The Integrated Marketing Playbook: How to Create Simplicity from Complexity

The Integrated Marketing Playbook:
How to Create Simplicity from Complexity

A fundamental guide for digital marketers

The Integrated Marketing Playbook:
How to Create Simplicity from Complexity
A fundamental guide for digital marketers

4 Foreword

7 Chapter 1 The Evolution of Direct Marketing to Integrated Digital Marketing

17 Chapter 2 Setting Your Organization Up for Success

27 Chapter 3 Tools and Technologies for Integrated Marketing

37 Chapter 4 Centralized Data for Actionable Insights

43 Chapter 5 Bridging the Gap: Advertising, Conversion Optimization and Marketing Automation

49 Chapter 6 Optimization: Get More, Do More, Learn More

57 Chapter 7 The Future of Integrated Marketing

65 Chapter 8 Discussions on Integrated Marketing

78 Glossary of Terms

80 About IgnitionOne

3

Foreword

Will Margiloff, CEO | IgnitionOne

The Integrated Marketing Playbook: How to Create Simplicity from
Complexity

D
igital marketing has the potential to with their own data sets and their own way
achieve the dreams marketers have of looking at the conversion path. In addition
held for generations: the ability to to data and tools, the silos set up in our own
directly reach potential customers at organizations end up working against central
the right time, with the right message, every time. marketing goals by putting the focus on the
This dream consists of the extraordinary ability to success of individual tactics or channels.

track marketing efforts and consumer behavior
This structure does not have to be the norm. It
in order to optimize budget and understand the
is possible to integrate your marketing. Break
audience and what is most effective, as well as down those silos, break down the walls, connect
the innovation and technology to manage all of the dots and centralize data, tools and efforts.
this efficiently and easily.
We have written this guide to serve as a
While achieving this dream is closer than it has valuable resource when mapping out how to
ever been, digital marketing has become so approach integrated digital marketing in your
complex due to the multitude of point solutions organization. It is our goal to answer some core
that have flooded the digital landscape, each issues marketers face:

4 Foreword

What are the central challenges to achieving
We hope that the discussion won’t stop here
integrated digital marketing? and that you will continue to comment and

How do I set up my organization to facilitate
share your thoughts on integrated marketing.

and take advantage of integration? Please reach out and share your feedback with
us anytime at info@ignitionone.com or on
How do I centralize tools, data and

Twitter @IgnitionOne.
measurement to achieve integrated
marketing?
Will Margiloff
What is the payoff for integrating my

CEO
marketing?
IgnitionOne
Many people assisted in the creation of “The
Integrated Marketing Playbook” and their time
and efforts are thoroughly appreciated. We
would also like to thank our CMO contributors,
Julie Cary of La Quinta Inns & Suites and Peter
McDonough of Diageo for graciously agreeing
to share their insights with us.
Technology

Centralized
Media
Data

INTEGRATED
MARKETING

User Site
Behavior Experience

Aligned
Goals

www.IgnitionOne.com 5

The Integrated Marketing Playbook: How to Create Simplicity from Complexity

1
The Evolution of Direct
Marketing to Integrated
Digital Marketing

7

The Evolution of Direct Marketing
to Integrated Digital Marketing
Stephan van den Bremer, Managing Director, Europe | IgnitionOne

New Data = New Opportunity, New Responsibility

T
he phrase, “integrated marketing” requires data resources and ways to
now seems as ubiquitous as analyze them.
“synergy,” “thinking outside of the
box” and of course, “paradigm shift.” Our industry has spent a lot of time recently

But how many companies are actually moving talking about how we navigate lots and

beyond the hype and executing the integration lots of data, so much in fact that we’ve just
of marketing efforts well? In a survey done by decided that it’s, well, BIG. Beyond the buzz,
the Association of National Advertisers (ANA ), 1 Big Data is about processing, segmenting
51% of marketers claimed to be developing and and understanding large amounts of data to
executing integrated marketing programs for all be actionable in real-time. In that sense, the
brands/products/services. This is up from 19% term “real-time actionable information,” would
in 2006. So who are these brands and what are be more appropriate. Data is meaningless to
they doing? Are they any more successful than a marketer, unless it can be translated into
those brands not using integrated strategies valuable information. Similarly, a pile of bricks
and tactics? is not a house.

Reaching the level of having a unified and To be “actionable in real-time” is a very big
holistic view on digital marketing programs statement in and of itself. For years, marketers
1 ANA Survey 1/2012

8 The Evolution of Direct Marketing to Integrated Digital Marketing

have been able to piece together data for Point Solution Innovation:
disparate media optimization systems, but Our Savior and Secret Enemy
that data is crunched in a third party solution
(often something as unsophisticated as Excel), Online marketing has come far in the last 17
years. In such a young field, we’ve seen so
and then the decisions made off of that data
many chapters of innovation as the industry
are usually delayed as humans determine the
has matured. From the early days when the
proper action. This is a far cry from making big
Internet was poised to change every facet of
data “actionable in real-time”, and it is not really
our daily lives and create world peace, to the
possible to act in real-time with such disparate
days after the “dot com bust” when people
media optimization.
thought digital marketing would never pan out

Put simply: If your marketing team is managing - we’ve seen many concepts come and go. But
over time, the establishment and acceptance
online media and site optimization via a series
of core digital marketing channels has sped
of point solutions while attempting to stitch
innovation that marketers can, and must, keep
together big data sets, you are already behind
pace with to stay competitive. This innovation
your competition.
has created huge expectations of the benefits
We are already seeing the most innovative that new technology, new devices, and

marketers racing to consolidate their online new monetization allow people to connect,
communicate and convert.
marketing budgets into a unified Digital
Marketing Suite (DMS). In order to keep up with big data, marketers have
added new point solutions, tested new tactics,
This is the challenge that this playbook will
collected new data and sometimes created new
address. The innovative marketers we have
metrics. In the beginning, the siloed results were
worked with to create this playbook call this
amazing in comparison to offline methods – you
The DMS Imperative.
could see, track and improve upon ROI much
faster. For every marketer who’d ever promoted
a product launch on a billboard, placed an ad
in the paper or bought a radio spot – this was


More on BIG Data Challenges

Companies that are attempting to process
and utilize massive data sets do so with the
intention of making good things better for 1 Day = 2,250 movies
companies and the customers they serve.
What we’ve seen so far is that data can either
do very good things or very bad things. And Let’s bring this back to companies and their
more data is not always a welcomed thing. It’s customers. Customer data is growing by
an immense new opportunity, but at times an 50% every year. Two billion people access
overwhelming new responsibility. the Internet each day with over 4.3 billion
mobile devices across the globe. That’s a lot
Sifting the good data from the bad sounds like
of devices, each creating its own share of
an easy enough task. But in 2004, Facebook
data, resulting in 2.5 quintillion bytes of data
was a mere 1 million members strong and now it
developed every day. More significantly, 90%
has over 1 billion. Every day, 15 Terabytes of data
of all digital data was produced in the last two
are created by Facebook members alone. What
years. This trend isn’t expected to reverse. We
do we know about these Terabytes? A Terabyte
are creating increasing amounts of data each
could hold about 3.6 million 300 Kilobyte
year. With all this in mind, online marketers
images or about 300 hours of good quality
have to be creative and technical while finding
video – that’s 150 movies or 1,000 copies of the
ways to transform this data into actionable
Encyclopedia Britannica. Ten Terabytes could
information and remain competitively nimble.
hold the printed collection of the US Library of
We’ve never before faced challenges like this.
Congress. That’s a lot of data. I’d even say BIG2.
But our history as an industry shows that as
So everyday Facebook alone creates more data
online marketers, we can prosper by adapting
than the entire US Library of Congress. You’re
with innovation and technology. That’s the
starting to see the state of affairs that today’s
only way to transform data into information
digital marketer faces.
and shift to actionable information.

2 http://www.whatsabyte.com/


a major evolution. And this evolution also made by a sea of data but now a deluge of technology
tracking consumer behavior and customizing vendors. Marketers struggle with separate data
user experience on websites a reality. streams that don’t communicate, in addition
to disparate and often competing teams that
However, with all of these new methods of
suffer from a lack of centralized and shared
digital marketing, things became very complex,
goals. The results are silos across the marketing
very quickly. We‘ve now come to a point where
organization that separate people, data and
marketers find themselves separated from the
budgets, making the attainment of goals ever
customers that they wanted to reach not only
more challenging.


How Did Digital Marketing Enter Integrated Marketing
Get So Messy?
While integrated marketing is not a new thing,
This culture of analytics and innovation being to some marketers it seems like a goal that
built within silos has failed marketers in a major moves further away as they run toward it. But in
way. Click-through rates plunged from around fact, the attainment of this aspiration is closer
5% when the dot-com market collapsed, to than ever.
about .1% by 2011. In consolidating all the buying
power, local advertising markets went under By integrating online efforts, marketers are
with the promise of lower costs. able to merge all of these silos, eliminating
the complexity that has been created through
More recently, low barriers to entry have created
individual solutions. By merging resources,
a myriad of these start-ups, applications and
tools, data and measurement, you gain the
point solutions. They are often funded and
unique ability to score all data sets in relation
supported by venture capital backing that
to each other. It’s the discovery of these
looks to solve an immediate problem without
relationships that allows integrated marketers
the context of larger issues. And although each
to categorize, prioritize and act across multiple
tries to solve a problem (search, mobile, content
channels in a unified manner to achieve a goal.
personalization, etc) at a micro level, in doing so
they create isolated online data sets, in addition
Once we have taken a step back to see the
to existing offline sets. And these disparate data
forest from the trees, we‘re reminded that in
sets ultimately become the major roadblock
the midst of solving problems, we’ve lost sight
barring the online marketer’s ability to interpret
of the core goal: increasing customers and
and act on a macro level.
revenue. Messaging and efforts must be aligned
So with every innovation to solve an immediate and prioritized across teams and technologies
problem, a quieter and more detrimental to create a common language that can be
paralysis spreads through an organization. leveraged across channels. The good news
Resource allocation and prioritization is central is that this alignment can result in a single
in determining a company’s success or failure methodology and metric that every team can
and it requires actionable information. But relate to, interpret and act upon together.
adding additional separate layers of data can
actually result in less action being taken.


Fighting Past Isolation company at large. Budgets and goals were set
at the beginning of the year for each channel
for Future Results
and the teams work feverishly in seclusion to
As obvious as the solution may seem, many earn a bonus for results within their channel.
marketers are sitting in a sea of isolated data,
Many senior marketers are incapable of
unable to develop insights and take action
reallocating resources after budgets are set
in union. The most common roadblocks are
before the start of the fiscal year. So they find
the bi-products of two antiquated elements
themselves beholden to a quickly obsolete
– corporate structure and incentives. Just
snapshot of business while operating in a rapidly
like data and reporting are siloed, people are
shifting environment.
also forced into arbitrary divisions due to
technology, budgets and goals. We find the
person running lead generation sitting next to,
but not speaking to, the guys running the search Where is the Art?
program or the Facebook community manager
As much as organizational incentives and
not communicating with the Facebook ads
collective technology decisions can serve as the
manager. They all might as well be working for
foundation for success, unifying the message
different companies.
is also critical. The core message should be

Each group is focused on its own narrow area consistent across all channels, whether website,

and in many cases, is hitting its goals in isolation mobile or print (leveraging the unique strengths

while unknowingly becoming a detriment to the of each). Achieving data-centric precision but
communicating a fragmented message may be
the most painful type of failure in integrated
Technology, Data and Measurement
marketing efforts. Marketers should always
In order to properly centralize data, to use know their audience and voice. The key tenants
that data to measure a unified metric and of good marketing shouldn’t be lost in the midst
then to use that metric to optimize your of wrangling data and technologies.
marketing efforts- a clear technology inte-
gration plan is needed.


The Origins of and the opportunity for consumers to react to,
create and influence them through social. For
Integrated Marketing
the first time, people have the ability co-create
During the last century, direct marketing came their experience with brands.
out of the realization that someone’s age, income,
education, place of birth, etc., would make them
more or less likely to be affected by certain Modern Digital
messaging. Instead of one message and identity, Marketing Channels
suddenly a brand could cater to the desires of
people in unique and meaningful ways. Today marketers can take advantage of all
channels and tactics that comprise digital
This was a massive change in how brands
marketing, including: paid search, natural
started telling stories and creating desire within
search, retargeted and traditional display, social,
consumers. This simple idea revolutionized
email, affiliates and site optimization. Each
marketing and in many ways was the birth of the
of these elements is based on the principles
modern day advertising industry.
of direct marketing. What differs is how the
Online marketing does not go against the brand engages and interacts with that targeted
foundation of marketing. The principles of audience - an important point as one starts to
direct marketing still apply in full. Advanced orchestrate channels to work together in an
segmentation of an audience through online data “integrated” way.
allows the long-held vision of direct marketing to
What makes a channel different is the
be realized – a one-on-one relationship between
experience it offers and where in the purchase
the brand and the consumer.
funnel it will be most successful. The purchase
Understanding that online is not a new funnel is a useful organizational concept, used
marketing method, but simply the purest form to see where a consumer is on their path to
of direct marketing to date is important. And making a decision. This is especially useful in
while the fundamental rules still apply, there digital marketing where it can be easier to track
are two things that have changed – the ability the progress of a user through the funnel and
to experience brand messages dynamically interact with him appropriately.


digital version of a hardcopy until the actual
Attract content could be individualized based on data.

Search was the first experience that put
Engage
the consumer in control of their own media
consumption. Instead of being the passive
Nurture recipient, the individual had direct input to the
type of content and advertising he saw. Then
Convert social changed everything: consumers had the
ability to broadcast their thoughts and feelings
and those messages were able to become
advertisements in their own right.

When display ads were introduced they simply
replicated traditional ads until they were
Bringing it Together
animated and interactive. The same was true The key to considering successful integrated
of email marketing — a newsletter was just a marketing is to remember that while all online
channels are based on direct marketing
principles, each interacts differently with
• Inspire your organization with an a consumer’s journey. To properly bring
integrated vision and incentives everything together you must understand how
• Align your technology and data to channels interact with the consumer, as well as
support those priorities each other. This is the only way to allocate your
marketing budget in the most effective way.
• Unify but individualize your message
across all platforms

• Act and react by allowing the data to
emphasize the experiences needed to
carry the message to result in a conversion


How Do You Get There? What Will You Get?
In order to achieve integrated digital By fully integrating digital marketing, it is
marketing, it takes a cross-organization effort possible to achieve a wide range of benefits.
to align resources, goals, technology, data Marketers can work smarter by having
and measurement. This is not to say that a centralized data, clear measurements, and
marketer will not benefit at all from achieving unified metrics. Transparency of media mix
partial integration. Marketers should not effects will enable the marketer to allocate
lose motivation by the size of the task. Every budget most effectively. It will be possible to
step toward integration is a step toward work more efficiently by having aligned teams
improvement. and unified goals working with a streamlined
and coordinated technology stack. Marketers
can react more quickly and synchronized to
new challenges and be able to truly leverage
the insights gathered to reach and surpass
goals. While there is a lot of work ahead, it is
very much worth each step. Suddenly “big data”
can mean better business, because above all,
integrated marketing will deliver better returns
on your marketing investment.


2
Setting Your
Organization Up
for Success

17

Setting Your Organization
Up for Success
Roger Barnette, President | IgnitionOne

Does this Sound like Your Organization?

Y
our company spends about the same alternatives by examining the incremental
amount of money this year as last. effect on total revenue and total cost caused by
Each channel gets slightly more sales a very small (just one unit) change in the output
than the year before. It sounds like it’s or input of each alternative.
time to celebrate and promote people, right?
This aligns the organization. Marketers should
Not so fast. look forward to optimal holistic potential.
The lesser alternative is looking through the
When you think about integrated marketing, rearview mirror with the satisfaction that you
here’s the golden rule for the organization: it’s aren’t operating quite as inefficiently as last
not about more channel specific conversions, it’s year. Unfortunately we can spend our budget
about identifying the greatest possible potential only once, so we need to be sure that we spend
for your spend across all digital channels using it in its most optimal way.
Marginal Return Analysis and then tracking your
Truly integrated marketing is the end goal for
trajectory to reach that potential.
many marketers. However, there are so many
Marginal Return Analysis is the process of pieces to link and so many silos to knock down
identifying the benefits and costs of different along the way. While integrating technology and

18 Setting Your Organization Up for Success

centralizing data to act on is clearly important,
none of that will work without first addressing
the most important (and challenging) piece of
the puzzle: the organization.
➊
CHALLENGE #1:
ADOPTING MARGINAL
RETURN ANALYSIS
ACROSS YOUR TEAMS
There are four key challenges to address for
Marginal Return Analysis supports decision-
your teams to succeed:
making based on marginal or incremental
➊ All channels must be considered holistically changes to resources instead of one based on
using Marginal Return Analysis for goal
totals or averages. It is extremely important to
setting.
understand this principle and how to apply it.
➋ You must get creative in how you develop Without this core piece in place, little else will
data/performance-focused unity across result in an uptick in performance. Having a
your team by eliminating “my channel” good framework like this to foster teamwork
factions and identity distinctions. toward transparent, logical collective goals

➌ Get cozy with IT as your ability to affect is the most critical element in aligning the

change in digital is dependent upon this organizational structure.

close relationship.
PROOF POINT
➍ Ensure budget allocation decisions are both
Why is this so important? In a case
fluid and centralized with allocation based
study with Center Parcs, performance in
on performance data.
search and display were up by marginal
percentages. But after integrating search
and display they achieved a whopping 54%
increase in revenue. When benchmarking
performance by last year at the channel level
the outcome may have been a gain of 4%
when unknowingly the 50% gain was missed
out on. That is the scary and exciting part for
your organization.


What Often Happens Today related to the display program without any
connection to cross-channel efforts. This means
in the Absence of Marginal
that no marginal return is being considered
Return Analysis
holistically. This is the same in search, social,
Today, many siloed department heads are email, etc. Unfortunately that measurement
responsible for creating goals that incentivize of success does not map to the reality of how
their teams to achieve highly focused these budgets perform or support the health of
performance. The display team must get an overall business. Many organizations benchmark
ROI of 3:1 based on spend and conversion data against the previous year’s performance at

Start thinking possibility vs probability

Marketers seeking to advance their together? How do all channels assist each
organization will need to evangelize against other to reach a goal? Perhaps if all channels
the desire to constantly look behind. Each are optimally aligned, search may directly
person in the organization should consider produce less than last year as a channel,
what’s possible versus what’s probable. but it serves a more valuable role by making
That simple shift in framing questioning and significantly more total conversions possible.
rationale will start to change their thinking.
A short-sighted team can tell what will
For example, a search team has $100 and sells probably happen based on doing what they’ve
10 widgets this year with search ads. At the always done, just slightly better. Integrated
beginning of the following year, the manager is marketers need to implore what is possible. It
asked how many widgets she could expect to is possible to move past “what you’ve always
sell with the same budget. She might respond done, plus 1%.” Are you ready to see what’s
that with some refinements and testing that possible?
it’s probable she could sell 12 next year. But
This holistic perspective and the improved net
what is the potential of the search team, the
results are at the heart of the DMS Imperative
display team and the social team working
challenge and goal.


the channel level. And while every channel
may perform better this year than last in total
number of sales for the same media spend, it is
still possible for overall potential to be harmed
➋
CHALLENGE #2:
GETTING CREATIVE WITH
ELIMINATING BARRIERS:
MARKETING TEAMS ARE LIKE
by a significant margin. This seems like a
paradox, but it’s not. MEXICAN FOOD
The classic example is if there is land and a What’s the difference between a burrito, an
farmer plants a crop, the result would be the enchilada and a soft taco? Not much other than
amount of crops planted and the profit you get whether the sauce and cheese is inside, outside
from the crop if he sells it. If he buys a tractor or on the side. But people perceive them as
and the amount of farming land remains the different because they’ve been taught that’s
same size, productivity and profit will increase. how things are. The same concept applies for
But, if he buys another tractor, the profit will not the marketing organization. Each department
increase the same as before when he bought is a part of a greater whole and the sequence
the first tractor. In fact, his profit will decrease. and placement of these parts is what matters,
Looking at tradeoff decisions to maximize the not the parts themselves. So often people
performance of your digital teams differs little refer to “the display guys” and “the search
from the farmer maximizing crops. Everything guys.” But nobody prefers to eat sour cream
is interrelated. or cheese alone. Each piece contributes to the
resulting whole.

Three Keys: Make the idea of collective team performance
1 Adopt Marginal Return Analysis holistically a fun and inspiring effort. Start by finding ways
to change your language and team metrics.
2 Stop using last year’s channel-level
For example, search conversions and display
benchmarks
conversions should only be referred to when a
3 Strive to look for the greater missed single exposure lead to that action. Marketers
opportunity of integrated optimization like can uncover the most critical paths and create
Center Parcs identities around them. For example, if 20% of


conversions come from a display click followed to make this manageable for an organization,
by a search click, then maybe one should call there can be a number of integrated teams with
that a disearch. It’s not about the parts, so a digital head. Instead of having search, display,
marketers should be encouraged to create their social and conversion optimization teams
own language that embodies the parts and that focus on campaigns related to multiple
makes it fun to break old patterns of thought. products or promotions, smaller integrated
This new vocabulary can drive common thinking teams could operate independently. To foster
across the team. If that sounds silly to you, then discipline and excellence, there should still
just take to heart that changing old habits will be educational forums and events to refine
require new creative thinking. Simply saying, skills and share best practices, but the days of
“we are one team” won’t cut it. discipline departments as the primary structure
to which people identify themselves has come
to an end. If you want your team to produce
an integrated mindset and strive toward an
disearch /dis ‘s r CH/ integrated result, then you need to promote the
e
DEFINITION right team relationships and identity.

noun the conversions that come from a If you’re a small company, then by necessity this
display click followed by a search click. may come easy to you in that one person has
to manage and optimize multiple disciplines.
If you’re mid-sized, where there may be 3-5
people managing, then again this should also
be easy as long as there is one person adept
at actually optimizing multiple types of media
Today’s model of having a head of discipline to lead the team. The person leading the team
at the channel level will no longer do the should have hands-on experience in multiple
trick in our cross-channel world. While it’s still channels if you’re serious about getting good
beneficial to have discipline specialists and results. If you’re a larger corporation or looking
senior members on that team, any heads of to outsource your digital marketing to an
department should be cross-functional. In order agency, then the above applies. As the client,


you have the right to know how an agency is
structured and led. Structure reflects strategy.
If your integrated agency is still working in silos,
then it is time to take a deeper look at how
➌
CHALLENGE #3:
WHAT ABOUT I.T.?
With all of this data and technology in the
things are being managed day to day. mix, we haven’t mentioned much about new
necessities and dependencies. Surveys suggest
that the single biggest barrier to a company
Three Keys: embracing Big Data is creating the business
1 Get creative in the ways you use language case behind it. This is often tied to the fact that
and internal metrics to reflect your with all this new data there are increased costs
dedication to being an “integrated team.” not just in hardware, but the staffing to make
and keep it working. So with all this innovation
2 Evolve your team structure internally to
and technology most marketing teams are still
reflect your direction in implementing
yet to include technologists.
integrated marketing strategies.

3 Ensure that any agency you’re working
with to execute integrated marketing and
Are Your CMO and
has the right internal structure to make
CIO Best Friends?
it a reality.
We can see evidence of this in a study titled,
“Why Leading Marketers Outperform3.” It shows
that in companies where CMOs and CIOs worked
closely to build a “system of engagement” — an
integrated and innovative set of technologies
and processes that are born out of marketing
and IT collaboration, performance increases
were significant. As a group, enterprises with
forward-thinking marketing organizations that
engage customers effectively and invest their
marketing spend better have a three-year
3 http://asmarterplanet.com blog/2012/10/20181.html


revenue growth that is more than 40 percent So How is This Done?
higher than other companies. And their gross
profit is growing at a rate double that of their With results like this coming from the partnership
peers. Some highlights include that these between marketing and IT, it begs the question
companies are: as to what it would look like or how it would
work best. As much as some companies have
33 percent more likely to serve personalized
built highly specialized systems, others just
or targeted offers in at least four channels in
need a tag placed on the website for tracking
real-time.
capabilities or a new widget to work within the
36 percent use location-specific mobile homepage of the website.
messaging campaigns and ads compared
to the 20 percent without a system of In order to accomplish day-to-day functions
engagement. necessary for integrated marketing, some
basic functions of IT must be accessible and
48 percent of the top performers are using or
streamlined. More fluid changes needed for
plan to use, social/local group buying in the
websites, social media and tagging for analytics
next 12 months. As for the group without a
ideally will fall under the management of the
system of engagement, that number drops
marketing function. Many organizations fail to
significantly to 31 percent.
understand the size of missed opportunities
According to the study, currently 88 percent and the death of ambition when they face a
of leading companies engage in attribution six-month queue for any change to tagging. In
in some way and of that group, 93 percent order to have a positive relationship between
have a set process for determining marketing the CMO and CIO, these more base tasks of
activity results. Clearly integrated marketers accessibility must be made self-sufficient for
are getting more and they’re doing it not just the marketing function. Without the ability to
by selecting technologies but by building their make basic changes nimbly to fundamental
own internal systems. pieces of the marketing infrastructure, progress
will halt.


Three Keys:
1 With more data and technology, the
relationship between marketing and IT
➍
CHALLENGE #4:
CENTRALIZED, DATA-DRIVEN
DECISION MAKING + FLUID
BUDGETS = SUCCESS
has never been more critical.

2 Companies that have these departments Now that we’ve covered team structure and
working in collaboration consistently the relationship with IT, we should speak a bit
outperform the competition. about decision-making and budgets. In using
a data-driven approach along with Marginal
3 Basic necessities for integrated marketers
Return Analysis, it’s critical that the planning
like tagging, updating the website and
and allocation of resources is reactive. This
social media must be able to be executed
means that you can’t plan static budgets for
autonomously from IT.
each channel and expect them to work as part
of an integrated marketing framework.

Who’s Your Integrated
Decision Maker?
In the evolved team structure, heads of
integrated digital will do the budget allocation.
By leveraging attribution, you will gain the full
ability to correctly allocate this budget weekly,
monthly or quarterly. As there are no heads
of departments, the political fighting over
bigger budgets equaling more staff and more
supposed prestige in a company become moot.

When the budgets are fluid and reallocated
regularly and the person authorized to approve


the allocation is impartial to channel politics Where to Start?
and making the decision based solely on data,
the organization is free to act efficiently and When discussing these broader topics,
in the company’s best interest. We’ll discuss marketers often state that they feel
attribution analysis and budget allocation more overwhelmed and don’t know where to start.
in later chapters. But if you can’t re-allocate To overcome this, marketers need to focus and
more or less budget throughout the year based align budget with testable media. Marketers
on what the data is telling you, then that is a should start where they can achieve the biggest
major roadblock and making any other efforts impact and work downward. None of this has
toward success become significantly limited. to happen in unison to make a major impact on
efficiency in the near term.

Three Keys:
1 Allocation of resources needs to be Summary
reactive to data.
The alignment of the marketing organiza-
2 The person heading an integrated team tion needs to change as much as the digital
should be able to make that decision. marketing environment. Before making con-
3 The inability to reallocate budgets siderable investments in technology platforms
throughout the year is a major roadblock and partners, the fundamentals of the organi-
to integrated success. zation need to get ironed out. The easiest and
most significant step to take in getting there
is to move to goal setting and budgets based
on marginal return goals. With that initial piece
in place, other aspects will start to more easily
follow. The relationship between the CMO and
CIO will continue to evolve over time as market-
ing and technology become further intertwined
when discussing a company’s strategy.


3
Tools and
Technologies for

27

Tools and Technologies for
Dave Ragals, SVP Client Services | IgnitionOne

F
or marketers working towards true The Jigsaw Puzzle
integrated digital marketing, the
biggest obstacle in reaching this goal Choosing to go the path of integrating multiple
is often their technology and tools. solutions is a direction that many take, but it
The current arena of marketing management often proves an uphill battle. One initial challenge
technologies is oversaturated with single point is finding solutions that can truly integrate, as a
solutions with multiple platforms existing for majority of these systems have been developed
every aspect of digital marketing. Navigating this by independent companies. Finding a package of
complex landscape is a daunting task and presents platforms that all work together in a truly integrated
numerous challenges to managing integrated fashion — and will continue to scale that way– can
marketing. What is most frustrating for many prove next to impossible. Most systems have some
marketers is that the technology they sought out form of API integration, which essentially means
to make their lives easier actually is the piece of the they can import or export data: but how they
puzzle that will hold them back from integrating actually interact with another platform’s data can
their marketing in an effective way. be very limited. So just because two systems can
talk to each other doesn’t mean they can have a
To get to the next level of integration, marketers productive conversation.
can approach this challenge in two ways –
integrating multiple single-point solutions together Major insights may be overlooked as integration of
or leveraging a multi-point solution. the data is likely to be only surface-deep.

28 Tools and Technologies for Integrated Marketing

Trying to integrate separate solutions can be needs under a single platform. The goal of
inefficient from a business standpoint as well, integrated marketing is to consolidate the
as it means identifying the right solution for many silos that marketing organizations work
each part of a digital marketing program and in, and this is even more important for the
then managing numerous disparate vendor tools they use. In order to best take advantage
relationships. Each piece of the puzzle runs its of the benefits of integrated marketing, the
own risks and challenges and managing them marketer is advised to reject piecing together
together can be counter-productive. individual systems and instead leverage a
multi-point or centralized solution such as
Perhaps the biggest risk is that the market
a digital marketing suite (DMS). This type of
cannot continue to support all of these individual
centralized solution will allow the marketer to
point solutions long-term. Many of these
manage multiple channels, run cross-channel
nascent providers are backed by VC money and
attribution, view all marketing analytics in a
continue to operate at a loss. Consolidation has
single place and can include other features
already begun and in a few short years, many of
such as on-site optimization and even
the names out there will dry up, forcing users of
proprietary RTB systems. The challenge here
these products to scramble for replacements.
is finding an all-in-one system that has best-
of-breed solutions in each area, or at least
in the areas that are most important to the
Simplifying the Chaos marketer. These systems, too, often have API
integrations that allow the platform to tie into
Integrating your digital marketing tools can be
other single- or multi-point solutions to help
difficult, but the benefits are sizeable. Done
round out capabilities or to better meet the
correctly, not only does it allow for a more
marketers’ needs. As capabilities within these
efficient use of time and resources, but also
systems grow and functions centralize, the
offers the potential for deeper insights and
need for API integrations will decrease over
greater returns on marketing investment.
time but due to constantly changing needs will
Our recommended approach is to seek out a never fully go away.
unified, central technology solution that can
bring together all of the digital marketing


Paid Smart
Search Retargeting

Organic
Display
Search

Media
Mobile Facebook
Optimization

MEDIA OPTIMIZATION IS JUST ONE PIECE OF THE PUZZLE.

Marketers have begun to demand these This has already begun to happen with mixed
centralized solutions, and as the market results (Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick and
continues to mature, it will continue moving Adobe’s acquisitions of Efficient Frontier and
away from single-point solutions and toward Omniture are two examples), and this trend will
truly integrated platforms. Many of the likely continue. Others will build single systems
individual solutions will be acquired by bigger designed and developed organically around the
companies who, in turn, will look to invest idea of a DMS.
heavily in merging these disparate systems.


The Payoff Even little things, like whether you have to
hit “submit” after making a change, can differ
The benefits of integrating technologies are between platforms and can result in changes
immense. It is truly a situation where the whole a marketer thought they had made never
is greater than the sum of its parts. Some going through.
benefits that can potentially be gained by a
True Attribution. A single platform also means
central technology include:
that the data that lives within a given channel
Single Data Source. From a marketer’s is already de-duped and attributed without
standpoint, it creates a single source of going through a maze of technology, such as
data which leads to consistency throughout going through an API to a separate system
efforts. The ability to see paid search, display for attribution against another channel’s data,
and social marketing data, for example, which is coming in from yet a third platform,
in a single dashboard and with detailed to be processed and then sent back to the
reporting creates huge workflow efficiencies, original system. Unattributed data can be
as marketers only need to log into and very valuable for deep dive analysis, but it’s
understand in detail how to use a single of little to no use when trying to optimize
platform. Whether each channel is managed accounts in real time. Having this data
by a different user, a separate agency or by together opens the door to innovative ways
the same team, this continuity in data and to understand users, their actions and the
workflow ensures smoother and more reliable effect of media on them – such as optimizing
work. It also means not having to switch based on engagement levels. A single system
between browser tabs or applications to see also cuts down on potential points of failure
data for different channels. or lag between disparate solutions as well as
Fewer Errors. Not only is a single platform potential for delays or errors in one system
less confusing and more efficient, but it also creating problems downstream that then
cuts down on the opportunity for errors have to be fixed by multiple partners.
introduced by forgetting which system Removal of Silos. Properly-aligned technology
someone is working in or how to accomplish results in a single – and consistent – source for
the same task between different systems. training, technical support and best practices.


As digital marketing becomes more complex go beyond merely relying on human-built
and integrated, the lines between channels business rules. The result is a higher efficiency
and solutions blur. If a marketer has a through bringing the right message to the
question concerning the impact to attribution right people at the right time.
of paid search on a remarketing campaign, is
that an attribution question, an SEM question
or a display question? With an integrated What to Look for
technology, all that matters is that it’s a digital
marketing question and the expertise for all Navigating this landscape and selecting

aspects resides with the same partner. It the best solution can be very complex; it is

also cuts down on the wild goose chase that critical for marketers to understand their goals

results from each vendor pointing to another before initiating the process. Some important

for answers or fixes. considerations include:

Provide Deeper Insights and Greater Returns. Which channels and tactics need to be

By having data coming from a single source, managed through technology? Feature

attributing success across efforts and more sets can vary greatly, so it’s vital to consider

profoundly integrating marketing across the which tools are necessary for managing each

board, a marketer opens the door to deeper channel. Large, complex SEM accounts may

insights. With these insights, budgets can be need bulk editing capabilities, while creative

more intelligently, and even automatically, repositories can be invaluable for Facebook

managed and returns on investments can Marketplace Advertising. Make sure to match

reach new heights. your channels’ needs with the solution you
choose while keeping an eye on flexibility to
Steering of Marketing Automation. By having
handle future requirements that may come up.
a holistic view of data we can steer better
content and interactions on the website. Which other efforts, potentially managed

This, in turn, will improve user experience by other partners, need to be reported on

and conversions. Using all this data also gives and attributed in the same platform? While

us the possibility to create high performing specific channels may be managed directly

algorithms for marketing automation and in the system, other channels – whether


“unmanaged,” like organic search or managed What are the requirements for accessing huge
by other partners – can still be tracked within sets of data that typically can’t be transmitted
the same platform. This allows the marketer to and/or presented efficiently in a Web-
see reporting in one place and obtain a more based interface? Even the most advanced
thorough understanding of how channels Web-based UI can run into bandwidth or
work together. With this knowledge you can rendering limitations when trying to deliver
focus on solutions that allow for integration or manipulate extremely large sets of data.
with these externally managed channels. If huge files are necessary, how can they be

How important is cross-channel attribution? delivered and can they be pumped directly

Many marketers are still tied to standard into an internal data warehouse? Understand

models like last-click or, even worse, they allow your data and bandwidth needs and find a

each channel to be optimized in a vacuum, solution that won’t limit you.

without taking into account the interactions Is the primary goal branding, direct response
among channels. Integrated solutions or both? Being able to optimize to and report
can provide the ability to allocate partial on performance requires setting specific
credit across a range of exposures, allowing goals and identifying the right metrics. These
marketers to understand how certain channels can differ greatly between direct response
or campaigns feed the funnel. As almost all goals, such as CPA and ROAS, and branding
marketers are juggling multiple channels and goals, such as acquiring new users, propensity
customer touchpoints, attribution needs to be to convert and session time. It is important to
top of mind when integrating technology. find a solution that can meet your specific

What are the plans for growth? Managing goals.

integrated marketing together helps grow Who needs access to the day-to-day
the whole pie with continuous cross-channel management tools? Who needs access to
feedback, leading to growth in marketing reporting? Does management or the client
programs. By having an idea of long-term need to be able to log in to see how campaigns
needs, marketers can prepare for success are being managed or just view reports? Do
and choose a flexible, scalable technology reports need to be available on-demand, or
solution. can they be scheduled to run and be emailed


on a recurring basis? All stakeholders need to platform that best suits the company’s overall
be satisfied and armed with the tools to help needs and properly manage cross-departmental
them succeed. expectations.

What is the level of service needed? Even
the most sophisticated marketer can benefit
from experts who have deep insights into Pitfalls to Avoid
the challenges they face. It is key to find a
When attempting to develop the best
technology backed by top-level service. Talk
integrated technology solution for a marketing
to current clients. Ask questions about client
organization, there are many potential pitfalls
retention and relevant case studies.
for marketers to avoid. If the following are
How far do we need to link online channels side-stepped, a marketer will be more likely to
with click behavior on the site? Linking things succeed.
like keywords and display to conversion
Not looking long-term: A common pitfall
actions on the website is mandatory and used
in this process is failing to look long-term.
in most tools nowadays. It’s good but gives us
Marketers who consider how they may roll out
only a one dimensional view of our campaigns.
a platform across all channels – as opposed
Campaigns are ranked based on their ability
to just looking at, say, paid search for now
to convert people, nothing more nothing less.
and waiting on the others – will find much
Advanced metrics like brand awareness and
greater success down the road. Benefits of
engagement are not measured if we take
moving to an integrated platform can be felt
only conversion points into account. With the
almost immediately via easier workflow and
analysis of all click stream data we can not
more efficient reporting. But considerable
only measure conversion but also potential
value comes in the mid- to long-term with
future conversion and engagement.
better insights of how channels work together
A lot of these questions can only be answered through attribution, lower training costs for
by involving stakeholders. By seeking their new employees, business efficiencies through
involvement up-front, marketers can put fewer vendor relationships to manage, etc.
themselves in a better position to choose a


“Switching” costs between platforms can By allowing separate data sets in individual
be extremely high. Implementation, training point solutions, the marketer enters worlds
and simply becoming comfortable with a of parallel data which causes confusion and
new partner to help manage complex digital mistrust between departments. Combining
marketing campaigns is a big investment them into a single source prevents efforts
and not one that marketers want to have to from working at cross-purposes and allows
repeat frequently. Switching can also mean a the marketer to see how each piece supports
disruption in the constant inflow of data from the other to grow the whole pie.
one system to the next. Companies that move
from platform to platform every couple of
years can find themselves constantly behind Summary
the curve as they start from scratch and need
to get back up to speed on data collection, The technology decision is at the center of

implementation and training each time. This an integrated marketing strategy. The right

is exponentially true for those changing solution will best match the marketer’s needs

solutions for multiple channels. and create both operational and technical
efficiencies and consistency. It will lead to
Failing to think through the impact on data:
higher ROI through better performance and
Centralizing reporting across channels results
lower management costs. By merging channels
in a common data set used by the entire
together, the marketer gains the tools needed to
digital marketing team. It allows marketers
more effectively manage campaigns cohesively,
to de-duplicate orders and use attribution
cutting down on waste and ensuring that all
models to better understand how channels are
teams are working together. It also makes it
working together. It also creates a single set
easier for marketers to tout the results. From
of digital marketing data that is shared across
a cost-saving standpoint, picking the right
teams. This provides operational efficiencies
integrated solution can make this investment a
and cuts down on wasted media spend as
one-time cost that pays off over the long run.
individual channel owners can work together
instead of competing for the same purchase.


4
Centralized Data for
Actionable Insights

37

Centralized Data
for Actionable Insights
Dave Ragals, SVP Client Services | IgnitionOne

B
ig Data is a term we hear a lot about, of your users, how they interact with your
but it is easy to forget that bigger marketing efforts, conclude what is successful
is not always better. Marketers have and then automate your optimizations. Let’s
become buried under a mountain take a closer look at the situation…
of data that comes from a variety of sources
– separate marketing systems, analytics,
reports, vendors, internal teams, etc. We asked The Data Mess
for all this data, we wanted to be smarter,
to understand more. But the data that was The concept of centralized reporting is nothing
supposed to make us smarter in the end has new. Analytics platforms have been around
only paralyzed us. Having all of this data and for years, and many companies also manage a
no way to act on it in an instantaneous and separate internal data warehouse. These “back-
automated way puts us in a situation where we end” data solutions ensure there’s an archive
are data rich but insights poor. of website activity that can, through heavy
analysis, help businesses better understand
So what do we do now? In order to reach the their website visitors.
goal of truly integrated marketing you need to
wrestle this Big Data and centralize everything. But as digital marketing has evolved, the
A single repository for all your information granularity of data – and the ability to use it
allows you to actually obtain a clear picture in near real-time to make effective marketing

38 Centralized Data for Actionable Insights

decisions – shifts the need for centralized data engines – or display networks or affiliates, for
up front for marketers to use before and during that matter – work together.
campaigns, not just after.
The downside, of course, is this puts deep
Single-point solutions have helped part of this channel-specific data in silos. By shifting the
problem by providing marketers with in-depth depth and breadth of data back up to the front,
and instant (or close to it) access to data for their the marketer winds up back where he or she
individual channels. Paid search practitioners, started – with more actionable data, perhaps,
for example, can use a platform to access all but still in multiple sources. And there’s no
of their SEM data and pull various levers in means to look across channels to understand
real time based on this rich data. Marketers how they’re working together or how much
can better understand how different search someone is overpaying for a given action.

Third PARTY
• Blue Kai
• Exelate
• Others
FIRST PARTY (CRM)
• Customer ID TRANSACTION
• Subscription Info: • SKU, Data, package
Renewal date, package, • Attributed Exposures
lifetime value • Order ID
• Demographics • Conversion Events
• Anonymized PII: Credit
score, etc

EXPOSURES
PROFILE
• Display Requests – lost &
won: time, creative, bid, • Interests
URL,geo… • Propensity to buy
• Search Click – time, kwd,
CPC…
Visitor_ID: •
•
Device ID
Geo
• Site Optimization 18uqzyyfkrmxc
Interactions
• Other: email, affiliate

On-Site
• Click Path
CENTRALIZING DATA ALLOWS YOU TO FOCUS ON THE USER LEVEL.


Enter the data warehouse. Channel-specific Attribution to the Rescue
data can be exported out of all the various point
solutions and stored in a centralized location. Much has been said about attribution over
From here, an analytics team can run cross- the past few years. Most marketers agree that
channel analysis. But that still can’t happen simple first- or last-click models are no longer
until after the fact. And the marketer is back to viable and managing and reporting on each
where he started. channel in its own silo is completely inefficient.
Whereas with individual point solutions, the
same sale could be claimed by all the marketing
Break the Silos channels in the funnel. In a centralized system,
these can be de-duplicated at a minimum or
The way to break this vicious cycle is to have attributed through multi-exposure models that
data for all channels in a centralized platform, give partial credit across all channels.
updated as frequently as a point solution, while
running attribution at the same time. This This has given rise to an influx of attribution
creates the best of both worlds – real-time systems and services. Many follow the same
data, de-duplicated and attributed across all point-solution approach – a standalone system
channels, usable by the marketer and accessible that can import marketing data across channels
by all from a centralized system. This way, all and run attribution analysis to be returned to
media decisions, optimization and reporting are the marketer.
performed in the same place using the same
This, of course, is fraught with some of the same
data set.
problems as any point solution approach, and
it introduces some new ones. While data is
attributed and housed in a central location and
can be sent back to the other point solutions for
campaign management, it’s far from immediate.
Channel-specific data has to be passed from all
point systems to the attribution system, where
it’s processed and fed back to each platform.


That has inherent delays and creates multiple Centralized Reporting
potential points for failure. And these can easily
is the Answer
cascade – a communication failure between the
search point solution and the attribution system The only sure way to avoid all of these headaches
has an immediate impact on all the other point is through truly centralized reporting.
solutions and the teams that manage those
Once the decision is made to centralize
channels. As with anything, a chain is only as
reporting, the next questions are what and how
strong as its weakest link.
to measure. A user’s path to a sale or sign-up
Not only does this put data at risk, it creates can touch on numerous marketing efforts. So
logistical and resource issues as well. making sure all of those channels are tracked is
Coordinating and managing each individual critical. Some obvious and common channels
integration and keeping tabs on these multiple include paid search, organic search, display and
flows of data can be a full-time job in and of itself. social media. But there are others to consider
It also means multiple business relationships as well.
and the risk that if one solution changes its
Marketers with active affiliate programs no
requirements or technology, it could impact the
doubt see high numbers reported by their
rest of this forced alliance.
partners. This makes sense, as affiliates rely
heavily on users who have already made
their decision and are about to take action.
But most of those users were driven through
awareness and interest nurtured by other
channels. So tying all of those efforts – up to
and including that “coupon” or “promo code”
search that got them to the affiliate site – is a

  
key piece of the puzzle.

paid search display organic search conversion


The same can be true for email, as the user has It goes beyond removing duplicates and proving
likely already engaged with the brand’s site that each channel doesn’t get full credit for a
when they provided their email address. Did that single action. This alone can create immediate
email blast close the sale, or did it re-engage the efficiencies, as the marketer is no longer paying
user to the point of interest? Once again, seeing double or triple the target CPA for a single
where email fits in the funnel is important. action that came after a paid search click, a
remarketing view and an email blast.
And once the user visits the site, what part does
user experience and content personalization
play? Communicating with your audience does
Cross-Channel Optimization
not end with advertisements.
When all is said and done, compiling all of your
There could, of course, be other channels too,
data together allows an understanding of what
so having a firm understanding of the different
efforts work together to move you towards
touch points before starting down this path is
your goals and where to best spend your
essential.
money. You begin to see that it is not about a
Another important consideration is that single campaign, a single keyword or a single
attribution is a means to an end. Crediting message. Your marketing is a holistic beast and
different exposures across multiple channels one that you can now tame.
provides the marketer with a better
understanding of how they’re engaging with
their users and getting them to convert. But it’s
what they do with that knowledge that really
matters. Unless marketers embrace this and
use attribution to help adjust their media mix to
increase the overall pie, it will be simply another
bright, shiny object. To keep the luster from
fading, it’s important to know what to measure.


5
Bridging the Gap:
Advertising, Conversion
Optimization and
Marketing Automation

43

Bridging the Gap: Advertising, Conversion
Optimization and Marketing Automation
Filip Lauweres, VP Client Services, Europe | IgnitionOne

O
ne of the tasks of digital marketers and advertising is providing us with ways to link
– and marketing professionals in campaigns, analyze them and attribute the right
general – is bridging gaps. We value. Connecting the dots or tearing down the
advertise on the Internet to bring silos –when done in a proper way – will result in
people to our site, and once they land there, higher conversion rates.
we try to convince them to interact with us
Of course, there are already prospects ending
by filling in forms or by reading the content
their online journey by filling in forms and
we have prepared for them to eventually buy
starting chats with sales people, for example.
something or to better position ourselves in the
But this is only a very small percentage of all
consumer’s mind.
visitors. We can do more and we can do better.
Going from the Internet to your website and
The next step in bridging gaps is ensuring that
from there to conversion is about bridging gaps.
websites deliver concrete performance. Digital
Every step of the way, people are dropping
marketing strategies must convey relevant
out of the funnel and “great marketing” will
content and facilitate dialogue with customers
convince them to stay.
pro-actively without increasing spend.
As a digital marketer, we have tools and data
These trends – personalization and interaction
– “big data” – to optimize our advertising and
- will be key.
website strategy. Moreover, digital marketing

44 Bridging the Gap: Advertising, Conversion Optimization and Marketing Automation

Active personalization through behavioral of the website visitors. This analysis is called
targeting is the first key element. Because of the behavioral targeting and is far more powerful
near-infinite variety of content available online, than the current methodologies. If used in
customer engagement becomes increasingly a proper way – in line with privacy laws – this
important. Providing “sticky” content is not approach is highly beneficially for the online
enough anymore; matching this sticky content audience. Behavioral targeting can be used to
to the individual website visitor is becoming a show the right audience a specific white paper,
necessity. product information or video. But behavioral
targeting does not end there. It’s also used
The right content, delivered at the right
to assist with analyzing the vast amount of
moment and to the right audience will be one of
data generated with social, search and display
the leitmotifs of the e-future. If you look at the
advertising campaigns.
success of television on demand, web content
management systems and interest-specific This analysis is called engagement optimization.
blogs, you will see the huge potential. But … Engagement optimization is based on a
all of these technologies are based on declared combination of conversion and engagement
personal preferences. You have to actively metrics of a visitor (behavioral analysis) and
select your interest in jobs, news, movies and the was created to empower marketers to move
website will respond by adjusting its content. beyond last-click attribution. This encourages
key decision makers to gain true insights on
This approach is changing as we speak. More
how to attribute the correct credit across
and more websites are adopting their content
search, display, Facebook, email and affiliate
not only in line with the declared interest of web
visits before making decisions.
visitors but also based on their un-declared or
“behavioral” input. The result of active personalization – when
used in advertising or site optimization – is
This is done by analyzing the history of the
generating a much better user experience and
online behaviors of an individual or a group
more repeat visits to companies’ websites. In
of people and by observing their behavior in
other words, the results are higher customer
real-time. Using this data, websites today can
engagement and more conversions.
pre-determine the true, undeclared interests


Cross-Channel Interaction is the second key-
An Example: How a website should work
input. Though people do increasingly more
by Stewart Holt, Sales Director UK
things online, it is the blend of the digital
marketing with the offline marketing – ‘the Picture this: It is Saturday afternoon and you
clicks and the mortar’ – that really helps are out shopping. You enter a suit shop. You
companies get the most out of their websites. were here last week but didn’t really have
Keeping this in mind and combining it with the time to browse properly. You tentatively
technologies such as behavioral targeting will walk in and start looking around at all types
be the core of successful business websites in of suits; grey, brown, black, navy. You decide
the future. New and smart technologies – such that you feel that navy is the route you
as behavioral targeting - can be used to blend want to take, so you start looking at the cut,
online interactions with real-world, human price, and size of navy suits. You are not
interactions. convinced that you really need or can afford
a new suit, but you are becoming increasingly
By connecting digital to the right “real life”
interested. Should you try on a suit or walk
interaction channel – a paper brochure, an
away and spend your money elsewhere?
instant messaging chat, a phone call – websites
will become what they should be: a business During this time, a sales assistant has been
tool that brings return on investment. monitoring your behavior – and he is good.
He recognizes you from your visit last week
and notices that you have been in the store
for some time. He understands that you like
the brand; you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.
He sees that navy suits are clearly your main
interest. He notices that you have some
reservations though. Something is holding
you back from taking the next step. He
approaches you….”would you like to try on
this suit sir….”

46 Bridging the Gap: Advertising, Conversion Optimization and Marketing Automation

15 minutes later you have tried on three suits A conversion optimization solution is similar
and purchased one. to an online sales assistant. By monitoring
a website visitor’s behavior in real-time,
Now, if the sales assistant had approached
an individual interest profile is built. When
you as soon as you entered the shop, it would
the technology recognizes that the site visitor
have been irritating. You didn’t even know what
has reached the purchase tipping point, an
you wanted at that point. You hadn’t been
interaction is triggered on screen to assist the
convinced by the brand; you needed time
consumer in converting. The value of this
to browse. Had he waited much longer to
online sales assistant? Clients using the
approach, you would have walked out and not
solution regularly see an increase of over 30%
made the purchase. He noticed that you had a
in website conversions. A sales assistant who
real interest in navy suits but also picked up on
ignores the consumer’s buying signals in store
the fact that you had some reservations. He
would ultimately be a failure, yet the majority
stepped in to overcome these uncertainties
of marketers are happy for their websites to
and made the sale. As a result of his relevant
operate in this passive way.
and timely approach, you are delighted with
both your purchase and the experience you If you had a retail store, how would you want
had within the shop. your sales assistants to work? Your website
should be no different.


6
Optimization:
Get More,
Do More,
Learn More

49

Optimization:
Get More, Do More, Learn More
Eric Carlyle, Chief Knowledge Architect | IgnitionOne

T
he goals for a marketing organization publishing two ads instead of four, is it possible
should always be set in three phases: to buy a retargeted display ad cheaper than a
get more, do more and learn more. homepage takeover? The third is aligning the
The first step to reach success is to message in the channel with the message on
get more out of the current situation before the website to drive conversion increase and
spending more money. To do this there must be streamline the conversion funnel.
a reduction in waste.
In setting goals, marketers should deem waste
Waste in this case is spending more money on reduction their mantra. It’s like an eco-friendly
prospects than is needed to persuade them to digital marketing team. The team should be
buy. There are a few ways to do this. The first is given a timeframe and a method to run tests
to simply reduce the number of exposures and and make the first priority a reduction in wasted
amount of media spent to see how the results spend in order to increase efficiency.
are affected. For example, if someone sees four
ads and they buy, but would have bought after The secondary goal of growth should be the
seeing just two, then you wasted two ads. It is focus only after the overlap is eliminated and
important to understand how much overlap the improved ratio can be maintained as the
there is and whether it can be reduced with investment grows. The last and most critical
the same end result. The second way to reduce goal is based on responsiveness to move
waste is to spend less on ads. In addition to budgets in response to change. Fluidity is

50 Optimization: Get More, Do More, Learn More

vital for integrated marketing success. This Reduce waste: Bigger budgets are nothing
means that marketers have to eliminate pride to be proud of; reduction and elimination
and turf wars around budget size. Bigger is of wasted media should win the highest
not always better by any means in this case. accolade on the team.
Team members should be awarded for finding Reward the best role for media: There is one
opportunities to give their budget to others. exposure that will end up converting the
It’s a reversal in traditional thought of greater visitor. If all the different types of media try
success equals more budget. For integrated to score their attempts may block each other
marketing success, the more budget that can from getting the goal. Focus on the most
be reallocated to a central pot to be used as likely converting combinations of media and
best suited in other channels shows a reduction strive to increase its occurrence.
in waste and inefficiency. Through incentives,
Recycle ideas of messaging: The customer’s
marketing leaders can get their teams excited
position in the conversion funnel will
to change their mentality. And in many cases
determine how strong the call to action is,
it may be necessary to eliminate channel
but the creative, tone and voice need to be
owners all together to drive this change. Here
consistent to build the brand. Integrated
are three best practices in aligning a marketing
markets include both data and art. Reward
organization:
consistency in advertising that is appropriate
for the position in the purchase funnel.

Reduce Waste

Reward the Best Role

Consistent Messaging


How We Got Here: Some people think that brand marketers are
held less accountable than direct response
Offline, Online, Brand
marketers. This shouldn’t be the case. All
and Direct Response
efforts, whether direct or indirect, should result
In addition to structure and incentives for in the financial success of the company. Unless
integrated digital marketing, other distinctions there is a special project mandated from the
in the marketing group pose unique questions. CEO to be 100% altruistic in nature, such as an
The first one is brand vs. direct response anonymous donation, then everything in sales
marketing. and marketing works toward revenue. With
this in mind, the question of waste can only
The traditional idea is that two teams can work be determined for brand marketing when you
together with different goals. Brand marketers can measure and gauge the impact it’s having.
are more concerned with getting the message After every TV commercial (often categorized
in front of the most people (awareness goals) as brand marketing), there is a surge in online
and making a certain type of impression activity. IgnitionOne has run tests on the
(sentiment). In some cases, they are held value of a display view by exposing people to
accountable to actions measurable, similar to two different ads, one related and the other
direct response (such as video plays). But it’s unrelated to their brand and seeing how
rare that they are responsible for the end sale. this affects purchase behavior. The results
The core of reducing waste still applies here. indicated clear links: offline and brand can be
It’s merely a question of how you identify the measured and this is the only way to reduce
waste. A marketer can run less and alternate waste across everything.
sequences of media to see if the total number
of “conversions” is consistently affected or not.
When it comes to brand marketing, the concept
of waste is more difficult to quantify, and it
must be done in the context of your overall
conversion goals.


Optimization: Where to Begin At its core, optimization is the “blocking and
tackling” of your marketing campaign and is the
Once a marketer has established their goals, raw manipulation of the levers provided by your
determined their targeting, created their media sources.
marketing assets, and implemented their
measurement and attribution profile, the The line separating good and poor optimization
process of optimization can begin. Let’s start processes is most often delineated by two
with a simple definition: factors: 1) how effective the process is to
finding and extracting value from a set of
Optimization is the tactical process of matching assets (is the campaign performing the best
the returns of a marketer’s assets to the cost of it can be?) and 2) how much time and effort
those assets so as to achieve the stated goals. does it take to maintain the process (how
complicated is the system?).
This definition is important because it highlights
two vital roles that optimization plays within
the overall campaign:

➊ Optimization brings goals to reality. Obvious
to all practitioners is the fact that at the end
of the day, no matter how fantastic your
strategy, creative and targeting efforts have
been, if you have not paid the correct amount
for your exposures you will not reach your
goals.

➋ Optimization is tactical. Despite the tens
of millions of dollars invested by ad tech
companies in developing their sophisticated
systems and the thousands of media analysts
and managers dedicated to optimization, it
is fundamentally a routine process. Match
your returns to your costs, rinse and repeat.


Optimizing in Silos Tearing Down the Silos
Unfortunately, within siloed (or non-integrated) Integrated marketing campaigns, though, are
campaigns, the tactical process of optimization much less fraught with these deficiencies. Within
can be deteriorated across both of these an integrated marketing campaign, optimization
factors. Muddled or conflicting goals, poor can be effectively simplified and easily
measurement and attribution, channel ‘tunnel’ coordinated by focusing on Marginal Return
vision can result in inefficient optimizations Analysis. Marginal Return Analysis is the process
which sub optimally allocate dollars between of identifying the benefits and costs of different
and within media channels. Likewise, the alternatives by examining the incremental effect
process of optimization can become time on total revenue and total cost caused by a very
consuming, prone to channel “turf wars” and small (just one unit) change in the output or input
frustrating; ultimately robbing marketers of the of each alternative. Marginal Return Analysis
bandwidth for more strategic and high-value supports decision-making based on marginal or
initiatives. incremental changes to resources instead of one
based on totals or averages. Marginal Return
Instead, as is often the case, optimizations
Analysis seeks to answer two basic questions:
within and between marketing channels often
become heuristically determined. “Hey Sally
➊ What was the marginal return of the last unit
of cost spent?
Search, your search budget this month is $1m
and I want a ROI of 10:1 and traffic of 5 million ➋ Where should one invest the next unit of
clicks.” “Hey Debra Display, your remarketing marginal spend that will lead to the highest
budget this month is $400k and I want a CPA marginal return?
of $4 and 45 million impressions.” The lack of
Asking these two simple questions, optimization
common goals and measurement means that
can be performed against any media channel
these directives are disjointed across channels
and even between channels.
and often conflicting.


An example is helpful here: of each actions is smaller; thereby resulting in
Imagine two keywords in a search campaign. $60 in spend and 30 actions or the same $2
CPA but with 20% more actions.
Assuming that the keywords are currently at
rank 2, standard asset equalization (keyword Within the context of an integrated marketing
level rule) would attempt to move keyword 1 to campaign across multiple channels, the range of
rank 1 to ensure that both keywords have the decisions now mixes across channels, resulting
same return; thereby resulting in $50 in spend in dollars being allocated dynamically across
and 25 actions with a CPA of $2. Marginal media channels based on where the next best
analysis would indicate that one should instead dollar to spend is.
move keyword 2 to rank 1 as the marginal cost

Rank 2 Rank 1

Cost Actions CPA Cost Actions CPA MC/MR

Keyword 1 10 10 1 30 15 2 4

Keyword 2 20 10 2 50 20 2.5 3

A Working Example A requisite of this marginal analysis is the
need for your optimization process to develop
An example of the optimization process is in predictions around how assets will respond to
monthly channel budget allocation (a process changes. These predictions form the basis of
that is dreaded by most marketers). Within a marketer’s decision set. These predictions
an integrated campaign, this process becomes leverage historical data and technology to
much simpler and scientific. measure the elasticity changes in assets such


as bids, times of days, frequency caps and the and systems that can be automated. Obviously,
other levers available within digital marketing the best scenario is to have an optimization
channels. It is important that this modeling technology that brings the pieces together and
takes into account a number of intricacies of harnesses both the predictive component and
digital marketing channels including: the automation component.

➊ Cross-correlation effects. Moving the bid For conversion optimization, this principle is valid
on one digital asset may affect the delivery
as well. The ROI of every additional unit spent will
of another digital asset.
decline as more money is spent. But there is an
➋ Constrained supply. For most digital assets additional effect: an increase in conversion rate
there is an ultimate cap on the number of will bring the CPA of media down as well, which
exposures that can be delivered even if the perhaps, in turn, makes it viable again to raise
price escalates to extreme levels; you can’t media spend.
always buy more.
The point is not to prefer conversion optimization
➌ Declining marginal productivity. For many above trafficking, but to take a holistic view
types of digital assets, as you increase
as a marketer. Putting media and conversion
the delivery, each new exposure has the
optimization in silos will lead to a sub-optimal
potential to be marginally less effective at
allocation of marketing budget. To start with,
producing return while at the same time
there should be one budget, one responsibility
being marginally more expensive.
and one integrated technology. Each company

With millions and millions of assets in the will discover which starting point works best,

typical integrated marketing campaign, the whether it is on the media side or conversion side.

creation of these decision sets is often handled
by technology and specialized systems. With
potentially hundreds of thousands of decisions
daily responding to changes in cost or return
structures, the application and responses to
new data (competitor changes, new products,
promotions) is also best handled by technology


7
The Future of

57

The Future of
Chris Knoch, VP Strategic Solutions | IgnitionOne

History Repeating

O
ur shared history has many on the road in the process. This new method
examples of the type of sea- reduced production time while requiring less
change we are facing now- where manpower.
complexity rises to an apex and
then gives way to innovation and simplicity. The assembly line made the car more efficient to

An excellent example of this is Ford and his produce and therefore cheaper, and paved the
assembly line. way for new opportunities – just as streamlined
technology will open doors for marketers.
Before Ford, parts were assembled piecemeal
and then cars were constructed over time.
The assembly line streamlined the process of Making History
building a car so that they could be built faster
and more efficiently. This not only changed how The digital marketing technology industry
cars were made, but also opened the door to faces a similar turning point. We are seeing
new possibilities. By reducing complexity, cars an increasing number of marketers turn
were made available to the masses, changing away from disparate pieces of technology
the shape and fabric of our country, bringing us that don’t allow the marketer or agency to
into a new age, and putting 15 million Model T’s streamline the creation, distribution and

58 The Future of Integrated Marketing

measurement of digital media. They are The Age of Customer Dialogue
already experiencing the potential to be
smarter by integrating the pieces. But where is this taking us? What is the unseen,
as of yet, benefit of consolidating digital
Marketers often don’t have time to think about
marketing solutions, and more importantly,
the possibilities of having all of their data
leveraging “big data” in real time across these
working together because they’re too busy
solutions?
making all the pieces work at all. They are in
the same place as consumers who didn’t even This question has to be answered in looking at
know that getting from one place to another in how people experience and consume media
an hour and not a day was even a possibility. today, how that may change in the future and
But not all marketers. what implications that might have on the ideas

Today, many marketers already buy into the and tactics behind integrated marketing.

theories and principles behind integrating their
The ideas behind direct marketing fifty years
marketing. Innovation and investment show that
ago were one of the last major shifts in the
people are placing bets on the consolidation
fundamentals of marketing. Our industry is
of tools and teams resulting in the breaking
in the midst of its second shift – involving the
down of silos and the removal of intermediaries
disintermediation of media through one-to-one
between the customer and advertiser.
marketing capabilities. This is especially (but
We are positive that as more companies see the not limited to) what we have seen in the advent
benefits of integrated marketing even more will of social as a marketing channel.
follow. Over the next couple of years, we will see
this momentum surge from early adopter status Social has thrown out the old marketing model
to status quo. Point solutions will always have of talking at customers, and has enabled a
their place in helping to push innovation forward, two-way conversation with consumers. This is
but over the last few years, signals from the titans a new standard in marketing. Consumers, and
of software solutions point to consolidation especially social natives, will inevitably come to
picking up steam. There’s no reason to believe it demand this new standard of communication
won’t continue gaining momentum. with brands.


As the rise of social reach and influence takes But the foundation of that idea must be proof
hold, the industry will see the fusion of brand positive. Due to the social dialogue, consumers
and direct response goals. Awareness and are increasingly a part of building the brand
dialogue created via high quality, memorable attributes rather than being told or shown.
content are increasingly important as people
With the rise of user-generated content and
have the opportunity to become brand
access to devices and geo-specific forums,
ambassadors via socially enabled media. There
marketing is becoming hyper-local. Localized
will be no more lazy advertising that talks at
content means finding new ways to hold
the consumer. The most successful brands
to the core principles of your brand while
will create content that not only stimulates a
accommodating the desires of localization. It
conversation between brand and consumer, but
is integrated marketing’s responsibility to take
also between consumers about the brand.
the broadcast and tailor the message within
many different mediums. The future shifts
the importance and emphasis away from the
Local & Mobile
broadcast and onto the increasingly smaller
No one can know exactly how these things will audience. This shift comes with the expectation
evolve, but there are larger implications to the and responsibility of consumers becoming brand
relationship between advertisers and media ambassadors. The content and messaging that
owners as well as consumers. As data and access ambassadors create is localized and distributed
to it via mobile devices has become ubiquitous, across an array of mobile device types. Although
purchase decisions are less based on the creative many comment on the rise of social and the shift
brand building of the past. Increasing emphasis of power from brands to consumers, few have
is being placed on peer-to-peer consumer talked about what the implications are for media
reviews as well as price comparison data. planning as we know it.
Building brands will not become less important,
In fact, let’s get out of theory and speak of actual
but more emphasis will be placed on building
future examples.
that brand in a measurable way. As consumers
gain access to price comparison data in-store,
understanding what that brand represents is vital.


How This All Comes Together price online and get it via free shipping without
paying taxes. Why on earth would I purchase at
I am shopping for a television. I do some research an old bricks and mortar store today?
on my own via both professional reviews and
reviews listed by actual users of the televisions But it’s been a while and the retailer surprises
on both third party AV forums and online me. This particular retailer has changed
retailer sites. I have honed in on a few options, drastically since I last visited. The store is clean
but I still open it up to a quick discussion with and uncluttered and incredibly welcoming.
friends on my Facebook wall. They ask me what I need and direct me to the
TV department. I’m met there by a woman that
All that done, I think I know which TV I want to greets me with a smile, and asks me which TV I
buy, but I need to see it in person. was looking at online.

So, I search on my phone for the closest How did she know I was already looking online?
consumer electronics story near me in order to Well, aside from me bringing up the TV on my
take a look. This, as many in retail already know, mobile device, this is a human connection point
is called “showrooming”. But I do visit their site I have not had up until this point. I completely
to ensure that they have my desired product. forgot what this was like after all those hundreds
Not only do I see the TV, I also note that TV is of online purchases. She then reminds me that
indeed more expensive than a different online- if I download the store application, they’ll offer
only retailer from which I regularly purchase. me a $50 gift card at the store. I don’t hesitate.
But I do see a special offer to download their
socially enabled mobile app to get a $50 gift
card. $50 may sound like a lot of money, but
through a series of third party data aggregators
this retailer is already profiling me on my first
visit, and knows I’m in their target demographic
with disposable income. It’s a real-time offer.

I walk in with almost no intention to buy it
there because I’m conditioned to find the best


$50 off right now The sales representative is sent an alert on her

here $50RIGHT NOW
$50 OFF
right here mobile device, and she walks over to personally
offer it to me. She also enthusiastically tells me
about the benefits of choosing this brand down

RIGHT HERE
the street from me. The face-to-face human

now here
connection, the real-time discount offer, and
the funny commercial I saw on TV by this brand
right here
$50 right now
over the holiday all culminate in buying the TV
then and there.

now right here Not only that, but I have the store’s app on my
phone and a future propensity to purchase from
them again. With the data they collect on me in
exchange for the $50 gift card, the retailer can
I download the app, first connecting via leverage their integrated Digital Marketing Suite
Facebook Connect, and it asks me which TV to keep their brand in my purchase cycle for all
I’m looking at. This retailer’s app does its own future buying. Whenever I interact with their
online price comparison search. It also collects website, app, or check-in at their store they are
the social and third party data available on me tracking my propensity to purchase again, and
in milliseconds and knows I’m definitely in the are tailoring offers to and dialogues with me.
market and I’m potentially a repeat customer
with some disposable income.

Could this retailer compete with all these
Big Data Delivers
sites on price alone across all consumers? No. Tracking all of these interactions and leveraging
However, by quickly collecting data on my them in real time is a BIG challenge. That’s
online behavior and profile, it knows I’m the sort a good thing, because it’s actually the best
of customer that they want. By using additional scenario of big data used in marketing: using
customer profiling analysis, they know that I am
data in real time to know when to communicate
worth an aggressive discount.
with a consumer with the right message at the
right time – as personally as possible.


Marketers Get to Next Steps
Be Creative Again
Do all these multi-channel solutions exist today
The irony in all of this is that once we overcome the in one integrated platform? No. But are there
technology challenges, like all good technology, any integrated Digital Marketing Suites that
it should move considerably (but not completely) understand this challenge, and are seeking
into the background via simplicity. Then, we to further integrate even more creative point
should see a doubling down on the creative solutions into their platform? Yes. Digital
elements of marketing, especially creativity marketers and partners must see the inevitable
that stimulates positive dialogue. Creativity will move towards digital marketing integration.
garner attention, and one-to-one interaction will They must acknowledge the DMS Imperative
bind us tightly to our most favored brands. and find partners that fit this new way of doing
business. They must also find partners that take
Where the influence that people have as brand the time to understand the brands’ own unique
ambassadors is valuable, the best and most way of doing business. Marketers must now take
cost effective way to inspire them will be with the next steps into the future of our business.
remarkable creative experiences. This means
more focus on media that allows consumers to
interact so that they feel ownership and can then
promote within their social circles. Personalized
search, social and local review services will likely
start to adopt auction models and metrics that
in some way acknowledge or compensate the
unique qualities of each consumer, making this
customization time-sensitive and more relevant.
The more focus on developing one-on-one
relationships and providing these experiences
directly, the more likely a marketer can avoid
wholly depending on broad sweeping message
and ill-informed auctions-based media.


8
Discussions on

65

QA
Discussions on

Julie Cary
Chief Marketing Officer, La Quinta Inns & Suites
La Quinta Inns & Suites has over 800 hotels in the
US, Canada and Mexico and is in the limited-service segment.

IO: Tell us a little bit about your role at all of the marketing efforts together for a better
La Quinta. outcome is critical and to understand how they

JC: I have the responsibility of all marketing interact with each other to drive more revenue

functions within the organization, so everything is also very, very important. One of the ways

from brand marketing to e-commerce to that we moved in that direction was putting all

loyalty marketing, analytics, PR, social media, of the media with one person — so our director

partnerships, and so on. of media handles both offline and online media.
I think that was a really important step to look
IO: How would you define integrated at the integration of all the things we are doing.
marketing?

JC: One of the things we look at is our holistic
media plan that is online and offline and how
they work together, because they do. Integrating

66 Discussions on Integrated Marketing

IO: So you changed the structure of your revenue at the best price, then you don’t win.
organization. Can you discuss how the Making sure the goals are lined up is one of the
structure works and how it supports most important things.
integrated marketing?
La Quinta has the same revenue goals across
JC: The position of Director of Media works with
the whole team. We have individual goals by
the folks at IgnitionOne, but she also does all of
functional area but they all ladder up to the
the media planning and works with the agency
number one goal and what we are trying to
on media buying for broadcast, radio, anything
accomplish.
that is not online. She also works very closely
with the marketing mix modeling that we do to Unifying these goals was critical given the media
understand ROI, so she can see the influence of interaction was even greater than we thought.
broadcast on search. She can see the influence Quantifying some of the work we did with our
when we have certain levels of impressions both mix modeling was also a learning process for us.
online and offline and what the results are for We looked at the effect of broadcast on search,
overall conversion to bookings during a certain the effect of banners on search and then we
time window. The holistic view is important looked at the overall effect on paid search.
for us to make sure that we were spending That interrelationship is big and very important
our money as efficiently as possible and really to driving revenue.
understanding how it all works together.
IO: How do you manage this tidal wave of
IO: What are the challenges for organizations data that comes at you every day?
in achieving integrated marketing? JC: It is a lot, and I think that because we are in
JC: Everybody must be aligned with the same hospitality, we get more information than most
goal, which is something we do. If people industries about our customers – we get their
don’t have common goals, sometimes they name, address, phone number and sometimes
unintentionally work against one another. So their email so we really have big data. We have
if you are trying to drive acquisitions, and you lots of different data points that we pull together
want all the money for acquisition and your from the online experiences to the database
ultimate goal is not the most incremental that we have about guest stay behavior. The


“
La Quinta has the same revenue goals across IO: How does technology factor into all of this
the whole team. We have individual goals by for you?
functional area but they all ladder up to the
number one goal and what we are trying to JC: Technology isn’t where it needs to be yet
accomplish.” in terms of cookies and tracking. Having that
tracking technology that can differentiate
between the customer we want vs. the one we
amount of data can be very overwhelming. don’t will be critical to the evolution of current
But we make data a part of everything we do, technology. Spending less on impressions to get
which is most important. We have invested the right person is how the technology is going
pretty significantly in tools, from reporting to to have to evolve in the cookie/ tracking space.
analytics. And people in the roles have to have
Database systems that simplify holding data
that acumen as well, so they understand the
have helped. The reporting tools are evolving and
whole process. We continue to grow and learn
growing and have made accessing data easier.
how to apply the tools to all we are doing.
The ability to retarget and the role technology
Most recently, we have begun taking our data has played in that has been great.
to a new level by continuing to peel the layers
IO: You’ve done quite a bit in integrated
of the onion. We have a digital performance
marketing. Are you satisfied with the level of
marketing initiative – banners and search. We
integration you have achieved at this point?
charge our hotels a fee if they get a booking
Are you planning moving beyond?
from one of those channels. Now, we are
looking at those customers and asking if they JC: We are never satisfied: we are all always
are new or repeat, and the frequency of their trying to find a better, cheaper, faster way to
stays, so can we pay less on repeat and more do something. We will continue to do that and
on acquisition. We want to understand how we we will continue to use the next layer of the
can shift our media strategy to get more of the data onion to better understand our marketing
customers we need at the time without losing activities including what customers we are
the loyal guest. getting and at what price. We will continue to
evolve to get more incremental revenue at the
lowest cost that we can.


IO: How is the travel vertical different from IO: How do you balance direct response with
other verticals in terms of marketing? brand goals?

JC: For us, it makes online marketing a little JC: It’s easy to focus on ROI, which is critically
bit easier because we get so much data about important, but, brand building is tougher to
our customer, and our database can be such measure in terms of immediate impact – it
an important insight tool. When I worked in takes longer. We have done online studies to
packaged goods, we knew where the product look at the perception changing ability of some
was sold – we could get scanner data – but we of the online advertising and it has been really
didn’t know directly who was buying: where helpful for us to look at those things and brand
they lived, their zip code, whether they had engagement as well. Brand engagement is
bought the same product before. The level of important but it is relegated to the number two
information that we have about our customers spot behind direct response.
in the travel vertical is significantly greater than
IO: How do you figure out that balance?
a lot of other industries. That gives us more
data to help us understand our activities and JC: If you have good messaging then you are
our results. still building the brand while driving ROI. We
know there are tactics where the ROI is so low
IO: What advice would you give to marketers
we just won’t do it at all even if we know it would
looking to improve their online efforts?
be a nice place for the brand to be. You have to
JC: Try to be able to measure lots of things and
balance metrics or set a goal. If you know this
determine what’s really important. Sometimes
is an opportunity to reach your customer, take
you don’t know what’s important until you
it with the right messaging and the willingness
measure a bunch of things to figure out what
to accept a lower ROI.
that might be. Always have a test and learn
environment and never be afraid to try new
things to see if they can work for you.


IO: What do you see in the future for
integrative marketing in terms of innovations,
changes in the industry’s landscape?

JC: I envision an evolution of using data to better
personalize the media and the experience for the
customer so that the interaction with the brand
is on a one-to-one basis. Most people come to
our website to view our hotels and a lot of them
book there, but not all of them. Some of them
call the hotel and some of them drive to the hotel
and book. Understanding the experience and
giving them the best personalized experience to
help convert them based upon what you know
about them through data is where I see the
future evolving to in marketing.

I also see an evolution of the skills we are going
to need as marketers. We have functional
experts, yet because there is so much combining
of what used to be called direct marketing to
online marketing to broadcast and messaging, I
see roles converging more. Figuring out what
those skills need to be to manage big data, drive
insights and form the marketing efforts will
make for an interesting evolution in marketing.


QA
Discussions on

Peter McDonough
Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, Diageo
Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks business with brands that include Johnnie Walker,
Crown Royal, J&B, Windsor, Buchanan’s and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One
vodkas, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Tanqueray and Guinness.

IO: Tell us a little bit about your role at Diageo. where our innovation work streams are focused
in support of the brand strategy as opposed
PM: My title is Chief Marketing and Innovation
to being viewed as opportunistic ways of
Officer for Diageo North America. I oversee
capturing more consumers.
brand management as well as new product
development for the region. Originally we had IO: How would you define Integrated Digital
a chief marketing officer and an independent Marketing?
chief innovating officer, which was my prior role,
PM: For the last couple years, we’ve evolved our
and we made the decision to combine both of
overall approach to marketing. For us, it’s not
the roles. This was largely to create stronger
about designing programs for specific channels
linkage between the role that new product
and figuring out how to integrate them into
development was playing in brand strategy.
the digital space. It’s about what is the most
There is a much more integrated approach now
effective path for marketing in a digital age. We


live in an era where consumers have more power online advertising has a role, but it is no longer
than ever before. Social media, in particular, the primary driver of creating the consumer
can build, or in some cases, diminish a brand, engagement or of communicating the brand’s
so we develop programs that connect with story. The challenge is breaking away from
consumers in meaningful ways and give them the mindset that says, “Let’s first develop a
the ability to engage and ultimately share. We television campaign and then we’ll figure out
refer to this concept as Participative Marketing, how to support it.” That’s the model from 25 or
knowing that participation drives engagement 15 years ago – but in today’s age it’s really more
and advocacy, which are paramount to building about thinking about what is the message and
and sustaining our brands. the story you want to tell and then say, “How
does this come to life in a social media footprint
IO: What are the challenges for organizations
or in a video format, which can be placed on
to integrate their marketing?
television, YouTube or spread virally?” It’s
PM: It all starts with having the right insights stepping back and approaching the work
and getting collective alignment upfront. If differently, which is, for some people, a bit of a
we get the insights right, the planning and challenge. And for some agency relationships,
development process can and should be a it’s a bit of a challenge because their business
highly collaborative and fluid exercise. But model still hasn’t fully evolved to move away
there is some old baggage about industry from their primary revenue source: television
practices. As brands think about their next production.
communication or participation platform, it
IO: How do you make those different channels
often begins with the thought of, “What is the
work more closely together rather than as a
next advertising campaign?” In the traditional
waterfall from television?
model, a brand would have an agency of record
which tended to be an advertising agency that PM: That gets into teaching the brand teams
was focused on developing television creative right up front to stay focused on first articulating
to bring the communication to life. In today’s the idea that you want to communicate, and
model, I believe that television has a role just then creating a participation platform. If you
like out of home or radio or Facebook page or think of a large circle, and in the center, a bull’s


eye is the idea itself and then you can break depends on the message and the story you are
up segments of the circle that surrounds it trying to tell behind the brand. The role of the
and say, “This is how the idea comes to life in different mediums will be driven by the best
various mediums or activities or experiential way to bring the idea to life.
programs,” and it forces them to think from
IO: How do you use digital marketing?
the beginning how to bring the idea to life as
opposed to how to transfer the idea from TV to PM: I use it the same way I would use out-of-
additional mediums. And that’s where the real home or radio or television or print in the sense
powerful engagement platform is focused on that I think that digital is simply another way
trying to create consumer engagement, so it’s to engage consumers. But it happens to be
an engagement platform. one of the more robust ways versus the other
mediums that I mentioned which are more one-
IO: Would you consider this to be a
way communication mediums whereas digital,
unified goal that each of the channels are
and more specifically, social media, allows
participating towards?
the chance to have dialogue. The other thing
PM: It’s a unified understanding for everyone about digital is that it allows you to become
that works for me. What I’m not trying to do more refined in your targeting. A banner ad is
is make sure that you have equal participation essentially no more effective in my mind than
of every channel. What I’m trying to do is say an out-of-home or a transit board, except for
think about the idea and then think about what the fact that you can be much more targeted in
is the best way to bring it to life. Because there terms of who you try to create the impression
are some programs that don’t require TV at all. with. That is more difficult with the out-of-
There are some that can be brought to life virally home or a transit board. The static nature of
through a presence focused on social media. the message isn’t a whole lot different, but the
There are others, depending on the nature of ability to be more refined in your target certainly
the story that you want to tell, are best brought is. Importantly, the social media piece is where
to life starting with an emphasis on very rapid it really gets powerful because that’s where you
broad-based reach through television and then can engage in a dialogue as opposed to a one-
the other channels will be secondary. It really way channel.


I don’t think of digital, per se, I think of were tweeting to their followers. We also set
different aspects using digital technology to up a Facebook page for the entity itself, and
communicate the message. Sometimes it’s via tied in the Facebook pages of the various DJs
one-way broadcast, sometimes it’s engaging in who were competing in the contest. It was a
a conversation. fully integrated program that went across all
channels. This is the best example I can think of
IO: Have you had much success in taking
where we have taken an idea and then brought
integrating different digital marketing tactics?
it to life. We basically created touchpoints in
PM: Smirnoff had a very holistic approach to every medium that was relevant based on our
bringing the idea of Master of the Mix to life. consumer target.
Master of the Mix was all about trying to make
IO: How did you measure success for that
Smirnoff more relevant in nightlife, specifically
campaign?
urban nightlife targeting African American
consumers. So what they did was consider PM: We have brand tracking studies and we
who the key influencer was in that context: the track on a quarterly basis how consumers
DJ; they guy who sets the music and creates respond to our questions. We would look back
the theme of the party. So we created a reality over a certain time period and then break into
television program as a way to bring the segments. And you could see the change of
program to life and inserted Smirnoff into the the consumer perception of the brand’s image
brand program itself. As the DJ is the hero of through that kind of brand tracking study. There
the story, we were in nightlife locations where is a list of about ten questions on the study
drinks were being served so we had bartenders that center on how the consumer feels or the
interacting with DJs and talking about the frequency by which they are drinking the brand
drinks they were making. In conjunction with or their comfort for being an advocate for the
that, we set up a digital radio station where brand and recommending it to friends. We also
consumers could go online and download the track market share while we deploy these kinds
music tracks that the DJs were playing. This of programs. What are we seeing in terms of
created followership through the various DJs offtake in a retail environment — are we selling
that were contestants on the show and who more product? Is that associated with the time


period in which these ideas were coming alive? purchase. Advocacy and engagement doesn’t
And then we track it through conversations with do me a whole lot if I’m not getting sales out of
our distributors and with our retail partners. it. I’m having this conversation pretty regularly
What are they hearing and how do they sense with brand teams that are all excited about
the brand is moving within their retail aisles. growing their Facebook page from 200,000
There is a variety of metrics that we would put fans to 1 million and I say, “That’s great. Talk to
in place related to audit data, tracking, sales me about what your sales have done in that
and market share performance. But importantly associated period and if you’re sales aren’t
is the brand tracking study that has a quarterly increasing then explain to me why you’re so
pulse for us in how consumers view the brand. excited about these fans that we’re gathering.”
There has to be a linkage here that we can track.
However, we’re still working on the various
metrics to understand which one was more IO: Do you think that in the near future there
influential than another in terms of shaping will be a technology in metrics that will allow
perception. We’ll ask a question about you to understand this better?
advertising awareness and then ask, “Where
PM: I think there are an awful lot of people
do you see messages from the brand?” I would
trying to prove that. It’s not a new challenge.
be wrong to say that we have a sophisticated
Every advertising medium that has come out
analysis set up to assert that the performance
over the last 100 years has been trying to
is led more by what we did through Facebook
create that correlation and we have engaged
versus what we might have done through
in studies where we have done exposures
search versus what we might have done through
through Facebook with Nielson to understand
display versus TV etc.
how the home panel cells react differently
That said, we certainly have the ability to track that had exposure through a brand marketing
the responsiveness online better than any other campaign using Facebook versus the home
place. What I am still trying to figure out is how panel cell that had no Facebook exposure and
to go back and track it to a sale. Because at the is there something different about the market
end of the day it starts with creating consumer basket purchases in one cell versus the other.
engagement but the real mission is consumer We are working to try to do that. I’m sure that


“
Marketers need to stop thinking about Consumer Planning, Portfolio Strategy and PR.
advertising in terms of channels. That only When it comes to developing campaigns our
emphasizes limitations. Consumers don’t Planning and Brand teams work together to
operate in silos. There is no offline vs. online.
design those programs. To help influence and
Everything we create can end up anywhere.
Think about your objectives, make sure guide the process we have capability experts
you have the right insights, ground your that apply broader viewpoints such as our
campaigns in a solid idea and then figure PR, Multicultural and Digital strategy teams.
out the best communication vehicles. Once Through these broader planning sessions the
you’ve mapped that out, make sure you have teams collaborate and share data and insights
the right support in place. Make sure you
to align our goals and determine the best
have the social platforms needed to amplify
your message and drive advocacy.” approach. We also bring our media team and
partners into the fold early on so that we can
you know folks at Facebook and Google are develop the right programs for the appropriate
trying to set up that correlation. Today, to my communication vehicles.
knowledge, no one has had a conclusive study
IO: How do you balance multiple goals – such
that proves it, though I know there are sound
as brand and direct response goals or online
bites out there and discussions that fans are
vs. offline goals?
twice more likely to participate in a category
than non-fans are. We know from our Facebook PM: Whenever a campaign or program tries
study, there was a small cell exposure that we to tackle too much it can often fall apart. We
had double digit lift in terms of a market basket believe the best marketing approach is when
side but it was a small cell test so we are now we have a clear goal to address. We don’t have
trying to replicate it on a larger scale to see if specific offline vs. online goals. We develop our
we can in fact replicate those results. programs and campaigns around an idea and
then determine if that idea is the right approach
IO: How is your marketing organization
for achieving our goals. If not, we slowly pull the
structured? How do the teams work together
idea apart and rebuild it so it answers our need.
towards combined goals?
Based on what that idea is we then determine
PM: We have five teams that sit within the where and how we to best communicate it.
marketing organization: Innovation, Brand,


IO: How do you manage the enormous emphasizes limitations. Consumers don’t
amount of data that is generated every day? operate in silos. There is no offline vs. online.
Everything we create can end up anywhere.
PM: We are very specific in how we handle
Think about your objectives, make sure you
consumer and market data. Primary research
have the right insights, ground your campaigns
data is obviously used to help generate insights.
in a solid idea and then figure out the best
Broader consumer data regarding industry,
communication vehicles. Once you’ve mapped
category, brand and/or program sentiment,
that out, make sure you have the right support in
among other things, is captured according
place. Make sure you have the social platforms
to our compliance policies, ensuring we only
needed to amplify your message and drive
review information from those of legal drinking
advocacy.
age. Without bias or judgment, our planners
sort through the data until we find the story; IO: You have said “Consumers no longer
not the marketing story, the insights story. differentiate between phones, tablets,
They search for what are the key findings that computers or even television and the
will help us answer a consumer need or a brand winning brands will be those that succeed in
problem? integrating their message in relevant content
across all media.” How do you imagine brands
IO: How has integrated marketing benefited
doing this well?
your brand?
PM: By being grounded in core insights and
PM: Our brands are social by design. This
telling the right story. We use different vehicles
dynamic alone challenges us to always think
to deliver different aspects of the story, but in
about where the conversations are taking place.
the end, it’s the same story. It has to all hang
We want our consumers to participate and
together. We can never lose sight of that.
therefore we need to ensure that our marketing
efforts are present in the right areas and can
help drive the conversation.

Marketers need to stop thinking about
advertising in terms of channels. That only


Glossary of Terms
Glossary Terms Definition

1st Party Data Data that is created or owned by the marketer.

3rd Party Data Data acquired by data aggregators, other than the marketer. Sources
consist of publishers, retailers, e-commerce sites, and offline data
providers.

Attribution Understanding which channels or tactics deserve credit or partial credit
for a conversion or brand engagement increase. Attribution allows
marketers to gain the full ability to correctly allocate their budget to the
channel-schema that works most efficiently for their objectives.

Big Data When the collection of data sets are so large that they become difficult to
process or manage. The challenge is to be actionable in real-time, which
can allow the marketer to communicate with a consumer using the right
messaging at the right time.

Centralized Reporting Reporting on media from one source rather than gathering attribution
data from multiple sources and attempting to make sense of it all in silos.

Cross-Channel Allows marketers to take into account interactions among channels,
Attribution providing the ability to allocate partial credit across a range of exposures,
enabling the understanding of how certain channels or campaigns
correlate and feed the funnel.

Digital Marketing Suite A centralized solution that allows the marketer to manage multiple
channels, run cross-channel attribution, and view all marketing analytics
in a single place. A DMS can include other features such as on-site
optimization and even proprietary RTB systems. A Digital Marketing
Suite allows you to integrate your marketing mix, allowing for seamless
management, optimization and reporting on media.

78 Glossary of Terms

Glossary Terms Definition
DMS Imperative The need for innovative marketers to consolidate their online marketing
budgets within a Digital Marketing Suite in order to compete in today’s
marketplace.

Integrated Marketing Aligns resources, goals, technology, data and measurement in order to
achieve higher levels of efficiency and performance.

Localization/Local A refined way to target consumers based on their location.
Advertising

Marginal Return The process of identifying the benefits and costs of different alternatives
Analysis by examining the incremental effect on total revenue and total cost
caused by a very small (just one unit) change in the input of each
alternative.

Optimization The tactical process of matching the returns of a marketer’s assets to the
cost of those assets so as to achieve the stated goals.

Purchase Funnel A useful concept to gauge where a consumer is on their path to making a
decision or conversion.

Same Point-Solution A standalone system that can import marketing data across channels and
Approach run attribution analysis to be returned to the marketer.

Showrooming Visiting a brick-and-mortar retailer to see an item considered to purchase
and then converting online rather than in the store itself.

Social Reach Demonstrates the shift of power from brands to consumers.

User-Generated A recent shift from professionals publishing content to amateurs being
Content able to publish their own content.


About IgnitionOne

I
gnitionOne is a digital marketing solutions users on and off their website. Our solutions
company providing world-class proprietary are backed by cross-channel attribution
technology and expert services to and analytic capabilities to drive actionable
improve digital marketing performance. insights. IgnitionOne Advisor teams provide
IgnitionOne’s integrated cross-channel Digital media buying, bid optimization and media-mix
Marketing SuiteSM
(DMS) helps marketers modeling expertise for online advertising across
centralize, manage and optimize digital media, every channel.
and understand cross-channel attribution while
Visit us:
helping to optimize conversions on a marketer’s
website. On top of this world class marketing
www.IgnitionOne.com
technology, we provide services that help Follow us on Twitter:
marketers manage paid search, display and @IgnitionOne
Facebook advertising together, because digital
marketing is not only simpler when it’s integrated, Like us on Facebook:
but it is also more effective. At the core of what http://www.facebook.com/IgnitionOne
we do is our proprietary Engagement Scoring
Contact us:
Algorithm, which determines the value of a
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user in order to deliver the right message, at
the right time, at the right cost to a marketer’s

80 About IgnitionOne

The Integrated Marketing Playbook: How to Create Simplicity from Complexity

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