Did you know that B2B companies allocate, on average, just 9.7% of their total budget to marketing? With budgets tight and marketers looking for ways to ensure every penny counts, it's no wonder many look to person-level targeting as an essential part of their overall marketing strategy.

However, traditional DSPs often fail as marketing trends shift toward contact-centric engagement tracking,  hyper-personalization, and budget efficiency. Enter Propensity - an intuitive ABM platform designed specifically for B2B marketers and small teams. Propensity is more powerful than a DSP. Its unique contact-centric ABM features empower users to drive better results with fewer resources. But before we get into the power of Propensity’s ABM approach, let’s review what a DSP is and what they typically offer.

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What is a DSP?

A DSP, or demand-side platform, is a type of software that allows advertisers to purchase ad inventory from a range of publishers in an automated, data-driven manner. These platforms are part of the broader programmatic advertising ecosystem, which includes supply-side platforms (SSPs), ad exchanges, and data management platforms (DMPs). Demand-side platforms help advertisers reach their target audiences by leveraging algorithms, audience data, and real-time bidding (RTB) to deliver ads efficiently and at scale.

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DSPs are a critical tool for marketers because they:

• Automate the Buying Process: DSPs save marketers time and effort by replacing manual negotiations and direct deals with automated bidding.
• Enable Precise Targeting: The platforms aggregate data from multiple sources (cookies, device IDs, audience segments, etc.) to help marketers reach their ideal audience with tailored messaging.
• Provide Scale: DSPs offer vast ad inventory across websites, apps, and video platforms, allowing marketers to scale their campaigns to reach global audiences.
• Optimize Costs: Real-time bidding ensures that advertisers pay only what an impression is worth, maximizing ad budgets.
• Measure Results: DSPs share campaign performance, such as impressions, clicks, and conversions, to help marketers evaluate ROI and refine strategies.

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Propensity vs Traditional DSPs

Propensity differs from mainstream demand-side platforms. It’s an end-to-end ABM orchestration tool that embeds the power of a DSP within a much more robust offering that includes intent data segmentation, person level targeting, automated sales prospecting, CRM integration, and an the ability to know who is clicking on your ads with the ABM-connected website. It can provide more insights to help your team reach buyers' effectively. Here's how we do it:

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1. More Channels for a Broader Reach

While most DSPs focus heavily on standard programmatic ad channels like display and video, Propensity goes beyond the basics. It enables access to other effective high-impact channels, and ad formats including:

• Email to nurture leads with personalized outreach.
• Programmatic ads across a variety of formats (image, audio, video, HTML5, and CTV).
• Google ads.
• Social media Ads like LinkedIn and Facebook (ideal for B2B campaigns).
• Direct mail to create a tangible, multi-channel customer experience.

An omnichannel approach ensures marketers can engage their audience across multiple touchpoints, driving better awareness, engagement, mindshare, and conversions.

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2. Person-Level Targeting

Traditional DSPs primarily rely on cookie-based and account-level targeting, which lacks more precise insights. Even worse, cookies are quickly becoming obsolete, meaning DSP users will struggle with audience tracking, attribution, and user preference. The phasing out of cookies will make DSPs less reliable at a time when the modern marketer's goal is to reach ever-more specific audiences. The result: wasted impressions and irrelevant audiences.

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Conversely, Propensity focuses on person-level advertising. This approach enables users to engage with buyers' circles and decision-makers within target accounts. Such precision directly translates into every dollar spent contributing to message personalization that can speak to  (and convert) specific personas, such as:

• C-suite executives
• Procurement managers
• IT decision-makers

Propensity helps marketers cut through the noise, understand intent, and establish meaningful connections by targeting real individuals rather than generic profiles or IP addresses.

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3. Detailed Person-Level Analytics

Unlike most DSPs, which provide only aggregated, high-level data, Propensity offers granular analytics at an individual level. Marketers can track how specific prospects engage with their campaigns across channels, uncovering insights into:

• Content preferences
• Engagement patterns
• Conversion behaviors

These insights empower teams to fine-tune their messaging, optimize campaigns in real-time, and craft hyper-personalized experiences for prospects—all without relying on guesswork.

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Why These Differences Will Matter in 2025's Marketing Landscape

These past 12 months, the marketing ecosystem has been rapidly evolving - and will continue to shift. As third-party cookies phase out and budgets tighten, marketers need solutions that deliver:

1. Hyper-Personalization: Audiences expect highly tailored experiences that resonate with their unique needs and preferences. Propensity's person-level targeting and analytics allow marketers to meet these expectations without compromise.
2. Efficiency for Leaner Budgets: Smaller marketing teams are doing more with less. Propensity's multi-channel capabilities, automation capabilities, and actionable insights enable users to run integrated, data-driven campaigns from a single platform. This saves teams from buying disparent tech while reducing the manhours needed to run campaigns.
3. Accountability and ROI Focus: Detailed analytics at the individual level provide a clear view of campaign performance, making it easier to score accounts, demonstrate ROI and make data-driven decisions that maximize impact.

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Conclusion

While traditional DSPs play an essential role in the programmatic advertising ecosystem, they are not always equipped to meet the demands of today's marketers.

Propensity redefines what is possible by offering more channels, precise person-level advertising, and detailed analytics—empowering B2B marketers and small teams to create impactful, cost-effective campaigns.