Even as digital marketing has spelled more opportunities and shown growth for many marketers, there is no denying that it is among the top challenges facing CMOs today both globally and in the region. Among one of the foremost areas of focus for brands in MENA is comprehending the true impact of mobile to drive business growth.
“The digital world is still changing. There information overload out there and I, as a marketer, cannot help but feel overwhelmed. It is hard to keep track of all the changes and the measures to be taken,” said Nadir Shah, Director of Digital and Social Media Marketing, Visa MENA.
Speaking to The Arabian Marketer, post his session at Kantar’s Masterclass, Mr Shah explained how Visa broke down its objectives to bring about better measurement. “There is too much to measure. Since there is a vast amount of data, we cannot have a one-size-fit-all solution. We need to think about measuring across all the objectives that we have. We listed down three – awareness, education, action.”
The three primary objectives helped Visa to work hand in hand with agency partners and solution providers, to understand what products they had to help them accurately measure these objectives. “What really matters to us from an education perspective when it comes to marketing is not the views but the duration of the view,” commented Mr Shah, adding, “From an awareness perspective, we wanted to make sure that the maximum number of people saw it and were aware of the message. That is why we measured unique views and not just impressions.”
He also reminded that to win in the fast evolving digital world, marketers, brands, agencies and solution providers had to be on the same page. “Agencies understand that brands are asking more questions, and that they need to answer them. That’s when you push on the evolution. These companies have immense data; if they were to put their minds to it, they can easily come up with a new product which will be better than before.”
With the data tsunami, it has also become difficult to make it more intelligent and detailed. However, Mr Shah says that data will not remain fragmented forever. “There is technology out there that will allow you to start building the data. The biggest thing is the Data Management platforms (DMPs). So you start investing in your DMP right now. What matters is how you will make sense of the data, and draw specific, actionable insights from that data.”
