While data can create a virtual road map to marketing success, it can also overwhelm and confuse marketers who don’t have the right solutions to segment, activate, and ultimately put it to use. As “Big Data” becomes less of a buzzword and more an everyday industry reality, marketers must learn to view data as a navigational tool that can determine exactly what combination of audience, media, and message will best achieve marketer’s goals.
In the not-too-distant past, the only data points that helped marketers understand and segment customers were purchase, loyalty and demographic data sets. Now, marketers have a host of data sources to choose from — not only their own data, but data from other sources, as well — from publishers, social media, location data and more. And the more data points marketers can collect, the more likely they’re able to reach their customers with bespoke messaging at the right time.
First, let’s take a step back and identify the types of data frequently used in the advertising industry. Most commonly, we hear about first and third-party data. Increasingly, we’ll be hearing about second-party data, as well. What’s the difference?
- First-party data (“me”) is your own data, collected from your stores, websites, transactions, etc. This data pertains to your current and future customers.
- Second-party data (“you”) is data from a direct relationship that a brand has with another website or company, e.g., a publisher from whom you purchase media.
- Third-party data (“them”) is acquired from an aggregator of data, which they collect and package.
All of these data types add value to online and offline marketing efforts, however, first-party data typically outperforms data from other sources simply because it’s your data from your customers. Your organization knows its accuracy and respects its value. Combining your own data with second- and third- party data can yield potent results as well.
There are many ways to collect your first-party data. Sources include your websites and other digital channels, as well as your offline stores and channels. Loyalty programs, online interactions and in-store purchases are all excellent data collection methodsOnce the data is collected, it can be activated and put to use to optimize all aspects of marketing — from segmenting audiences to targeting media to making the most of analytics.
The key to using data successfully is connecting the dots around the customer and attributing the right data touchpoints to develop a 360-degree view of the customer. This becomes your roadmap to understanding which channels, media and other customer interactions are driving your customers and prospects to learn of, consider and ultimately buy your product.
A powerful marketing operating system can be the foundation a marketer needs to successfully leverage data from all sources. With a marketing operating system that can both house and activate data, marketers can easily collect, manage and segment their data, then use it to efficiently purchase addressable media.
This post is the sixth in a series for marketers with an understanding of programmatic technology who are looking to step it up.
Keep up with this series to further educate yourself on how programmatic technology fits into the bigger marketing picture by following the Step It Up Series on the blog.
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