Stuck retargeting the same customers again and again?

Marketers, it’s time to step out of the retention bubble.

Times have been tough. Between the scramble for first-party data, the pressure from privacy regulations, and the complexities of fragmentation, there’s comfort in focusing on what you already have.

But this constant focus on existing customers has created an inwards-looking marketing culture myopically fixated on attention.

To move away from this mindset and rebalance the scales towards acquisition, we need to — as Andy Monfried said at IAB ALM — identify and address what is truly causing us pain, even if that means acknowledging some uncomfortable home truths.

Your data is siloed. Your tech stack can’t reach beyond your walls. You don’t know how to balance data collection with consent. Your unknown users may as well not exist. 

Does any of that sound familiar? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Let’s talk through these common marketing pains, the steps you can take to remedy them, and the new platform we’ve built at Lotame to make the whole process easier.

Break down your silos

The first step is to break down silos, both internally and externally. Internal silos lock valuable data into the departments that gathered them, rather than the entire organisation having permissioned ownership of data within its walls.

Whether due to poor communication between teams, a lack of top-down data strategy, or disparate technologies, internal silos lead to lost insights and missed opportunities.

Breaking external silos means looking beyond the walls of the business to see where else current or prospective customers can be found. Brands might try and act like distant islands entirely independent of one another, but their customers don’t, and knowing where customers go and how they get there is key to an outward-looking marketing strategy.

This means connecting your customer data to the ever-expanding suite of adtech and martech technologies and platforms, such as third-party IDs, DMPs, data marketplaces, MAIDs, CTV platforms, clean rooms, and so on.

Invest in interoperability

Interoperability, then, is key, both across your tech stack and the wider advertising ecosystem.

The demise of third-party cookies has led to a dizzying array of solutions designed to fill the gap in one way or another, which is a great environment for innovation, but a nightmare for fragmentation when data can’t easily move from one to another. 

It’s clear that there isn’t going to be a single replacement for the cookie, but rather an overlapping selection of complementary tools chosen on a case-by-case basis.

Any solution that wants to secure its place in the future of digital advertising must be designed with interoperability at its heart, and brands must prioritise interoperability when building their tech stacks.

Track and honour consent

Of course, whenever we talk of customer data moving from place to place, we must also talk about consent. GDPR, the CCPA, and the various similar regulations rolling out across the globe put informed consent for the use of customer data and the ability to withdraw consent at the heart of their frameworks.

In our excitement to break down silos and forge new connections, we also need to ensure that consent is gathered and the signals for that consent — or its withdrawal — are passed along with any customer data used.

What about the many non-consenting and unknown users? For these audiences, marketers can turn to the tried-and-true practise of sampling, accelerated to hyperspeed with machine learning. By extrapolating from the pool of consenting users, you can achieve scale and target prospects without straying from privacy-first principles.

I’m not going to focus this whole piece on pointing out where digital marketing has gone wrong without offering a solution. 

Open your eyes to a universe of data

For more than 16 years, Lotame has been developing the tools and technologies to help marketers make the most of their data, and our latest platform — Spherical — is our most powerful yet.

As the name suggests, Spherical puts your business at the centre of a universe of data — both from known and unknown users — and finds connections from every angle, allowing you to unify and expand your customer data and explore the infinite insights of connected data.

Spherical has been built from the ground up to address marketers’ pains with interoperability, consent, and innovation in mind. To learn more about our next-generation data platform, watch our video demonstration of Spherical. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts and any marketing pains that I haven’t covered.