A new study from Salesforce, “Digital Advertising 2020” takes a deep dive into the near future of media buying and discusses how the advertising and media buying industries will evolve due to technological advancement and consumer habits. In this study, 900 respondents were polled from the advertising, media buying, and marketing industries.
Unsurprisingly, Salesforce found that there are more messages on more channels for consumers to interact with, which leads to too much messaging noise for the average consumer to keep up. As a result, the best bet to cut through the clutter is for advertisers to develop highly specialized messaging that will seek to reach out to their target market on a one-to-one basis. This can be accomplished by utilizing data and its specific analysis to determine how best to reach a specific type of consumer.
Salesforce found that most advertisers will utilize the two major digital players, Google and Facebook, to reach their audience. Here are the five biggest takeaways from the study and how media buyers and advertisers can find new ways to reach their target markets.
Marketing and Advertising Budgets Unite
In years past, marketing and advertising budgets were strictly separated. Now, however, the walls are breaking down since the marketing and advertising teams are also joining together as one. Across the globe, according to the study results, only a very small portion of advertising departments say they will not combine with their marketing department. North America is leading this trend to combine staff and budgets.
Interestingly, outsourcing marketing/advertising work is on a decline, with many companies choosing to build stronger teams in-house. Salesforce surmises that this change is due to a desire for greater control over digital advertising in-house. Of those who decide to bring ad spend in-house, some do it to save money, while others do it to ensure enhanced alignment with their in-house marketing team. Still, about 25 percent of companies polled blend their in-house advertising departments with outside advertising agencies.
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Data Reigns
Data about digital advertising and its consumers is growing exponentially. Salesforce found that all of the data points to the same place: helping buyers determine who to target, what to say to the target, and when is best to target them. Basically, three main data categories are available and are widely used by advertisers. These datasets include:
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM). A whopping 94% of advertisers turn to CRM data to engage with their customers; this data includes phone numbers and email addresses. Yet, many advertisers are going above and beyond the typical CRM data, thanks to the ease of use of Google and Facebook algorithms to target specific groups.
- When a customer visits or interacts with the brand’s website, advertisers are able to capture their information and use it to make a targeted ad buy. Significant growth in brand partnership data is expected.
- This data is widely used to find out information about the customer. It includes location information, interests, and other personal data.
Not surprisingly, data management platforms are becoming more widely used among advertisers as a way to harness the data, sort it, and use it to target advertising. While only about 20% of companies have been using data management platforms for the past three years, 91% are either using it or will soon be implemented it.
Videos Are Essential
At this point, it may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s absolutely necessary to allocate a portion of a digital advertising budget to Google Search, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. In fact, 66% of all digital advertising spend it spent on those four platforms. These platforms are essential for reaching a vast majority of people and for their ability to target a specific demographic. Don’t discount LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, or Twitter — about 11% of digital advertising budgets are spent on these platforms.
Salesforce found that video content is desirable among all of these digital platforms. 65% of companies polled report an uptick in their video advertising — and 52% of companies say they create those videos in-house.
Success Easily Measured
More data means more numbers to crunch to determine if a campaign is effective or not. However, many advertisers can easily become overwhelmed by the data measurement options available. Salesforce found that what a company wants to measures is as unique as they are. But, generally across the board, digital optimization is high on the list of measurements to capture for most advertisers. Companies like AMPVerified or SearchAppNetwork help advertisers and publishers make sure ads are reaching a real audience and provide the performance metrics needed to evaluate success.
To measure results, advertisers are using website analytics platforms, spreadsheets, DMPs, marketing attribution, and marketing automation platforms. However, Salesforce predicts a decline in spreadsheets in the future, as more and more companies say they’re turning to DMPs and web analytics over spreadsheets to capture information.
New Opportunities With New Technology
Advertisers are looking forward to exploring the new ways to advertise thanks to new technology. Smart TVs, digital assistants, and wearable devices are exciting ways to create new and cutting-edge advertising. Salesforce expects this form of advertising to grow and become better leveraged by advertisers.
