Over the last decade, artificial intelligence and automation technology have evolved massively.
Where will we be in the next few decades? Using AI to run our homes and businesses? Bowing to our robot overlords? Who knows?
But right now, we’re in a sweet spot with AI and automation, especially in the marketing world.
So how can AI affect your digital marketing, and how can you use it to make your campaigns more efficient?
I’ll be covering exactly that in this blog post, so keep reading!
Content Marketing
Content creation is a core part of any digital marketing strategy, supporting other areas like your SEO and Social Media strategy, and helping to establish your business as an authority and reliable source of information in your industry.
To create great content, there are a few stages you have to go through:
- Research
- Writing
- Proofreading
- Amending
- Publishing
But each stage can take up a lot of time, which is why many businesses neglect their content strategy in favour of other methods that provide more immediate results.
The good news is that more and more AI tools are emerging that can automate almost every one of these stages.
You’ve got AI-powered tools like Concured that use machine learning to show marketers relevant topics that drive engagement, as well as automating topic research, data-driven content briefs, and content audits.
Some tools like Jasper or Rytr can write entire pieces for you, or at least get the process moving if you’re struggling with writer’s block.
Tools like Grammarly harness AI systems to understand the context of your writing and identify spelling and grammar errors or suggest improvements to readability.
And tools like Emplifi use AI to conduct advanced audience analyses, suggesting the optimal times to schedule your content for publishing across different social media platforms.
AI plays a significant role in content creation these days, helping to improve content efficiency and output in a huge way.
One thing to note is that while each stage can be automated in one way or another, you still need that human touch. AI tools aren’t quite able to completely automate this side of marketing yet, so to ensure you’re creating great content for your audience, make sure you do your checks too.
Customer Interactions
Website chat functions are a vital customer touchpoint for some businesses, allowing visitors and potential customers to ask questions quickly or find information about products and services.
But manning these chats, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, seems impossible, and is it worth the time?
A lot of the time, questions asked over webchats, can be quickly answered by looking through the website – but asking via web chat can be more convenient for your visitors.
So how do you balance your time commitments and make information convenient and available for your visitors?
You can use AI chatbots to take the pressure off yourself or your staff by setting it up to answer frequently asked questions without any human intervention.
You can also set it up to operate outside your regular business hours or over holidays, so your customers can still access information and ask questions when you’re unavailable.
Email Automation
Email is probably the most automated aspect of digital marketing, with over 51% of businesses using email automation tools.
You likely come across automated emails every day, in the forms of:
- Order confirmations
- Subscription confirmations
- Abandoned cart reminders
- Account verifications
- Password resets
It’s a part of our everyday life, inside and outside of work.
But how is AI helping email automation evolve further?
Aside from sending out automated emails, some AI tools can help organise your mailbox and direct replies to the correct departments.
Say you send out a massive email campaign to your subscribers and get about 50 replies.
Some ask about new products you mentioned in the emails, others want help with existing products or services they’ve purchased from you, and others have questions about their payments.
Tools like Drift Email can go through your email conversations and act on genuine human replies, so all the product enquiries can be redirected to your sales team. Emails regarding issues with your products can be sent to your support team, and questions about payments can be sent to your customer service team.
Other tools like Optimail use AI systems to analyse subscriber behaviour and create more personalised emails. It’ll adjust things like email content, personalisation, and sending times to drive as much action from your customers as possible.
It’s clear that email marketing is one of the most automated digital marketing channels out there, and it’ll be interesting to see what else changes over the next few years with email automation.
Google Ads
With search engines using powerful algorithms to deliver relevant search results, it’s no surprise that they use machine learning and AI to power their platforms.
But it’s not just in organic searches that machine learning is used; it’s also in Google Ads campaigns.
Google Ads uses machine learning in a few ways, like delivering more relevant campaigns through responsive search ads, maximising performance on YouTube ad placements, and driving more foot traffic and store visits through Local ad campaigns.
Over the last few years, Google has also introduced new campaigns, like Performance Max, that can fully automate product and keywords bids to maximise revenue.
While these campaigns can make it easier to manage and optimise bids for some less experienced Google Ads users, some Google Ads veterans believe the safest hands are their own when it comes to keyword bid management.
What’s the future of AI in marketing?
AI is becoming increasingly advanced, and with marketing being a massive area for improving efficiency and return on investments, it’s an absolute certainty that new tools and systems for automation will continue to become available.
Many predict that the future of AI in digital marketing will involve predictive analytics, helping marketers more accurately forecast campaign results, leading to higher returns on campaigns.
Others focus on voice systems; with more and more AI helpers like Alexa and Google Home systems being used, SEO for voice searches is becoming much more of a priority.
And some say that customer service is another area that will become more efficient and easier to manage with the help of artificial intelligence tools.
Whatever new AI advancements are on the horizon, you should be considering how AI can help you maximise your marketing results.
