The Evolving Role of Publishers in Advertising & Marketing.

For decades, the precedent set by Madison Avenue was to tell consumers the brand's story. Advertisers across the world followed suit. But today, all that has changed. The new consumer, with his or her multiple screens and digital lives, is more content-hungry than ever before. They demand to be entertained, excited, inspired by contextually relevant content, both branded and unbranded. Add to that every consumer's cluttered social media feeds and information overload, brands naturally must fit into consumers' life story instead of the other way round if they want to get noticed.

Naturally, this has meant that in the last few years, if there is one entity whose role has grown increasingly relevant and impactful in the advertising ecosystem, it is the publisher. Does that mean publishers know brands and advertising techniques better? No, they don't. But they know and deeply understand the only person who matters in today's advertising ecosystem – the consumer. Publishing, as a discipline, has always been about creating content that suits consumers' likes and dislikes and contextual interests. In the last few years, publishers around the world have come of age simply by taking their role as advertising partners more seriously. They have done it by making sure that their brand partners stay relevant and fascinating to consumers day after day. The time has come for publishers to bring elements like data and technology to raise their advertising game further.

Publishers Need a Tech-First Mindset

Brands increasingly need to have consumer touch points across devices, throughout the consumers' online and offline journeys. However, they don't have the tools to adapt content for every device, platform, location, and situation. Media companies already have these technologies in place, thanks to their continuously evolving newsrooms. They do several formats of news and story telling, including text and videos. This is a unique proposition that publishers and media companies must utilize. They must bring these assets into the equation for marketing conversations with brands and advertisers.

Take the example of Buzzfeed. When the company started in 2006, it was a laboratory of virality – learning and experimenting with how things grab eyeballs and spread like wildfire on the Internet. Today, it is a credible media house with almost 500 reporters and over 1000 employees around the world. It is also an advertising powerhouse, relying on its data and technology stack to go viral somewhere on the Internet every single day. Buzzfeed is a sound example of how publishers need to evolve in order to make their role in the advertising and publishing ecosystem more relevant to both consumers and brands.

Today's publishers are competing with the likes of Buzzfeed for advertising dollars. Today, data and technology are at the heart of the publishing industry. Only publishers who get on the bandwagon quickly by making the right investments will continue to thrive.

Publishers Need to Bring Location Data into the Equation

They now have access to a wide array of technologies like GPS, cell WiFi, RFID and more that give them specific yet safe and anonymous location data about their readers. This allows further customization of content, platforms, and formats to bring the right branded content to the right consumer at the right time.

Serving personalized news, articles, and videos on the basis of location data and environment will make publishers more relevant to consumers. Tailoring its native advertising and branded content will make publishers more relevant to brands.

But for all of this to happen, publishers must have access to precise, accurate location data. Poor quality data means wasted advertising dollars, marring the credibility of the publisher and its platform. Currently, publishers usually get this data from a variety of third party platforms. But bringing location data capabilities in-house or from one credible source such as LifeSight can truly differentiate advertising-ready publishers from the rest in terms of impact and consequently, credibility.

Beyond that, location data capabilities also help publishers build scale over time. This is achieved by predictive analytics, wherein publishers can study location data over a period of time and predict consumers' next move, next lifestyle need, or next shopping requirement. This is crucial information for brand advertisers. For example, take the number of times an opt-in reader visits an auto dealership in the last month or two. This information can showcase that the consumer is an auto-intender. Publishers can then help auto brands advertise specifically to auto-intenders.

Publishers, are you ready to raise your game by putting data and technology at the heart of all that you do? We're here to help!