We Don’t Use AI to Replace Strategy. We Use It to See What Humans Can’t See at Scale

We call these early behavioral indicators ProtoSignals™. A ProtoSignal™ is a behavioral pattern that may indicate a consumer is beginning to move toward a relevant need, problem, interest or decision before that intent becomes explicit. 

One action by itself may mean very little. A single article read, topic explored or piece of content consumed doesn’t necessarily indicate meaningful intent. Patterns of behavior can tell a different story. MarketStorm’s algorithms are designed to identify and interpret those patterns, looking for changes that may indicate passive relevance is beginning to become active intent. 

This gives MarketStorm an opportunity to enter the consumer journey earlier, while consideration and preferences are still developing. ProtoSignals™ help us recognize intent before the consumer necessarily expresses it through an obvious action such as a search or website visit. 

The ability to customize intelligence becomes particularly important when a company operates across multiple markets. 

National marketing often assumes that consumers who fit the same audience definition will behave similarly regardless of where they live. In practice, markets can be remarkably different. Competition changes. Weather changes. Economics change. Culture changes. Seasonality changes. Consumer needs change. Even the behaviors that indicate emerging intent can differ from one market to another.

MarketStorm’s technology allows us to maintain the advantages of a larger intelligence system while looking at the market at much greater local resolution. A franchise organization, multi-location company or national brand does not necessarily need to choose between national scale and local relevance. 

The larger strategy can remain consistent while the intelligence adapts to what is happening within individual markets. 

Knowing something about a consumer isn’t the same as knowing what that consumer needs. Someone may be a homeowner for 20 years but need a new roof only once. Someone may fit the demographic profile for a fitness program but have no current interest in joining one. Someone may have the income to purchase a luxury product but no reason to consider it today. 

Demographics help answer questions about who someone is. MarketStorm’s algorithms are designed to help answer a different question:

What is their behavior telling us 
right now? 

That shift from identity toward behavior is central to the MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™. The objective is not to abandon demographic, geographic or contextual information. It is to combine those forms of information with dynamic behavioral intelligence so we can better understand when a consumer may be becoming relevant. 

Identifying intent is only the beginning. Once a relevant consumer enters the MarketStorm ecosystem, the next challenge is continuing to understand and influence that consumer as they move across channels, devices and moments. 

This is the thinking behind JourneyIQ™. Rather than assuming consumers follow a predictable funnel, JourneyIQ™ reflects the reality that people research, encounter brands, reconsider, compare, move between environments and return to the process repeatedly. Intent creates opportunities for influence, and influence can change subsequent intent.