By: Jonathan Brown, Marketing Technology Consultant, CvE.
Introduction
The Advertising and Marketing technology industry has become a living and breathing entity. In the last decade, the speed of innovation has been something to celebrate as the internet opened the door to identifying customers in a more accurate way.
The speed of innovation in digital advertising is an interesting road (through my lived experience). Email and affiliates, digital analytics, omnichannel, the year of the mobile, customer management platforms, single customer view, digital personalisation, social media advertising, and so on! With this being said, speed to the final goal is an area that depends on budgets. I have seen many businesses run with big budgets and fail in their Martech and Adtech needs. Why? Simply put. Blind spots. Let me explain.
Test and Learn blind spots
Adtech and Martech provide an opportunity for businesses to test particular technologies, content, and strategies more than ever. However, many organisations are not equipped to deliver. ‘Test and Learn’ is not as simple as just the test itself. I’ve seen stakeholders struggle with the whole concept. So how do you avoid this blind spot?
Reverse engineer from the desired outcome. For example, if you want to A/B test content or test platforms against each other. Ask questions like: Do you have the right stakeholders in the business? Is it cost-effective to run the tests? Are the tests worth conducting?
‘Test and Learn’ is a scientific principle that is a necessity to become a data led business. It is an area that requires (in my opinion) a minimum team of two that can manage the tests, record results, and share with the wider team. Ensure that you have time and resources for Test and Learn, the business value of tests must be articulated in a way that is understandable for multiple stakeholders across teams. When conducted correctly key metrics like ROI, revenue and growth and market share have been boosted.
AdTech and MarTech Stack blind Spots
The purchase of a wealth of Adtech and Martech. Why is it here? Why do we have it? Who is using it? This is a problem! Decision makers buy products with the best intention without consulting individuals on the ground who’ll be using them (In some cases).
I’ve consulted many stakeholders, a.k.a. Super users, on products who have historically said to me ‘I do not understand it’, ‘I never use it’, ‘We have not been trained and do not have the right support in place!’. Despite the beneficial technology entering the business, without adequate training, continual usage and a sustainable maturity model, businesses will continue to view a negative ROI against the investment!
You may be interested in reading: Time to End the Clean Room Confusion!
So how do you drive maturity? You need to D.Y.O.R (Do your own research) and invest in reviewing the market
Understanding what good looks like is vital to having a good stack. It is of utmost importance to have a project lead or product owner to continually support the various users and various teams. It’s difficult to drive maturity without the right people in the business. With these stakeholders in place, you should make positive steps towards success. Reach out to Technology vendors, they may have biases about their own products but the more vendors you speak to the more you’ll recognise what product best suits your business. If you do not have time or the right team in your business then hire external help. Outside expertise can provide an unbiased agnostic view of the market and help you better understand the landscape.
Digital Analytics blind Spots
I’ve heard this before; ‘We know what’s being tracked but we do not trust the data completely!’. A few years ago, I read headlines such as ‘Data is the new gold!’. Nowadays, the amount of data that is available to us is generally steady and based on the size of the business can be hard to manage, interpret and make sense of.
Companies today do not have the right people on the job to support making informed decisions based on data being generated. Crazy right? I would say that the steps to be taken are simple: Review your data set-up. Is your data layer fit for purpose based on the business goal TODAY? If you are reading and saying to yourself ‘What is a data layer?’ consider hiring a data analyst who can help you get the best out of what you have. Here is a small example of what they can provide to your business depending on their experience; Reset your KPIs, build dashboards for different teams within the business, review your data layer, and make sense of your legacy tagging and tracking. Is it still fit for purpose?
Analytics can help you optimise your websites, spot anomalies in daily, weekly, or monthly traffic and track conversions. These are a few small examples, but the list is endless. The key is to pull insights from the data to drive informed decisions, when set up correctly businesses thrive because they understand the pulse of their customers through their data.
The digital analytics blind spot is something that will relentlessly change, with a cookie-less future fast approaching, Google Universal analytics being made obsolete and forcing most to use Google Analytics 4, it’s important that you consider what your digital attribution will look like for the future of your business.
Conclusion
It is important to think more deeply to avoid blind spots.
Why: Why are we doing this?
How: How are we going to bring this technology into the business?
What: What does this product do for us and is it right for our business?
When: When is the right time to have this product or service introduced into our business functions?
Who? Do you have the correct stakeholders when the product is introduced?
Success is not difficult to accomplish but you must be aware of blind spots for explicit clarity for your proposed goals.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Contact us to discuss how CvE can help you take your marketing sophistication to the next level.
