Is a 360-deg Audience View a Reality for Media Brands

Robert Keenan
President
Keenan Media LLC
JANUARY 22 & 23, 2018
#BizSummit2018
PRESENTED BY
Is a 360o
View
an Audience
Database
Reality?

Is a 360o
View a Reality #BizSummit2018
Our Journey Today
• Unified databases and 360o
views are still a hot topic in the
media space.
• Today, we’ll look at the need for a 360o
view and the
challenges to get there
• Our goals today will be:
 To understand the changing engagement model.
 To discuss ways we can build a better bridge to our audience.
 To understand whether a unified database that provides a 360o
view
is a reality?
 To layout some keys for success.

Is a 360o
Background Check
• BtoB Exec with 20+ years experience with 10
years in digital and audience development
management.
• President of Keenan Media, a consultancy
focused on improving digital, editorial, and
audience performance at BtoB media
companies.
• For VP of Media at Edgell Communications
 Guided Edgell’s digital and audience operations
 Ran a lead-generation operation that generated 80%+
of digital revenue
 Oversaw the revitalization of the company’s event
audience marketing efforts

Is a 360o
The Changing
Engagement Model

Is a 360o
Current Audience Engagement• To look at where we need to go, we have to start by
looking at where we are now.
• Let’s start by understanding what our audiences want from
us.
 They want access to great content.
 They want to learn how to improve their jobs.
 They want to connect with like professionals.
 They want to keep pace with the latest news and trends shaping
their market.

Is a 360o
Connections (cont.)
• So, our audience wants us to be great content provider
and be a connector.
• How do we respond:
 We bombard them with emails.
 We send them off to vendors through our lead-gen programs when
they may not want that solution.
 We send them content that may have nothing to do with their jobs.
 We pound them with offers to attend our events.
 We cover our sites with ads that may or may not apply to the
audience member.

Is a 360o
Bridging the Audience Gap

Is a 360o
Bridging the Disconnect
• So why is there such a disconnect?
• The reason is because we don’t have the tools in place to
fully understand the audience members and their true
behaviors.
 Most media companies have audience databases that have info
on a user in one moment in time.
 Short-form registrations make audits easier, but limit what we
capture.
 Web, event, print and other databases remain disconnected.
 We are not tracking behavior on our digital properties and tying it
to the user record.

Is a 360o
Disconnect (cont.)
• We have snapshots of our audience, but we don’t have the
tools in place to get a full view of the user
• And, without this view, we cannot build the right marketing
and content programs to meet the specific user needs.
Simply Stated:
We have a Big Data Problem
and it’s causing Audience Connection issues

Is a 360o
Cause of the Problem
• What’s causing these problems?
• Here are 4 key reasons:
 First, despite making strides, we have not done a good enough
job connecting our disparate databases.
 Second, we have not leveraged content tagging to get a better
handle of the needs of our audience.
 Third, we have only now started to implement marketing and
content automation tools to better connect with our audience.
 Finally, even with these tools in place, we’re not leveraging the
tools we have to their best ability.

Is a 360o
What We Need
• We need better audience intelligence.
• We need to understand who they are.
• We need to understand what they are doing today.
• We need better tools.
• Ultimately, we need to create a data architecture that
allows us to have a single, 360o
view of our audience.

Is a 360o
Changing Our
Engagement Approach

Is a 360o
So how do we get there?
• It starts with a total relook at how we structure and
connect our database architectures.

Is a 360o
How Many Media Companies
Look Today We have built
connections here,
but this is far from
delivering better
audience
intelligence
Print
Database
Web/CMS
Database
Email
Database
Webinar
Database
Event
Database
Research
Database

Is a 360o
Biz
Intelligence
/Marketing
Automation
Tools
Print Event
Web/CMS Research
Email Webinar
What We Want
When we talk about a 360o
view, this is what many media
companies have in mind.

Is a 360o
Is the 360o
View Really
Achievable?

Is a 360o
But, is it Achievable?
• This is big question we have to struggle with.
• Can we truly develop a single database that provides a
360o
view of the user?
• At Edgell, we spent a year looking at this topic
 We considered CRM solutions like SalesForce.
 We explored building our own database.
 We looked at digital management platforms (DMPs).
 We evaluated new audience management systems.
 We checked out all of the marketing automation tools.

Is a 360o
What Did We Learn
• We learned that there wasn’t a magic pill that could help
us solve our problem.
 There wasn’t a single off-the-shelf database solution that could
do it all.
 Some were too email specific.
 Others were too website specific.
 Others just required too much customization.

Is a 360o
Reality Check
• The reality is that we’re going to continue to have multiple
databases.
 Trying to find a single database is a nice goal. But, using best-in-
class solutions to bring data together is a better option.
• But, the key lies in doing a few things.
 First, you have to make sure you’re tagging your content well.
o This will help unlock the behaviors your looking to capture.
 On the email front, implementing a marketing automation tool can
help better engage users and reduce overall email sends.
o Developing journeys and drip marketing campaigns can help with lead-
gen, content marketing, registration, and event marketing efforts.
 On the website front, customer data platforms have started to emerge
as a new tool for launching on-site promotions.
o Lytics and Blueconic have been talked about by a lot of media execs.

Is a 360o
Biz
Intelligence
/Marketing
Automation
Tools
Print Event
Web/CMS Research
Email Webinar
So, We Want This

Is a 360o
But, We May Have to Settle
for This (at least for now)
Print/Online
Database
Email
Database
Webinar
Database
Events
Database
Research
Database
Biz
Intelligence/
Marketing
Automation
Tool(s)
Digital
Management
Platform
Webinar
Database

Is a 360o
Tips to Succeed With
Your Audience Change

Is a 360o
Potential Pitfalls
• It’s great to talk about adding marketing automation tools
or CDPs, but the real key is using them once they are in
your organization.
• I’ve seen too many media companies invest in a tool like a
CDP or marketing automation platform and fail to leverage
the tool’s full capabilities.
• I’ve also seen media companies try to shift with out setting
up an owner or training a team to use these products.
• Picking a tool is the easy part. Rolling out and using the
tool is where the challenge lies for media brands

Is a 360o
Keys to Success
• Make sure you define your needs.
 Before you make any purchases, make sure you define your
most important needs first and focus on those.
• Start small and then expand.
 Don’t try and implement everything at once. Pick a solution and
run with it. Then, once you have success, expand to other
offerings.
 Marketing automation and events is a great place to start.
• Name a project owner.
 Find a person on your team that will own the implementation.
 If this is left to a committee, you run the risk of purchasing a tool
that sits on the shelf for months.

Is a 360o
Success (cont.)
• Train, train, and train again.
 Make sure training doesn’t happen once.
 To win, you have to build a system that supports continual training.
 And, make sure your vendor includes enough training in the
contract.
• Evaluate and share results.
 The best way to get adoption rolling is to show success.
 When rolling out a CDP or marketing automation tool, find an early
win and then share it with the company.

Is a 360o
Thank You!
Robert Keenan
973-219-9508
rkeenan@keenandigitalconsult.com
Twitter: @robkeenan11
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertkeenan/

Is a 360-deg Audience View a Reality for Media Brands

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Is a 360-deg Audience View a Reality for Media Brands

Similar to Is a 360-deg Audience View a Reality for Media Brands (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Is a 360-deg Audience View a Reality for Media Brands