Data is the reigning king of marketing, and continues to increase in power as technology continues to proliferate throughout the industry. It’s not so much the actual data that is so important, but what it is that marketers can do with it in the world of programmatic digital advertising. 75% of all marketers interviewed agree that a lack of understanding of data analytics is a big barrier to making important decisions based on data insights.

In May of this year (2018) Genius Monkey announced that we became part of an elite group of companies that had earned the TAG Registered Seal, issued by the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG). We became one of the earlier companies to earn this seal, as we are hyper vigilant about the importance of trustworthiness in the advertising industry. We want our clients to feel at ease, knowing that we always take every measure we can to keep the products of their adspend free of fraudulent activity.

As a marketer in this day and age (as well as marketers from yesteryear), you will most likely agree that one of the most important elements of spreading the good word is to know your target audience well enough to determine what it is that they want and need. Once this is accomplished – deliver it! If this is done, your targeted audience members will be willing to give you what YOU need … their business.

Anyone who has ever done any road-traveling here in the U.S. has surely seen multiple signs for businesses that claim to have the “world’s best” coffee, or the “nation’s best” doughnuts, or the “best burgers” in the state … you get the picture. So how can one be confident that what they would get by ordering from one of these establishments that boasts of having the “best” of anything is really, truly the absolute “best?

Retargeting is like a bullet that ricochets off of a boulder and comes back at you, only it’s not really a bullet … it’s more of a reminder. You know, just in case you forgot or failed to purchase an item that should have been purchased. It’s like getting a second, third or fourth chance for redemption. Here are a few reasons why: 3 out of 5 US buyers notice ads for products they’ve viewed on different sites 30% of consumers have a positive reaction to retargeted ads, 11% do not like them, while 59% are apathetic towards them Email retargeting CTRs are 3-5% higher with upsells Retargeted ads can increase branded search exposure by 1,000% or more The average CTR for retargeted ads is 10x that of display ads In part one of this article, we pointed out the fact that retargeting has proven to be a very effective method of increasing sales, and that it’s imperative that you know your audience, and their needs.

Retargeting is a way to connect with people who, based on their digital actions, previously interacted with your website or mobile app. It allows you to strategically position your ads in front of these audiences as they browse online, thus helping you increase your brand awareness, or to remind those audiences to make a purchase. With retargeting, marketers are able to display their ads to consumers who abandoned a cart, made a purchase or bounced from a website.

In the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the computer named Heuristic ALgorithmic (HAL) was endowed with a great deal of artificial intelligence (AI). Not to spoil the ending, but things didn’t turn out so well with ol’ HAL. He went rogue and became the bad guy. This is not an uncommon fear when it comes to the subject of artificial intelligence. In a speech at the South by Southwest tech conference, Elon Musk issued warnings about AI.

Since the beginning of advertising, marketers have been on the hunt for data. It’s no longer an effort to find it … in fact, there’s so much of it out there, many brands don’t know how to handle it in mass quantities. 33% of elite marketers say that having the right technology for data collection and analysis is the most useful in understanding the needs of customers The frontrunners of the advertising industry are 56% more apt to tell you that decisions backed by data are superior to those based on a gut feeling or prior experience Leading advertisers are 33% more likely to say that strategy is what defines how they integrate data (and other related technology) into their marketing 88% of marketers surveyed use data obtained by 3rd parties in order to enhance their understanding of each customer According to Forbes, 66% of marketing data is used to better focus on targeting offers, messages and content Companies that adopt data-driven marketing are 600% more likely to be profitable year over year In order to take full advantage of the onslaught of information, marketers today must take on new data strategies for improved marketing.

Since 2015, searches for “same day shipping” have increased by 120% 44% of those who use their voice-activated devices say that they order products with it at least once per week “Where to shop” and “where to buy” searches have increased 85% over the last two years Omnichannel strategies (strategies that show what’s in stock at nearby stores) drive an 80% higher rate of incremental store visits One fact that’s hard to contest is that today’s consumers are no longer easy to impress.

Media and device agnosticism is simply the ability of a computing component to work with various systems without the need for any special adaptations or modifications. In other words, it’s anything that’s designed to be compatible across most common operating systems. This translates to the fact that at Genius Monkey we can optimize towards the best combination of all media channels and the specific types of devices upon which to see it.