5 Ways AI Is Shaping Digital Marketing* (Paid Collab)

Artificial intelligence refers to various computers or machines that can imitate cognitive functions such as problem-solving or learning. This computer science tries to understand the nature of intelligence and then creates an intelligent software program. The intelligent software program ‘thinks’ and performs according to the data that it’s presented with. AI is not the same as human intelligence. Still, it is designed to mimic our intelligence to solve tasks. The common tasks associated with AI are image and speech recognition, robotics and the ability to process natural language.

Over the last few years, AI is increasingly used in the world of digital marketing. As AI becomes more advanced, these trends will likely continue. There are many ways that AI is shaping our digital marketing practices. Let’s take a look at how.

1 . AI Chatbots

The creation of voice conversion and language process technology has enabled businesses to use AI chatbots for customer service. There are several benefits associated with using chatbots on your website. Firstly, chatbots can serve many different customers simultaneously. Not only this, but chatbots can provide 24/7 customer support across multiple time zones. Chatbots are software; they don’t need to take breaks, so there is no downtime. When you use chatbots, you can also allow your customers to choose whichever language they prefer to speak in. Brands can use chatbots not just on their websites but on their Facebook or Whatsapp to communicate with customers.

2. SEO and AI 

SEO is greatly affected by artificial intelligence. The reason behind this is because machine learning can influence the visibility of a website. For example, the RankBrain algorithm is an influential ranking signal on Google. The algorithm works to change and test different settings based on the behaviour of users. Marketers believe that algorithms such as RankBrain could result in a reduced importance of backlinks or keyword lists. To the algorithm, the more critical signals include the bounce rate and the time spent on the page. This is because signals like these demonstrate user behaviour.

3. Improving user experience 

There are many ways that you can use AI to improve user experience. First off, AI lends itself well to personalization. Many brands use AI to offer customers personalized product recommendations. You can also use AI to send emails to those leads who visited your store but did not make a purchase. Sending a personalized email to a user who left items in their cart can serve as a reminder.

4. Deploy remarketing 

AI can help businesses to deploy and improve their remarketing tactics. When a user visits your web page, machine learning can collect data about what their purchase interests are. Once the user has left your page, businesses can use the data to show these individuals ads elsewhere online. For instance, you might remarket your product ads on their Facebook account or on a different web page.

5. SEO and voice searches

Many people currently use A.I to conduct online searches, for example, voice searches using Amazon Alexa or Google. Quora Creative reported that ‘Voice-based shopping is expected to jump to $40 billion in 2022.’ One of the main reasons that the voice search trend is on the rise is because it’s quicker than typing your search. 

In response to the trend, marketers are aiming to optimize their content for voice search. When optimizing for voice search, businesses should focus on long-tail keywords and sentences that represent natural speech. The content itself should also focus on conversational language. Another thing you can do is create frequently asked question pages; these are ideal for responding to many voice search queries. 

According to BackLinko, ‘ 40.7% of voice search results return from Google featured snippets.’ With this in mind, optimize your content so that it’s more likely to appear in the snippets section.

6. AI and programmatic advertising

Programmatic advertising refers to the automated purchase of digital media; the purchases are completed using machines. With programmatic advertising, you can automate procedures, using insights taken from consumer data. With AI integrations, marketers can enhance the performance of their ads. What’s more, they can produce personalized and highly targeted ads using analysis and pattern recognition. AI can help marketers to time the frequency of their remarketing ads. This will ensure that customers are not bombarded with the same ad repeatedly. There are a few other areas where AI can be used to improve programmatic advertising:

• Managing the budget: businesses can use AI to make decisions about their advertising budgets. For example, the Adext A.I tool can help businesses with both budget administration and audience management.
• Interactive Ads: using AI, you can create interactive ads, and therefore improve the overall engagement of your advertising.

7. Email marketing

Email marketing remains a highly effective strategy for businesses. According to Oberlo, ‘ for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42.’ AI can help businesses to send personalized emails to all subscribers, using data based on their interactions. AI can customize based on wish lists or favourite pages. Artificial intelligence can also be used to make improvements to drip campaigns. Using AI, you can set endless triggers for your drip campaigns, ensuring your email marketing is as personalized as can be. 

A great email subject line is crucial, encouraging your recipients to click through and read. In most cases, you’ll need plenty of experimentation and a great copywriter to craft a clickable subject line. Recently, A.I has made the task that little bit easier. AI algorithms can create email subject lines with a top click-through rate. The AI software does this by analyzing the results of your campaigns, to improve subjects.

AI can also save you time in your email marketing campaigns by automating the content. The software can use machine-generated content or promos to produce a great engagement rate. 

8. Content marketing

The biggest challenge of content is gaining an understanding of performance. If you don’t gather insights based on how your content has performed in the past, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to improve. AI tools can offer you insights and feedback data, which you can use to supercharge your content. AI allows businesses to gain content intelligence, and it’s this that will help brands to improve consistently. Intelligent content means content that has been optimized and structured for maximum performance. The intention is to enhance the experience of the consumer. There are several A.I content tools businesses can use to make improvements:

•  HubSpot: Hubspot created a content strategy tool that relies on machine learning to find high performing content concepts. The software can offer individuals advice on which topics to use.
• Crayon: Crayon is a useful tool to help marketers come up with winning content strategies. The software deploys machine learning to provide insight into your competitor’s moves.
• Vennli: Vennli is a software tool for content intellIgence. The tool can help marketers to improve their relevance in terms of communications, messaging consumers and content strategy. Using Vennli, you can measure your metrics, and gain insight about how your content is performing.

Further marketing trends this year

The trend for using A.I in marketing shows no signs of showing down, and as marketers know, it pays to keep up with the latest strategies. Let’s take a brief look at the other marketing trends to watch out for this year:

1 . TikTok: Oberlo recently reported that TikTok has 800 million users across the globe. Due to its overwhelming popularity many brands are turning to TikTok for their marketing needs. If you’re interested in paid media, you can achieve this in several ways. Options on TikTok include ‘brand takeovers’, ‘top view’, or ‘in-feed videos’. You can also use the hashtag challenges to boost your brand awareness and user engagement.

3. Personalization: this year, it’s all about personalizing your marketing campaigns to appeal to every customer individually. Brands who’ve succeeded on the personalized front include Coke (with their personalized bottles) and Spotify (with their ‘discover weekly’ playlists).
4. Webinars: we’re all stuck at home due to the coronavirus, so we’re going to be seeing a lot more webinars! When you host a webinar, you give yourself the chance to authenticity interact with your audience and boost your credibility. Whether it’s a product promotion or a discussion of an industry topic, allow your charisma to engage your audience.
5. Non-digital marketing: digital marketing has just about taken over, but there’s still no replacement for real-life interaction. As soon as you get the chance, get your business to a trade show. With an eye-catching exhibition stand design and a killer pitch, you’ll turn heads and make a real-life impression.
6. More video: video content has been trending for a while now, and this marketing hack just keeps on getting more popular. This year marketers are creating personalized video messages and sending them to clients, instead of the usual email. Whether it’s marketing videos or live streaming, don’t be afraid to get creative.