DMP, the acronym for a Data Management Platform, is a marketing tool most commonly utilized to gather and join together behavioural and transactional digital marketing data under one distinctive ID describing an ‘individual’s’ behavior through all touch-points in a brand’s or companys’s own channels as well as in 2nd and 3rd party platforms and touch-point for the purposes of molding that data into targetable audience segments and more meaningful customer insights.
The above definition is something of a definition of definitions, simplified yes, but still trying to put all the elements different players use to describe what a DMP is into a one chapter. It is not wrong. Probably it isn’t perfect either. But usable, that it is.
If you don’t like the definition, you’re in luck, as we just put together 21+1 different definitions for what a DMP is into a one place.
The “What is a Data Management Platform (DMP) Encyclopedia” below contains the TOP 21 Google search hits from the search words: “What is DMP” and “What is Data Management Platform”. Amongst the results are definitions from industry magazines, data management platform providers, consultancies and subject matter experts.
What is a Data Management Platform (DMP) encyclopedia:
1. Digiday
In simple terms, a data management platform is a data warehouse. It’s a piece of software that sucks up, sorts and houses information, and spits it out in a way that’s useful for marketers, publishers and other businesses.
2. MartechToday
A data management platform is software that houses audience and campaign data — yep, a data warehouse — from all kinds of information sources. In digital advertising, these sources include publishers websites and apps on which advertisers buy advertising. A DMP offers a central location for marketers to access and manage data like mobile identifiers and cookie IDs to create targeting segments for their digital advertising campaigns.
Publishers also often use DMPs to house data about their users. They can then use that information to package audience segments of their own to sell to advertisers.
3. Lotame
A DMP is the backbone of data-driven marketing and serves as a unifying platform to collect, organize and activate your first- and third-party audience data from any source, including online, offline or mobile. Essentially, it is the data warehouse where the data is not just collected, but facilitated.
A DMP not only collects and organizes your data, but makes it available to other platforms (such as DSPs, SSPs, and ad exchanges) to be used for targeted advertising, content customization and beyond. Some people describe a data management platform as the “pipes” of ad tech — connecting many platforms in a neutral way so marketers can use their powerful audience data when and where they want.
The question “what is a DMP” is black and white, but the answer isn’t so simple. It’s not just a place to store information of all kinds. It’s all a tool or piece of software that makes said data practical. Having an endless supply of data without a DMP is like having a key without a lock.
4. TechTarget | SearchStorage
An effective DMP creates a unified development and delivery environment that provides access to consistent, accurate and timely data. The term is most often associated with products and development projects that promise to help marketers and publishers turn data from offline, online, web analytics and mobile channels into information that can be used to support business goals.
5. HubSpot
In technical terms, a data management platform (DMP) is a centralized platform that aggregates first- and third-party audience data from your cross-channel marketing efforts. However, that explanation is a bit jargon-y, so let’s break it down:
First-party data is information generated from your website, social platforms, and mobile web or apps about your own customers. It typically consists of your audience’s personal information (names, emails, addresses, phone numbers), demographic information (gender, age, race), and limited behavioral data (site interaction, purchase history, interests). Typically stored in a CRM or web analytics system, you (as the exclusive owner of this data) can obtain your first-party audience information for free.
Third-party data is information generated from internet interactions and other websites. This data is used to round out your data information by giving you deeper insight about your audience, such as individual demographics (income level, marital status) and household attributes (number of children). It is often used to build consumer segments for more targeted ads. It’s collected and licensed by third-party providers that have no direct relationship with your customers. You must purchase this data to access it.
Cross-channel marketing is marketing to your audience using multiple channels, which can include website, PPC, email, social, mobile, and offline (direct mail, retail store, TV, radio). Cross-channel marketing exposes an audience to a business in different mediums, thus providing a company with multiple avenues of conversion. It can be referred to as “cross-channel,” “multi-channel,” or “cross-device.”
When we put all this together, a DMP is simply a marketing tool that collects comprehensive demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data about your target audience from a variety of sources, all in one unifying platform.
6. Wikipedia
A data management platform (DMP) is a centralized computing system for collecting, integrating and managing large sets of structured and unstructured data from disparate sources. Personalized marketing enabled by DMPs, is sold to advertisers with the goal of having consumers receive relevant, timely, engaging, and personalized messaging and advertisements that resonate with their unique needs and wants. Growing number of DMP software options are available including Adobe Systems Audience Manager and Core Audience (Marketing Cloud) to Oracle-acquired BlueKai, Sitecore Experience Platform and X+1.
7. Salesforce
Editors note: the definition was so complex non-straightforward that I opted to leave it out an instead take these two bits of info from the description:
a) DMPs have two main functions:
The “data in” function
The “data out” function
b) If you’re a marketer who can see a full picture of your customers, their affinities, their behaviors, and more, you’ll be able to create content ideas, and map that content to every stage of the customer lifecycle.
8. Bridgecorp
A data management platform (DMP) serves as a centralized warehouse to aggregate, analyze and enhance valuable consumer data.
DMPs layer different types of data, such as first and third party data, to build target audiences. By branching data from different sources, a DMP enhances consumer information to gain a comprehensive understanding of users.
This way, you have all of your data in one place to provide a clear view of your consumers. The most important capability of a DMP is its ability to clearly track and understand the user’s cross-device journey.
Different types of data:
First-party data – Information directly collected from your company’s own platforms such as your website, CRM list, social platforms, mobile apps, etc.
Third-party data – Information aggregated from other sources outside of your own, such as demographics (income, age, marital status, etc.)
Mobile data – Consumer insights (app usage, app downloads, mobile purchases) collected from users’ unique mobile device IDs, typically accessed via opt-in apps
As consumers are increasingly engaging across more devices, your data management platform will become that much more helpful in serving as a hub for all of their cross-device behaviors and media preferences.
9. Oracle
Data Ingest: Multiple sources aggregated into a single, centralized platform
Add Meaning: Classify, analyze, and model your audiences
Data Activation: Activate audiences via an open platform
What DMP is Not:
1) Demand-side platform (DSP): DMPs can be media agnostic
2) A tag manager: DMPs can also ingest server-to-server data
3) An analytics and data warehouse: DMPs activate data
4) A closed ecosystem: DMPs free your data 5
5) Just for cookies: DMPs manage identity and data across channels
6) Just infrastructure: DMPs are central to your marketing team
7) Just software: DMPs should provide marketing intelligence
10. BlueKai (Oracle)
A DMP is a centralized data management platform that allows you to create target audiences based on a combination of in-depth first-party and third-party audience data; accurately target campaigns to these audiences across third-party ad networks and exchanges; and measure with accuracy which campaigns performed the best across segments and channels to refine media buys and ad creative over time.
11. Gartner
… provides the requisite, yet somewhat unnoticed, function of data collection, translation, classification, indexing and storage. It’s the ‘plumbing’ part of data-driven marketing online.”
Editor’s note: this article by Martin Kihn is heartily recommended:
12. ClickZ
At its most basic, a DMP collects and aggregates both first-party (from your own digital properties) and third-party (demographics or interaction from behavior on sites you don’t own) user data from multiple digital marketing channels.
In most cases, third-party data is acquired through purchase or affiliation and does not come out of your own site analytics.
Using a combination of data you’ve gathered on your own property plus third-party behavioral data, the DMP allows you to define narrowly targeted audiences that fit your criteria. When well organized, these narrow segments can be paired with targeted messaging and help you communicate with audiences in more meaningful ways.
…. The DMP is a powerful tool, but not a push-button solution. It’s a way to tackle what becomes an exceedingly complex digital marketing environment, and allows you to develop one-to-one communication that’s based on data.
Not many other methods are available for completing the optimization cycle in a meaningful way. If you haven’t looked closely at DMPs yet, perhaps now is the time.
13. Techopedia
A data management platform (DMP) is a resource that aggregates different kinds of data from online, offline and mobile sources. The data management platform also works on the data that is brought in, and typically allows users to access that data in various ways.
The idea behind a data management platform is that businesses must be able to take advantage of diverse kinds of information coming from a variety of sources, and collect that information in one central place in order to attain the business intelligence that truly benefits the enterprise.
14. Adobe
This is where a Data Management Platform (DMP) steps in to become the most valuable tool in the marketers’ armory, allowing them to seamlessly (and rapidly) collect, integrate, manage and activate those large volumes of data.
A DMP therefore allows a business to create a unified view of their customers across all channels and touch points, by bringing together not only all of their own data, but also the ability to add third-party data that can extend and enrich the view of their customers. This leads to significant benefits for both Advertisers and Publishers.
… This is where a Data Management Platform (DMP) steps in to become the most valuable tool in the marketers’ armory, allowing them to seamlessly (and rapidly) collect, integrate, manage and activate those large volumes of data.
A DMP therefore allows a business to create a unified view of their customers across all channels and touch points, by bringing together not only all of their own data, but also the ability to add third-party data that can extend and enrich the view of their customers. This leads to significant benefits for both Advertisers and Publishers.
15. Unruly
Data Management Platforms store data about internet users and provide access to that data so it’s possible to both understand and target online audiences. They are like a big online database that can be plugged into many different types of platforms, such as SSPs, DSPs, publisher ad servers or directly into sites.
Thy can hold any type of data about users that is available, but it’s common for them to collect, demographic, behavioural and location data from a variety of data providers. DMPs can also store first party data.
For example, imagine you visit a product page, let’s say a “toddler proof door knob cover”. The company may record that you were interested in this product in their DMP. That DMP may then be used by the company through a number of platforms (particularly DSPs) to target “toddler proof door knob cover” ads at you for a couple of weeks in the hope you might change your mind and buy a set.
Some platforms (especially DSPs) have built their own mini DMPs as part of their platform.
16. Nielsen
Today’s audiences create valuable data with the devices they use, the content they engage with and the products they buy. To reach the right customers in the right places, you need to sort through this data quickly.
Data Management Platform (DMP) helps you better manage, customize, activate and analyze your audience data. You can now continuously adjust your advertising and content across each channel to improve customer experience and marketing performance.
17. Experian
Data now powers pretty much every aspect of digital media (or it should) and DMPs are there to help us make sense of the huge piles of data being created. As a basic definition a DMP is a piece of software that gathers, sorts and distributes information to assist marketers, publishers and agencies.
DMPs can house and manage any form of information, however, for us marketers they’re most often used to manage cookie IDs to help display online adverts to specific audience segments.
With the increased sophistication of advertising technology (check out this article on programmatic) advertisers now buy media across an array of sites using DSPs, ad networks and exchanges. DMPs help coordinate all this activity and audience data together in one location and combine results in order to help optimise future media buying.
18. Merkle
In the simplest of senses, a DMP is a real-time database which allows you to collect first-, second-, and third-party data across different channels, analyze and visualize it to understand performance and other business metrics, and further syndicate it to downstream systems to affect your marketing programs.
The DMP is also the foundational platform that allows you to put the data to interesting business uses. The DMP can feed into decisioning and personalization engines to enable you to have individualized conversations with your customer. The data in the DMP can help generate insights and drive models for attribution to help you get a better understanding of what is working and what is not as you engage in complex marketing programs.
In short, the DMP is a repository, a platform which allows you to have a unified, holistic view of your most prized asset — your customer.
19. MyCustomer
A DMP enables marketers to use data from various sources to manage the customer journey more efficiently. A DMP lets you collect and analyze data about your customers – including behavioral, geographic and profile data – from every touch point in one platform.
The result is an integrated picture of all your data sources, from both first- and third-party data. This step is crucial as it lets you activate data to target your respective audience with the utmost accuracy across different marketing channels.
The right DMP allows your results to perform in real-time. This possibility of receiving a 360-degree view of your customer, and how your campaign is performing, is vital to reaching a specific audience.
20. Relay42
A Data Management Platform is a piece of marketing technology, which is fed by scattered people data from different (siloed) databases, platforms and channels. Rather than just storing data, the goal of the platform is to create, sort and refine profiles into a single customer view – and create a series of actions from it. In an ideal world, a DMP can even do this in real-time.
21. Annalect (err.. that’s us, a definition from our mother aka Global Annalect –site; our definitive definition of definitions was the first one way up there in the beginning of this mini-encyclopedia)
Data management platform collects, integrates, and organizes your first and third-party audience data into a central repository. DMPs house data from a variety of disconnected sources – desktop, mobile, social, video, site, CRM, and transactional, to name a few.
Demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data can then be sourced and integrated into a DMP to enrich customer profiles, get a better understanding of consumers, and inform critical marketing tasks.
While technology captures and unites this data, it is up to the marketer and the desired needs and/or business outcomes of the client to determine its core functions.
DMP technology enables marketers to perform the following foundational capabilities:
Identify relationships between touch points in a customer’s journey across channels and devices
Enrich data by sourcing 3rd party attributes, appending to customer profiles, and segmenting similar users together into “audiences”
Push audience profiles to other technology platforms (such as CMSs, ESPs, and DSPs) for marketing personalization and/or activation
Explore data via reporting and visualizations to uncover valuable insights, as well as export data to fuel advanced analyses
While these just scratch the surface, they provide the groundwork for what a DMP is capable of. The use cases and application of this data can extend much further, depending on client needs. For instance, marketers commonly use DMPs to tailor messages to their existing audiences, reduce waste by adjusting communications to their converters, and create and target look-alike audiences based off high performing customer profiles. Advertisers can also discover new audience segmentation opportunities outside of what they may or may not have previously thought.
The Conclusion: Definitive Definition of What is a DMP
You read it in the beginning already. But to save you the trouble here it is again – the definition of definitions – what is a DMP:
DMP, the acronym for a Data Management Platform, is a marketing tool most commonly utilized to gather and join together behavioural and transactional digital marketing data under one distinctive ID describing an ‘individual’s’ behavior through all touch-points in a brand’s or companys’s own channels as well as in 2nd and 3rd party platforms and touch-point for the purposes of molding that data into targetable audience segments and more meaningful customer insights.
Do you agree?
If you want to know more about DMP’s and how they could benefit you, lets be in touch.
For more in-depth look into how we can help to improve your data driven marketing capabilities take a look at “What we do” section. Or go straight for some glimpses into our consulting solutions for our perspectives on DMP’s.
