Jun 2, 2020
Did you know that data is now more valuable than oil?
In this discussion, we will be talking about how agencies can maximize their data opportunity.
Our Director of Client Experience Tim C. Burke, Director of Ad-Ops Rob Burke, PPC Manager Mike Gibson, and Senior Manager of Programmatic Advertising Roger Cooney sat down to discuss data opportunities and the things your agency should be doing to maximize data.
Maximizing First-Party Data
Nearly any established business already has heaps of data at their disposal, even if they do not know it yet.
Email addresses, phone numbers, names; this is all information that businesses have readily available to add to any marketing campaign.
Your clients can use this first-party data in many ways including:
Remarketing
Remarketing is a great way for your clients to maximize their data.
Your agency can actively market to customers who you already know have an interest in your clients’ work or services.
Lookalike Audiences
Your agency can take your clients’ first-party data to create lookalike audiences.
Taking that list of existing customers and creating a list of potential customers that are similar to the existing audience will enable you to reach people who are more likely to convert.
Audience Supression
Similar to using first-party data to create lists of potential customers, you can use this data to create lists of people you do not wish to target.
For example, if a customer has already converted, they are likely a waste of marketing dollars.
Creating suppression lists can help you disqualify certain leads for your clients.
Sadly, we have found that less than 10% of clients are actively utilizing their first-party data.
Utilizing this data will enable you to maximize leads and conversions for your clients.
Provide ROI on a Full Scale
Taking your clients’ first-party data based on sales and tying it back to the ad campaigns you run will help to communicate a clear ROI on behalf of your agency.
The combination of sales data and marketing data is how you maximize the campaign. Marrying back-end data with front-end data is the goal.
A Marketer's Dream
For a traditional marketer, it has always been a dream to be able to tie that initial ad experience to the actual sale.
When it comes to digital, that is becoming more and more of a reality.
With the data and technology available now, you can tie-in directly when a person sees an ad through the funnel to when they make a conversion.
Many businesses do not even realize they have the opportunity to see that path.
At Conduit Digital, we have been looking for ways to bridge that gap between attributes in traditional radio or TV ads and the sale.
By working holistically and taking a full-funnel approach we can see exactly how users convert, which ad they viewed, where they viewed it, and how effective it was.
Data and Privacy
There has been a lot of talk recently about data privacy and what it means for the digital marketing industry moving forward.
From the Cambridge Analytica scandal to the introduction of the CCPA and the death of the “cookie,” data in marketing is going to fundamentally change.
As marketers, we love data.
It allows us to provide better results for our clients and agencies, allows us to connect closer to consumers, and provides us incredible knowledge and insights.
Even as consumers, some of us, like our PPC Manager Mike Gibson, don’t mind our personal information being shared (to an extent).
“I actually don’t mind people having my data. Now I don’t want people to have 100% of my data. But if feel like its about user experience. Knowing what websites I’ve been on, what I have in my cart, and seeing that on Facebook or wherever provides me with better user experience.”
As Senior Manager of Programmatic Advertising Roger Cooney says,
“It’s not really privacy that people care about, it’s being surprised. Everyone knows that all your data is being tracked in some capacity, it’s just when that’s being used in a way that isn’t expected, is when people actually care.”
Be Future Proof
We utilize data in ways that might surprise people.
They are agreeing to the way we utilize cookies.
But when you explain geofencing to someone who has never heard of it, it is a head-exploding moment.
There is a realization there like, “Oh that’s how I was being served those ads.”
People like to think that their phone is spying on them but in reality, it is just really good targeting.
One thing that you have to remain focused on is being diversified in your targeting capabilities.
So if you are hyper-targeting to the hundredth degree to deliver results, then you can be hamstrung in the future as we go cookie-less.
A Message To Local Businesses
If you’re a local business or a small agency and you are monitoring your website traffic and you’re concerned that you have a drop from a Monday to a Tuesday, don’t be!
It happens literally all of the time.
You will drive yourself or your agency partners crazy! Take a look at your traffic weekly or, better yet, monthly.
Where Data Will Be In 2025
Who knows where data and privacy will go in 5 years! Our team sat down to give their thoughts on the subject!
Roger
I personally think its gonna go more of a direction of less privacy, not more. However, I think its gonna go in a way that is not malicious in intent. But I think that the benefits of being able to target ads to people will outweigh the cons. That’s with the caveat that people will be more responsible with their data and aren’t putting it in a position where it could be compromised.
Tim C. Burke
I think the data privacy bubble is going to burst. I think that people are going to realize that if it’s not used for malicious intent, that it is actually going to benefit their lives. You’re going to get the internet of things. Let’s say you have a smart refrigerator and it sees that you bought milk a week ago. Now you get served an ad for milk and you realize you need to buy more milk. Those types of technologies are going to open up and as long as the data isn’t used in the wrong way, it is only going to benefit the consumer.
Rob
The emphasis on brand and the emphasis on content are going to become immensely important. So if retargeting as we know it goes away, then you’re not going to be able to say, “Hey come back to my site, come back to my site, come back to my site.” The first time they are there they’ll need to find enough value to want to return back on their own. The 500-word blog or having a site just for the sake of it and chucking money at it, those days are going to be gone. It’s going to be good for everyone cause its gonna be focused on quality.
