How Do Digital Advertisers Create an LTV Based on Trust?

The bottom line is simple. To survive and thrive in the digital age, businesses must embrace the spirit of transformation. That in turn means validating their marketing decisions (and dollars) on accurate, real-time data and unforgiving KPIs. Content marketing, AI, video, blogging, vlogging, podcasting…where to start!

The short answer is data.

Always start with data.

Digital marketing has become overwhelming to brands because the online world gives consumers the ability to switch on and off from the connected, or digital experience to the physical space, e.g., the offline experience. In the days of yore, we stood in front of cluttered merchandise and packed displays, or we visited our local mall (remember those?). We might have glanced at an outdoor billboard for a split second. Sadly, most malls are in decline across America. People are glued to their phones, even while they’re driving (everyone does it, so let’s not judge).

Our shared behavior and buying habits were already coalescing around digital screens, small, medium and large. And then COVID-19 hit, and with it a nearly primal fear of physical interaction. The virus’ impact may be waning, but our love for, and addiction to scrolling, texting, browsing and impulse shopping continues to accelerate. These shifts mean that the age-old physical relationship between products, services and consumers have also been altered fundamentally and with it, a nearly desperate need to make an impression or two. Speaking of impressions, did you know that it takes nearly 40 display impressions over a month to create a conversion?

That’s a lot of impressions.

Quick sidebar. One of the most common SEO errors occurs when marketing agencies optimize on and advertise to a large audience using a small number of phrases and words that are designed explicitly to generate clicks.

Yeah, thanks Captain Obvious, but allow me to elaborate.

Clicks are how we measure success (at least for now). Advertisers want conversions, as well they should. After all, the point of investing in advertising programs is to make money. While this approach to measuring success may work in principle, but it’s largely inefficient without proper targeting. Effective targeting is data intensive which is why we should always start with…you guessed it, data.

Big brands (with deep pockets) are increasingly interconnected to their customers through a multitude of social media and digital channels. They achieve this objective by investing in new ways to develop a first-name relationship based on trust.

Trust is the ultimate brand currency. Trust is non-negotiable and to become trusted, brands need to nurture a customer journey that will last a lifetime. There’s a reason that the LTV formula (Lifetime Value) is so widely used by mobile game developers, pharmaceutical companies and casinos, among others. Companies all too often calibrate only the dollars and cents each customer can add to their bottom line, at which point they can effectively call it a day.

The LTV mindset is also widely used in the B2B world. That’s unfortunate because B2B relationships should not just focus on meeting quarterly sales targets but on building equitable, long-term relationships that are mutually beneficial.

The concept that digital technology has radically transformed the way products and services are sold and delivered to consumers is well established. What’s far from obvious, is how to make these relationships durable in an increasingly cutthroat and unpredictable marketplace. If we only measure digital advertising margins by monetary units the real LTV, the important LTV will be lost.

Data comes in all sorts of sizes, shapes, and platforms. It can be parsed and sliced and diced until it tells the story advertisers are most comfortable sharing.

At Canopy, we see data as a neutral arbiter of what’s going right, and what might need to shift.

We provide our Canopy IQ reporting and analytics platform at no cost to our clients. In fact, we developed it with our clients in mind.

Data should be a trustworthy and transparent focal point when it comes to critical decision making. That’s why Canopy’s clients have access to all their data. Yes, all of it.

An LTV built on the concept of trust requires 100% transparency and transparency must be neutral. Our commitment to neutrality will become increasingly critical as we shift to a cookie-less landscape where making a long-term connection to a customer will become more challenging, and more important than ever before.

Canopy IQ