If 2013 had a catchphrase, it was probably this: “Data is the fuel.” The last year was all about data, particularly as it pertains to programmatic media.
The value of data is no great revelation to retailers. Between loyalty programs, CRMs and other customer data sources, retailers have been way ahead of other verticals with respect to data usage.
2013 saw the rise of the DMP or data management platform. The IAB defines DMPs as “technology tools that normalize disparate data sets so that marketers can better understand and utilize data from multiple sources.” DMPs are used to collect better customer data, deliver deeper analytics and actionable insights, and improve segmentation efforts. What DMPs cannot yet do is actually act on those actionable insights.
DMPs can deliver and analyze scads of amazing customer data, compiled from every imaginable source – from point of purchase records to social media interactions. They can help retailers better understand their customers’ behaviors and build plans to reach, engage, and convert subsets of customers. But, DMPs on their own can’t activate that data and engage those customers.
CVS, for example, is leveraging customer data to identify its best customers. The drugstore chain has learned from this data that those customers are not the ones who frequently purchase milk and shampoo, but those who visit the prescription counter often – particularly those with chronic conditions. CVS also learned that in urban areas, its retail locations serve as convenience stores for local consumers. Suburban customers behave differently. So, CVS has begun building customer segments based on the behaviors they observed.
All the information they collected is very useful, and beautifully illustrates the idea of “actionable insights.” But knowing that customers with arthritis in suburbia behave differently than ones with asthma in New York is a far cry from delivering messages and offers to those customers in a relevant and timely fashion.
What’s needed is a solution that can weave the data into campaigns, helping marketers activate the data they have collected. With a DMP, the data exists in a vacuum, siloed from other marketing activities. If the data is the “what,” the insights are the “so what,” and the activation is the “now what.” A DMP cannot deliver that final piece.
As previously stated in this blog:
“In the more integrated environment of a one-platform approach, offline CRM data can be pulled into the mix, providing an understanding of how your offline and online channels intersect. This also offers the ability to forecast and price how much media you can actually buy against the targets you identify. “If I want to spend X, I can reach Y consumers.”
Predictive and automated optimization becomes a possibility, and all your data sources – from CRM to web analytics to keyword targeting – can be brought to bear on your campaign decisions.
Perhaps most important, however, is the kind of value you can expect from an operating system vs. a point solution such as a DMP.
A DMP is designed to solve a narrow business problem – segmenting and understanding the characteristics of your target audience so you can steer your media buys accordingly. But a marketing operating system promises to solve a much broader business problem – how to best coordinate and execute all your marketing efforts to build market share. All system components are working together to achieve that goal, which is really the end game for any advertiser.”
Food For Thought: How are you integrating the data you’ve acquired into your retail marketing campaigns? What are you doing to activate your data today?
To learn more about MediaMath’s solution, click here, and find out more about our retail capability here.