Deriving Maximum Value from a Data Management Platform

Marketers are swamped with consumer data from multiple channels that can be quite complex to correlate, and targeting consumers across these multiple channels with real time customized campaigns is considered to be the future of marketing. To achieve this, marketers need to continuously invest in digital marketing platforms and tools to crack this complex value chain.

To initiate a truly real time personalized campaign, consumer insights including personal information and track records need to be generated in a few milliseconds. Based on these insights, content is created in real time with the help of pre-designed templates on the cloud, and media slots are purchased to connect with the consumer. All of this ideally should take place in less than a second.

Benefits of DMPs

DMPs play a pivotal role in this journey toward making personal connections with consumers in real time, collecting, synthesizing, analyzing and segmenting consumer data across various channels and regions.

Organizations have started to realize the benefits of DMPs, and in 2015, the majority of marketers doubled their spending on them. With programmatic media buying replacing traditional media buying, marketers realize effective DMP systems are critical for targeting consumers across channels.

Key Areas for Success of DMPs

One major challenge facing organizations is driving efficiency out of DMPs. Many marketers will blame the DMP platform for not performing, but have failed to understand that organizational culture and flexibility play crucial roles in its success. The DMP implementation is dependent on collaboration among multiple teams, including IT, sales and marketing, among others. Without enough data control, a DMP will merely be a display marketing tool and not a personalized marketing engine.

Here are some of the key areas of focus for driving maximum value from a DMP:

• A DMP should not be considered an all-in-one solution for real time data management; rather, it is a connector of integrated technologies. Marketers should self-check their efficiencies across the whole value chain.
• Though DMPs have been discussed for years, the industry still is in its nascent stages. There still are areas under improvement, including situational/contextual data management, tag management functionality, audience journey analysis and advanced analytics. Marketers need to look at integrated technology approaches for these areas and not be dependent on one DMP platform to solve all issues.
• DMP efficiency is dependent on an organization’s effectiveness towards data handling and data unification. Faulty approaches in data collection and data integration might have serious implications.
• Strong policies and governance structures are essential to improve data handling, especially when integrating teams that will be using a common platform. Clear policies for consumer privacy, data leakage protection, access protocols and other security areas are essential.

A DMP is a critical part of the move towards creating personalized consumer journeys. Strong internal maturity, organizational flexibility and clear protocols will help in driving maximum benefits from a DMP.