Selecting and Integrating a Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) Platform

A Guide for Agencies

Author
Affiliation

Michael Green

Desupervised ApS

Published

September 28, 2024

Modified

October 9, 2024

Abstract

Selecting a Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) platform is a critical decision for agencies seeking to optimize their media spend and demonstrate the value of their marketing efforts. However, the challenge lies not just in choosing the most feature-rich platform, but in ensuring that it integrates seamlessly with existing workflows and delivers actionable insights. This whitepaper explores the key considerations in selecting and integrating an MMM platform and offers practical advice on how to avoid common pitfalls during the process.

Keywords

Guide, Whitepaper, Info, MMM Platform, Agencies, Integration

Introduction

Arguably, the ability to accurately measure the impact of various media channels and optimize spend is paramount (Jackson and Ahuja 2016). Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) has emerged as a robust method to evaluate how different marketing investments contribute to sales or other business outcomes (Runge, Patter, and Skokan 2023). However, with the growing number of MMM platforms available, choosing the right one for your agency can be overwhelming. This whitepaper aims to guide agencies in selecting the most appropriate MMM platform and ensuring its successful integration within their operations. The entire process is outlined in Figure 1.

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    A[Understand Agency's Needs] --> B([Evaluate Platform Features])
    B --> C[Usability for Your Team]
    B --> D[Data Compatibility]
    B ---> E[Vendor Support]
    B ---> F([Consider Total Cost of Ownership])
    F --> G[Platform Licensing Fees]
    F --> H[Implementation Costs]
    F --> I[Ongoing Maintenance]

    E ---> J([Integrate MMM Platform])
    J --> K[Start Small]
    J --> L[Data Cleaning and Structuring]
    J --> M[Customization]

    M --> N([Ensure Organizational<br>Buy-In])
    N --> O[Training for the Team]
    N --> P[Gradual Adoption]
    N --> Q[Internal Champions]

    O --> R[MMM Platform Success]
    P --> R
    Q --> R
Figure 1: Illustration of the process of selecting an MMM platform.

Understanding Your Needs

Before diving into the technical details of any MMM platform, agencies must first understand their own objectives and priorities. This foundational step is often overlooked, but it is crucial for aligning the platform’s capabilities with your agency’s goals (Constantinides 2002).

Key Questions to Ask
  • Are you primarily focused on historical analysis of media spend, or do you need real-time optimization?
  • What level of granularity is required in your data (e.g., channel-level, campaign-level, or even more granular)?
  • Does the platform need to integrate data from all media channels currently used, or can some be excluded?

Clarifying these needs upfront will help narrow down the platforms that align with your business objectives and prevent unnecessary feature overload.

Evaluating Platform Features

Once your agency’s needs are clear, the next step is to evaluate potential platforms. While it’s tempting to focus solely on cutting-edge features like machine learning algorithms (Gong et al. 2024) or predictive capabilities, there are other factors that are equally — if not more — important.

Usability for Your Team

Your team’s technical capabilities will greatly influence the type of platform you should choose. If your agency has a team of data scientists, you might opt for a more advanced platform with complex modeling capabilities. However, if your team is less technical, a platform that provides intuitive dashboards and clear recommendations might be more effective.

Data Compatibility

The platform must be able to integrate smoothly with your existing data sources. It’s essential to verify if the platform can pull in the data you already have and export results in formats that your team can work with. The easier the data integration, the faster you’ll be able to deploy the platform and start seeing results.

Vendor Support

Even the most advanced platforms require support from the vendor, especially during initial setup and as your needs evolve. Ensure that the vendor offers strong customer support, including assistance with implementation, troubleshooting, and future updates. The level of support can significantly affect the platform’s value to your agency.

Cost Considerations

Cost is an obvious factor when selecting any software platform, but for MMM platforms, you should consider not only the upfront licensing fees but also the total cost of ownership.

Total Cost of Ownership
  • Platform licensing fees.
  • Implementation costs (time and effort required to set up and integrate the platform).
  • Ongoing maintenance (including internal resource allocation and vendor support).

Sometimes, a more affordable platform that is easier to integrate and use can provide a higher return on investment than an expensive, feature-heavy option that’s difficult to implement.

Integrating the MMM Platform

Once you’ve picked a platform, the next step is integrating it into your organization. This is the part that’s easiest to underestimate. You might assume you’ll just plug it in and start getting results, but that rarely happens. Most MMM platforms require a lot of customization to fit your specific needs. You’ll have to clean up your data, figure out how to structure your models, and tweak the algorithms to fit your business. This takes time, and you should plan for it. The platforms that look easiest at first often turn out to have hidden complexity.

Integration is consequently where many agencies need to spend more time than expected. The platform needs to be adapted to your specific workflows, data sets, and reporting needs.

Key Integration Steps

  1. Start Small: Begin by modeling one or two channels or campaigns. This approach helps you identify any data integration issues early and allows your team to gradually acclimate to the new platform.
  2. Data Cleaning and Structuring: The accuracy of your MMM results depends on clean, structured data. Expect to spend time refining your data inputs to ensure that the model outputs are reliable.
  3. Customization: Most platforms will need to be tailored to your business. This includes tweaking models, setting specific goals, and determining the right metrics to track.

Organizational Buy-In

While technology plays a critical role in MMM success, so does the human element. A key factor in whether the platform succeeds or fails is whether your team buys into it and uses it consistently. Change management (By 2005) becomes just as important as the technical integration (Legris and Collerette 2006; Errida and Lotfi 2021). Ensuring buy-in across the organization rests upon three core pillars.

  • Training: Ensure that your team is trained on the platform’s use and understands its value.
  • Gradual Adoption: Avoid overwhelming your team by gradually scaling the use of the platform across campaigns and clients.
  • Internal Champions: Identify key users who can serve as champions within the organization, promoting the platform’s benefits and helping troubleshoot issues for other users.

Conclusion

Selecting and integrating an MMM platform is a strategic decision that impacts not just how you measure marketing performance, but how your agency operates. By focusing on your agency’s unique needs, considering factors beyond just features and cost, and planning for a phased integration, you can maximize the value of your MMM investment.

The right MMM platform for your agency isn’t necessarily the one with the most advanced features. It’s the one that your team can use effectively, integrates smoothly with your existing workflows, and delivers actionable insights that improve your marketing outcomes.

Key Takeaways
  • Start with your goals: Understand your agency’s specific needs before evaluating platforms.
  • Consider usability and data integration: Ensure the platform fits your team’s technical capabilities and integrates well with your data.
  • Look beyond the price tag: Focus on total cost of ownership, not just the upfront cost.
  • Plan for a phased integration: Start small and expand usage as you fine-tune the platform’s fit within your agency.
  • Get organizational buy-in: Ensure your team is trained and invested in the platform’s success.

By taking a measured, strategic approach, agencies can select and integrate an MMM platform that provides real value and helps them make data-driven marketing decisions.

References

By, Rune Todnem. 2005. “Organisational Change Management: A Critical Review.” Journal of Change Management 5 (4): 369–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697010500359250.
Constantinides, Efthymios. 2002. “The 4S Web-Marketing Mix Model.” Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 1 (1): 57–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1567-4223(02)00006-6.
Errida, Abdelouahab, and Bouchra Lotfi. 2021. “The Determinants of Organizational Change Management Success: Literature Review and Case Study.” International Journal of Engineering Business Management 13: 18479790211016273. https://doi.org/10.1177/18479790211016273.
Gong, Chang, Di Yao, Lei Zhang, Sheng Chen, Wenbin Li, Yueyang Su, and Jingping Bi. 2024. “CausalMMM: Learning Causal Structure for Marketing Mix Modeling.” In Proceedings of the 17th ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining, 238–46. Merida Mexico: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3616855.3635766.
Jackson, Graham, and Vandana Ahuja. 2016. “Dawn of the Digital Age and the Evolution of the Marketing Mix.” Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice 17 (3): 170–86. https://doi.org/10.1057/dddmp.2016.3.
Legris, Paul, and Pierre Collerette. 2006. “A Roadmap for It Project Implementation: Integrating Stakeholders and Change Management Issues.” Project Management Journal 37 (5): 64–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/875697280603700507.
Runge, Julian, Harpreet Patter, and Igor Skokan. 2023. “A New Gold Standard for Digital Ad Measurement?” Harvard Business Review, March.