Less than half of advertisers are confident in data-driven insights, study says

Dive Brief:

Marketers are struggling to determine their marketing performance and are missing opportunities for growth, with 40% using ROI measurement methods that are based on short-term sales, while 85% say blending short- and long-term measures is the best approach to determining ROI, according to Kantar’s annual study “Getting Media Right.”
Fewer than 20% of agencies and media are very confident and less than half of advertisers are sure of their ability to create insights from data. Seventy-eight percent “strongly” or “somewhat” agree that it’s difficult to determine performance across channels. Among those surveyed, 47% of marketers report moving the optimization process to earlier in their campaigns compared to last year, with most starting during the ideas and strategy phase, with 50% of female marketers embracing earlier optimization versus 44% of male marketers.
The report also found that advertisers' confidence in their media mix has increased over the past year, but 45% still aren’t confident that their organization has the optimal media mix. Eighty-two percent believe they have integrated marketing strategies, but these efforts are not translating to consumers.

Dive Insight:

The new Kantar research is the latest to highlight the disconnect that marketers face in determining campaign effectiveness and ROI despite a wealth of data points. The findings suggest that a lack of understanding of cross-channel behaviors and how to optimize media investments are important reasons behind these challenges. Gaining a more holistic view of how content and media strategies work together to drive growth can help marketers create new opportunities to assess ROI — but, research continues to demonstrate that marketers are not always achieving this.

One challenges marketers continue to face is cross-channel measurement. While 82% plan to increase their digital spend by an average of 49% over the next year, according to Nielsen’s new CMO Report 2018, they are looking for better insights instead of accumulating more data and see a need for better marketing technology to integrate consumer data and insights across channels.

The benefits of cross-channel deployment are clear. Campaigns that are well-integrated, with connected elements, like creative, messaging and platforms, are 31% more effective, while those that are both integrated and customized are 57% more effective, according Kantar’s AdReaction survey released in January. While most marketers, or 89%, said their efforts are well-understood across channels, only 58% of consumers agreed.

With marketing becoming more data-driven, this could leading to an increased investment in marketing automation tools. Global marketing automation spend is expected to reach $25.1 billion by 2023 from $11.4 billion in 2017, with the highest growth in “through-channel marketing automation” and “lead-to-revenue automation,” according to Forrester.