INSIGHT
REINFORCING MARKETING STRATEGIES WITH A HUMAN TOUCH
Technology ’ s four brightest new strategies for igaming will only benefit us if they ’ re blended with our own smarts , says Sarafina Wolde Gabriel , from Paysafe ’ s Income Access
ENHANCING BRAND EXPERIENCE is increasingly reliant on identifying emerging trends , technologies and needs that can unlock potential . Then there ’ s the matter of exploiting that potential once it ’ s been recognised .
Affiliate marketers can help businesses to navigate this terrain and define campaign strategies . But with so much excitement around tech — both emerging and evolving — there is also the challenge of forming a genuine connection that encourages sustained activity .
Below are four prominent technologies that influence marketing strategies where a human touch is both encouraged and achievable .
1 ) Machine learning In a world of trendy tech terminology , machine learning ( ML ) has a marketing challenge : it sounds less accessible than ‘ big data ’, lacks the excitement of virtual reality and , although technically a branch of artificial intelligence , it doesn ’ t engage the public ’ s interest in quite the same way . ML is even more challenging when it comes to assessing how it can strengthen brand marketing and customer relations .
An accurate appraisal likely rests somewhere between those who specialise in ML-based solutions and others who have long-standing careers devising smaller-scale marketing campaigns and strategies .
DataScience , a tech firm in Culver City , California , supplies its clients with an enterprise data science platform . In one blog post , 6 Common Machine Learning Applications for Business , the practice of customer segmentation is highlighted : “ Rather than relying on a marketer ’ s intuition to separate customers into groups for campaigns , data scientists can use clustering and classification algorithms to group customers into personas based on specific variations among them . These personas account for customer differences across multiple dimensions such as demographics , browsing behaviour and affinity .”
In affiliate marketing , we ’ re continually looking to improve efficiencies without sacrificing customer care . The competitive nature of the industry also means that we require more thoughtful ways of segmenting and clustering those customers to achieve results . However , impressive as the intelligence may be , without a customer-centric mindset these insights risk being wasted along with the resources devoted to acquiring them in the first place .
“ Humans understand context in ways that machines can ’ t . AI technology has capabilities that are data-focused , but humans have a depth of context that you can ’ t necessarily program ,” wrote Chaitanya Chandrasekar , CEO and co-founder of Quantic Mind , in an article for eMarketer . “ Sometimes there are reasons that a marketer just knows something will or won ’ t work , but machines don ’ t have gut feelings .”
2 ) Artificial intelligence Forecasting future job losses because of artificial intelligence ( AI ) can be a distressing pastime . It may also prove unnecessary , given that our status within the global workforce doesn ’ t preclude us from reaping the benefits of AI .
Despite their sophisticated learning capabilities , AI platforms are not able to draw on emotional experiences or familiarity with the human condition — essential traits for a strong marketing professional . For marketers , the true value of AI is how , when leveraged accordingly , it can facilitate an array of content marketing activities ( such as social media , chatbots , content curation , etc ).
Contributing to Curata ’ s company blog , Paul Roetzer , founder and CEO of B2B content marketing agency PR 20 / 20 , recently wrote : “ Human beings … have a finite ability to process information ,
“ Impressive as the intelligence may be , without a customer-centric mindset these insights risk being wasted along with the resources devoted to acquiring them in the first place ” build strategies based on that information and create content at scale . Artificial intelligence systems , in contrast , have an almost infinite ability to process data and deliver predictions , recommendations and content — better , faster and cheaper .”
Roetzer is right and affiliate marketers can ’ t spend hours sifting through data and identifying actionable insights to optimise acquisition strategies . Engaged in a profession that requires a fondness
52 iGB Affiliate Issue 65 OCT / NOV 2017