How to execute personalization the right way: 3 simple steps to boost your email campaigns.
Personalization is a double-edged sword, especially when it comes to email marketing. In more cases than we’d like to admit, it’s known for its clunky (and somewhat basic) use of displaying the <First Name> in the subject line, paired with other less than engaging ad-libs throughout the copy. In fact, some marketing efforts remind me of those old ‘ad-lib story books’, where you’d randomly input nouns or adjectives which in turn would generate comical and nonsensical stories. Funny? Yes. Good practice for a high performing email campaign? No.
Outside of the fact this approach seems lazy and irrelevant, it turns out that 75% of consumers find personalization “somewhat” creepy, according to the latest InMoment study. Even worse, 1 in 5 people surveyed said they’d tell a friend about a bad experience, and 10% said they’d share these experiences on social media. In a world where over 4.74 billion people use social media, that’s without doubt something marketers should be concerned about.
The good news is that marketers are evolving, and many companies are turning their attention to their deep bank of first-party data in order to deliver more consumer-friendly marketing. Now, this is all good and well, but it’s what you do with this data that really matters. While most consumers understand the trade-offs necessary for targeted marketing, they also demand (and deserve) the right kind.
If you’re looking to find out how to execute a personalization strategy in 2023, you need to focus on exclusively collecting first-party data attributes that subtly adds hyper relevance to your activation campaigns. Want to know how? Then read on.
1 | Going Beyond the <First-Name> Subject Line with Personalized Imagery
I’m not saying the use of first names is bad, quite the contrary. This can still be a vital part of your email strategy moving forward. The question is, how can you add a more empathetic touch? The secret lies within carefully thought out imagery. Let’s say we’re a Pet Insurance company sending a marketing email to our existing customers. By adjusting the hero image to a picture of a dog vs a cat (if you know what type of pet owner they are), you will instantly draw the customer in.
Is that not creepy? No. We’re not directly telling the consumer we know they have a dog, nor are we being stalkerish by showing them the exact breed. We’re simply peaking their interest with a subtle yet empathetic level of personalization to ensure the content is relevant to them.
2 | Providing the Right Value Exchange with Tailored Incentives
Think carefully about the incentives you want to provide within your email campaign and create a sense of desire. By changing the incentive based on what we know about a consumer segment, we can deliver higher engagement across the campaign. For example, perhaps we know that some of our audience prefers a percentage discount offering, versus a specific dollar-value voucher. Or, if we go even more granular than that, we may be targeting a sports fanatic who often watches sports at home and would rather win a TV in a sweepstakes instead of the chance to win tickets to a live event. We can tweak a single campaign with multiple value exchanges to ensure that it is relevant and enticing to the entire audience, not just a segment.
Is that not creepy? Not at all. The sophistication in tailoring an incentive to a desire means we’re tapping into an emotion. We aren’t telling the sports fanatic that we’re watching them and know how they consume sports at home (Big Brother vibes), however, we’re subtly ensuring what we have to offer is in line with what they find valuable.
3 | Speak Their Language (and their Values)
It’s one of the golden rules of digital marketing: speak like your audience and feed into their beliefs. Whether this is in the subject line or the email copy itself, it is good practice to subtly adjust the messaging of a campaign based on a myriad of attributes. For example, a clothing brand may know its consumers who reside on the west coast will be more likely to engage with sustainability and climate change messaging. What’s more, we may also consider that the younger consumers will respond better to emoji’s within the subject line – to either compliment the message, or add a bit of humor. With the average office worker receiving around 121 emails every single day, you want to make sure your subject line stands out from the crowd. A single campaign or touchpoint can be relevant to the entire audience simply by tweaking the content order or language.
Is that not creepy? Not at all. By layering in themes such as consumer values alongside relevant language, we can generate a message that resonates with the individual. It’s a great way of showing that your brand truly cares about the relationship with your audience, instead of just wanting their data. Again, it’s all about the value exchange.
Here are just three simple tweaks you can make to your existing (and new) email campaigns. By adding these dynamic rules to generate smart personalization, you will be certain to serve your consumers with hyper-relevant and empathetic content that steers from “creepy” and moves to a more “pleasing” sentiment.
Want to find out how we can help you with your marketing strategy? Contact me today!
How to Navigate the Transition to First-Party Data.
“In the current economic climate, it’s more important than ever for marketers to remain relevant in keeping existing customers’ loyalty, whilst capturing new audiences’ attention and trust in the moments that matter. There is a responsibility we as an industry have to ensure that advertising experiences are complementary and engaging, versus overwhelming, especially during these difficult times. And there is one key component that brands need to unlock in order to do so. Data.”
See below to read the full article.
3 Big News Stories that Went Viral This February, in (M)adTech
2023 has not been shy in coming forward. From AI intelligence and the rise of retail media, to the suing of Google’s advertising business. Let’s explore some of the biggest new stories from the last month.
1 | Have we lost the plot when it comes to ChatGPT?
Since its release into the public domain last November, the latest AI phenomenon, ChatGPT, has taken the world by storm. Whilst many praise its intelligence, there is a growing sense of uncertainty around what this truly means for the future.
In an article written by Lance Eliot in Forbes, he explores the consideration of AI ethics and regulations surrounding the rising use of AI intelligence. “A growing contingent of concerned and erstwhile AI ethicists are trying to ensure that efforts to devise and adopt AI takes into account a view of doing AI For Good and averting AI For Bad”. As with anything automated by machines, there’s no moral compass embedded within, and so the development of ‘Ethical AI precepts’ will hopefully prevent society from “falling into a myriad of AI induced traps”.
Further, the misuse of ChatGPT has already hit headlines this week in The Guardian, seeing the Vanderbilt University apologising for using an AI chatbot to write a consoling email to its students after a mass shooting. Pretty bad right? Wait until you read what the email said:
[The Michigan shooting, in which three students were killed, was a reminder of the importance of creating an inclusive environment. “One of the key ways to promote a culture of care on our campus is through building strong relationships with one another,”]
Nicole Joseph, an associate dean who signed the letter, said “While we believe in the message of inclusivity expressed in the email, using ChatGPT to generate communications on behalf of our community in a time of sorrow and in response to a tragedy contradicts the values that characterize Peabody College”
The negative headlines don’t stop there. In a recent survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of IT, published in The Independent, more than half of teachers think schools are unprepared for the impact of AI chatbots. In fact, there have already been examples of students using the tool to cheat for exam and coursework purposes.
Conclusion:
Have we officially lost the plot with this tool? Are we getting our knickers in a twist for no real reason? This reminds me of 2010, when headlines were riddled with ‘Man vs Machine: The Robots Are Taking Over” in response to the rise of programmatic. And, look where we are now?
I personally think we need to change the way we are categorising this tool. Rather than see ChatGPT as a professional service, it should be seen as what it is – a technology tool aimed to reduce time wastage, and improve ways of working.
2 | The Never Ending Story, that is Google
Google is no stranger to headlines. In fact, it’s been hogging the spotlight for some time now within the (m)adtech landscape for various reasons. And 2023 has proven no different. Late January the tech giant finds itself being sued by the Department of Justice for monopolising digital advertising technologies.
In an article published by The Verge, Emma Roth explains how Google’s various acquisitions have allowed it to “neutralise” and or effectively “eliminate” competitors, and by default forcing companies to use its tools. “These interrelated and interdependent actions have had a cumulative and synergistic effect that has harmed competition and the competitive process.”
Google argues that the DOJ’s request for it to “unwind” two previous acquisitions from over a decade ago is an attempt to “rewrite history at the expense of publishers, advertisers and internet users.” It also states that Google doesn’t force customers to use its products and that people “choose to use them because they’re effective.” I’d beg to disagree personally.
Furthermore, in a BBC article released this week, US Supreme Court justices appeared unsure of tinkering with a legal shield for social media firms in a case that could reshape the internet. This came to light after the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, 23, who was shot by Islamic State gunmen in Paris in 2015, accused the internet giant of aiding and abetting the terrorist group by recommending its videos to users.
Google, unsurprisingly, has argued it is not liable, referring back to a decades-old law.
These headlines come in parallel with the news that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, will be cutting 12,000 jobs worldwide. News landed this week revealing 240 jobs are to be removed in Ireland, across sales, tech, engineering and support functions.
Conclusion:
The digital marketing and advertising landscape feels messy right now. Particularly for the tech giants and the social media ecosystem. Alongside Google’s latest hurdles, Meta is being fined €390m by Irish Data Protection Commision, and Twitter continues to be in the eye of the storm ever since Musk took over. In fact, the billionaire announced this week further layoffs despite giving his existing team aggressive deadlines to revamp its ad business.
In a world where privacy is increasingly becoming number one for both consumers and the brands they love, the tech giants will increasingly come under the spotlight. But, will it make much difference? When you hold so much power, it’s hard to see how anyone else will be able to fairly enter the playground.
3 | The Future of the High Street
Hidden behind the main headlines this month is a little written gem about the future of retail. Last year, retail media became one of the most exciting verticals for the advertising and marketing arena due to its rapid innovation, and much of that has stemmed from the depleting highstreet. Even before the pandemic hit, our shopping centres were struggling, and the economic impact since has not helped.
In a lovely little article in The Drum this month, various industry veterans explore what the future holds for the retail industry. “Retailers will continue to experiment with live-stream shopping and remote advisory to ensure the attention of new customer demographics.” states Martin Ryan, VP of Retail as EPAM.
While the article celebrates future innovations around digital, many of the authors are hopeful that in-store physical shopping experiences will flourish once again, and consumers will be able to blend their digital experiences with reality. “Emotion AI is a form of artificial intelligence that marketers should be paying attention to; it allows us to better understand human emotion while shopping through text, speech and facial expressions. When done responsibly and thoughtfully, it can deliver a more personalised and tailored experience.” says Carly Johnson, VP and Group Director of Strategy, Momentum WW.
Conclusion:
I’m really excited about the future of retail. Whilst I am a big advocate of retail therapy whilst lying horizontally on the sofa, I am finding myself yearning for the physical world more and more. I do think our future high streets will look extremely different to years gone by. In fact, it has the potential to be even better. The focus needs to be creating communities, and bringing people together in a hybrid on-and-offline environment. Sometimes I feel like the world is losing the plot, so the more we can bring people back together again, the better.
In fact, the incredible team here at Silverbullet created a report with our friends at mediarithmics last year regarding the future of Retail Media. Check it out 🙂
Until next month, stay safe, be happy, and drink wine.
Seasonal Snapshots with 4D: February 14th, The Day of Love.
With New Year celebrations seemingly a distant memory, Valentine’s Day is the next significant holiday marketers and advertisers can leverage to reach new audiences, engage with existing ones, and deliver powerful performance and ROI. Revenue generated as a result of this romantics day, has been rising year on year, with Valentine’s Day sales in the U.S. reaching approximately $27.4 billion in 2020.
So, why not tap into the billion dollar love-pie?
Unlock contextual this Valentine’s.
“Today’s marketer needs to think about how to creatively engage their customers during key buying seasons like Valentine’s Day in ways that will bring long term growth, increased sales and forge bonds that keep their mobile customers coming back” said Sunil Thomas, co-founder and CEO, CleverTap.
Outside of nurturing existing customers through first-party data strategies and loyalty programs, marketers are seeking new ways to expand their reach and take advantage of love birds and friendships across the globe.
And it all lies within advanced contextual targeting.
Tap into all audiences this February.
Advertisers and marketers alike should note that Valentine’s Day campaigns shouldn’t be exclusively targeted at couples. Despite the holiday’s tradition, sentimental shoppers also enjoy using the occasion as a way to offer gifts to family, friends and even pets. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, customers spent $1.7 billion on Valentine’s Day gifts on their pets in 2020.
This is great news as it means the audience pool is much greater, and the opportunity to tap into the mindsets of consumers with a variety of interests and likes, is huge.
Want to find out how? Download our Valentine’s Day Seasonal Snapshot to the right of this blog, and discover how 4D’s advanced contextual intelligence can allow you to reach audiences in the moments that matter!
2023 Predictions: It’s all about personalisation.
This month’s debunked blog explores our 2023 adtech predictions.
I can’t quite believe it, holiday season is fully upon us, and 2023 is just around the corner! This past year has been no stranger to ups and downs. Looking through the lens of our industry, adtech and digital media, we’ve all had our fair share of good news, bad news and some pretty exciting innovations.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest happenings of this past year:
Google announced further delays of the cookie depreciation; LinkedIn influencers started to turn to creative writers to buff their profiles with entrepreneurial advice, motivational posts, and “value nuggets.”; Netflix announced its plans to enter the ad business amid plummeting subscriber results in Q1 this year; Cosmopolitan Magazine, partnered with DALL-E 2, an AI tool that takes human verbal commands to create images, and produced the world’s first AI magazine cover; and Indian e-commerce business Flipkart launched Flipverse, an interactive & immersive shopping experience in the metaverse, with brands like Puma and Nivea already partnered to set up stores.
Despite the uncertainty we find ourselves in as individuals – and businesses – 2022 presented a lot to be grateful for, and I expect next year will be no different. I strongly believe one of the biggest themes for adtech over the coming 12 months will be personalization.
So, grab your warm, cozy, beverage of choice, sit back, and join me as I take you through my five 2023 predictions and trends:
- Contextual, everywhere and anywhere. One exciting trend I look forward to witnessing is the change in perception of what ‘contextual’ really means – in and outside of the digital arena. The contextual evolution will expand its very concept to mean ‘all types of contextual environments’, encompassing real-life data sources including location, weather, seasonal and sporting environments, etc. Imagine having access to these additional data sets to further personalize advertising creatives while optimizing the messaging and placement.
This very topic lends itself really nicely to our co-founder and CSO’s prediction piece, where he explores the role of contextuality in the Mixed Reality world (AR and VR). Essentially, it’s all about collecting and combining as many insights as possible to build a better understanding of consumers, the environments they love, and how best to tap into their mindset.
In a similar vein, I’m really excited for contextual to be used more widely for various other objectives rather than just targeting. Currently seen as a heavy awareness tactic, there are so many other use-cases that could include brand safety, competitive conquesting, and so much more.
- The continued shift towards mobile advertising. Mobile is still an environment and format that can be improved upon in all aspects of digital. It’s the one device that stays with us at (almost) all times. Arguably our most intimate device, mobile offers brands new ways to get creative, delivering personalized experiences when you’re in the perfect mindset. And, contextual targeting will play a huge role.
Mobile contextual factors, such as battery level, OS version, and available device storage provide additional targeting efficiencies. In the programmatic world, these factors are amplified through the continuation of in-app bidding on mobile.
While first-party data will constantly be deployed and activated across a mobile device, it may not be enough to accomplish a brand’s user engagement goals at scale. In that scenario, contextual targeting can support advertisers in reaching target audiences based on factors such as app category and device information, allowing marketers to quickly adjust campaigns in response to performance, whilst increasing their ad budget by bidding on high-value impressions. In essence, giving the power to leverage data in real-time to ensure brands are optimizing their spend.
It can be a tricky channel to measure all around, but it lends itself very easily to contextual as the majority of mobile advertising operates in a cookieless environment already.
- Dynamic creative meets contextual. For all its merits, we would be naive to consider contextual as a stand-alone quick fix for maximizing digital performance. There are so many factors to consider when defining what drives consumer connections, and creativity plays a pretty important role. When exploring any targeting alternative, advertisers must look at how it complements the existing elements of their strategies. For example, contextual intelligence contributes to the way consumers perceive an ad, therefore both branding and messaging can be amplified by the environment. Thus, delivering powerful personalized experiences.
My prediction for 2023 is, seeing dynamic creative optimization (DCO) work hand in hand with contextual targeting methodologies. Using intelligent creative platforms and teams, brands can quickly produce thousands of tailored ads from their creative assets, ensuring the results reflect the context of their environments.
- Publishers start to win with contextual. Another exciting prediction for next year is the growing strength and impact of contextual intelligence on the publisher side. In fact, publishers are increasingly learning that contextual execution would be a lot easier with more of the data and information already available on their side.
Publishers are connecting data sets while exploring cross-device operability for targeting. All of this is paving the way to building standardization, and the quest for verifiable and environment-agnostic performance drivers. What’s really exciting, nearly one-quarter of our publishers surveyed in a Connatix and Digiday survey, are already integrating with machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify audiences to content in relevant ways, to deliver personalized experiences.
What we might see over the next year or so, is a focus from publishers on curating and packaging together their own inventory with additional targeting layered like CRM or 1st party data to provide a more specialized offering to buyers.
- The modernization of measurement and shift to attribution. Taking a step away from the personalization theme just for my final point, leads me to exploring how brands can truly prove the efficacy of contextual advertising. And, what is becoming increasingly clear is, brands can no longer use traditional last-touch methods to measure attribution. There was a shift to Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) a while ago that didn’t quite take off, but I hope this will change. Essentially, MTA collects individual, user-level data for addressable (and trackable) media to determine the impact each ‘event’ has had on a customer’s path to conversion. I am positive we will see MTA make a comeback in 2023, as the adoption of contextual continues to rise.
At the end of the day, brands want to truly understand how their investments are performing, and so access to insights is vital. If MTA does reach popularity once again, then contextual could show much more impact on lower funnel metrics than we have seen before.
So, that’s the end of my 2023 predictions! Do you agree? I’d love to hear what you are most excited to see as we step into the new year! Drop me a message on LinkedIn, and I’d be more than happy to chat all things contextual!
Seasonal Snapshots with 4D: Christmas and Hanukkah
It’s that magical time of year, where I spend hours unravelling what appears to be a million Christmas lights, buying an 8ft tree that is far too big for my house (because my kids bribed me), while debating with my wife over which color of lights to hang (who knew colour schemes were so important?!). You’ve guessed it, the festive holiday period is here. And while many of us shout at our Alexa to play Mariah Carey just one last time, brands and agencies are working tirelessly to think of ways to engage with audiences, to stay front and center with their customers’ minds.
This year, it’s all about putting the consumer first. For many across the globe, the on-going cost-of-living crisis is only getting more prevalent, and with the pressures of spending habits surrounding Hanukkah and Christmas, brands have a responsibility to help consumers feel in control.
Even with these current real-world challenges, physical and online sales are expected to rise. According to Deloitte’s annual holiday forecast, annual sales are set to increase by 4-6%, creating a huge opportunity for brands to tap into.
‘Tis the season for contextual. (Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la)
Contextual targeting will be a key component for many advertisers this season. It allows them to capture the attention of consumers in the perfect mindset, whilst delivering engaging and creative messaging, versus bombarding them with irrelevant, intrusive ads.
And, our contextual targeting and insights platform, 4D, will be the chosen solution for many this season, due to our incredibly unique and advanced features.
So, through some questionable contextually influenced Christmas song lyrics, let me show you how 4D can help you step into the festive period with confidence.
- “It’ll be lonely this Christmas, without contextual to hold”
Contextual targeting doesn’t focus on an individual. Instead, it targets groups of people because, well, who wants to be alone this Christmas? Groups, or consumers, should have specific themes. Think about starting with themes that are relevant to the product or service that are being promoted. This endemic content is a great place to start with targeting, capturing consumers on pertinent content online with which they are engaging. If you have a strong and well-established or well-recognized brand, consider including branded keywords to help comprise keyword-targeted contextual segments.
- “You’re making a list, you’re checking it twice, consumers will find out who’s been naughty or nice”
When it comes to building your targeting, you are realistically looking for a healthy combination of Topics, which can provide scale and awareness for your campaign, with Keywords, to help provide targeting accuracy and precision. 4D’s proprietary semantic search model technology will identify the true target of your contextual segment to reach consumers out in the ecosystem. Thus, avoid repeating keywords and use keywords that are tightly related to the theme of the segment. Utilize the 4D Page Analyzer Tool for help in researching viable keywords to include.
- “All I Want for Christmas Is You(Tube)”
Expand your targeting beyond traditional display contextual to include video targeting or tapping into our latest release, YouTube. Create a targeting strategy utilizing Topics and Brand presence to complete a retention or conquesting strategy tied to video assets. Easily activate YouTube by uploading a list of video IDs that are carefully identified via 4D proprietary video contextualizing technology. Go beyond simply channel targeting to expand your accurate reach at the individual video level.
- “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you optimized and changed it anyway”
Given how short the holiday season is, and how fast things can change, it is so important to utilize the 4D tag that can be deployed across a campaign to generate real-time insights that can help optimize your campaign while in flight. Via the tag, you will not only learn about the contextual genome of your segments, but you can add and remove keywords or topics that are either driving performance up or down to impact the outcome of your campaign to ensure the best results.
Hopefully, I did not ruin your favorite festive songs in trying to deliver some helpful tips for contextual advertising. However, if I managed to capture your attention, don’t hesitate to contact our amazing Account Management team to find out how you can utilize 4D to support your holiday season activations.
Access our Christmas and Hanukkah Seasonal One-Pager to the right of this article!
2023 Predictions: Why contextual targeting and insights will save advertising.
This month’s debunked blog explores our 2023 adtech predictions.
There’s no denying it, marketers have one destination to head towards in 2023 – a privacy-first future. From the rise of governmental regulations such as the GDPR, combined with Google’s third-party cookie demise (which will likely happen in the year 3000 at this rate), the industry is being pressured to change and adopt new approaches to advertising and marketing.
Yet, despite the destination being clear, the journey to get to a privacy-first future, is a little less so. Brands are being flooded with endless headlines around new approaches to consumer engagement, but there is one solution that is creeping through the wood works; a solution that has long been cemented in our worlds, but perhaps forgotten about in favour of the humble cookie. Here we have, rising from the ashes, contextual targeting.
However, some of you don’t have the best opinion of contextual targeting:
- “Contextual is just a bunch of keywords”
- “Third-party cookies aren’t going away, so I’ll stick to that”
- “There’s too much hype around contextual, I don’t get what the fuss is all about”
We ran a poll on LinkedIn recently which revealed many opinions towards this long-used method for advertising, and we could sense some hesitation towards contextual. So, I am here today to tell you that you are all wrong! (In the nicest, possible way).
Here are my SEVEN reasons why you should be paying attention to contextual targeting in 2023.
01: Trust & Privacy:
Audiences are becoming more and more fractured, and our attention is increasingly becoming precious. Consumers are getting tired of their data being used to serve ads that follow them around the internet, and more often than not, are irrelevant or annoying. Rather than taking an identity-based approach, contextual is all about relevancy, based on contexts and environments, not on an individual user. It is fully about trust and protecting consumers, whilst giving advertisers the scale they need.
Stepping into 2023, it’s clear that brands should be exploring contextual solutions to reach that privacy-first destination.
02: Personalisation & Creativity:
Many associate contextual targeting with what was available a decade ago: a top-level targeting solution that placed people’s interests into buckets based on a bunch of keywords. I am proud to tell you, those days are over. Contextual targeting is now being driven by AI that has been trained by using machine learning techniques, computer vision and natural language processing to ensure the context of a page isn’t purely based on a bunch of words; instead, it understands the nuance, sentiment and true meaning of the content. Meaning advertisers can deliver amazing personalised ad creatives to capture engagement in the right time and place.
I predict that contextual solutions such as 4D will see a surge in popularity in 2023 as brands look to deliver more personalised ads in safe environments.
03: Relevancy & Accuracy:
Premium contextual solutions such as 4D, are capable of identifying patterns in content completely independently, whilst driving insights that enable an advertiser to continuously optimise to drive relevance and accuracy. The technology is not only capable of thoroughly analysing articles, but entire networks of content across different countries, languages and across standard categories. It also allows advertisers to use advanced machine learning models to do custom targeting specific to that brief, which is more accurate than traditional targeting.
Amidst this economic crisis we find ourselves in, it is more important than ever for brands to be relevant to their audiences. Trends for 2023 are already showing that contextual solutions will thrive as consumers seek more relevant experiences.
04: Ad Memorization:
Contextual ad placements can not only support brands in their ads being visible whilst driving engagement, but they can also increase ad memorisation. In fact, an IAS Study ran last year, revealed that ad context increased memorability by up to 40%.
Brilliantly named the ‘Context Effect’, the report had some amazing findings: Endemically matched ads, or those aligned with the surrounding content based on a specific vertical, drove a 23% lift in activation within the part of the brain responsible for memory of practical details, which includes key messages, calls to action, and branding elements. These ads also boosted global memory by 27%, or the memorability of broad themes, overarching narratives, or audio and visual elements.
This report shows us that during the coming 12 months, contextual will play a vital role for brands connecting with consumers.
05: Consistency, Performance & Measurement:
It’s common practice that marketers run campaigns, and only consider afterwards how they are tracking and performing. Establishing a consistent measurement system for campaigns is critical to actually gauging success, and this is centred around the ability to optimise in real-time and make tweaks where needed.
It is important to plan out the metrics and look at relevant content and context to place ads for specific purposes and goals. When well-executed, contextual ads can help brands add value across the funnel.
It is also becoming increasingly important for brands to position their advertising in a manner that is consistent with the content of the page(s). By using all the incredible AI and technology innovations explained above, brands can deliver consistent and meaningful user experiences to audiences with confidence.
I predict that measurement will be a key trend heading into 2023, as brands seek to drive efficiencies across their organisation during a time where budgets are being cut.
06: The Publisher Story:
Contextual targeting is a great way for publishers to obtain or retain advertisers, who are constantly looking for ways to reach their target audience at the right times. In fact, brands and publishers can work together to understand their audience and provide ads in the right context, therefore driving relevancy, engagement and an improved value exchange. Thus, creating value on both sides, as publishers inventory becomes more premium, sought after and relevant.
One of the key trends in 2023 will be the relationship between publishers and brands becoming tighter, as they work together to create a more trusted and value exchange future for their audiences.
07: Ad Verification:
When it comes to online advertising campaigns, more and more advertisers are striving to find quality solutions that deliver powerful and accurate data in real-time. However the focus is not solely on performance and results. In a rapidly changing landscape, ad verification monitoring tools are becoming increasingly important, as they drive greater efficiencies. Something all businesses need to explore during this current economic climate.
Ad verification becomes an essential tool to ensure that digital ad spend is not wasted. It ensures reliable and safe content, helps to monitor where ads are shown, whilst detecting suspicious and invalid traffic; thus helping to optimise costs and avoid wasted money on irrelevant placements.
To this end, certified contextual targeting that complies with ad verification tools and global standards will be crucial. Don’t forget, contextual targeting meets this need for quality and reliable advertising, creating a safe and trusted environment for brands, and so when combined with ad verification tools, it’s a win win for all.
So, have I convinced you now? Send me a message on LinkedIn to find out more about how contextual can help you in 2023 and beyond.
2023 Predictions: Nothing worth having comes easy.
How are we nearing the end of another year? I feel like I say it every year – that time passes by the older you get – but this year seems to have gone by in a flash!
2022, as with many years gone by, has had its fair share of ups and downs. For many, it was the first year where life found some level of normality, and the challenges of the global pandemic and numerous lockdowns began to feel like a distant (yet traumatic) memory. But, as with many things in life, new challenges and obstacles were just around the corner, and as we approach the final chapter of the year, we find ourselves in strange times once again.
But I don’t want my final words of 2022 to be dwelling on what we all know. When tough times challenge us, more often than not we build strength and resilience in how we approach the future. And so I want to explore some of the most exciting developments and predictions in the industry that I see for the next 12 months and beyond.
So join me in my positive affirmations for 2023, as we get ourselves excited for what incredible innovations lie ahead for the wonderfully complex world of (m)adtech.
“Challenges are what make work interesting, and overcoming them is what makes it meaningful”
The Service Layer | Despite the current economic crisis where we are witnessing more and more budget cuts, marketers will need more support than ever before to navigate through a complex, fragmented and ever-changing advertising and marketing technology ecosystem. And the “service layer” will do just that. Service providers who will find success in 2023 are those that will be able to diversify their offering, focusing less on business as usual (BAU) campaign operations, and more so on the ‘hands-on’ consulting approach that can provide real tangible ROI and long-term value.
I expect the big focus areas to be maximizing the use of current customer data assets for more cost-effective marketing comms, data value measurement and tech stack optimization. What has been incredible to witness this year, is the change in marketer’s mindset. There seems to be a real want to change, and overcome the challenges they face to build a better future – not only for them, their business and their revenues, but for their audiences and the value they provide them.
“The world accommodates you for fitting in, but only rewards you for standing out.” (Matshona Dhliwayo)
Data Infrastructure | CDPs (Customer Data Platforms) and Data Clean Rooms will continue their fame as the hottest platforms in madtech throughout 2023. CDPs will advance to add features that stand out in a very crowded market, with some vendors adding proprietary campaign orchestration or consent management layers to their offering. Others may go in the opposite direction, doubling down on their core enterprise data infrastructure credentials to strengthen its abilities. Furthermore, we will see a bigger push from the CDP players, positioning themselves for non-marketing buyers – Customer Service and Sales Teams at large companies will be prime targets for indie Sales Teams next year.
The Data Clean Room space is starting to get quite crowded, with lots of new entrants claiming some interesting USPs. In fact, many CDPs and large marketing clouds are building their own flavor of clean room. I think the winners in this space will be those who will fully embrace and double down on their status as next-gen marketplace builders, rather than standing firmly on being pure-play infrastructure providers. Nevertheless, Data Clean Rooms will continue to be the foundational layer of a new era of data-driven marketing and advertising collaboration. And, we will soon see consolidation here too (but not quite yet!)
“I’m not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.” (Niccolo Machiavelli)
Open Web vs Walled Gardens | Despite the real possibility of Google delaying the third-party cookie deprecation deadline once again, in 2023, we are likely to see a shift in media dollars from the walled gardens to the open web. This would be the result of an increased interest in contextual targeting solutions, which are constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated, whilst representing a more cost-effective way to reach audiences in paid media than walled gardens and where bid density tends to be generally higher, (especially for high-quality audiences). The next 12 months could see a real change in mindset, where marketers want to challenge the status quo, and overthrow it for more future-proofed strategies.
When it comes to the activation of customer data in media, walled gardens will still dominate over the next 12 months, as open web ID solutions are still struggling to reach significant scale outside the US. A more interesting trend to observe, however, will be the fragmentation of walled garden spend. The advertising pie is unlikely to grow significantly in 2023 due to widespread BAU budget cuts, and the available walled garden spend will be redistributed across a larger selection of players. Google and Facebook likely to shed ad revenue in favor of other tech walled gardens, such as Amazon and Apple, as well as an increasingly larger group of “private gardens” including key CTV and Retail Media players.
“Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction.” (C.S. Lewis)
Retail Media Networks | Retail media offerings will continue to grow and attract more ad dollars converging into this new channel from the open web, walled gardens, and shopper marketing. As with every innovation, this space is extremely crowded and fragmented, and therefore we may potentially see more consolidation throughout 2023. The recent announcement of the merger between Albertsons & Kroger in the US is a clear indication of what we could expect to see in the future. Advertisers are looking for scale, and retail media outlets that cannot provide it on their own will either merge, partner, or fail after remaining in the experimentation bucket of agencies and brands for a while.
Scale issues aside, retail media presents a fantastic opportunity for marketers that have struggled for decades to acquire valuable intent and purchase data, as well as advanced measurement practices such as closed-loop attribution. Recent partnerships between CTV and Retail Media players are another interesting development to watch closely in 2023. In fact, a very recent example is the partnership between ITV, Tesco, and Boots, that will enable advertisers to target consumers on ITV premium video inventory leveraging the retailers’ data. So, as the age-old saying goes, are two heads better than one, and will collaboration be the key to success for the coming year?
There are so many areas to be excited about next year. However, as Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nothing worth having comes easy.”
I’d love to hear your positive vibes, trends, and predictions for 2023, so make sure you drop me a message via LinkedIn!