Predictive Marketing

Chapter 15An Overview of Predictive (and Related) Marketing Technology

You have three options if you want to build the technical capabilities outlined in Chapter 14: (1) build predictive models yourself using a predictive analytics workbench and somehow import these models into your campaign management tools, (2) outsource predictive analytics-powered campaigns to a marketing service provider, or (3) evaluate and buy a predictive marketing solution, such as a predictive marketing cloud or a multichannel campaign management tool. We will look at the pros and cons of each of these three options and also discuss related technologies, which may claim some predictive analytics capabilities.

Do-It-Yourself Predictive Marketing

Predictive marketing technologies have existed for many years in the form of modeling tools such as SAS, SPSS, and Matlab. Many large companies, ranging from Netflix, Amazon, or Best Buy, to many companies in travel and telecommunications have teams of data scientists who use these workbench-type products to develop predictive algorithms.

However, utilizing these tools has several important drawbacks: before you can use a predictive analytics workbench tool, you first need to translate your business requirements into technical requirements that data scientists could turn into algorithms. Most marketers are ill equipped to do this, and may not be able to accomplish this task without the help of external consultants. In some ways, you have to reinvent the wheel. ...