CMOs - Are You Really Data-Driven?

It is 2017 and if popular discourse is anything to go by, we all aspire to be data-driven. From political discourse to marketing, HR to communication, the pressure is on for every aspect of our professional and public engagements to be truly measurable and accurate.

At the forefront of this high measurability demand have been the marketing functions of businesses of all sizes. Marketing has become much less about the Madison Avenue style of romanticized storytelling and much more about what marketing enables eventually – lead and revenue generation and of course actual, countable dollars and cents!

In such times, every CMO is required to play the role or somewhat close of the Chief Data Officer. Generic consumer insights gleaned from small samples of focused groups and primary research is hardly the rage anymore – it is a given. What CMOs need to know is a buffet of customer data that can shape broad-ranged marketing campaigns to personalized, customized mobile marketing. Nothing less will work.

In our conversations with the industry's CMOs, we found some key challenges they face in the current marketing ecosystem. The solution for each of them – unfailingly – is access to a wide range of accurate, high quality data.

CMOs Need a Stronger View Into Their Customers' Online and Offline Journeys

So far, marketing teams have worked with siloed data. Digital speaks click through(s) and traditional speaks exposures. But such siloed approach to data has also fragmented the previously unified approach to marketing, targeting, and content creation. Customers' journey becomes a series of disconnected fragments and getting a holistic view of it at a granular level is near impossible.

That's one of the biggest viewability problems the marketing ecosystem is grappling with at the moment. With a unified approach to customer data, CMOs can get a single view into their customers' journey, cutting through online and offline channels.

CMOs Are Expected to Kick Off a Digital-First, Mobile-First Approach to Marketing

For consumers that are increasingly sharing their mind space between different screens and channels, increasingly consuming only incredibly personalized and contextual content, a digital-first, mobile-first approach to marketing is a given.

But making your marketing communication as personalized as it needs to be needs far more accurate consumer segments and timely analytics. This requires a unified data platform that combines various sources that together builds wholesome customer personas. Location, lifestyles, financial transactions, life stages are all crucial data points for accurate, fast moving digital and mobile outreach.

CMOs Are Expected to Bring in a Higher Bang for the Marketing Buck

In a post-2008 global meltdown world, every cost center gets questions. A million dollar TV spot or thousand dollar OOH? The first question is what will come out of it apart from feel-good and perhaps some brand exposure and awareness.

Targeting and personalization are not just about changing consumer expectations. They also enable a much higher level of targeting, decreasing the money wasted in activities that bear little or no results. Once again, unified data comes to the rescue. By ensuring that investment dollars are pumped purely into platforms and channels, campaigns and content that actually bring results, CMOs have the capability to build trust for their teams within their organizations.

CMOs Can See That the Current Attribution Frameworks Are a Bit of a Mess

Attribution frameworks have not been able to keep pace with the complex network of traditional and new marketing channels. That means, attribution is more of a shot in the dark, with metrics like exposure, CPM and CTR that doesn't really say what happens after the click or OOH and TV spot consumption.

That's where a unified data platform comes in handy. Once a consumer has been exposed to an online or offline campaign, the various sources of a data platform can come together to predict whether if a campaign actually converted to a purchase or in-store visit. With a cross-channel approach to attribution, CMOs can now make sure that credit is given where credit is due within their digital and traditional advertising arms.

What Does LifeSight Have to Do With CMOs' Challenges?

EVERYTHING, as it turns out. With LifeSight, marketers and advertisers and their bosses now have a single view into customer data. These data points include:

• Previously hard to access data points such as legit transactional and location information
• Accurate personas for a far higher level of targeting and personalization
• Cross channel attribution capabilities
• And much more

LifeSight is designed to be the new age, data savvy CMOs' point of solution.