Anyone in the world of marketing should be constantly looking for new technologies that will improve their overall performance. The majority of these teams are individuals who thrive on creativity to make their ads compelling and successful. Companies like Google continue to create new technologies to help these marketers make the most out of their money and reach audiences that are more likely to lead to conversions.
Many creative teams tend to be a little aversive to the idea of implementing technology into how they operate. However, this technology is designed to help marketers adapt and keep up with consumers that are more curious and demanding than ever before. It only makes sense that they expect your ads to be helpful and more targeted to their needs.
Machines’ capabilities continue to grow at exceedingly fast rates, but marketers are beginning to wonder if they will eventually replace them in writing ad copy. What many marketers fail to recognize is that machine learning is not designed to replace them. Machine learning is meant to work alongside marketers, enhancing their creativity.
What is Machine Learning?
Machines are extremely intelligent, learning at an advanced rate. They can scour the internet for a limitless amount of information. However, if they don’t have a purpose, machines can only learn so much. What makes machine learning so critical to the world of digital advertising is how it helps you complete specific tasks.
Google compares machine learning to “having a billion interns working for you.” It is your job to find the best way to apply them to your business. Without you to give them a purpose, they wouldn’t get anything important done.
For machine learning to work, you must:
- Teach the machines what “winning” is, meaning you have to tell them what goal they need to accomplish.
- Next, explain how they’re supposed to win. Google likens this to a game of Breakout where you have to repeatedly hit a block until the
ball breaks free. You need to give machines a strategy to win. - Provide them with enough time to collect the appropriate amount of data needed to complete their tasks. If you do not give them the right amount of time, the data they collect will be incomplete and won’t provide you with the right information to help you succeed.
One of the fears most marketers have with machine learning is if they can eventually complete tasks on their own, what stops them from making better ads without marketers?
The world of advertising is complex. There is no correct way to advertise to the general public. Everyone responds differently to different ads. There are different ways to find success. Because there are so many ways to measure success digitally, these machines struggle and get confused.
Fortunately, your audience provides a plethora of signals and data for machines to learn, discerning clear patterns in this data.
What Machine Learning Can Do for Your Business
As we mentioned above, there are countless ways to win when it comes to digital advertising. What works for some businesses may not work for your business. Machines can only learn so much on their own. They require direction. Once you provide them with a task, how to succeed, and an adequate time frame, then you can finally reap the benefits they offer.
Your audience provides your business with countless signals and responses that machines can learn from once they have been assigned their tasks. As more and more individuals provide you with data, the richer and clear that data becomes. Ask your machines:
- Are there any patterns in the data?
- What is the value of these trends?
- Which marketing campaigns are working, and which are not?
- What is the value of customized ad creative?
Customized ads have proven to be far more successful than typical one-size-fits-all ads, which show everyone the same ad. However, if everyone requires a custom ad, you have to find out how many you need to make and how many of those iterations provide the most value.
Machine learning finds these answers for you. By sifting through all of the data your audience provides, they are able to figure out which iterations work best, helping you create more interactive and successful ad copy.
Your job, as the creative, is to experiment, creating multiple pieces of copy to distribute. Machines will then collect and analyze the data for you, allowing you to better craft more successful ad campaigns. The goal of experimenting and creating many different ads is to allow machines to learn so that you can better guide them in the right direction.
Pairing Technology with Creativity
Being creative is an intrinsic part of advertising. It’s your job to craft a message that will appeal to your audience with the hopes of persuading them into conducting business with your company. Whatever that action may be, you must create engaging ad copy to attract business.
Technology is not as welcome in the marketing industry as it should be. However, machine learning, and other technologies like it, are not here to replace marketers. They are here to help you. While you are busy experimenting with multiple different ad copies, machines are scouring the internet, collecting data to help you find the most important trends in your ads. You want to create the right ads for the right audiences. Machines help you narrow in on the ads you should focus on.
However, that’s virtually impossible without the help of machine learning. By showing them what to look for and what to do once they find your answers, you are better able to focus your energy on creating the most engaging and successful ads you can imagine.
