Based on my conversations with agencies, tech companies, and consultancies, this level of technological innovation is only going to increase. For marketers, cross-device marketing a matter of efficacy, making sure consumers see content in sequence, no matter how many devices they use. A device graph looks at an individual’s digital habits holistically, based on all the devices he or she uses. When a publisher’s ad exchange offers them the chance to advertise to you, brands want to be able to say no or advertise a complementary product. A data on-boarding company will take the retailer’s data, anonymise it, and use it to let publishers know that if you come to their website, they shouldn’t bid on TV ads. This approach should lead to a better experience for customers and more effective advertising for marketers. It’s the missing element that will let marketers target the right customer with relevant content, at a time when programmatic is making media buys more complicated. This changes how we think about media, operate it, and learn from it.” The shift to service Perhaps the most significant trend in marketing automation this year isn’t about new technology. All of these developments ultimately suggest that martech is only going to get more complex. “For marketers, it’s data and it’s creativity; giving the customers the best experience and getting the best return,” Gierlinska said.
Across the UK, automation is taking over. Five years ago, for example, real-time bidding accounted for just 12 percent of online display advertising, according to the International Data Corporation. Last month, the Internet Advertising Bureau UK reported that almost three-quarters of UK digital display advertising is now bought programmatically.
That push is all about relevance. The ultimate goal of advertising is delivering the right message to someone at the right time. In many sectors, that’s already happening. Sephora tracks how much money customers spend on its site and automatically enrolls them into a VIP club once they hit a certain amount. Car companies like Nissan can now send drivers automated reminders of when they should get their car serviced based on the date you bought your car.
Based on my conversations with agencies, tech companies, and consultancies, this level of technological innovation is only going to increase. Here are three trends that marketers working in Europe should be thinking about for the future.
Seeing the consumer, not the devices
Part of the promise of online marketing has always been to understand the customer journey better. The rise of attribution modelling has given marketers more insight into how different types of content lead to conversions. But as smartphones and tablets become the primary means of accessing the internet, understanding how users move from device to device during the purchase process is a significant issue right now.
For marketers, cross-device marketing a matter of efficacy, making sure consumers see content in sequence, no matter how many devices they use. Meanwhile, consumers are annoyed by ads that feel irrelevant or from seeing the same ad too many times.
To improve the efficacy without frustrating users, marketers are turning to two solutions: identity resolution and device graphing. Identity resolution is the process of linking fragments of personal data from different sources to gather a complete picture of a customer. A device graph looks at an individual’s digital habits holistically, based on all the devices he or she uses.
Device graphs are already a common part of digital advertising in the U.S., but the tactic is only now starting to pick up across Europe as advertisers put more emphasis on managing attribution throughout the customer journey.
“The elephant in the room is that the CRM world and the digital world need to come together,” Jed Mole, European marketing director at Acxiom, told me. “We know customers happily live in both the physical and digital worlds. Linking those data sets completely is not possible, but it can be done to a worthwhile degree.”
Think of it this way: If you’ve just purchased a TV in a store, the last thing the retailer wants is…
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