The emergence of the tech-savvy martecheter

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Author: Amanda Johnston-Pell, Vice President, Marketing Services Center Asia Pacific, China and Japan IBM CHQ, Marketing

 Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian recently said: “Programming is modern-day literacy.” This quote really resonated with me. Last year my son took part in a Coder Academy Day – a dedicated IBM-sponsored program which gave him his first taste of coding and artificial intelligence. He was seven years old!

Last year the NSW government announced coding will become compulsory for primary school children, while students in years 7 and 8 will be required to learn a coding language under a new science and technology syllabuses. In Queensland there is a compulsory “digital technologies” curriculum, which includes the teaching of robotics and coding.

Marketer 4.0

But if you think this education trend is best left to the next generation of marketers, then think again. Today we are going one step further, with the emergence of the tech-savvy martechter. Where programming can be considered modern-day career currency, even for marketers. Historically, the greatest advantages for marketers have been budget, tools and talent — in that order. However, now that both customer expectations and marketing innovation are rapidly growing, the model is being flipped on its head.

Digital savvy marketing departments are levelling up their team talent to meet these new demands and give themselves a competitive advantage. The reason for this, is that single-skilled marketers can’t analyse oceans of data created by the widening range of customer touchpoints, while also developing captivating creative, nor can they afford the constant developer resources needed to implement cutting-edge marketing.

AI and machine learning make hyper-personalisation a reality

With new skills and technology comes the ability to develop hyper-personalised relationships with our customers. The idea of one-to-one marketing is hardly a new concept. The earliest known example of direct marketing dates back to 1000 BC and ancient Egypt. A landowner wrote a papyrus-based ad offering payment of gold for the return of a runaway slave. This 3,000+-year-old example now resides in the British Museum.

Until recently, though, marketers had only two choices: pick a personalised campaign or a scalable one, but not both, but machine learning is changing that. With AI-powered campaigns and narratives, marketers can sharply adapt to a consumer’s preferences and behaviour to deliver personalised stories at scale.

Hyper-personalisation is increasingly being based on the predicted behaviour of individuals rather than conforming to a statically defined segment. AI-based systems make personalisation easier for marketers by learning through each interaction and delivering the right content in the context of the customer’s previous interactions with the brand.

It’s this operational nimbleness combined with cross-disciplinary marketers that can support a growing ecosystem of purpose-built marketing tools to match the uniqueness of every business model and customer base.

The bottom line? The most significant marketing advantage is technical marketing talent — the martecheter.

Learn how Watson Marketing solutions powered by an AI marketing platform can enable your brand to drive customer loyalty and work smarter here.