Forrester Research warns B2C marketers to be on the lookout for big changes in media buying in 2016.
As Luca Paderni, Forrester's vice president and research
director serving B2C marketing professionals, told Real-Time Daily last week, one of Forrester’s biggest predictions for 2016 is the shift from content-based to audience-based media
buying.
That means marketers will continue to buy ads against top-rated prime-time TV shows for broad reach, but they'll also try to target specific audience profiles based on data gleaned
from category purchase behavior, demographics and more.
With that in mind, a second report from Forrester called "Personal At Last For B2C Marketers" stressed that programmatic media will have
a big moment next year.
“Advertisers can enjoy more control in the planning of campaigns, to really optimize them,” Paderni said. “The advantage of programmatic is its
flexibility.”
Easier access to insights and improved tech will change media buying, the report predicts. And in turn, advances in tech and measurement will extend the value of customer
insights beyond media buying and even beyond marketing departments, Paderni said.
He added that there will be a shift: marketers will focus on collecting smart data instead of Big Data, and
they’ll focus on touchpoints that can drive business outcomes.
“It’s going to be quite difficult for marketers to adapt,” Paderni said, adding that brands will have to
be relevant to consumers in a specific context. “Less is more is a new mantra, and that’s counter to marketing in the last 50 years,” he said.
The report also maintains that
social marketers will prioritize Instagram, Vine or their own branded communities instead of Facebook to build deep connections with customers, and more media buying agencies will bring in creative
talent -- or partner with creative agencies to expand their capabilities.