Before the robots take all the jobs for themselves (that will not happen before a few decades from now, if it really happens), marketers need to understand how to make the most out of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. Unfortunately, the deep confusion about the definition of “true AI” and the steep barriers to entry make that easier said than done.
To get optimum value out of AI-powered tools, marketers need a crash and comprehensive course of what Artificial Intelligence is, what it can and what it cannot do, and how those amazing capabilities complement existing processes, functionalities, and tools.
What AI really Means and What It Doesn’t?
There is no doubt that marketing AI does not mean space-age technologies. Beyond that, a big majority of marketers still are clueless about Artificial Intelligence.
Marketing Artificial Intelligence refers to automated tools that helps marketers analyze prospect and consumer behavior, optimize campaigns, and improve return on investment. Put even more simply, Marketing AI tools can handle a lot of repetitive and time-consuming work besides manual analysis that would have otherwise required marketers waste hours every day, week, month, and year.
Let us assume that you are planning to run an email campaign and would have to send follow-up communication to interested prospects. AI-powered tools can help marketers and decision makers identify behaviors that influence interest and trigger the delivery of more and engaging content.
Human beings can perform these tasks too but they would be then required to parse through numerous spreadsheets and manually send lots of communications. On the other hand, AI tools can perform the work on their own. Sounds good, right?
Artificial Intelligence cannot replace your marketing communications team and it can also not tell you which strategies to follow. The AI-powered tools produce data and automate manual work but you would still need to tell them what exactly you want them to do.
Getting Started with Marketing AI
If you are eager to find out how Marketing AI can help you grow your business, you can just follow these tips to bring AI to your existing workflows:
Use AI for social listening
A marketing survey disclosed that 96 percent of unhappy customers would not exactly tell you about their problems but they will tell about them to an average of 15 friends. Those negative reviews can spread like a wildfire if you don’t proactively and promptly address them. The use of AI-powered social listening tools can help you access alerts when prospects and people are talking about yours and competitors’ brand on the internet. You can then respond to issues and take optimum advantages of opportunities.
Project customer lifetime value
It is important for every success-driven business to identify “good” and “bad” customers before the process of onboarding can start. After all, there ain’t no poin chasing down customers who just don’t help you make money. Right?
Marketing AI tools help you input your customer information and identify warning signs that suggest whether a customer would stick around for long or not. Using this information, you can spend quality time pursuing customers with higher lifetime value.
Invest in chatbots
Chatbots are in and there is no denying this fact! They improve the level of customer service, customer satisfaction, and help customers make quick and smart decisions. All in all, chatbots help your business get people quickly into the sales funnel. They can be created to help score quick leads or guide visitors of your website to products that might be of interest to them.
Recommend related products
Today’s tech-savvy customers are well-versed with the concept of product recommendations. However, most websites limit their recommendations to similar items in categories. With Artificial Intelligence at your side, you can match both details and visuals. This means that you can appeal to the sense of style of your customers instead of just their requirements that can result in immediate boost in sales if you operate in a style-centric industry.
Automate simple content
Yes it is absolutely right that you just cannot replace your staff writers and bloggers with machines but it is also true that you can lean on automated content generation tools for creating simple reports and descriptions. Thereafter, your marketing team can tweak the content created by the AI-powered tools.
AI tools will continue to evolve. Therefore, you don’t wait for long before incorporating some of these amazing capabilities into your market arsenal. A few years from now, Artificial Intelligence will handle even more complex marketing tasks. Ready to join AI?
