The latest and greatest from the IAB reminds us of the importance of data to marketers, for both delivering results and a better customer experience. Those who are most data-driven are keen on cross-channel data measurement and attribution, and audience identification/matching this year. However, there’s also concern on the ramifications of government data regulations. What does it all mean for marketers? Let’s dive right into the findings.
The skinny:
- Marketers plan to spend more on data and data-related services in 2019
- 69% said they increased spending on audience data and related activation solutions in 2018 over 2017
- 78% planned to invest more in 2019, 15% said they would invest the same amount this year, and 3% will spend less
- In 2018, U.S. companies spent nearly $19.2 billion on audience data acquisition and solutions to manage, process and analyze the data
- Potential government data regulation is the main threat to “deriving value from data,” according to 53% of industry executives
- Proving ROI is a declining concern, dropping to 33.3%, while lack of internal experience dropped to 29.2%, and insufficient ability to support technology to 22.2%
The deep dive:
Good news from the report is that marketers are better leveraging data. Previous Kantar research shows that 78% of marketers said it was tough to determine cross-channel performance, and less than 20% of agencies said they were confident in their ability to create insights from data.
This bum rush of data-focused marketing has led to increasing concern over the impact on the creative and customer experience. According to Sizmek research, 67% percent of marketers think the growth of digital advertising has harmed the quality of creative. And while Amazon, Starbucks, Amazon and Google have mastered the customer experience, 41% of a CMO Council study admit that focusing on the customer relationship instead of the campaign has been a key challenge. What does it take to harness all of this data to improve the ad experience for customers? We’re biased, but firmly believe that marketers must use data that personalizes everything that happens after their customer click their ads. All of the brands mentioned above have tailor everything for their end-users, so it’s time advertisers follow suit.
With GDPR in full effect, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) set to go into effect next year, and other states considering their own privacy legislation, marketers have obstacles ahead. Obviously, they need to comply with the rules, but, as the report connotes, they’re also concerned about what value they will be able to extract from data with these regulations in place.
Obviously data is crucial to the success of your digital strategy. Garnering insights into who your customers are, how they like to engage with your brand, and how they best convert is paramount to most things. Having said that, it isn’t the end all be all. Getting back to the basics of the human connection and how you can leverage technology to do so is the key. Don’t forget the visual and CX connections.
VuPulse allows marketers to harmoniously infuse creative, media, and data to deliver the most personalized CX in digital. By connecting the post-click dots for your customers, whether it be from an ad click to where they watch content or your next Tweet to where they buy your latest movie, we’re solving for many of the concerns that the IAB report uncovered. We don’t mean to brag, but it is true.
Now, it’s on brands and agencies to get together and better collaborate. Rather than bicker on whether an ad is beautiful enough or if you’re attaining attribution, the collective must put a larger emphasis on the melding of what goes into lifetime value of your customers. The above report suggests just that.
Learn more about how VuPulse is connecting the post-click dots for brands.