CMO: 3 Action Items to Prepare for AI and Machine Learning

As a CMO, you are likely feeling pressure to move your marketing efforts towards artificial intelligence and machine learning, two very complex topics. Underlying these topics are a solid understanding of analytics and data. As a graduate student at Northwestern University in the Medill IMC program with an interest in marketing analytics, I have found two articles that address the basics of building a strong analytical foundation in marketing.

The first article, Marketing Analytics Can Improve the Customer Experience, argues that marketing analytics is a crucial part of understanding the customer experience. Most companies have the data but are held back by silos within the company that prevent the company from integrating the data across channels. And it is the responsibility of the CMO to break down these silos and shift to a more customer-centric approach. The most successful companies are those that use measurement and analytics across all customer-facing functions to gain a complete customer view, therefore allowing them improve the customer experience.  The article was featured on the Harvard Business Review by Google Analytics 360 Suite.

www.tibco.com

The other article, How An Analytic Mindset Changes Marketing Culture, discusses the benefits of combining analytics with marketing efforts to not only measure the effectiveness of past campaigns, but also to focus on actions in the future. This allows marketers to be more proactive than reactive. With the availability of data today, marketers should no longer be relying on their gut to make decisions. The key is to use the data to develop insights and tell a story, resulting in the ability to adjust in real-time and improve results. The article was written by Adele K. Sweetwood and published on the Harvard Business Review.

Based on my review of these two articles and relevant studies I have done in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, I have developed three action items for you to take as soon as possible:

• Establish analytical culture – be open to using analytics to improve your marketing efforts

• Break down silos – marketing and analytics should not be separate, and benefits cannot truly be maximized without the contribution of all customer-facing functions

• Find useful insights – companies have mass amounts of data available at their fingertips, but data is not valuable without the ability to develop useful, actionable insights

With the marketing industry moving rapidly towards artificial intelligence and machine learning, consider these three action items to make sure your marketing department is ready for what’s to come.

Ashley Tomzik is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill IMC program, specializing in Marketing Analytics, who will be graduating in December. Prior to Northwestern, I have gained valuable experience, holding a range of analytical roles. You can contact me on Twitter (@ashley_tomzik) or LinkedIn.

Strategists and Data Analysts: Make the Deliberate Connection and Really Excel as Data-Driven Strategist

As data analysts and strategists, being data driven and strategic is really two sides of the same coin, the key is to make the deliberate connection. Being told you are not strategic or data-driven really stings, but despite thousand hours we spent on drawing up detailed plans and investigating data, all too often thy matter every little to performance. As an IMC graduate student in Northwestern's Medill School, I have been focusing on bridging strategic planning with data-driven analytics and I found two insightful articles from Harvard Business Review and McKinsey Quarterly that will help to tear down the Great Chinese Wall between the art and science of marketing communication. 

Being strategic is fundamentally making deliberate connections. In Strengthen Your Strategic Thinking Muscles, Liane Davey argues that sometimes we are just too busy to be strategic. Under the guise of productivity, we have probably squeezed out thinking time, thus the decision is based more on reflex than reflection, more on what has worked before instead of making meaningful connection. Every one has opportunity to be strategic, simply by being more deliberate in our thoughts and actions. Down to the execution level, being strategic also requires making choices and connect things and domains that is currently separated or segmented.

Big Data is now the buzzword everybody is uttering, but few people realized simply collecting Big Data does not unlock its potential value. In Big Data help wanted (badly): How to win the war for talent, McKinsey on Marketing & Sales argues to true tap into the analytical power of Big Data and form data-driven strategies, strategists and analysts should aim at being “translators” who are capable of connecting different business functions and effectively communicating between them. These strategic connection making process is really the prerequisite of being strategic under the Big Data context.

Image Source: McKinsey on Marketing & Sales

Based upon these two articles, I realized there are three action items that could really help to be strategically data-driven: Strategy and Big Data are the most misused and overused words in our business, but instead of being isolated, they are actually complimentary. As the author of Predictive Analytics Eric Siegel once criticized, "big data often means small math", big data can also means meaningless strategy. Being strategically data-driven is really the benchmark for strategic and analytical talents, and that requires strategists really reflect on the true meaning of being strategic and make the deliberate connection between different business functions. 

1. Make more time to reflect before making decisions. 

2. Be courage to make choices and embrace the uncertainty.

3. Create connections between analytics, technology and business decision making.

To be strategic and data-driven are among the biggest expectation of today marketers, all too often they are referred as the “art and science” and seen as hard to reconcile. However, I believe they are actually complimentary and symbiotic. Being strategic is fundamentally about making deliberate connections, and it is even more so in the Big Data context. Marketers to seek to be more strategic need to actively bridge and communicate with different business functions. They can thus become “navigators” and “translators” and truly empowering strategic decisions. 

Aaron R. An is M.S. candidate of integrated marketing communication at Medill School, Northwestern University, specializing in Marketing Analytics and Brand Strategy tracks. Aaron graduated from Peking University with bachelor degrees of Economics and International Relations. Prior to IMC, Aaron worked in Caterpillar’s China strategic development department, Ogilvy PR’s China Outbound Strategy Practice, and Northhead Consulting, helping Chinese companies to form their outbound marketing strategies and US companies to form the localization strategies. 

Any questions or comments? Contact him on Twitter at @Aaronarpku

How to Hear the "Silent Majority" of Customers

For CEOs and CMOs, it is essential to gain a representative sample of your customers' opinions in order to best align product, service, and business strategy with their needs. As a graduate student at Northwestern University's Medill IMC program, I have been studying segmentation and feedback techniques and found these two articles to have valuable managerial implications.

As anecdotal evidence from Yelp! or customer reviews can attest, it is usually the more extreme reactions to one’s products/services that motivate customers to comment. For better or for worse, social media amplifies the voice of those who are expressing their sincere appreciation for a product or seeking revenge for poor service with a blistering critique. The majority of customers expects satisfaction and won’t make the effort to remark on the commonplace. In fact, according to authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Groundswell, the majority of Americans can be described as “joiners” and “spectators” (see table 1 below). “Joiners” are those individuals who “visit and maintain a profile on a social networking site” while “spectators” are engaged with others’ content, (e.g. posts, podcasts, videos) but rarely contribute their own. While both “spectators” and “joiners” are active and receptive to the opinions of others, they are not demonstrably participative. The concern is that the opinions of this “silent majority” will be underrepresented while the active users with characteristically polarizing opinions will be overrepresented. This may in turn pervert the company’s marketing strategy in a direction that alienates the silent majority who are content with the current state of affairs.

Indeed, in a recent article from the Harvard Business Review, the company ForeSee charts how remarkably different the opinions of what Groundswell would label as “conversationalists” and “critics” are from the opinions of “spectators” and “joiners”. In the graph below, ForeSee draws a normal distribution curve as a point of comparison between the blue opt-in customer feedback curve and a randomly-sampled survey shown in orange. Although the Harvard Business Review is quick to admit how valuable customer feedback is as a point-of-contact, they may give companies a false impression of actual levels of satisfaction.

For customers who prefer not to provide feedback, companies have been using “cookies” as a way to better track and understand customer’s online behaviors on their personal computers. However, as a recent article from the Wall Street Journal explains, despite an increase in U.S. mobile ad spending from $1.5 billion in 2011 to $4.1 billion in 2012, companies are still having trouble pinpointing mobile users’ online activity. As a growing number of customers supplement their desktops’ online activities with mobile, the risk of overlooking the “silent majority” without these behavioral metrics increases. 

Based on my experience in Northwestern's IMC program and my interpretation of these two articles, I have made three recommendations which can be applied immediately. 

1.     Incentivize your Customers- From Groundswell, the authors recommend incentivizing your customers to comment with a built-in reputation system that rewards customers with greater status. This will encourage more active participation from those who may not otherwise feel compelled to do so and recognize the valuable contributions of loyal customers.

2.     Just Ask- To ForeSee the answer is simple, just ask! Returning to Figure 1, when ForeSee randomly surveyed their site’s visitors, they found a much wider distribution of opinions that skewed towards the positive and complimentary. Impromptu surveys gave the company a more precise impression of customers’ opinions.

3.     Collect and Aggregate Data- Although the Wall Street Journal admits that mobile tracking technology will certainly improve in the future, the current method is to triangulate users’ mobile and desktop through downloads, apps, and/or cookies. This aggregate data gives companies’ a more holistic understanding of customers’ online behavior.

By applying one or all of these tactics, CEOs and CMOs can listen to the full range of customer experiences and gain a more accurate depiction of the current satisfaction landscape. This in turn, will enhance business strategy.

- Margaret Kamraczewski, is a full-time Masters of Science candidate at Northwestern University's Integrated Marketing Communications program at Medill. Her previous experience was in market research. Her focus is on brand and advertising strategy. Follow her on Twitter @Margaret_Kam.