The Benefits of Managing Marketing Data with a DMP

Your business is sitting on a lot of data. The problem is that without the technology to knock it into shape, it’s likely to be inert. The tool to bring it to life is called a data management platform (DMP).

In order to manage and make sense of the mass volumes of data being gathered, advertisers and marketers are turning in increasing numbers to DMPs. In fact 27% of those surveyed in Econsultancy’s report The Role of DMPs In The Era of Data Driven Advertising had just implemented a DMP in the past year. Let's take a look at some of the many benefits DMPs can deliver to your business.

Use your existing data

A good DMP carries a number of benefits you won’t find elsewhere. First it uses data that most enterprises are already generating, whether through CRM or more sophisticated web analytics. It sets these to work alongside data inputs already coming into your business, but also those that have yet to materialise. You might use cookies to track clients with their permission. You might collect email addresses but there’s more to come. 

Extract meaning from the data

Customers’ social media footprints are increasingly helpful as a means of predicting their behaviours. In the future there may be fingerprint recognition or other biometrics in certain situations. The key thing is to be ready.

The future is uncertain, but change and advances are inevitable. At the moment you probably know a lot about your existing customers. You know their attributes from their social media profile and their interactions with you.

You might realise that to scale the business you need to find more people like these customers. If you’ve been collecting the right data you might already have all you need. 

Profile your customers

The right DMP will not only collect and analyse the data, but it will help you to extrapolate. It will work out that if your existing customers are from background A and exhibit behaviour C, then people from background B with behaviour D are almost ready to buy.

This means the top end of your sales funnel will be increasingly full of prospects based on attributes and data rather than leads obtained through more random means. The likelihood of success with these prospects is far greater because you already know something about them.

Constantly improve your campaigns

The data doesn’t sit still. Constant input means the information fed into the system can be updated all the time, in real time. Your data now has a context.

This changes the rules of, and indeed the nature of, every engagement. It’s now dynamic rather than static, so when the customer returns, you’re starting from where you left off. Too many companies waste too much time reviving contacts by starting all over again rather than from where they left off.

Europe is lagging behind America

According to the Econsultancy report Europe is slightly behind America when it comes to using DMPs.

The report states that 26% of those surveyed in America have been using a DMP for more than four years, however only 16% of Europeans have been doing the same. In fact the percentage of recent adopters (those using a DMP for a year or less) in Europe (35%) far outnumber those in America (19%).

This creates a massive opportunity for early adopters of DMPs in Europe to gain ground in their market and an opportunity for others to investigate the advantages a DMP could bring to their business.

This means companies in Europe that already utilise, or are looking to utilise, a DMP reduce the risk of spending time analysing different on and offline assets, departments and touch points. This enables European companies to move closer to the single and more complete customer view held by their American counterparts.

The future is all about the manipulation of data. Few people doubt this. A good DMP will tell you what to do with it all.

Takeaways

• A DMP can enable you to extract deep meaning from data you are already collecting.
• Through data management you can create a profile of your ‘best’ customers are look for others who fit this profile.
• By having your data merged and managed within a single system you will be able to create a single view of the customer.

Discover more insights into how DMPs can benefit your business and what the future holds for DMPs, download The Role of DMPs in the Era of Data-Driven Advertising now. 

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