Discover why the seemingly dull marketing taxonomy is actually “sexy” and the key to unlocking the future of marketing success.
So, what is the sexiest marketing topic of the rest of the 2020s? Is it AI driven brand brains? Is it generative AI for creating amazing creative assets? Maybe it’s about automation and robotics that can mass personalize communication. Or is it about not about technology at all but human creativity unlocking fantastic insights and ideas? The truth is, they’re all sexy, but they’re not the sexiest.
The sexiest marketing topic of the next three or four years sounds like the dullest thing you’ve ever heard: it’s the marketing taxonomy.
A marketing taxonomy is a definitive, mutually exclusive, exhaustive, ordered list of topics that marketers can use to order data, assets, and information. The Marketing Taxonomy is the fundamental bedrock of everything else that can be considered sexy. Without a great marketing taxonomy, Gen AI and all the other wing dings will fail to deliver on their potential.
That is why the dullest-sounding thing is actually the sexiest marketing topic over the next three years, because the marketing taxonomy will power EVERYTHING.
“Aligned taxonomies are an important initiative for our media and content transformation. They enable a unified marketing effort that integrates media and content effectively and establish the foundations necessary for our transformation agenda. Misaligned taxonomies lead to poor attribution, duplicate spending, missed opportunities for insights and compromised data quality for AI/ML applications.” – Kate Brady, PepsiCo
What are the benefits of a good marketing taxonomy?
In short “The better the data, the better the models, the better the results.” Where previously disparate data sets can be harmonized and connected, gains in ROI of 30-40% are to be expected.
Accurate data analysis:
By standardizing terms and categories, a taxonomy ensures that marketing data is consistent, making it easier to analyze trends, identify patterns, and draw reliable conclusions.
Improved collaboration:
A shared taxonomy across different teams (marketing, sales, product) facilitates communication and ensures everyone is working with the same understanding of key marketing terms and metrics.
Data-driven decision making:
By providing a clear view of marketing data, a taxonomy empowers businesses to make informed decisions based on reliable insights.
Customer segmentation:
A well-defined taxonomy allows for precise customer segmentation, enabling targeted marketing strategies based on specific customer demographics and behaviors.
Better campaign performance tracking:
With a structured taxonomy, it becomes simpler to track the performance of marketing campaigns across different channels and segments, allowing for more effective campaign optimization.
Efficient reporting & improved ROI:
A structured taxonomy streamlines the process of generating reports, providing a clear overview of marketing activities and their impact.
Common problems
If your taxonomies are not harmonised across divisions, brands, markets or disciplines then you cannot:
- Connect activities to outcomes
- Understand what you spend, on what
- Connect activities to outcomes
- Learn across markets, disciplines or divisions/brands
“Many senior marketers understand marketing taxonomy conceptually but underestimate its fundamental role in digital transformation and data-driven decision making.” – Kate Brady, PepsiCo
“Part of the challenge we have right now is silo’d teams who are measured through silo’d objectives. Without those being joined up we will never bring together an enabling workstream to tackle it.” – Anonymous
So, how do you unlock this sexiest of holy grails—a holistic and harmonized marketing taxonomy?
The work requires a cross functional team from data, technology, finance, and each marketing discipline. Where taxonomies vary by market then geographical representatives may be needed. You’d be wise to have a consultant or taxonomist that has done this work before. There is a simple workflow that can be used
- Identify key future business questions and challenges, that a harmonised taxonomy will help solve & prioritize tasks and taxonomies to be harmonized based on this list.
- Assess current taxonomies (PIM, finance, media, DAM, CMS). Identify commonalities and differences.
- Map current state to future needs. Identifying workstreams and mitigating risk
- Implement in stages. Eg. Finance, Media, DAM & CMS, PIM, Customer
One important consideration is defining taxonomy clearly. While the term is widely used, its meaning varies significantly across contexts – whether in A&M, media or content taxonomy. Establishing a clear definition is a critical starting point, as taxonomy itself is a foundational for the future of marketing.
“The most successful implementations start with a crystal-clear understanding of the business problems to solve and well-defined, prioritized use cases that key stakeholders have aligned on. Only then do we focus on the business processes they’re enabling, rather than leading with the tech. Teams must also understand that alignment is an ongoing journey, not a one-time project.” – Kate Brady, Pepsico
This is the sort of work that Flock excels in—bringing people together, building a change program, deep analysis and technical expertise, and a change management plan to make it happen.
If you’d like to know more about the sexiest marketing topic of the next five years—marketing taxonomies—give us a call.
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