For businesses today, we live in a Data Economy, where high-quality data has become one of the most valuable commodities in pursuit of global growth. No place is that demand more prominent than in digital marketing.
Today companies are spending in the neighborhood of $11 billion a year worth of transactions on digital data to support media, advertising and technology needs. Sound like a lot? The digital universe is doubling every two years. And according to EMC, by 2020 we'll be wrangling around 44 billion gigabytes of information, which is enough to wrap from the Earth to the Moon and back 6X! Imagine how much more will be spent on data and services to support digital and programmatic marketing by 2020…
No wonder "Driving the Data Economy" was a hot panel topic at last week's 2016 Adobe Summit, where one particular panel expertly drilled down on digital data. Rich Phillips, Adobe Senior Manager Business Development moderated a discussion with Anudit Vikram, Dun & Bradstreet SVP and Chief Product Officer, Mike Scafidi, PepsiCo Director of Marketing Technology and Digital Operations, and Ryan LaMirand, Acxiom Director of Global Partner Development. Their key topic: How data should be regarded as a significant asset for digital marketing and for programmatic marketers to produce, use and safeguard.
The transformational amount of money being spent on commercial and barter transactions for digital marketing and advertising data provides an outstanding opportunity. Every interaction we have with customers generates a data point, or a 'footprint.' Using that footprint to inform the next action marketers have with that customer can be the difference between delight and disaster.
The panelists ran the gamut - including a B2B data provider (Dun & Bradstreet), a B2C data provider (Acxiom) and a B2C data consumer (PepsiCo). While digital data and digital targeting techniques are on the bleeding edge of growth marketing, the panelists agreed on some very common-sense marketing rules of thumb for choosing what data to use.
Data sourcing takes due diligence and companies should consider four measures before making a data purchase:
- Review data accuracy and refresh schedules.
- Look for data providers who are transparent in their collection practices.
- Determine your objectives, and find data that bests supports what you have in mind.
- Look at costs. Not all data is created equal. Don't skimp on data asset quality and don't buy what's not needed.
The biggest question that digital marketers need to answer is how to quantify relevant data assets to achieve goals.
As Vikram said, "Data is measured not by CPM, but by the value it provides."
Because the modern buyer's journey has evolved into a nonlinear combination of online and offline behaviors and touch points, B2B marketers need to take into account where companies and individuals are in the engagement process. The right combination of first-, second- and third-party data enlightens marketers about their audiences with more precision and helps them synchronize online advertising with broader programs to meet their business objectives and measure their outcomes.
The right partnerships are critical in making this work. Dun & Bradstreet's strategic partnership on the Adobe Audience Marketplace is one example within the expanded Adobe Exchange program. Joint customers like American Express, Lenovo and Samsung license Dun & Bradstreet's Audience Solutions data to improve targeting for both digital and programmatic marketing.
Just trying to do our part in that data economy.
***
Learn more about our Adobe Exchange and Adobe Marketing Cloud Partnership here.