Marketers Juggle an Average of 5 Technologies, and Nearly 4 Vendors to Buy Digital Media, According to SteelHouse-Commissioned Study

 A Commpro News Update

Technology, specifically marketing technology seems to be assuming a bigger and more critical role within the world of advertising.  This dependence on technology doenst come without a host of challenges. Today’s marketing professionals are using an average of five tech solutions to buy digital media.  This is all according to a recent study conducted by Forrester Consulting and SteelHouse, an advertising software company.

SteelHouse and Forrester surveyed 153 marketing decision-makers in the US. The majority of survey respondents felt that the lack of transparency from vendors – including a lack of information sharing on the pricing was the greatest challenge they faced.

“We’re committed to not only understanding the challenges marketers face, but also providing the transparency this industry needs to allow buyers and sellers to efficiently and effectively drive ads to consumers,” said Mark Douglas, SteelHouse President and CEO.

The survey revealed a number of areas marketers are facing, including:

• Purchasing a variety of ads, frequently. An average of four types of digital media – social ads (89%), display banner ads (77%), mobile banner ads (73%), and video ads (65%) – and most purchase from multiple networks at least weekly.
• Managing multiple vendors. Almost half of marketers are working with an average of three vendors. Oftentimes, management barriers occur because of lack of information-sharing (48%), transparency on media buy pricing (48%), and inability to optimize (42%), among others.
• Technology overload. Marketers use an average of five media/marketing tools, with most already using or expanding their use of tools for: site analytics (84%), marketing performance measurement (82%), content marketing asset management (80%), data management platforms (DMPs) (78%), and marketing attribution (77%).

Further, the study finds that a single platform approach with the right pricing model can help. Eighty-six percent of respondents said a single platform would have a high impact on the ability to measure marketing’s impact on business as a whole. Additionally, marketers who preferred cost-per-impression (CPM) pricing said they were more likely to report increased performance.