First-party data is going to be the new currency, and marketing technology company Signal wants marketers to be able to harness its full potential by targeting their known customers, across channels, and in a way that suits them.
The company's new data platform, Signal’s Unified Customer View solution, imports data from online and offline channels and touchpoints spanning, web, mobile apps, email, ads, CRM systems, as well as point of sale.
Warren Billington, Signal’s managing director Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, told AdNews that if marketers can utilise their first-party data that can be much more powerful than paying for third-party data from the likes of Facebook and Google.
“Marketing to known customers, your own customers, is more effective than using Facebook third-party data,” Billington said.
“That’s one of the issues where there’s been an inability for marketers to connect and identify their customers. What they've been doing over the last several years is spending millions of dollars on identifying potential customers at scale through third-party audience aggregators without great success.
“Where they're on-boarding and matching first-party data on known customers within environments like Facebook and Google they're getting better return on investment.”
While Billington promoted the power of first-party data he doesn't believe that marketers will stop working with the likes of Google and Facebook any time soon.
“Marketers and advertisers essentially will pursue where their customers are. If we have a situation where four or five players are in those siloed environments, if consumers are spending time in those environments, then I think advertisers and marketers will still want to play ball with those players.
“However this platform is giving them the flexibility to control their data in other environments, outside of those walled gardens,” he said.
Signal's platform not only aims to get marketers controlling their first-party data, but also thinking like the “always on” consumer of today.
“Reality is that marketers are still very siloed, operating in specific channels or with specific technologies.
“We've seen marketers get close to understanding those customers in those particular channels, and those technologies, but their ability to be able to connect those insights and data across those technologies is limited, and, essentially, that is limiting marketers in truly understanding their customer across the whole customer journey.”
Global advertisers are already using the solution, including Kraft Foods Group, locally while Billington wouldn't be led on whose currently testing the service, however he hinted that a major retailer may be looking at the software as well as a Telco.
“So marketers are disconnected from that 'always on' customer, we believe we have built a new foundational layer that allows marketers the ability to understand the needs of that always on consumer, allowing them to be able to identify their customers at a level of scale, reach those customers with a degree of control and certainty.”
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