Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is a highly dynamic and constantly evolving space. The need to constantly stay on top of new strategies and techniques is non-negotiable for any business looking to thrive in the digital age. With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning fast becoming buzzwords in the digital marketing industry, it’s no surprise that marketers are scrambling to figure out how they can implement these technologies into their work. This article explores the key concepts of AI and machine learning, their applications in digital marketing, and some best practices to help you get started integrating artificial intelligence into your own agency or client campaigns.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
The simplest way to define AI is as the ability of machines to perform tasks that are typically associated with human intelligence. AI has been around since the 1950s, but it’s only in recent years that we’ve seen major breakthroughs on a commercial level. At its core, AI is simply a computer program that has been designed to complete a specific task that a human would otherwise be responsible for. In digital marketing, we see AI being used in a variety of different ways. For example, marketing automation software uses AI to create personalized email sequences based on what a customer has engaged with in the past. Another example is using machine learning algorithms to help optimize your website and content with the goal of improving overall user experience.
What is Machine Learning?
Machine learning is actually a subset of AI. Machine learning is the ability of a computer program to learn and improve itself without being designed for that purpose. This is achieved through algorithms that have been programmed to identify patterns in data and then apply those patterns to solve new problems. In digital marketing terms, machine learning is used for a number of different tasks. One of the most common uses of machine learning in digital marketing is for personalized content. Machine learning can be used to identify your target customer, analyze their needs and pain points, and then create personalized content that speaks directly to those needs. Another common use of machine learning in digital marketing is for predictive modeling.
AI in Digital Marketing: Where it’s currently being used
As we mentioned earlier, digital marketing is a fast-moving industry. New technologies are emerging every month, and we’re also seeing existing technologies being applied in new and innovative ways. As such, it’s really hard to keep track of every single AI-related development in digital marketing. That being said, there are a few areas where AI has made a significant impact so far.
Personalization — AI has the ability to analyze and gather insights from vast amounts of data to create highly personalized experiences for customers. Marketing campaigns powered by AI can analyze customers’ behavior and create highly personalized follow-up sequences. AI has also been proven to be effective in creating highly personalized experiences across multiple touchpoints. Currently, personalized experiences are generated through machine learning algorithms that have been programmed to identify patterns in customer data. However, as AI evolves, it is expected that computers will be able to understand what a customer is looking for and even make decisions based on those insights.
Automated creative generation — New technologies are making it possible for AI to generate creative ideas for digital campaigns. While we’re not quite at the point where AI can create fully formed campaigns, we are seeing a lot of promise in this area. Automated creative generation is still in its infancy, but there are a few startups that are putting great effort into developing this technology. Both Adobe and IBM have made large investments in developing AI technology capable of generating creative ideas. Of course, generating creative ideas is just the first step. Current technologies are still unable to evaluate the effectiveness of those ideas.
Machine Learning in Digital Marketing: Where to start
As we mentioned earlier, digital marketers are beginning to integrate AI into their work, but only a few are actually taking the time to fully understand the technology and its potential. If you’re looking to start integrating AI into your campaigns, here are a few tips to get you on the right path. — Read up on the latest developments — The best way to understand the potential of AI is to read up on the latest developments in the digital marketing space. There are tons of industry blogs that discuss AI in depth, so you should be able to find the information you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a good place to start, we recommend checking out our blog. — Identify areas where AI could be applied — Once you’ve done some research, it should become obvious where AI could be applied in your organization. If you’re not sure where to start, try brainstorming. You can use a whiteboard or even an online collaboration tool like Upwork to get the creative juices flowing.
Best Practices for using AI in digital marketing
- Set clear expectations, Before you begin integrating AI into your campaigns, it’s important to set clear expectations.
- Make sure that your team members and stakeholders know what AI is capable of and what it isn’t capable of.
- If an AI-generated campaign isn’t meeting expectations, you don’t have to ditch it entirely. Instead, use it as a jumping-off point for further development.
- Build an AI architecture, Once you’ve identified the areas where AI can be applied, it’s time to build an AI architecture.
- You need to develop a strategy for integrating AI into your organization that makes sure all your data is properly structured and ready for computer analysis.
- If you want to get the most out of AI, it’s critical that you’re able to gather and connect the data that AI needs in order to start generating insights and results.
- Train your AI systems, Once you’ve gathered the data and your architecture is ready, you can begin to train your AI systems. — One of the most important aspects of training your AI systems is building a robust testing environment.
- You need to make sure that you have a system in place that allows you to test and retest your campaigns to ensure that your AI systems are generating the results you’re looking for.
- Regularly update your systems, Once you’ve deployed your AI systems, it’s critical that you regularly update them.
- AI systems are designed to learn, grow, and evolve over time. As such, it’s important that you keep your systems up to date with the latest data. That way, they’ll be ready to produce even better results in the future.
The future of business is digital, and digital marketing is at the heart of digital business. As such, it makes sense that we begin to adopt more advanced technologies. While AI is often portrayed as a technology that will one day replace human marketers, we’re actually seeing AI being used to support marketing teams and make their lives easier. If you’re looking to integrate AI into your digital marketing campaigns, make sure to keep these tips in mind.
