Do your marketing measurements and data have standards?
What does that even mean?
Well, that means you have a standard way to name, store and track data across the organization, they say new research (Registration required) from Claravine, a software provider and research firm Advertiser Perceptions. This could include common taxonomies for marketing data, measurement metrics, and even tracking codes.
Do you have that?
Based on the research, probably not.
However, 95% of respondents agree that standards are a must to move forward and show ROI for advertising and marketing. And most agencies (98%) and consumer marketers (81%) agree that without data standards, their business will fall behind competitors or lose market share over time.
Oddly enough, however, the same research finds that these same advertisers report an average 33% increase in return on investment that results (or could achieve) from implementing data standards.
Wait. If they don’t have data standards, how could they be so confident that they’re getting ROI?
We wanted to know more, so we asked Robert Rose, CMI’s chief strategy advisor, for his opinion. Read on or watch this video:
Fascinating findings in research into new data standards
When I speak to marketers in my workshops, training and consultations, I talk a lot about setting standards – the definitions for everything that crosses the threshold of marketing and content operations. So I was particularly interested in The State of Marketing Data Standards report released this week by Claravine and Advertiser Perceptions.
It’s about the importance of setting standards and the challenges companies face in setting those standards. Some of the results were intriguing, if not a little obvious.
For example, the researchers found that marketers who had implemented a data standards strategy (34%) were significantly more likely to have a thorough understanding of data standards than those who had not implemented a strategy (10%).
Well, that makes sense. If you haven’t implemented something, you’re less likely to truly understand it. But wait a minute.
This 34% stands out. Does this mean that 66% of those who have a data standards strategy not Do you have a strong understanding of the practice?
Although the research doesn’t make this clear, the results almost certainly suggest that teams implement standards despite not fully understanding them.
Regardless of their understanding, marketers are clearly confident that data standards will make things better – this is reflected in the finding that marketers expect a 33% ROI after implementing a data standards strategy.
The impact of strategy execution was even greater in categories such as privacy compliance and brand safety and slightly smaller in areas such as consumer experience, marketing campaigns and productivity.
One in five ads is delivered to the wrong consumer
Another find buried in research caught my eye. Unsurprisingly, they conclude that a key benefit of data standards is trust and improved transparency of performance. This is particularly important because approximately 23% of advertising is delivered to the wrong consumer.
Let me say that again. According to these marketers, more than one in five ads end up with the wrong consumer.
Is this just advertisers’ perception or an estimate? Or is it correct, but the advertisers’ fault is that they have no data categorization or incorrect data categorization for ads? Or is it the advertising platforms that place advertising in undefined or misinterpreted categories? And if the latter is the case, is it because advertising platforms do not have data standards by which they manage advertising inventory?
The research doesn’t make the argument clear. However, the results highlight a business case to ensure you have a data standard for your advertising.
This is the hardest part of the standards
What is my opinion?
Well, I’m intrigued, but not surprised. I often tell clients that one of the easiest ways to achieve immediate ROI from developing a content strategy is to establish a set of content and communication standards for the company. You can’t do this by downloading a template from the internet. This is only possible if you come together as a marketing function and define it.
For example, what is an e-book? What is the definition of a white paper? What is a blog post? What is the standard name for the things marketing does? Is it a campaign? Is it an initiative? Is it a project? What is the difference between a campaign and an initiative? What is a topic? What is a content pillar? What are the default names of your personas?
From there the measurement continues. What is your standard definition of a lead, an opportunity? What counts as a download? What is a conversion?
Is it any wonder marketing can do this? feel so difficult to measure? But that’s really not it. The hardest part of measurement is agreeing on measurement standards.
As Taiichi Ohnothe inventor of the Toyota Production System, said decades ago: “Without standards there can be no improvement.”
Or, as I have often asked clients, “How do you know if you are successful if you haven’t agreed on what the standard of success should be?”
In an interesting twist, this new research study inadvertently highlights that as a marketer, your approach to standards development must meet teams where they are.
When you approach team-wide development of marketing, content, advertising, or data standards using external definitions, you immediately run into a conversion about how they won’t work for your company because you don’t understand how to apply them.
However, if you sit down and work together to define what you need to standardize, to have a common vision of your goals and objectives, you will find that they are meaningful to your company, even if they differ from the way the world sees them differentiate.
Remember: the purpose of setting a standard is to be able to improve it. However, in order to improve something, you must first define what improvement means. In other words, you must define the standard or truth before accuracy has any meaning.
Then you have a standard for setting standards, and this should become the standard in your marketing.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute