In the last two years since the world began to adopt powerful tools like ChatGPT, the market for creating personalized digital experiences in marketing has completely changed.I mean, completely. After 20 years leading a multinational consultancy, I realize that the idea that “o content is king” is no longer enough to explain the changes in the industry. Content creators and writers need to relearn, re-qualify and reimagine the digital future from this moment on.
I commanded one of the first cyberwarfare units of the United States Department of Defense, and the computational power available today to ordinary marketers is greater than what the world superpowers had a few years ago.
This advance is clearly reflected in consumption data, according to the 2023 annual report by Adobe Analytics, Black Friday buyers, for example, spent a record US$9.8 billion in online sales in the US, an increase of 7.5% over the previous year. Of this amount, US$5.3 billion were in purchases by mobile devices. In Brazil, this number is expected to grow to about US$1.4 billion in 2024.
And in periods like this, which affects public behavior, knowing how to use new features is critical to attracting new customers, generating more sales and succeeding in business. Customer preferences are changing faster than ever, and their expectations about what constitutes an excellent customer experience is an expectation they take with them in every interaction they have.
What is causing this change in the market?
The barriers to utilizing the computing power of hardware, software, data, and AI are disappearing faster than expected. Until recently, only the largest companies could afford the technology and data scientists needed to deliver personalization at scale effectively.
Today, with opportunities for leverage in business, especially in retail, on dates like Black Friday, knowing how to use technological resources wisely and strategically is fundamental, even for those who do not yet consider themselves ready for AI and new tools. Thus, there are four main pains that affect many marketers because of these changes and that need to be overcome to succeed.
4 AI myths and why they are wrong
So here are the things that have changed and what it means for marketers around the world and why these myths are wrong.
- We don't have enough data
- We don't have enough content
- The data we have is a mess
- We will never be able to share our data
- My company does not have enough data
Even with limited data sets, we can use AI to fill gaps and get more accurate estimates about customers.This means that midsize and B2B companies can offer personalized experiences based on customer profile data deep learning using an advanced machine learning and neural networks technique to model complex patterns and make predictions with high precision, it allows to identify patterns within the database transfer learning it can also be exploited as a technique that reuses insights from datasets generated on a given task to improve performance on another related activity, enabling accurate predictions and providing personalized experiences even when data is scarce.
AI can help you prepare and clean up your data, enrich it, and in some cases even fill in gaps if you don't have enough data.
- My company does not have enough content
With so many AI tools today, creatives and writers can create content at the speed of thought. If you've used ChatGPT, you know that it's possible to write a prompt and get an answer, but with multimodal AI it's different. In it, creators can provide a text prompt and ask the AI to produce an image or even a video. And that's what tools like DALL-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion do.
Tools like Adobe Experience Cloud offer AI-powered features like Adobe Sensei that automate much of the customization process without requiring deep technical knowledge.It utilizes AI for predictive analytics, personalization, and data insights. And with Adobe Firefly, you can create videos of people speaking any language on the planet simply by providing a 3-minute roadmap and video of the person speaking their native language.With the latest version of Google Analytics (GA4) you also use machine learning to provide insights into customer behavior and have built-in, easy-to-use clustering and prediction models.
AI will not replace marketers, but marketers who know how to use AI will replace those who do not.
- Company data is disordered
One of the biggest challenges for companies is to make data useful for both humans and machines. With the growing market trend of becoming more data-driven and allowing both to improve their decisions, the pace is accelerated.However, when databases are implemented over the years, each team configures the system to their specific needs: marketing automation systems for marketers, financial systems for business and financial teams, and CRM for salespeople.As a machine these systems often break down and leak into joints.
The new category of software called Customer Data Platform (CDP) connects customer data silos, creating a single, actionable view of each customer. This enables personalized marketing, precise targeting, and real-time decision-making.By connecting these tools to messaging platforms like WhatsApp, email, and SMS, customers respond.
McKinsey reports that companies that excel at personalization generate 40% more revenue compared to their peers.A study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that brands that implemented personalization at scale achieved revenue increases of six to ten percent.
And like a ship, these systems break down and leak into joints. Companies that break down silos and create connected customer experiences outperform those that don't.
- We cannot share our data
With global regulations like GDPR and LGPD in Brazil, many companies feel that the ability to collect and share customer data is increasingly restricted Clean Room Data it allows you to share data with business partnerships responsibly and ethically, about a third of marketing organizations in the U. S. have already adopted this technology, according to a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and MarTech.
For example, imagine that a manufacturer wants to partner with retail stores and distributors that resell their products.Both parties enter into a legal agreement, set rules on who can see the data, and place selected subsets of their data in the data cleanroom.None of the companies can see all the data of the other, but can view the overlays.
What do they do with these insights?We can create audiences for promotions, email marketing or offline campaigns.In addition, it is possible to better understand the efficiency of marketing efforts and enrich the information both parties know about each customer.
What does data have to do with content? Data has the power to help us create stories, and stories have the power to inspire us. So marketers say that “o content is king”, but brands that know and interact significantly with customers are the ones that win.
Today, modern marketing allows businesses to know each customer and interact at the right time and place with the right content.Many brands are leveraging the convergence of technology, hardware, software, data and AI. For example, Starbucks uses the Deep Brew AI platform to analyze shopping data and personalize offers and recommendations, considering factors such as weather and time of day.
This approach works for both B2B and B2C. Intimate knowledge about each customer and the ability to use that knowledge to interact in a relevant way are key. Therefore, if content is king, relevance is who makes it reign.
In this new digital marketing landscape, it is clear that the integration of technology, AI and data is critical to creating personalized and impactful experiences. Brands that can understand and engage their customers in a meaningful way will be at the forefront, taking advantage of business dates like Black Friday to strengthen their strategies. The future of marketing depends on our ability to innovate and adapt quickly, using all the tools available to turn data into relevant and attractive stories.
So if content is king, relevance is who guarantees your reign.
