Is AI Going to Disrupt the Marketing Industry?
Is AI Going to Disrupt the Marketing Industry?
Developments in AI are advancing at a rampant pace, with innovations improving the quality of life in different ways across disciplines.
For instance, Forbes estimates that 10 million self-driving cars will hit the road in 2020, and another study reported by Business Wire projects that automotive artificial intelligence will bring in revenues of over $ 14 billion by 2025.
Another example is Google’s Deep Learning program helping pathologists detect cancer with higher accuracy. Another article from Forbes asserts how the use of big data can help prevent a heart attack every 40 seconds.
Although many organizations across fields still lack the foundational practices needed to create value from AI at scale, AI is being adopted at a rapid rate by digital marketers across niches.
As reported by Statista, artificial intelligence and machine learning are among the most effective digital marketing techniques used by marketers today.
With more and more marketers learning how AI can help them create better marketing solutions, in 2019 AI saw an 88% adoption rate in marketing—up from 43% in 2016.
AI aids marketers in gaining insights into their customers’ ideations and improves their marketing approach.
Most recent innovations in marketing with AI have seen great results.
The Washington Post has been experimenting with automated storytelling. USA Today leveraged AI to maximize video engagement, and Netflix continues to apply machine-learning techniques to personalize your recommendations deeply (helping them save billions of dollars annually!).
Here are some more ways AI will disrupt marketing in 2020:
1. Advertising Networks
Technology has miniaturized, and people now own six connected devices on average. However, even with the technological advancements and all the screens an average person owns, advertising remains inept.
Users are bombarded with ineffective advertisements that have nothing to do with their interests.
It is safe to say that there’s a significant void in advertising—the lack of personalization—that can be filled using AI.
Although primitive ad automation helps bring forth more relevant ads, the technology completely disregards privacy. It also does not factor in accidental clicks and taps on ads, which is where AI can chip in to help.
AI can instantly generate a personalized advertising copy by security and anonymously analyzing user data. It will make predictions exhilaratingly accurate and boost ROI in advertising exponentially.
Search sessions will become more relevant, and finding products will never have been easier. Both Facebook and Google incorporate machine learning to their ad platforms to furnish personalized ads to targeted audiences.
2. Email Marketing
Brands in all kinds of niches can leverage the power of AI to personalize emails in email marketing campaigns based on customer behaviors and preferences.
AI will enable brands to make better connections with their audiences and, in turn, boost revenues.
Machine learning, even in its nascent stages, can analyze millions of data points about a customer base and determine the best times to send customers emails.
This information, coupled with the personalized content that the AI will generate, will drive more interest and clicks.
In contrast, A/B tests take a lot of time and have a margin of error. AI will aid marketers in reaching and converting customers quickly.
Tools like Boomtrain and Persado use AI to make email marketing campaigns potent and persuasive.
3. Content Generation
Although AI cannot write a blog post or newspaper column unaided, the content generated by an AI can help brands attract visitors to their websites.
AI can save marketers lots of time and resources by writing reports and generating news articles based on data supplied.
Intelligent tools like Wordsmith and Quill are already in use by the Associated Press and Forbes to create posts that drive clicks on their website. Google, too, is working on an AI that will be able to generate a best-selling book in no time.
The AI-based tools do not work unaided, and templates and “fill-in-the-blank” style forms are still used to enter data and keywords to generate unique, targeted content; however, the content generated by the AI is indistinguishable from that written by a professional.
It is likely that users have already read posts on news outlets like BBC, CBS, the New York Times, and the Washington Post generated by AI.
The technology is slowly trickling down and will change the way marketers create content.
4. Content Curation
AI can also curate content for the user and not just generate it. AI will make it possible for brands to connect with their visitors better by showing them more relevant, personalized content.
AI is already used to make content recommendations that the visitor may find interesting. Amazon does this on a large scale using the “people who buy X also buy Y” recommendations.
As mentioned above, Netflix’s recommendation system uses AI to keep the user hooked to shows and movies they like. The AI helps Netflix reduce cancellations, saving them billions of dollars a year.
Tools like Curata and List.ly enable markets to curate the most relevant content for each user.
5. Voice Searching
A report by Statista reveals that 42% of the worldwide population has voice-searched for something online in the first quarter of 2019.
With smart devices becoming increasingly accessible and cheap, and the rise of Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and more recently, Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant is changing how we search.
AI will make searching more accurate and leverage the data the user supplies to make personalized recommendations.
However, the use of AI and voice searching leaves marketers wondering how they can optimize their content for voice searches since the natural, conversational language used in doing these searches does not involve the use of keywords in the same manner.
Although marketers will have some trouble initially, the user will benefit from the personalized content and hence will make more purchases.
6. User Experience (UX)
Through the use of intelligent algorithms, it’s possible to personalize user experience on a website.
After analysis of various data points about the user, including location, demographics, type of device, and style of interaction with the site, the AI can personalize offers and contents displayed on the website accordingly.
In 2017, 33% of the marketers were experimenting with AI for real-time personalization. When asked about the benefits of AI-driven customization, 63% of them responded that it improved the consumer’s experience and increased conversion rates.
Tools like Uizard and Mockplus leverage AI to help marketers create better user experience.
Excellent user experience keeps the user browsing the site longer, and the longer users stay on the site, the higher the probability of conversion is.
Personalizing the UX will make websites highly attractive and immensely profitable.
7. Web Design
Creating websites is a lot easier now than it was ever before. Using tools like WordPress, programming or technical experience is no longer necessary to make a website.
However, web design is about to get a lot easier.
Tools like Grid use AI to design websites based on information provided by the user. Soon marketers will only need to supply AI with the text, images, and calls to action they want on their website to create a professional-looking website in minutes.
8. Chatbots
Many brands now use messaging apps like WhatsApp, Slack, and even Facebook Messenger to communicate with their prospects.
Communicating this way is fast and easy since the customers are already using these tools to chat with their friends and family.
Chatbots use AI to automatically engage and respond to both customers and prospective buyers’ queries.
Marketers will sell their products and services passively—without needing to be available to respond to clients. With chatbots, there will also be no compromises in the quality of service.
AI-powered chatbots are capable of answering open-ended questions using natural language processing and machine learning to generate the correct response.
Other than making quality customer support available to clients 24-7, with chatbots, there are no risks of slipups. Waiting time will also no longer be an issue.
Facebook bot tools and wit.ai are tools that help marketers train bots by feeding them example conversations. The chatbot will continually get better at responding to clients.
Conclusion
I firmly believe that digital marketing firms must take advantage of AI-driven tools and integrate the new processes, tools, software, and skills at the earliest.
With the increase in popularity of AI-as-a-service models, marketers will soon have access to diverse and powerful tools that will aid them in creating and curating content that connects with prospects on a deeper level.
These tools will also assist in fabricating digital marketing strategies and help brands deliver improved customer experiences. The technology will also give marketers a head start by designing enticing websites quickly. Therefore, missing out on this marketing revolution could lead to many Kodak moments.
From all outlooks, it seems that 2020 will be an exciting year for AI, and businesses across disciplines, including FinTech, health care, and marketing organizations, will benefit from AI-based tools.
The global market for AI is on the rise, with revenues generated from AI expected to increase to $ 118.6 billion by 2025.
Therefore, conclusively, I think the adoption of AI regardless of niche is what the marketing space needs to increase engagement and boost profits while reducing the direct costs of content research, creation, and promotion.
The post Is AI Going to Disrupt the Marketing Industry? appeared first on ReadWrite.
(28)
