Irina Merkel gives us an inside look at her duties as a DELVE Senior Media Trader on the Programmatic Team.
Irina, what do you do at DELVE?
The primary objective of a DELVE Media Trader is to find the best application of client’s media budget, either for brand awareness (so potential customers recognize the brand) or for a performance campaign (driving customers to subscribe, buy, donate, register or another desired action.) All these activities are called Programmatic and yes, it includes all the banners, videos and audio ads you see or hear on any type of device.
What does your daily routine look like?
If you Google ‘Programmatic,’ you’ll see that the term is a combination of ‘Program’ and ‘Automatic’—which might make it seem like a Media Trader just hits the magic button and the job gets done automatically. While the magic of algorithms does help us a lot, we actually need to keep a close eye on every element of live campaigns. So while I’m drinking my first cup of coffee, I usually check that campaigns are proceeding as planned, and delivering the results that DELVE and the client expect.
Beyond the numbers, there is considerable scope for creativity as well. Programmatic is a part of an overall marketing strategy for a product or service, and the core of the marketing strategy is ‘know your customer.’ With the help of tools-based machine learning, and of course common sense and creativity, I’m the one defining the customer segments to target online. And because DELVE has a super-strong data team, I can always ask my colleagues for help in creating a customized solution for any of my clients.
As for tools and platforms, I primarily work with a Demand Side Platform (DSP) that lets me manage the ads and connect to the right publishers and audiences. Google DV360—part of Google Marketing Platform, or GMP—is DELVE’s main platform, and as a globally certified Google Partner, we always have a dedicated manager from the GMP side, which makes our work more efficient and our lives much easier! In addition to DV360, we also use The Trade Desk (TTD) and Amazon DSP and enjoy the same premier-level support from their customer care teams.
So if you’re watching me all day, you’ll see me checking numbers in Google Sheets, scrolling thousands of banners, and meeting frequently online with the team. (DELVE is super international and even on our small team, we have 3 countries covered.) We usually start our video calls with good news, which brings good vibes from the very beginning.
What is particularly important to you in this job?
For me, there are three crucial aspects of any job that you do:
- What you do
- For whom you do it
- With whom you do it
At DELVE, I’m lucky enough to enjoy all three. Here in Delve, we focus on what gives us the fire in the belly. I’ve already described what I do, and I like having the flexibility to work with different clients and platforms whenever I want to try something new. My teammates are all professionals with very solid backgrounds; not only can I rely on their advice, there’s always something I can learn from these wonderful people. And with my clients, I feel like I’m treated as a partner and part of their business, especially when I’m working to make sense of a number or running a daily report.
Why in your opinion is it worth joining DELVE?
I’ve been here just over two years, while many of my colleagues have been here four years or longer. They’re still happy and super enthusiastic about what they’re doing—which is not a common thing for consultancies. DELVE management has set an ambitious goal: We should be an equally good company for both parties, clients and team. And so far, I think they’ve achieved it.