Just imagine what your business could accomplish if you could predict the future. You could funnel all your resources into sure-winning strategies. And you could avoid the lackluster results of a campaign that failed to hit the mark.
For too long, brands have focused on investing in third-party cookies to improve marketing results. But in a world where consumer privacy concerns are overtaking a company’s need to know, something must change. Marketing strategies need to rely on gathering permission to collect first-party data, then use it to their advantage.
Enter, predictive marketing. With it, companies first gather data from their customers. Then, they use it to predict future behavior and implement strategies that make best use of that analysis.
Don’t look at the crumbling of third-party cookies as the death of your brand’s marketing efforts. AI and machine learning are making predictive analytics the next best and, indeed, better thing in marketing. Here’s how it can transform your strategies now and into the foreseeable future.
Your Brand’s Messaging Will Be More Informed
Think about how much you know about a friend or colleague. What you know about them informs your interactions with them. For example, asking tea-totaling pals out for coffee will yield a far better response than asking them out for cocktails.
The significance of predictive audiences is the same. You gather information about customers and use AI and machine learning to analyze that information. When you design marketing strategies with that kind of intel, they’re far more likely to hit the mark.
You’ll discover what your audience likes and dislikes, how they buy and when — from your customers themselves. That means you skip all the guesswork of third-party hypotheses. Instead, your messaging will begin to engage them in a far more intimate way. And that bodes well for the success of your efforts.
What you offer and when you offer it to predictive audiences become far more fact than conjecture. Your customers will feel like you know them personally because you’re speaking their language. And you’ll know whether to ask them to join you for coffee, cocktails, or both.
You Can Focus on High-Value Targets
Predictive analytics uses data about your existing customers to segment your audience. In turn, you gain insight into what types of offers you should make to certain segments. The next logical step is to tailor your content to them accordingly.
Third-party cookies tend to create audience monoliths when, in fact, audiences are incredibly diverse. Not only that, but their wants and whims can turn on a dime. Predicting those pivots keeps you one step ahead rather than trying to keep up.
When you gain that insight, adjusting your marketing strategies to target high-value customers first is a natural step. After all, only 20% of first-time buyers ever make a second purchase. So, pouring more of your brand’s marketing resources into repeat buyers makes dollars and sense.
Remember too that predictive audiences tell you when they tend to buy. Adding that information to your brand’s mix of campaigns, specials, and discounts is a winner. Know who your high-value customers are and adjust your strategies to play to their strengths. Then, watch your success rates rise.
Prospect With Greater Confidence
Of course, in addition to retaining the customers you already have, your marketing strategy will include prospecting efforts. Cutting the same pie into more pieces isn’t the path to brand success. Having more pies to choose from, and picking the right ones, is.
Adjusting your marketing strategies to predictive audience information will improve your prospecting results. Until now, your brand strategies have likely relied on lookalike audiences built with third-party cookies. While some of the underlying principles of lookalike and predictive audiences are similar, they aren’t the same.
With either, you’re using historical data to predict behavior. With lookalike audiences, that data is largely demographics, such as age and gender. Predictive audience data takes a much deeper dive into current customers, which helps identify a much stronger pool of prospects.
For example, Mary’s age and gender may look like most of your brand’s customers. But throw in data like Mary’s interest in similar products and buying habits and she’s a far better prospect. With this information, you can recruit with confidence.
Adjust Strategies and Save Money
What if you could save money on your marketing investments by using predictive audiences? You can. And that’s just one more feather in the cap of this marketing strategy.
Predictive analytics allows you to more accurately target both customers and prospects. That means you’re throwing far fewer dollars into strategies that may or may not work. While your marketing investments aren’t a “sure thing,” their success is far more probable.
Take pay-per-click ads, for example. The likelihood that you’re reaching more people who are going to click improves outcomes and your rate of return. Moreover, predictive strategies will lower your cost to convert prospects to customers and first-timer buyers to regulars.
Finally, don’t forget that predictive audience strategies don’t rely on third-party cookies you have to purchase from someone else. Plus, spending hours manually sorting through and analyzing data is out as well. AI and machine learning can do all that heavy lifting.
Transform Your Brand’s Success
Now that you know a little about the prowess of predictive audiences, you’ll probably want to learn more. The irony is that as you research this topic, many sources will ask you to accept third-party cookies. Just remember that those are being ushered out the door.
Predictive analytics isn’t the future of brand marketing. That future has arrived. Take advantage of it, adjust your strategies to capitalize on it, and transform your brand’s success.