Many agencies in the UK claim to be data first in their approach to planning, managing and optimising media. However, this is a bold statement and most agencies do not live up to their promises. Best practice in digital media is to track all ad impressions, clicks and every possible interaction or conversion on a client’s website, not to mention collecting additional variables which allow advertisers to identify unique users, demographic data, locations and product information. But what do agencies actually do with all of this data? The truth is, beyond generating reports and setting up retargeting campaigns, many agencies don’t do anything with the data, despite good intentions during the setup. Most agencies seldom have the time, resource or expertise to use your data properly.
So, why allow data to be collected by your agency?
- Change is the new normal
In an ever changing and evolving industry, data is the only way for digital media to stay ahead of the curve. It is impractical to think that someone can monitor your market and potential audience each day, then update campaigns, search terms, creative, pacing and budgets across multiple channels to reflect the market changes. By setting up the data collection properly (and in its entirety) before a campaign launches, media can later be automated to drive stronger KPI performance without the need to continuously make manual changes to the campaign each day.
- From B2C to B2Me
B2Me was a buzz word in the world of digital a few years ago, you may have heard it? It refers to a new way of targeting media campaigns at a user level rather than grouping users into categories. The method is designed to limit advertisers from making assumptions about their target market based on an index, but instead understand how an individual person behaves, allowing for more relevant and tailored targeting and creative messaging.For example, your site which sells dresses may index highly against women under 30, but not all women want to buy a dress and those who do may not be ready to purchase until later in the month. By targeting a single user, you can understand the behaviour of the person, what specific clothing they prefer, at what point in the month they are likely to purchase clothes, whether they are loyal to a specific brand, related items they purchase alongside clothing – such as handbags. This is the most efficient and effective way to target potential customers, limiting budget wastage and increasing conversion rates at the same time.
- Data First
Without even the most basic of data, it becomes impossible to run an efficient media campaign. By ensuring you are collecting data from the start, you set yourself up to run more granular analysis in future and make business changing decisions as a result. Tools such as attribution modelling, automated dashboards and user path analysis are just a few of the ways data can be used, but the possibilities are endless.
All Response Media viewpoint
At All Response Media, we fully understand the value of data. Since the company launched, we have been offering our proprietary technology, ARMalytics, to clients, which collects user level data to attribute conversions to potential TV respondents. More recently we have been developing a range of tools which help to bridge the gap between digital and offline media at a user level, to analyse x channel conversion paths, generate digital audiences of TV respondents and to sync TV and digital campaigns. All these tools allow us to stay ahead of the curve and many are UK or industry first tools.
We pride ourselves in offering a direct response media strategy to our clients, delivering a transparent way of working that builds trust that we are investing budgets as effectively as possible and delivering on pre-agreed KPI performance.
This method of media delivery as well as the tools we are developing is not possible without the proper use of data. There may still be agencies out there who collect data and never use it to full potential, but All Response Media is leading the way in showing clients what the true power of data can unlock and deliver.
