On the Horizon: The Future of Marketing — and my test to see if it’s here.
By: Mike Rizzo
Tags: Data Science, Marketing Strategies, Marketing, Creative Marketing, Data Science Marketer

It’s my humble opinion that all of the marketing strategies, tactics, and methodologies we marketers hear today — “Account Based Marketing”, “Inbound Marketing”, “Growth Hacking” — are simply a means to describe a what’s yet to come in the world of marketing. Each of the aforementioned marketing terms — with practice, dedication, and the right talent — can be achieved by any organization. Each offering valuable opportunities to grow your business. This article isn’t to “dethrone” any of these types of marketing and growth tactics…

However, I believe these various marketing methodologies, tactics, etc. are simply inching us closer to the future. Little by little they are getting us to think more deeply about the way we impact the businesses and customers we interact with. And that’s a really good thing.

I’ll admit that I don’t have much research (yet) to substantiate my prediction except for what I observe and hear through great marketers and brands all across the web but — as you’ll see below — the future of marketing is already poking it’s head out in the world of social media.

The future (in my humble opinion) is about the intersection of data, creativity and strategy. It’s about providing customers with a uniquely valuable experience or insight that only you can provide.

I think the future of marketing will unfold with the convergence of three key elements…

1. The future of marketing starts with technology.

The proliferation of data and the unprecedented access we have to it are beginning to shape the future of marketing. And, as the cost of cloud-based processing decreases while Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science rapidly advance, the future of marketing is just starting to appear on the horizon.

2. The future of marketing depends on key players.

If you don’t have a data scientist or a data analyst (I’m certain the difference in roles is substantive but I don’t know what it is yet), then you better get in line. It’s a hot topic and a hard role to fill. In my opinion it’s key to the future of marketing.

Don’t worry I’ll get to the part where I tell you what I think future of marketing is…just keep reading.

Data Science and the employees that perform this critical role aren’t the only key players in the future of marketing. You’ll still need creative and strategic marketing roles too. Without creative and marketing strategy, data is just a bunch of 1's and 0's.

3. The future of marketing requires “must have” products.

Sean Ellis and many other entrepreneurs will tell you that you won’t have anything to market unless you first establish product market fit and ideally create a “must have” product.

Note: The beauty of the future of marketing I see is that it will help perpetuate the stickiness and likelihood your product/service becomes “must have”.

_________ Marketing

I believe the convergence of these three elements means we’re headed toward a new marketing methodology. I don’t know how to describe this new method of marketing but for now, I’ll refer to it as “insight-based” or “feedback” marketing.

As promised in my intro, the future of marketing is already poking it’s head out in the world of social media.

Here’s an example from Facebook:

We’ve all seen the notifications or content in our feeds.

“Here’s what you did this time last year!”

Or

“Happy Friendversary, Mike!”

btw I never login to Facebook anymore and I deleted the app from my phone, but sure enough while writing this post I logged in to see If i could find an old reference to illustrate my point and this is what came up…

It’s an absolute joy to see those videos and that type of content produced for us. It’s insightful and pleasant and everything Facebook needs to increase virality and stickiness. — Although I don’t use Facebook on my phone anymore I still see the value ;)

So, the real question is how do you apply insights like this to your B2B or SaaS business? How can we use our data and creativity to increase the stickiness and ultimately the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns?

The answer is data, creativity, and marketing strategy.

What’s next?

I’m on a mission to provide value and insight to customers powered by data. I want to scientifically, strategically and creatively adapt our data to create a feedback loop of transparency and valuable insight to benefit our customers in a way they would otherwise not see from competing products. But I can’t do it alone. I truly believe the future of marketing is about data, creative, and strategic marketing teams working together.

I’ll be testing my theory — that insight-based/feedback marketing is the key to helping our customers and our company achieve new levels of success — at AerServ.

Here’s what I’ll be doing…

I’m not going to give you the specifics because I don’t want to spoil the test (or let my competition in on my plans too early).

I’ll leverage data to provide our customers with insightful feedback on their performance and I’ll make it extremely easy to take advantage of the insights we uncover. By doing so, I believe both our customers and our business will see positive financial results and I hope that we’ll be seen as a trusted and valued partner.

I think a lot of businesses can do what I’m planning to do, but it’s a matter of time before they all try it. I’m sure someone else is already testing this theory, but in the coming year I hope to begin this test and report back on how it went.

If you’re doing this or you’ve seen a company do this, please provide a comment and description of what you saw and what you thought of it!