The Future of Digital Marketing and AI
Innovation continues, life goes on. Old jobs are made obsolete, new jobs are created. When the greatest minds of the world decide to create something new, their engineers set out to find a way to do it. Concepts are created, wireframes are built, prototypes are designed, algorithms are written. In essence: these ideas start to take shape. These ideas become the innovations of the marketplace. They become disruptions to the status quo. These innovations are technological inventions: steam power, electricity, the light bulb. They are social developments: The Magna Carta, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.
These earthshaking innovations take all forms, and they are adopted into society and business as “the new normal.” Then new innovations shake those old ones off the pedestal. The cycle continues. New things are created, become normal, and get replaced.
Back in time somewhere between the invention of the light bulb, and Back to the Future 2’s version of 2015, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning started taking a forefront in the minds of the world’s technology leaders. Google is investing more heavily than ever in those technologies. Apple has apparently been using it for their Siri program for years (though they didn’t tell anyone until recently). Qualcomm is building much of the hardware this new era will need. Just to mention a few. Though there are many others who are doing the same. There are even some companies whose entire business is based on using AI in places where manual time-consuming work was required since their inception. I can think of a couple places where my own perspective has shifted.
When I was first learning web design, there was a lot of painstaking work, a lot of manual HTML and CSS work, and a lot of picture cropping and resizing to make it all fit just right.
When I first started working with paid advertising I had no clue what A/B testing was, much less multi-variable testing. When I did finally figure out what it was, it was also a time-consuming task. Mostly because I lacked the tools to do it efficiently.
When I was working with content for our company blog, I could never come up with the right things to say. I couldn’t think of the right way to word things.
Don’t even get me started on my first analytics experience… *shudders* I don’t want to relive that.
All of these experiences had something in common. Besides the fact that I was thrown to the wolves and not given any information/education on them before starting. They are all time-intensive tasks that require a certain level of creativity and have a degree of monotony. Oh, and all of these now have some sort of tool or platform that allows you to utilize AI to make better use of your time and resources, while getting better results.
Have you ever thought about how AI could affect your company’s digital marketing strategy? Maybe through AI analytics that progressively learn more and more about you and your customers to provide better insights? How about through AI content creation that consistently outperforms man-made content? What about intuitive web development? You might already be using an AI platform without even knowing it, because it’s become the norm.
This is a topic that interests me immensely. So I’ve done some research and compiled a small collection of companies, what they’re doing, and how they are breaking the mold of digital marketing.
Let me give you a little background on what prompted this…
I was interviewing for a digital marketing position, when the interviewer posed the question: Where do you think the future of Digital Marketing is going? I’ll give you the same answer I gave him. Machine Learning and Automation through AI. And I’m pretty sure Skynet agrees with me on that.
I see AI most notably taking place in 4 different aspects of Digital Marketing. Content creation, A/B testing, Analytics, and Web Design. We’re going to cover all 4 here.
If you feel there are more categories, technologies, or companies that should be mentioned, please let me know!
ONWARD!
Side note: sometimes I like to think in a British accent, especially on emphasis words like “onward!”
Side-side note: I’m from California, not the UK.
Content Creation
Persado. Maybe I’m behind the curve, but I just learned about this company a few months ago. They use AI and machine learning to create better, more engagingcontent. Here’s a quote directly from their website…
Persado’s cognitive content platform is a smart system that combines natural language processing and machine learning technologies to machine generate the precise words, phrases and images that can inspire any given audience to act, every time.
Persado’s cognitive content outperforms man-made messages 100%* of the time.
…When I first heard about the company, I was like “uuhhh… this can’t be real.”
Then I visited the website. I read that quote.
This is me: “Mind=Blown”
If there is at least one company out there who’s creating a platform like this, there are probably others who are developing another take on it. I have no idea how much Persado charges for their platform. But I’m gonna guess that if you’re using an intuitive content creation platform, you’re gonna pay for it.
Some of their clients include: Intel, Esurance, LivingSocial, American Express, Citi… to name a few.
Another section on their website, talks about their platform’s marketing solutions. Their software tests millions of words, phrases, and images. It collects data, and it understands consumer reactions to targeted language in calls to action.
A/B Testing
Companies like Unbounce, Optimizely, and Instapage already utilize a form of AI to automate analysis of A/B design testing. Multiply this by several million tests a year… These platforms now have millions of users’ worth of page analyses that will power their strategies moving forward. This type of machine learning is extremely helpful for people who use their platforms for optimizing their digital marketing.
Ignoring the conspiracy theorists for a few minutes… Machine learning and AI are actually a good thing for the marketing profession. This will allow talented digital marketers to thrive in their roles. The data-intensive heavy-lifting has just been done for us. These platforms make it possible to make even better informed, data-driven decisions.
Analytics
Along the same lines of A/B testing, we’ll take a look at two of the most popular analytics tools. Google Analytics and KISSmetrics.
Both of these analytics tools provide a robust platform with incredible capabilities. Google Analytics is the most used, most well-known, and most complicated Analytics tools. It has a steep learning curve. But when harnessed by a knowledgeable user, it’s one of the most powerful tools your company can utilize.
KISSmetrics, in my opinion, is not trying to replace Google Analytics, but complement it. Personally, I like that while still providing a ton of useful data, it makes actionable insights more accessible. That’s why so many successful digital agencies use it! Bonus: you don’t have to go through a 4-year program and get certified to use it.
What both of these platforms have in common — besides being amazing analytics tools — is that they use machine learning and automation. Utilizing machine learning and AI, they are able to analyze the way their customers and the users of their customers interact with websites and apps. They then take this data and continue to build their own platform upon that.
Web Design
Ready to have your mind blown again? The Grid has a treat for you. They use AI to build websites. They’re currently in beta. The Grid really opened my eyes to the world of AI and where technology really is headed.
Side note: it was also the first time I ever saw the “.io” domain used. I thought it was kinda weird. Then it started showing up everywhere. Not so weird anymore. They describe themselves better than my own ramblings ever could…
The Grid harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to take everything you throw at it — videos, images, text, urls and more — and automatically shape them into a custom website unique to you. As your needs grow, it evolves with you, effortlessly adapting to your needs. Want to add e-commerce? Social feeds? A different layout? The Grid just takes care of it. This is not a website builder. This is your personal AI web developer.
…Their tagline is “AI websites that design themselves”
Wow. Just wow.
I’ve built my fair share of websites. My current favorite platform is Wordpress. I understand that some people like to use SquareSpace, Wix, or some other platform. And some other people actually have some money, so they might use an enterprise-level platform, or even a custom solution.
I have yet to use The Grid’s AI web development platform, but if they live up to even 72.6% of the hype I’m giving them, they’ll be doing a great job in my book. If nothing else, it’s an innovative technology. Not only that, but it’s an innovative use of an innovate technology. I’m not trying to say they’re the only ones who have thought to use it. But I am saying that they’re the only ones I’ve seen.
Bonus: a really cool tool to learn what technologies a website is using: WAPPALYZER. It’s available as a Chrome extension. If nothing else, it can help feed and fuel your curiosity.
The human element
Yes, facets of the future of Digital Marketing belong to the machines. But it still requires the human element. Who creates the AI? Who tells it what to take in, keep, and analyze — and what to throw out?
Unfortunately for the machines, just like humans — they lack the fundamental ability to become their own God.
Innovation will keep coming in every space. Business Intelligence, Marketing, Sales. Sometimes that innovation will be in the form of AI. But there’s one other important thing to remember about AI — it is simply another innovative man-made tool. To be used by man in creating something even greater than before.
Innovation: embrace or be forgotten
We’re already seeing some of these platforms used in Enterprise applications. Some digital marketing agencies are grabbing these opportunities by the horns to optimize client results.
How do you think people first reacted to the discovery of steam power? Electricity? The invention of the light bulb? Those who embraced it were empowered by it and profited. Those who rejected it are now forgotten.
Innovation will continue empowering those who embrace it.
AI is today’s innovation. Embrace it.
Thank you for reading!
If you feel there are more categories, technologies, or companies that should be mentioned here, or if you disagree with my opinions, please comment below!
