The biggest single thing you can do to reach more of your customers is get a handle on your data.
This isn’t news, but here we are in 2017 and marketers are still struggling with this. We think we know one of the reasons why: marketers are prone to Bright, Shiny Object Syndrome.
They get hooked easily and quickly by the new and innovative but often forget that there are simple things they can do to get the most from their marketing investments.
One of the areas where this is most true is data. Marketers are often quick to buy third-party segments without truly understanding what first-party data they have. How will third-party data help you if you don’t understand the foundation you are adding it to?
There are a few simple things you can start doing now to resist the urge to scratch the Bright, Shiny Object itch and get your data house in order:
Look at what you’ve got: What data do you have from your websites, microsites and mobile applications? Do an entire sweep of your digital inventory. Take a look at your database—a lot of it might be useless but there will be some gems in there that will help in building your remarketing strategies.
Look for gaps: Tag key pages on your website. Ensure you can see inside cookie-less environments. See what data you can glean from across devices.
Scale it: Only when you’ve assessed what data you already have should you then begin looking at using other data sources. First-party data is great for retargeting mostly. Add interest, demo and/or transactional data to round out your view of your existing customers. Also consider going beyond remarketing to find new customers through look-alike modeling
Figure out how to manage it all: Do you have a DMP? Is it integrated with a DSP? What about identity management? Whatever you choose, make sure you consider things like data loss and latency, the ability to activate across channels, including both paid and owned, and having insight into what is performing well and what isn’t so you can quickly adapt.
How have you optimized your data strategy to get more out of your marketing campaigns?
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