[x+1]'s Integrated Approach
Vice President, Inkhouse Media & Marketing
Marketers face many choices as they seek ways to manage their audience data and touchpoints. There are multiple approaches and alternatives available: individual point products, the loosely integrated digital marketing “frankensuite” or the enterprise Data Management Platform (DMP).
Since [x+1] is the leading provider of enterprise DMP technology, the company is a strong advocate for that approach. But what exactly is an enterprise DMP? Why is it important and what are its benefits? How does it differ from other approaches? How can one best put an enterprise DMP to use? These are all questions [x+1]’s Chief Technology Officer Pat DeAngelis and VP of Product Management Bridget Bidlack work to answer every day.
Marketers face many choices as they seek ways to manage their audience data and touchpoints. There are multiple approaches and alternatives available: individual point products, the loosely integrated digital marketing “frankensuite” or the enterprise Data Management Platform (DMP).
Since [x+1] is the leading provider of enterprise DMP technology, the company is a strong advocate for that approach. But what exactly is an enterprise DMP? Why is it important and what are its benefits? How does it differ from other approaches? How can one best put an enterprise DMP to use? These are all questions [x+1]’s Chief Technology Officer Pat DeAngelis and VP of Product Management Bridget Bidlack work to answer every day.
“An enterprise DMP is a complete platform for
multi-touchpoint digital marketing,” said Bidlack recently, “and while some
people talk about this being ‘One platform,’ it’s not isolated or insular in
any way. What we’ve created is a platform that can pull in data from all kinds
of sources, apply advanced logic to it and then push out data to other systems
to make it actionable.”
What that means for marketers is that all their audience
data – whether it’s their own or comes from a third-party – can be viewed and
managed in one place. Not only that, but it can also be used to create
audiences that work across channels and touchpoints. “That’s important,”
explained Bidlack, “because a lot of cycles are wasted recreating the same
audience segments for use in different channels.”
Once segments have been created, they can be pushed out –
along with rules on their use – to every touchpoint available to a marketer. The
result is dynamic content based on consistent audience segments across all
digital channels.
Another important element of the [x+1] approach is that it’s
not just effective for pushing audience segments out; it also pulls information
in. “The idea,” said DeAngelis, “is to have one view of customers and
audiences, and that includes how well they perform. So we designed the system
to allow reports and analytics to be run against all of the data collected from
every channel. It really does provide the complete view that’s so critical for
marketers.”
Bidlack explained that marketers want
activity in one channel to be able to inform activities and decisions in
others. “You really want to be able to manage all the data and all the
audiences and all performance in one place. It just makes sense,” she said,
“and that’s what we allow our clients to do.”
Accomplishing this is no simple feat. “You need to have a
data model and an underlying architecture that allows you to bring in data from
the different channels and touchpoints. That’s the heavy lifting that we do for
marketers. Point products? By their nature they exist in isolation, come from
different vendors and just don’t speak the same language. Is it possible to
make them play well together? Sure, if you’ve got all the time and money in the
world.”
DeAngelis went on to explain that data integration was just
the first step – you need to be able to communicate to every touchpoint as
well. “Even if you manage to jerry-rig the backend, you’ve still got to be able
to speak the language of the channels you want to use. Think about that
challenge. Sure, you can pull data in – behavioral, demographic, profile and
what have you – but to push it out? That’s tough. We can do that though. All
the different data comes in and gets stirred and shifted and sliced and diced –
and then we’re able to push it out in ways that make sense to whatever
touchpoint a marketer is using. It’s pretty amazing and no cakewalk to pull off.
It requires a deep understanding of how each type of touchpoint functions.”
Bidlack agrees it’s challenging but pointed out that
marketers appreciate the effort. “Listen,” she said, “this solves some really
big problems. First, there’s just the incredible inefficiency that comes from
loading data into multiple platforms. Marketing organizations are dealing with so
many channels these days – imagine the wasted effort involved with tweaking
audience segments to work with each one!”
“On top of that,” she continued, “you have positioning
synchronization issues. What do I mean by that? Our clients want to be sure
that every time they speak to a customer – whether it’s through the Web site,
display, email, the call center, you name it – the story is consistent. That
just isn’t possible with point products or a frankensuite. There’s just too
much involved that those approaches aren’t capable of. We are.”
In the real world, the unique capabilities of [x+1]
translate to reduced cost and improved efficiency. DeAngelis points out there
are hard and soft costs to integrating multiple products. “It costs real money
to try and stitch things together,” he said. “On top of that, you’re missing
out on opportunities because these patched up systems – even if they do work –
don’t work that well. Never as well as what we offer. That’s because we started
from the premise that a system needs to be built from the ground up with
integration baked into its DNA. Trying to bolt it on after the fact? Just a
non-starter.”
The different approaches available to marketers all deliver different results. “Unfortunately,” said DeAngelis, “in too many cases – particularly when you’re talking about point products or the frankensuites – those results are bad.”
“Fortunately,” said Bidlack, “[x+1] offers an alternative
that works and delivers the kind of performance marketers expect and deserve.”
Posted by [x+1] at 9:30 PM | 3 comments
A complete integrated method is the best way for any form of marketing these days - from traditional to organic search engine optimization. By taking into account as many facets as possible, maximizing website traffic is that much easier.
ReplyDeleteThe internet is truly revolutionary in terms of marketing. The data we're getting is remarkable. I think where marketers are at fault is when don't do proper risk assessment and don't take into consideration other factors in reaching out to their audience, which is why I agree with your statement that we should "run against all of the data collected from every channel". Great points here. I've seen some seo services australia who leverage on many platforms.
ReplyDeleteIn long island advertising, they implemented certain methods in online marketing. These strategies are what a lot of SEO companies are using now such as keyword research and link building.
ReplyDelete