AI marketing – Transforming customer engagement and ROI 

Imagine a world where your marketing campaigns practically run themselves, delivering personalized experiences to every customer. Thanks to AI marketing, that world is here.

The 2024 State of Marketing AI report discovered that 66% of marketers stated AI is critical, and another 51% said they are either piloting or scaling AI.

The role of AI in marketing is expansive and thriving, from predictive analytics and dynamic content creation to advanced chatbots and personalized customer experiences. 

This blog is about everything under AI marketing for you:

• What is AI in marketing? 
• How to use AI in marketing?
• What does the best AI for marketing strategy look like?
• Top examples of Artificial intelligence in marketing from big brands 

So, let’s begin learning about AI marketing and its massive impact.

What is AI marketing? 

AI marketing is an upgrade to your marketing efforts, be it customer targeting, strategy planning, or analytics, with the power of artificial intelligence technologies.

The key AI technologies revolutionizing marketing are:

• NLP (Natural Language Processing): It functions to decode your prospects’ opinions from text data like reviews, helping brands build and optimize their marketing strategy.
• Machine learning: This technology empowers tools to swiftly process large datasets, enabling accurate consumer behavior predictions and precise targeting strategies.
• Generative AI: It automates content creation and produces blogs and social media posts at scale; ChatGPT is an excellent example of using this AI technology.

AI marketing contributes to fast and quality lead generation, strategic marketing planning, and data analysis, making campaigns hit!

Every business is considering AI for marketing because it saves time, boosts productivity, and makes marketing strategies smarter and more informed.

Let’s fold some great lessons from the past where AI and marketing met.

History of AI in marketing: From the 1980s to today

AI has been changing the game in marketing for decades. It all started in the 1980s with early robotics and simple systems experiments.

Things slowed down a bit, but by the 2000s, AI came back to life, and the enormous credit goes to our better tech, Big Data, and more powerful computers. 

Fast-forward to 2017, AI is everywhere in marketing, making personalization and automation the new normal.  

However, Amazon as a brand was much ahead, using “collaborative filtering” in 1998 to predict what customers might like. 

Then, in 2014, AI stepped up the game with programmatic ad buying, making ads smarter. A year later, Google introduced RankBrain, which improved search understanding of what people were looking for, automated many marketing tasks, and saved everyone a lot of time. 

Let’s go into the current scenario: how AI impacts traditional and digital marketing segments. 

How is AI making an impact in digital marketing? 

AI is making a massive difference in digital marketing approaches. With AI, analyzing past data becomes quick.

Businesses can predict their target customers’ intent, making their marketing strategies more targeted and effective. 

AI in digital marketing serves different disciplines, such as automating tasks such as buying ads, creating content, improving campaigns, etc.  

Further, AI-powered chatbots are best for providing instant, personalized customer support 24/7, making customer interactions smoother. 

Here are some interesting AI in marketing statistics to look at: 

• About 91% of Fortune 1000 companies are increasing their AI investments. 
• Around 32% of marketers are already using generative AI tools, and another 43% are thinking about it. 
• Over 54% of marketers have used AI in their current roles, a big jump from last year. 

So, we can say AI is not just a tool but is changing how marketing works, making it smarter, faster, and more personalized. 

Must check out: What is lead generation in digital marketing? 6 Proven strategies

How is AI transforming marketing strategies? 

AI is transforming marketing strategies by providing actionable customer insights that enhance every customer journey stage.

According to literature-based research on AI applications in marketing, the key areas show AI’s contribution to marketing.  

The research reveals that AI enhances major marketing segments, increasing the team’s efficiency and productivity. 

It begins with strategy planning, where AI analyzes customer data to inform more effective campaigns.

For instance, AI can optimize promotional strategies by identifying the best times and channels to reach your audience.

AI facilitates dynamic pricing by adjusting prices in real-time based on insights into market demand and competitor actions.

AI-driven tools also support long-term planning by offering deep insights into customer behavior and marketing trends, helping businesses stay ahead of the curve. The complete resource is available here. 

AI marketing can enhance your marketing strategies, so let’s explore the critical benefits of AI for marketing. 

What are the key benefits of AI in marketing? 

With many options and a short period for buyers to buy a product, your marketing game must be creative, fast, and impactful to generate leads through digital marketing. 

Here are the key benefits of using AI in marketing: 

1. Boosts productivity and saves time  

AI-powered tools are time savers and productivity boosters. You can leave many more marketing tasks to AI to manage and be free for the thinking and action part. 

For instance, Sprout Social uses AI to handle your posting schedules and whip up reports fast, cutting down routine work by half. 

2. Refines personas and personalizes experience  

AI digs deep into customer data to refine profiles and deliver personalized experiences. A simple example is Amazon, which uses AI to analyze shopping habits and make spot-on personalized recommendations, boosting sales. 

3. Sparks creativity and enhances content  

AI can generate ideas, draft content, and optimize it for different platforms. Tools like GPT-4 and Jasper assist in brainstorming and writing, ensuring you always have fresh, high-quality content ready to go. 

4. Maximizes cost savings and ROI   

AI cuts costs and boosts ROI by automating tasks, reducing errors, and optimizing marketing spend, letting you focus on more critical thinking tasks.

According to an IBM survey, 54% of companies benefit from using AI to automate business processes, saving costs and increasing efficiency.

AI helps target the right audience, personalize interactions, and ensure every lead generation effort brings results. AI marketing tools are like having a marketing powerhouse that’s always on, constantly improving your bottom line.​ 

Interesting read: AI in marketing automation to revolutionize your strategy

5. Elevates customer satisfaction   

AI takes your customer service experience to the next level by providing 24/7 support through AI chatbots and virtual assistants. These tools always offer quick, accurate, and personalized responses.

Moreover, AI doesn’t answer questions; it makes your interaction with a brand more enjoyable with great personalized recommendations.

6. Improves decision-making with smart analysis  

AI enhances businesses’ decision-making by processing and analyzing large, complex datasets that would take humans much longer to understand.

For instance, the AI marketing tool IBM Watson uses AI to predict market trends and customer behavior, helping businesses make smarter, quicker decisions.

This means companies can respond to market changes faster, tailor their strategies more precisely, and ultimately stay ahead of the competition.

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How to use AI for marketing? 

There are tremendous ways of using AI for marketing, which can enhance your strategies and make them more efficient, personalized, and data-driven.  

Here’s how to leverage the most trending AI tools for marketing:

1. Predictive analytics 

AI marketing tools use historical data to predict future outcomes based on customer behavior, market trends, and sales. This allows businesses to plan more effectively and allocate resources more efficiently.  

For example, with predictive analytics, you can identify which products will likely gain demand in the forthcoming season, enabling proactive inventory management and marketing efforts. 

2. Customer segmentation  

AI tech-based tools segment audiences by analyzing customer data, such as purchase history and engagement, enabling precise and targeted marketing campaigns.  

For instance, AI can help segment customers into groups that prefer certain product types or respond better to specific marketing messages, thereby increasing the relevance and effectiveness of marketing efforts. 

Explore: Customer Segmentation 101 guide for you

3. Content generation and optimization  

AI in content marketing handles everything from writing tasks to identifying key distribution channels and researching content strategies.

Brands aiming to produce high-quality content at scale, including newsletters, articles/blogs, and social media posts, use AI writing tools to boost speed.  

These tools also help optimize content for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by suggesting keywords and analyzing the effectiveness of existing content. This saves time, ensures engaging content, and improves search engine rankings. 

Also read: 7 Ways to leverage content marketing for lead generation

4. Personalized marketing  

AI enables personalized marketing experiences by analyzing your lead/customer data to tailor messages to individual preferences and behaviors.

Imagine incorporating art that resonates with each individual viewer, simplifying your creative workflow. Incorporating an easy AI art generator into your strategy supports this, streamlining content production without compromising quality.

Engage more effectively by bringing unique, tailored visuals to life, easily transforming text prompts into visually compelling works of art.

Have you seen AI recommending products on shopping sites based on past purchases? AI marketing boosts engagement and sales conversions based on purchases and browsing history. In this matter, an innovative marketing agency should leverage advanced AI to enhance their clients’ marketing strategies and drive better results.

5. AI-powered chatbots  

Businesses use AI chatbots to provide 24/7 support, handle inquiries, guide users through purchasing processes, and offer personalized recommendations.  

These AI-powered chatbots learn from interactions and improve their responses over time, making them invaluable tools for enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. 

Salesmate CRM has built-in lead generation tools, such as a Web Form, Meeting Scheduler, and Live Chat, for capturing leads from your web pages.

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6. Programmatic advertising  

Programmatic advertising is simply a process of automated buying and selling digital ad space using AI technology.

AI algorithms can evaluate large amounts of customer behavior and demographic data to determine the most effective ad placements, ensuring ads are shown to users who are most likely to engage.  

Companies like AdRoll and Google Ads use AI to manage and optimize ad campaigns, maximizing ROI by delivering personalized ads at the optimal times.  

This approach improves ad performance and reduces wastage by targeting only the most relevant audiences. 

Must read: Lead generation ads: What, why, and how with examples

7. Ad optimization  

Besides ad placement, AI assists in ensuring your ad performance to bring the most results by providing suggestions to enhance ad targeting and creative elements through real-time adjustments.  

AI in marketing and advertising is transforming from automating ad placement to optimizing bids in real-time to ensure that ads reach the right audience at the right time.  

This AI marketing application maximizes the effectiveness of ad spend and improves campaign performance. For instance, programmatic advertising can adjust bids based on the likelihood of conversion, ensuring better ROI. 

It analyzes user data to determine the best-performing ad variations and optimizes them to maximize engagement and conversions.  

AI also ensures ads are shown to the right people at the right time, maximizing your ad budget. 

Meta’s Sandbox and Advantage tools enhance ad performance by automating and optimizing ad creation, targeting, and campaign management. 

8. Social media monitoring  

AI in social media marketing is helping in every aspect, from discovering the right social media channel for businesses to fully leveraging it. 

AI software monitors social media platforms to track conversations about your brand, competitors, and industry trends. This provides valuable insights that inform your social media strategy and engagement tactics.  

Understanding what customers say and how they feel about your brand will help you craft effective marketing campaigns that drive results.

9. Automated campaigns  

AI-driven marketing campaigns are changing the game by making strategies more efficient, personalized, and impactful. AI tools can automate repetitive tasks, analyze vast amounts of data, and offer insights that allow marketers to tailor their efforts in real-time. 

A notable example is a beauty brand that uses AI to send abandoned cart emails with personalized messages and limited-time discounts, recovering up to 15% of lost sales. 

Another example is Pinterest, which uses AI to transform images into search queries. This AI marketing capability enables users to discover similar items effortlessly, enhancing user experience and engagement. 

AI enhances social media campaigns by automating content creation, scheduling posts, and analyzing engagement metrics. 

In email marketing, AI can personalize subject lines and decide the best times to send emails, which boosts engagement.  

Must explore: The powerful impact of AI in email marketing landscape 

10. Voice and visual search optimization  

AI is making voice and visual searches more accessible and more intuitive. When you use voice assistants like Alexa or Siri, AI helps you understand your questions better by focusing on natural, conversational language. It also uses schema markup to ensure the correct information pops up when you ask a question.

For visual searches, like when you use Google Lens to find something similar to a picture, AI does the heavy lifting by recognizing and analyzing images. This AI marketing application makes finding products or information through images quick and simple.

11. Dynamic pricing  

AI helps set optimal product prices by analyzing real-time data on market conditions, competitor pricing, and customer demand.  

This AI marketing application ensures that prices are always competitive and aligned with market trends, maximizing revenue while minimizing losses. For example, eCommerce platforms use AI to adjust prices dynamically based on inventory levels and competitor actions. 

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How can you measure the success of AI in marketing? 

To see how well AI is working in your marketing, you need to track a few key things: 

• Check your metrics 

Use AI tools to dig into customer behavior, your effectiveness, and overall trends.  

Focus on essential metrics like conversion rates (how many people take action), customer lifetime value (how much a customer is worth over time), and return on ad spend (ROAS). These numbers show how AI impacts your marketing and where you might need to tweak things. 

• Measure ROI and revenue 

Assess the return on investment (ROI) from your AI tools. Look at how much you save through automation and the additional revenue generated from better-targeted ads. This helps determine if your AI investment is delivering value.

• Look at customer satisfaction 

Monitor your customers’ happiness and engagement to gauge the success of your AI-enabled marketing.

Methods such as satisfaction surveys, engagement rates, and sentiment analysis can reveal whether AI-driven features like chatbots and personalized recommendations enhance the customer experience.

In short, by watching these areas—metrics, ROI, and customer happiness—you get a good sense of whether your AI marketing efforts are paying off.

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5 Real-world examples of AI marketing success 

AI is making a significant impact on how companies market their products. Here are five cool examples of AI in marketing: 

1. Nike: Personalized experience with design 

Nike has embraced AI to offer a highly personalized shopping experience through its “Nike By You” campaign. This initiative allows customers to design their shoes using an AI-powered system, both online and in-store.

Nike designs suggestions that align with individual tastes by analyzing their potential customer preferences and behaviors. This personalization drives sales and gathers valuable data on consumer preferences for future product development. 

2. Heinz: AI image generation for advertising 

Heinz has adopted AI to generate creative advertising content. Heinz uses AI-powered image generators to create visually appealing and innovative ads for its iconic ketchup brand.  

This approach enhances creativity and ensures consistency and quality in marketing visuals, leading to more engaging and effective campaigns. 

3. Walmart: AI for inventory management  

Walmart has implemented AI-driven predictive analytics to optimize inventory management.

The AI system accurately forecasts demand and manages stock levels, reducing waste and ensuring products are always available.

This way, the brand improves operational efficiency and enhances the customer shopping experience.

4. BMW: Generative AI for ads 

BMW has partnered with IBM Watson to use generative AI to create compelling social media campaigns.

By analyzing large amounts of social media data, BMW generates personalized and engaging content that resonates deeply with its target audience, boosting brand visibility and customer connections. 

5. Coca-Cola: Creative AI platform 

Coca-Cola launched the “Create Real Magic” campaign, inviting digital artists to use an AI-powered web app to create art pieces for the brand.

These artworks had the chance to be featured on Coca-Cola’s digital billboards in New York Square.   

This campaign engaged the creative community and showcased the innovative use of AI to generate unique and eye-catching marketing content. The collaboration increased brand engagement and visibility. 

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5 Must-have AI tools in marketing 

Here are tools you must explore if you want to adopt AI technology to boost your marketing and sales conversions. 

1. ChatGPT 

ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a competent AI-powered conversational agent. It’s valuable for creating engaging and human-like customer interactions, providing instant responses to inquiries, and generating content ideas. 

Marketers are exploring what ChatGPT can do. It’s not just about chatting—it automates customer service, makes user interactions more personal, and even whips up some marketing copy when needed. It’s become a go-to tool for boosting marketing efforts.

2. Hemingway Editor  

Hemingway Editor is an AI-enhanced writing assistant that improves content clarity and readability. It highlights complex sentences, passive voice, and unnecessary adverbs, offering suggestions to make text more concise and engaging.

Marketers can benefit from Hemingway by ensuring their content is easy to read and impactful, which is crucial for effective communication and audience engagement. 

3. Salesmate CRM – Best to use AI in sales and marketing 

Salesmate CRM is a unified solution for streamlining marketing, sales, and customer service activities.

It features robust built-in lead generation tools that automatically enrich lead profiles with valuable information. You can also set up automated lead-scoring software to identify the most promising leads.

With Sandy AI, Salesmate’s intelligent Copilot, interacting with the CRM has never been more accessible. The AI assists in quickly reaching out to contacts, composing impactful sales emails, and scheduling meetings efficiently.

The CRM offers multiple Sales Pipelines, clearly visualizing your sales cycle and aiding in effective conversions.

You can connect directly with leads, prospects, and customers through omnichannel communication—Email, Text Messaging, and Calling—from the CRM, enhancing engagement and outreach.

Salesmate also empowers you to craft personalized and targeted campaigns, boosting your marketing efforts.

Its Sales Reporting Software provides deep insights for informed decision-making, allowing you to forecast deal values and prepare strategically.

The CRM platform comes with ticketing software enhanced by AI to summarize tickets for faster resolution, improving customer service and satisfaction.

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4. DALL-E 

DALL-E, another creation from OpenAI, is an AI tool that generates high-quality images from text descriptions.

Marketers can use this tool to create unique and visually appealing graphics for advertisements, social media posts, and website content.  

The AI marketing tool allows for creative flexibility, enabling marketers to produce custom visuals that align with their brand messaging without needing a graphic designer. 

5. Sprout Social 

Sprout Social is one of the top social media management solutions that uses AI to optimize social media strategies. It provides insights into audience engagement, schedules posts, monitors social media conversations, and analyzes performance metrics.  

Its AI-driven features help marketers understand what content resonates with their audience, ensuring that social media efforts are efficient and effective. 

Insightful: 14 Top AI CRM use cases where intelligence meets CRM!

Let’s discuss how to design an AI marketing strategy so your business grows like crazy. 

How to craft a successful AI marketing strategy? 

Crafting an AI marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. Here is a simple yet effective approach to getting you started: 

1. Set your AI marketing goals 

The foremost step is defining what you want to achieve with AI-based marketing.

Whether boosting customer engagement, increasing conversions, or improving ROI, having clear objectives helps select the right AI tools and measure success.  

For instance, AI chatbots can be a great starting point if your goal is to enhance customer service. 

Interesting read: 12 Types of sales emails to increase customer engagement

2. Assess your data  

AI thrives on data. Conduct a thorough audit of your current data to ensure it is clear, relevant, and comprehensive.  

This step is crucial because the quality of your customer data will directly impact the effectiveness of your AI applications.

Identify any gaps and consider integrating additional data sources if necessary. Use data visualization tools to understand your data quality and gaps clearly. 

3. Choose the right AI tools  

When selecting AI tools for your marketing goals, focus on those that align with your needs, such as customer segmentation, predictive analytics, content generation, or chatbots.

Research and evaluate each tool based on its functionality, ease of integration with your existing systems, and cost. This approach ensures you choose tools that enhance efficiency and drive results in your marketing strategy.

Tip: Start with free trial tools to test their capabilities before committing.

4. Start small with a pilot program 

Implement AI on a small scale first to test its effectiveness. For instance, you can commence by using AI to personalize email marketing campaigns and measure the results. This pilot phase allows you to refine your approach before a full-scale rollout. 

Choose a specific segment of your audience for the pilot to minimize risks and gather focused insights. 

5. Train your team  

Equip your marketing team with the necessary skills to use AI tools effectively.

Provide training sessions and continuous learning opportunities to ensure your marketing team becomes comfortable using the technology.

Tip: Consider partnering with AI tool providers for specialized training sessions.

6. Integrate AI with existing systems  

Ensure seamless integration of AI tools with your current marketing systems. This includes CRM platforms, marketing automation tools, and analytics systems. Proper integration maximizes AI’s benefits and ensures a smooth flow of data. 

Use API integrations to connect AI tools with your existing systems for real-time data synchronization. 

7. Monitor and optimize  

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all way for AI marketing; you need to continuously monitor the performance of your AI-driven processes using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as engagement rates, conversion rates, and ROI.

Use analytics to make data-driven adjustments and optimizations, ensuring ongoing improvement and success. Set up regular review meetings to discuss AI performance and brainstorm improvements. 

To enhance your results, follow AI marketing best practices, such as staying updated on AI marketing trends, collaborating with AI experts, and evaluating and iterating. 

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Overcome the top 5 challenges of AI in marketing  

Implementing AI in marketing can offer transformative benefits, but it also comes with challenges.  

Here are some key AI marketing challenges and strategies to overcome them: 

1. Integration with existing systems  

Integrating AI into your marketing infrastructure can be complex, especially with legacy systems.

To overcome this, start small with modular AI projects that can gradually scale. Using API-driven architectures and cloud-based platforms can ensure flexibility and smooth integration with existing systems.

2. Data privacy and security concerns 

As AI handles more customer data, ensuring privacy and security is crucial. Implement privacy-by-design principles, such as obtaining explicit consent for data collection and using secure data storage solutions.

Additionally, employing technologies like differential privacy can help analyze data while safeguarding individual privacy.

3. Understanding and measuring ROI  

AI projects often require significant upfront investment, making it challenging to measure ROI. So, you need to define clear objectives and KPIs from the start.

Track the impact of AI on your marketing outcomes using advanced analytics, A/B testing, and predictive modeling.

Interesting read: Setting team goals with Salesmate’s top tips!

4. Ensuring data quality and accessibility 

AI systems need high-quality data to produce accurate and reliable outcomes.

Invest in data management solutions that centralize and standardize data and implement data cleansing techniques like deduplication and normalization to improve data quality. 

5. Talent gap and skills shortage  

Finding skilled AI professionals can be difficult. Invest in upskilling your current team through training programs aligned with your AI strategy.

Partnering with academic institutions or outsourcing tasks to external experts can also help bridge the talent gap.

The future of AI in marketing: 4 Trends that change the marketing world! 

AI is changing how marketing works, and there are four key trends you should know about:

1. Responsible AI: As more people worry about privacy, using AI responsibly is crucial. Brands that are transparent and follow regulations like GDPR can build trust with their customers.
2. Predictive and prescriptive AI: AI can predict what customers might do next, helping marketers make smarter decisions. It can also suggest actions, like which customers to target for specific campaigns.
3. Computer vision and image recognition: AI is getting better at understanding images, which helps brands connect with customers through visual search and personalized content.
4. Multilingual AI and language processing: As businesses reach global markets, AI that can handle multiple languages is becoming essential. This helps create content that resonates with different cultures.

These trends show how AI can improve marketing effectiveness, helping businesses connect with customers in smarter, more personalized ways.

Don’t miss out on AI for sales: Accelerating your sales process in 2024! 

Final thoughts

AI is quickly becoming a game-changer in marketing, helping businesses create more personalized, efficient, and data-driven campaigns. The AI marketing market was valued at around $15.84 billion in 2021, and it’s only growing.

So, by adopting AI now, companies can better connect with their potential customers and stay ahead in the highly competitive space.

As AI evolves, those who use it wisely will find new ways to grow and succeed. Hence, embracing AI marketing today means preparing for tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities.

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