It’s Time to Plan for Data Signal Sustainability
If you’re a publisher or advertiser, and especially if you’re operating in the mobile space, you’re probably getting a little tired of being told about new forthcoming privacy changes that are sure to upend your monetization and marketing plans. The simple fact is that change is the only constant in today’s digital landscape; if you’re […]
Crucial Attribution and Targeting Tools
The lines in the traditional funnel have blurred. Consumers may enter and pursue a non-linear route before making a purchase or moving on. The path from awareness to decision is no longer predictable in an omni-channel environment. A progression that works for one type of consumer may have no relevance for another. These changes necessite another look at attribution models.
First-Party Versus Third-Party Data: What You Should Know
Using first-party data is a win-win. As marketers, you are fostering an ongoing relationship with your customers and prospects by better communicating and serving them. But there needs to be a strategy and long-term commitment. In a survey of US digital marketers by Advertiser Perceptions and programmatic agency MightyHive, respondents said they were, on average, tapping into just 47% of their company’s first-party data potential. It takes the right strategy and technological infrastructure in place to activate first-party data at scale.
Publishers (And Everyone Else), Beware Amazon
Amazon’s success comes at a cost for publishers. Its growth means that retail and CPG brands are shifting digital spend away from publishers, siphoning off a key source of revenue. How can publishers compete? Their survival may come down to better ways of monetizing existing channels like email, as well as more effective use of their greatest asset: first-party data.
The hope for publishers lies in email and the power of the email address. With email, publishers have a logged-in channel that’s virtually fraud-free. Email represents a direct relationship with the consumer and one that is detached from platform intermediaries that have unfairly claimed revenue and attribution from the rightful influencer: the publisher. And contrary to popular belief, email is still a channel where people spend over five hours a day. What’s more, email is impervious to subtle shifts of an algorithm that force a publisher to buy the right to reach people, as opposed to owning the relationship with those who have requested a publisher’s content in the first place.
How Targeting Fuels Audience Activation and Satisfaction
Consumers benefit from targeting. When there are clear rules and guardrails in place for tracking and targeting, shoppers enjoy a more relevant online experience and a panoply of ad-funded digital services.
Traditional ads still have a place in the marketing mix, of course. But the future of marketing is digital. Online ad spend is expected to surpass traditional ad spend (likely for good) this year. How is it that targeting, while respecting privacy, makes the consumer internet better?
How to Use Facebook’s Simplified Campaign Structure to Your Advantage
It’s a brave new advertising world. The algorithms are taking over, whether human advertising managers like it or not. Our best bet is to understand how the algorithms work and to give them the freedom, the data, the budgets, and the creative assets they need for optimal performance. The Facebook algorithm will take away budget lever from humans when Campaign Budget Optimization becomes mandatory in September 2019.
Single-Use Coupons: A Multi-Pronged Strategy for Each Phase of the Customer Journey
A savvy marketer can select a solution that enables her to launch personalized promotions that perfectly suit a target customer for a given phase. For example, an offer designed to acquire new customers should differ from the one that goes out with a view to retaining lapsed customers or further engaging the loyal customer. This is where single-use coupons provide immense potential to deliver personalized promotions, allowing marketers to segment their customers into the appropriate marketing phase—acquisition, engagement, or retention.
How Brands Are Using AI to Fight Back Against Dark Marketing
According to some estimates, as many as 85% of Facebook ads and 60% of YouTube ads are hidden from public view. The practice is even more common on Twitter, where an estimated 90% of ads are hidden. What does that mean, exactly? Rather than posting their messages publicly, major brands are creating social media posts or sponsored content that is only shown to targeted audiences. Unlike organic or boosted posts, these targeted ads don’t show up on the company’s timelines or all of their followers’ feeds.
Location Targeting is Nothing Without the Facts to Back it Up
Doing location targeting right is no simple matter, and common claims about it require further scrutiny. Accuracy of a location through parcel targeting, a rapid refresh audience strategy, and reaching the right people at scale through IP and cross-device targeting will make a major difference in location-based campaign outcomes.
LiveRamp Advances Data Identity Resolution in a Safe Place
The company’s data store is only two years old, but it hosts more than 100,000 segments with content from 120 data providers. The term “identity resolution” refers to how LiveRamp matches user data points such as ages, genders, locations, incomes, marital statuses, and other information to get a detailed consumer picture.
Targeted Ads Can Miss Targets — But They Still Keep Coming
Over the past few weeks, I’ve received a barrage of ads for storage centers in St. Louis despite the fact that I live in South Carolina. I’m also seeing ads reminding me to “finish your trademark” event though I’m not interested in trademarking anything. I asked experts about why mis-targeted (and wasteful) ads like these persist, and what the ad industry is doing about them.
5 Tools for Cross-Device Ad Targeting
Ad targeting was relatively straightforward back when consumers relied exclusively on their desktops to consume online content. But as the number of gadgets owned by consumers has increased over time, ad targeting has become considerably more complicated. Here are five companies that offer cross-device tracking for advertisers…
5 Tools for Targeting Customers Based On Their Historic Locations
Where consumers have been is just as important as where they’re going. Being able to track the historical — and in some cases, even future — locations of a consumer makes it possible for retailers and brands to strategically target mobile ads to the places where they know their customers are likely to be. Here are five tools that businesses can use to target customers based on where they’ve been…
7 Ways to Use Weather Data for Hyperlocal Marketing
Hyperlocal vendors are making it possible for business owners like Stromberg to overlay weather data on top of daily sales figures to make better decisions, but many local merchants are still unsure of how to utilize the insights they glean from this information. Here are seven strategies for local businesses to use weather information to better target their hyperlocal messaging…
xAd Expands Mobile Ad Targeting, Launches New Location, Fencing Tech
Mobile ad network xAd has released new proprietary technologies to expand location analytics and geo-fencing, helping its local and national advertisers further narrow their campaigns based on intensive geographic and behavioral data. The new products, SmartLocation and SmartFencing, are a direct reaction to what xAd sees as a lack of precise, real-time location data in the mobile advertising space…
As Political Messaging Shifts to CTV, Email Backs Up Campaigns
In a loud election where social media is overrun with fake news and unsolicited user-created opinions, campaigns must communicate in a consistent and streamlined way with voters, serving only ads that they want to see in their preferred channels. Campaigns might not win a voter on one issue but could sway or motivate them on another if they know what resonates with them.
This election year, the power of email should not be underestimated.