What’s New in Data-Driven Marketing, August 2019

Vijay Chittoor, Blueshift's Co-Founder & CEO

Hot off the presses! Blueshift has been in the news quite a bit in the past week. So, rather than sending you running across the internet, we’ve elected to round up our latest and greatest features. This week, Blueshift’s CEO and Co-Founder, Vijay Chittoor has passed his extensive knowledge of the martech world onto readers at Forbes, Martech Advisor, and now the Blueshift blog. So, let’s let Vijay dive into the world of CDPs, CDIs, and making the most of your customer data.

FORBES, DATA ACTIVATION: THE BIGGEST OVERLOOKED GAP IN MARKETING TODAY

The past decade has seen an explosion of the amount of data consumers leave behind, and the number of platforms on offer to act on this data. The key to utilizing this data? Having a holistic, unified view of this data, and using this data to inform marketing decisions. But this leaves a gap in process, and a need for what we at Blueshift call “data activation”.

Research shows that 54% of marketers use less than 50% of data. Before marketers can activate data for the purposes of execution, they’ll need total access to this data in a usable state. It’s no longer enough to have a system for collecting and unifying customer data or resources to model and analyze that data. Marketers need a way to leverage their data to guide campaigns in real-time and make daily micro decisions about how to optimally engage their customers. That system hinges on operationalizing data “activation” across all campaigns and channels. What is data activation exactly? Find out on Forbes.

MARTECH ADVISOR, HOW THE CDP CATEGORIES TACKLE MARKETING CHALLENGES

No recent marketing technology has grown faster than CDPs. Now, the quickly evolving market is breaking into two distinct categories—Customer Data Infrastructure (CDI) and Customer Data Activation Platform (CDAP). What is the impact of this on marketers? More effective solutions across customer experience use cases.

For clarity’s sake, vendors and buyers alike are ready to differentiate the two off-shoots of the CDP. Each platform solves a part of the greater puzzle, but both are needed for a complete stack. The goal is to invest into two platforms that work in tandem to understand the vast amounts of data customers are leaving behind, and act upon to provide enriching customer experiences. The short story? The CDI will unify siloed data and pipe it across your martech stack. CDAPs fill the gap between having data and using it to deliver experiences. Discover the full capabilities of each platform, and why they’re a must-have for the 21st-century martech stack over at Martech Advisor.

Want to hear more from Vijay? Follow his LinkedInTwitter, and Author pages on Forbes and Martech Advisor for insights, news, and more.