How To Use AI In Marketing

• Hugh O'Neal
• October 31, 2022

Industry leaders worldwide are using artificial intelligence to expand their business with marketing technology. Whether analyzing consumer interests and data, making sales decisions, social media campaigns, or other applications, artificial intelligence is changing how we understand marketing in many industries. Let’s talk about the latest ways companies may use these powerful tools to achieve their goals.

The definition of artificial intelligence marketing

Artificial intelligence marketing uses customer data and AI concepts such as machine learning to predict your customer’s next move and improve the client’s journey. AI has changed digital marketing and reduced the risk of human error when optimizing advertising campaigns. To truly connect with customers, you still need a human touch, especially regarding compassion, empathy, and storytelling. However, when we speak about certain aspects of marketing, such as predictive analytics and digital advertising, AI is capable of incredible things. For instance, when your goal is to understand the needs of your customers and match them with relevant products or services, this is where AI shines. Suppose you don’t consider adopting artificial intelligence, your brand risks being left behind. Your competitors will apply artificial intelligence strategies to improve their business results, allowing them to increase sales, improve customer retention, and launch new products more efficiently.

Main components of AI in marketing

Artificial intelligence plays a vital role in helping marketers interact with consumers. The following elements of AI marketing make up today’s cutting-edge solutions that help bridge the gap between the massive amounts of collected customer data and the next steps digital marketers can take in their successful campaigns.

Machine learning

Machine learning is driven by artificial intelligence, which includes computer algorithms that may analyze information and automatically improve experience-based digital marketing campaigns. Devices that use machine learning analyze new data in the context of relevant historical data, which can inform digital advertising campaigns based on what worked or didn’t work in the past.

Big data and analytics

The advent of digital media has triggered an influx of «big data» that has provided digital marketers with the ability to understand their efforts and pinpoint value across channels. It has also led to a data glut as many digital marketers struggle to determine which datasets are worth collecting. AI marketing helps analyze all this data at the speed of light, filtering it down to the essentials and not only analyzing it but also recommending the best elements for future digital campaigns.

Leading platforms and AI tools

Robust AI-based marketing solutions provide digital marketers with a central platform to manage the vast amounts of data they collect. These AI platforms can collect valuable marketing insights from your target audience so you can make data-driven decisions about how to reach them. For example, Bayesian learning and forgetting frameworks can help marketers understand ​​how receptive a customer is to specific digital marketing efforts.

Advantages of artificial intelligence in marketing

There are many AI marketing tools designed specifically for business sales that enable vendors to take advantage of the power of personalization, machine learning, and more. From AI-powered workflows to automated next-best-action features, AI is helping companies solve challenges:

• Campaign payback: with AI technology, marketers can better predict the performance of data and campaigns. They can then make suggestions on how to optimize these campaigns to achieve the highest ROI.
• More informed decisions: data integration automation replaces manual processing, enabling faster, real-time decision-making. The goal is to get helpful customer information quickly.
• Improved customer relationships and real-time personalization: AI helps deliver personalized messages to customers at appropriate points in the consumer lifecycle.
• Marketing metrics: the ability to track campaigns’ performance can significantly impact your ROI. Artificial intelligence helps track the results of countless customer touchpoints, supporting campaign optimization.

AI marketing tools also significantly reduce the risk of data misinterpretation, support optimal data integration, and eliminate data silos. An AI marketing tool is software that uses AI technology to automate decision-making based on collected data.

Challenges facing AI marketing

Modern marketing connects with a deep understanding of the needs and preferences of customers, as well as the ability to act quickly and effectively following this knowledge. The ability to come to real-time data-driven decisions has brought AI-driven choices to the forefront for stakeholders. However, marketing teams must be astute when deciding how best to integrate AI into their campaigns and operations.

• Teaching time and data quality: AI marketing tools do not automatically know actions to take to achieve marketing goals. They need time and training, just like people, to learn organizational goals, customer preferences, and historical trends, understand the overall context and gain experience. Suppose your AI marketing tools are not trained to use high-quality data that is accurate, timely, and representative. In such cases, you may end up with wrong data-driven decisions that don’t reflect consumer desires. It will make your shiny new AI tool nothing more than a toy.
• Confidentiality: consumers and regulators are cracking down on how organizations use their data. Digital marketing teams must ensure they use consumer data ethically and follow standards such as the GDPR when implementing an AI marketing strategy; otherwise, they risk severe fines and reputational damage. Suppose your AI tools are not explicitly programmed to comply with specific legal regulations. In that case, they may go beyond what is considered acceptable in using consumer data to personalize marketing.
• Deployment considerations: because AI marketing is a new tool in the digital marketer’s toolbox, there are no standard best practices yet to guide teams on the initial rollout. Every digital team needs to consider the long-term implications of implementing an AI marketing strategy, not just the short-term benefits they can reap.

With the advent of AI marketing, day-to-day operations have experienced disruptions. Marketers must evaluate what jobs they need to create and replace. One study found that nearly 6 out of every ten current marketing and analyst positions will be replaced by marketing technology.

Features of using artificial intelligence in marketing

When using AI in marketing campaigns and operations, starting with a thorough plan is essential. It will enable teams to minimize costly hassles and get the most out of their AI investment in the least amount of time. Before implementing any AI tools, digital marketers should consider a few key factors:

• Set goals: as with any program, it is essential to set clear goals and marketing analytics for your AI marketing program from the start. Start by identifying areas in campaigns or operations that could be improved, such as segmentation. Then set clear KPIs to help show how successful your AI marketing campaign was.
• Data privacy standards: at the start of your new program, ensure your AI marketing platform does not cross the line of acceptable data use in the name of data personalization. Make sure privacy standards are set and programmed into your AI platforms.
• Acquire talent in data science: many marketing teams lack employees with the necessary knowledge of data science and artificial intelligence, making it challenging to work with vast amounts of data and provide insights. To start AI programs from scratch, organizations should partner with third parties that can help collect and analyze data.
• Check data quality: as machine learning and AI programs consume more data, they will learn to make accurate and efficient decisions. However, if the data fed into your AI program is not standardized and error-free, the findings will not be valuable and may lead to decisions that hurt your bottom line instead of helping it.
• Create an integrated AI strategy: most digital marketers find their AI tools are especially effective when combined with their existing marketing strategy rather than used as a standalone tactic. AI tools open up opportunities to streamline marketing strategy steps that can currently be labor-intensive, such as data analysis, or risk inaccuracy, such as attribution.

By implementing AI to fill blind spots, digital marketers can use these powerful, forward-thinking techniques to take their marketing to a higher level and build on the foundation of effective digital marketing practices they have used. Choosing the best platform is an essential step in starting an AI program. Marketers must be astute in identifying the gaps the platform is trying to fill and select solutions based on capabilities.

Some examples of implementing AI in marketing

If you haven’t considered the possibilities of AI for marketing yet, now is the time to learn more. We’ve put together a few options for how AI can improve the activities of the marketing department to help you get started:

• Data analysis: collecting and sifting through large volumes of data from various campaigns and programs that would otherwise have to be sorted manually.
• Natural language processing (NLP): creating the human-like language for content creation, customer service bots, experience personalization, and more.
• Media buying: predicting the most effective advertising and media placements for a business to reach the target audience and maximize the ROI of a marketing strategy.
• Automated decision-making: AI tools help businesses decide which marketing or business growth strategy they should use based on past data or input from outside.
• Content generation: writing short and long pieces of content for marketing strategies such as video captions, email subject lines, web copy, blogs, etc.
• Real-time personalization: modifying a customer’s interaction with a marketing asset such as a web page, social media post, or email according to the customer’s past preferences to entice them to take a particular action, such as clicking on a link, subscribing to something either or purchasing a product.

While AI marketing holds great promise, we encourage CMOs to be realistic about their current capabilities. Despite the hype, AI can only perform narrow tasks, not the entire marketing function or process. However, it already provides marketers with significant benefits and is essential for some activities, and its capabilities are rapidly growing. Specialists believe that AI will eventually change marketing, but it will take decades.