Welcome back to our MAICON 2021 speaker series. We’re introducing you to our speakers, telling you a little about why they’ll be at MAICON, what resonated with us in articles or resources of theirs, and how to connect with them prior to the event.
Christopher S. Penn is an authority on analytics, digital marketing, marketing technology, data science, and machine learning. A recognized thought leader, best-selling author, and keynote speaker, he has shaped five key fields in the marketing industry: Google Analytics adoption, data-driven marketing and PR, modern email marketing, marketing data science, and artificial intelligence/machine learning in marketing.
As co-founder and Chief Data Scientist of Trust Insights, he is responsible for the creation of products and services, creation and maintenance of all code and intellectual property, technology and marketing strategy, brand awareness, and research and development.
Penn is a 2021, four-time IBM Champion in IBM Data and AI, a Brand24 Top 100 Digital Marketer, an Onalytica Top 100 AI in Marketing influencer, and co-host of the award-winning Marketing Over Coffee marketing podcast.
Prior to co-founding Trust Insights, he built the marketing for a series of startups with a 100% successful exit rate in the financial services, SaaS software, and public relations industries. His work has served brands such as Twitter, T-Mobile, Citrix Systems, GoDaddy, AAA, McDonald’s, and many others.
Penn is an IBM Watson Machine Learning Certified Professional, a Google Analytics Certified Professional, a Google Ads Certified Professional, a Google Digital Sales Certified Professional, and a HubSpot Inbound Certified Professional. He is the author of over two dozen marketing books including bestsellers such as AI for Marketers: A Primer and Introduction, Marketing White Belt: Basics for the Digital Marketer, Marketing Red Belt: Connecting With Your Creative Mind, Marketing Blue Belt: From Data Zero to Marketing Hero, and Leading Innovation.
Some of Christopher Penn's Work
What Is The Difference Between Analysis and Insight?
An excerpt: A really good analysis can provoke someone to create their own insights in their mind. A really clear analysis gets your thinking going, because you don’t need to spend any brain power trying to understand the analysis. It’s clear from the moment you look at it what happened, and thus your brain immediately goes to, “Okay, why, and what do we do next?”
Why we like it: In this article, Chris dissects the difference between analysis and insight. In short, “analysis tells us what happened, while insight tells us why.” As marketers, gathering data on content and customers (manually or autonomously) isn’t enough. We must ask the data meaningful questions to make sense of what we’re seeing—this is why human intervention in AI is still so important.
Marketing Over Coffee: That Marketing Java Guys Show
An excerpt: In this podcast episode, Chris and his co-host John cover a range of topics, including the use of audio deepfakes in the new documentary, “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.” In the film, AI-generated audio clips are used to mimic Bourdain reading emails, previously written by himself. Chris notes that using AI-generated audio is relatively ethical so long as the content was the person’s original thought, and a disclaimer is included somewhere. The use of this deepfake spurred larger conversations surrounding the ethical implications of using synthetic audio.
Why we like it: While deepfakes are nothing new, this may be one of the first larger instances where we see AI-generated audio acknowledged by the wider public. Anytime AI is used, especially to mimic someone else, content creators must consider the potential ethical consequences. How does this recreation of loved ones affect the grieving and healing process? Does it accurately reflect the person it’s mimicking?
How to Connect with Audiences Through Content Marketing
An excerpt: Leigh asks, “What is your best advice for building connections with audiences through content marketing?” Make content that’s valuable to them. That’s it. Look, nothing makes a connection to someone else like saying, hey, I made you this thing that’s helpful and useful to you, and I made it thinking about what you need. It’s a gift. Please enjoy.
Why we like it: Chris makes a point in this post that most marketers probably won’t want to hear: “As marketers, we are professionally selfish people.” Many marketers today worry more about the interests of their organization than those of the customers they’re serving. But through data-driven content marketing, you have the opportunity to care less about your needs and more about addressing the pain points of your customers.
Learn More About Christopher Penn
- Follow Christopher on Twitter.
- Follow Christopher on LinkedIn.
- Purchase and read AI for Marketers: A Primer and Introduction.
- Subscribe to the Marketing Over Coffee podcast.
Christopher Penn's Keynote Panel at MAICON
How to Think About Natural Language Processing and Generation in Marketing
The language we use as people communicating with each other is rich and filled with valuable information and insights, but few marketers ever harness even a fraction of the potential. It's like having a gold mine underneath you and all you own is a garden trowel.
In this keynote from Trust Insights Chief Data Scientist Christopher Penn, discover how marketers can tap into the power of language using AI and machine learning. You'll learn:
- The different kinds of natural language processing and generation
- What tools are available today commercially and what's cutting edge
- Practical applications and examples of natural language processing in marketing
- A framework for adopting natural language processing in your marketing
This talk is foundational, and appropriate for marketers with limited technical experience. While examples will be shown that involve code, you won't need to be able to code (or even read code) to follow along.
Join us at MAICON 2021 on September 13-14, 2021 to hear Chris and 20+ other AI and marketing leaders. BLOG20 saves 20% off current prices.