So, here’s yet another data problem for marketers to solve.
The more that marketers use first-party data, the higher the chance it can get into the wrong hands.
Your data can be your most valuable asset, but it’s worthless if you can’t use it and dangerous if you can’t keep it safe.
There are three areas of first-party data that marketers must protect.
- Personally Identifiable Information. Probably the most critical first-party data to keep secure is PII. Your customers’ key details—name, address, social security number, email address, passwords/accounts, etc.—is the kind of information that has the potential for front-page headlines if leaked.
- Business Performance Metrics. This information helps to improve future business and advertising programs. For example, in the hands of a rival, a brand may find itself outmaneuvered by its own data. Retailers and publishers can also use ad performance or product sales data to create new private label products.
- Sensitive Business Intellectual Property (IP). Product identifiers, traffic trends (websites/apps), or target audience definitions—anything used to market or support their strategic value proposition in their industry—are critical to protecting.
Skai’s Secure Data Architecture: a guiding principle of our solutions
First-party data can be incredibly powerful, but how can marketers get the maximum benefit from it if they’re scared it could fall into the wrong hands?
Our Secure Data Architecture enables your data to be more impactful by bringing it closer to activation without exposing it to publishers, competitors, or bad actors.
This is not a product or feature. Instead, we embed this philosophy into everything we build. Every part of our platform. Every new functionality on our roadmap goes through this lens and is our promise to you.
How can we help our clients bring every potential data asset into their marketing program<br>to maximize growth potential while also protecting it?
At Skai, Secure Data Architecture for our clients means:
- Secure. Our promise of safety in our procedures and processes.
- Data. We help keep your data closer to activation to make an impact on your KPIs.
- Architecture. Every bit of our platform is purpose-built for data accessibility and protection.
Our primary goal with this approach is to help marketers enable the full activation of their data to achieve maximum growth. We know they can’t do this if they’re worried about what might happen to it. Skai takes on this challenge, so our clients can focus on driving performance and not on data security.
Marketing performance benefits of having secured data
The following are just a few of the ways that Skai both helps to make your data actionable while keeping it secure.
Make publishers even smarter. Whether it’s getting your first-party data into Google for better paid search bidding or connecting to Facebook’s conversion API, there are numerous methods where Skai helps to streamline these processes securely.
For example, an education marketer might want to optimize via custom metrics or a blend of conversions using custom weighting. Google Ads can’t do this alone, but with Skai’s Signal Enhancement, an advertiser can achieve this scenario.
“After years of tracking issues with a client, I was very excited to learn about Signal Enhancement,” says Travis Jones, Senior Search Specialist at Tinuiti. “We saw the impact immediately, with conversions increasing 50% in the first week and CPA improving in the process. Not only is our client excited about the results; our day-to-day jobs are now easier with clean data and automated strategies that help produce fantastic results.”
Data obfuscation & transformation. While getting data into digital publishers can certainly aid performance, not every brand is comfortable sharing it. Skai has developed Custom Metrics to encrypt and obscure conversion and revenue data shared with publishers. This way, the publishers have the additional insight to drive more value, but not the real numbers, so sensitive data cannot be fully unpacked.
To limit access and further secure customer data, we offer an option for client programs to be on a secure server with VPN access required to view and manage campaigns.
Skai is constantly innovating in this area and creating custom solutions to help brands resolve their unique data concerns.
Data integrations and automated ingestion. Data is most secure when sitting inert in storage at a brand’s headquarters. But, once marketers want to use it for activation, that’s when it is most vulnerable.
Data sharing and transfer are where data leakage can most often occur. Ska’s 100+ direct data integrations with leading ad tech partners minimize the number of hands that data must pass through to reach its final destination.
For example, when paid social advertisers create Custom Audiences and Lookalikes from their first-party CRM & customer lists. Skai’s integration with IBM, Dropbox, Box, and other leading file transfer and CRM providers enable advertisers to easily sync and select audiences to upload and target without continuously downloading and re-upload files.
Another common task to to send campaign performance data to reporting, analytics, and measurement vendors. Imagine if your team was doing this three times a week—that’s hundreds unnecessary instances each year where your data is being put in danger.
It only takes one time to cause a significant issue.
Even third-party data transfers can—and should be—secured through integrations. Skai’s Audience Manager partners with leading audience data vendors to transport your segments directly into publisher tools. They may not be your property, but you certainly wouldn’t want a competitor to have access to the refined audience definitions your team has cultivated over time.
All your partners should have a secure data architecture
As you and your teams evaluate digital advertising platforms, it’s increasingly essential to vet partners for data security. But keeping data secure is only half the issue. Your next question should be How they also enable us to use it?
After all, while security is key, if you can’t leverage your data—but your competitors can leverage theirs—it’s simply not a future-proofed solution.
Skai’s Secure Data Architecture focuses on both. Cutting-edge functionality to keep your data secure, but also innovative features to help power your marketing programs with data.
Are your data security worries keeping your marketing programs from reaching their potential?
While Skai’s Secure Data Architecture keeps your data safe, that’s just added value—an important part of our solutions. Our primary goal is to help marketers drive performance:
- 461% increase in Amazon Ads ROAS and 57% increase in page traffic for Bondi Sands
- 280% increase in installs for DraftKings
- 10% increase in new account openings for Royal Bank of Canada
- 756% increase in conversions for New York Magazine
- 600% increase in Facebook leads for Inova
Skai empowers the world’s leading brands and agencies across industries to manage omnichannel digital marketing campaigns. Our intelligent marketing platform includes solutions for retail media, paid search, and paid social. We’ll keep you at the forefront of the digital evolution with data and insights, marketing execution, and measurement tools that work together to drive powerful brand growth.
For more information about our platform and our Secure Data Architecture approach, reach out today to schedule a brief demo to see our innovative solutions firsthand.
