Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

With innovation happening so quickly, how can I identify the most important new channels for my organisation?

The NDA Predictions Hub, in association with Xandr, is dedicated to insight and inspiration from some of our industry’s leading figures to help you make sense of how digital marketing and media will develop in 2022.

The predictions of our experts though may leave readers wondering exactly how they can shape their own marketing strategies to fit the trends identified. So as part our Predictions Hub, Xandr’s own experts will be stepping in to help with the answers.

The increasing number of platforms available to consume content both in and out of the home makes targeted advertising increasingly difficult. This is where an omnichannel approach comes into play, integrating multiple channels of communication into one place for effective targeting.

Each channel has its own unique characteristics that need to be considered ahead of time, ensuring the advertising fits the consumer experience. For advertisers willing to explore out of home and new digital channels, it’s important to work within the constructs of those industries. In many cases, new technologies have been developed to actively target and measure campaigns for CTV and out of home channels. CTV, in particular, has grown rapidly in the past year due to shifts in consumer behaviour and, being naturally cookieless, it requires an entirely unique approach.

To be successful, components of an omnichannel approach – planning, execution, analytics, measurement and attribution – can be integrated into a single platform, providing access to all of the data in one place. Single platforms also make it possible to define a single audience and target multiple channels at the same time which is the best way to try and connect a user’s behaviour online and offline – the most difficult aspect of a successful omnichannel campaign.

The use of single platforms in marketing is expanding as brands and marketers seek out greater control and transparency. A single tech stack negates the need for hundreds of access points or invoices. To work with multiple partners efficiently and at scale, avoiding multiple integrations is important and an open, singular platform that is easy for partners to plug into makes this possible. In this way, the platform becomes an enabler, allowing buyers and sellers to target partners effectively and to test new channels of interest as they emerge.

One more point: there’s creativity in messaging but there’s also creativity in data and the way it’s used in a privacy-conscious world. To ensure the data that is available is being used effectively (and in a privacy-compliant way) regular audits are necessary. Reflection and testing is ultimately the key to producing the best creative, but it’s also the most effective way to ensure advertisers are on the front foot from a privacy perspective.