Remember Cadbury’s innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI) during Diwali, starring Shah Rukh Khan. The ad featured a personalized touch by allowing hyperlocal businesses across India to have the superstar as their virtual brand ambassador. This creative approach not only favored local businesses but also highlighted the versatility of AI in marketing. Nike also used AI for an ad campaign called “Never Done Evolving” with tennis star Serena Williams, featuring an AI-generated match between her younger and newer selves, celebrating the 50th Nike anniversary.
The rise of AI has transformed many sectors, particularly in marketing and advertising. AI’s ability to collect, analyze and interpret a huge amount of data offers significant opportunities for marketers around the world.
“AI can analyze large amounts of customer data to understand individual preferences and behaviors, enabling highly personalized marketing messages, recommendations and experiences. This can significantly increase customer engagement, conversion rates and satisfaction,” said Ritesh Saraf, co-founder and CEO of Promilo.
In fact, hyper-personalization has become particularly important in e-commerce. AI leverages browsing data to dynamically provide shoppers with new and relevant product suggestions every time they visit an online platform. This personalization extends to personalized shopping experiences, tailoring recommendations to customer preferences, interests and behavior. Additionally, AI’s influence extends beyond e-commerce, also playing a crucial role in delivering personalized content and experiences across various social media platforms.
This is where AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are transforming customer service and support. Neha Lidder, founder of Platoon Advisory, believes that chatbots provide instant responses to inquiries, guiding purchasing decisions and improving the overall customer experience. “These intelligent robots not only streamline communication, but also gather valuable information about customer sentiments and preferences,” she said.
Netflix has made full use of AI-based technology to enhance the viewing experience. If you like horror shows and have been searching for this type of content, Netflix uses machine learning (ML) and AI to recommend personalized content tailored to your preferences. The platform also suggests content based on your past viewing enjoyment. Studies indicate that more than 80% of the shows people watch on Netflix are influenced by its personalized recommendations platform.
According to a McKinsey study, marketing, alongside sales, is identified as the business function where AI will have the greatest financial impact. For marketers, this highlights the transformative potential of AI technology. Using AI in search engine optimization (SEO) can bring substantial benefits. By deploying AI solutions, marketers can improve page rankings and develop more effective strategies. AI helps create and optimize content to meet evolving standards. Additionally, AI marketing tools allow marketers to extract actionable insights in near real-time from the data generated by their campaigns. If you’re a marketer who isn’t using AI, you risk missing out on one of the most transformative technologies available.
“Imagine you are an advertiser who is asked to reduce your spending on Google and increase your spending on social media. You are confused because you have no idea of the real-time user needs for your products. At best, you can target based on their interests, but you don’t know if they need your product today or in a week. That’s when you turn to AI. This is when you feed all your customer, product, and sales data into AI and find trends. Now you know which products sell the most, where, on what day, at what time and at what conversion rate, for each advertising source. You also know how many of them are repeat buyers and how many are new buyers. You also understand which of these combinations are best for increasing revenue, which are best for profits, and which are best for reactivating users. You use this data to automate personalized attributes in your product feed and further use this intelligence to deliver timely messages to users based on the highest probability of purchase at that moment. You create a feedback loop to keep improving that cycle,” said Advit Sahdev, expert in AI, digital marketing and performance marketing.
Saraf believes in using AI for timely messaging, predictive analytics and targeted lead generation. With tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI, dynamic content creation is enhanced, enabling personalized ad copy, landing pages or social media posts tailored to specific audience groups. “By harnessing the power of AI, digital marketers can deliver timely and relevant messages, generate more targeted leads, and use virtual agents to improve customer interactions and drive business growth.” , did he declare.
Forbes mentioned that Facebook and Google are the leading online advertising platforms. They offer tools that combine audience segmentation and predictive analysis for more effective advertising. “AI-powered predictive analytics allows marketers to anticipate consumer behavior with remarkable accuracy. By analyzing large amounts of data, AI algorithms can identify patterns and trends, enabling marketers to make data-driven decisions that optimize campaigns, predict customer needs, and maximize return on investment,” Lidder said.
At the same time, marketing experts are expressing concerns about ethical considerations and challenges related to AI-based practices. Issues like data privacy and algorithmic bias pose challenges, challenging marketers to navigate these complexities. Ensuring transparency, fairness and accountability is essential to maintaining ethical standards in AI-based marketing strategies.