Marketing analytics in the age of machine learning

Machine learning presents unique challenges and tremendous opportunities for today’s marketer, and while many applications have already become common practice, the future holds exciting use cases, some of which are in development and others yet to be imagined. Leveraging the vast amount of data available in the exhaust stream of digital marketing and advertising, and coupling this with almost limitless data storage and processing capacity, the move from rules-based to intelligent analysis is driving efficiencies across a number of marketing initiatives and capabilities. From intelligent bidding and the serving of advertisements across the most common digital channels to advanced segmentation, audience creation, attribution and more, machine learning has already established itself across a large and complex marketing ecosystem. Recent applications in purchase intent and churn modelling, data-driven retargeting and even data-driven creative are using machine learning to provide competitive advantage now and into the future.