Technological growth in recent years caused rapid digitization of companies and increased their interest in new solutions that could boost their businesses. Marketing automation was particularly exciting because it promised great results with fewer resources. Paired with artificial intelligence, it was supposed to solve various problems and help marketers reach KPIs they would never be able to achieve alone.
Today, AI-powered marketing automation is helping enterprises target potential customers more effectively and improve the ROI of their marketing campaigns. We wanted to take a closer look at the examples of AI marketing solutions and how to utilize them to get the best possible outcomes.
Hence, this article will focus on the advantages of introducing AI to level up marketing efforts.
Shall we begin?
AI-based automation explained
At its core, AI automation is simply the use of artificial intelligence to automate tasks that would traditionally be completed by humans. This can encompass a wide range of activities, from something as simple as providing recommendations based on past behavior to more complex processes like autonomously driving a car.
Automation complemented with AI can provide significant benefits in terms of efficiency and accuracy.
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For example, by automating simple tasks like data collection or customer service inquiries, businesses can free up employees to focus on duties that require creativity, building genuine human relationships, making decisions, and analyzing abstract concepts.
This way, they feel more satisfied with their work and are not bored by repetitive, mundane to-dos.
Additionally, AI can help to eliminate human errors in many industries, for example in financial analysis or medical diagnosis. In history, such mistakes cost people’s lives and companies lost billions because of them, so it’s crucial to get rid of them and use technology to raise the precision and consistency of many operations.
How is AI used in automation?
AI is used extensively in automation and is the main factor when it comes to its growth. Thanks to machine learning, natural language processing, deep learning, and other algorithms, computers can get things done faster, even when the amount of data is enormous.
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Automation can be done without AI, but only when it’s supported by artificial intelligence, it gains superpowers.
For example, machine learning means that the artificial intelligence software constantly learns new patterns and tendencies, which allows it to react in a more adequate manner, prepare new, improved resolutions to old problems, and spot areas of the process that require a different approach.
NLP does not only make bots talk to humans but also collect data, detect recurring issues, and curate responses so naturally, that customer service becomes almost identical to what was before AI, when people conversed with each other.
It wouldn’t be possible without AI because ordinary automation programs can only operate within a premade framework and the scenario always has to be exactly the same.
This shows that AI is the key technology for automation and for business growth in general. There are so many ways it can be utilized, and it’s available in apps that can be accessed for a yearly fee. Many marketing tools operate on AI to automate countless operations, so let’s take a closer look.
How is AI used in marketing?
AI in marketing plays an increasingly important role. By automating repetitive tasks and providing insights based on data, artificial intelligence supports marketers, so they can work smarter and get better at what they do.
AI can also be an important factor when it comes to the recognition of actions that lead to successful customer acquisition. It helps to find them and improve them even more to help marketers achieve their assumed goals.
How is AI used in digital marketing?
When digital marketing becomes the main interest of business owners and their employees, it’s time to get interested in AI for marketing automation.
Nowadays, this area of marketing becomes more data-driven and AI plays a big role in that. It automates several things marketers do but also helps them identify trends in customer behavior, as well as market changes, which means they can quickly react and always be up-to-date with their audience’s needs.
Here are several benefits of AI and automation in digital marketing:
How is AI utilized in marketing automation?
Some common AI applications in marketing include the activities mentioned below. Usually, to automate these tasks with the power of AI, marketing teams get help from top AI development companies. That’s why finding a trusted AI vendor is the first step to taking advantage of AI marketing automation.
Now we can take a closer look at what exactly can be automated with AI when it comes to marketing:
Social media management
AI supports marketers in tracking social media conversations and identifying key influencers. It also comes in handy when automating the publication of posts, responding to messages and comments, as well as determining the best times to share content on particular platforms.
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Paid campaigns management
With a help of AI-powered automation, setting up campaigns and optimizing them becomes more straightforward and effective. PPC ads in search engines and paid social media ads can consume a lot of resources, so it’s important to be in control from day one and adjust them regularly.
Content creation
AI can help marketers create personalized content at scale. Making tons of tailor-made content becomes easier and faster when using automated apps. Also, AI can help marketers determine what they should focus on when curating their messages.
Email marketing
AI can take care of several elements of the email marketing strategy. It can automatically personalize content sent to clients, optimize message delivery for maximal open rates, and analyze the statistics of the email campaigns, like the number of clicks or generated traffic.
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Customer segmentation
Recognizing behavioral patterns and tendencies among customers can be executed much better when AI is involved. Thanks to it, segmenting audiences becomes easy, and the team can identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
Lead management
Using AI to generate more high-quality leads and categorize them based on their interests and behavior is a common practice among marketing and sales departments. Follow-ups, scheduling, and lead nurturing also become simplified thanks to automation.
Predictive analytics
Analyzing historical data to make predictions about future behavior based on past actions and outcomes is a great task for an AI algorithm.
Examples of AI in marketing automation
Since you already know how you can introduce AI automation into marketing operations, it’s time for some real-life examples. Here are companies that decided to trust artificial intelligence and create solutions that would help them and other enterprises reach their goals easier and faster.
IBM’s Watson
It’s perhaps the most well-known example of AI being used for marketing automation. Watson helps companies create personalized customer experiences by analyzing data from multiple sources and providing recommendations based on those insights.
Moreover, their Customer Engagement Solutions support marketing teams in automating customer journeys and scaling them. As a result, marketers can provide each customer with the most relevant and timely content, ultimately driving more sales and loyalty.
Microsoft Azure Bot Service
Microsoft’s tool helps developers create bots for any channel or platform using natural language processing (NLP) technology that allows users to interact with bots using voice or text. Bots can be programmed with a variety of different capabilities such as scheduling meetings, making phone calls, or sending emails.
The service leverages the power of AI to understand the intent of the customer and provide the required information or services. The bots can be used to automate the marketing process by providing personalized content to the customer or user, based on their previous interactions. They can collect customer feedback or data, which can be used to improve marketing strategies.
Mailchimp’s Automation Tools
Mailchimp has been using AI-powered automation for years to support businesses, so they can reach out to their clients and achieve better engagement. One of the ways it does this is through its ability to segment users based on their behaviors and preferences. This way, organizations can send more targeted and relevant content to their subscribers, which can ultimately lead to loyalty growth.
In addition, Mailchimp’s machine learning algorithms are constantly getting smarter at marketing analytics and data-based predictions. This means that brands can constantly elevate their email marketing game and get even more positive results out of their campaigns.
Oracle Eloqua
This is another leading AI marketing automation platform that utilizes algorithms to help businesses automate their marketing processes. Eloqua’s AI capabilities help businesses identify potential customers, segment their audiences, and deliver personalized messages that convert. The algorithms used in Oracle’s product allow companies to focus on their core tasks and leave the marketing to the machine.
Eloqua is not the only solution from Oracle that was created with AI marketing automation in mind.
Why AI and marketing automation is the future of content creation?
Having a well-thought marketing strategy is essential for every business looking to build their online presence. To create truly valuable and engaging content, you need to find a way to connect with your audience.
Then, you have to do a number of things to catch their attention, keep it, and convert potential prospects into long-term customers.
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The problem is that creating great content, preparing campaigns, analyzing data, and other activities can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if you don’t have the right tools.
Content creation with and without AI
Companies have been struggling with the issue of generating high-quality content for their websites and blogs for years now. There are many reasons why creating original, relevant and engaging content isn’t easy:
- The number of posts published each year increased significantly in recent years, which means brands are competing more than ever for user attention online. According to research, there are 3 billion blog posts shared yearly! That could be hundreds and thousands for your niche only.
- It is recommended to post several times per week on each social media channel. That means hours spent on producing and distributing content that then has to be optimized. Not to mention the interactions with followers. Without support, it can be hard to reach the optimal number of posts that have exceptional quality.
- Reacting quickly to new coming trends and being one step ahead of the competition requires a lot of cleverness, but also workforce. The process of creating one blog post or a monthly calendar full of social media entries can take days. That doesn’t mean AI should replace your employees, but giving them the right automation tools means they can produce better content in less time.
- Being available in multiple channels with consistent, but personalized messages wouldn’t probably be possible (especially for smaller businesses) if it wasn’t for AI automation. It’s a must for brands that want to build their omnichannel presence and regularly publish content that will grab their audience’s attention.
- AI algorithms are your friends when it comes to analyzing the performance of the content you already posted and also researching topics that you should talk about as a brand. Constantly coming up with new ideas is hard, even if you have the best creatives on board. They could always be inspired, but they also have to take SEO and current trends into consideration. Automation based on AI means you can interconnect your team’s flow with number-based goals you want to achieve.
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As you can see, AI-driven marketing automation can be a crucial player in your content marketing strategy. It will help you save your budget, save your employees’ time, and produce the best possible outcome that will positively contribute to your company’s growth.
Artificial intelligence is here to stay, and it’s only getting better with each passing day. Now that you know how AI can help you improve your marketing strategies, you should implement such solutions within your marketing department. If you don’t want to be left behind by the competition, then get started now!
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