Authors: Digital Marketing students – Aml, Jacqueline, Julia, Tom
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the future of marketing. In the tech industry today, AI is used to indicate software that is learning and responding better to completing its task without human input. Although some may think that AI is used for purely automation and conducting the “heavy lift” on initiatives, AI is transforming to become a decision-making tool. Digital Marketing is an area where decision-making AI is being put to use.
AI in Digital Ad Buying
Serving as a powerful ally for marketers, AI has transformed the way ad placements are executed through programmatic buying. In this instance, AI assists with broad tasks, enhances accuracy of predictions, and creates structured tasks for humans to action. This approach has changed the digital advertising world by automating the ad purchasing process, eliminating the need for time-consuming negotiations and manual placements. Instead, advertisers can now use sophisticated algorithms to purchase ads in real-time, ensuring that their messages can reach the target audiences with efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
AI in Target Marketing
AI can be used in decision-making when targeting consumers throughout their purchasing journey. For instance, AI can identify users in their “consideration” phase, when first researching products. Once identified, AI can guide user search and present relevant or popular products, to influence consumer purchase.
AI would also be able to assist marketing teams with customer segmentation. With large amounts of data available to marketers, it can be difficult to segment customers correctly. With the help of marketing AI, it can be easier for teams to discover the most valuable customer segments. AI can also analyze customer data to help reduce customer churn. Rather than relying on marketing and sales teams to keep their finger on the pulse of customers, AI can help these teams understand customer changes.
AI in Consumer Service
Artificial intelligence in digital marketing can also connect consumers to Consumer Service support when shopping. For instance, AI-driven chat sales agents provide “cobrowsing” experiences, enabling consumers to share their screen for a guided purchase experience. Additionally, highly personalized AI can help Consumer Services upsell or cross sell products when engaging directly with the consumer. One of the rapidly growing areas of AI in Consumer Services also include the use of ChatBots. This large-scale communication automation enables less human-intervention and maintenance for consumer support, while providing consumers with a quick way to connect with a brand support expert. This easy-access has contributed to the rapid growth of ChatBots over the past few years.
AI in Content Marketing
Artificial intelligence in digital marketing areas is also developing capabilities to own the end-to-end content generation process. This is due to the tool’s capabilities to create copy and images that are known to be popular by the intended audience. AI can intertwin personalization within content marketing, thereby driving unique marketing messages. These messages can be utilized across multiple channels, including email, social media, and on-site messaging. GPT-3 by OpenAI for example is an upcoming powerful language generator, trained on over 175 billion parameters. AI technologies like this can create text and render images that mirror very similar to human writing and creativity. However, content generation with AI is not without its challenges. AI tools such as OpenAI can lack common sense, can be tricked into communicating biased information, and can render incorrect information to meet the requested prompt. Although AI is aiding in decision making within digital marketing, brand sensitive copy and imagery should be assessed with caution when using open AI tools.
AI-Enhanced Customer Journey Mapping
Mapping the customer journey across multiple channels is a complex task that AI simplifies and optimizes. AI can analyze vast amounts of data generated from various interactions, helping marketers gain insights into the most common paths customers take during their purchasing journey. This information is invaluable in identifying pain points, drop-off points, and opportunities for improvement.
With AI’s ability to predict customer behavior and preferences, businesses can anticipate the next steps in a customer’s journey and proactively engage them with relevant content or offers. By leveraging AI-driven customer journey mapping, omni-channel marketers can strategically guide customers towards conversion, increasing the chances of successful outcomes.
AI in CRM
Not only can AI improve user experience throughout digital marketing channels, but the tool can be used to interpret data insights to drive business decisions. Customer relationship management (CRM) is essential for creating digital marketing strategies based on customer patterns and behaviors. AI can help reduce customer churn, by recognizing patterns within CRM data to recommend opportunities. This is conducted through natural language processing, which can segment customer responses and data to minimize dissatisfaction. This AI-driven CRM approach also enables more accurate sales forecasting, thereby enabling marketers to respond to demand for their product. This enables resources and product stock to be utilized more effectively.
The Types of Marketing AI
According to Harvard Business Review there are four types of marketing AI. These types can be broken down into stand alone AI and integrated AI. The difference between these two is that integrated AI can be parts of other platforms, including CRMs. The two types of stand alone AI are task-automation apps and machine-learning aps. Additionally, the integrated AI are task-automation apps and machine-learning apps. Stand alone AI and integrated AI both have their benefits and downfalls. The main benefit of stand alone AI is that they tend to be simpler but these tend to be limited in their access to data. Integrated AI tends to be more complicated but can add more value to your organization, especially if they are integrated with your CRM.
CRMs with an Integrated AI
Many CRMs have integrated AI to assist marketing teams. Two examples are HubSpot’s Content Assistant and Salesforce’s Einstein. Content Assistant is an AI designed to assist marketers with copy, Call To Actions (CTAs), writing prospecting emails and get blog ideas. Using this AI would save marketers time with generating content manually. This AI is also integrated with HubSpot, making it an integrated machine-learning app.
Salesforce’s Einstein allows marketers to personalize marketing messages and customize the customer journey. In today’s connected world, just engaging customers on their desktop is not enough. Einstein will help marketers generate personalized mobile content so customers can be reached at the right time, place and medium. Other AI, such as Zoho and Pipedrive also have integrated AI that allow marketing, sales and support teams to more effectively meet the challenges of their individual areas.
The Future of Marketing
In the next five years, researchers expect there to be many advancements in marketing AI. One of the biggest expected changes is increasing personalization in marketing. With AI analyzing a customer’s behavior and interactions with the brand, the AI will be able to determine customer interests. Additionally, the AI will be able to make predictions about the customers next actions. Additionally, AI will be able to offer greater insights into customer data. By analyzing large amounts of data, marketing teams will be able to identify trends and track campaign performance. These insights will let marketers adjust their future campaigns to be more effective.
The final prediction for AI is that there will be a greater analysis of customer data to more easily predict churn or make a purchase. Analytics like this will allow marketing teams to run incredibly focused campaigns to reach customers when they are near the conversion or churn point to increase profitability. As AI improves, current projections will become more accurate.
Ethical Considerations in AI
As AI becomes more pervasive in marketing, ethical considerations must be carefully addressed. Data privacy and security remain critical, especially when AI algorithms process vast amounts of customer data. Businesses must adhere to stringent data protection regulations to ensure the confidentiality and safety of customer information.
Transparency is equally vital, as customers have the right to know how AI is being used to personalize their experiences and engage with them. Communicating clearly about the presence of AI-driven elements in marketing interactions helps build trust and foster positive relationships with customers.
Moreover, avoiding biases in AI algorithms is essential to ensure fair and inclusive customer experiences. Careful monitoring and testing of AI models can help eliminate any unintentional discrimination and enhance the overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
FAQ
How do I know what type of AI is best for my business?
The best AI for your business is going to depend on what you are looking to do with it. Less advanced AI can be cheaper, but have limitations on their capabilities. Integrated AI may be the more beneficial option for many businesses since these have the potential to generate more value, especially with access to a CRM. For example, Salesforce Einstein can be used to assist marketing teams by analyzing the customer journey and allowing for a high level of personalization depending on where the customer is in the journey.
How much will marketing AI cost my company?
The cost of marketing AI varies greatly. The cost will depend almost entirely on the solution being used. The cost of the AI will depend on several factors such as if it is custom made, if it is integrated with other systems and if the AI will be managed in house or outsourced. Some AI solutions, like ChatGPT are free for the user. Custom build solutions can cost up to around $300,000. This wide range of prices lets businesses find an AI solution that meets the needs of their organization and their budget.
How will AI affect my company’s profits?
The costs of AI vary greatly, and so do the financial benefits. AI is able to assist businesses in many different areas. In addition to the marketing benefits, business AI will be able to increase productivity by automating some basic tasks that marketing, sales and support personnel need to do. AI is also able to analyze market trends that humans might miss. This will let your teams stay ahead of the competition and bring products and services to meet anticipated customer needs. The amount a business may save will vary depending on the size of the company, what the AI is doing and how much it is costing the business, but studies suggest that AI would be able to save small businesses up to $35,000 a year. This projection includes basic AI software that businesses can easily access such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home and Apple’s Siri.
What are some of the challenges for businesses introducing Marketing AI?
Outside of cost there are several concerns involving the future of AI. One of the largest concerns is data privacy. AI is able to collect large amounts of customer data and companies need to take steps to ensure that this data is protected. Additionally, as a newer industry, AI is not currently highly regulated. However, as the technology becomes more widely adopted, legislation may be introduced. Businesses that adopt AI before these regulations would need to take steps to ensure that they are in compliance with these laws. Despite these, marketing AI still provides many benefits to businesses and will help the industry evolve.
What are the potential challenges and ethical considerations in using AI for digital marketing?
AI in digital marketing presents several potential challenges and ethical considerations that need careful consideration. One major concern is data privacy, as AI algorithms rely on vast amounts of user data for analysis and decision-making. Ensuring the responsible and secure handling of this data becomes crucial to protect user information and maintain consumer trust. Another issue revolves around transparency, as AI algorithms can be highly complex and opaque, making it challenging for marketers to understand the exact criteria behind certain decisions. This lack of transparency raises questions about accountability and the potential for unintended consequences. Additionally, biases in AI algorithms can inadvertently perpetuate discrimination, as they learn from historical data that might contain inherent biases. Striving for fairness and eliminating bias in AI models becomes an essential ethical consideration to ensure inclusivity and avoid discriminatory practices. Addressing these challenges and ethical concerns is vital to harness the true potential of AI in digital marketing responsibly and ethically.