AI Is Making 'Data Geeks' The Popular People At The Party

No matter how hard you may try, you cannot get away from conversations about AI nowadays. Even when you are not expecting them to pop up, they pop up. They just happen! I'm spending more time talking with R2 Media clients and agency partners about Gen AI than you can imagine. And for that reason, I am spending more time with data partners, than I am with anyone else, Today, data geeks are "the it crowd."

R2 Media started working with AI three years ago. Like most agencies, we dipped our toe in the proverbial water.

We started with Administration tools... and when they worked out for us, we broadened .our usage to include tools in Operations, Human Resources, and Finance. In the back half of 2024 and throughout 2025 we will be broadening our usage even more to include Market Research, Data Analytics and Analysis, Copywriting and Image Generation -- and data is the foundation of all of these tools. That's why I am spending more time with data partners today, than I am with channel partners and media partners -- and that is shocking to me.

What has happended with AI over the last year or two is nothing short of remarkable.

I believe, by the end of 2024, in five short months, R2 Media's marketing efforts will be powered by AI tools, almost entirely. There are great tools available today to deal with Marketing Analytics, Personalized Marketing and Context-Aware Marketing. All of these AI systems learn from, analyze, and measure. They will all mine deeply into customer data to find organizational opportunities. AI will drive our top line, while always strengthening our bottome line. It almost sounds too good to be true.

Will we need a "human in the loop?" Of course! We always will. But, will our processes be more refined, will our team be more productive? You bet.

Everytime we add new AI tools to our operation we learn a bunch. That's why I am very deliberate with the order in which we roll out new AI initiatives.

R2 Media's Data and Tech Stack are both near and dear to my heart, and vital to the future of our organization. And that's why we will not begin the process of integrating AI to those all-important pieces of our ecosystem until January 2025. To be clear, AI will enhance both our data and technology offerings -- with things like data labeling, data transformation and data visualization tools and knowledge management products -- but I am a believer in the proverb good things come to those who wait.

While I am a big believer in AI and believe it will bring about big change in business in the year's ahead. I am not sure I can get behind it when it comes to Sales and Customer Service. Call analytics might be interesting and all, but when you call R2 Media I am always going to want to have someone answering your call.

So if you are not thinking about AI today, for your business' sake you should start.

And while you are thinking about AI, start strengthening the quality and readiness of your data. Because all AI use cases will be grounded in data, and if your data isn't up to the task, that will be that. The other thing you should begin doing immediately is start protecting whatever data you have.

If this all seems to be a bit daunting for you,.. head on out to a party this weekend and see who the popular people are. Those people will be the "data geeks" and your. probably going to need one or two of them on your team.