The Importance Of Transparency To Retail Marketers

A Q&A with Patrizio Spagnoletto, CMO, SteelHouse

IRT: What are the different types of transparency, and how do they benefit retailers?

Spagnoletto: The term “transparency” can mean a lot of different things in digital marketing, but the most important is transparency when it comes to media buys and margins. Traditionally, digital advertising platforms make money by marking media up somewhere between 40 percent and 60 percent. If you bid a $3.50 CPM, as little as $1.18 of that could be going toward the actual media. But how would you know? It’s typical for markup to be added down the ad-buying chain; exchanges, networks, and DSPs all add a bit of margin. And that unknown margin does not allow marketers to understand exactly how their budget is being spent.

By introducing transparency to media buys, it sheds light on exactly how much money is being spent on actual media. Marketers are given more control of their budget, allowing them to know their true ROI.

Other types of transparency are important to consider as well. Operational transparency provides marketers insight into how their ads are performing, giving them the information needed to steer their campaigns. Viewability transparency, in which marketers can gauge how often their ads are seen, allows them to measure the success of prospecting and brand awareness campaigns.