Data-driven marketing requires ‘forward tinkering’ — IMMAP

Marketers have to learn how to organize a wealth of consumer data or risk drowning information, said experts at a roundtable hosted by Adobo Magazine and Google. 

“The challenge for marketers now is learning and adapting quickly [to] platforms, technologies, and customers in the Philippines who are evolving faster,” said Digs A. Dimagiba, president of the Internet & Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP), at the May 31 event.  

He encouraged “forward tinkering” — a combination of the terms “forward thinking” and “tinkering” — as a way of looking at new tools, learning about them, trying them out, and discussing them in a community of like-minded people and professionals. 

The mindset of being open to new tools, like automated machine learning (which Google offers to those who want to more audiences or customers via Google platforms), will prepare today’s era of marketers for the complicated future, he added. 

FINDING YOUR AUDIENCEGoogle announced that Performance Max, a digital solution that expands on Search ads and allows marketers to showcase promotions across more surfaces, will be updated this year to include sales goals and audience insights, among other metrics.  

“[Performance Max] helped us find qualified leads in a more targeted way,” said Crisela Magpayo-Cervantes, Globe’s marketing communications head. 

The function, she added, allowed Globe to find leads more cost-effectively, bringing down the cost per lead by about 48%.  

New reports that Google will add to its insights page are: 

Attribution insights — how existing ads on platforms like Search and YouTube can drive conversions.
Budget insights — opportunities for budget optimization based on spending goals.
Audience insights — how various customer segments drive campaign performance.

This rapid increase in data is accompanied by the risk of drowning in it and not knowing how to navigate it properly, said Ms. Cervantes. 

“You have a lot of solutions now that allow you to automate and let the machine do the work in optimizing and driving efficiency. It’s a matter of using these wisely,” she said. 

For Dennis Perez, integrated marketing and commerce lead of Unilever Beauty & Wellbeing in Southeast Asia, digital requires an end-to-end perspective.  

Google provided Unilever with CODA (custom optimized designer audiences), a technology that provides customer insights and segmentation.  

When Unilever piloted CODA with Dove, the personal care brand’s reach doubled compared to previous broad-scale marketing efforts, said Mr. Perez. 

This increase was due to the unexpected connections CODA made, such as Dove buyers correlating highly with air conditioner buyers.   

“We are now getting a bit more controlled with the way we can target people,” said Mr. Perez.  

MORE PRIVACY
Google also announced at Marketing Live that global testing of its privacy-focused ad targeting tools — Google Ads and Display & Video 360 — would begin this year. 

It reaffirmed its commitment to phase out third-party cookie tracking, which involves leaving bits of code on a web visitor’s computer after being generated by another website.  

Mr. Dimagiba of IMMAP said that such moves are necessary due to data privacy becoming an increasingly important currency.  

“Because of the pandemic where we were forced to adapt, get online, and get digital, people suddenly realized they’re giving up quite a lot of information and privacy in exchange for getting services and convenience,” he said. “They’ve become increasingly conscious about who they’re actually going to trust.” 

Third-party cookies will be replaced by Google data on search topics or search interests instead of individual activity. — Brontë H. Lacsamana