Where the Trail Goes Cold: Matt Miller and Miriam Valls on Data Readiness

From Good Enough Isn't · 40:29

Show by Patrick Patterson & Myles Biggs

Send us Fan MailPick one real lead from last month and trace it from ad to form to CRM to sales outcome. Then ask whether the ad platform ever learned how it ended. Miriam Valls says the point where that trail goes cold is your data readiness gap. That one exercise anchors a conversation about why AI and automation make data readiness more urgent for marketing leaders.Brad Stephenson talks with Level's Matt Miller and Miriam Valls about what a data-ready company looks like. Matt explains why readiness starts with customer strategy and measurement structure, with technology following. Miriam explains why nobody owns data end to end and why problems start at the handoffs between marketing, CRM operations, IT, and developers. Matt then walks through Level.Signal, the propensity model that scores each lead so ad platforms can optimize toward likely buyers instead of form fills. Miriam covers staffing: name one accountable owner rather than waiting for a rare analyst, engineer, and martech hybrid.The back half gets practical. They cover how much volume a model needs and what to do with less, how Google's Meridian marketing mix model and incrementality testing differ from user-level attribution, and what changes when PII and HIPAA are involved. They also share questions that expose an "easy button" pitch from a partner. Each guest closes with one next step, and the personal picks include a book called Beyond Darwin, Ted Lasso, and the Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes documentary.What You'll LearnWhat data readiness looks like when it starts with customer strategy and the customer journey, with tagging, privacy, and infrastructure followingWhy nobody owns data end to end, and where handoffs between marketing, CRM ops, IT, and developers break: consent, identity, and latencyWhy optimizing on form fills finds more form fillers, and how a propensity score gives bidding algorithms a value to chaseWhy to name one accountable owner for first-party data instead of waiting for a unicorn hire, and why a bot-filtering cleanup that lowered one account's subscriber count was good newsHow much volume a propensity model needs (Level looks for about 200 events per month of the outcome), and what to do with less: add qualifying form fields, but skip the 40-question formHow marketing mix modeling, Meridian, and incrementality testing differ from user-level attribution, and why to start with a learning agenda and in-platform lift testsHow to handle PII and HIPAA-regulated data: data minimization, user-level versus aggregate measurement, and server-side taggingHow to vet a partner with the "anti easy button," and the one-lead trace Miriam recommends as a first stepResources MentionedLevel Intelligence Suite (Level.Signal, Level.Pulse, and causal analysis): https://www.level.agency/level-intelligence-suite/From Think Leads to Rethink ROI: What Google's Shift Means for Marketers (Level's Meridian Certified Partner announcement): https://www.level.agency/perspectives/from-think-leads-to-rethink-roi-what-googles-shift-means-for-marketers/StrataTech increases enrollment efficiency (Level.Signal lead scoring case study): https://www.level.agency/work/driving-enrollment-efficiency-through-data-driven-lead-scoring/Data Science & Analytics at Level: https://www.level.agency/capabilities/data-science-analytics/Multi-location Healthcare at Level (HIPAA-compliant measurement): https://www.level.agency/multi-location-healthcare-digital-marketing/Google Meridian: https://developers.google.com/meridianBook a strategy call with Level: https://www.level.agency/book-a-strategy-call/Connect With Matt and MiriamMatt Miller's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcm29/Miriam Valls' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirvalls/Level leadership team: https://www.level.agency/our-story/our-team/Know a marketing leader whose ad platform only hears about the form fill? Send them this one.About the ShowGood Enough Isn't is a podcast from Level Agency, a digital marketing agency, about the hard truths behind business growth and the people who refuse to settle for "good enough."Listen and SubscribeApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-enough-isnt/id1834694172Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6S3C2V2fUxs7x4hpuq7jWfConnect With the ShowLevel Agency: https://www.level.agencyMyles Biggs' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mylesjbiggs/Patrick Patterson's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattersonwork/Brad Stephenson's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradpstephenson/How to Support the ShowSubscribe so you never miss an episode.Share it with someone who would get value from it.Rate and review if it brings you value. It helps more listeners find us.

More episodes of Good Enough Isn't

More episodes

podsearch is a free, independent podcast search engine. Read about podsearch, the privacy policy or contact us.