The Future of Technology and Marketing

From a technological standpoint, marketing is ever evolving. This editorial letter from the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science looks at what those potential future evolutions could look like.

But the “big data revolution,” just like any revolution, may sow some discontent, especially in relation to data security. In this sense, the goal should not be bigger data but instead better data, informed by both the science of machine learning, robotics, and AI and the art of marketing and creativity. Consider predictive analytics as an example. It begins with data, which today are massive and high in velocity, including tweets, blogs, loyalty card transactions, eye-tracking, and so forth. Using tools such as Bayesian inference, marketers can observe billions of page views, then creatively apply the insights they gain from these big data to estimate people’s price sensitivity, product preferences, or likely next steps on the customer journey.