At the end of July, we were very fortunate to be invited by Google to spend the day at their new premises in Melbourne. The size and avant-garde design of the building and offices were what we’d come to expect; the presenters and staff were warm, welcoming and highly professional; and the catering and hospitality, nothing short of impressive!
Lots of ‘digital advertising learnings’ were on the agenda. As an ice-breaker, we got into some of the progress happening right now and the challenges facing Machine Learning Technology. One of which is the attached featured image. Despite major advancements and sophisticated technology, similarities between some objects as opposed to faces still have the cognitive capabilities of machines challenged! Here is one of the biggest challenges: Muffin or Chihuahua; who would have thought?
Similar to a car capable of adapting its gearing and driveability according to driving habits, machine learning services are not just about defining the name, title or noun of an object or person, but about providing you with search results and targeted advertisements based on your internet search habits? Why?… because consumers do not always buy from the very first visit to a website; in fact, often, not on the same day of the first interaction. Think about yourself; just because you ended up on someone’s website does not mean that you are going to hire their services or buy their products “right now / at the very first visit!”
So how many of us marketing executives would have faced this statement? “My ad went live today and the money came out of my account, but I haven’t seen any conversions, yet!” Well, “are your ads appearing at the top of searches for what you do and in the regions that you service?…” If the answer is yes, until enough data is collated about ‘customer paths’ via the ‘attribution’ section of the Google Ads console, the marketing executive’s job thus far has been fulfilled; HOWEVER, additionally, what happens in the next quarter should be analysed.
If you want to know more about growing your business intelligently through using your search data (not just clicks!) by: Identifying your Audience – Re-Engaging the Interested Ones – to Expand Growth via Conversion, click here!