Technology is known to shift landscapes, even change the game. We saw that when the internet exploded in scale and popularity, as computers became smarter, and the world goes through the digital transformation. An easy example is in traditional marketing, which now borders on the irrelevant, unable to hold a candle to its more modern counterparts.
Email, search engine, or social media marketing are but a few examples. And from it, marketers now find themselves in a unique position – with a chance to amass and identify relevant data. In fact, with rapid digitization these trends grew so rapidly that it brought forth a new industry altogether, one occupied heavily by digital marketing agencies.
Simply put, we now live in a world that continues to drive towards complexity. It’s what makes artificial intelligence important. Consequently, this does raise a question amongst marketers; perhaps even more so around how organizations must innovate to improve or optimize their marketing strategies.
Natural Language Processing (NLP): Does it Replace Content?
When it comes to marketing, it’s hard to deny that much of its strategy relies heavily on content. This could be in the form of short social media posts, co-marketing articles, or even larger brand-centric content such as case studies, whitepapers, or eBooks. Some consider it an art-form-the ability to produce content that captures both mind and attention.
So, the question is: Can artificial intelligence challenge humans in creative pursuits, even writing?
Yes. Take ESPN, for example. They have been utilizing NLP to publish complete stories – sports recaps, updates, and more. Narrative Science, an AI technology company, invented Quill – an advanced natural language generation platform. The company now provides unique B2B solutions to organizations such as Groupon and MasterCard.
But this isn’t something new. It’s been in the works for well over a decade, and as eerie as it sounds, it won’t be long until NLP is able to cover topics of greater complexity as well.
Marketing Strategy and the AI Impact
Marketing teams within or independent of an organization ought to be familiar with CRM software, commonly used to track or manage leads. This is the foundation of digital automation for marketing, designed to improve Return on Investment (ROI).
Segmentation that helps identify and bracket customers based on the relevance of your product or business, suggestions that recommend tailored content to engage segments better, and personalization, and even lead scoring emerge from the encroachment of artificial intelligence within marketing.
In a nutshell, AI now possesses the ability to identify intent based on an analysis of the audience from the past, alerting marketing teams whenever a customer begins to behave as an ideal buyer would.
Conclusion
AI has changed how people interact with digital technology, digital services, brands, and even information. Marketers are better served to ride the wave, and not fight it. The rapid development and digitization of technology provides an ideal opportunity to upskill. But, at the end of the day, let’s not forget that machine learning and artificial intelligence have brought us closer to one of our most desired goals – understanding relevance at scale.
Jay Nair – Chief Operating Officer, Marlabs Inc.
As the COO, Jay has played an important role in accelerating the transformation of Marlabs into a digital services and solutions provider. He spearheaded the Digital360 initiative, which offers a complete suite of digital services across industries. Jay’s broad and varied business experience and skills helped Marlabs incubate NexGen technologies that provide outstanding business value. He also played an important role in transforming the company from a small group of 15 to more than 2,300 employees globally, growing into a $100 million company.
