6 crucial digital marketing trends to follow

Digital marketing is filled with opportunities for brands with the right mindset and technology.

But too few firms are there yet. There are six trends that every marketer must understand, according to Delivering on the Promise Of Performance Marketing, a study released last week by Deloitte Digital.

Here’s the checklist:

1. Customer data ownership. Many brands have little or no access to first-party customer marketing data. That’s one reason “experienced-focused brands are bringing data in-house, and putting in place the relevant data, privacy and security policies that are needed to connect, understand, activate and protect their customer data.”

2. Capability in-housing. An increasing number of brands are redesigning their technology and partner ecosystems and bringing their talent and control of technology in-house. But Deloitte warns: “In-housing digital media and advertising is a more complicated prospect given the range of skills, technologies and data involved. Building a connected in-house performance marketing execution, analytics and measurement team requires a sizable investment to develop talent and create new internal processes.”

3. Data privacy. California voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act by two million votes. It takes effect in 2023. What this means for marketers is that they “should look beyond transactions and focus on long-term trust.” Forward-thinking brands are “working to reimagine their broad customer journeys as personalized trips with clearly defined benefits that consumers can individually select.”

4. Next-generation measurement. Brands have to prepare for life after third-party cookies. The best ones are “reimagining the systems, methodologies and processes required for end-to-end measurement and attribution.” What does that entail? It takes “econometric modeling paired with new analytics tools such as data clean rooms — secure platforms that connect anonymized ad/marketing data from multiple sources.”

5. Martech ecosystem revolution. It is time for brands to reevaluate their technology stacks and partner ecosystems, with an eye toward streamlining. But be advised: “At every step, it will be important to find and connect the most adaptable solutions possible; and to strengthen your internal and external resources to get the most out of what you choose.”

6. Omnichannel audience modeling. Brands need to move “far beyond common retargeting techniques used today,” the paper states. This isn’t just about connecting technology. “In many organizations today, marketing tactics are siloed and owned by different teams: One team owns email, another manages social, another optimizes website landing pages, and so on,” the report continues. “These silos must be broken down in order for organizations to effectively coordinate paid and owned marketing activities, and to understand and engage audiences in an omnichannel paradigm.

That way, for example, cross-selling emails sent to segments of known customers align, in both tone and content, with targeted ads shown to those same customers on publishing platforms or social channels.

Ray Schultz is a marketing journalist. Read more of his work on MediaPost.