DATA MANAGEMENT
PLATFORMS.
UNLOCKING THE POWER
OF AUDIENCE DATA.
Audience Data 101 ... 2
What is a DMP? ...3
DMP for Publishers ...4
DMP for Marketers ...6
10 Essential Attributes of an Exceptional DMP ...8
10 Ways to Improve Your Data Management Strategy ... 10
Conclusion ...11
Table of
Contents
Big data has transformed the world of publishing and advertising forever. Today,
marketers don’t buy media; they buy audiences — targeted segments based on
demographics, interests and behaviors. The promise: the ability to reach the right
customer, at the right time, with the right message. This results in a more efficient
marketing spend, and more relevant, compelling content, which in turn drives
higher conversions and ROI. The big challenge in turning this promise into reality is
harnessing the power of big data and activating it within your organization.
“Companies using data-directed
decision-making enjoy a
5-6% boost in productivity
”
-Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Audience Data 101
Audience data has come a long way since it first appeared in the advertising industry. In the past thirty years, audience data has expanded from subscriber files and direct mailing lists to include online demographic, behavioral, and intent data. Today, companies produce mountains of audience data daily — including searches, websites, social media, mobile apps, and more. The challenge lies in harnessing its power.
Making use of this audience data is a requirement for marketers, publishers, and ad networks looking to stay ahead of the curve and keep their revenue stream robust. Each is faced with the challenge of responding to changing demands on both the buy and sell sides. What’s more, today’s cross-channel marketing plans rely heavily on understanding who the target audience is and how to reach them most effectively. Today, marketers buy audiences, not media. In Q4 2013, a report by Digiday noted that 54% of media buyers plan to allocate more of their spend to “Audience Extension” in 2014 — primarily shifting budget away from broad/niche networks or standard premium content buys.
Additionally, research conducted at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology shows that companies using “data-directed decision-making” (defined “not only by collecting data, but also by how it is used — or not — in making crucial decisions”) enjoy a 5-6% boost in productivity.
This research reveals a strong link between effective data management strategy and corporate productivity and financial performance. Companies that use data most effectively reap the benefits in increased ROI, greater sell-through of advertising inventory, and an improved level of engagement with their audience. It is vital that today’s businesses understand the value of audience data; this allows them to create and deliver custom content and targeted marketing messages to the right audience, in the right place, at the right time.
The challenge is in collecting, unifying and activating this data in order to unlock its
value. This is the purpose of a DMP — a Data Management Platform.
Site analytics Email database Search data Display (ad server) Offline (CRM)
CMS/site optimization tool Email campaign
Display program
Search management tool Video
Mobile
Addressable TV Data intake
Data normalization Segmentation and scoring
Tag management Analytics/insights
DATA INPUTS DATA MANAGEMENT PLATFORM LIVE CHANNELS
• Behavioral targeting
• Cross-platform targeting
• Content customization
• Private data exchange
• Sequential messaging
• Audience extension
• Data monetization
• Data portability
What is a DMP?
Today, many technology companies claim to offer Data Management Platforms (DMPs), although they often provide users with only the most basic functionalities. In the most basic sense, DMPscollect raw data points from various sources, and convert them into insights and analytics, making the data actionable.
The DMP gathers web-based audience data, demographics, social behavior, and other identifiers, puts it into categories, and then mixes and matches segments to understand, in real time, how audiences are behaving in different channels. These data points can be used for the creation of effective RFP responses, audience enrichment using third-party data, and audience extension to address campaign commitments.
The advanced targeting methodologies of DMPs enable smart publishers and advertisers to identify and classify audience members at a significantly deeper level and allow them to gather an extra layer of data about their audience. DMPs can be used to create custom audiences using first- and third-party data. They can also help users gain valuable cross-channel insights about each audience to inform campaigns, content,
and creative planning and development.
Vital Capabilities of a True DMP
• Identifies, collects, and organizes a broad range of first-party data
• Accommodates both off-the-shelf and fully customizable first-party data options and structures
• Enables exploration and use of third-party data sources
• Converts both first- and third-party data into audience insights
• Provides integration points for ingesting first-party data from multiple sources (online and offline)
• Provides integration points for leveraging data in multiple contexts (ad targeting, content targeting/personalization)
Who Needs a DMP?
Any company with audience data collected from first-party digital assets should be putting this data to work through a DMP. Innovative publishers, marketers, and ad networks can utilize a data management platform to unlock the value of their audience data, creating a new and improved revenue stream, more efficient and effective marketing, and higher conversions. All of which leads to an increased return on their marketing investment.
A DMP can enable publishers and marketers (including agencies and ad networks) to unify all of their data onto a single platform to perform all of the following data-driven marketing functions:
DMP for Publishers
Publishers who use a data management platform can better understand the audiences they reach through their digital properties, enabling them to shape them into valuable segments, and offer much more targeted advertising capabilities. A DMP offers insight into a user’s demographics, interests, and actions while on and off your web properties, creating a richer profile of behavior. At the same time, the DMP removes any personally identifiable information (PII), in order to uphold consumer privacy.
Unlocking this audience information gives publishers a powerful way to increase revenue:
• The data management platform arms publishers with robust tools to build audience segments that attract brand dollars at higher CPMs, attracting larger advertisers and increasing their bottom line.
• DMPs can be used to create custom audiences in response to specific RFP requirements. This leads to an
increased RFP win rate and greater sell-through of advertising inventory on their sites.
• By integrating your DMP with your content management system (CMS), you can use these same audience insights to offer personalized content to users, increasing engagement, conversion rates, and sales — all by giving consumers more of the information they are interested in.
• Audience profile reports can also be an added value for your advertisers. Both publisher and advertiser gain additional insights, build stronger strategies, and create tighter relationships to improve the performance of future campaigns.
The bottom line? By offering advertisers added value and responding to more granular RFPs, publishers can
sell more media, raise their CPMs, and see increased ROI with the use of a DMP alongside traditional contextual advertising.
According to a Q4 study from Digiday, publishers expect the following benefits from
their use of Audience Data:
Benefits of a DMP for Publishers
ACCURATE FORECASTING
Build audiences with first-, second-, and third-party data, and see overlap instantly while forecasting inventory for campaign proposals and RFPs.
UNIFY YOUR DATA
Collect data from ANY source, organize it, and then export and activate audiences through any media platform.
CROSS-PLATFORM AUDIENCE TARGETING
Target audiences on any device or platform, including online and mobile.
DATA PROTECTION
Gain visibility into all of the third-party tags on your site.
DIRECT DATA SALES
Opt-in to the data marketplace and anonymously sell your first-party data or create a private data exchange among select partners.
PRIVACY MANAGEMENT
Stay at the forefront of privacy policy and impending legislation by partnering with a trusted vendor.
AUDIENCE INSIGHTS
Understand what other behaviors a given audience may exhibit to build look-alikes to scale an audience.
46%
expect to win more money on proposals
42%
expect to be able to win new business
38%
will keep business that would have otherwise been lost
36%
will meet campaign goals that were otherwise unattainable
Opportunity
Armed with a massive pool of audience data — such as declared demographics, interests, and influencer data — BlogHer saw the opportunity to activate audience data and offer custom segment targeting to their advertisers.
Solution
BlogHer selected Lotame DMP to collect, categorize, and activate first-party audience data from BlogHer’s network. Their sales and operations teams began incorporating audience targeting into their everyday business practices. In just a few months, BlogHer was building custom segments in the platform and responding to new RFPs requesting audience targeting.
Results
Since deploying Lotame DMP across their network in early 2011, audience targeting has driven a new source of revenue for the company by complementing BlogHer’s robust market offering. Taking control and activating audience data helped BlogHer:
PUBLISHER DMP CASE STUDY:
BlogHer
BlogHer — the leading cross-platform media network created by, for, and with
women social media leaders reaches more than 37 million women each month.
BlogHer deployed Lotame’s DMP in early 2011 to target custom audiences across
its valuable network of social influencers.
WIN BUSINESS WITH
NEW ADVERTISERS
INCLUDE AUDIENCE
TARGETING
IN 80% OF PROPOSALS
INCREASE RFP
CLOSE RATE
DMP FOR MARKETERS
The 2012 Forrester Report, “The DMP is the Audience Intelligence Engine for Interactive Marketers,” stated: “Having a single touchpoint where important audience data is stored has many advantages for interactive marketers, such as allowing for greater flexibility and deeper customization of segments. DMP technology also helps to move the interactive marketer away from channel-specific segmentation and toward a unified customer- and brand-led approach.”
In a competitive marketplace saturated with brand messaging, advertisers, marketers, and agencies must create and deliver highly-relevant campaigns to the right audiences at the right time and place. With the massive amounts of available data, marketers have two choices: put the data to use to learn how to intelligently target audience segments with more relevant campaigns, or fall behind the competition. Some marketers simply increase the number of campaigns they are running rather than invest in a data management solution, but this approach results in a diminishing return — as they “spray and pray,” spending the money on more campaigns that deliver lower impact and ROI.
By partnering with a DMP, marketers and agencies have access to full audience profile reports before the campaigns even start running, providing them with a deeper understanding of the actual behaviors and interests of their consumers. Marketers can also use the insights gleaned from these audience profiles to tailor messaging based on their audiences’ specific interests. In addition, marketers can use information mid-campaign to adjust the audience segment details in real time, resulting in increased engagement with the target audience.
The bottom line? By sending relevant advertising messages to the people who actually want to see them, marketers can drive increased engagement with consumers, waste fewer advertising dollars, and increase conversion rates — all yielding a higher marketing ROI.
Benefits of a DMP for Marketers
CONTENT PERSONALIZATION
Tailor messaging to audiences based on interests and behaviors to increase engagement and campaign results.
AUDIENCE INSIGHTS
Get an enhanced understanding of customers’ interests and behaviors to improve the relevance of campaign messages and drive higher conversion rates and sales.
TARGETED CAMPAIGN MESSAGES
Create custom audiences specific to each campaign for minimal ad waste and deeper insights.
DATA PORTABILITY
Import first- and third-party data, build custom segments, and easily export data.
DATA PROTECTION
Limit the number of tags on your website.
ACTIVATE YOUR DATA
Deploy high-value audience segments across media and
advertising buys — increasing efficiency and driving higher ROI on your marketing spend.
UNIFY YOUR DATA
One platform for audience data from any source, including online, offline, CRM, and mobile.
PRIVACY MANAGEMENT
Stay at the forefront of privacy policy and impending legislation with a trusted partner.
LEARN BEFORE YOU PAY
Learn about who is visiting your site and creative before starting a new advertising campaign to reduce waste and increase ROI.
Opportunity
A major entertainment studio was looking to drive intent-to-see and conversion for an upcoming movie release with relevant messaging. Using the Lotame DMP, they were able to examine behaviors and interests (for example, those who had recently searched on a particular movie star or viewed a movie trailer online).
Solution
Lotame DMP collected comprehensive audience insights specific to individual site visitors. The studio used this data to serve custom-tailored content to each visitor’s interests and behaviors as they entered the site. For example, those interested in a particular star would see content related to their personal life, an interview about the movie, and local show-times.
Results
By serving tailored content based on fans’ interests and actions, the studio saw:
This ended up providing both a tactical revenue enhancer and a strategic game-changer for the entire studio, changing the way they used audience data for marketing.
In this age of data-driven online marketing, there is a critical need for marketers
to take full advantage of audience data and send the right message to the
appropriate person. By segmenting audiences and targeting each with a
relevant message, the efficiency of the media buy can be increased, and more
effective creative and content can be created to engage audiences and drive
positive action.
INCREASED
TIME ON PAGE
HEIGHTENED ENGAGEMENT
AND BRAND LOYALTY
INCREASED NUMBER
OF PAGE VIEWS
MARKETER DMP CASE STUDY:
10 ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTES OF AN EXCEPTIONAL DMP
First-Party Data Management
Collects, organizes, and makes first-party audience data actionable from any source.
Customization
Enables the ability to build virtually any audience a marketer would want to reach.
Data Protection
Offers a clear picture into the number of third-party tags on owned and operated properties so that the ones eliminated can be the ones you don’t want.
Customer Support
The DMP partner provides access to a dedicated client support team to provide you with ongoing assistance as your needs evolve over time, not just during initial deployment and implementation.
Data Monetization
Provides the ability to opt-in to sell your data, to increase revenue, and to compete more effectively with other sites and networks.
Ease of Use
Offers an intuitive interface that anyone on the team will understand how to operate.
Content Personalization
Allows the ability to match content to site visitors’ interests in order to increase engagement.
Audience Insights
Provides deeper insights into audiences to increase the value of your ad inventory and match content to highly-targeted audiences.
Flexibility
The user interface should be intuitive, with a dynamic data hierarchy that is customizable and can be edited in real time to meet the specific needs of your individual business.
Data Portability
The DMP should have seamless integrations with other media outlets, so data can be used anywhere.
DATA COLLECTION
How does a DMP collect data from your sites?
DMPs are designed to provide a fast and simple start-up process that allows users to quickly and easily collect and take command of first-party data — the audience data on owned and operated web properties. Here are the simple steps to get up and running:
Step 1:
A company’s tech team pastes one
line of code with a unique ID into any
web property to be tracked, including
websites, emails, or advertisements.
Step 2:
Data analysts thoroughly examine a
site’s content and determine what data
sets should be collected.
Step 3:
The team builds “rules” that semantically
analyze page content and pull raw data
smoothly into the DMP.
Data collection should be rule-based, not URL-based. Implementing this ideology leads to the data capture of 4 to 5 times as many data points as traditional URL-based data collection. For example, analysts should be able to capture data on a wide variety of audience behaviors, including commenting, uploading, and interests based on keywords and other specific page content. Just as contextual advertising is outdated and
old-fashioned, URL-based data collection does not produce the depth of insight now available to publishers and marketers.
Data analysts can also create segments based on relevant topics and map those into a custom hierarchy — but this data collection should not be based on just the content of the pages viewed. Instead, users should be able to mix and match specific data points together. (For example, matching interest in particular product with location.) This provides the flexibility to classify data into custom categories that are relevant to each business, and match them with specific market strategies.
Delivering Relevant Ads to Custom Audiences
DMPs offer the organizational structure needed to build individual audiences based on behaviors and interests, and then use those audience sets to create targeted campaigns, produce custom content, or performvirtually any type of customization desired.
Here are a few examples:
• A movie studio wants to send a campaign to cinema fans about a new comedy film release. The marketer would browse through the hierarchy and find the “movie” category, and select the “comedy” category. Using this audience of movie fans, the desired ads can be sent only to people who fall into this category.
• WebMD wants to target weight-conscious audiences. By recognizing visits who are members of Weight Watchers, they can serve up a coupon for a new healthy recipe instead of an ad for Kraft Mac and Cheese.
• Sports Authority wants to sell more NFL merchandise in eastern Ohio. By segmenting Steelers fans vs. Browns fans, the most relevant jerseys and caps can be offered up.
Creating an audience is as simple as keyword buying, and this audience could be narrowed down further if desired, based on any selected attribute, including demographics, actions, or interests. Custom audiences can be used to run a specific advertising campaign, based on preferences previously expressed or on behavioral data collected from their activity on a social network or imported from another database.
The result? With a DMP, you can target people, not pages.
By targeting the audience interested in your specific offering, you experience
increased engagement with the audience, and fewer wasted advertising dollars.
Identify Valuable Data Points
Publishers, advertisers, and ad networks have access to millions of valuable data points that reveal audience behaviors, actions, and interests. To unlock the full value, you want to be certain to collect as many as possible.
Explore New Data Collection Avenues
In addition to the data collected from websites and campaigns, companies should explore all data collection avenues available, including mobile, CRM, and offline.
Convert Data Into Insights
A user visiting a page on a website is a data point. But the real insights lie in understanding what content they visited on the site, what attracted the user to the site, what content was shared on the site, or comments made by the users.
Create a Detailed Organization
of User Behaviors
Collecting demographics, content affiliation, interests, and actions allow you to cherry pick and quickly generate complex audience definitions for targeting.
De-Dupe Data Across Sources
De-duping data and uniques across first- and third-party sources minimize ad waste.
Invest in Third-Party Data
Identifying non-endemic user behaviors based on third-party data allows for additional revenue, improved efficiency of audience targeting, and increased RFP response and win rates beyond content-based targeting.
Make Data Portable
Make sure data and audiences can be seamlessly exported to ad servers and media avenues. An open environment is critical to success so that rich data and audience targets are fully actionable.
Use Data Beyond Audience Targeting
In addition to audience targeting, first- and third-party data can be used to optimize content on websites and creative, to personalize content in real time based on user interests, and to create content dynamically.
Use Insights to Fine-Tune
Audience Targeting
Create multi-dimensional profiles of audiences to understand the affinities and other interests of an audience and identify look-alikes.
Close the Data Loop
While executing a targeted campaign, make sure to collect data from these campaigns and use this insight for future campaigns.
First-, Second-, and Third-Party Data
Another important capability for a DMP is the ability to fully capture and collect first-, second-, and third-party data. Here’s a definition of each:
• First-Party Data: Data that has been collected from owned and operated digital media, including websites, email campaigns, and media campaigns, as well as data brought in from offline, including CRM sources.
• Second-Party Data: This refers to the ability to partner with other companies to share first-party data via a private data exchange. Second-party data is the data associated with an audience outside your network (for example, an ad viewed on another publisher’s site or search engine). These shared-data relationships can yield valuable “super segments” that unlock tremendous value.
• Third-Party Data: DMPs can also provide access to third-party data on millions of consumers from outside data providers that have been linked into the platform.
When a publisher or marketer builds a targeted audience inside the DMP, they can opt to use only their own first-party data, or they can choose to purchase anonymous third-first-party data to extend the audience reach. This pool of third-party data can be appended to include almost any kind of data from any source.
Identifying Overlap
Another important feature of data management platforms is the ability to identify overlapping audiences. For example, consider that Company A does not know the gender for its audience while Company B knows the gender of everyone who visits their site. Company A can buy access to the gender data that is targeted to only visitors in their audience from Company B. This means a company can avoid buying data on users that will never come to their site.
Privacy
DMPs enable marketers and publishers to directly license anonymous audience data for use in interest-based advertising, and to protect the privacy of site visitors through enhanced transparency and tools that enable companies and consumers to manage privacy preferences. When choosing a DMP, it is essential to partner with a company whose reputation for consumer data privacy and protection standards is stellar.
Conclusion
Publishers and marketers can both benefit from the capabilities offered by a DMP. Increased behavioral targeting in advertising campaigns has the potential to drive better engagement with consumers by sending the right message to the right people. And the additional audience insights gained can be used to tailor future advertising campaigns, resulting in smarter marketing efforts with minimal waste, and beyond:
• Content customization • Private data exchange • Sequential messaging • Data protection • Audience extension
• Behavioral targeting • Data monetization • Data portability
• Cross-platform targeting • Win non-endemic business
• Efficient third-party data buys • Unify all data into one platform • Leverage audience insights to
sell more media
However, not all DMPs are created equal. It is important to take a close look at the specific product offering from each vendor, to make sure that the functionalities match your needs. It’s also extremely important to choose a DMP partner based on their expertise and support and implementation team. To properly transition your organization — from marketing and sales to operations and media buying — you need a partner who can provide a clear roadmap and an approach that meets your exact requirements for success.
Finally, because the industry is moving so quickly (both the technology and options available), it’s critical that you have a partner committed to innovation — both in their capabilities and investing in your continued needs as they evolve over time.
