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Historically, many brand-based problems have stemmed from not being human enough. This issue is going to become more complex as people start talking to the smart microwaves and other devices Amazon and other tech companies plan to introduce. While artificial intelligence is here to help consumers, the future winners and losers of marketing will be determined by their AI skills.
According to Adobe, 47 percent of “digitally mature organizations” said they have a defined AI strategy. Also consider that per a recent Deloitte study, 70 percent of businesses rate their digital maturity as “early” or “developing.” Therefore, if you find yourself without a plan, you aren’t behind schedule, though now is the time to act.
A huge first step is to think about what problems AI can solve. A big one—though it may sound counterintuitive at first—is that AI can help your brand feel more real and more human. Here are a few problems it can solve to make that work. In this post, we’ll cover the basics of AI in marketing and talk about some of the problems it can solve.
Implementing AI in marketing can bring substantial benefits, but it also presents certain challenges that marketers must address to ensure successful integration and utilization. Here are five key challenges:
Overcoming these challenges involves careful planning, continuous monitoring, and a commitment to ongoing education and training for marketing teams. With the right strategies and dedication, marketers can harness the power of AI to overcome these obstacles and drive better marketing outcomes.
Too often marketing is all about the sale in TV ads, on the radio, in print and in digital ads with retargeting. Even Amazon struggles with the challenge of being too transactional, and the ecommerce giant just began testing a system to make product recommendations more intuitive and helpful rather than simply cross-selling.
Seventy-two percent of business leaders are already terming AI as “a business advantage.”
Financial brands would seem at the highest risk of being too transactional, right? Not TD Ameritrade, which offers an investment bot called Alvi at no cost that allows customers to get personalized care by speaking into the system. AI-powered Alvi asks them personality-minded questions, like, “If you could write a letter to your 17-year-old self, what would you say?” The bot then breaks down the individual according to traits like openness, aggressiveness, neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion. Then it provides tailored, investment-based information in an on-demand fashion, an impossible service before AI. When permitted by customers, Alvi also mines their social media accounts for likes and dislikes and decides how to assist them even more intelligently.
On the other end of the consumer spectrum, Stitch Fix uses machine learning to show customers that their fashion interests—not sales—are always top-of-mind for the brand. The online shopping service has around 75 data scientists that employ AI to crunch 85 data points volunteered by customers, including their size or price preference as well as which parts of their bodies they want clothes to emphasize. The brand also has about 3,400 stylists who write notes to customers, addressing their specific situations based on data unearthed by AI.
Whether data comes from a phone call, chat session, social media or mobile app, brands can use AI to regularly engage people in timely ways that are new. For instance, working with IBM Watson, Under Armour uses AI to power its app called Record, offering relevant training and lifestyle advice every day. If a male user wakes up after sleeping for just five hours, the app will tell him that the average body mass index is lowest among guys who sleep between seven and eight hours nightly based on the numerous men roughly his age in Under Armour’s database.
The AI also compares the users’ step activity and nutritional data against the larger Under Armour fitness community, helping them understand their level of performance while encouraging optimal fitness results. A brand helping customers become healthier is about as human as it can get.
Brands have long wrestled with where to invest their ad budget. As marketing pioneer John Wanamaker famously said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”
Marketers increasingly understand that AI can get around this ROI roadblock. Google recently revealed that ads improved upon by machine learning get 15 percent more clicks. For brands in insurance, telecom, automotive, financial and travel where paid search is typically expensive and the advertiser often wants to produce phone calls, it’s important to know if the people clicking through have real purchase intentions. One way to solve that conundrum is AI algorithms that determine the outcome of the call (purchase made, appointment booked, etc.) in real time, which is incredibly meaningful data to marketers.
This kind of intelligence saves advertisers significant budget not only with Google but also other digital platforms like Facebook, allowing them to reallocate spend to better targeting. It also saves customers from retargeting ads for a product they just bought.
Learning AI tools can significantly enhance marketers' careers, particularly if they invest in acquiring these skills early on. As AI continues to revolutionize the marketing landscape, marketers who possess proficiency in AI tools gain a competitive edge in the job market.
Mastering AI tools enables marketers to streamline their workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and optimize campaign performance more efficiently. With AI-powered tools for data analysis, predictive modeling, and content personalization, marketers can work smarter, not harder, and allocate their time and resources more effectively to high-impact activities.
Furthermore, as AI becomes increasingly integrated into marketing technologies and practices, the demand for professionals with AI skills is expected to soar. Marketers who proactively embrace AI and develop proficiency in AI tools position themselves as valuable assets to their organizations, opening up opportunities for career advancement and leadership roles in the rapidly evolving field of AI-driven marketing.
Marketers are sometimes forced to create an ever-increasing amount of content to bombard their consumers online. Attention spans are shrinking, and traditional marketing tactics may struggle to break through the noise. AI can generate personalized content like blog posts, social media captions, and ad copy tailored to specific audience segments. This helps deliver more relevant and engaging content that resonates with individual users, grabbing their attention amidst the content overload. It can also analyze user behavior and website interactions in real-time. Using this data, AI can personalize website content, product recommendations, and ad placements for each visitor, maximizing their engagement with the brand. Lastly, AI allows for highly targeted advertising based on user behavior, demographics, and interests. This ensures marketing messages reach the right people at the right time, increasing the likelihood of them stopping to pay attention.
By leveraging AI for content creation, optimization, and targeting, marketers can cut through the online clutter and capture the fleeting attention of consumers in a more efficient and effective way.
The traditional methods of tracking and analyzing calls leave marketers in the dark about the crucial phone conversations driving conversions. Invoca's AI call tracking bridges this gap by leveraging the power of Signal AI. This machine learning technology analyzes calls to a business and empowers marketers in several key ways.
To start, Invoca’s Signal AI automatically analyzes every call, identifying themes, topics, and key phrases. This removes the manual burden of call categorization and delivers actionable insights. Marketers can understand customer sentiment, pinpoint areas for improvement, and identify high-value calls that convert into sales.
Next, Invoca's AI can be trained to detect specific caller intent, like interest in a product or service, or the outcome of the call, such as a lead generated or a sale closed. Marketers are now empowered to attribute conversions to the right marketing channels and optimize campaigns for maximum ROI.
By shedding light on the "why" behind phone calls, Invoca's AI call tracking equips marketers to make data-driven decisions and ultimately, drive more revenue through a deeper understanding of the customer journey.
To learn more, check out our blog post about How AI Call Tracking Helps Marketers Optimize Campaigns.
1. Emotional AI Marketing: AI will evolve to understand and analyze human emotions better, enabling marketers to create emotionally resonant content and personalized experiences, thereby deepening customer engagement and brand loyalty.
2. AI-Driven Hyper-Personalization: AI will enhance hyper-personalization efforts by processing vast customer data, enabling marketers to deliver highly tailored content and offers in real-time across multiple channels, optimizing customer experiences.
3. AI for Ethical Marketing: AI will be utilized to monitor and ensure ethical marketing practices, identifying and preventing potentially misleading or harmful content, thereby enhancing brand trust and reputation.
4. AI in Augmented Reality (AR) Marketing: AI and AR will merge, providing marketers with innovative ways to deliver interactive and immersive experiences, allowing customers to visualize products and experiences in real-world settings, leading to increased conversion rates.
As AI continues to advance, these trends will reshape the marketing landscape, driving innovation and efficiency while offering exciting opportunities for brands to connect with their audiences in meaningful ways.
Want to learn more about how leading marketers use Invoca’s AI to improve the brand experience? Check out these resources:
