It seems the more sophisticated we get in our digital advertising strategies, the more fragmented our technology becomes. There are now discrete point solutions – many of them excellent – for everything from contextual targeting to verification to analytics. And while it’s great for the market to have choices, there are serious drawbacks for advertisers when their technologies and workflows are disjointed – especially when it comes to data and data management.
A new Forrester report digs deep into the world of Data Management Platforms (DMPs) and their role in the overall process of online media buying, underscoring one of the dilemmas marketers face in a fragmented technology environment. Do I want a DMP on its own, or do I want data management as part of my greater marketing platform?
Marketers need best-of-breed tools, yes, but they also need a way to manage campaigns and leverage those tools holistically. What’s needed is a more fluid and integrated model where marketers can access all the functionality they need in one seamless platform – with data shared among all components, regardless of vendor. At MediaMath, this is our TerminalOne Marketing Operating System™.
Why one system?
The advantages of a consolidated operating system for digital marketing range from the very practical to the wholly strategic.
One log-in, one interface, one vendor – the argument for consolidation on the administrative end is clear. But the advantages of technology platforms such as the TerminalOne Marketing OS™ go beyond that. With data in one system, marketers gain insights and avoid discrepancies that can be huge time wasters. With a piecemeal solution, data analysis becomes a manual process of extracting DMP data and exporting to your buying solution. What’s more, the more data you pass among systems, the more drop off you get. With cookie targeting, for example, data losses can range anywhere from 30 to 70 percent with each hop.
All marketers want virtually the same things from a DMP – a way to understand consumers better. DMPs guide the overall marketing effort by providing insights into who consumers are, what they like, how they interact with media and what’s relevant to them. In isolation, however, that information can only get you so far.
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.