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Cheap data. An expensive mistake.

11 Nov 2021

Unlike a billboard that a client can see, you can't personally police the whole internet, meaning the digital media space has always been open to abuse. Click farms and bots pretending to be customers have wasted millions of dollars of ad spend. Ads that aren't even viewable have been paid for all leading to the rise of independent 3rd party measurement.

Viewability, impressions, engagements and brand safety are all now measured by 3rd party companies. Digital has become almost over policed to the extent that most agencies now refuse to run campaigns with media owners or publishers who don’t support 3rd party verification… except in the location space? Somehow here the industry lets things slide. Media owners are simply side-stepping verification… and agencies and clients are letting them get away with it.

If the industry is going to commit to transparency then it needs to be an all or nothing approach, otherwise you’re testing half the riders in the Tour de France and we know how that ended.

When location data isn’t accurate, you're targeting the wrong audience. Simple as that. This dilutes your message, and wastes your budget. Everyday clients are being won over by flashy dashboards and reports instead of insisting on 3rd party verification. And because it’s not verified this level of location targeting is being discounted and discounted again. Bottom line is that without verification your location buy is (to use a digital term) an ‘Effective Display Campaign’.

This leads to the question; would marketers rather pay less and forgo stringent 3rd party verification or pay a higher rate for verified targeting?

The answer should come down to what the client's objective is. If the objective is based on ‘rough’ level location targeting then sure, go cheap and nasty and unverified. But if you want to target to street level, or to retarget based on where an audience has actually been, or display dynamic and relevant messaging then make sure your location buy is verified and that you get what you’re paying for.

The best practice is to buy 1st Party Location Data sourced from the end user through direct integrations with publishers. It’s the quality of this data that allows you to set laser-focused geofences that target users right down to their street-level address. This creates hyper-relevance for brands: ensuring you’re always serving your message to exactly the right people at the right time, meaning your marketing delivers true ROI.

But don’t take my word for it - the 3rd party verification that comes included with your Vicinity Media campaign will do the talking.