Future Of Marketing: Blending MMM & MTA

The fundamental principle of advertising, broadly, is to capture the audience’s attention and inspire action. While this principle remains constant across the board, the impact of an advertisement varies dramatically. The challenge for marketers remains in dissecting and mastering the strategies that transform fleeting moments of attention into lasting and deep customer engagement, and in capturing the impact generated through their efforts.  

While traditional methods of analysis such as Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) have served the industry well, data-driven approaches such as Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) are now increasingly in focus. The shift reflects the growing complexity of customer interactions across a multitude of digital platforms, and as businesses adapt to this new landscape, they seek to understand and influence the intricate paths that lead consumers from initial interest to final conversion. 

Limitations of Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) 

For many years, Marketing Mix Modelling has been a crucial tool for marketers, allowing them to examine the impact of various marketing channels such as television radio, and print on sales or other key performance indicators. MMM uses statistical research to measure the influence of different marketing approaches on sales, which may help drive broad strategic choices. However, with the introduction of digital media, MMM has demonstrated major shortcomings in capturing the full complexities of current customer behaviour. 

The lack of granularity is critical in an era where customers generally interact with a brand across six to eight separate touchpoints before choosing to purchase. Therefore, MMM's broad-strokes approach is less successful in digital media, where interactions are more subtle and varied. 

Need for a New Model 
The advertising landscape, long dominated by television, has been seeing a shift towards digital media. While television still has the highest market share of 38 per cent, digital media is quickly catching up, with a 36.3 per cent share. This is a significant gain from 33 per cent in FY22 to 36.3 per cent in FY23.  

This shift underscores the need for a modern approach that can attribute conversions and sales to specific touchpoints across multiple channels in a customer’s journey.  

Advanced MTA models may analyse more than 100 data points per user, including clicks, views, time spent, and interactions across several channels. This degree of information gives marketers a better view of the consumer journey, helping them to determine which touchpoints are most effective and how different channels interact to generate conversions.  

This is specifically important, given that platform attribution for paid media is just one component of sales or profit. In a world where each touchpoint has a very different impact on the consumer life cycle, the ability to see the interplay and forecast sales based on analytics can help drive both short-term and long-term KPIs for our clients. 

Benefits of Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) 
MTA is now more accessible and accurate than ever due to technological developments in data analytics, machine learning, and attribution modelling. In today's fast-paced marketing world, making rapid, educated judgments gives a major competitive advantage. 

Adaptive machine learning models are continually improving in response to new data inputs, enhancing their prediction abilities over time. These models can track user behaviour across multiple devices, providing a comprehensive view of the customer's journey. This cross-device monitoring is crucial in a world in which individuals often transition between smartphones, tablets, and laptops/desktops, ensuring no touchpoint is missed. 

MTA solutions are rapidly being connected with prominent marketing platforms, which simplifies the process for marketers. This connection enables seamless data collecting and analysis, giving advertisers a comprehensive view of their campaign's effectiveness across all channels. 

Real-Time Insights for Agile Marketing 
One of the primary benefits of MTA is its ability to provide real-time information, allowing marketers to be more adaptable and responsive to changes in consumer behaviour and market conditions. Real-time MTA enables marketers to change campaigns on the fly, optimising results and allocating funding in minutes rather than days or weeks. This flexibility is critical in a dynamic sector where client preferences change frequently. 

Furthermore, real-time feedback on engagement metrics such as click-through rates, time spent on content, and interaction patterns allows marketers to deliver more personalised and relevant ads. This personalisation leads to increased consumer satisfaction and engagement, driving better results for marketing campaigns. 

Marketers can now better understand how multiple channels interact and contribute to the customer experience, resulting in more coherent and integrated campaigns. This comprehensive approach guarantees that all touchpoints work together to promote conversions, maximising the return on investment for marketing initiatives. 

So, what does the future of marketing analytics look like? 
MMM is likely to see a surge in popularity. Marketers would increasingly rely more on conversion lift studies and MMM to determine the effectiveness of their campaigns. Its ability to give an aggregate view of performance across numerous channels will be quite useful and deliver a top-level view of the efficacy of spending across physical and online channels, providing a comprehensive picture that drives strategic decisions. On the other hand, MTA delves into the complexity of online channels, providing specific insights that allow for accurate digital strategy optimisation. 

Advertisers must be prepared to embrace this changing technology. By combining MMM and MTA, companies can acquire a thorough insight into their marketing efficacy, create improved outcomes, and ensure long-term success in the changing world of advertising. 

Tanmay Mohanty

Guest Author the author is the CEO - Media Services at Publicis Groupe India