Everyone seems lost on how to best use their data

***Anda Gansca will be among speakers from around the world at Native Advertising DAYS from 8-10 November. As a member of FIPP, you are entitled to a discount of €100 discount on the ticket purchase to the Native Advertising DAYS event by using the promo code FIPP17. Get your discounted ticket here***

According to you, why is data such an important tool for success in marketing?

Data, when used correctly, is one of the most valuable assets a marketer can have.

Together, marketers, agencies, distribution channels and data companies – we can make the internet a better experience by using the right data to really listen to our audiences and make sure we are catering to their true interests.

RELATED: The perfect marriage between video and data

In your opinion, what are the biggest mistakes marketers make when using data?

The biggest mistake that marketers make is that they don’t demand data transparency or ownership when they’re investing their media dollars.

Regardless of whether you are buying traditional advertising or native advertising, as a marketer, you should demand that a third party who is independent measures the ROI of your efforts but also that any audience data collected by this party is owned by you – the brand.

Why is it so difficult for marketers to use and trust data? What is the solution?

It’s not the “data’s fault” that it cannot be used and trusted. Ultimately your data is only as good as those collecting it.

If the collection of the data is done by those who are invested in data telling a particular story, then the data will be moulded to tell that story.

The benefit of a third party is not just the transparency and unbiased nature of the data set. It is also the fact that one collecting party means that all the data collected from all of your distribution channels will be in the same format and therefore – simple to use and analyse for insights.

You will be an official speaker at this year’s Native Advertising DAYS and your presentation is called “Too much data, not enough intelligence”. Can you elaborate on the meaning of this?

This is a statement I hear a lot from the marketers I meet with.

There’s no shortage of data, yet everyone seems lost on how to best use and action the data they have.

RELATED: In a few years native will be the standard of advertising

So it’s been a big priority for me to share with marketers that the solution is less about trying to make sense of current third party data sets that they get from all sorts of partners — who they don’t know they can trust — and more with putting data collection in their hands. Then they can transform their media dollars into a chance to streamline the collection of first party data which is the most valuable data about an audience and the most actionable one.

I also want to talk about the responsibility that data companies have in going beyond the tables and the dashboard and working closely with marketers to get to the insights.

What should attendees absolutely not miss about your presentation at Native Advertising DAYS?

I’m going to challenge marketers not to view the current state of the industry as the status quo, but rather one that requires boldness and action.

We are at a really pivotal time in the marketing world, where brands will take control to demand a transparency standard and enforce that they already have the power to make this change.

***Meet and hear more from Anda Gansca at the Native Advertising DAYS in Berlin. Register now using your FIPP member promo code FIPP17 to receive a discount of €100***

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