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How to Use Data Standards to Intelligently Optimize Campaigns

Best practices to ensure advertisers get the most out of their data-driven advertising initiatives

By Emily Love    September 19, 2024     5-minute read

When advertisers talk about how to get the most out of their marketing dollars, the conversation inevitably turns to optimization. While this approach isn't wrong — optimization is incredibly important for delivering effective and efficient campaigns, after all — lately that conversation seems to focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models and the analysis itself instead of the underlying data necessary to run those analyses.

But what if the optimization brands are doing for their next campaign is based on the wrong information? With so much data currently available to advertisers, it's important that they ensure the data foundations are solid before divining insights to shape their decision-making.

Data foundations are agreed-upon rules within an organization that describe how data should be represented, recorded, and shared. The rules ensure that metrics are captured in a consistent way. Without solid data foundations, even those who have good data have likely dealt with the challenge of making proper use of non-standardized data. Being forced to work with limited or misleading customer insights can hold marketers back from making real brand-based connections with consumers that could lead to long-term growth.

When data foundations are in place in the form of standards, marketers reap the benefits. In those cases, advertisers see average ROI increases of at least 30 percent across tactics, according to a 2023 study by Advertiser Perceptions that surveyed 140 marketing decision-makers spending at least $50 million annually on digital advertising.

Marketers today are turning to clean room technology to create data foundations that lead to campaign success. Clean rooms have been instrumental in allowing advertisers an effective way to learn more about their customers and act on those learnings to create better returns on their ad investments. In fact, according to a recent Basis Technologies survey of more than 200 marketing and advertising professionals, 27 percent of respondents were planning to adopt a data clean room strategy in 2024, with more than 13 percent already using them.

Recent innovations in clean room technology mean advertisers need to consider how they can manage their customer data, improve data foundations, get better insights, and ultimately drive stronger campaign performance. And with the proliferation of ML and AI innovation, a strong data foundation has never been more important.

Data Control

In a 2023 CMO Council study cited by Emarketer, 46 percent of marketers highlighted data control as the primary driver behind their clean room strategy. This underscores the growing importance of maintaining control over first-party customer records, while still leveraging their power for strategic decision-making.

The challenges of capturing and capitalizing on well-vetted insights have been well documented, as a separate Emarketer article citing a West Monroe report shows:

• 38 percent of C-level executives tasked with driving digital transformation identified a lack of customer insights as a key mistake in their execution
• 52 percent of advertisers who currently use data clean rooms said they encountered hurdles when it came time to leverage results and demonstrate ROI

Only by addressing these challenges head-on and seeking innovative solutions can marketers unlock the full potential of their marketing and drive sustainable growth. Doing so begins with creating a foundation.

Advertising effectiveness rises sharply when a solid data foundation is used to create standards for ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compatibility across different platforms and campaigns. By adhering to these guidelines, advertisers can enhance their targeting capabilities, more precisely optimize ad placements, and ultimately drive better results. Here are three ways advertisers can create better data standards:

1. Create a process for auditing and execute it regularly. As brands and audiences evolve so do the data inputs that advertisers rely on to identify and connect with consumers. Advertisers need to take stock of what data they have to ensure that all of their insights are being used.
2. Develop methods for format uniformity. With so many players offering data from their own sources and in their own formats, creating a universal spine to reconcile data makes it easier to manage and extract insights from as many relevant data sources as possible.
3. Establish mechanisms for controlled activation of data-driven insights. Insights derived from data are only as good as an advertiser's ability to use those insights in a meaningful way. Choosing the right activation partners based on their ability to act on the most valued insights is at the core of creating better data standards.

The adoption of data standards also creates a culture of transparency and trust between advertisers and their target audiences.

When insights are standardized, it becomes easier to track, analyze, and measure the effect of advertising campaigns accurately. This transparency helps build credibility with consumers, who are more likely to engage with ads that are relevant and personalized, having been delivered with precision.

Mitigating Privacy Concerns

With privacy regulations becoming more stringent, some advertisers are hesitant to onboard any customer information into an external system. And this is completely understandable! Per Emarketer, only 17 percent of consumers always accept third-party cookie tracking when given the choice. Thankfully there are ways for advertisers to still leverage their rich customer information while maintaining the privacy their audiences expect.

Clean rooms with built-in privacy capabilities are a welcome innovation. They offer advertisers an improved experience by eliminating the need for manual signal preparation as well as providing enhanced flexibility in query processing, which also improves signal management. In practical terms, through clean rooms advertisers can:

• Apply privacy standards while ensuring data compliance and security to meet the current-day expectations of consumers who expect the brands they interact with are adhering to regulations
• Activate audiences safely with trusted and reputable partners who have the data foundations needed to find accurate audiences at scale
• Use easy, flexible ML and rule-based techniques to improve record matching to create a streamlined workflow to optimize in-flight campaigns as they collect real-time insights

Robust privacy features can help advertisers maintain customer trust, enhance operational efficiency, and optimize targeting strategies without compromising on security or compliance. They can also help advertisers confidently navigate signal management while executing impactful campaigns in a privacy-conscious manner.

Adoption Journey: The Vision and How to Get There

If marketers can address signal control issues and privacy concerns, they will be off to a flying start on their path to better data-driven insights. It's worth noting that, if the goal of most advertisers is to have better optimized, more successful campaigns, it can sometimes help to look at the steps required to get to that place. Here's one such path:

1. Identify the goals and the outcomes for data collaborations to lay the groundwork for insight-driven decision-making and targeted marketing strategies
2. Align on required data outputs to better define data inputs that streamline the process for prioritizing the types of data that can drive real impact
3. Identify the right tools needed to create collaborations that are aligned to agreed-upon business goals and marketing objectives
4. Structure and organize data inputs, and share those specifications with data partners to create a safe and effective collaboration structure
5. Set up querying and visualization tools to start generating insights, identifying high-value audiences, and uncovering actionable insights to effectively guide campaign strategies
6. Use ML and/or AI modeling tools to enhance insights and make them actionable, expanding reach to prospects who exhibit characteristics similar to high-value customer segments
7. Activate based on the insights gathered, deploying tailored campaigns that resonate with specific audience profiles, maximizing engagement and conversion opportunities
8. Close the loop by feeding in data and measuring to extract new insights from campaign activations, gaining a deeper understanding of performance metrics, audience behavior, and campaign impact

When enacting data foundations is done right, marketers will have solved their data control issues and established a marker for customer privacy. Moreover, by implementing robust data standards and embracing clean room technology, marketers can access the full potential of their customer data, scale and measure impact, and continuously optimize their campaigns.

Better signals drive better results. Thanks to recent innovations by advertising technology and cloud service providers, there are ways advertisers can maintain more control over their customer data and stay on the right side of any privacy concerns.

Amazon Ads is a Strategic Partner of the ANA.