The rate at which technology has impacted marketing has been accelerating rapidly in the last 25 years, but we believe the step change we are likely to see in the next few years will dwarf the developments so far.

With opinions sometimes split as to the value offered by some technologies historically applied to marketing such as PowerPoint, databases, Photoshop or CRM, the advent of the web and social media is less contentious. Safe to say, these two innovations have revolutionised the world of communications and have laid the foundation for the next evolution.

Enabled by the growth and utility of the Internet, Big Data and the Internet of Things are already impacting many sectors including marketing. Every action and reaction, status and location is captured and analysed, driving sales in the IT industry to the point where the technology budget of the CMO vies with that of the IT department. This growth, according to IBM, means that 90% of all the data in the world is less that two years old!

Sifting through the resulting data mountain, predictive modelling allows marketers to draw conclusions based on past behaviours and basic statistics. Marketing automation responds at scale to nurture prospects and customers, efficiently distributing content and qualifying sales pipelines. This growth in the importance of data and digital is creating an increasingly blurred line between marketing agencies and management consultancies.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is set not to refine and evolve these approaches, but to transform all aspects of marketing. Already, systems are mastering natural language usage and becoming proficient at creating content from raw data for applications such as financial and sport reports. Others segment audiences based on a variety of factors, creating personas to feed into and direct aforementioned automation systems. The power and capability of such systems in increasing at an exponential rate and will soon be applied to most areas of marketing.

How prepared are you for this revolution? Which of the myriad of AI domains can you apply, in what order, to your market activity to back the best impact?

With experience all the way from early AI systems, the team at SQN is committed to remaining at the forefront of AI use in marketing. Forget the Hollywood stereotype, this will be arriving at a marketing department near you sooner than you think.

This is the first in a series of pieces to explore the application and impact of technology, and AI in particular, on marketing, so contact us here if you want to know more or sign-up on the right-hand side of this page to receive updates. We don’t share your details with anyone.