Retailers are using data in a myriad of ways to revolutionize the online and offline customer experience while creating a competitive advantage for themselves. Kohl’s, for example, is offering digital coupons, via smartphones, to shoppers who visit their stores. By marrying the in-store experience with consumers’ heavy reliance on mobile technology and consumer purchase motivation driven by the desire to get a good deal, retailers are delivering a seamless (and far superior) customer experience across channels.
Retailers are keenly aware of the power and potential Big Data has to inform an omni-channel strategy, yet, for many, a disconnect still exists between owning data and putting it to use in a way that yields measurable success. A programmatic media buying solution embedded within a retail organization can serve as the foundation for creating numerous applications for that data, and more importantly, drive business results.
Retail organizations that apply data through programmatic solutions gain a holistic view into:
• Where the brand’s message is resonating most consistently
• What targeting strategies and tactics are working or not working
• Who is most responsive to messaging and why
• How your marketing dollars are being spent
• How you own control of your data
• Who you’re working with to achieve results
The use of programmatic technology allows retailers to pinpoint where brand affinity resonates strongest across all digital media channels. Because of this, retailers are not only able to maintain a unified message but they can also identify which channels perform best.
Programmatic technology organizes a retailer’s data, as well as 2nd and 3rd party data, and layers that data on top of digital media buys for increased targeting capabilities. By housing all of that data within one centralized campaign management tool, retailers have access to learnings that serve to improve media across all channels, better inform their messaging strategies, identify the best co-op partner prospects, and so on. Say your CMO wants an easily digestible view of online & in-store spend impact across your display, social, video and mobile programs while the digital media team is hungry for performance data. Not a problem; all of that information is available within one centralized marketing operating system.
Programmatic technology doesn’t just provide rich insight as to how campaigns perform; it also provides a full breakout of every dollar spent in the system. Advertisers only pay what the impression is worth to them specifically. CFOs can sleep better at night knowing how they’re spending their marketing dollars.
Retail brands can accurately assess the safety and appropriateness of websites to avoid fraud or disparaging a brand’s image in the eyes of customer. Additionally, programmatic media buying technology places the retailer in control of their data and how it’s used. Transparency, as it relates to both data sources and publishers sites, offered by a programmatic platform means that retailers have a deep understanding, and ultimately better control of their brand’s presence online.
Let’s say the same CMO is bullish that her brand is associated with premium content or publishers. Easy enough – a Marketing Operating System like MediaMath’s TerminalOne™, through its Deal Discovery app, identifies both RTB and premium supply deal opportunities available to buyers. As a result, time is saved identifying the supply sources that work best in terms of cost, targeting parameters, and availability.
The idea that programmatic is synonymous with remnant or sub-par inventory no longer holds water. Programmatic buying is about efficiency – and every retailer can benefit from cost efficiencies and process efficiencies, regardless of what you sell or where you sell it.
Let’s take it one step further: Your head of business development has asked procurement to vet attribution vendors (or any 3rd party vendor for that matter). Imagine if you could send out multiple RFIs in bulk, via one email, to key players from a single platform instead of spending time navigating through the complex vendor landscape to find the appropriate contact to begin the RFI process. That would be efficient, right? MediaMath works with over 250 partners and launched its OPEN portal featuring a partner marketplace to educate digital marketers and seamlessly connect buyers with the best of the digital ecosystem.
From the CMO to the digital team to the CFO, programmatic technology adds value throughout the retail organization. A technology platform, like MediaMath’s TerminalOne™ Marketing Operating System, deeply engrained into, and across a retail organization promises to empower retailers by delivering transparency, insight, and control to their digital marketing campaigns.
Learn more about MediaMath Retail here.