The Rise of Automation: Marketer v Machine

AI and Automation technology have been widely used in the marketing platform and is only set to evolve and grow. The rise of performance automation puts a threat on the paid media specialists responsible for creating and implementing electronic communication campaigns, and management of the accounts on the internet platforms.

Google introduced Performance Mix last year, which is a campaign type that takes creative, audience signals and conversion targets and serves them across all their platforms such as Youtube, Gmail, display and search. Although this launch by Google can be seen to be relatively new, it is not to be ignored. The main focus here is the ability to serve ads across their full ecosystem, while not giving out information about where those ads have been served. Including a search in which they wouldn’t give you a search term report to analyse.  

Performance marketers need to make decisions, on whether to fight the machine or find a way to work alongside strategies. 

This being said, it doesn’t mean the end for traditional search campaigns, not yet. Google will still prioritise keywords that match queries inside of traditional search campaigns. This shift focuses on creativity, audience and data. Performance marketers will need to adapt by moving away from micro optimisations to an audience-first approach. The value is how to better use data, target the right audience and serve impactful ads.

Despite the advancement of Performance Automation, it is only as good as the data fed into the machine. Using the wrong conversion point can result in automation driving result that doesn’t align with business objectives and outcome. Strategically integrating and analysing broader data sets will enable businesses to measure true marketing effectiveness. 

It’s important to not disregard the importance of creativity in digital marketing. While end users might not care for the cutting-edge technology used to serve an ad at perfect timing, they will care about the message being conveyed and whether it speaks to them. Paid media specialists have to move away from a micro-optimisation approach to an audience-first approach, making better usage of data, targeting the right audience and serving impactful ads as the main focus. So, even with the rise of automation machines, the human element of this equation is more valued than ever. 

To learn more on how to take advantage of this rise in performance automation, get in touch with an ADMATICian today.