Digital Marketing In 2015: Mobile, Data And RTB Hype

by James Green, Yesterday, 3:01 PM 

As digital marketers plan and prepare for next year, here are some predictions on what to watch out for in 2015.

 

RTB Will Be the Preferred Buying Method For All Media

As we head into 2015, more and more media buying will become automated and instantaneous. Though it will take time, it’s more than likely we’ll see 100% of direct-response advertising bought in real time. This will also aid in the ability of systems to seamlessly communicate with each other, reducing the duplication of work and improving accountability, measurability and efficiency. Another interesting trend is that television advertising will also eventually be bought in real time to provide an increased presence to an even larger and more diverse audience.

 

In addition, Research and Market reports increasing demand for RTB-based direct-ad sales. Factors such as publisher control of inventory and flexibility in pricing for advertisers are expected to help direct-ad sales gain a larger share of the market. Opportunities for personalized advertising will continue to grow thanks to increased use and creation of apps, location-based advertising and dynamic creative optimization (DCO). DCO enables marketers to go from traditional advertising to real-time, relevant marketing that will transcend multiple devices and locations.

 

Mobile’s Seamless Ad Delivery and Increase in Adoption

While some marketers in industries such as CPG have shown progress in adopting mobile (the CPG vertical overtook entertainment and media as the number-one category in mobile RTB spend last quarter), other industries have been extremely slow to do so. Some credit the slowed adoption pace to the lack of cross-device attribution models. Without a proper attribution model in place, marketers obtain an inaccurate picture of how mobile contributes to the path to purchase. Historically, most conversions take place on desktops because consumers have a higher comfort level entering payment information on a bigger screen. In this case, last-touch attribution models would discount the role that mobile played prior to the conversion. Therefore, an entire channel and device might be missing out on getting the credit that they deserve. Simply put, the mobile portion of your campaign might look as though it is broken when in fact it is helps influence consumers.

 

As we move into 2015, marketers will need to shift away from using the last-click model and adapt click-to-engage metrics such as calls, use of a store locator and downloads. And while many companies have specific budgets for mobile advertising spend, they’re still not incorporating mobile into one cohesive strategy. Omni-channel strategies will be big in 2015 with unified, cross-screen marketing efforts creating seamless experiences and helping marketers evaluate consumer touch points as they move across screens.

 

Big Data Is Becoming Bigger

Companies are going to rely on massive numbers of analytics related to sales, purchase history, search activity, site interactions and more. Linking data together and leveraging a historical trail of data points will provide a better gauge of what customers are looking for and where they are headed.

First- and third-party data sources – part of big data – will help marketers pinpoint exactly when their customers are in the market for a product so that, instead of just knowing what the customers want after they click on an item, marketers will know before customers visit a website. Improving and optimizing retargeting strategies in real time will attract customers at multiple stages of the consumer funnel when it matters most.