The Trade Desk: Bridging the Customer Journey with the Combined Power of Mobile and Connected TV | Industry Insights | All MKC Content | ANA

Bridging the Customer Journey with the Combined Power of Mobile and Connected TV

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The customer journey of today is no longer linear. It doesn't fit within the age-old funnel graphic that's burned into every marketer's memory. In fact, the customer journey doesn't really fit into any shape at all. With the explosion of touchpoints through which marketers can reach consumers, today's customer journey more closely resembles an apeirogon — a polygon with infinite sides. Every customer has a unique version of that boundless shape, dependent on where the journey takes them in any given moment.

From a marketer's perspective, the solution to steering the otherwise limitless customer journey arrives in the form of programmatic pipes. The connective nature of programmatic technology allows marketers to build multichannel marketing experiences that reach consumers at any given point in their journey. But it's not only about reaching consumers, it's also about engaging them. Through the combined power of mobile and connected TV, marketers can reach and engage consumers in every facet of their journey with seamless, relevant experiences.

 

Mobilizing the Journey

According to a 2017 Comscore study, 69 percent of a consumer's time spent with digital media occurs on a mobile device. Considering how inseparable people often are from their smartphones — likely, the device is somewhere within arm's reach at any given moment — these devices are a hugely important tool for advertisers. Unlike desktops, laptops, or TVs, smartphones move with consumers as they go about their everyday lives, leaving people constantly connected to digital media.

Whether it's reading the news, watching a TV show on Hulu, or streaming classical music on Spotify, consumer activity on mobile devices provides crucial contextual information to marketers. Gaining insights into that level of consumer behavior is perhaps mobile's biggest value-add for marketers. By leaning on mobile for context, marketers can use these insights to find clarity about the apeirogon-esque customer journey.

For example, the mobile devices of a single individual can piece together a more cohesive picture of that consumer's media habits. Mobile location data can help marketers understand the types of places consumers tend to frequent, which in turn can help in inferring what type of messaging will be most effective. Does a person spend the day in a place of work or at home? Does their routine include bars or coffee shops? The more location data marketers can use, the more relevant they can make their messaging. Additional insights like these empower marketers to deliver more dimensional advertising on every device and channel, seamlessly engaging people no matter where they are in the customer journey.

 

Bringing It Home

Until recently, there was one crucial device that remained outside of programmatic technology's reach: the TV set.

Linear TV advertising strategies tend to live in a separate silo from every other channel, isolating TV from the rest of the customer journey as a result. This fact has been no small bother to marketers, as they try to fuse the unquestionable impact of premium TV advertising with the precision of digital media. While programmatic connects the digital customer journey across various devices, TV has been the only major missing piece — until now.

Connected TV is the one missing link to bridge the misplaced pieces of the fragmented customer journey, as audiences cut coaxial cables in favor of Ethernet cords. Because connected TVs are internet enabled, advertisers can incorporate digital data to deliver relevant commercials at scale. Connected TV advertising has the potential to drive unparalleled performance for brands everywhere with the premium quality that comes with the big screen, tailored experiences driven by contextual data, and coordinated messaging across all elements of the customer journey.

Whether raising brand awareness with a commercial based on an individual's interest in a particular cuisine, or retargeting a user after he or she visits a website or physical store, connected TV advertising allows marketers to close the loop on the customer journey with the scale and reach of advertising's most powerful medium.

Ultimately, there's no question that the number of sides of today's apeirogon-like customer journey will only continue to grow as new technologies emerge. But by building an advertising strategy that spans mobile and connected TV, marketers will always have the competitive edge they need to drive engagement across the full customer journey. After all, with mobile and connected TV as the cornerstones of an advertising strategy, marketers gain the power to engage consumers as they move throughout their day-to-day lives.

Kathleen Comer (@TheTradeDesk) is the VP of client services at The Trade Desk. You can email her at kathleen.comer@thetradedesk.com.

 

 

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