Customer data is worth its weight in gold for any marketer – but only through a data man­age­ment platform can this in­for­ma­tion be logically linked and strate­gi­cal­ly employed for marketing purposes. Data man­age­ment platforms don’t just organize customer data, either: they also link data from third parties and so fa­cil­i­tate accurate, target group ad­ver­tis­ing campaigns.

What is a data man­age­ment platform?

‘Data man­age­ment platform’ (DMP) is an online marketing term, or more precisely: the online ad platform that has emerged in con­nec­tion with real-time ad­ver­tis­ing. Basically, a DMP is a database that performs the col­lec­tion and analysis of user data. It stores in­for­ma­tion that the company gains through its own channels (first-party data). DMPs are seen as a de­vel­op­ment of a classic data warehouse, because they link first-party data with third-party data.

First-party data

First-party data is data that companies or ad­ver­tis­ers collect and own them­selves. This includes CRM system data and any in­for­ma­tion from social media, the customer journey, or e-mail marketing measures.

Third-party data

As its name implies, third-party data is data that ad­ver­tis­ers have acquired from third-party sources. For companies that do not cover all dis­tri­b­u­tion channels, data provided by media agencies offers valuable input into a campaign design. This includes in­for­ma­tion on general surfing behavior, searches queries, market research, and CRM in­for­ma­tion of third parties.

Provide user data in real time

Data man­age­ment platforms form the basis for efficient campaign planning in both display and real-time marketing. By linking first and third-party data, these platforms access huge amounts of data that contain complex in­for­ma­tion. DMPs don’t just collect this data, they also sort it and analyze user profiles. Every user then receives a specific user ID. Using this, the DMP can in­cor­po­rate ad­di­tion­al data into this user profile, as long as the system rec­og­nizes it. The ID then becomes traceable across other devices. The data is processed in real time and allows ad­ver­tis­ers to reach the exact target audience with cor­re­spond­ing ad­ver­tis­ing media.

DMP in real-time bidding

Data man­age­ment platforms form the basis of data-related marketing. The user profiles provided by the DMP can be used to recognize in­di­vid­ual users and show ads that match the in­for­ma­tion gathered for their profiles. This classic targeted ad­ver­tis­ing aims to track:

  • Definite behaviors like clicks, website visits, or downloads
  • The user’s interest
  • De­mo­graph­i­cal or ge­o­graph­i­cal in­for­ma­tion

In real-time marketing, ads are displayed as soon as a match for them is found and processed. Using the ad exchange, the supply-side platform and the demand-side platform com­mu­ni­cate with one another. Before a bid is made on an available ad im­pres­sion, the data man­age­ment platform com­mu­ni­cates in­for­ma­tion about the user who is about to see the ad. The DMP can process this in­for­ma­tion within a few mil­lisec­onds. This in­for­ma­tion provides the basis for deciding whether the ad im­pres­sion will be bought. So data man­age­ment platforms aren’t just there to provide a better un­der­stand­ing of the target market. Through this accurate targeting of ad displays, ad­ver­tis­ers can reduce losses and increase their ROI (return on in­vest­ment).

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