Brent Csutoras will be speaking on Futurism at Engage 2018, which will take place March 8th, 2018 in Portland, Oregon. For more information or to purchase tickets, please click here.
1) Please give us your background and let us know what you do for a living.
My background is heavily in social media, where I was lucky enough to be one of the first people using social media as a marketing tactic back in 2006. As social media was very close to SEO initially, I have a pretty good background in SEO as well, being a Google Alpha Tester and one of the owners of Search Engine Journal. Right now, I am CMO and Managing Partner at PeakActivity, as well as an owner of Search Engine Journal.
2) How do you see AI impacting Search Marketing?
AI has been impacting Search Marketing since even before Rankbrain was a talking point, but ultimately I think the biggest challenge for Search Marketing when it comes to AI, is that you likely will have little ability to optimize for it. As Google and other engines gather more and more channels of information, it becomes harder and harder to optimize the way that information is being used. What marketers will have to focus on more, is moving away from tactics and towards quality and influence.. something leading marketers and even the search engines have been harping about for over almost a decade. Focus on quality, the customer experience, what people really want, the stories you tell, and you will find more success in an AI infused marketing world, than if you just focus on single path tactics.
3) As a futurist, what’s your take on Alexa / Google Home and what those products represent as an evolution towards more complex interactions with machines?
We are definitely at a point where everyone wants to use voice assistant technology, but the technology is not far enough along to really satisfy everyone. Similar to how we used to search Google back in the day, with pointed short phrases, we are using Google Home and Alexa in a very specific and often minimal way. Over time, the progression of technology will evolve beyond asking for temperature updates and to turn a light on or off, but for now it is still a very small number of people using this technology at that level.
I do think it is a huge step towards teaching people that there is a way to speak your commands and get an answer, it will probably take another 5 years until it becomes an integrated way of life, but don’t get me wrong.. the technology and adoption of it are coming.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.