28 Apr The Seven Data Questions
The power of data is a game changer for advertising. Marketers have shifted their planning from reach-based to “people-based,” and have been working towards reaching a more selective audience. The digital playing field has broadened and in turn has provided innovative ways to collect more data. More data, however, does not necessarily mean quality data. So, how do you sort through what data is useful and what is not?
If you want to be a data-savvy marketer, you need to ask yourself the seven questions while evaluating the data:
- Is your data fresh or stale?
- Is your data 3-D or flat?
- How modeled is your data?
- How transparent is the modeling? Do you know your look-alikes?
- Is your data connected?
- Are you targeting individuals or households?
- How many profiles are there?
As we assess each question more in depth, knowing if your data is fresh is essential to knowing that the average life of a cookie is only 30 days and 60% of data is expired within two years. By realizing how quickly data becomes obsolete is crucial to also understanding how new data is collected and old data is purged.
In the every changing world of technology, the six key areas marketers must always adhere to are demographics, geographic, attention, consumption, behaviors, and intentions. Authentic data is a combination of all the above and multifaceted; concentrating on one individual attribute makes data flat.
All data is modeled, but all data needs to be scaled. It is imperative for marketers to understand the balance between specificity and reach and have a high degree of confidence in the data presented. And unfortunately (or fortunately) for some, data is all in the details. You must always know how a look-alike audience is construed.
Since the world is connected (both online and offline), your data must also be connected (both online and offline). Essentially, data must be connected to accurately reflect 3-D lives and be properly disbursed amongst the 220 million adults inhabiting the United States.
Data helps media companies tackle their biggest challenges and explore new opportunities. Media is an area of interest for all marketers and by keeping the data fresh, you are essentially welcoming growth and expansion.