Artificial intelligence is the buzzword among marketers today. Recent surveys have shown that there is a lot of interest among marketers about it, knowing that it has the potential to revolutionize the industry in the next few years.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Broadly speaking, artificial intelligence is any technology that seeks to mimic human intelligence. AI in conjunction with robotics has long been a favorite among science fiction writers, their uses seemingly endless.

While the use of robots isn’t prevalent today, AI technology is already present in several industries today, including manufacturing, website building, advertising, and marketing, among many others.

In fact, some technologies powered by AI are already making their mark on end-user products. Some examples include Tesla’s self-driving cars, Netflix and Amazon’s product recommendations, chatbots for customer service, voice-based search, and ad management by social media platforms.

Even in website design, artificial intelligence is also making a huge impact. Gone are the days when marketers need thousands of dollars and have to wait for weeks to get a personalized website. With the use of AI, the Bookmark Website Builder now comes up with a professional looking website within minutes.

How Will Artificial Intelligence Disrupt Marketing?

Unlike before, when it mostly relied on human efforts, marketing is now increasingly data-driven and powered by technology. This paved the way for AI to make a huge impact in marketing.

In fact, 80 percent of all marketing executives predict that artificial intelligence will revolutionize marketing by 2020.

Presently, AI is already capable of generating content, performing complex data analysis, predicting user behavior, dynamic pricing, and spot bidding. It is ready with comprehensive solutions for every aspect of the RACE (Reach, Act, Convert, Engage) framework.

AI has three distinct technologies: machine learning, applied propensity model, and AI application. Each of these technologies finds uses in different aspects of RACE.

A simple example would be machine learning technology looking at historical data and generating a model for the best lead conversion and its ideal campaign strategy. This model can then be applied on new data to generate leads that are most likely to convert based on conversion strategy.

AI can then be used to engage these consumers via emails, advertising, and social media marketing, among others.

These applications of artificial intelligence, especially ones that can generate or curate content, are going to significantly impact brand interactions with customers. It can create unique and custom content for customers, giving them a personalized experience.

Artificial intelligence is indeed going to have a big impact in all areas of marketing, from lead generation to customer loyalty. With AI in marketing, marketers will be able to create effective campaigns that are backed by sound analysis of both the market and consumers.

Let’s take a look at some disruptions that AI is making in the marketing industry.

Disruption in Email Marketing

Emails are the most preferred channel by consumers to maintain brand relationships. Despite the advent of social media marketing, emails are still popular across all demographics.

Artificial intelligence can master behavioral email campaigns. It can create personalized content for different campaigns or generate in-the-moment hyper-personalized emails for maximum conversions.

AI will also be able to target individual consumers with engaging emails at the right time. Content will be generated based on models that predict content that is most likely to lead to conversions. For example, Amazon uses panels in its emails to cross-sell and upsell products and its email campaign and it has proven to be quite effective.

Disruption in Customer Service

AI chatbots are capable of engaging millions of users at a given time. This makes it an amazing tool for brands to engage with customers on a large-scale basis.

Because chatbots can answer the common questions of customers and are available 24/7, customer satisfaction with the brand will increase, leading to higher sales. Chatbots can also convey highly personalized and effective campaigns much like in email marketing.

Disruption in Advertising

AI technology have already proven itself in advertising. It can place ads in the right spots, bid on the most visible locations, and budget bids accordingly.

What’s more important, however, is that it can dynamically capture consumer data and make predictions on the success of ad campaigns. AI can process millions of data points and predict which ads work better based on customer age, location, and stage in the buying process.

AI can also predict the best time and location to present an ad to maximize conversion.

Disruption in Our Role as Marketers

AI is already present in marketing and marketers need to embrace the technology to take advantage of its benefits to the company.

A good implementation of AI technology will decrease operational costs over time and create a marketing efficiency unlike any seen before. AI will indeed cause a disruption in the job market but it also creates opportunities for improving customer engagement, increased productivity, and growth in marketing efficiency.

Automation and learning is at the heart of AI technologies. This would clear out a lot of the busy and tedious work of marketers and leave them free to create and execute better strategies.

AI’s predictive technology will also help marketers make informed choices and increase their efficiency, removing the need for endless revisions and A/B testing, and saving the company a lot of time and money.  

Once AI technology is in place, marketers will have more time to push their creative boundaries and they will have the tools to predict the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Artificial Intelligence is the Future of Marketing

Artificial intelligence is indeed poised to cause huge disruptions in several sectors not just marketing. Embracing AI pushes marketers ahead of the curve since early adopters will see major impacts in their bottom line.

The implementation of AI technology will definitely change the way marketing is done, with automation, hyper-personalized communication, effective campaigning, targeted ads, and a clear understanding of customer behavior, among others.

The human touch in marketing will always remain since AI is not ready to mimic the emotive aspects of human communication. However, for customer engagement, content curation, and effective advertising, artificial intelligence has already proven itself and marketers will need to familiarize themselves with this technology in order to keep ahead of the competition.

Guest post Author: David Kosmayer is CEO and Founder of Bookmark, an AI-powered website builder disrupting the web design industry. David created his first company at 22 just coming out of college. Marketing Extensions Inc., an online affiliate and marketing agency, was born from the basement of his parent’s home. This company grew under his leadership into a 55-person team, topping $60M in revenue in less than a decade. David is highly focused, dedicated and passionate about building successful companies.