AI in Marketing, What is it and How to use it
While generative AI, the type of AI that produces images and text, has constantly been in the headlines, one of the more common uses of AI is in marketing. Using AI in marketing means using AI technology to analyze data, automate processes, and make intelligent marketing decisions as well as generate content.
As AI continues to evolve, it's revolutionized traditional marketing approaches. Today, businesses can use AI to provide a more targeted and personalized customer experience, making AI an invaluable tool for marketers everywhere.
Understanding AI in Marketing
Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to programs or machines that mimic human intelligence. There are several types of AI. Machine learning is an AI that uses data and algorithms to imitate how humans learn. Natural language processing, meanwhile, refers to training programs to understand text and speech. Predictive analytics is a type of AI that uses data to find patterns and predict future trends and behavior.
In 1998, Amazon started using algorithms to recommend products to consumers. AI had another significant milestone in 2013 when Yahoo started utilizing it to create computer-generated content. By 2014, companies began using AI to produce targeted ads, which continues to be one of the most common uses of AI in marketing.
AI uses algorithms, or sets of rules, to create learning models to process data. Scientists train the program by feeding it large amounts of data. The AI then processes this data according to its algorithms. Companies can use AI to complete menial, repetitive tasks, but they can also utilize AI to conduct market research and predict customer behavior.
Benefits of AI in Marketing
There are many benefits to using AI in marketing. These include improved customer targeting and segmentation, personalization and customer experience enhancement, automation of repetitive tasks, and data analysis and actionable insights.
Customer Targeting and Segmentation
Customer targeting and segmentation are vital parts of a marketing strategy. With segmentation, AI divides your customers into categories based on various traits, like location, age, interests, and purchasing history. This would be a tedious and time-consuming task to do by hand, but AI can do it in just a few clicks.
Once your list is segmented, you can target specific demographics with emails and other marketing tactics. For example, a ticket vendor may send emails to customers about events in their area based on their customer's location
Personalization and Customer Experience Enhancement
AI is commonly used to help personalize and enhance a customer's experience. This type of algorithm is prevalent for things like social media, e-commerce, and streaming sites. The AI will look at what a customer has interacted with in the past and use that data to recommend content to the user.
For example, TikTok will show you videos based on videos you've watched, liked, or commented on. Amazon recommends products based on previous purchases and your product searches. Google displays ads based on your browsing history.
AI is also great for personalizing emails. You can use AI to send emails that include customer names, emails thanking a customer for purchasing, or emails wishing customers a happy birthday.
Automation of Repetitive Tasks
One of the most significant benefits of AI is its ability to tackle repetitive, tedious, or otherwise time-consuming tasks. Tasks like keyword research, list formatting, and data analysis are essential for marketing, but AI can complete these much faster than humans.
Giving AI these tasks frees business owners and marketers to focus on business's more creative and strategic aspects rather than being weighed down by busy work.
Data Analysis and Actionable Insights
One of the most significant benefits of AI in marketing is AI's ability to quickly process large amounts of data and draw conclusions or create predictions based on this data. You can feed the AI data from past marketing campaigns, such as click-through rates, purchases, and customer demographics.
The AI will then use that data to summarize these campaigns, offer suggestions, and predict the outcomes of future campaigns. This reduces time spent on data analysis, and you create strategic marketing campaigns with a high return on investment (ROI).
How to Use AI in Marketing
Now that we understand the benefits of AI in marketing, we can examine how AI is being used in marketing. Some common uses of AI in marketing include chatbots, personalized and targeted campaigns, email marketing, and data analytics.
Implement AI Chatbots to Increase Customer Engagement
AI chatbots are an incredibly common tool for many companies. These programs use AI to assist customers and help with easy-to-solve problems. Customers can access these AI chatbots no matter the time of day, meaning there's always some assistance available.
However, it's important to note that it's a good idea to have a human on the other side ready to take over if needed. Otherwise, customers could get frustrated.
Leverage AI to Create Personalized Content Recommendations
As mentioned above, AI can take a user's data and use it to show content it thinks the user will appreciate. Social media, shopping websites, and streaming websites use this type of algorithm.
Personalized content recommendations benefit both businesses and their customers. Customers can more easily find content they like, which makes them more likely to purchase, stream a show, or interact with a social media post.
Utilize Predictive Analysis for Targeted Marketing Campaigns
Predictive analysis refers to AI taking data from past marketing campaigns and using it to predict the outcomes of future marketing campaigns.
This is highly beneficial to businesses. When you know what strategies will be successful, you can put your resources toward those campaigns, which leads to a higher return on investment. Using AI in digital marketing is especially helpful, as companies can target ads and emails to a specific customer base.
Integrate AI Into Email Marketing Strategies
AI is an excellent tool for generating leads and marketing to those leads via email. AI can analyze past email campaigns, create targeted and personalized emails, and then send those emails when it predicts customers will be the most likely to open them. You can also use generative AI in marketing to help you craft the perfect personalized email.
Using AI in this way improves the efficiency of your emails and allows you to personalize those emails and enhance your relationships with your customers.
Produce Marketing and CRM Insights with Analytics
Many AI programs analyze data and offer predictions while communicating with the user in a conversational tone. This means you can ask AI a question about your data, and it will be able to give you a logical response.
Need to know how much of your customer base consists of millennials or what the best-selling product was during your last sale? AI has you covered.
Challenges and Considerations
While AI has many benefits and uses in marketing, there are also a few things to be cautious about. Some of the primary concerns about AI surround transparency, bias, privacy, and responsible use of customer data.
To combat these challenges, businesses must keep all data they collect for their AI-driven marketing initiatives private and secure. Companies using AI in marketing must also strive for transparency in their AI algorithms to prevent biased or skewed data.
The Importance of AI in Marketing
AI has become a crucial tool for marketers to stay competitive and deliver personalized customer experiences. AI chatbots, personalized content recommendations, and targeted campaigns are all essential parts of a marketer's toolbox. With our guide to AI in marketing, you can adopt AI into your marketing strategies for sustained business growth and enhanced competitiveness.
