What Does AI Mean for Marketing?
Current Trends in Digital Marketing
What we’re seeing is that technology is becoming more and more important to marketing. And social media is a place where a lot of magic happens, but social media is driven by technology. As we walk into the now and the future, artificial intelligence is really the most destructive force. And destructive in a good way for marketers. What artificial intelligence is doing is it’s giving us the info to automate marketing so that it’s personalized. And in marketing the Holy Grail has always been how do we market to the one person, give them personalized content. And artificial intelligence is giving us the ability to do just that.
The Power of AI in Marketing
It’s going to empower a lot of companies that can bring in the AI talent to help them identify and communicate with your consumers more precisely. We’re seeing that, for example, a lot of companies are using chatbots. And there was a time which nobody wanted to have chatbots. But now there’s more acceptance because it’s giving efficient answers, it’s giving immediate ways for consumers to get the satisfaction they want, whether it’s to answer a question, address a complaint and, really, what we’re seeing is that it’s adding efficiencies for both the consumer and for companies.
Neuro-marketing and Nano-marketing
When we talk about neuro-marketing, we’re talking about bringing in neuro science which is the science of how the brain works. And we have different ways of accessing that. For example we know that certain colors have certain reactions for people. We know that when they look at the screen, we can now, through eye tracking, get a sense of where they’re looking first and other consumer patterns. Most of us are wearing some form of a wearable tech, whether it’s a fitness watch, whether it’s a smart watch. And those sort of watches have biometric information that, with consumer consent, can help us really know what consumer is thinking and how they’re reacting because we’re not just relying on their self-reporting. We’re getting a kind of really physical response.
And so you have that technology that I think we’re going to see companies tapping into more and more. And when we talk about nano-marketing, what we’re really talking about is again that companies wants to find a way to can get as much information out of consumers, and make sure that we are delivering to them when they want it, how they want it. That’s why you’re also seeing a trend towards micro influencers, influencers who have smaller audience. But they’re influencers that people trust, and so again it’s about wanting to bring the scale and capabilities to give people personalization.
What it Means for the Consumer
Companies can track what consumers want much better now. It might be how people are sharing info, how they’re ordering their purchases historically, so that companies can anticipate when someone is going to want a favorite product and have it ready to ship before they ask it to ship.
How Mass Customization Will Evolve
With continued advances in artificial intelligence and advances that small media and large companies are all tapping into, I think what we’re going to see is much more “sensible” marketing that’s targeted to the consumer. And I think that’s something brands and marketing agencies really want to strive to achieve because it gives us consumers the ability to have content that adds value to our lives, that doesn’t just sell to us but also enhances us.
How Brands Will Change
Advances in digital transformation and digital marketing will have challenges for brands when they think about how do we branding. For example when we talk about voice technologies, what happens to a logo when we’re able to use voice search and voice conversation as a leading form for making purchasing decisions or making purchases.
So companies need to be agile. Artificial intelligence will give companies, I think, the ability to deliver that personalized content so that consumers are less cynical because they’re saying it’s adding value for us. Actually that’s the key. When we think about good marketing, we’re going to answer the question: Are we adding value to consumers? If we’re not, we’re not doing our job. If we are, we’re achieving something that enhances our brand over the long-term. It gets us new customers. And it keeps us the customers that we have.
Click the link for information about Huawei’s AI strategy and product portfolio.
And leave a comment below about how you think marketing is changing. What do you expect from brands today?
Editor’s Note: The above content is the transcript from an interview with Glen at the 2018 Ultra Broadband Forum
Disclaimer: Any views and/or opinions expressed in this post by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Huawei Technologies.
