Contextual Marketing & Artificial Intelligence (AI): a match made in heaven
It’s a common refrain of mine to remind people that “We’re still living in the Commodore 64 Era of AI.” A lot of the capabilities are very impressive and others are still very clunky. The true potential of AI hasn’t yet shown itself. But the real capacity of Artificial Intelligence to reshape industries all over the world, especially in the fields of marketing and customer experience, is right there over the horizon. In the last decades, we saw a radical transformation of marketing. About 20 years ago the first phase of digital marketing created a world of “Permission Marketing”. A world in which the customer had to opt-in to receive marketing messages. Today we live in a world of “Targeted Marketing”, where the AI can target messages to a certain consumer audience. This sometimes leads to very relevant advertising messages, but also to some frustrating messages.
Pretty soon, though, the technology will advance to what we will be able to call “Contextualized Marketing.” Instead of just figuring out if you’re searching for shoes or trips or flowers, the AI will be able to gather and understand information on the full context of what you’re up to, not just the one task it’s been assigned. Contextual marketing means the machine will be able to understand your mood and feelings. Based on that knowledge, every part of the customer experience can be personalized. Not based on your previous behavior, but based on your current mood. This way the advertiser doesn’t keep sending ads for something you’ve already bought, which makes your customer experience improve dramatically. This is where the industry is heading, and sooner, rather than later.
This evolution will allow companies to start creating customer options tailored to perfection, for you as an individual. Instead of relying on the outdated method of building for the Median Customer, “Contextualized Marketing” will know enough about you to offer you precisely the service you’re looking for. This is the kind of customer experience you can expect.
Check out this video to hear more on this topic: