Cognitive technology: the future of successful marketing

Companies are applying cognitive technology to marketing strategies, but many feel apprehensive towards the impact it may have on marketers. To make things worse, employers distrust the supposedly miraculous technology. The truth is that we’re at the top of the new wave of technological innovation with artificial intelligence, and because we’re too afraid to drown, we may be losing the opportunity to surf the biggest wave so far. Some of us have witnessed the advance of technology with semiconductors, PCs and the Internet. This is a new era for marketers and buyers, so we must catch up!
What is cognitive technology?
Cognitive technology refers to the training of apps and machines to learn how to think like a human. We’re basically replacing certain human tasks with artificial intelligence. How does technology learn how we think? By using natural language processing and machine learning.
So you’re probably wondering, why the sudden boom in cognitive technology and marketing? Well, the answer is pretty straightforward: 90% of the data available was created in the past two years, which means that we now need to deal with overwhelming numbers and variables. The solution was to create this automatized system of data-processing and decision-making.
Types of cognitive technology
According to what you expect to target with a cognitive technology tool, you’ll have to choose one of the following types of cognitive programs:
- Product oriented
If you’re trying to pinpoint the customer’s likes and dislikes to provide a product tailored to their needs, this is what you’re looking for. Netflix is one of the companies that provides a product considering the user’s behavior. This machine learning technology that suggests movies and series accounts for 75% of the platform’s use. - Process oriented
The process of data collection can be quite daunting when its complexity and size require so detailed an eye. To speed up the process, this type of tools handle massive amounts of data and turn it into something understandable, something marketers can actually work with. - Insight oriented
You’re trying to reduce costs or increase revenues but can’t fathom how to attain it? An insight oriented tool can define where to gather efforts to improve efficiency. It may, for example, identify users preferences and group them through a predictive algorithm and ascertain the actions that should follow.
Marketers vs. cognitive technology
The new artificial intelligence trend appears to be replacing a great part of the brainstorming and creative decision-making of marketers given that cognitive programs determine what the customer wants. However, many argue that this will only affect tasks, not job positions.
Marketing-oriented artificial intelligence can be in charge of somewhat tedious and time-consuming tasks like reporting as well as doing customer and segment analysis. Marketers can determine the level of machine involvement they desire in their marketing campaigns. For instance, they can use PPC tools simply for monitoring or they can program tools that can handle various tasks and consider the interactions. These tools may also deal with more complex data that allows the machine to ‘judge’ how it would be best to continue.
Though it may sound like a competition, both human and machine can complement each other to optimize marketing campaign outcomes.
Company perception
A recent IBM study on companies’ viewpoint regarding cognitive technology, shed some light on the present and future needs of a company and its CMO’s predictions. Two thirds of the CMOs that took part in the study claimed to be prepared to adopt this technology by 2020. Most of them consider cognitive computing as an important tool for understanding customers in depth.
If you want to know more…
Cognitive technology is a clear step forward towards high-quality marketing. Are you willing to take this step?
