As marketers seek to prove and communicate return on investment (ROI) to other business stakeholders, it’s critical that the right measurement model is in place to understand which campaigns and media drive the best results. Writing exclusively for ExchangeWire, Rakhee Jogia, director of display at Rakuten Marketing explains how to target the right audience, how to measure and reward all media touchpoints in consumers’ path-to-purchase and why performance should drive investment.

One marketer might believe in clicks as the optimum form of measurement, while another will turn to impressions or engagements. Marketers are using models from different marketing channels to measure the performance of various display campaigns. Therefore, when reporting performance many brands don’t see the results they expect from their display budgets. These different measurement models are skewing results and preventing marketers from seeing the whole picture.

Rakuten Marketing recently held a debate with brand advertisers and agencies to untangle the digital headaches facing marketers measuring display advertising. Here are our thoughts on how you can avoid display from seeming like the Wild West:

Data allows you to target exactly the right audience

In such a competitive environment, ecommerce brands need to ensure their message is seen in the right place at the right time. The ongoing process of reviewing and optimising campaign results – enabled by data – should mean that the consumer better receives advertising. These insights drive relevancy and allow marketers to tell more effective stories that are tailored to audience segments.

Alastair Bulger, director of solutions architecture, Krux advises: “display has the potential to be one of the most efficient marketing channels thanks to smarter data collection and programmatic advertising, which lets brands understand what media to buy in order to target consumers at the right time.”

Effectively, Bulger is alluding to the way that big data technologies, like Krux, are enabling a uniquely granular expression of audiences and enabling targeting at scale. No longer are ads being targeted solely on relative proximity to a specific type of content, but on a host of unique, proprietary data points designed to deliver optimal performance as well as an enriched consumer experience.

James Maley, senior international marketing manager, Hilton Worldwide, described how data and programmatic buying allows marketers to see where they are spending, but also understand how to spend more effectively: “with data insights we can segment our customers so that they always receive relevant advertising and aren’t bombarded by our brand. By understanding our customers better, we can better communicate with them. For example, if we identify a business traveller that is a Hilton Honours Member, we wouldn't then market a specific brand or hotel but offer a value add, such as free WiFi, during their stay.”

Continuing his point, Maley explained: “The consumer journey is fragmented and we have to respond to that. I don’t want to buy wasted impressions, I want to understand the media and target the right customers that will engage with our brand.”

Track and reward all customer touchpoints, not just the last step to conversion

Thanks to advances in technology, marketers are able to track the impact of channels and touchpoints throughout the path-to-purchase. This enables marketers to have a complete view of the customer journey and, based on these insights, allocate budget.

The mobile phenomenon is also prompting advertisers to re-think their measurement strategy. According to Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends report, 24% of our time is spent on mobile, but just 8% of ad spend is allocated to this channel. Customers move faster than brands, today they are enabled to discover, research and purchase products on any device, regardless of channel and advertisers have been slow to adapt. There is an alarming gap here because, according to the panellists, many advertisers believe that mobile still isn’t driving conversions for them. This is where measurement across devices proves invaluable.

Mobile is redefining marketing strategies. Yes, desktop still reigns supreme in terms of conversions, but smartphones are driving high volumes of traffic as people browse for products to purchase later via another screen. Maley of Hilton Worldwide comments: “We reduced the number of different media we were using and spend on mobile went up by 45-50%. Now I’m looking to see what I can do next to get value from the channel.”

There is huge opportunity for advertisers to bridge the gap across devices if they can build the right tracking and measurement. Mobile touches, discoveries and research influence a sale regardless of the device it ultimately takes place on. Understanding how different devices interplay and how achieve a cohesive and consistent marketing programme across all devices is key.

Performance should be driving investment. From the panel session it was clear that, in order to achieve this, brands must take charge of their first party data assets. The power of mobile is most apparent when brands have access to all this data, and can create a single customer view. Advertisers must play the cross-channel game to allocate their media spend most effectively. The ability to accurately attribute media spend gives marketers greater transparency and enables them to identify where budget should be allocated to optimise campaign performance. Technologies that can augment and interpret data, are redefining the ad tech landscape to allow marketers to overcome the Wild West of advertising.