Marketing Culture 2.0: Data Analytics on bdex.com

Marketing Culture 2.0: Data Analytics
June 5, 2019| | in category analysis methods, Big Data, business, buy data, daas, Data Exchange Platform, Data Industry News, data management platform, data marketplace, Data Vendors, Email Marketing, email retargeting, First Party Data, in-market data, Internet of Things, IT, location-based data, Real Time Data, sell data, Thick Data, Third party Data, Web Design, Web Hosting, website re-targeting Comments Off on Marketing Culture 2.0: Data Analytics

A look at updates organizations must make culturally to compete in today’s real-time marketplace, where the focus is human connectivity

Customer data is driving marketing into the future. But even the most tech-savvy marketing office won’t fully succeed when analyzing data without also integrating big changes into its company culture.

Data is valuable; there’s no doubt about that. But without using it to its full potential, businesses miss out on many crucial improvements to business strategy, including, most importantly, fostering real human connections.

A Forrester survey revealed that companies that integrate an advanced analytics culture increased their marketing ROI by an average of 9.1 percent over the last one to two years. This improved performance 1.7 times for these companies versus those that didn’t have an advanced analytics culture.

These considerations clearly matter for the bottom line. Here are ways that organizations can harness data to its full potential.

Updating company analytics culture

A greater focus on company culture is a major part of using data analytics successfully. It’s not enough to use the newest tools and technologies; the team must collaborate and learn together how data push the business forward.

Across the company, the key components of a successful analytics culture are, according to Forrester:

  • Strategy. This requires business leaders to use data insights to drive decision-making. Data should be included in all marketing channels.
  • Adoption. Marketing strategy that is driven by data insights must be considered a business growth driver across the company.
  • Turning insights into action. The team must be able to interpret data and use it quickly.
  • Tech and tools. Data must come from various sources, and tools must be implemented that provide clear and distinguishable facts about the data.
  • Data science expertise. The team must be able to weed through large amounts of data and have the expertise required to use the insights for future predictions.

Because using customer data to drive marketing strategy is so multifaceted, it’s clear that doing so successfully requires much more than bringing new platforms into the office. An effective analytics culture must be learned and implemented across teams and experience levels so decisions can be driven efficiently by real-time data insights.

Integrate data in a decision-making

Company leaders may not be fully using data and relevant customer-insight teams to make decisions. The Forrester surveyors concluded that companies that involve customer insights and data teams into decision-making for marketing show a stronger analytics culture overall than those that don’t.

This is why customer insights and data should be directly connected to marketing decision-making. Business outcomes are improved when decisions are made based on facts and real-time insights. The majority of companies surveyed by Forrester (81 percent) that use data to drive their decision-making processes saw better business outcomes and reported improvements in marketing performance.

Companies should, therefore, focus on educating employees so everyone is aligned on driving decisions from analytics, and teams must then come together behind this practice. Decisions should be backed up by facts pulled from data, and this should become the minimum expectation.

Fostering real human connection

One of the biggest benefits of fully integrating data analytics is the human component. Companies using real-time customer data are able to make immediate, relevant connections with their audience.

It’s important to note that customers shouldn’t be treated like data figures or numbers; for companies to effectively use real-time customer insights, they must connect on an individual and human level. This means decisions should be well thought-through and based on data, but they should also have a basis of underlying trust that drives relationships, as Inc.com points out.

This thinking continues to drive the age-old idea that the customer should be No. 1 in any marketing strategy, digital or not.

Mastering analytics

The Forrester survey also indicated that there were clear advantages for companies that had actually mastered measurement and analytics, over those that had just started implementing such programs. One company surveyed reported a 30 percent reduction in customer acquisition cost that was directly attributable to the company’s increased focus on analytics.

These “mastering” companies were shown to have “nearly 3x improvement in business decision-making speed and time-to-market with new products, higher marketing ROI, greater marketing efficiency, and new customer insights.”

The benefits of revamping analytics company culture are clear. Knowledge is power, and data is behind all valuable marketing information in our modern world. Data should begin to drive business decisions, which will ultimately improve business outcomes, valuable customer connections, flexibility, credibility, and ROI.

BDEX provides advanced data infrastructure that drives human connectivity. The BDEX Data Exchange Platform (DXP) provides data as a service (DaaS) and real-time data signals so you can target consumers with the latest information. Get in touch today to learn more about BDEX’s advanced data solutions for marketers.

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How Technologies May Change How Marketing Data Is Gathered and Used on bdex.com

How Technologies May Change How Marketing Data Is Gathered and Used
May 29, 2019| | in category analysis methods, bdex, Big Data, business, buy data, Data Exchange Platform, Data Industry News, data management platform, data marketplace, Data Vendors, digital marketing, direct mail targeting, Email Marketing, First Party Data, in-market data, IT, Launch Advertising, location-based data, Thick Data, Third party Data, Web Design, Web Hosting, website re-targeting Comments Off on How Technologies May Change How Marketing Data Is Gathered and Used

Today’s ubiquity of connected devices is such that, even for those of us from a past without email, it’s hard to imagine life without them. Companies should use caution to avoid marketing missteps.

If we take today as an admittedly arbitrary starting point, what could the next 20 years bring? In 1999, Google was less than a year old, and Yahoo was still the dominant search engine. Apple released the iBook, the first Wi-Fi-enabled notebook computer.

Comparing the technological landscape of 1999 to today and projecting that rate of change to the world of 2039, it’s difficult to imagine how the future will look. One thing, though, is certain: For the marketing world, the emerging opportunities are equal parts exciting and perilous.

Looking forward to a continuing increase in human connectivity

Two things we can be sure of in the years ahead are the continued increase of human connectivity to a global network of information, entertainment, and commerce, and the continuing rise of machine learning and AI. The combination of these two factors presents new opportunities and challenges to market researchers.

Increased human connectivity to the network will bring with it a data bonanza the likes of which we have never seen. Without the concurrent rise of machine learning, we would not be able to make sense of it all. The incidence of these two factors will bring about a golden age of individually tailored marketing that will seamlessly integrate itself into a user’s buying behavior as they transact business online. Marketing will dynamically adjust to the buyer’s shopping patterns and buying behaviors in such a way as to appear serendipitous.

Data-driven eCommerce opportunities

Imagine shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue’s eCommerce site for a Calvin Klein buckle-strap sheath dress in Summer Yellow. You make the purchase and then open Instagram to check in on your friends, and as you scroll through, you find a photo of the perfect crossbody handbag in a coordinating navy blue. Just a click, and you’re looking at it on the Zaful.com online store. Five minutes later, the bag is on its way to you, and you have no idea you were just sold.

Sophisticated AI used a combination of a color-coordinating accessory-suggestion algorithm and prior analysis of your fashion purchasing habits to make the accessory appear for you. The whole experience might have felt no more intrusive than if an in-the-flesh salesperson showed you the perfect bag for the lovely dress you just picked up.

Don’t make consumers keep looking over their shoulder

A deft touch with these advances will not only be desirable but necessary. The alternative is a version of today’s remarketing efforts amped-up on steroids – ads reactively appearing immediately for every item browsed, every cart abandoned, every word uttered within earshot of a smart speaker. Imagine asking your partner for a stick of gum and then looking at your smartwatch, only to find a banner ad for the latest neutrino-mint-flavored chewing gum there. The banner might as well as say, “Big Marketing Brother Is Watching.”

That’s one of the biggest challenges that marketers will face in the coming age of hyperconnectivity. Collecting every available bit of consumer data and using it without any thought given to how invasive and pushy the use may come off to consumers could lead to a destructive backlash. With companies like Apple pushing privacy protection and giving consumers more options to opt out of data collection, misuse of future data acquisition and handling tech could lead to a drought of data. Those marketers who employ intelligence coupled with restraint will be positioned to reap the benefits: a wealth of actionable data on consumer buying habits and the graceful marketing tactics that encourage purchase without the perception of “digital hard-selling.”

The lessons of a possible future

These are lessons worth taking to heart today. For the future always arrives gradually, until suddenly one looks around and realizes that the future is – how’d that happen? – now. Those marketers who seek to harness the full power of data – yet with the foresight to use that information in thoughtful and clever ways that don’t heighten consumer concerns – are the same ones who will prosper in a coming online world that is data-rich, yet also more surveillance-sensitive.

BDEX endows your marketing with the power and depth of human connectivity. Call 917-410-6616 or contact us to learn how marketing solutions from BDEX can help you with your present and future marketing data needs.

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Marketing: How Data Drives Human Connectivity on bdex.com

Marketing: How Data Drives Human Connectivity
May 22, 2019| | in category analysis methods, Analytics, bdex, Big Data, business, buy data, Data Exchange Platform, Data Industry News, data management platform, data marketplace, digital marketing, Email Marketing, email retargeting, First Party Data, in-market data, Internet of Things, IT, location-based data, Mobile Marketing, Real Time Data, sell data, Thick Data, Third party Data, Web Design, Web Hosting, website re-targeting Comments Off on Marketing: How Data Drives Human Connectivity

Big brands are using data to build better connections with their customers. Learn why user data is now a crucial part of any brand’s marketing strategy, and how the BDEX DXP drives human connectivity

Many major brands out there are using data analytics to gain valuable insights from what people are buying, their interactions with products, and other shopping behaviors. These data points then inform how they structure their marketing tactics, and the customer remains the most important part of their strategy.

But these companies often have just one way of connecting to customers, whether with email newsletters or through their website. These brands may know that data collection is important, but they don’t know how to use it to the best of their advantage. Savvy operators are finding ways to match user IDs across channels instead of just interacting one way.

Here are examples of how brands are using data in their marketing strategies to develop crucial new opportunities for connection.

Pinpointing what drives customers’ behaviors

Data analytics can now provide invaluable insight into not just what users do, but what they want. A great example of this in action is the company Stitch Fix. This online clothing retailer sends personalized boxes to customers with different clothing and fashion items, and customers can pick and choose what they keep from the selection.

Stitch Fix has implemented advanced data technology that allows them to see what the customer has been shopping for, what they actually end up buying, and what they don’t keep from the preselected bundle. The company’s technology is also able to show them why the customer chose not to keep certain items.

Homing in on user preferences

Many big brands, such as Netflix and Coca-Cola, gather as much data as they can from the customer by asking them questions along their product path. Netflix sends suggestions to users for movies and television shows based on what they’ve watched in the past. Netflix can then see what their users choose to watch and what their preferences are, and use that information to inform their strategy. This helps brands create successfully targeted ads.

Location-based targeting

Another benefit of using data in marketing strategy is the ability to adapt products to a specific demographic, living in a specific location across the globe.

For example, Adidas released running shoes that are specifically made for runners living in big cities. They used data such as weather patterns and terrain to design shoes that inhabitants would be drawn to.

Survey data

Another effective way to gather and use customer data is through survey research. This approach can reveal something as simple as a flavor preference across a population.

Mars and Alibaba paired up to evaluate consumer research using a survey, in tandem with Alibaba’s user data, which ended up showing that their consumers wanted more spicy flavors. They created a fiery version of the Snickers bar to meet this growing preference.

Integrating humorous trends

Two big brands used data to discover that their users are quirky, so they cranked up the humor in their marketing campaigns. OkCupid found when mining through user data that 888,000 usernames contained the word “cat,” outnumbering the dog lovers. The online dating company used the data in an entertaining blog post to explain why they ended the use of usernames in their app.

Spotify found that many of their listeners create weird playlist names and exhibit odd music preferences, so they build campaigns to play on that tendency. One of their ad campaigns, for instance, honored “the 3,445 people who streamed the ‘Boozy Brunch’ playlist on a Wednesday this year.”

These are great examples of how brands are using data to truly connect with their customers. Using humor can be a fun and effective strategy to connect with people of any generation.

How BDEX can help

At BDEX, our data helps power human connectivity. The BDEX Data Exchange Platform (DXP) can use customer IDs to create a multichannel strategy for companies to better reach their audience, whether through social platforms, email, mobile or postal – not just through a single venue.

The BDEX DXP is simple to use: You just decide if you want to reach mobile, email, and/or other user types, and you choose from nearly 500 different industries and over 5,500 different categories. We have over 900 billion data signals from consumers in the U.S., and those customer IDs can be linked across platforms with our 800 million connections between email, mobile, and cookie IDs.

Our platform helps brands connect with their ideal audience, making real-time targeting that much more efficient. Keep putting the customer first and fostering those valuable human connections with BDEX DXP.

To learn more about our data, get in touch with our team.

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Restaurant Marketing: How to Use Real-Time Data to Increase Loyalty on bdex.com

Restaurant Marketing: How to Use Real-Time Data to Increase Loyalty
May 15, 2019| | in category Analytics, bdex, Big Data, business, daas, Data Exchange Platform, Data Industry News, data management platform, data marketplace, Direct mail, Internet of Things, Launch Advertising, linear analysis, Real Time Data, Thick Data, Third party Data Comments Off on Restaurant Marketing: How to Use Real-Time Data to Increase Loyalty

Readily available data can help restaurants connect with their customers and strengthen those relationships online – which can be key to remaining competitive

The competitive landscape for restaurants is as intense as ever. No eatery – whether chain or “mom and pop” – can afford to ignore the wealth of data that can help them create and maintain ongoing customer relationships.

At BDEX, we consider this a principle: The more competitive an industry is, the more those in it will need real-time data to enrich those customer relationships. And when we think of competitive business segments, few can beat the restaurant game, with its endless number and variety of competitors.

The winners in any marketplace are the ones who dynamically identify customer wants and needs and fulfill those desires elegantly. But whether it’s an established local chain or the new upscale brasserie in town, how can a restaurant hope to contend with big brands – on both the low and high end – that can dedicate considerable sums to their data-gathering efforts?

First, size isn’t everything

A local restaurant or small chain – where the owners are often on premises and the staff is encouraged to bond with and get to know the patrons – is better able to form real person-to-person relationships with them. This gives them a significant advantage over the large national chains when it comes to creating customer loyalty.

Smaller operations are also closer to the ground. The person using the data is far less removed from the customer than the people running that competing chain from a distant corporate office. This gives small restaurants or groups a massive advantage because when they get their hands on the data, they can understand how it applies to the real world and gain actionable insights from it.

That puts them way ahead of most companies. Case in point: A study from Forrester and DataStax found that 95 percent of companies can’t make sense of customer data and struggle to get much meaningful insight from it.

Fostering “Human Connectivity”

It’s probably a good bet that any successful restaurateur is a good host, adept at making people feel welcome and connecting with them. An effective customer marketing plan supercharges that ability by enabling them to connect beyond their doors and invite customers to come back for new dining experiences.

That begins with the customer list, which operators can cull from point-of-sale data. Transaction data can give restaurants a picture of those patrons, revealing how often they dine at the restaurant, how much they spend, what time of the day they prefer, whether they tend to order from the wine list and those who have visited just once.

By matching that list to customers’ online accounts, restaurants can:

  • Connect with them online, through such avenues as social media, email, and newsletters, as well as offline.
  • Tailor marketing messages to the customer’s profile to entice them to come in more often.
  • Keep the lines of communication open between visits, and even create an opt-in email list that will keep the eatery’s biggest fans in the know on its latest offerings, promotions, and general news.
  • Through geofencing, restaurants can use location data to know when customers, or even prospective diners, are nearby and then make efforts to get them to visit.

The most successful restaurant operations will use data to cultivate repeat customers and keep them loyal – which is one of the first things investors look for. Being able to connect with your diners often means they’ll visit more often, spend more and refer their friends and colleagues. That means, of course, more customers. And in such a competitive industry, that can translate to not only surviving but thriving.

BDEX is committed to building the data infrastructure restaurants need to power human connectivity. Call 917-410-6616 or use our website contact form to learn how marketing solutions from BDEX can help you reach out to your best customers and keep them in the fold.

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Why GDPR Won’t Stop Programmatic Advertising on bdex.com

Why GDPR Won’t Stop Programmatic Advertising
May 8, 2019| | in category analysis methods, Analytics, Big Data, business, buy data, custom segment building, daas, Data Exchange Platform, Data Industry News, data management platform, data marketplace, digital marketing, direct mail targeting, Email Marketing, First Party Data, General, in-market data, Internet of Things, location-based data, Mobile Marketing, sell data, Thick Data, Third party Data, Web Design, Web Hosting, website re-targeting Comments Off on Why GDPR Won’t Stop Programmatic Advertising

Learn the impacts of GDPR on marketing technology, and why programmatic advertising is stronger than ever

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, 2018, and since then organizations around the world have been updating privacy policies, and consumers have become even more concerned about online transparency and confidentiality.

The privacy changes have proven to be especially relevant to marketers and advertisers, industries that already had to manage a delicate balance between consumer data and privacy compliance.

What follows is a look at how GDPR is affecting marketing technology (MarTech) and why brands are actually continuing to increase programmatic advertising, despite rumors that it was on the way out.

Impacts of GDPR on MarTech

The implementation of GDPR got many in the marketing industry talking about how it may be the end of programmatic advertising. With the stricter privacy laws, many thought programmatic would be too complex to monitor and too prone to violating the new regulations.

Because GDPR requires the consent of consumers if their personal data is involved in an interaction, it was said that it would be too complicated for marketers to have an “entirely opted-in subscriber base,” as Global Web Index put it, making it impossible to continue targeted digital advertising.

Most respondents (79 percent) in a report conducted by London Research and Truth said they were worried about levels of transparency in programmatic advertising. The research surveyed over 100 executives at well-known brands and senior marketers and only 14 percent of respondents said they had a good understanding of the portion of their budget that actually gets to the consumer. One of the biggest industry concerns was a lack of visibility into third parties.

However, programmatic advertising isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it’s been increasing since GDPR was implemented last year. The use of third-party data on social media platforms, after a decrease following the implementation of GDPR, started rising again in October 2018. Data from Adaptly shows that 15 percent of Facebook media is purchased with third-party data and that data usage has increased almost three times since the initial decrease.

eMarketer predicts that by 2020, U.S. advertisers will see $69 billion in digital display ad spending programmatically, which will make up 86.3 percent of the entire digital display spending.

Why brands are continuing with programmatic advertising

Programmatic advertising is still going strong because it’s such an effective method. Using data like demographics, geography, personal interests, behaviors, and even weather conditions, programmatic advertising platforms can use this real-time data to identify the right audiences and cater ads to devices specific to that audience.

The accurate, real-time data that programmatic advertising takes advantage of has been the foundation to the method’s success. These ads are personalized to each consumer’s unique interests, behaviors, location, and demographics. Put simply, programmatic advertising allows marketers to put a message in front of a person based on what they’re doing at that exact moment.

In the aforementioned London Research survey, 61 percent of respondents said the greatest benefit of programmatic is the ability to target and optimize effectively. Programmatic enhance personalization and improves the overall brand experience for the consumer while increasing marketing ROI.

So how can these benefits be taken advantage of while following GDPR?

First, marketers must address that consent concern. Make it a priority to receive consent from consumers in everything on your website, including cookies, newsletters, or other subscriptions. Adaptly research shows that 3 in 4 consumers in the UK welcome the changes that GDPR brings, so they’re going to be grateful for your transparency and often willing to give their consent.

Updated privacy regulations also mean quality standards are rising. It’s thus more important than ever to put more energy into creating high-quality ads that are competitive and relevant. It’s a great time for marketers to revisit their entire ad strategy along with updating privacy concerns.

And remember that it’s impossible to produce quality ads without quality data. The BDEX Data Exchange Platform (BDEX DXP) has 900 million searchable data points on tens of millions of U.S. consumers. These data points span 19 categories of shoppers and 5,000 additional categories, such as science, sports, and health, to help marketers home in on the audience they need for effective real-time marketing.

Take advantage of programmatic advertising that’s backed by quality, accurate real-time data. Learn more about how BDEX can help you get the data you need to push your real-time targeting strategy forward. Contact us today to learn more about our advanced data platform.

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5 Ways 5G Will Affect Data-Driven Marketing on bdex.com

5 Ways 5G Will Affect Data-Driven Marketing
April 17, 2019| | in category analysis methods, bdex, Big Data, business, buy data, daas, Data Exchange Platform, Data Industry News, data management platform, data marketplace, Data Vendors, digital marketing, direct mail targeting, Email Marketing, First Party Data, in-market data, IT, linear analysis, location-based data, Mobile Marketing, Real Time Data, sell data, Thick Data, Third party Data, Web Design, Web Hosting Comments Off on 5 Ways 5G Will Affect Data-Driven Marketing

With the next generation of wireless technology expected to accelerate device proliferation, marketers need 100 percent deterministic cross-device matching more than ever.

A little girl rides her tricycle in her home, and as she passes a glass window, an illustration of a friendly monster appears. A fashion designer uses an AR-enabled screen to create his latest work. A group of gamers immerses themselves in an all-out virtual battle on their mobile phones…

If you didn’t see the Samsung ad that first appeared during the Super Bowl earlier this year, these images might seem like far-off fantasies, but with 5G on the horizon, they will soon become a reality.

For marketers, the opportunities 5G will bring are nearly endless. Here are just a few examples.

New marketing mediums will emerge

The proliferation of mobile devices has allowed people across the United States and around the world to access the internet, but not everyone with a smartphone enjoys the same level of connectivity. While they can typically browse the web or watch a short video, a host of problems, from a lack of bandwidth to latency, can keep these users from actively engaging in the content they consume.

The arrival of 5G will give mobile marketers the opportunity to create immersive user experiences like they never have before. Think interactive mobile games that allow users to talk and see each other in real time or AR-enabled apps from brands and retailers that allow users to try on clothes in the comfort of their home.

5G will make waves outside of the mobile space too. Better wireless internet will lead to better location intelligence, allowing marketers to geo-target potential customers with coupons, store updates, and more relevant marketing material with greater precision. In other words, getting the right message to the right customer at the right time—the goal of any marketing campaign—will finally be possible on a broader scale.

Of course, these scenarios are only a few examples of how marketers can create bigger, better campaigns and user experiences with 5G. Only time will tell how marketers take advantage of 5G once it’s widely available.

Marketers will have access to more real-time data

5G will boost network speeds from about 100 megabits per second to 10 gigabits per second, nearly 100 times faster than what is available through 4G now. Increased network speeds, along with increased bandwidth, will enable retailers and brands to collaborate in new ways.

Adweek predicts 5G will disrupt retailing by enabling in-store purchases via AR mirrors, distribution of long-form video content via MMS, foldable multi-screen devices and even location-based delivery.

Programmatic advertising will get a revamp

We’ve discussed how 5G will open up new avenues for data-driven marketing campaigns, but the current programmatic advertising infrastructure will also change as demand grows.

Open X, a programmatic advertising company, says it currently handles 100 billion ad requests per day. That number may seem high, but when 5G arrives, brands, retailers, and other companies will request programmatic ads even more. Advertisements will load faster and richer audio and video experiences will be possible, giving brands even more reason to invest in programmatic advertising.

Programmatic advertising costs could change as well. More demand could lead to higher prices, but advertisers and publishers also predict there will be more ad formats and pricing options to choose from as well.

Marketing across multiple devices will be a must

With 5G, more consumers will access the internet on more devices at the same time. While the interaction between devices includes smartphones, desktop, and laptops, smart home and voice-enabled devices powered by the IoT will be accessed more frequently as well.

To reach users across all their devices, marketers will have to identify them. Tools like BDEX’s ID Graph, which uses 100 percent deterministic cross-device matching, will become indispensable.

Marketers that fail to prepare could get left in the dust

It’s important to recognize that even though 5G is expected to change how marketers approach data-driven marketing, it will take years to reach the average consumer. In its downloadable report “The 5G era in the US,” the GSMA estimates 5G won’t become the leading mobile network technology in the United States until 2025 when it’s expected to account for about half of mobile connects.

That gives marketers plenty of time to prepare. Whether your company is a startup or a multi-million dollar establishment, the BDEX DXP has an audience and other datasets across more than 500 industries, making it an ideal resource for marketers who want to get ahead and start reaching more potential customers now.

By combining the functionality and reach of a traditional DMP in a true marketplace environment, BDEX enables companies to create and target audiences like never before. Contact us today to learn more.

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