Think about your daily digital interactions: you might start by reading email promos, clicking on ads, browsing Pinterest for birthday gifts and recipes. Each click and search contributes to a complex digital journey, one that businesses must navigate to reach their customers effectively.
In today’s digital landscape, the average US household has 21 digital devices, ranging from smartphones to smart TVs. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for marketers. With increasing privacy regulations, tighter budgets, and signal loss (50% of the web is already cookieless), how can marketers effectively reach their audience? The answer lies in your brand’s first-party data.
Discover new customer trends and opportunities with data activation
First-party data is crucial to a brand’s success. Data activation involves moving this data from siloed storage to operational tools, making it accessible and actionable for real-time decision-making. This process allows marketers to enhance campaign reach, develop high-impact audiences, and drive deeply personalized customer experiences.
Case study: Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly partnered with LiveRamp to transform its customer experiences. By connecting its rich library of first-party data, Eli Lilly gained a deeper understanding of patient preferences and needs, while maintaining privacy. This balance between personalization and privacy was essential to their strategy, as emphasized by Steve Rommeney, Eli Lilly’s Associate Global VP of Engineering, Platforms, and Capabilities.
“Are we seeing customers the way they want to be seen? If the customer is standing in front of me today, we want to make sure we can pass that test,” he said at RampUp 2024.
How to transform your first-party data strategy
1. Create clear business goals
With marketing budgets at a post-pandemic low, efficiency is key. Define your business goals for the next 12, 18, and 24 months. Determine how marketing can impact these goals and what resources are needed.
2. Connect your organization’s first-party data
Unify your data in a privacy-minded way. For instance, NBCUniversal linked fragmented first-party data to an enterprise identity, creating a holistic view of customers and serving up customized experiences.
3. Analyze data for new trends
With unified data, you can identify customer behavior patterns and opportunities. This allows for better targeting and personalization, empowering you to maximize ad spend and expanding audience reach.
4. Expand audience reach
Combine your first-party data with second- and third-party data from trusted partners. These additional insights help close gaps in the customer journey and reach prospective customers in a privacy-enhanced way.
5. Activate and optimize campaigns
Connect your first-party data strategy to a privacy-focused identity framework. This enables continuous campaign optimization and better measurement of marketing impact across channels.
How data collaboration helps companies with limited party-first data
Data collaboration, or combining data from various sources to unlock new insights, can fill in gaps in your first-party data strategy. Effective data collaboration involves connecting your first-party data with a trusted partner that can connect your brand to customers – everywhere they are – in meaningful ways. Campaigns that leverage connected first-party data from across companies and partners can perform better, drive higher conversion, and improve overall ROAS.
For example, Delta Air Lines partnered with LiveRamp to personalize flight experiences for nearly 200 million travelers. By connecting and activating its first-party data, Delta was able to tailor experiences to individual preferences without relying on third-party cookies.
Conclusion
Your first-party data is invaluable. By leveraging data activation and data collaboration with partners like LiveRamp, you can reach audiences everywhere they spend time in a privacy-enhanced way. This approach not only improves marketing efficiency but also builds deeper relationships with customers for long-term brand loyalty and business impact.
Ready to build your first-party data strategy for maximum advertising value? Find more case studies and first-party data strategies in The Marketer’s First-Party Data Playbook, or reach out to us here.
