market. If you're a regional brand or local marketer for an MNC, and considering programmatic for the first time, you can ease in by purchasing inventory programmatically from the publishers with which you already work.

There are some publisher hold-outs market-by-market, but that is changing, as it did in the West. Don't be afraid to try other, perhaps smaller, publishers in the market. You can use programmatic to efficiently find new sites that attract your prospects, as well as sites on which your brand resonates with readers.

Tip #3: Move beyond the Click

Although brands in the US and Europe are quite comfortable with placing their media vendors' conversions and analytics pixels on their sites, it's still a relatively new concept in many Asia-Pacific markets. Fears of data leakage and theft (spurred by business practices of early participants in developing markets) have made local marketing teams wary of such activities, but there are numerous solutions available to help ease this worry and protect your valuable data.

Make no mistake: The upside to pixelling is great, especially for the minimal effort to implement. You can glean tremendous insights into who interacts with your digital properties and advertisements, as well as when and in which channels. And in a privacy-friendly way, you can identify the online behaviours that indicate an affinity for your brand. All of these can be leveraged to better target prospects, going forward, and build your business.

Tip #4: Don't be fooled by lower media costs

A lot of markets, such as China, India, and Southeast Asia (excluding Singapore) are still developing, and have significantly lower media costs than in the US and Europe. As a result, the appetite to pay for ad tech is much lower.

Many marketers prefer to purchase an abundance of inexpensive media directly from publishers and blast a market with their messages. Don't be fooled by low media costs, though. Digital advertising is about more than presenting consumers with messages and trying to elicit a click.

As a marketer, you'll want to know which messages work, with whom, and why. Programmatic allows you quickly and easily to gain deep insights into how consumers interact differently across geographies, devices, and media environments. Moreover, consumers are often turned off by brands that blast them with messages that don't apply to them, so there's a lot to be said for audience management.

Tip #5: Align all of your local marketing teams to a global vision

You may have strong marketing teams in each region, but the entire organisation will benefit from internal alignment. Such alignment will ensure buy-in for change initiatives, and help you share insights learned in every region that you operate.

As part of that alignment, strive to normalise data collection and analytics across countries, devices, and audiences so you can do real-time comparisons of how consumers engage with your brand.

Most local marketing teams are very keen to hear what their counterparts are doing. I've observed that organisations with local marketers that receive strong regional support with regards to tools and preferred partners--which, in turn, have alignment with global counterparts--tend to innovate faster and more successfully enhance their business processes.

The best part is, you don't need major consultants, systems integrators, or yearlong deployment projects to see ROI.