2014 is the year for marketers to shake the data paralysis
Marketers have been talking about data for years, but it’s time for more to start walking the walk argues Ken Breen.
Effective marketing is hard because, let’s face it, we are chasing a moving target. If we knew everything there was to know about a consumer then advertising would work perfectly and quite frankly it doesn’t.
However for the last decade our industry has missed the point: it’s not about the data, it’s about the customer, yet we are still asking decade’s old questions around the data itself.
Questions like how can I sync my efforts across multiple channels while reaching just the customers I want? How do I know what’s working and what isn’t in my advertising? How can I definitively correlate marketing to actual sales? How can I prove ROI? How can all this data help me tune my customer engagement, so every experience is truly personal and more exceptional?
The truth is the numbers don’t lie, but they can mislead and my view is consumer data is only useful if it directly addresses a consumer need and want. Data is after all just data; most of it makes very little sense and to make matters worse we are drowning in the stuff.
So what’s impeding ‘Big Data’ to deliver game changing value for marketers? I believe that there are two central reasons.
The first of these is that the true mark of marketing sophistication is simplicity; think at all times about providing clarity, certainty and control. The absence of these elements has been a critical impediment to enabling data to deliver game-changing value.
Secondly to make sense of data we also need to connect the dots. Our industry-wide failure to solve this challenge (by which I mean connecting all disparate sources of data, media channels and technology) is holding us back from the utopia of a single customer view across all channels, devices and applications with precision and scale.
To overcome both challenges we as an industry must overcome the siloed nature in which data is kept and the way we operate. Siloed data forms a disparate and an incomplete view of the customer, which leads to disconnected audiences and disconnected customer experiences.
To actually make sense of data you need to bridge the gap between the CRM system and DMP (the online and offline data) bringing together all the disparate sources of data into one complete view. Then we naturally land at the quandary that is cookies and their effectiveness from a third-party perspective. Cookies used by DMP’s and DSP’s for targeting have fallen short of their promise and failed to connect the online and offline world. This is not surprising really as Cookies don’t buy things, people do.
And therein lies the rub. Never before has the consumer had so much power to discern at their finger-tips. However the flip side is that the subsequent data we get from our engagement with consumers can provide depth and colour which is fundamental in future proofing your advertising and marketing strategies. By connecting all the disparate sources of data you can create a three dimensional picture that becomes much clearer when you look at it from all angles.
Of course, not all marketing campaigns are failing and it’s encouraging to hear of success stories.
Take the likes Telstra for example, a forward looking organisation with a treasure trove of data and a marketing team that is empowered to use it. But pioneering companies like Telstra are the exception rather than the norm, and for every Telstra there are 10 other companies who just haven’t gotten it together.
These organisations need their senior folk to understand that connecting with their customers through the right data is essential. Any marketeer who doesn’t have an opinion about what data could be doing for them, is either failing or paralysed with fear on the back of all the data disruption that abounds. With the right tools this fear of failure can be overcome, but to really realise the agility and truth inherent in data we also need industry wide attitudinal change to break the inertia.
Data is a binary influence because numbers don’t lie; up until now its how we’ve viewed the truth of these numbers that have led to flawed analysis and interpretation. As a custodian within a data business, my simple advice is don’t be one-dimensional and don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. Right now, the data journey is uncharted but the data that is there provides definition, parameters and a complete view of the consumer.
Whether traditional or digital, data is and will continue to be ubiquitous. The issue is we just haven’t had the capability to really capture, interpret and savour this veritable data smorgasbord until now.
And this has allowed the marketing industry to perform a half-baked job for about the same length of time we have been having the data conversation, in other words forever.
Despite our fail rate, we continue to spend up big. In fact according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ online advertising expenditure in Australia reached $3.6bn for FY 2012, an increase of 14.6% year on year. So based on our current 50:50 success rate, one can only assume that more than $1.5 billion of ad spend was misallocated, misplaced or simply wasted?
There are those who would argue that this amount of wastage has always been acceptable; I would argue that this view cannot and should not be considered acceptable anymore, so defend budget waste at your peril. We also know that within this wasteland our consumers are being bombarded by irrelevant advertising which can lead to brand damage. This too has to cease.
Ironically this collective problem is the result of marketers and agencies drowning in too much disconnected and siloed data which in itself is creating disconnected customer experiences.
So how can we stop failing? Stopping the waste requires a new conversation that sets aside ego and takes a step outside of preconceived notions. Until we are willing to embrace the truth in data, be it big or small, then ad campaigns will continue to fail and we can continue our ‘Groundhog Day’ conversation over and over.
We have to ask ourselves if we are prepared to challenge misconceptions and accept that campaigns of old have not worked. We also have to accept that it is not just how we understand but also how we engage with the consumer that is long due for an overhaul.
This leads to the delicate question of operational readiness and consumer privacy and consent. Ever since the introduction of ‘Do Not Call’ register the Australian consumer has increasingly become better informed and better protected. And with even stronger privacy laws coming into effect on the 12th March this trend will not change and neither should it.
For a two-way conversation to be effective both parties should be on an equal footing and for this to happen consumer privacy and transparency are paramount. And let’s be frank, we have no choice.
The data is there, consumers themselves are volunteering it, even if ‘sub-consciously’ for now, and in the process building an online identity that craves interaction as long as it is meaningful and comes loaded with value.
In 2014, as well as accepting that a singular view of the consumer is the right view, the future success of marketing must be based on treating your customer on an equal basis and ensuring transparency throughout that dialogue.
You need the data to do this and set yourself free.
Ken Breen is acting managing director of Acxiom
Rich coming from the very member of ‘third party’ who have just only recently moved away from nothing but ‘fallen short of promise’ and ‘failed to connect the online and offline world’.
Please either own up that all our spending with you and all other ‘third party’ had wastage, or stop pandering the ‘data’ and ‘big data’ altogether. Unless you fess up to the shortfall of your own work to move towards the ‘shiny new thing’ nobody will buy it and frankly does the data, digital, online or whatever other terms disservice.
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