3 Ways Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Digital Marketing Landscape

In today’s evolving digital landscape, artificial intelligence is altering the way businesses attract, capture and nurture leads to convert them into loyal customers. Integrating artificial intelligence technology into your digital marketing strategy can help your business work smarter by leveraging automation to not only engage your target audience as a whole, but each individual consumer in a highly personalized and meaningful way.

So, what is artificial intelligence exactly? The most fundamental definition of artificial intelligence (AI) is the science of building machines to perform actions that would be considered intelligent if done by a human. In fact, according to a global AI survey by HubSpot, 63% of people don’t even realize they’re already using AI technologies. For instance, examples of AI that we use in our everyday lives include Alexa, Siri, Google Maps, social media and more.

When it comes to digital marketing, AI is designed to seamlessly flow with the tools you’re already using. Businesses that leverage AI will be able to automate recurring marketing tasks that take up a significant amount of time—leaving employees with more time to focus on strategy and execution.

Here are three ways that AI is changing the digital marketing landscape:

1. Marketing Automation

 Faced with the challenge of managing numerous marketing tasks, artificial intelligence tools like marketing automation allow businesses to streamline and automate digital marketing activities, nurture leads through the buyer’s journey and measure the impact of inbound campaigns. Although features can vary, most marketing automation platforms include:

• Lead scoring and CRM management
• Analytics
• Landing pages for lead conversion
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Resource management

Investing in this type of smart software can significantly reduce the risk of manual errors, increase workflow efficiency and create better client/consumer experiences.

In addition, marketing automation allows B2B companies to consistently nurture leads through the sales process by offering educational resources, incentives, personalized answers and more.

2. Email Marketing

Email marketing has continued to prove itself to be one of the most cost-effective and valuable marketing strategies available for businesses today. When combined with artificial intelligence, the added benefits can lead to increased engagement and conversions.

According to Salesforce’s recent ‘State of the Connected Customer’ study, 53% of customers expect the offers they receive to be personalized and 62% of customers expect companies to anticipate their needs.

Businesses are leveraging the power of artificial intelligence technology to create personalization in email marketing campaigns based on user preferences and behaviors. Using data-driven insights such as consumer interests, past purchases and browsing behavior, AI can recommend content that’s most relevant for each individual and determine the best times and frequency to send those personalized emails in order to generate optimal clicks.

To build on an email marketing strategy, businesses can also incorporate more advanced AI tactics, such as sending automated emails triggered by specific actions like opening an email or clicking on a link.

3. Chatbots

One of the fastest-growing AI technology tools for businesses today, chatbots are a form of conversational AI designed to simplify human interaction using computers. These bots can be customized for different industries depending on audience needs and to serve specific business functions such as customer support, sales and more.

Chatbots communicate with specific automated actions and responses that can assist and nurture leads by:

• Providing an authentic conversational experience;
• Answering FAQs and open questions using natural language processing and machine learning to find the correct response;
• Asking follow-up questions and responding to several requests simultaneously; and
• Eliminating customer service call wait times.

Plus, the good news is that you don’t need to have a huge budget to implement a chatbot. With the continued growth of artificial intelligence, there are endless possibilities to evolve your marketing strategy and increase efficiencies, all while leveraging your target audiences’ data to improve campaign results and your overall customer experience.