Decode by Paramore is today's song of choice!
Paramore might be a bit too pop for some, but they have produced some crackers. And, Twilight aside, I have to admit that Decode is a tune that’s tricky not to sing along to.
The marketing link is a little tenuous but here we go, bear with me…
Firstly, ‘Decoding’ data in marketing is essential to make the most of customer specific knowledge like demographics, previous behaviour and user personas.
But specifically, the title of this song makes me think of algorithms.
Have you ever done some research into what new toothbrush to buy, and the next day it feels like every website you visit is dental themed?
The sudden increase in adverts for toothpaste or whitening are not there by coincidence.
Used broadly, an “algorithm” refers to a sequence of steps or rules implemented to produce a specific outcome from a set of inputs.. Yeesh!
Basically, certain actions trigger certain other actions automatically. Search toothbrush, get sent toothpaste ads.
It’s waaaay more complicated than that, of course, but you get the gist.
Algorithms have a wide variety of uses in marketing from data visualisation tools and predictive analysis to tracking and measuring customer behaviour.
With the right data available, algorithms can automate these ongoing decisions at scale in order to reduce wasted time, money and mistakes - to ensure you see the maximum return on investment.
This means better decisions are made faster.
But they are not the be all and end all. Algorithms can’t predict how certain contextual factors such as current mood and the weather will affect people's purchasing decisions.
After all, humans are more than just their data - they are harder to decode, and rightly so.
So, inject the human into the algorithm and encourage human interaction at key customer decisions and experience points.