Success Criteria of Marketing Measurement for the Modern Digital Marketer

Success Criteria of Marketing Measurement for the Modern Digital Marketer

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Measuring marketing effectiveness has long been important. However, marketing technology hasn’t always been as advanced as it is today. But as martech has improved, media engagement has become more fragmented, increasing the challenges marketers face in proving ROI.

The proliferation of new consumer platforms and devices exacerbates a common brand pain point: cross-channel measurement. In fact, according to the recent Nielsen Annual Marketing Report, only 20% of US marketers are confident in their ROI measurement capabilities. We know, however, that the problem is global.

Outside the US, global advertisers and publishers have a lot to gain. The expansion into international markets presents a significant opportunity, but also raises questions about where to invest and what to invest in. These are important considerations because marketers can easily go astray by enlisting the help of tools or vendors located outside of the target markets. The local media market and sales dynamics may be unfamiliar to them. Marketers frequently use different tools and platforms for different aspects of their campaigns, and these often clash.

It may sound simple, but having a solution tailored to the modern digital marketer is critical. Marketers today have three main needs: agility, granularity, and coverage.

  • Agility
  • Granularity
  • Coverage

Agility

Marketers and brands have always been expected to be flexible. But nothing can prepare a brand for a pandemic that disrupts daily life for over a year. The need for agility grows exponentially as the media landscape becomes more complex, as do the ramifications of not keeping up.

The call to marketers is growing louder, with an increasing emphasis on adapting marketing investments and decisions (between planning cycles) to changing market dynamics, a shifting competitive landscape, and seemingly daily consumer behavior changes. In this context, “agility” refers to the urgent need for real-time access to decision-supporting analytics.

This is true for both large and small brands. Large companies, especially those with well-known names and logos, have more resources than smaller ones. That doesn’t mean they always prioritize and allocate their budgets efficiently, or pivot when a new trend arises. Larger brands used to be much less agile due to rigid media planning.

Despite this, large corporations have become more agile in recent years, allowing them to respond faster to changing market demands and consumer preferences. Agile marketing principles and modern marketing technologies help them overcome inefficiencies and react quickly.

Granularity

Marketers used ‘male’ and ‘female’ as foundational parameters to reach, engage, and connect with consumers. Big data, addressable media, and targeting help marketers turn generic marketing interactions into authentic, personalized interactions with real people.

Personalization is the new holy grail for marketers and advertisers, and granular data and the ability to optimize it tactically at scale in real time is the key. To stay competitive, marketers must adapt and hire the necessary skills.

Coverage

With today’s tools and technologies, gut instincts and snap judgments are no longer acceptable in marketing decisions. Data-driven decisions are the future, and marketers must be able to make them across devices, platforms, and channels. Less time is spent trying to combine two tools’ outputs to arrive at a single answer, and that’s a good thing.

The customer journey begins long before a purchase is made. Understanding the pre-purchase process is critical. This is vital. However, rather than focusing on holistic consumer experiences, our survey found that brands of all sizes prioritize customer acquisition. Brands should always consider and invest in all consumer journey steps.

Given the increased emphasis on ROI, marketers must measure all budgeted channels, no matter how small. From there, marketers must understand the cross-channel implications of their spending in like-for-like terms. For example, a marketer must know how $1 spent on linear TV compares to $1 spent on Google, Facebook, CTV, and any other platform or outlet. And data will always provide the right path forward—but the data must be comparable.

Modern digital marketers know that having an agile solution with granular insights across all channels in the consumer journey is a must, and they are not compromising on any aspect. In fact, the savviest marketers are doubling down on ROI prediction that is agile, granular, and cross-channel. Their goal is to enable the next evolution in marketing measurement: outcome-based media planning.