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A CDP is a Customer Data Platform. Simply put, it is a marketing technology that integrates customer data from multiple sources to one centralized customer database. The benefit is a 360-degree view of customer’s demographics and behaviors. By having all of the data pulled together in one place, companies can engage each customer with the right content in each stage of their customer journey.
There are three key pieces of data that CDPs aggregate:
Socio-economic information like:
Advanced analytics could also include:
The good news is that companies likely have a lot of this data already. The challenge is that it lives in different systems that aren’t integrated, making it difficult to extract and compile data.
CDPs are a solution to this common data challenge. Their benefits include:
CDPs create a unified customer profile by pulling data from all channels. It is a 360-degree view of the customer that enables companies to interact in a more profound way.
“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”
Yogi Berra
We all know companies need a roadmap for their business, but the day-to-day running of the business can distract them from having a clear path.
As we pass mid-year 2022, cruise through Q3, and head towards Q4, it’s a great time to check in on the 2022 strategy and adjust the roadmap to achieve the goals. Business isn’t static and the roadmap shouldn’t be either. There are curves in the road: a slowing economy, surging energy and food prices, and supply chain issues. The view companies had in January 2022 is now in the rear-view mirror.
The first step is to go back to the January 2022 roadmap and ensure it had the key elements for success. There are three key categories in creating a roadmap: goals, budget, and team.
Let’s take a deeper dive into each of these categories.
Goals – Goal setting is an important element in any business, but for it to be successful, there must be a way to measure the success of its efforts. For this, companies need to implement SMART goals. SMART goals are defined as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Goals without a way to measure success are not effective. Here is a tip when looking at results: choose 3-5 KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that best demonstrate the results and give an overall picture together. Utilizing more than 5 KPIs will result in a loss of focus and potentially postpone success.
Budget – Having an overall budget for the business is a start, but it is not enough. A specific budget should be determined for each division, each department, and each channel. Be flexible enough to put more money into channels that are performing and potentially “borrowing” from the budget of channels that are not performing. This kind of flexibility to shift can be the difference between failure and success.
Team – Evaluate staff to determine if there is a need to hire or train the current team. It’s not enough to just hire people. Business leaders also need to engage them in the business. This is done by clearly communicating expectations, checking-in regularly on progress, and celebrating the successes – however small. Positive reinforcement will engage employees in the business, and the result is higher performance.
If any of these three key elements were not in the original roadmap, it’s important to include them in this iteration.
The second step is to adjust the 2022 Roadmap for the last half of the year.
2021 results were likely reviewed when planning the 2022 roadmap. Now that we have past mid-year, it is important to review the first half of 2022 results, how that compares to 2021 results, and how it compares to where leaders thought the company would be in order to predict - and potentially adjust - the second half of the year performance.
While it is critical to have an annual roadmap, the full potential comes from regularly reviewing it and adjusting it to current conditions and performance to maximize the results to the bottom line.
Imagination Media team members Ivona Namjesnik, Puneet Kaur, and Anna Wessel worked out of our Boca Raton office recently. We enjoyed a visit to Chima in Las Olas to celebrate our team members from around the world.
