Insights

Two conferences in two months! It has been a busy time at infinitee. Several weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on the CampusConnex conference, and now it’s time to reflect on my nuggets of wisdom regarding talent acquisition from the SOAHR SHRM Atlanta Conference.

Whatever industry you are in, most likely you are not immune to the talent shortage. But this conference was more about finding a needle in a haystack - it was mission-focused. The sessions I attended included Predictive Analytics, The Introverted Leader, and Megatrends in the U.S. workforce.

1. Predictive AnalyticsWCN has developed an algorithm, which combined with filtering tools, lets you zero in on the right candidates faster. Machine-based decisions vs. humans - what are the benefits? They include the reduction of unconscious bias and enhanced diversity with a machine-learning based algorithm, and greater insight into which candidate characteristics score strongest and why.

2. The Introverted Leader(One of my favorite sessions because I live in between being an extrovert and an introvert.) Fun fact: Most HR leaders are stereotyped as being introverted which is good because these leaders:

• Display quiet strength in times of difficulty.
• Tend to be better listeners and think before speaking.
• Frustrate the extroverted leader – “why don’t you say anything?” (This is my favorite.)
• Are private at first and tend to have a low key emotional expression.
• Prefer writing over speaking. (not me)
• Enjoy communal solitude – love being surrounded by people but away from the noise.
• Are most likely to suffer from people exhaustion and the pressure to self-promote.

3. Megatrends - Global Trends that will Redefine the Work, the Workers, and the Workplace by Dr. Shelton Goode.My top takeaways include:

• The massive shift in the U.S. population by 2020 - non-Hispanic whites will decrease by 20% and Hispanics/Latinos will increase by 50%.
• Women, people of color, and immigrants comprise 70% of new entrants into the workforce.
• Millennials will constitute a larger segment of the workforce outpacing Gen Xers by 30 million workers.
• The mass exodus of non-Hispanic white workers age 55 to 65 will disrupt the following industries: utilities, mining, education, public administration, transportation, and manufacturing.
• The unemployment rate is projected to be about 4.7% in 2020. The rate will move steadily lower. By 2040, unemployment will be the lowest since 2007.
• In 2020, the desire to have a corporate job for men and women will drop 15%. (I want a mission-focused life!)
• Increased diversity tensions - diversity tension refers to the stress and strain that can accompany interactions between different cultures and generations and is a natural outgrowth of bringing multiple cultures and generations together which may have different perspectives regarding work. Diversity tension is neither bad nor good, it simply is.

So, what do we do and how can you help your organization?

• Take steps to be more inclusive and recruit from all sectors of society (Do all of your positions require a college degree? Check out this group of young adults who can bring real-world experience to your company with an alternative education.)
• Develop an employer brand that is inclusive and speaks to multi-generations.
• Recognize the importance of cultural and diversity nuances in all recruiting efforts.
• Recruit, retain, and treat your teammates like your customers!

Vince Vitti is not a blog writer and on most days is caught between communal isolation and people exhaustion. However, he loves his job and would love to speak with you about your talent needs.

In this day of digital everything, it’s not enough to simply build your online presence via your website, social platforms and review sites - you have to maintain and grow it, as you would with any other area of your business. The same instant feedback and approvals that you love receiving through your social channels and review sites can, at most times, be tremendously helpful in generating awareness and growth for your brand. However, they can also negatively impact your bottom line if not closely monitored.

Vince Vitti, VP of Business Development at infinitee, recently attended the CampusConnex conference in Orlando, Florida and identified the following five best practices for online reputation management.

1. Continuously monitor all platforms and respond quickly. Timeliness is everything and it also shows authenticity that your business cares and has concern for its customers.
2. Have a dedicated employee as your responder. This person is responsible for monitoring and engaging with your audiences - both with positive comments and especially negative posts or reviews.
3. Always keep responses positive, authentic and concise. Thank your customers for positive comments and bring negative conversations offline by having them contact your dedicated responder directly.
4. Listen and engage. By truly hearing your customer out and showing genuine interest in their opinions and experience, you may often resolve the issue without further action.
5. Never delete negative comments or postings. Business transparency is demanded in today’s digital world and showing the timeliness of your response goes a long way in offsetting any negative comments or reviews.

“It’s critical to watch your online reputation across every information outlet and engage appropriately every step of the way. Your online reputation is the direct result of the relationships you cultivate offline (and often the first thing people seek when learning who you are). Look into tools like Yext to make it easy. ” advises Chelsea Cannon, Digital Brand Strategist.

In short, bad reviews are going to happen, but with a little foresight and proper planning, you can spin them into a positive experience for all involved and effectively manage your online reputation in the process.

Interested in learning more about our social media strategies, online reputation management offerings, and how infinitee can help you manage your digital presence? Contact us today!

Each year, Expertise provides a comprehensive listing of highly-qualified local experts and this year infinitee was honored as one of 2018’s top 20 Best Advertising Agencies in Atlanta.

Using its proprietary research and selection process to identify leading professional organizations in more than 100 business categories across 1,000 cities nationwide, Expertise hand-picks each recipient to compile its city-specific listings. Winning organizations are selected and scored according to the following criteria: industry reputation, credibility, experience, engagement and overall professionalism.

As a full-service, strategic marketing agency with more than 28 years experience, infinitee’s industry expertise crosses many verticals including premier real estate companies in mixed-use, retail, commercial and multifamily, as well as education, financial services, and healthcare. Key clients include Tanger Outlets (United States and Canada), Grand Boulevard at Sandestin (The Howard Group), 500 Harbour Island (Gables Residential), and Platinum Tower (PM Realty Group), to name a few.

“We are honored to have been selected as one of the top 20 best advertising agencies in Atlanta by Expertise, especially for our credibility and professionalism. – Jocelyn Smith, Founder and CEO of infinitee

About infinitee Communications, Inc.

infinitee is IN. INto advertising. INto problem-solving. INto creativity. For over 28 years, infinitee’s expertise has been invaluable to many national and regional real estate, healthcare and B2B brands. The agency specializes in branding, marketing, strategy, print and digital media, video and photography. Balancing strategy and creativity, building brand equity and driving sales is what infinitee is all about. Call 404-231-3481, x119 to speak with Jocelyn Smith, Founder & CEO.

Shopping center marketing is one of our agency's largest verticals and a primary component of that, for us, is tenant relations. After all, our marketing efforts are best measured by their sales.

We implement a structured communication schedule with all of our shopping center clients' tenants from weekly to monthly and as needed conversations. Our emails and phone lines are always open to their needs, questions, concerns and ideas, and they know they'll get a real person who cares about their business at the other end of the line.

Relationships with tenants take time to build and to develop a healthy cadence of communication. But the investment is worth it and is oftentimes the missing piece many ad agencies overlook when marketing a shopping center.

Below are some of our best and go-to tactics for involving tenants in shopping center marketing that you can start today.

3 Tips to Get to Know Your Tenants

1. Receive the best point of contact for all marketing communications - sales, in-store events, photos, reviews, etc. Sounds simple, but sometimes you don't have the right person with corporate vs. local or staffing turnovers. Ask for updates regularly.
2. Ask for a 30-second elevator pitch about their business. This will help you identify the key message points the owners believe about their business and get specific with your questions - what brands do you carry in-store, do you have a favorite service, what's your merchandise selection process like, etc.
3. Get a list of local or national social media profiles. Note: If the business is unable to have local profiles, your shopping center profiles will become that much more important.

10 Things You Can Do to Promote Tenants Right Now

1. Social media posts that fit into your content schedule. Note: It's important to remind tenants that your job is to promote the center at large so dedicated posts will occur according to a well-balanced schedule.
2. Facebook events. You can host or co-host their events on the shopping center's Facebook page. This is especially important for tenants without local profiles.
3. Paid media. Offer to boost Facebook events or social posts on the shopping center's profiles. These can be funded by the center or by the tenant.
4. Blurbs in eblasts to the shopper database - especially important for sales and in-store events.
5. Update the website with their store information and photos.
6. Add any in-store events or sales to the website.
7. Distribute a press release about grand openings or newsworthy store announcements.
8. Connect them with local influencers who actively engage with the shopping center's profiles and recommend a direct partnership.
9. Encourage tenants to host in-store events like Sip N Shops or personal styling sessions, sales and promotions such as a % OFF merchandise or final sale, etc.
10. Encourage tenants to get to know their neighbors for cross-promotion. Sometimes just meeting the neighbors and introducing the store will help drive referral foot traffic. Sometimes you can get lucky and they'll allow you put a flyer on their counter space. Or sometimes they all work together for a 20% OFF day at participating stores. Any collaboration is better than none!

If you're interested in learning more about our shopping center marketing and specifically how we engage with tenants, please contact us.

Several of our shopping center clients were affected by Hurricane Harvey last week and are now preparing for Hurricane Irma in the coming days. We know many of you are preparing as well and wanted to share the benefit of our experience in managing social media during crisis periods like this.

Whether a shopping center, multifamily development, mixed-use community or more, here is a simplified Hurricane Social Media Crisis Plan:

• Pause all scheduled social media postings and advertisements.
• Update your website with center statuses and resources for storm alerts.
• Share weather updates from local news sources including text alerts and donation opportunities. (Follow CNN.com for live updates.)
• Share updates from your tenants on store hours, statuses, etc. (If you are a grocery-anchored center, share specific news about hours and supplies.)
• Respond to community questions about parking, center closings and preparedness plans. (Many hurricane tips advise parking vehicles in a parking deck or garage. If your center has a deck, be prepared to answer questions about eligibility. Oftentimes, decks need to reserved for first response vehicles. Consult with your city officials about how your center can be used in their efforts.)
• Reach out to your shopping center community for affected employees and determine how you can help those in need after the storm.

Our thoughts are with all those affected by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma.

Sincerely,

infinitee's Social Media Team

We had some of our most successful digital media campaigns ever this past spring and wanted to share the results with you! See the highlights below and click to read the whole story.

Grand Boulevard approached infinitee to strategize and execute a 3-month digital campaign to promote its flagship charity event, South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival, in order to drive ticket sales, increase website traffic and increase social media activity. In 3 months, infinitee garnered 1.05 million impressions, 850+ new social media followers and more, resulting in a 23% increase in ticket sales from the year prior.

Hill Partners, Inc. also approached infinitee for a Spring campaign for Specialty Shops SouthPark in Charlotte, NC. infinitee implemented a 60-day campaign to increase brand awareness and drive onsite traffic for stores, restaurants and services promoting tenants’ seasonal merchandise and menu items. The campaign achieved over 2.1 million impressions in the local area, over 12,600 clicks/engagements and 140+ new social media followers.

And last but not least, Weingarten Realty, Inc. enlisted infinitee for a 60-day campaign promoting Spring shopping at River Oaks Shopping Center in Houston, TX. This campaign was a little more in depth including curated and paid social media, programmatic digital advertising, a digital partnership with

Houstonia magazine and a local influencer, and email marketing. Overall, the campaign achieved over 1.4 million impressions and nearly 5,000 engagements.

So what are you waiting for? Contact our Digital Brand Strategist, Chelsea Cannon, to start a digital media conversation today!

Spring is always a busy time for many of our multifamily and student housing clients, and our digital team worked overtime planning, posting, and implementing social media and paid search campaigns for many them. See a few highlights below and click on the links to read the full case studies.

Waypoint Residential approached infinitee to generate leads through advanced social media and paid search advertising for two properties, The Point at Tamaya in Jacksonville, Fl and The Point at Bella Grove in Sarasota, Fl. Across 60 days and two campaigns, we achieved a combined 250,000+ impressions and drove 15,000+ pageviews to the websites.

Gables Residential also approached infinitee with a unique opportunity to increase brand awareness for two Denver communities, Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard, during the off season leasing period. infinitee’s 90-day social media campaign fit the bill with nearly 4.6 million impressions across both properties from curated and paid advertising efforts.

Caliber Living approached infinitee to capitalize on impending student decisions about housing selections for The Bellamy at Milledgeville in Milledgeville, GA. infinitee strategized a lowered-rate messaging to shift brand perceptions and implemented a digital media campaign resulting in an 11.8% increase in website sessions and nearly 400,000 impressions.

We hope you will take time to read about each campaign and contact Chelsea Cannon, infinitee’s Digital Brand Strategist, to start a conversation about your digital needs.

And that's a wrap on ICSC RECon 2017! We were large and in charge this year with our sales and social media team working hand in hand to keep the conversation going with prospects and clients on the ground and behind the screens day in and day out of the world's largest retail real estate convention.

If you were one of the 10,000+ people following our social profiles, you know Jocelyn and Vince had a successful trip full of meetings and new experiences with current and prospective clients. In just 6 days of engaging with conference chatter, infinitee experienced one of the most successful social media campaigns for B2B event marketing to date across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn:

ICSC RECon TIP: Check out our 3-part series on using social media to your advantage at ICSC RECon.

However, the most important interactions for us are in person. And although social media generates wonderful leads for our agency and helps us maintain positive relationships, we believe the foundation of true partnerships is built face to face, and that's just what Jocelyn and Vince set out to do. In three short days, Batman and Robin turned Las Vegas into their very own Gotham City attending 1 award show, presenting to nearly 30 companies and walking over 12 miles in a few jam-packed days.

On the topic of relationships, one of our highlights this year was being with our client when they won the ICSC MAXI Silver Award for Cause Related Marketing. Grand Boulevard, a valued client of 14 years, and our very dear friends at Howard Group were finalists for two submissions and took home the Silver Award for Grand Boulevard's arts and entertainment program known as Coastal Culture, titled "A Passion for Arts, Entertainment and Charity”.

Here's Jocelyn (second from the left) with the entire Howard Group team including Grand Boulevard's Director of Marketing and Communications, Stacey Brady. We are so proud of the work we've accomplished together and will revere this prestigious award for years to come.

If you're headed to ICSC RECon next year and interested in integrating your sales and social media efforts, contact Jocelyn Smith to get the conversation started. It's never too soon to start planning!

Two valued infinitee clients are recipients of four AIVA

Communicator Awards for various projects awarded by the 23rd Annual Communicator Award judges.infinitee client  500 Harbour Island has been recognized with the Award of Excellence for Website Development and the Award of Distinction for their Consumer Brochure.

Together,  Gables Residential and  infinitee aimed to brand the newest (and last) luxury apartment development that embodies what it means to live on Harbour Island, surrounded by ocean views and steps away from Tampa’s downtown revival. The strategy included creating an upscale brand identity with additional branding recommendations consisting of design and execution of onsite signage, wayfinding signage and pre-leasing materials. This omni-channel program also incorporated digital, print and social media, as well as public relations designed to reach the highly targeted audience.

500 Harbour Island was recognized with the Award of Excellence for website development created by  infinitee. The website is image-intensive and responsive to capture prospective residents online and serve as an information source. The cleanliness and organized layout allows for a seamless user experience and the established branding is carried throughout showcasing the luxury details and amenities while mirroring the oceanic scenery that tie in the surroundings.

‍500 Harbour Island was also recognized for the Award of Distinction for its consumer brochure.  infinitee created a positioning line with a bit of a double entendre playing on the upscale development and vivacious lifestyle, coupled with its island surroundings giving birth to “Urban Living. Island Time”. The leasing brochure built on this positioning line having essentially two covers. The first half of the brochure showcases the proximity and experience of of downtown Tampa (“Urban Living”)  and the second half focuses on the serenity and tranquility of 500 Harbour Island’s spa-like amenities and its distinct island address (“Island Time”).

For more insights on this upscale brand identity campaign outside of the web development and brochure, see infinitee’s blog on 500 Harbour Island’s Branding Story.

In addition to 500 Harbour Island’s awards,  King's Ridge Christian School was also recognized with the Award of Distinction for both the HIStory Campaign Brochure as well as the 2015-2016 Annual Report.

Historically,  King's Ridge Christian School and  infinitee have worked closely developing renowned brochures for the private school’s Capital Campaign in an effort to gain investment for new developments on the college-preparatory campus. This year’s 2015-2016 annual report received the Award of Distinction. The report encompasses campaigns, clubs, departments, financials, as well as information on specific groups such as donors, parent prayer groups and student scholarship organizations. The report details donations, donors and fund usage to convey the importance of giving through elegant graphs and charts displaying revenues and expenses, as well as balance sheets for the school for the 2015-2016 year.

King's Ridge Christian School was also honored with the Award of Distinction for their Capital Campaign  brochure, created on “Making Room For HIStory” which contains floorplan layouts, new building layouts, as well as new additions to the campus including tennis courts, a new baseball field and a new add-on to the existing high school for classrooms, academic centers, testing rooms and teacher workspace. A key objective of this campaign was to emphasize and illustrate the notion of HIStory, that “King’s Ridge Christian School is really HIStory as it bears the thumbprint of God at every turn.”  King’s Ridge Christian School set a target goal of $10 million in donations and gifts, and as of today, they have raised more than half of that.

infinitee is honored to have been a part of developing 500 Harbour Island's and King’s Ridge Christian School’s marketing and branding materials. They were both an absolute pleasure to work and collaborate with throughout the process, leading to  flawless projects. We could not be more excited about both clients receiving  AIVA Communicator Awards as it demonstrates our efforts for impeccable work. It is because of clients like these that makes infinitee love what we do, and continue to do, day in and day out.  - Barbara McGraw, Partner and CMO of infinitee

About infinitee Communications, Inc.

For over 27 years, advertising has been our life. infinitee’s expertise has been invaluable to many national and regional brands. Our culture comes from our bottom-line mentality and has taught us to think and act fast. We create the proper balance in both strategy and creativity, building brand equity and driving sales. Getting results is what  infinitee is all about. Call 1.800.886.3481, x119 to speak with Jocelyn Smith, Founder & CEO.

About 500 Harbour Island

500 Harbour Island, owned by Gables Residential, is an upscale apartment and residential development located on its own exclusive island in Tampa, Florida, along the Tampa Bay. The development consists of an exclusive 21-story residential neighborhood that includes luxury townhomes, penthouse units, and beautiful waterfront-view apartments of the Tampa Bay, and minutes away from its downtown renewal. Offering pristine views of the bay and the downtown skyline, the island is in walking distance to Tampa's finest waterfront restaurants and attractions, which can be visited by car, foot or even a boat taxi. Harbour Island offers an incredible sense of exclusivity as well as connectivity to Tampa’s increasingly exciting and growing urban areas for current residents and visitors combined.  

About King’s Ridge Christian School

King’s Ridge Christian School is a faith-integrated, college preparatory school offering education for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Located in Alpharetta, Georgia, King’s Ridge Christian School offers a wide variety of 21st Century Christian education supported by an incredible staff that strives to integrate faith into all aspects of the school, ranging from the classroom to the stage, to on the court and field. All staff share a common goal of inspiring and preparing students to make a strong impact in their future families, careers and communities. King’s Ridge Christian School is not just a school, it is a community that has done exceptionally well as seen by 58 students in the class of 2017 who received a total of $5.7 million in scholarship awards along with a 100% graduation rate.

About the Communicator Awards

The  Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program recognizing big ideas in marketing and communications. Founded over two decades ago, The Communicator Awards receives over 6,000 entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world. They are in their 23rd season. The Communicator Awards honors work that transcends innovation and craft – work that made a lasting impact, providing an equal chance of winning to all entrants regardless of company or agency size and project budget.

The Communicator Awards is sanctioned and judged by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, an invitation-only group consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms. AIVA members include executives from organizations such as Airtype Studio, Big Spaceship, Conde Nast, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, Fry Hammond Barr, Lockheed Martin, MTV Networks, Pitney Bowes, rabble+rouser, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Time, Inc, Victoria’s Secret, Wired, and Yahoo!  To learn more about the AIVA please visit  www.aiva.org.

The

Award of Excellence is the highest honor given to those entrants whose ability to communicate positions them as the best in the field. The Award of Distinction is presented for projects that exceed industry standards in quality and achievement. Award of Excellence and Distinction winners are showcased in the  Interactive Winners Gallery.

infinitee client, Grand Boulevard at Sandestin®, wins the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Silver MAXI Award for Cause Related Marketing for its entry titled A Passion for Arts, Entertainment and Charity on Sunday, May 21, 2017.

Grand Boulevard with the help of agency partner, infinitee Communications, Inc., assigned a unique brand identity to the Coastal Culture Arts & Entertainment (A&E) program, separate from Grand Boulevard, in late 2014 as the banner under which large and smaller ongoing events would be offered at the 500,000+ SF mixed-use shopping center in Miramar Beach, Florida. To fund the A&E program, Grand Boulevard and infinitee strategized a fee structure collected from shoppers at point of sale in stores and restaurants. In 2016, total collection equaled $343,187 providing the opportunity to grow the program and offer most events as FREE and OPEN to the public. Several flagship and world-class events include:

• South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival (Named One of the South’s Standout Food & Beverage Festivals by USA TODAY) benefiting Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation
• 30A Songwriters Festival (Ranked #5 of The South’s Most Iconic Music Venues and Festivals by Southern Living magazine) benefiting Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County.
• South Walton Fashion Week
• ArtsQuest Fine Arts Festival benefiting the Cultural Arts Alliance of South Walton

Together, Grand Boulevard and infinitee aimed to increase the number of annual visits to the center, increase center traffic and sales, and support the local community through philanthropic organizations featured at each event all while delivering a fabulous guest experience.

In the first full year following the launch of Coastal Culture, Grand Boulevard experienced a 950% increase in events and programming, including an expanded charitable events roster adding weekly farmers’ markets on Saturdays, Purses with a Purpose benefiting Shelter House, and more .

This increase was achieved through a combination of tenant-related communications and support regarding the program and its significance to the Town Center, and an integrated consumer awareness campaign, inclusive of onsite signage, rack cards placed in each tenant’s business, digital display advertising, print campaign and public relations efforts. A strategic media campaign was incorporated to capture local and strong feeder markets including Facebook advertising, Pandora Internet Radio, display and print advertising on strategic local websites and publications. Media performed ahead of the national benchmark producing an above average CTR of 1.42% and grandboulevard.com experienced YOY increases in users/new sessions.

Most importantly, attendance across the 18 annual events exceeded 72,500 attendees making 2016’s Coastal Culture A&E program a success.

We couldn’t be more thrilled for our longstanding client, Grand Boulevard, receiving this recognition from all of our shopping center peers at ICSC RECon 2017. Coastal Culture truly is such an amazing A&E program offering the best events in their class. - Jocelyn Smith, CEO of infinitee

About infinitee Communications, Inc.

For over 27 years, advertising has been our life. infinitee’s expertise has been invaluable to many national and regional brands. Our culture comes from our bottom-line mentality and has taught us to think and act fast. We create the proper balance in both strategy and creativity, building brand equity and driving sales. Getting results is what infinitee is all about. Call 1.800.886.3481, x119 to speak with Jocelyn Smith, Founder & CEO.

About Grand Boulevard at Sandestin®

Grand Boulevard at Sandestin®, owned by Howard Group and Merchants Retails Partners, is a premier shop, dine, play and stay Town Center located on Northwest Florida’s pristine sugar-white beaches and among its affluent gulf coast communities. Offering a dynamic lifestyle experience with exclusive shopping from renowned retailers and specialty boutiques, exquisite casual and fine dining options, as well as a multitude of ongoing and annual entertainment options, Grand Boulevard generates a sense of excitement among residents and vacationing guests alike.

About International Council of Shopping Center MAXI Awards

ICSC is an association that serves the global retail real estate industry. It provide its 70,000+ member network in over 100 countries with invaluable resources, connections and industry insights and actively works together to shape public policy.

The MAXI Awards celebrate the outstanding work and achievements of those who are transforming marketing in the retail real estate industry. 2017’s award program included 10 categories recognizing all aspects of marketing, from traditional marketing to new emerging technology, for cause related marketing to NOI enhancements.

For part 2 of Jay Friedman’s series, dive into the second myth of online advertising. Take it away, Jay.

Myth #2: I don’t know enough about my customers to identify them online.

Reality: Any business that knows its customers’ names can match results back to digital media.

For most retailers, offline data is collected and stored in a CRM system, loyalty program or email marketing platform that ties customers to some form of personally identifiable information (PII), such as an email address, name, postal address, or customer ID. Today’s technology allows us to scrub CRM data of all PII through an algorithmic hash process, protecting users’ anonymity. Then by establishing the right data connections and algorithms, we can now match that data to credit and bank card data, as well as cookie IDs across devices to track digital ad campaigns and their effectiveness at influencing in-store visits all the way through actual purchasing decisions. Advertisers can then run more targeted online ads based on consumers’ purchasing histories.

Today’s technology allows us to scrub CRM data of all PII through an algorithmic hash process, protecting users’ anonymity. Then by establishing the right data connections and algorithms, we can now match that data to credit and bank card data, as well as cookie IDs across devices to track digital ad campaigns and their effectiveness at influencing in-store visits all the way through actual purchasing decisions. Advertisers can then run more targeted online ads based on consumers’ purchasing histories.

While every sale is not yet attributable, the results generated by measuring the lift of exposed consumers versus a control group is statistically significant enough to allow marketers to feel confident in the findings and further optimize the next campaign. From there, results can be matched directly to the original dollar amount of the digital media buy compared to the total ad spend for a particular campaign. More importantly, these results can be pivoted to understand the impact of frequency, message sequencing or different creative treatments.

Want to learn more? Continue on to the final myth of online attribution best practices in Part 3.

Do you agree that consumers are online more than ever before?

Myth #3: Customers searching online are only interested in e-commerce shopping.

Reality: Online advertising is a powerful way to drive consumers to shop in-store.

Consumers are online more than ever before, but e-commerce still only represents 7.8% of total US retail sales. Retailers who embrace the digital space and provide consumers with relevant, local information will drive shoppers in-store and improve the customer experience.

For example, retailers can share product in-store availability in a consumer’s initial search results. Then using geo-targeting, local inventory ads served when that shopper is nearby will increase the likelihood that he or she will walk into the store and make the buy. Savvy retailers who utilize customized offers like these throughout the shopping journey will ultimately stay ahead of the competition.

For most of us, this is exciting. However, the ability to nearly perfectly close this loop is creating a larger-than-ever gap between sophisticated marketers and the rest of the pack. Retailers must understand the fundamentals of programmatic media and measurement sooner rather than later to keep their businesses competitive.

Please thank Jay Friedman, COO of Goodway Group, a managed services programmatic media company supporting over 100 regional ad agencies in the United States, for sharing this industry knowledge.