After Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa brought artificial intelligence to the masses, marketers are beginning to use machine learning to enhance everything from email marketing to customer service.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is the practice of simulating human intelligence with machines, usually computer systems. Machines are taught to work and react like humans, engaging in such tasks as learning, problem solving and self-correction.
How AI could Shape the Future of Marketing
1) Predictive Search
Predictive search is one of the most common types of artificial intelligence used in digital marketing today.
For example, whenever you type a query into a search engine, like Google or Bing, the suggested results you receive are made possible with the help of AI.
This feature is useful for marketers, because it can be used to influence the direction of an internet journey. With AI, it’s possible to steer your visitors toward specific, high value pages on your own website.
2) Content Curation
Another form of AI you may already be familiar with powers some content curation efforts. You have likely seen this when an ecommerce website lists relevant items you might be interested in purchasing. These suggestions are selected with the assistance of AI algorithms.
Recently, marketers have adopted this technique in content curation. Available data on website traffic can help to select the right content to move potential customers further through the buyer’s journey.
3) Ad Targeting
Artificial intelligence can also help you target ads better than ever before.
Rather than relying on A/B testing, it’s now possible to optimize campaigns in real time through analysis of past user behavior. This technique could potentially increase inbound marketing conversions by reaching more refined target audiences.
4) Email Personalization and Segmentation
In recent years, email marketing has become increasingly sophisticated. But, if AI is universally adopted, email blasts may be able to provide even better results.
AI may soon help every marketer create hyper-personalized emails, subject lines and campaigns that are tailored to an individual contact not just a segmented list.
5) Customer Service Chatbots
Today, many large ecommerce sites have customer service chatbots that interpret potential customers’ queries, complete orders, handle returns and more. Chatbots are also popular, because they can interact with customers any time, day or night. In the not too distant future, this technology will likely become more available to small businesses.
As artificial intelligence goes mainstream, it is poised to revolutionize the business of marketing.
