We are standing on the tipping point of a true marketing renaissance. Just as with past industry-shifting advancements, such as a transition from print ads to digital and the advent of mobile, this is a period of exhilarating innovation. Real-time technologies, the explosion of social networks and emergence of big data are revolutionary breakthroughs in the post-traditional ad world.
Consumers are smarter, savvier and more empowered than any other time in history. Why is this? The Internet and social have changed everything, creating a paradigm shift where brands are publishers, consumers are influencers and content is created, shared and accessed at quantum scale. Consumers digest information at a rapid pace with a voracious hunger for thoughtful, relevant content, which is now propelling brands to rethink marketing strategies accordingly.
Relying on a combination of creative grit and intuition will no longer fit the bill. In this new frontier, marketers must learn to think like scientists. For the first time marketers have access to volumes of powerful data and, what's more, they have the tools to dissect and act upon this information across a sea of channels. In today's complex digital world, every touch-point with a consumer is significant. To reap the benefits, marketers must reinvent themselves to ensure that every touch-point is impactful and, if done correctly, the opportunities are boundless.
Shifting from Soft to Hard Science
To add some perspective, according to IBM research, 90 percent of the world's data has been created in the last two years alone. Each day an increasing amount of information -- such as tweets, Likes, pins, YouTube thumb ups and searches -- is being created and shared web-wide. There is a massive treasure trove of data out there, and if harnessed properly across the many hubs of Internet content, it will forever transform the way marketers understand and practice their craft.
Today consumers are true participants in business and the relationship between brands and people has become entirely transparent. Social and mobile first tore down the aged walls of generic ads and content, and now its the dawn of a new era when big data demolishes the loose practices second nature to marketers. Everything is connected, interactive and in real-time with science acting as the binding glue. Having the know-how to wield the massive data surrounding interactions can help every marketer to truly understand their audience and measure initiatives at a big data scale.
Using Science to Drive Impact
We've seen some of the world's biggest brands, including eBay, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, capitalize on this shift towards science-based marketing to deliver truly impactful campaigns that are both measurable and revenue focused. For example, eBay's home page "My Feed" is data-driven, allowing consumers to follow items they love like Ray Ban Wayfarers or vintage Prada bags. This may be a shopping luxury for consumers, but for eBay it is a marketing boon, providing insight into what inspires purchases so they can optimize efforts around this knowledge. Brands like eBay, have found that building robust and sustainable consumer relationships depend on translating data into measurable and actionable information, and implementing those actions across many channels.
Steering powerful campaigns demand that marketers seize measuring tools and adopt smarter, science driven strategies. Having the ability to pinpoint content's impact on a specific channel and react instantly to trending topics creates more humanized, sincere interactions. To be successful, marketers must understand the impact of their content and how the consumer interacts with that content across every channel, and I mean every channel -- Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and beyond.
Consumers have embraced real-time, interactive content and, what's more, they expect brands to connect them with immediate, personalized responses. Anything less is simply unacceptable. Having the power to understand the measure and value of the content that is created across every digital channel, including search, social and mobile, will connect brands with consumers on personal levels never before possible.
So what's my advice to marketers? Take heed of the shift and embrace the new possibilities brought on by this marketing renaissance. The time is ripe to connect with consumers on a deeper, more personal level and to ensure that interactions are seamless just as consumers expect it to be.