There’s a huge degree of inconsistency in the marketing world. Traditional leadership is beginning to see trouble on the horizon. Instead of opening the windows, they are battening down the hatches. Check out most corporate leadership profiles on LinkedIn and you will see either nothing at all or 500+ connections, very few of which are OUTSIDE their own organization. This is a statement, is it not? Unfortunately, the message is: “We don’t know what to do or how to do it.”
Several recent Twitter chats and LinkedIn conversations have turned focus on the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Customer Experience, and Value Propositions. At the same time, posts about new, up-and-coming social media platforms are diminishing in frequency. The other day I took a step back (while taking a few steps forward on the treadmill.) “What is the impetus for this transition?” Why have the conversations about social platforms evolved to IoT and AI?
People are settling into micro-communities (tribes) of other individuals who share complementary worldviews. In other words, they are at parties with the people they get along with. As a result, the content shock Mark W. Schaefer refers to in his book “The Content Code” is a condition that is intensifying daily, causing random marketing messages designed to get the attention of potential buyers to fade, even get tuned out, because members of those communities are fitting themselves with earbuds. They are only listening for the messages THEY wish to hear. It’s happening, folks, but where is all of this headed?
A few months back, I consulted a local programming team about designing a Tinder-like professional services matching app. (No, no , NO…not THAT KIND of professional services!) The idea was to provide a way for consumers to identify and connect with providers who were more compatible to their worldviews than those who have historically been randomly assigned by lead distribution systems utilized by most organizations. I’m glad I didn’t waste the four grand…. I think search is going to do this automatically in the near future. If you’ve got a second, I’ll be happy to explain how what we already have available is possibly going to evolve in a manner that will fulfill this vision, and change marketing forever in the process.
Three months ago, I listened to a “Nobody Likes It Cold” podcast which featured Drew D’Agostino, creator of CrystalKnows.com. You can catch it here. Two days later, I subscribed to the platform. If you are unfamiliar with what Crystal does, you really need to log on and see for yourself. Allow me to use it as an analogy for how the next few months may very well be a defining period in marketing history.
Crystal has integrated DISC to assess compatibility between individuals, then provides e-mail/communication templates through LI, FB, Twitter, GMail, and Outlook to boost the effectiveness of the exchanges. It also provides the degree of compatibility between two people. For example, it told me last week that a person I was considering interacting with shared only a 16% compatibility rating with me, going on to state that we would “have difficulty getting along.” I didn’t pursue communications with that person.
Now let’s take this Crystal example one step further: Have you ever used LinkedIn search? If so, you know that when you search an organization, you also get a list of people, sometimes 1st, 2nd and 3rd-degree connections, inside that organization, right? (When you look at the screen, the main search page features the company, but there is also a box to the right side of the screen that lists the number of connections you have on the inside.) Until Crystal arrived on the scene, there was no way of determining the compatibility between the people in those results and the individual searching for information. But wait: It gets better…
Monitoring IBM and others in recent Tweet chats indicates an uptick in the development and integration of AI and IoT on the immediate horizon. I asked a few good influencer friends this week if it was possible for search to utilize AI to assess the overwhelming amount of consumer data in a way that segments individuals into infinite categories (rather than just the 6 or 8 most organizations seem to believe exist). If so, was it then possible to add in an element of IoT, such as wearables, to acquire physiological responses to situations before, during and after the buying process. Finally, if this could actually happen, would the search THEN be able to match that consumer to not only a brand but a rep based on compatibility of worldviews, emotional and physiological support factors in a way that maximizes the customer experience through this matching process? Let’s just say I wasn’t told “no”.
Let’s recap, shall we?
First start with LinkedIn search.
Next add Crystal.
Finally, integrate AI and IoT.
Voila! Customers are matched by search to relevant brands and reps based on ORGANIC content (as Google has been leaning toward for a few years).
Here’s the kicker: Reps and brands who have been inactive or who are doing it wrong are deemed irrelevant… Or worse…
Invisible.
