It is no secret that AI has taken the business world by storm over the last couple of years. And it is showing no signs of slowing down, as new tools are being developed daily, while new uses are constantly being discovered for existing technologies. But just how useful can Artificial Intelligence be in marketing? 

Turns out, marketing has quite possibly the highest potential to gain from AI integration out of any segment within an organization. An analysis by McKinsey of more than 400 advanced use cases pointed to marketing as the domain where AI would contribute the greatest value. This starts to make sense when we look into the core activities of any marketing department at a company: understanding customer needs, advertising products and services, and persuading prospective buyers. These are all tasks that AI can dramatically enhance. This blog will take you through what AI marketing is and how to leverage its benefits for your organization.

The Marketing process we’re used to

Much of the marketing process as we know it today has remained very similar since the rise of the Internet and social media platforms. Teams gather information about their customers, create and distribute promotional or educational content that is appealing to their target audience, and analyze previous performance to enhance the following marketing efforts. Marketers must ensure that their organization is visible to search engines, that every campaign is highly personalized, and that the customer experience is convenient and smooth sailing from beginning to end. Not to mention nurturing the relationships with already existing customers, which is just as important. To drive sales reliably, a marketer must consider who the target audience is, what content and messaging they respond best to, and how far along the funnel they are. All of this becomes nearly impossible as a company scales up, as meeting the demands for highly personalized content becomes much harder once there are more customers to keep track of.

Marketing with AI

Marketing with AI allows you to gain deep customer insights and automate essential marketing decisions. Nowadays, the use of AI in marketing has grown significantly, enabling the generation of content, enhancement of customer experiences, and more precise outcomes. The global AI marketing market size was valued at €11,64 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to €81,23 billion by 2030!

Applying AI to marketing involves leveraging the power of AI technologies, including data gathering, analytical algorithms, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning (ML). 

Before selecting an AI solution, it’s crucial for you to thoroughly investigate the various applications of AI in marketing and consider real-world examples of how other businesses are applying these tools. We advise you to consult with specialists. Stekz offers free consultations to new customers. If you are interested, visit stekz.com for more information.

Use cases

There are numerous ways in which AI can improve efficiency in marketing. Some need minimal preparations and have a very low barrier of entry, while others require data collection, data cleaning, model training, and integration into existing systems. Here we will cover the most commonly used AI applications for increased productivity and precision in an organization’s marketing efforts:

  • Content generation- It should come as no surprise that marketers are using Generative AI to help create engaging content catered to their target audience. This use case has many levels of depth and complexity. The simplest ways to make use of AI technologies for content creation is to use conversational Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to write compelling subject lines for your emails to boost open rates, generate ideas for blogs and articles, images, voice-overs, transcriptions and much more. Here are some example prompts for ChatGPT to elevate your marketing instantly.
    There are also sophisticated AI-powered social media management tools that analyze voice of consumer (VoC) data gathered from online reviews and comments left by members of the target audience. Through this data, the tool can give recommendations of what content is appealing to that target group, as well as producing content that matches your brand’s tone of voice and your audience’s preferences.
  • Audience segmentation- AI tools can efficiently and precisely divide up a customer base by various traits, behaviors, and interests. AI can also help by aligning your business’ offerings with customers based on where they are in the marketing funnel. Different content is then created and distributed automatically for each customer segment, maximizing the ever-important personalization.

  • Programmatic advertising- Programmatic advertising refers to the use of automated technology and algorithmic tools to buy and sell digital advertisement space. This technique is not only much faster than manual input but allows for the usage of a customer’s history, preferences, and context to deliver the most relevant ads. Using programmatic advertising enables advertisers to engage in more personalized marketing campaigns and nurture the audience’s loyalty to your brand.

  • Search engine optimization (SEO)- Many AI solutions tackle SEO directly. They go through the content of a webpage and give feedback as to how optimized the content is for search engine ranking. In most cases, these tools give comprehensive feedback and suggestions on improving the content for a higher ranking.
  •  Customer experience- Customer experience is a field where AI thrives. The simplest application is having a simple chatbot that instantly answers customer queries 24/7. If properly trained on your company’s data, these chatbots can mimic your organization’s tone of voice, while having a deep understanding of your business. This results in bots that are almost indistinguishable from humans. Having answers to questions on demand is a guaranteed way to improve the customer journey. And with training these bots can guide users through any stage of their buying process.
    But there are still many ways to get creative here and do more with your customer service. For instance, Lowe’s, the hardware giant based in the United States, has developed the LoweBot. LoweBot is an autonomous in-store assistant that offers visitors personalized suggestions and tailored information as they browse the store. It also tracks stock and inventory in real time, which gives marketers valuable insights into consumer shopping behaviors and trends. The only limitations for improving your customer experience with AI are your organization’s budget and imagination.

     

In conclusion, there is already a lot that current AI technologies can do for an organization’s marketing efforts. While more possibilities will surely open as these technologies develop and mature, there are already several areas of marketing that can be greatly enhanced with Artificial Intelligence.

 It is important to mention that, as with other use cases, AI implementation comes with risks and challenges. Data privacy concerns, the bias of AI algorithms and the generation of misleading or plain wrong information/content are all factors that need to be carefully considered. AI implementation is not an easy process and we recommend you to read more about it. If you want our 8 key steps for seamless AI integration, read our blog on the topic at https://stekz.com/ai-in-business-8-essential-steps/.

If you’re interested in seeing how the latest and greatest technological advancements can benefit your marketing and conquer your market we are happy to help! Visit stekz.com and get your free Biz consultation today!