Technology is changing search, from voice response to artificial intelligence, but brands still need to focus on the basics of data and user experience, said Ian Daniels, Head of Digital at Yard Digital.
An excess of technology can be “quite overwhelming” for marketers reviewing all the vendors in the market, Daniels told Velocitize Talks. “Brands still need that guiding hand” to help them build their martech platforms, but their agency relationships need to evolve.
As technology around marketing and search engines evolves, some constants remain. “It comes down to getting your foundations right,” he said.
Machine learning is having an effect on SEO and “we’re seeing very clever applications” that learn from consumers’ behavior and react in real time. “It feels like that will become baked into user experience design.”
“It’s always been about starting with the web behavioral data.”
Creativity is powerful, but it needs to be grounded in some facts, said Daniels. That’s where data comes in. A data-driven strategy can cut through all the gut checks.
Personalization and new technologies have changed the ways brands engage clients. Social media made brands realize they had to communicate across channels. User experience is a priority now, said Daniels: “It’s humanizing all the customer touch points.”
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