What is AI Marketing (And How to Get it Right)
For every marketer that’s excited by the potential of AI marketing, there’s someone else concerned about robots stealing their job.
One thing’s for sure — artificial intelligence is changing the marketing field in big ways. But why is artificial intelligence such a big deal for marketers?
Artificial intelligence can help marketers market better, build stronger customer relationships, and make the most of the ocean of customer data we’re all swimming in. Oh, and it’s definitely not replacing human creativity anytime soon.
Here’s what you need to know about AI marketing. Let’s get started!
What is AI marketing?
‘AI marketing’ means using artificial intelligence to automate marketing tasks and decisions. This allows marketers to work exponentially faster and more efficiently.
AI has revolutionized the marketing field. In fact, depending on how you define AI, you could say it’s integral to digital marketing.
But first, let’s answer an important question. What exactly is AI?
The definition can be a little fuzzy. ‘Artificial intelligence’ is a broad term, and it’s not always clear what the line is between automation, algorithms, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
All these terms are related, but they’re not exactly the same.
Simply put, an algorithm is a set of steps or instructions for completing a task. By following these steps, a computer can complete that task automatically.
In artificial intelligence, these formulas are more responsive and advanced. Using machine learning or deep learning technology, they can self-adapt based on new information, respond to a wider range of situations, and make decisions independently.
AI marketing in action
Let’s take a very common example — search engine and social media marketing.
Social media and search engines, both important digital marketing channels, rely on recommendation algorithms. However, paid social and search ads, which display in your feed or at the top of your search results, rely on AI-powered algorithms.
The content you see in these ads was crafted by humans, possibly with the assistance of AI tools like Jasper or Dall-E. But artificial intelligence determines which version of the ad you’ll see by analyzing your browsing and purchasing history.
Why use AI for marketing?
Just like humans, computers can process many different kinds of data — like visual, numeric, and text — and use it to make decisions. But AI can process massive amounts of data much more quickly. This means AI excels at repetitive, relatively simple tasks.
In marketing, AI is an incredible way to get more done with less effort in less time. It can help us eliminate repetitive tasks, and perform them at a scale that would never be possible for humans alone.
This is true in many industries — but AI might be especially powerful for digital marketers. In our digital-first business world, we have exponentially more chances for customer interactions, all of which generate massive amounts of data. In effect, we need artificial intelligence to make sense of it all.
The challenges of AI in marketing
AI’s main limitation is that it can’t display the creativity and originality that humans do. While it can respond to new situations, it can only do so based on its training data.
This means that while AI tools for content creation are incredibly valuable, they can’t replace human-created content. Wholly AI-generated marketing content could feel generic, boring, or lack a distinct brand identity. But these tools can still be useful for marketing creatives by helping them iterate quickly and speed up their overall workflow.
AI is also known for amplifying inaccuracies or biases in its training data. Text-generating tools like ChatGPT are known to make incorrect statements, and there have been many examples of gender and racial bias in AI decision-making, such as when Amazon discovered that a hiring algorithm deprioritized female applicants.
These issues are by no means unique to marketing. But they’re still important for anyone working with AI to keep in mind.
AI marketing use cases (and tools for each)
Artificial intelligence can elevate many different areas of marketing, and help us getting better results at every stage of the customer journey.
Here are a few common AI applications for marketing, and examples of AI tools marketers can use in each.
Content marketing
For content marketing, think of AI as your creativity assistant. These tools can make your creative process faster and easier — and optimize your work for better results.
- Jasper.ai, to generate first drafts of all kinds of marketing copy
- Acrolinx, to scan existing content and make sure it aligns with brand standards
- Narrato, for streamlining content production and quickly generating briefs
- MarketMuse, for SEO research and optimization
Digital ads
Effective digital ads are personalized. It’s not enough to just put content out there; you need to understand what resonates with your audience. Thankfully, these tools make that easy.
- Pattern89, for analyzing and optimizing visual elements like image, color, and emoji
- Smartly.io, to adjust ad budgets, content, audiences and more automatically
- Google Ads and Facebook Ads both use AI to match ad content to viewers
Email marketing
Email is all about building a direct connection with your customers. AI lets you give all those relationships a personal touch.
- Seventh Sense, to send email at the perfect time for each customer
- Phrasee, to generate email headlines
- Smartwriter.ai, for automatically personalized cold emails
- Mailchimp is a popular tool that now offers AI features
Research and strategy
AI brings advanced data analysis to companies of all sizes. Here are a few tools that will help you learn more about your customers, your partners, and even your competitors.
- Albert AI, to create entire campaigns based on insights from customer data
- Browse AI, to extract data from external web pages
- Influential, for optimizing influencer marketing
- Crayon, for competitor intelligence
AI and marketing: a match made in heaven
Think of AI as your friendly robot assistant. AI can make marketers’ lives easier, help us work better, and create better results than ever before.
AI is nothing for marketers to be afraid of. In fact, human creativity and artificial intelligence are a match made in heaven. We can’t wait to see the marketing magic that people and robots create together!