Today’s consumers are truly in the driver’s seat. Operating as part of a multi-channel, device-driven world, there are more touchpoints and channels that marketers must navigate than ever before.
In order to effectively target consumers, marketers must ensure each interaction is tailored and targeted to specific audience groups – or risk missing the opportunity to make a sale.
However, with the marketing ecosystem becoming more complex in the face of disruption, brands are finding it more challenging than ever to reach, understand and engage with consumers on the right channel, at the right time, in the right way. A truly consumer-centric marketing approach in today’s digital age requires a well-designed, dynamic marketing tech stack.
A multi-channel approach for a multi-channel consumer
According to a recent report by Winterberry Group, modern-day marketers are increasingly turning to and investing in identity resolution to solve their customer-centric marketing challenges. In another study by Gartner, identity resolution was also recognised as the key to ensuring the right experiences match the right consumers.
It’s no longer enough for marketers to focus on one channel, whether that’s email, digital or mobile. Consumers aren’t receiving and comprehending these messages separately anymore – these messages are being consumed as facets of one cohesive brand.
What this means is that marketers must start taking a multi-channel approach to data management. The good news is, marketers are catching up and realising in order to have a true consumer-centric marketing experience, they can’t think about data – and identity – in terms of a single channel.
Segmentation and targeting today, personalisation and attribution tomorrow
Over half of marketers are using identity resolution to power market segmentation and deliver targeted messages to their audience. The benefit here is that once you have combined different pools of data to accurately identify who your consumer is, this can be broken back down to effectively tailor specific messages to different consumers.
The next frontier for personalised marketing lies in owned channels – finding ways to personalise content on websites, mobile and other owned content, as opposed to direct communication to individual consumers. With this shift in personalised content predicted to be a major trend over the next twelve months, how can you ensure you’re working intelligently towards this goal?
According to Gartner, some of the top barriers to effective personalisation stem from a lack of knowledge on the best ways to harness data, develop optimal content and build sound strategies.
Some tips to overcome these are:
- Collect high-priority data and use it effectively, rather than gather every piece available. By learning what data is relevant to your marketing efforts, you can avoid being inundated with redundant, outdated and trivial (ROT) information.
- Content is king, so be sure to generate effective content that can be applied to different consumers in different situations, while still reflecting key brand messaging.
- Ensure your marketing strategy marries with your business objectives at each step of the process. Learn who your customers are, develop content relevant to them and communicate with them in a targeted, tailored manner.
Harnessing data in a privacy-safe manner
According to our CFO and President Warren Jenson in a recent interview with The Australian, data is and has always been valuable. “The availability of all kinds of data sets to make better decisions is exponentially more valuable than it ever has been before.” However, regardless of the approach, a respect for consumer privacy and commitment to ethical data use is vital to a successful identity resolution strategy.
This is becoming increasingly important with the growing pressure from bodies such as the Australian Competitor and Consumer Commission (ACCC), who have rolled out a road map on how technology companies should collect and utilise data, to give consumers’ greater control over their personal data. To ensure effective consumer-centric marketing strategies in the face of rising compliance regulations such as the GDPR and the ACCC’s regulatory guidelines, marketers must closely align with their organisations’ legal and data ethics teams.
The daily life of the consumer is constantly changing, especially given the continued, rapid integration of technology. This means that in order to remain relevant, marketers must develop and adopt dynamic identity strategies that deliver tailored, effective communication across multiple touchpoints. Take a step in the right direction by implementing identity resolution into your marketing technology stack.