Machine Learning: Marketers’ Scariest-Sounding Friend

Machine learning. Sounds like some scary future education method from George Orwell’s 1984,right? Well, machine learning is not even remotely close to being as scary as it sounds and can even be used to help improve your business’ marketing strategy.-

So, what is machine learning?

According to Optimove, a customer retention automation platform, machine learning is “a discipline combining science, statistics and computer coding that aims to make predictions based on patterns discovered in data.” In other words, machine learning helps individuals make better decisions and predictions through large sets of data. Unlike rule-based decision systems, “which follow an explicit set of instructions known by the developers in advance, machine learning algorithms are designed to analyze data and discover patterns that people cannot find by themselves.”

How can machine learning help marketers? 

In today’s ever-changing marketing landscape, one thing has remained consistent: data rules marketing. Because of this, marketing has become very labor-intensive and requires marketers to dig and sift through large pools of data to attempt to find and develop patterns or insights that will lead to impactful business decisions. Unfortunately, this process can leave important elements behind, and may not even provide the complete picture that marketers need to make decisions.

Machine learning, when applied to marketing, can aid marketers and advertising professionals to visualize and identify patterns within data that they were not able to before. These patterns can lead to significant insights that will help professionals make better decisions and lead them to defined and accurate conclusions relating to their marketing practices.

Machine learning is not a part of some dark future. In actuality, machine learning has most likely been a part of your daily life for many years! According to CMO, Adobe’s online magazine for digital marketing, “machine learning has been part of a marketer’s everyday life for decades, without many realizing it. Modern day examples are found within Google, Apple’s Siri, IBM’s Watson, Facebook recommendations, Quora and (related questions) and any technology that offers ‘suggestions’.”

Machine learning is only going to become more integrated into marketing and, even more importantly, our lives for the many years to come. So don’t be scared of it, embrace it!

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Have you ever used machine learning for marketing purposes?