Re-inventing Media Measurement Through Smart Market Research

Ad effectiveness measurement was once an expensive luxury afforded only to megabrands such as P&G and Coca-Cola. Digital changed that dynamic, enabling marketers at brands of all sizes to track consumer behaviors from first click to point of sale. Fast-forward to the present day, and a host of companies are making brand measurement easier through programmatic campaigns—the scale and speed of the technology provide the majority of brand marketers with stronger insights to help optimize media purchasing decisions. It was a game changer for the industry.

It is not without its challenges, however—many of which have been exacerbated in the pandemic era, where every decision matters even more. Now more than ever, marketers are under intense scrutiny from company leadership to not only deliver results, but to make strategic spending decisions at a time when the economy is at risk of a debilitating recession.

If programmatic was the game changer way back when, why are today’s brand marketers still struggling to adequately measure ad response and engagement? It’s time to enter the next phase of media measurement.

How do we get there? Smarter media measurement enabled by Big Data.

Understanding the Goal

The need for meaningful data insights has never been more prevalent. Today’s marketers need to know what’s working, what isn’t, and where to reposition spend if there is a mis-divide. While brand metrics today do a well enough job of providing that holistic picture, there is another goal worth achieving.

That goal is for marketers to gauge audience perceptions to uncover whether or not their ad campaign is as impactful as they think. This is what will ensure that the brand’s media spend has an impact—and it can be discovered with market research.

How to Get There

In the traditional market research industry, smaller sample sets are a major cause for concern as small and poorly pooled datasets are oftentimes used by media outlets and larger news organizations to build out big predictions. The real issue, though, is the impact that this same type of problem has on the marketing community.

Remember that intense scrutiny mentioned earlier? Marketers today spend pretty hefty premiums on targeted media, and it can be incredibly difficult to justify the spend when marketers can’t even guarantee that they’re reaching the right audiences.

While it may be challenging to find the best audience data to fit an advertising campaign, one great solution is to measure campaign success in real time by testing those target audiences. Many marketers today focus on identifying who has been exposed to a campaign—and then it stops there. Now imagine if those same marketers not only identified the ad respondents, but were able to ask questions—understanding the effectiveness that the ad had on them and if it appropriately stacks up to the client’s KPIs.

This is where market research can really shine and help marketers understand the impact of an ad, both before and during the campaign, and not just after it runs. Think of the benefits of a focus group—the ability to ask a target audience how they feel about an ad, and what resonated with them. Now think about the ability to apply that mentality on a mass scale. By more closely aligning with market researchers, marketers can now make that possible. They can utilize those insights to implement even better targeted campaigns in the future. And the more insights marketers have into their target audience’s behavioral patterns, the more easily they can make an informed decision on where best to spend dollars to host specific campaigns.

What’s Next

Marketers today must do a better job at media measurement. Budget is scarce, every dollar and every impression counts, and every decision must drive ROI for the business.

We’ve reviewed the goal. We know the path forward, but what’s next?

As we move toward a future where brands understand the importance of meaningful data and insights, the next step is to ultimately hit a point at which we can say we’ve democratized media measurement—that we can use the power of being able to ask a specific question to inform how brands can advertise. A point in which all brand marketers have enough market insights backing them to optimize media purchasing decisions to continuously reach the strongest ROI.

That is the next goal, and we’re getting closer.

Brett Schnittlich is the president of programmatic research technology platform Lucid. He has 20-plus years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and executive within the market research and advertising spaces.