{"id":3509,"date":"2022-09-19T01:12:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T05:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/2022\/09\/19\/how-reimagining-the-art-and-science-of-marketing-can-fill-your-full-funnel\/"},"modified":"2022-09-19T01:12:45","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T05:12:45","slug":"how-reimagining-the-art-and-science-of-marketing-can-fill-your-full-funnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/how-reimagining-the-art-and-science-of-marketing-can-fill-your-full-funnel\/3509\/","title":{"rendered":"How Reimagining the Art and Science of Marketing Can Fill Your Full Funnel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Jon\u202fHudson, Vice President of Customer Success at\u202f<\/em>Digital Turbine<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

It sounds like a cliche, but there really is an art and a science to marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

You can think of the science as all the measurable elements of marketing: the KPIs, the metric tracking, the focus on performance. The art of marketing is less tangible in nature. It\u2019s branding, reach, that magical mix of awareness and recognition that drives familiarity and eventually, conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Put another way, art (brand) represents the top of the marketing funnel, while science (performance) represents the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Bottom-funnel strategies rooted in science and performance have dominated mobile marketing for the last several years, in large part thanks to their measurability. But, with the removal of IDFA and GID, measurability is changing in an unprecedented way. In just the past year, the number of iPhone users who have opted in to app tracking has fallen by half, according to the New York Times<\/a>. Pretty soon, today\u2019s concept of what\u2019s measurable will be unrecognizable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

These changes coming to the industry are forcing mobile marketers to a decision point. For years, they\u2019ve focused heavily on technology and performance-oriented strategies. Is it time to return to the simplicities of marketing, asking the question: where is my audience and how am I going to engage them? What does a successful user acquisition strategy look like in this new age of mobile marketing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Does Art or Science Win in the New Age of Mobile Marketing?<\/h2>\n

With measurability becoming more complicated, it\u2019s natural to wonder if marketers will be driven back towards the \u201cart\u201d side of marketing. Will they rely exclusively on brand-based marketing that brings in top-of-funnel users, choosing to buy advertising only from channels they know? For example, an app knows their audience is young and watches sports, so they buy ads on both Snapchat and ESPN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

While this strategy can deliver results, and feels safe in its reliability, it\u2019s simply not enough to survive in today\u2019s highly competitive mobile landscape, let alone reach enough users at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In reality, savvy brands will need to reimagine their art\/science marketing mix to incorporate more of both in the new frontier of mobile marketing. They\u2019ll need to engage users at both the top and bottom funnel. To do this, they\u2019ll need to find advertising partners that offer true deterministic attribution, while at the same time broadening their definition of attribution. You can see this shift already happening, with 59% of advertisers, according to MarTech,<\/a> moving their ad spend from Apple to Android in Q3 of 2021. However, even big players like Google are creating their own playing fields. Others, like Facebook and Snap, will own their own inventory, but their ability to drive results beyond their own walled gardens has yet to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Without a way to connect the dots, it\u2019s up to brands to rewrite measurability. The question will no longer be, \u201cCan I measure this or not? (Is it art or science?)\u201d The question becomes, \u201cHow else<\/em> can I measure this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Historically, mobile marketers have built their advertising model on science, e.g. how many people downloaded my app and took action after clicking from this ad? But with everything becoming digitized, several forms of historically art-based advertising are now measurable in some way. Think of a digital billboard at a bus stop that has interactive features, or, perhaps a famous television ad with a QR code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Coinbase: A Case Study in Next-Gen Mobile Advertising<\/h2>\n

Prior to the Superbowl, Coinbase had below average awareness and install intent among consumers. Then its groundbreaking Superbowl ad aired, and everything changed. Coinbase\u2019s ad was so successful that as its App Store rank skyrocketed, the app briefly crashed, stated here on The Verge,<\/a> from all the installs. Is Coinbase\u2019s famous QR code ad campaign art or science? Brand or performance? Top or bottom funnel? It depends on when and what you\u2019re measuring. Is it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n