13 Ways You Can Use AI in Marketing Campaigns

In the ever-evolving landscape of business functions, AI in marketing has emerged as an indispensable tool in the post-pandemic age. According to Invespcro, 95% of businesses use at least one traditional or digital marketing channel, alongside AI-powered strategies, to promote their products or services.

As market competition increases, companies and individuals must step up their game to improve their ability in lead generation and retaining customers.

However, factors like rapid data growth, evolving consumer behavior, and the continuous influx of new solutions and channels make it more challenging for marketers to meet their targets.

Fortunately, this is where artificial intelligence steps in to help. The leading Industry 4.0 technology has transformed almost every industry in the 11 GICS market sectors.

As a result, it can process silos of data quickly to generate valuable insights that can improve decision-making in various business domains or functions, including marketing.

So, in this post, we’ll explore the impact of AI in marketing and other aspects of operations.

We’ll also help you unleash the full power of AI-driven or enhanced marketing by sharing 13 smart ways to use AI in marketing.

The Impact of AI in Marketing and Modern Business Landscape

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming businesses across various industries, including (but not limited to):

•       Healthcare;
•       Retail;
•       Manufacturing;
•       Finance;
•       Energy;
•       Agriculture;
•       Education, etc.

Businesses can leverage AI at various touchpoints in their value chain to:

•       Streamline and accelerate operations;
•       Enable data-driven decision-making;
•       Automate workflows;
•       Predict performance and other outcomes, etc.

Below are some departments and domains apart from marketing that can integrate artificial intelligence into their daily tasks and processes:

Sales

Artificial intelligence has transformed sales operations. Furthermore, modern CRM software, AI customer support chatbots, and other solutions have enabled them to automate various functions and leverage data to generate actionable insights.

Supply Chain Management

Modern businesses have complex supply chains that must be efficiently managed to ensure smooth operations.

As a result, AI-enhanced logistics software can help users predict demand, optimize inventory levels, and maximize visibility on logistics operations.

They can leverage historical data, current market trends, and metrics to forecast demand and manage supply efficiently.

Cybersecurity

As businesses rapidly shift to digital-first operations, their data becomes more vulnerable to cyber-attacks and privacy breaches.

Therefore, integrating AI solutions and measures can boost security protocols by automating threat detection and elimination.

For instance, AI-enhanced anti-virus software uses heuristic machine-learning algorithms to quarantine suspicious files after detecting threats based on historical data.

Similarly, many VPNs (virtual private networks) offer more than just IP masking and network encryption.

VPN services integrating AI technology offer other benefits, including:

•       Threat detection to block malicious traffic;
•       Intelligent bandwidth management;
•       Automated server selection and network optimization (e.g., VPN USA, UK, etc.)

Since marketing relies heavily on user data, you must take the necessary steps to protect it from malicious criminals, including opting for AI-enhanced security tools.

How AI is Transforming Marketing

AI is forcing businesses to rethink their marketing strategies.

In other words, the technology is unlocking new possibilities simply by enabling users to process silos of data to generate insights.

As a result, companies no longer have to make decisions based on guesses and get feelings.

They can use AI to improve several aspects of their daily operations, including:

•       Customer segmentation through data analysis;
•       Content creation and curation using tools like ChatGPT;
•       Email automation;
•       Video editing;
•       Ad targeting and retargeting;
•       Search engine optimization;
•       Market research;
•       Competitor analysis, etc.

Today, some of the biggest brands worldwide leverage AI in their marketing initiatives. Popular examples include:

•       Netflix: Netflix, one of the world’s most popular streaming services, uses AI algorithms to analyze user behavior and content preferences to offer tailored recommendations.
•       Starbucks: Starbucks, the world’s leading specialty coffee brand, uses AI to analyze customer data and purchase behavior to offer personalized beverage offers and seasonal promotions.
•       Amazon: Amazon, the world’s biggest eCommerce store, uses artificial intelligence to power its search and product recommendation engine. The integration of AI allows the brand to suggest products to buyers based on their previous purchases and target categories.

The Importance of Data Security & Privacy for AI in Marketing

Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence offers several applications that can enhance marketing campaigns.

However, before you use AI in marketing campaigns, you must understand and address data privacy and security concerns.

Below are some newsworthy cases that showcase the dark side of AI in marketing:

1. Facebook’s Facial Recognition

Meta (previously Facebook) garnered some unnecessary press as the company faced scrutiny for Facebook’s facial recognition feature.

The company was sued for $550 million for automatically tagging users in photos without prior consent.

While marketing isn’t to blame for this lawsuit, Meta’s global presence and efforts to promote the new feature, including AI-targeted ads, only worsened the situation.

2. Target’s Pregnancy Prediction

In 2012, Target, a renowned retailer, got into trouble exposing a teen girl’s pregnancy using AI to predict her purchase behavior.

Target claimed it could determine whether a woman was pregnant with up to 80% efficacy. However, the marketing stunt backfired when the teenage girl’s family learned about the pregnancy from targeted ads.

These cases are prime examples highlighting the need for implementing strong data privacy policies when using AI in marketing or any other use case.

Unleash the Full Power of AI in Marketing With These 13 Tips & Strategies

Now that you understand the importance and risks of AI in marketing, here are 13 ways you can use AI in your next marketing campaign:

1. Predictive Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation is one of the most important aspects of marketing. Marketers use it to divide their customer base into smaller segments for targeted marketing and content personalization. They group their target audience based on the following:

•       Geographic segmentation (location, region, culture, etc.)
•       Demographic segmentation (income, gender, family life cycle, education, etc.)
•       Psychographic segmentation (lifestyle, personality, social class, etc.)

Predictive customer segmentation is an AI-enhanced version of traditional segmentation. It involves using AI tools and solutions to predict customer needs and preferences so marketers can create personalized content and offers.

For instance, an eCommerce store can use it to automatically group customers based on their spending history, product categories, and other factors.

Similarly, a travel agency can use CRM and booking systems data to categorize travelers based on their class preferences, destinations, and previous experiences.

2. Automated Email Marketing

Email remains the most popular communication channel for nearly 67% of businesses worldwide, according to Oberlo. 81% of businesses that use email for promotional messages rely on it as their primary marketing channel. However, creating and sending emails manually can be a long and stressful process.

Hence, automated email marketing has become the go-to channel for modern marketers to send targeted and personalized emails to their target audiences. You can use AI-enhanced email marketing software to send:

•       Welcome messages upon signup;
•       Product & service promotions;
•       Limited-time offers, etc.

3. AI-Assisted Content Creation

Marketers rely heavily on content to engage, educate, and connect with potential buyers or users, including:

•       Blog posts;
•       Articles;
•       Social media posts;
•       eBooks;
•       Product descriptions;
•       Infographics, etc.

However, creating, curating, and publishing content frequently can be tedious. Fortunately, you can find various AI-powered natural language processing tools that can help with content creation, like ChatGPT.

For instance, you can use ChatGPT to create highly personalized emails in seconds without grammar or spelling issues. However, most AI content creation tools are still in their infancy, so you should only use them to assist you in your tasks, not take charge of them.

4. AI-Driven A/B Testing

Modern marketers heavily rely on experimentation to predict the performance of campaigns and make necessary adjustments proactively to optimize results. So, A/B testing is one of the most common methods they use to test multiple content variations, including:

•       Titles;
•       Email subject lines;
•       Image placement;
•       Call-to-action buttons;
•       Ad copy structure;
•       Survey form questions;
•       Social media posts, etc.

With AI-driven A/B testing, you can automate and accelerate experimentation using ML algorithms. An AI-optimized marketing campaign can provide better results due to data collected from multiple tests.

5. Automated Social Media Listening & Sentiment Analysis

A huge part of marketing involves listening online on social media, forums, and other mainstream platforms to learn what people say about your brand, products, and services. This practice, called social media listening, plays a significant role in marketing campaigns.

However, generating valuable insights isn’t easy with so much noise online. So, why not let AI do the legwork for you? With AI-enhance social media listening and sentiment analysis tools, you can:

•       Track trending topics and behavior;
•       Monitor your brand mentions on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms;
•       Learn about customer complaints and pain points to address them, etc.

Pro Tip: Here’s 5 Reasons Why Branding Is Important to Your Business

6. Voice Search Optimization

In recent years, voice search has become a smart alternative to traditional searching methods.

Modern consumers use Siri, Alexa, and other AI assistants to search for products, services, places, and other information with simple voice commands. Modern consumers use Siri, Alexa, and other AI assistants to search for products, services, places, and other information with simple voice commands. As a result, marketers need to optimize their content for voice search to improve brand visibility and content accessibility.

With the technology becoming more popular, marketers need to optimize their content for voice search to improve brand visibility and content accessibility.

With AI, you can fast-track the process and quickly adapt your site, social media marketing strategies, or app content according to user intent and frequently-used keywords.

7. Influencer Fraud Prevention

Influencer fraud is becoming an annoying problem for marketers. According to CBS News, the issue cost brands nearly $1.3 billion in wasted marketing budget in 2022. However, influencer marketing remains an important channel for businesses.

They partner with influencers to target their followers or subscribers and sell them their products or services.

However, many shady influencers succumb to unethical tactics to attract brands, such as buying fake followers and fabricating reviews.

Hence, AI can help marketers in this regard by offering intelligence tools to scan influencer profiles for signs of fraud.

8. 24/7 Customer Experience

Did you know that providing round-the-clock customer service is a strategic marketing move?

Modern consumers expect businesses to be available 24/7/365. Hence, apart from promoting your products and services, you can also promote your customer service and brand responsiveness using AI in marketing.

You can leverage AI chatbots and virtual assistants to enable 24/7 customer service and assist visitors or customers with their queries. Also, modern chatbots can carry out human-like conversations and handle routine tasks, including:

•       Opening tickets;
•       Answering FAQs;
•       Processing orders, etc.

9. AI-Assisted Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is among the most important organic marketing strategies marketers use to improve their SERP rankings and drive site traffic.

However, evolving Google and other search engine algorithms make it more difficult for marketers to optimize their pages, keywords, and content.

Hence, AI-assisted SEO is an innovative solution that leverages AI tools and algorithms to analyze search trends in real-time to improve site performance and engagement.

10. Predictive Lead Scoring

Predictive lead scoring is a technique marketers use to determine lead conversion probability. It uses machine learning algorithms to rank leads based on online behavior and engagement.

So, with this method for AI in marketing, you can focus your attention, effort, and resources on prospects you believe are more likely to buy from you.

11. Graphic & Print Material Design

12. Print Media Targeting

Many businesses rely on traditional marketing channels to promote their brand, products, and services, such as:

•       Newspapers;
•       Magazines;
•       Direct mail;
•       Catalogs;
•       Brochures, etc.

Since most modern consumers have switched to digital content, many marketers struggle to target the right audience. If you rely on these channels, you can use

AI-driven tools to segment your audience for personalized material design and content, strategic placement, and performance analysis.

13. Trade Show & Event Planning

Trade shows and events are quite popular in the marketing industry for:

•       Product launches;
•       Networking;
•       Brand awareness;
•       Customer engagement;
•       Live demonstrations, etc.

However, hosting successful shows and events requires strategic planning and careful execution. With AI-driven tools, you can analyze attendee data, including their:

•       Demographics;
•       Location;
•       Purchase history;
•       Professional information (workplace, designation, etc.).

AI logistics tools can also help with schedule management, décor, visitor flow, and other important aspects of event planning.

Conclusion

Regardless of your expertise or experience, you cannot deny the remarkable potential of artificial intelligence in various business functions, especially marketing.

AI-driven or enhanced marketing offers many tools and solutions to improve decision-making, content personalization, and marketing ROI.

With our 13 ways to utilize AI in marketing campaigns, you can optimize customer engagement and streamline your sales funnel for improved profitability and growth. As AI continues to evolve, embracing the technology will open the door to new and advanced marketing technologies and practices in the future.