The three main drivers of the German performance marketing space are currently mobile commerce, customer journey and automation. And even though these three topics require fundamentally different approaches and have been the subject of considerable controversy and hot debate in recent times, they do have one thing in common – the fact that we now have the broad technological basis for a successful kick-off.
Mobile takes off
Germany is experiencing an exponential growth in mobile take-up as smartphones and tablets are rapidly becoming part of everyday life. An ever-growing number of customers are researching, comparing and buying products using their mobile devices.
As individuals increasingly embrace mobile technology, it is vital for businesses to keep abreast of these changes in customer behaviour and exploit the potential of this dynamic environment in the retail and performance marketing landscape.
We are seeing a huge surge in mobile web offerings with advertisers increasingly gearing their marketing strategies towards the mobile channel and offering innovative business models for mobile applications. The number of publishers with innovative mobile formats is also seeing a dramatic rise.
By leveraging the potential of mobile, retailers can now present the right offer at the right time through the right channel on the right platform. The roadmap is changing and mobile has evolved from buzzword to reality.
Customer journey attribution
In order to make the right decisions, advertisers need insight into which marketing efforts actually work, which is why attribution of the customer journey has also been the subject of hot debate in Germany in recent years.
Now that the technological foundation is laid to offer advertisers intelligent tools to provide such insights and it is the task of performance networks to implement new attribution models in a way that is transparent.
Consumers have changed the way they research and buy products and advertisers need to keep abreast of this fast evolving landscape with fair and sophisticated attribution models. To achieve this, they need the vision – and the courage – to leave behind traditional attribution. This way publishers, particularly those in the long tail, obtain the chance for fair and correct attribution of their marketing efforts.
Easier, faster, more targeted
Automation in performance marketing in Germany is making huge strides, particularly when it comes to the effective placement of online ads. Publishers unwilling to get bogged down in the minutiae of constantly finding the right programs and creative are increasingly opting for automatic data-driven placement of the right online ads in the right environment.
By simply integrating a single container tag in their website, publishers can ensure that their ad space is automatically supplied with up-to-date banner ads tailored specifically to their website and target audience – a feature particularly suited to long tail publishers.