Your programmatic campaigns are running. Impressions are being delivered. Budget is being spent.
But here’s the question most B2B marketers can’t answer: How much of that budget is actually reaching accounts that are in-market?
If you’re targeting by demographics alone — job titles, company size, industry — you’re making assumptions about who might be interested, not uncovering who’s truly in-market or actively researching solutions. The result? Hidden waste that’s draining your budget on accounts with zero intent.
We will show you how to audit your programmatic campaigns to find that waste and redirect budget toward what actually works.
Why Traditional Programmatic Campaigns Waste Budget
Traditional targeting methods rely on demographics, firmographics, and cookie-based data. These approaches capture surface-level attributes like job titles and company sizes, targeting based on generalized profiles rather than actual in-market behaviors.
This creates several fundamental problems: imprecise targeting means you’re reaching people who fit your ICP but aren’t researching solutions. Data fragmentation keeps your audience data isolated across platforms, making it impossible to build a cohesive view of the customer journey. You get broad insights that identify who your audience is, but not why they’re engaging or where they are in the buying journey.
The common thread? You’re flying blind on who’s actually in-market.
The 5 Signs Your Programmatic Campaigns Are Wasting Budget
Before you can fix waste, you need to identify it. Here are the warning signs.
1. High Impressions, Low Engagement
Your campaigns deliver thousands of impressions, but click-through rates are abysmal and no one’s converting. This isn’t a creative problem — it’s an audience problem. You’re reaching accounts that aren’t actively researching solutions.
2. You Can’t Connect Ad Exposure to Pipeline
Your programmatic campaigns run, deals close, but you can’t draw a line between the two. If you can’t identify which accounts were exposed to your ads before they entered the pipeline, you can’t prove or improve your campaigns’ influence.
3. You’re Targeting “The Account” Not the Buying Group
Modern B2B purchase decisions involve multiple stakeholders, but traditional targeting focuses on broad demographics. If you’re targeting “VP of Marketing,” you’re missing IT leaders, procurement, and C-suite executives who also influence the purchase.
4. Last-Click Attribution Makes Your Campaigns Look Worthless
By the time a prospect fills out a form, 70% of their buying decision is already made. If your awareness campaigns influenced that decision but get zero credit from last-click attribution, you’re making budget decisions based on incomplete data.
5. You Have No Idea Which Accounts and Personas Are Actually In-Market
You’re reaching accounts that fit your ICP, but that doesn’t mean they’re researching solutions right now. Every impression on an account that isn’t in-market is budget you’ll never get back. And even if you’re reaching the right account, it doesn’t mean you’re engaging the right buying personas.
How to Audit Your Programmatic Campaigns
Here’s how to identify where your budget is bleeding.
Step 1: Map Your Current Targeting Approach
Document exactly how you’re targeting today. What criteria are you using? How are you defining your target audience? What data sources inform your decisions?
Be honest. If you’re relying primarily on job titles and company size, write that down. You can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge.
Step 2: Analyze Your Audience Composition
Pull your campaign reports and break down your audience by:
- Account alignment (how many impressions went to your target account list?)
- Persona relevance (are you reaching decision-makers or influencers?)
- Geographic concentration (are impressions clustered where your buyers are?)
- Device distribution (are you paying to reach the same person multiple times?)
Most B2B marketers discover they’re reaching far more non-target accounts than they realized.
Step 3: Evaluate Engagement Quality
Look at how target accounts engage after ad exposure. Are they visiting your website? Consuming content? Responding to sales outreach differently?
Compare engagement rates between accounts that saw your ads and accounts that didn’t. If there’s no meaningful difference, your targeting isn’t working.
Step 4: Assess Your Attribution Model
If you’re using last-click attribution, you’re only seeing part of the story. Programmatic campaigns build awareness and influence consideration early in the buying journey, often before prospects visit your website. Last-click attribution makes these campaigns invisible.
The fix isn’t abandoning last-click — it’s adding other views like first-touch attribution, multi-touch attribution, and influenced pipeline tracking.
Step 5: Identify Which Accounts and Personas Are Actually In-Market
Traditional programmatic campaigns can’t distinguish between accounts that fit your ICP and accounts that are actively researching solutions. You need behavioral signals to make that distinction.
Signal-based programmatic uses AI to analyze real-time behavioral and intent signals — digital interactions, content consumption, search behavior. This reveals who your audience is, why they’re engaging, and where they are in their buying journey.
For example, Intentsify analyzes over one trillion monthly intent signals to identify which accounts are actively researching topics relevant to your products and services. And we can those signals at the buying group level to know which personas actually matter. Without intent data, you’re guessing. With it, you know.
What to Do With Your Audit Findings
You’ve identified the waste. Now redirect the budget.
Quick Wins (Implement This Week)
Tighten your account targeting to focus on highest-priority segments. Add negative targeting for accounts that consistently don’t engage. Adjust frequency caps to avoid oversaturating audiences. Review placements and block domains that aren’t delivering quality traffic.
Medium-Term Improvements (Implement This Quarter)
Layer intent data into your targeting to focus on in-market accounts. Build persona-specific campaigns that reach different buying group members. Implement device-level targeting to eliminate duplication. Add first-touch and influenced pipeline metrics to your reporting.
Long-Term Strategy (Next 6 Months)
Make the fundamental shift from demographic targeting to signal-based programmatic. Build buying group targeting that reaches multiple decision-makers. Integrate intent data across your entire demand generation strategy. Create attribution models that prove upper-funnel campaign impact.
The Bottom Line
Most B2B programmatic campaigns waste budget on accounts that aren’t in-market. The waste is hidden because traditional targeting methods can’t distinguish between demographic fit and actual buying intent.
An audit reveals where that waste lives — wrong accounts, wrong personas, wrong timing, or wrong measurement. The fix isn’t spending more. It’s targeting smarter. Signal-based programmatic uses AI-powered intent data to identify which accounts and personas are actively researching solutions right now.
Your programmatic campaigns should be working harder for you. Start by finding out where they’re not working at all. Download our complete guide: The End of Wasted Impressions: AI-Powered Intent in Digital Advertising
FAQs
How often should I audit my programmatic campaigns?
At a minimum, conduct a full audit quarterly. But monitor key indicators monthly — account alignment, engagement rates, and placement quality. If you’re spending significant budget or testing new channels, audit more frequently.
What’s the difference between demographic targeting and signal-based targeting?
Demographic targeting uses static attributes like job titles and company size. Signal-based targeting uses real-time behavioral signals — content consumption, search activity, engagement patterns — to identify who’s actively researching solutions right now. Demographics tell you if someone fits your ICP, while intent signals tell you if they’re actually in-market.
How do I know if my programmatic campaigns are wasting budget?
Look for these warning signs: high impressions but low engagement, no clear connection between ad exposure and pipeline, last-click attribution making your campaigns look ineffective, and inability to identify which target accounts are actively in-market.
