Artificial intelligence has long been a prominent component of marketing. AI helps to improve the efficiency of almost every aspect of product/service promotion - from content creation to communication with customers. The introduction of services based on machine learning and neural networks is not a “magic pill” for increasing business profitability and growing a customer base. However, the correct use of AI tools can improve the quality and speed of data processing and is also an important step toward personalizing content and offers.
Content:
- What is artificial intelligence
- Why AI marketing
- Personalized Marketing
- Artificial intelligence and content
- Combined intelligence
1. What is artificial intelligence
AI is the ability of a computer system to learn and perform “human” work. In simple words, these are programs that are able to process information, look for relationships and get a specific answer. Artificial intelligence can, in theory, be applied wherever human analytical abilities are involved. And now a huge number of industries are actively implementing AI-based tools into their work. Naturally, digital marketing has also not been left out of the new “intellectual” opportunities.
Often, an additional definition is added to the term “Artificial Intelligence” - weak, strong, or super. Weak AI is a customized system that is designed to solve one type of problem. All modern AI services (including those for marketing) are based on weak artificial intelligence — speech recognition, data processing, content optimization, etc.
Strong AI is a much more sophisticated piece of software that can fully mimic a person and their intellectual work. This kind of artificial intelligence is the same “cinematic” technology of the future that allows machines to feel, show emotions, make decisions, etc. In addition to strong AI, which so far is only an object of aspiration for scientists and programmers, there is also the term “super-AI”. It is easy to guess that this type of artificial intelligence should surpass a person in all respects - both in the field of computing and data processing and in the plane of creativity and reason.
2. Why AI marketing
Today, the interaction of a company/brand with customers and potential leads occurs through different channels. Marketers have to process large amounts of information to find an audience and create optimal promotion strategies. Artificial intelligence is an almost perfect assistant in such work. AI-based services can analyze information much faster and better than a human.
What tasks can AI solve:
- customer base segmentation;
- creation of personalized content;
- providing feedback;
- optimization of advertising costs;
- generation of ideas for content and their implementation;
- assistance in solving organizational and logistical problems;
- dynamic pricing, etc.
Trainable neural networks (one of the AI implementation options) can be applied to almost all data processing tasks in order to group them or search for a specific result. For example, you can calculate the optimal set of products for email marketing or the most profitable location for opening a store. AI can help with many questions, but there are a few important conditions:
- sufficient amount of data for analysis;
- correct structuring of information;
- a qualitative examination of the problem (creation of an effective algorithm).
Unfortunately, these conditions are not always met, which makes it difficult for AI solutions to work and causes unsatisfactory implementation results.
3. Personalized Marketing
Marketing has long and confidently moved towards maximum personalization. Detailed segmentation of the audience, the definition of the target sector, and the creation of an “individual” offer become the key to increasing sales and increasing the loyal customer base.
For example, there is a set of options for a commercial offer, mailing, or advertising. Artificial intelligence can select the optimal version for a specific group of users. Roughly speaking, AI analyzes the accumulated experience of audience reactions to particular content and performs segmentation. As a result of this work, for each group of people, the best option for an email letter, design of an advertising banner, etc. is issued.
AI-powered offer personalization is something we see every day. It is with the help of artificial intelligence that music collections and tapes of recommended videos on popular resources are formed. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of content customization. It is also being made possible to generate QR codes that connect to different domains for different users based on AI and user profiling.
4. Artificial intelligence and content
In addition to personalizing content, AI can also participate in its creation. “Horror stories” about replacing copywriters with artificial intelligence already have examples of implementation. There are cases of using programs to fill product cards or create news notes.
Of course, it is too early to talk about the complete replacement of a person by artificial intelligence in the creative field. Nevertheless, combining human resources with AI for content creation seems to be a good enough solution. Artificial intelligence takes over the collection and processing of information, and can also generate texts. The people in this tandem are responsible for setting up the process and controlling the outcome. In other words, a human specialist sets the work algorithm and acts as an editor.
AI also creates music content. Moreover, some of these works are even put up for sale and are in demand. Music is a complex art form, which nevertheless has rules and algorithms in its base. Given the ability of artificial intelligence to process large amounts of information, look for patterns and use the result, it is likely that in the near future there will be more and more worthy works from “machines”, and it will become more and more difficult to distinguish them from “human” music.
One of the most notable areas of AI is computer vision. Artificial intelligence can analyze videos and photos, recognizing faces and other objects. Such opportunities are of interest, for example, to the security sector. But computer vision also has a significant impact on content. One of the most common uses is working with the background. A fairly large number of videos and photos are created for which background replacement tools are used. For the most part, such effects are entertaining, but the ability to diversify content and make it more recognizable increases the potential of marketing strategies.
5. Combined Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has long been a part of our lives and will only increase its presence. We often communicate with robots by phone, and it becomes increasingly difficult to identify the car on the other side of the wire. Chatbots help us make purchases, introduce services and provide other useful information. And our music feed in the application on a smartphone and the proposed videos on video hosting sites are also subject to AI algorithms.
Many people are wary of artificial intelligence. However, it is difficult to deny the fact that machines can solve a whole range of tasks on par with humans and even better. Digital marketing is a prime example of this. Despite a large number of unsuccessful cases, the introduction of AI-based services generally frees marketers from routine operations and helps to more effectively organize work to promote a product/company/brand.
A full shift to AI services seems unlikely. In some market segments, the advertised use of AI is even driving customer churn. The different attitudes of people toward this technology suggest that a combination of human and machine resources can be a good solution. For example, people who are loyal to AI are served by voice assistants, and those who do not want to talk to robots are redirected to the operator.
How much easier and more efficient can AI workflows become? Let's imagine that you have an online store. So, you need to fill out product cards, monitor orders, respond to messages, and form product offers. It would also be nice to track user actions, segment the audience, and create targeted advertising campaigns. There is enough work to occupy 3-5 employees. But almost every one of these tasks can be solved by artificial intelligence. AI programs can fill out product cards according to a template, analyze customer behavior, predict advertising costs and create personalized offers.
The right combination of tools is the key to the effective work of the marketing department. In addition to AI services, you can also use systems to automate data exchange (Zapier, ApiX-Drive, SaveMyLeads, etc.). It is important to analyze the work processes and determine which ones need improvement and additional “assistants”. After that, AI solutions and other technologies can be selected and implemented. It must be remembered that the modernization of work is a process that requires appropriate preparation and patience. Using artificial intelligence “for the show” or with the expectation of a “magic” effect is likely to be a disappointment.
