What Is AI in Digital Marketing?

AI in digital marketing involves using AI technologies, such as generative AI tools, to plan, implement, and optimize marketing strategies and campaigns.



How to Use AI in Digital Marketing

While AI is still relatively new, savvy marketers are already using it for various tasks. So, how can you use it to stay ahead of the curve? Here are popular applications of AI in digital marketing.



Content Creation

Creating compelling and high-quality content from scratch takes substantial time, effort, and resources. Unfortunately, many marketers are short on these things, so it's no wonder that most consider crafting high-quality content their biggest challenge! 

AI-powered tools can streamline the content creation process. Whether you want to craft catchy captions for social media posts or create images for blog posts, AI tools can expedite content creation.

However, Google and other search engines can detect AI-generated content. ''If your content lacks originality and human touch, it won't perform well. Instead of using AI to write entire articles, use it as a brainstorming tool. Ask AI for SEO strategies, but make sure your content remains authentic and engaging,'' Greene says on the Service Aftermarkets podcast.



Chatbots

Most customers expect live chat responses almost instantly. Unfortunately, responding to customers promptly and juggling other core business activities can be challenging — especially for lean teams. That's where AI-powered chatbots come to the rescue.

As the name implies, chatbots are automated tools that use natural language processing (NLP) to interact with clients. They can facilitate customer interactions and provide instant, round-the-clock support, enhancing customer engagement. 

''AI-powered chatbots can assist customers in scheduling appointments or answering common questions. However, without proper oversight, AI might generate misleading responses, like offering free services just to resolve a bad review,'' Robison says on the Service Aftermarkets podcast.

That's why it should come as no surprise that about seven out of 10 business leaders consider integrating chatbots into their operations a key priority. 

Targeted Ads

Want to improve the effectiveness of your digital advertising campaigns? Then, you must segment your audience. However, customer segmentation can be laborious and costly. Fortunately, AI tools can take the hassle out of customer segmentation.

AI tools use sophisticated algorithms to quickly sort your customers into groups based on age, gender, location, interests, and purchase history. This can enable you to easily reach relevant audiences and improve conversion rates with targeted ads. 

Best of all, AI also uses predictive analytics to analyze historical data, forecast customer behavior, and serve ads to high-intent customers.

Image Recognition

AI image recognition employs computer vision — a type of AI that enables computers to interpret and obtain information from images and videos. Here's how savvy marketers are using image recognition to streamline their work:

• Automated tagging: Manually tagging hundreds or thousands of images can be tedious. AI and machine learning (ML) algorithms automatically analyze and label images with relevant keywords based on their content. This can be particularly beneficial for e-commerce websites with many products.
  
• Search functionality: Using text queries to perform searches can be challenging. Image recognition allows users to search using images instead of text. 
  
• Visual content analysis: Sifting through images manually on platforms like social media can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. AI algorithms can automatically identify objects and people within images, allowing marketers to obtain valuable insights. 
  
• Creative inspiration: Marketers can only skim through a handful of images at a time to identify suitable images to accompany content. AI tools that employ image recognition go through thousands of images rapidly, enabling marketers to easily pick the best images for marketing initiatives.
  
• Social media marketing optimization: AI-powered image recognition tools automatically identify objects, people, and settings within user-generated content on social media, allowing marketers to obtain actionable insights and refine social media marketing campaigns.
  
• Email marketing automation: Image recognition tools identify and analyze images a potential customer uploads on an e-commerce site and send the customer personalized product recommendations based on the image.



The Role of People

About 14% of marketing professionals worry about AI's potential impact on their work. Many marketers are especially concerned that AI could automate various marketing tasks, making them redundant. While their fears aren't entirely unfounded, AI won't replace digital marketing professionals. Instead, it will support them. 

''AI is an amazing tool, but it should never be used in isolation. It’s great for quantitative data — numbers don’t lie. But when it comes to qualitative data, AI struggles. It lacks human nuance, context, and creativity,'' Greene says on the Service Aftermarkets podcast.

Pros of AI in Digital Marketing

AI-powered tools for digital marketing offer various benefits. Some of their advantages include:

• Speed: AI tools work exceptionally faster than most digital marketers. For instance, an AI text generation tool can produce hundreds of headline ideas for a blog post in a fraction of the time it would take a team of marketers.
  
• Automation: AI can automate mundane and repetitive tasks, allowing marketers to focus on more important core business activities.
  
• Data-driven marketing decisions: AI can process colossal amounts of data from various sources, enabling marketers to discover unique insights into user behavior.



Cons of AI in Digital Marketing

While AI offers enormous benefits for marketers, it isn't perfect. Some of its downsides include:

• Inaccuracy: AI sometimes produces erroneous information that can lead to poor business decisions.
  
• Copyright concerns: Generative AI tools are primarily trained on publicly available data on the internet. As a result, AI tools may generate content that's similar to your competitors', violating copyrights.
  
• Data privacy concerns: Most AI tools require access to vast amounts of customer data, including sensitive information. For example, an AI tool may track a customer's behavior online to predict future purchases.



Future Trends in AI and Digital Marketing

AI is evolving at a tremendous pace. So, what should you anticipate in the future when it comes to AI and ML in digital marketing? Some noteworthy trends to look out for include the following:

• Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Midjourney will become better and faster at producing quality content.
  
• AI voice search assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant will improve due to the growing popularity of voice search.
  
• Personalized marketing will become increasingly important as more businesses use vast amounts of AI-generated data to implement tailored marketing strategies.

AI Case Studies in Digital Marketing

AI is an incredibly powerful tool for digital marketing. ''It can assist with scheduling, data analysis, and even writing internal communications,'' Greene says on the Service Aftermarkets podcast. That means you can't afford to ignore AI if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

However, it's important to use AI responsibly. ''Just because AI can do something doesn’t mean it should be left unsupervised,'' Robison cautions.

Ready to responsibly integrate AI into your digital marketing strategy? Contact Optimize Digital Marketing to learn more about how AI can help you achieve your marketing goals.