The new marketing technology Lumascape was released a few days ago. It has 9,932 players in the ecosystem. It’s preposterous that we have SO much technology to serve an ad and yet we can’t say with 100% certainty that an ad is served to a human or seen at all. Yes, there are brand safety solutions, identity solutions, fraud solutions, and viewability solutions but those who want to “game the system” are smarter and moving faster than the solution providers. Is the solution really more technology?
I’m not a Luddite. I firmly believe that technology has improved workflow, has improved our ability to attribute sales, and has created a remarkable ability for smaller agencies, like mine, to compete on an even playing field with our larger competitors. It has empowered consumers the same way, making it easier for them to research brands, read reviews, and comparison shop before buying.
The thing that is missing the most in the MarTech landscape is humans. Humans are the buyers of the products and services we market to yet most of the ad solutions focus on delivering ads to a device. While there are some providers who promise to deliver ads to devices owned by people with “intent to purchase”, there is a big miss in brand building. And it’s not more evident than in this article published in Harvard Business Review demonstrating that marketers are rethinking the benefits of traditional media and how it helps improve the effectiveness of digital media.
This makes total sense to us. We’ve been trying to make sure our clients understand the value of building awareness and demand to improve engagement and transactions. We call it Building DEBT (Demand, Engagement, Brand, Transactions). Every media buy needs to address these four pillars and have a mechanism to measure the value of each. If all you are using is performance-based media, you are missing an opportunity. Broader-based awareness of a brand and its benefits is critical to long-term success.
We talk to many DTC marketers who don’t know what to do when their paid social, paid search, and influencer ads stop producing growth. If they have internal teams managing these channels we get a lot of pushback when we recommend new channels, especially if it’s traditional media we’re recommending.
Don’t get so caught up in the technology of what you CAN do and step back to think about what you SHOULD do holistically to grow your brand.