Data has become the new oil — a highly valuable asset that marketers can’t live without. A recent study by WARC featured in eMarketer showed that nearly six in ten marketers see data as an important and crucial factor for their business. Without the right data, it’s difficult for brands and their agency partners to meet the requirements of today’s advertising ecosystem. Data can help brands ensure that their marketing investments are not only reaching the right audience but also are delivering meaningful messaging.
Marketers strive to learn more about consumers’ online and offline behaviors by establishing a meaningful connection with them to ultimately achieve business goals. However, to gain a complete picture of the consumer journey, CMOs need the right tools powered by the right data.
Take control of your data destiny
Increasingly, brands are investing in tools that can help them both plan and measure marketing across different media channels and devices, and answer questions such as — did my advertising campaign actually drive consumers to store? If so, which messaging or media channel worked best? In order to unlock these answers, it is crucial to merge online and offline insights and fully map the consumer journey. This is where technology like location intelligence and tools like footfall attribution come into play, measuring in real time if and how frequently advertising impressions lead to in-store visits.
Location data, in particular, has proven highly effective in helping marketers map and measure the consumer journey. By bridging the online to offline gap, location data can help marketers measure advertising performance and inform strategic planning. A recent study released by Carto in collaboration with Hanover Research found that the majority of surveyed C-level executives, managers, and analysts believe that location intelligence is crucial to their long-term success.
Choose the right offline attribution solution
Location intelligence and offline attribution have given marketers a wealth of new metrics they can use to measure their advertising spend: in-store visits, visit frequency, brand affinity, and much more. But finding the right tool can be challenging. To effectively narrow down a list of potential offline attribution solutions, brands and marketers should ask vendors the following questions:
-
How is the location data collected?
-
What is the quality?
-
What are the benefits for my brand?
-
How can I visualize the results?
Asking these top-level questions is the first step companies can take to merging their online campaigns with offline results. Having this understanding of consumer behavior leads to higher conversions, higher returns on advertising spend, and a better customer experience. As advertising, technology, and consumers continue to evolve, it’s up to brands and marketers to do so as well by taking control of their data destiny and investing in the right tools to properly map and measure the consumer journey.
This post was originally published by RampUp on 2/12/18.
