The essentials
- Improved audience personas. AI in marketing helps develop accurate audience personas by analyzing large data sets and maximizes campaign ROI.
- Personalized content delivery. Using AI, marketers can offer personalized content recommendations that match individual preferences.
- Proactive customer loyalty. AI-powered predictive analytics identifies customers at risk of churn and allows marketers to implement tailored retention strategies.
Now that artificial intelligence is at the forefront of technological developments, marketers are keen to experiment with it for various use cases. Progress may seem slow to anyone who witnessed the initial rise of martech, but it is growing steadily.
A recent report from the Marketing AI Institute in partnership with Drift found that 77% of marketers describe their understanding of AI as advanced or intermediate, compared to 65% the previous year. And although only a fifth of marketers report using intelligent automation for at least 25% of their marketing tasks, 78% expect to exceed that threshold in the next three years.
One of the major markers of AI adoption in marketing is its use at every stage of the marketing funnel. For now, most marketers are using AI in only one or more parts of their funnel. Automated publishing and segmentation are already well understood, and the rise of Generative AI in marketing leads to greater adoption for content generation.
However, AI can still do much more.
Use AI in Marketing to Maximize Awareness
AI is valuable for developing audience personas at the top of the digital marketing funnel. Personas guide everything from messaging to targeting settings, and identifying personas that are a good fit for your product or service is crucial to creating effective marketing campaigns.
“By ensuring the target audience is clearly defined, we not only reach the right people, but we also maximize the return on investment of the campaign, avoiding unnecessary impressions on those who do not fit the intended profile,” he said. said James Anderson, vice president of growth and innovation at Communication Geben. “AI helps create personas that resonate deeply with audience interests, issues and behaviors – information inaccessible through manual processes by analyzing large data sets such as social media trends, comments and data demographics.”
AI is also impacting video content creation. Corbett Drummey, vice president of brand collaborations at Lightricks, said social video is a powerful tool at the top of the funnel, but it takes time to produce. AI can help shorten this process.
“Over the past year, I have seen a significant shift in how AI helps marketers, particularly in the awareness stage of the traditional marketing funnel. Content creators are increasingly using AI for video ideation and pre-production planning, which has significantly improved their ability to capture attention and engage audiences from the start,” he said. he declared.
“This accelerates the process of creating compelling, shareable content that builds brand awareness more effectively,” he added. “By leveraging AI for these initial stages, marketers are not only able to collaborate more effectively with creators, but (they) also ensure that the content produced resonates with target audiences from the start . This approach helps brands increase awareness through high-quality, well-planned content that stands out in crowded digital spaces.
Related article: Rethinking the marketing funnel: adapting to a new reality
Use AI to accelerate thinking
AI also has a role to play in the consideration phase, primarily to enable personalization at scale. At this stage, prospects compare different options and weigh their choices. They need the right content at the right time to guide their decision-making. Personalized content recommendations keep users engaged for longer and increase the chances of conversion.
“A key tactic to retain (customers) and guide their choices is to present the most relevant and compelling personalized content, such as blog posts, case studies or product comparisons, based on their interests and unique behaviors,” said Dan Shust, director of AI and experience innovation for Parallel path. “AI improves this tactic by using predictive analytics and machine learning models to analyze large amounts of customer data, such as browsing and purchase history, click-through rates, and even time spent on specific pages.
This is a use case that applies to both B2B and B2C marketing. Consumers and businesses need content tailored to their needs and concerns, but this is difficult to achieve using manual analysis.
“Without AI, achieving this level of real-time personalization would require manual effort. This would mean relying on segment-based marketing that lacks the precision that AI offers,” said Amanda Cole, chief marketing officer at Bloomreach. “AI’s ability to instantly analyze huge amounts of customer data makes this tactic not only scalable, but also more effective. It delivers the right message to the right customer at the right time, which is crucial to keeping them engaged and moving them further down the funnel.
AI in Marketing Helps Increase Conversions
Lead nurturing is an essential tactic for any marketing strategy, but it often comes with many challenges. Knowing the right time to contact each prospect and identifying the content that will interest them the most are two considerable challenges.
AI-powered automation can streamline the process and ensure leads aren’t abandoned along the way.
“Personalization is also important in this phase. AI can provide insights and recommendations based on past behavior and preferences to help speed up the transaction cycle,” said Ashleigh Cook, chief marketing officer at RainFocus.
“In the conversion phase, AI can automate outreach after an event,” she added. “Sales automation tools with AI bots can automate outreach to people who may not be qualified prospects. This can help nurture them until they are ready and show signs of interest, protecting the time and productivity of your business resources.
Related article: The role of AI in the future of customer experience
Adopt AI to retain your customers
Finally, AI-powered predictive analytics can provide the insights marketers need to guide customer loyalty strategies to the people who need it most.
“At the retention stage of the marketing funnel, one of the biggest challenges is identifying customers who are likely to be churning and taking proactive steps to retain them,” said Vukasin Ilic, co-founder of Linkter.ai.
By applying AI predictive churn analysis, Ilic’s company was able to analyze huge data sets on customer behavior, reveal the patterns that lead to churn and to take targeted measures.
“We’ve collected a lot of data on customer behavior, including login frequency, feature usage patterns, support ticket history, survey responses, and even interaction times,” he said. he declared. “We used machine learning algorithms to analyze this data. The AI model was trained to recognize patterns that have historically led to customer churn. Each customer was assigned a churn risk score based on AI analysis.
Ilic added: “For customers with high-risk scores, we have launched personalized retention strategies. This meant understanding their concerns, coming up with tailored solutions, or offering incentives such as discounts or feature upgrades.
The growing influence of AI in marketing
The impact of AI in marketing is undeniable. As AI use cases continue to increase, we’ll see marketers find more imaginative ways to effectively apply it to lead generation, nurturing, and conversion, as well as ‘to customer loyalty. Although it is always recommended to keep humans informed, it seems that today all aspects of the marketing process can benefit from the introduction of AI.
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