AI-Powered Marketing is here, ready or not

Marketing departments should be early adopters of new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), which is already reshaping both B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) company strategies.

It can do so by enhancing customer engagement, campaign optimisation, and conversions to achieve remarkable ROI. It’s the sort of first-mover advantage that we first saw with the computer age – so here’s what investors need to be looking for from business leaders when it comes to AI.

Embracing Automation

At its most basic level, automating tasks like email, SMS, and social media posts free up time for strategic activities and allows for personalised experiences at scale.

By using AI to handle the mundane tasks, brands can become consistent across virtually any channel that customers engage with.

Optimising Digital Communications & Going Personal

The next step in the automation journey is to deploy personalised communications and AI-driven chatbots across digital platforms to enhance brand visibility and engagement.

While this was previously a very expensive undertaking, the advent of generative AI has made this type of analytics and automation far more accessible to medium-sized businesses.

This optimisation boosts customer engagement and conversions by handling basic questions and providing personalised product recommendations and content at times when a customer is likely to churn.

Utilising Generative AI for Content

Generative AI is changing content creation, helping companies produce high-quality content efficiently.

This is particularly useful for B2B companies like IBM and Oracle, or similar size companies which are used to long sales cycles that rely on educating their customer base. Both now use AI-powered tools to generate personalised content, guides, and reports.

It’s important to note that the insights they provide are the same. It is the cost to produce the reports being cut. If a business is not utilising AI for its content, the burning question is, why not?

It is important to keep in mind that even with this ability to produce content in a rapid manner, there is still a need for human input with regular reviews of the generative AI produced copy and ensure the references and data points are correct and up to date prior to publishing.

Implementing Predictive Analytics

The final frontier for most businesses when it comes to AI in marketing is predictive analytics. Predictive analytics help forecast trends and customer behaviour, which helps companies begin data-driven decision-making.

This might sound abstract for a simple SMB, but think about how powerful it is to predict how, for example, unseasonably cold weather might affect the sales cycles of a solar company. This optimisation helps marketing reach customers when they are most receptive and not waste resources when the data shows it’s a losing proposition.

AI-powered marketing is here and is a golden opportunity for forward-thinking businesses to outperform competitors.

For the first time, through AI-powered marketing and customer engagement platforms, businesses of all sizes have access to automation, multichannel marketing, digital optimisation, content creation, personalisation, predictive analytics, and performance analysis. The AI marketing revolution is here, ready or not.

This article was developed in collaboration with Pendula, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.