It’s the key question on every marketer’s mind - how can we drive incremental and cost-effective growth in a competitive market?

In a world of constant economic uncertainty, it’s all the more important to prove the value of marketing investment. And the answer lies in leveraging data-driven tools and methodologies to make informed decisions.

With an array of tools available, choosing the right one for your business is of paramount importance.

The Toolkit:

Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA):

MTA distributes credit among all the touchpoints a customer encounters, based on their relative influence on the final decision. This is achieved through complex algorithms and models that analyse the sequence of interactions, taking into account factors such as timing, frequency, and the nature of each touchpoint.

However, one of the downsides to MTA is that it relies on user-level data, which continues to pose challenges in a privacy-focused world.

Media Mix Modeling (MMM):

MMM offers a macro-level view, analysing the impact of various marketing channels over time. It uses aggregated data over a longer time frame to analyse the impact of various marketing channels and other external factors (like economic conditions, seasonality, and competitive actions) on sales and conversions.

MMM employs statistical techniques like regression analysis to quantify the effectiveness of each marketing channel and how they interact with each other, which provides insights into optimal budget allocation for maximum ROI. The downside is that MMM is data intensive, requiring data science expertise if done in-house.

Incrementality Testing:

This approach directly measures the additional value generated by specific marketing activities, offering a clear picture of what works. It's precise work, and requires carefully designed experiments to isolate variables effectively. So it's critical that you build the test and test schedules well, to avoid wasting time and resources.

Choosing the right tools:

Your choice of tools ultimately depends on your marketing objectives, the complexity of your campaigns and data availability, as well as considerations around privacy.

If you’re still unsure about which toolkit to opt for, don’t fret. In the next article, we’ll dive into our preferred methodology, and how you can utilise this effectively in your own business.