Download digital marketing platform

White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
DIGITAL MARKETING
PLATFORM
Challenges in the Digital Marketing
Moving from a Digital Marketing Platform to a Digital Marketing Hub
What constitutes a successful digital marketing hub?
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
Abstract
As an industry, Digital has
redefined time - “hyper time”,
shrinking the typical timeframes
for how fast an industry can
grow and change. Products that
have
resulted
in
transformational
growth
–
Facebook which transformed
the way we interact with
friends,
iPhone
which
revolutionized
the
mobile
industry, the universal cookie
considered the bedrock of Ad
Industry and
Analytics that
helped
transform
the
world
around us to
match
our
tastes.
The
digital
sphere is an
augmented
field
for
businesses
to
gain
advantage
over the competitors and
manifest themselves at every
turn. Companies who are
orchestrating their moves along
the digital lines will discover
valuable opportunities and will
be able to develop right
strategies today that can deliver
top line and bottom line gains
tomorrow. Those who haven’t
yet joined the digital game, shall
remain audiences while the
players moves on.
Marketers
have,
for
long,
looked at solutions that can
solve this need of acing through
the transformation. Recent
strides in Digital have brought
about radical innovation to the
foray, one such area is the
Digital marketing platform. A
Digital
Marketing
Platform
(DMP) is a one-stop shop for all
of marketers’ data needs.
Perhaps the best way to
comprehend the role and
potential of DMP is the
overarching
“Big
Data”
solution for
marketing,
multichannel
advertising,
media
and
audience
activation,
amongst
others.
As a part of
this
white
paper
we
explore
today’s Digital Square and
border those opportunities that
multi-platform dynamics create
for businesses. An integrated
approach headed for the digital
consumer
will
lead
the
companies to stay ahead of the
curve
in
this
uncertain
environment and also gain the
necessary
intelligence
to
optimize
digital
strategies.
Companies will be able to
exploit their compelling longterm opportunities.
Page 2
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
Challenges in the Digital Marketing
Industry & Digital Marketing Platform
The
realms
of
digital
marketing, commerce and
media have been sailing in a
pool of acronyms — RTB,
DSP, DCO, PPC, PII, SSP,
CMS—and more. Definitely,
they are not mere acronyms
but the trade language of
commercial internet for over
a decade. They summarize
the
technologies
and
processes of the information
age.
Not surprisingly, evolution
has called the acronyms
obsolete in every turn. This is
attributed to the rapid pace
of change (as well as the
many failed experiments)
that
has
marked
the
evolution
of
digital
technology. The advent of
DMPs threw the entire
(relatively
immature)
approach to processes and
technology into an array
creating a biome in the digital
geography.
Digital marketing platforms
are designed to support an
extensible
set
of
requirements
within
a
neighbourhood. A digital
marketing platform exposes
key elements as standardized
services via API for building
custom
applications,
extensions and integrations
with
other
custom
applications
and
data
sources. Some offerings claim
to be digital marketing
platforms
that
address
virtually all digital marketing
neighbourhoods, but the
methods and objectives of
each neighbourhood vary
widely.
Any
platform
sufficiently general to span
them all would take the form
of a general-purpose tool
such as a spreadsheet or a
browser with applications
outside of digital marketing.
So any platform in digital
marketing needs to address
requirements specific to a
limited
number
of
neighbourhoods or domains.
Yet
Digital
Marketing
platform has suffered from
multiple challenges including:
How
to
align
the
experiences
across
multiple channels
Balance
between
consumer side as well as
the enterprise side of
marketing
Page 3
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
How to ensure performance
and uptime of multiple systems
Standardizing the technical
and
operational
aspects
across channels
Better control and more focus on quality
Create lock-in risks as you become dependent on a singleprovider specialized platform
Longer implementation cycles
- slow time to value
May not be cost-effective to
buy a platform for small subset of functionality
However, the interest in DMP
technology and process solu-
tions is surging. Key findings
from a leading report suggest
the following:
92 percent said their organization’s (or clients’) interest in
DMPs has increased over the
past year
77 percent said DMPs will
play either a “critical” or
“major supporting” role in expanding the performance of
long-term advertising and
marketing efforts; and
62 percent said their company has already implemented
a DMP, or has plans to do so
within the next 12 months
Moving from a Digital Marketing
Platform to a Digital Marketing Hub
The evolution of DMP and DMH
is pretty organised over different
phases, scaling up technologies
and processes in an impressive
way. Adding to the pool of acronyms that have rocked an age,
here is a new ingredient, substantially powerful, that is going
to sustain the shelf life of digital
efforts- The Digital Marketing
Hub —or DMH. It has actually
emerged as an ad hoc response
to a base-level need. To realise
the need of aggregating data
from various important sources
and derive full value using technology-driven solutions—a central hub—is required to seamlessly (and rapidly) collect, integrate, manage and activate
those large volumes of data.
Page 4
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
DMH solutions, developed both
“in-house” and by a burgeoning
field of third-party suppliers, are
evolving to live up to extensive
enterprise missions. The buzz is
too impressive for the value it
renders. But what precisely is
the role for DMH in the data
driven biome? Is it an automated
approach to integrating data? Is
it programmed for ad targeting
or a tool for managing customer
experience based on realinsights? Some see the technology as an enabler of media efficiencies, complementing demand-side platforms (DSPs),
supply-side platforms (SSPs) and
trading desks. There are umpteen perspectives to it. A digital
marketing hub supports many
use cases across more than one
neighbourhood, providing a unified portal with access to multiple applications and workflows.
It integrates with existing systems of record and optionally,
may expose APIs for building
custom applications and extensions to core features. However,
it differs from a platform
(although it may overlap) in that
its design is not necessarily focused on domain-specific extensibility.
At Sensiple we believe that a
Digital Marketing hub will encompass the entire roadmap of
Digital Marketing platform.
DMH will expand in scope to
support the aggregation and activation of more types of data,
execution of an extensive suite
of data-centric advertising, marketing, media and customer experience functions.
Analytics tools and support services will grow more central to
the DMH offering, driving an expanded value proposition.
Solutions will grow more specialized with unique user needs—
varying across vertical markets,
addressable use cases and user
profiles—demand focused tools
that may not readily be supported by a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
Third-party DMH platforms will
grow increasingly agnostic with
respect to both data and media
as they fulfil a more central role
in integrating and optimizing
both inputs (as well as analysing
the downstream impact of both)
A new wave of consolidation—
driven by financial investors
looking to cumulate platforms,
build foundational “stacks” for
multichannel data support—will
reshape the DMH model, modernizing the traditional and digital marketing services industries
in the process.
Page 5
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
Marketers, publishers and other
data users will initiate a series of
large-scale organizational realignments to capitalize on the
potential of their enterprise information assets (with a focus
on leveraging the DMH as a central engine for the reinvented,
data driven organization)
What constitutes a successful
digital marketing hub?
Digital marketing has put pressure on marketing leaders to define a clear path forward for digitalizing marketing strategies and
execution. Varying definitions
and overlapping characteristics
makes it hazy to figure out
where one provider offering
ends and where another begins.
It's also difficult to know how to
create a technology foundation
that addresses today's requirements while helping you scale
up over time. Marketing management, for instance, may require integrated and collaborated experiences across channels
following which demands interactive content capabilities to
feed the social graph. The data
becomes compounded at each
stage and needs to run through
multiple levels of analytics and
predictive models for mapping
the right customers with custom
campaigns and so on. How can
all these concerns take a smooth
ride in a digital marketing platform? Here is the answer. A digital marketing hub unifies four
key capabilities.
Page 6
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
Collaboration — This shift in
how companies market their
products/services and speak to
customers, investors, the media, and even suppliers has unsurprisingly required marketers
and corporate IT teams to work
with technology more than
they ever had before. It is advantageous to have a platform
that has an intuitive workflow
process defined that allows coordination across boundaries
from customers and partners
to employees and traders. Socializing across enterprises is
also becoming critical which
demands for a greater need for
DMH. Digital marketing hubs in
turn need to support tasks and
project management features.
Data integration —Modern B2B
marketers maintain digital assets across multiple channels
making it unorganized. Besides
organic resources (like corporate websites, blogs), there are
third party communities –social
media, online advertising, enterprise social networks –
which contain more valuable
data. In short, data relevant for
your business is scattered all
over the place. In larger companies, it becomes more difficult to assimilate all of your data into a comprehensive solution because operational tasks
are delegated between various
departments and teams. Integration plays a role in making
each asset accountable and
compliant. Continuous optimization in each division and platform makes it effective to operate seamlessly in multi-channel
activities. DMH combines and
integrates data relevant across
applications to manage digital
marketing at its best.
Analytics — Data spread all
over the space essentially
means
customers/prospects
are interacting across channels.
This firms up the need for multi
-channel analytics and widen
the scope for amassing and analysing data extending the
scope of resources and reduce
operating time. Marketers are
challenged to leverage Analytics to gain insights from Big Data. Digital Marketing Hub enables you to turn Big Data into
insight-driven action by removing many of the challenges associated with digital marketing
and advanced multichannel analytics. DMH is data-rich coupled with analytics insights
tracking cross channel behaviours to ultimately create personalized experiences for your
customers.
Operations — Gartner surveys
find that for many organizations, digital marketing
Page 7
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
execution often suffers from
operational immaturity. For example, Gartner's 2013 Digital
Marketing Measurement survey reveals that digital marketing metrics are often distributed across fragmented toolsets,
leading to reporting delays and
trapped insights. Further, it
finds that growth in technology
spending for measurement
and optimization substantially
exceeds growth in labour in
these areas, which points to
the potential for a continued
skills gap in digital marketing
operations. Execution suffers
when people, process and
technology aren't in alignment.
It suffers further when execution isn't informed and optimized with data and analytics.
What you need is the governing
function of digital marketing
operations — often led by the
functional equivalent of a chief
operating officer — which addresses the daily challenge of
executing and optimizing complex, interdependent digital
marketing disciplines. This
function ensures programs and
campaigns are appropriately
nourished by data, collaborative planning and execution
processes flow smoothly, and
business outcomes are optimized via continuous measurement. Key to unlocking the
strategic growth potential of
digital marketing is developing
a closed-loop system for precision targeting, engagement
and optimization across channels. To achieve this, digital
marketing leaders should:
Optimize collaboration and
workflow for agile development and implementation of
creative content and campaigns.
Orchestrate and automate
marketing campaigns and engagement activities.
Integrate data and analytics for
personalization and optimization.
Digital marketing hubs are delivered in one of three ways:
On-premises — as licensed
software installed behind
the firewall
As a hybrid cloud service —
combining elements hosted
in the cloud with other elements,
such
as
data
sources, hosted internally
and by other service providers
As a managed service —
where an agency or marketing outsourcer delivers an
integrated digital marketing
hub that it uses as the basis
for outsourced campaigns
Page 8
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
Benefits
Speed up time to market for
digital
marketing
campaigns.
Empower business users
while reducing reliance on
IT support.
Improve IT’s ability to serve
marketing, while lowering
costs.
Optimize your social media,
search, online advertising,
and other digital investments.
Analyse information about
your customers‟ behaviour
and preferences in realtime.
Personalize the consumer
experience to improve conversion rates and loyalty.
80 percent of users find the
platform simple and easy to
use, and 75 percent say it
meets their current and future marketing needs.
The reuse of assets, infrastructure consolidation, process improvements and labour arbitrage has together
resulted in cost savings of
25 – 30 percent of the digital
marketing spend.
Cut campaign lead times –
website concept to creation
in less than 24 hours.
The hub supports over 300
digital assets, over 100 creative agencies, and 3.4 million consumer records.
Adjust the online experience
quickly to produce the desired business results.
Page 9
White Paper |
DIGITAL MARKETING PLATFORM
Conclusion
Companies are smartly flaunting their solution
capabilities by playing their own strengths. Classic
examples of Salesforce mastering Social and CRM
integration, Adobe in its in legacy content creation and
data, oracle’s multichannel platforms, IBM in commerce
and HP betting on Big Data. Their focus is tuned to their
strengths and that’s the direct strategy. Each company
owns its product and plays the best for stake in the
market. Having said that they also need to harmonise
and work with each other, to establish best-in-breed
solutions. Sum of all the individual offerings at their best
achieve perfect synergy giving more value to the
Marketing cloud.
Author
Padmaja is part of Digital Consulting Group at Sensiple. She
consults organizations on embarking their digital strategies.
Padmaja has completed her Engineering in Electronics and
Telecommunications and is a management graduate from IIT
Madras. Her areas of interest are in innovation of new products
and services in the Digital space which can optimize costs and
build organizations for future challenges.
Padmaja Bandi
Digital Consultant, SENSIPLE
Page 10
@2015 SENSIPLE Software Solutions, Chennai, India.
SENSIPLE believes that the information in this
publication is accurate as of its publication date; such
information is subject to change without prior notice.
SENSIPLE acknowledges the proprietary rights of the
trademarks and products names of other companies
mentioned in this document.
SENSIPLE is a premier IT solution provider
headquartered in the United States and with delivery
centers in India, SENSIPLE has extended its services
across the globe. SENSIPLE has evolved from being a
business consulting company in its early stages to a
one stop IT solution provider over the years. Its
service lines are Customer Experience, Digital
Enterprise, Enterprise Applications, Testing and
Infrastructure Services with clients across the globe.
CORPORATE OFFICE
OMAHA OFFICE
1000 Route 9 North, Suite 303 Woodbridge, NJ 07095
Phone : 732 283 0801
Fax
: 732 283 0489, 732 283 3775
13011 Scott St, Omaha, NE 68142
Phone : 402 505 7790
Fax
: 402 505 7798
OFFSHORE OFFICE
SINGAPORE
Plot No: 9/A15, SIPCOT IT Park Padur Post
Siruseri, Tamilnadu 603 103 India
Phone : +91 44 4741 9000
Fax
: +91 44 4741 9100
662, Woodlands Ring Road
#5-226 Singapore 730 662
Phone : 65 6279 1053