You want to attract the right ideal audience, right? There are many ways in which this can be achieved but without a structured, segmented database and a thorough understanding of your prospective and/or existing customers’ behaviour to drive the content you publish, you’re wasting time, resources and money.
Enter: Data Management Platforms and Customer Data Platforms.
What is a data management platform?
A data management platform (DMP) is a type of software system that can store, organise and decipher segmented customer data, as well as, ad campaign (paid media) statistics. The collected data can be analysed and provide valuable insights about which marketing methodologies and strategies are working, and which aren’t.
The benefits of a Data Management Platform
The primary purpose of a DMP is to help businesses gain a more refined understanding of customer behaviour. It helps to answer questions such as ‘what’s driving quality leads and enticing users to convert?’ Businesses can use this knowledge to create campaigns that are exclusively aligned with target audience segments.
What is a customer data platform?
Imagine you were trying to find a new smart TV for your lounge, but you find yourself crisscrossing between numerous touchpoints such as Google, e-commerce sites, blogs and social media platforms; it’s hardly a smooth journey. The truth is that there are so many customer touchpoints it begs the question, ‘how can brands keep up with them?’ The answer: A Customer Data Platform or CDP.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is software that aggregates and sorts customer data across a myriad of touchpoints which can be utilised to drive marketing efforts. CDPs are able to collect and structure immediate data into singular, centralised customer profiles.
The benefits of a Customer Data Platform
- CDPs collect data from your audience directly
CDPs are designed to focus on acquiring first-party data straight from customers, site visitors, social media followers, as well as subscribers. This is achieved by using pixels and other tracking tools. So, you can have peace of mind that the CDP reflects accurate information from your audience.
- CDPs Unify Cross-Channel Marketing Efforts
Your business likely has multiple channel marketing campaigns (e.g., social, email and/or SEO) which means there’s a lot of different data flying around. CDPs help to merge multi- and cross-channel marketing campaigns by amalgamating accurate data.
- CDPs Help You Get to Know Your Customers
Customer-centric marketing is essential if you want to succeed. CDPs help you become familiar with your customers by building customer profiles and assist with customer behavioural analysis.
Can DMPs and CDPs co-exist?
David Raab, founder of the CDP Institute, explains the difference between the two platforms, ‘CDPs work with both anonymous and known individuals, storing ‘personally identifiable information’ such as names, postal addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers, while DMPs work with almost exclusively with anonymous entities such as cookies, devices, and IP addresses.’
Based on the above definition, it’ clear that CDPs and DMPs into your business will help you obtain a plethora of data, but which one you implement depends on the type of data that you wish to collect. However, they can co-exist and provide you with in-depth insight into your customers.
Do you want to know more about how CDPs and DMPs can boost your business? Please contact us today.
