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There is no shortage of marketing buzzwords. But “people-based” isn’t just the latest jargon: it is fast becoming a new industry category and the future of digital advertising.
People-based marketing is a strategic discipline that reaches real people rather than cookies across devices and channels. The concept was introduced in 2014 with the launch of Facebook’s Custom Audiences, and a recent survey of Australian advertisers and media buyers by Signal found that adoption is rising quickly as new solutions become available.
People-based marketing is taking off because of changing consumer behaviors. They’re connecting with brands digitally, across more devices than ever before.
• 1 in every 4 Australians accesses the Internet using more than 5 devices.
• The average Australian home has 8 devices, and some have up to 20.
• The share of e-commerce transactions taking place on mobile grew by 49% from 2014-2015 in Australia.
Advertisers seeking to increase ROAS in this fragmented environment must prioritize connecting with people, not just connecting with a device or web browser. Here are eight reasons why.
1. Target with pinpoint accuracy.
Consumers’ expectations of brands are higher than ever, especially when they’re online. Research shows that the use of ad blocking software among Australians has increased 81% since 2013. People-based advertising is powerful because it uses the wealth of information brands already have about existing customers to reach the right person with the right message. It’s an easy-button for instant ad relevancy and targeting efficiency.
2. Cut the fat from ad spend.
Almost 1 in every 10 dollars spent on online display ads in Australia is wasted on advertising that is shown to bots rather than real people. Targeting broad demographic segments or unreliable collections of web cookies leaves a ton of room for error. By linking ads to people, rather than cookies, people-based advertising enables brands and media agencies to “buy” only the people they want to reach. No more, no less.
3. Eliminate the guesswork.
The cookie-based tracking methods advertisers have used for 20 years don’t work well across web and mobile devices, wreaking havoc on their ability to target ads and measure outcomes with accuracy. According to a 2015 Econsultancy poll of digital marketers worldwide, less than one-third are capable of recognizing customers across web and mobile. People-based marketing solves the cross-device challenge by tying campaigns back to actual people. Advertisers know who they are reaching, who is converting, what campaigns are driving conversions, and which audiences and campaigns are driving more revenue.
4. Use the highest-quality data.
People-based marketing is powered by the freshest and most accurate data that a brand can use: its own first-party data. Because first-party data is based on the brand’s direct interactions with customers, it is the key to deriving immediate, unique and granular customer insights – authentic insights advertisers will never glean from assumptive third-party “lookalike” data.
5. See the entire customer journey.
As customers engage with brands across the web, mobile apps, email, brick-and-mortar stores and other touchpoints, they may be represented by multiple fragmented profiles. A people-based approach pulls all this online and offline data together to create a single view of the customer. Advertisers can understand the cross-channel, cross-device habits of customers and the different steps they take on their path to conversion, delivering the most relevant messages at each stage of the journey.
6. Make your message matter.
The majority (82%) of Australian consumers prefer tailored ads. They want immediate, relevant and valuable brand experiences at the touch of a fingertip – or else they ignore, delete and unsubscribe. People-based advertising means more relevant ads, a key factor in getting consumers to respond.
7. Combat ad blocking.
Due to ad blocking, as many as one in five Australian consumers will not see any digital ads in a 30-day span. Advertisers need to think differently about how they reach customers online. Addressable media is a model of advertising that is more meaningful and less intrusive, and certainly a step in the right direction of re-engaging enraged consumers.
8. Boost ROAS.
Australia now has the highest digital ad spend per Internet user in the world – $271 per user – and by 2018 advertisers in the country will dedicate more than half of budgets to online and mobile. But more investment doesn’t equal more return. In fact, Australia has the lowest click-through rates for banner ads in the world. To get more value from ad spend, marketers need to consider addressable media solutions. 86% of advertisers who have deployed people-based campaigns report that they have outperformed standard campaigns on similar channels, and 75% report improved click-through rates.
Digital advertisers have become understandably disenchanted with the state of standard display ads: two in three think the traditional model is broken. But disruptive technology and people-based advertising is paving the way for a new era in which the nirvana of right person, right message, right time, across all channels is actually possible.
This is a sponsored post brought to you by Signal. To discuss content opportunities within AdNews, please contact Yaffa Custom Content or national sales manager Paul Carroll.
paulcarroll@yaffa.com.au
https://www.yaffa.com.au/custom-content/
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