Consumers today are setting the pace for
online marketers and brands, and the digital
media technology is out there to listen to customer cues and respond
with relevant, engaging communications. But what does it take to be
truly customer-obsessed? Is the industry at large living up to the
promises of real-time interactive marketing? The unfortunate answer is
no. At least at this time.
In an environment where consumers are freely flowing and engaging with ads and other content on their own terms across channels and devices, the industry at large must evolve to keep pace. The lack of real-time efficiencies is creating a massive “digital divide” between consumers and the current marketing practices used to reach and engage them.
This week, PulsePoint, in collaboration with the CMO Club and Digiday, announced the results
of a groundbreaking study that examines the digital marketing
capabilities, top challenges and priorities of nearly 400 senior
marketers, agency executives and publishers.
From a capability standpoint, the large majority of
survey respondents were comfortable executing multi-channel campaigns
across two or more channels. However, the challenges start occurring
when marketers are tasked with applying lessons from one channel to
improve efforts in another channel (cross-channel). The
wake up call revealed by the survey results is that, across the board, a
majority of marketers, agencies and publishers lack the capabilities to
execute real-time interactive marketing.
In an environment where consumers are freely flowing and engaging with ads and other content on their own terms across channels and devices, the industry at large must evolve to keep pace. The lack of real-time efficiencies is creating a massive “digital divide” between consumers and the current marketing practices used to reach and engage them.
So what is the problem? What are the barriers to
this evolution? When we began this research, we hypothesized that we
would find inconsistencies and gaps in the capabilities and priorities
amongst ecosystem players. As it turns out, this research shows that the
industry is largely aligned. However, for an industry claiming to be as
customer-obsessed as we are, these results show that we are missing the
“relevance mark” set by consumers - largely due to two key challenges.
Overwhelming Complexity
We’ve all seen the LUMA ad-tech chart. The fragmented direct marketing landscape of point-solutions from the sell-side to the demand-side add overwhelming complexity to cross-channel execution. Because the industry is currently focused on dealing with complex technologies and multiple channels and platforms, ecosystem players are often operating in functional silos. Further, this overwhelming complexity, coupled with the functional silos used to manage various channels and point solutions, robs bandwidth and results in the consumer perspective often getting lost.
We’ve all seen the LUMA ad-tech chart. The fragmented direct marketing landscape of point-solutions from the sell-side to the demand-side add overwhelming complexity to cross-channel execution. Because the industry is currently focused on dealing with complex technologies and multiple channels and platforms, ecosystem players are often operating in functional silos. Further, this overwhelming complexity, coupled with the functional silos used to manage various channels and point solutions, robs bandwidth and results in the consumer perspective often getting lost.
Lack of Unified Measurement
Unified measurement (something the ANA, 4As, and IAB are all actively pursuing through the Making Measurement Make Sense initiative) enables the tracking of consumer journeys and connected customer experiences - this is critical to advance from multi-channel to cross-channel marketing, and the industry at large is currently lacking this core capability. In addition to unified measurement to help marketing, agencies and publishers “connect the dots” for unified consumer-customer views across channels, there is also a need for more full-funnel thinking and better attribution beyond the last click. Planning, executing and measuring from the perspective of targeting and tracking consumers throughout the funnel, enables a broader, longer-term view of digital marketing programs, targeting methods, and brand engagements.
Unified measurement (something the ANA, 4As, and IAB are all actively pursuing through the Making Measurement Make Sense initiative) enables the tracking of consumer journeys and connected customer experiences - this is critical to advance from multi-channel to cross-channel marketing, and the industry at large is currently lacking this core capability. In addition to unified measurement to help marketing, agencies and publishers “connect the dots” for unified consumer-customer views across channels, there is also a need for more full-funnel thinking and better attribution beyond the last click. Planning, executing and measuring from the perspective of targeting and tracking consumers throughout the funnel, enables a broader, longer-term view of digital marketing programs, targeting methods, and brand engagements.
It’s time to further evolve. In this regard, the
study uncovered two underlying factors that in large part account for
effectiveness, and, when applied in union, work together to overcome the
challenges of complexity and lack of unified measurement. Real-time
intelligence and unified automation are two evolutionary forces that
provide the basis to enhance digital marketing execution, and thus, help
bridge the current digital divide.
These two forces are reshaping the digital landscape
and, over time, will enable the industry to consolidate around smart
“end-to-end” solutions and evolve towards more real-time adaptive
markets, with real-time efficiencies, transparency and fair value
discovery. These forces will allow the industry at large to truly become
customer-obsessed and reach the “relevance mark” set by
digitally-empowered consumers.
To see the full results, you can visit the IAB member insights & research library or download from PulsePoint.com.
By Dr. Karl Lendenmann on May 9, 2012 7:05 AM
http://www.iab.net/
By Dr. Karl Lendenmann on May 9, 2012 7:05 AM
http://www.iab.net/
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