Adapting Analytics and Media Strategies in Times of Change

If you have been a marketer or worked in technology for any amount of time, you’ve undoubtedly heard that to be successful you need to deliver the right message at the right time in the right context.

Sounds simple and fairly straightforward until teams get together and begin to actually try to execute on that idea. The right message means there is current, accurate data available. The right context implies there are insights on a buyers’ interests and where they are in their journey (including privacy preferences)… and maybe even data that’s not about the customer, like product descriptions or cost. The right time means, well, now — not 2 days from now, and definitely not next week.

Another few layers to the onion make this extra tricky. Legal and privacy factors are forcing brands to own rather than outsource how they recognize their customers. Specifically:

• Regulatory compliance (GDPR and CCPA) putting privacy controls back into the hands of users
• Third Party Cookies going by the wayside (Google set to join the party in 2022)
• Ad blocking and browser changes 
• Walled Garden expansion from publishers

These changes are happening and have real impacts for your business. A key area to hone in on is identity. Without having a process and a way to manage digital identity, organizations will have challenges with advertising, analytics, and unfortunately the overall experience with the buyer. 

So how should teams approach this challenge? Which strategies do we need to keep, adapt, or drop?

Here are some considerations to ensure you are prepared and can deliver a brand-safe environment. Have a way to:

• Move to a first party data strategy (own and manage consented first-party data)
• Support enterprise data collection with a strong value exchange for trusted and strategic ID gathering (with more identifiers need to ensure these are collected and resolved fast)
• Honor consent throughout the entire buyer’s journey
• Ensure rich context for your activation across both anonymous and known customers

Resolve and unify identity with data

We know third-party audiences will begin to dwindle, along with the effectiveness of your DMP, but that doesn’t mean that all is lost on delivering great personalized experiences, building audiences and measuring ad effectiveness.  

Moving to a first party data strategy and having a solution (like a CDP) for data collection and activation is essential.  

For teams that need additional data support, investigating data partnerships (ex: data cleanrooms) are an option, but to future-proof your data strategy, first make sure you identify and match on the right data.  

Change is never easy, but it’s here. Start now and work with your internal teams to develop a plan with a roadmap. 

• Understand what data you have today – what is needed? (you may already have a lot of first party data!)
• Where is the data collected and housed?
• Who is involved and/or needs to be? 
• Develop a roadmap for adding additional data sources or processes. Part of the plan should be identifying goals and when to hit milestones. Ensure this is communicated within your organization

Do you agree? Is there anything we are missing?

Explore Tealium’s visitor stitching solution here and see how you can leverage data to fuel more meaningful customer experiences. Or to learn more about identity resolution in this age of digital transformation, check out this webcast.