Do you know the optimal way to spend your marketing budget—whether it’s $10,000 or $10,000,000—to give your business the greatest probability of achieving its goals?
The answer is no. Even the smartest marketers on the planet have absolutely no idea how to allocate their time and money in a manner that eliminates inefficiencies and maximizes return on investment.
Why?
Because we’re human, which means no matter how educated and experienced we are, we have a finite ability to process information, build strategies and achieve performance potential.
As the number of channels, media outlets and influencers continues to expand, it creates unparalleled challenges and choices for strategists. Marketers also must deal with a flood of data coming from social media, web analytics, email, call tracking, sales, advertising, remarketing, ecommerce, mobile apps and more.
The human mind is an incredible thing, but the reality is that it’s simply not wired to solve this level of chaos and complexity.
Artificial intelligence, in contrast, is powered by algorithms that can learn and adapt on their own, determining new paths and unlocking unlimited potential to advance the marketing industry.
What inevitably comes next is a marketing intelligence engine that uses machine learning, deep learning and cognitive computing to understand natural language queries, identify patterns and opportunities, and parse massive data sets to predict outcomes and deliver recommendations better, faster, and cheaper than people. The engine will use a mix of historical performance data, industry articles and best practices, predictive modeling and subjective inputs, layered against business and campaigns goals.
The marketing intelligence engine does not exist, yet. But, if you consider the disruption of other industries by AI, along with the rapid advances in computing power and open-source AI technology, it’s not difficult to imagine a future in which machines, not marketers, drive marketing strategy.
The machines won’t replace marketers, but they will infinitely extend and amplify our cognitive capabilities.
To learn more, watch my INBOUND 2016 presentation, Origins of the Marketing Intelligence Engine.
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