Predicting the future of predictive advertising: Sunny Nagpal

Men of character don’t wink at each and every girl they come across. For, in exchange, one may get a welcome smile if liked otherwise a slap. The businesses today, working on the same principles were slapped more often than smiled at looked at R&D analysts for help. The businesses including the new wave online ones have so far been making efforts to develop their procedures to make available their products to all irrespective of their likings and requirements. The online marketing websites are lined up like establishments in an online e-mall or market place and the different visitors (not necessarily customers) visited their sites and moved on. This resulted in more efforts on the part of customers, and with reduced probability waste of efforts and profits for businesses.

The research analysts dug up history. They found that the digital world moved on wings and the customers were too smart now. The businesses had to be smarter than their customers to catch them. They realized that instead of dreaming it was time now to wake up and act to create future. This gave birth to predictive advertising – the next generation of advertising. With this the marketing has now been pushed into a new era where the customer is observed minutely under the microscope of purchasing trends and buying patterns to monitor the behaviour of customer. The objective is to find out customer’s requirements even before he knows himself. This involves few steps:

1)Data collection- Digital Media has brought the businesses closer to the customers so that the possible customers can be approached to convert them. The deep database can be collected across multiple channels e.g. social sites, emails, websites etc. The key parameters for this depend upon the goals like whether improvement of sales or introduction of new products.  

2) Model:  The data collected is processed collectively through computer models and analysed to achieve goals. Facts analysed include how customers will behave in future, when and how much will they spend and things they are likely to purchase.

3) Data scientists generate algorithms to provide offers. Instead of targeting customers for their old requirements they are targeted for their future needs. The businesses with the processing minds prepare a ghost image of the personality of each customer based on the information gathered from social sites and his other activities on internet. As the data base increases this ghost image becomes more and more defined with time till a stage when their predictions become very precise.

This can be further clarified through a comparison with the conventional predictor- Astrology. The factors like financial status, geo-location, age group, urban etc. influence consumer behaviour like a planet in astrology. The major difference is in astrology we read future whereas in predictive advertising we write future for consumer’s preferences.

So beware you are being watched? No, relax and sit back, for someone is taking care of your needs in advance like a mother. Businesses are benefitted as ads to wrong persons and at wrong time are avoided. The ad resources are used more effectively and the campaigns are more efficient. Predictive advertising helps businesses in improving the products and services for better profits and growth and at the same time satisfying their customers. A life with less traffic jams, less rain detentions, lesser promises broken, better social circle, convenient shopping online or offline, effective election campaigns are few examples of how predictive advertising is already busy in shaping our lives.

There is no doubt that the predictive advertising is all set to revolutionize the marketing and therefore our life. But when? This can be done by predicting future of the future predicting predictive advertising. Data from our past history of advertising reveal that previously the marketing was based on traditional procedures without any control over the situation and therefore the success rate. Through predictive advertising they caught the unaware customer blindfolded about their strategies. Now the only roadblock ahead for predictive advertising is privacy concern. Once the people come to know that the shadow or ghost image they had been fearing, may be as a spy sent by their wives, was none other than their well-wisher companion—an angel ready to help them out of their problems at every corner- then they will use it more willingly. And the more we accept this concept the more accurate will be the predictions with increased database and the more useful will be the services of businesses.

An ideal situation for the predictive advertising could be there when customers will cross the privacy barrier and voluntarily fill up a KYC giving all information about them and their activities to obtain some specific services from the service providers. Technology is a slave of human mind and can be used for good or evil. But something that is certain is the predictive advertising will take us to a world of fantasy and there is no escape.

(Sunny Nagpal is Co-founder of Httpool India, a seasoned manager and a digital advertising specialist with extensive experience in Digital Media. He is a Management Post Graduate and IT Graduate.)

 

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