This is a guest blog by David Dowhan, CEO and founder of TruSignal.
In the months since California’s new privacy law, GDPR, Cambridge Analytica, the end of Facebook’s Partner Categories—shall I go on?—martech has become wary about the data they leverage for omnichannel audience targeting.
That’s because changing regulation and sudden modifications to platforms like Facebook acutely impact marketers’ ability to complete day-to-day tasks with consistency, efficiency, and confidence.
If this instability exists in the industry, it’s nearly impossible to feel that any data strategy is sustainable. And when the foundation of most marketing efforts—data—is called into question, it feels as if the entire lifeblood of marketing is being threatened.
But despite the instability, marketers and their partners are stepping up to the challenge to keep data at the nexus of marketing.
Here are three ways marketers are rebuilding trust and confidence in their data and partnerships to create a more sustainable data strategy.
Leverage People-Based Data
As cookie-based strategies continue to become more obsolete, marketers have increasingly turned to people-based data to reach consumers across every digital channel and device. People-based data leverages verified consumer profiles and omnichannel identity resolution to transcend walled gardens and reach consumers everywhere they are.
Understand the Data
As reported, many marketers lack confidence when it comes to the demographic data they use. It’s critical that marketers develop a more in-depth understanding of the data they leverage, including how it’s sourced, its nature, and how it will drive KPIs.
Demographic data is just one piece of the puzzle. In a data-driven, AI-fueled advertising landscape, focusing on one piece just leads to a fragmented data strategy. Marketers must have the flexibility and tools to unlock many data types—online, offline, demographic, interest, purchase, declared, predictive, and more. With more data and a solid understanding of how different data ties to their campaign objectives, marketers can drive smarter decisions about which consumers to target, when, where, and how.
In service of these goals in an increasingly complex data landscape, it’s also important that partners and providers across the data-driven supply chain act as data strategy advocates and consultants for advertisers looking to gain a better understanding of the data and its direct impact to performance.
Take Control of the Data
Ultimately, however, we must go beyond a good understanding of the data. Marketers need a comprehensive understanding of their people-based strategy, including what data is being used, how it’s being used, where data is accessible during that process, and which channels and devices audiences are on that can be activated.
With increased transparency into activation methods and channels, marketers can better connect their data to their campaign objectives and performance metrics to develop a more comprehensive data strategy. Without transparency, marketers are at the mercy of a platform’s capabilities and processes, as well as its pitfalls.
There’s no stopping the fluctuation that exists in our innovative industry—the regulations, devices, platforms, technology, etc. will continue to change and evolve. However, ethically sourced data must remain the power source to reaching these devices and platforms and activating these technologies. That’s why it’s critical that marketers understand and control the data they need to succeed across channels and devices, and partner with the appropriate data providers that are transparent and trustworthy.
Interested in learning how to apply data to your holiday campaigns? Read this blog to discover innovative ways to delight shoppers this holiday season.