The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the marketing sector may not be as new but is definitely a rapidly growing trend through companies of all sizes and across borders. But for those asking how AI can help one in promoting the right products to the right audiences to gain the best results in the most efficient ways – let’s figure it out together.
What Is Artificial Intelligence Marketing?
AI Marketing can be aptly defined as the process of making automated decisions based on the data collected and analyzed through various tools and programming languages. It helps by not only storing and sorting but also interpreting the consumer profiles to help provide informed insights into the strengths and weaknesses of a product or a marketing campaign.
As per a report by Business Insider, about 51% of marketers in 2018 made use of some or the other form of artificial intelligence, and another 27% were predicted to be adding the same in their future drives.
Need For AI In Marketing Analytics
With the increasing number of consumers and prospective customers, the job of marketers is swiftly moving towards tougher plains. While it was easier for them to launch initiatives and schemes with a handful in mind, handling the sheer numbers today is a task in itself.
This is where artificial intelligence steps in to their rescue.
Makes it Easier to Manage Large Quantities of Data
Automated systems and programs and algorithms based on Machine Learning have been known to be able to hold and process huge amounts of data in minimal time, while also providing a detailed report for the same. Manually analyzing the data pertaining to millions of people is next to impossible and when the decisions are to be taken on a quicker timeline, even a thousand-people data can be cumbersome to take care of.
In such cases, AI supports the marketing personnel and makes their job easier by speeding up the process and giving results promptly.
However, that is not the only reason why marketers have come to prefer automation in decision-making.
It is Simpler for AI to Utilize Multiple Marketing Tools
While there were only about 150 or so marketing softwares available in 2011, the number has vastly risen since then to reach a 5,000+ mark. Many of these applications provide similar functions to varying degrees of accuracy and professionals often think it better to run numerous of these programs to gain results which are as realistic as possible.
Processing data through these several tools though is not feasible if done manually. Thus, reliance on AI to sort and analyze these is increasing every day.
It Also Helps Predict Outcomes with More Precision
Analysis of large sets of data is not all that an AI is capable of doing. In fact, these programs go a step ahead by sharing predictions based on the data processed by them. These forecasts are not just about how your company or product might perform in the coming time frame, but also how your competitors may perform and what your users may desire from your services.
Challenges Faced By AI In Marketing
Alongside the various ways in which it reduces our workload, there are also some hurdles that this technology faces when it comes to the marketing sector, regardless of the kind of industry it is operating in or the country whose data is being inputted.
Some such obstacles include the following.
Quality of Data Interpretation
The data being collected and investigated needs to be of a high quality, coming from reliable sources. If the data received is not up to the mark, there are bound to be misinterpretations and errors in the results thus generated. This reduces the value of using such advanced softwares as even these high-powered AI tools will not be able to project reliable conclusions. The inaccurate outcomes thus received and used by the marketing personnel can in turn hamper the customer experience that they wish to enhance.
Privacy
With a growing general awareness, the population is realizing the value of the personal data being absorbed and used by various companies. Owing to the same, several laws and regulations have been laid down to ensure the usage is ethical and that the data is not being misused for illegal activities. However, when it comes to artificial intelligence, specific laws need to be fed to these systems to make certain that they do not overstep those boundations in an attempt to personalize the marketing campaigns for its viewers.
Best Deployment Practices
AI is a relatively newer concept in the marketing domain. This means that the best practices for the deployment of these tools have not yet been clearly formulated or defined. This uncertainty can lead to a number of highly efficient softwares used in the least effective manners which can further reduce the value it provides to the marketers.
Some AI-Powered Marketing Tools
Out of the numerous marketing softwares available out there, below are a few which are actively sought by marketing professionals globally.
Wrapping Up
With the vast number of marketing tools available and based on artificial intelligence, choosing the correct ones for your business requirements is of optimal necessity. It is not just the program that can go wrong, but it is the user too.
So choose wisely based on features that suit your needs and not simply the ones that are popular with a certain section.