Some time ago when we talked about artificial intelligence we immediately thought of those futuristic films with technologies that seem impossible today.
But just look around to realize that this area has evolved in such a way that it is already possible to integrate artificial intelligence into many of our day-to-day activities.
Of course, because of the incredible possibilities that this type of technology brings, it has received attention from several industries, including marketing.
By the way, did you know that artificial intelligence and marketing are already walking side by side?
How does this partnership work? What is yet to come? And why should you heed it?
Stay tuned, because we’ll explain all this to you once and for all. Come on!
How Artificial Intelligence and Marketing fit together
If you are still in doubt about how these two areas fit together, it may be good to first understand the concept of artificial intelligence.
It is true that this term is very common, but perhaps the idea of many is still that quoted in the beginning, something more science-oriented than business.
Simply put, artificial intelligence is a way to get machines to mimic human behavior, for example by solving problems and learning from what’s around them.
Because of this, look at some of the benefits that this technology brings to marketing:
Automation of tasks
One of the great benefits that artificial intelligence brings is the automation of tasks in an efficient and scalable way.
The more automated the job, the more time professionals will have to work on improvements that make the business more profitable and well structured.
This goes from simple tasks, but end up taking time every day, even more, complicated activities that would require the full attention of a dedicated employee.
Optimization of results
From the time part of the work is automated, the less time is spent for the same amount of tasks to be performed.
In addition to increased productivity, this also means fewer mistakes, not counting the tools that help you evaluate the performance of each marketing action.
Through them, results can be tracked and optimized constantly.
Clients’ satisfaction
One of the main uses of artificial intelligence in marketing strategies has been to increase customer satisfaction with their favorite brands.
Whether it’s offering faster, more personalized care, avoiding and/ or solving problems with the least possible inconvenience, or applying retention techniques, the fact is that this really works.
Smarter Investments
Artificial intelligence goes far beyond facilitating or enriching direct interactions with the consumer.
It also allows the creation of analytics solutions that precisely determine where it makes the most sense to invest the resources of the company in order to get the best ROI possible.
Since these solutions evolve every day, it is unlikely that their analysis will be outdated, which is a great advantage for those who use them.
8 ways in which artificial intelligence has already been used successfully
Now it will be even easier to understand that artificial intelligence is a good addition to your marketing strategy as we will show you practical examples of how this has already been done.
Some of the applications are shown here are still being tested, it’s true, but they can already be seen in action in real marketing strategies.
Here’s how the marketing of the future is being shaped:
Predict consumer behavior
Nowadays it is already possible to trace virtually every step of a consumer across the network, which allows a brand to map its behavior and predict its next actions.
In practice, this information can be used to create mechanisms that exactly fit this type of behavior and increase the chances of conversion.
Automation of service
Ever heard of Facebook chatbots that help automate customer service?
This is just one of the automation tools being explored through artificial intelligence, but it already gives us a good sense of how this works.
With the market increasingly competitive, the search for immediate care is getting larger, and automating seems to be a viable solution for most businesses.
Community Management Automation
What about community management? An important job which involves in communicating with your brand’s followers on social networks?
Being on multiple networks at the same time, using each one according to your own customs and “rules” can be a real challenge.
Fortunately, there are already applications, such as Instagress, that go well beyond the already known post scheduling: comment and enjoy publications, follow and stop following others!
Curation and personalized recommendations
People love receiving quality recommendations and consuming personalized content for their needs and desires.
This is only possible through detailed curation. Because of so many analytical algorithms that already exist, this curation can be done entirely by a system.
A clear example is Netflix’s recommendation system, which uses user consumption data as the basis for indicating new programs and presenting their catalog.
Search Engines
Search engines are also investing heavily in the use of artificial intelligence in order to create a more complete and accurate search experiences for users.
The algorithm update from Google last year, for example, is called RankBrain and is based on AI to determine people’s search intentions.
Since it learns alone, without the help of humans, the system manages to refine searches and find more accurate results in much less time, without the need for human labor.
Product Pricing
Pricing a product is a very complicated task and depends on many factors, such as the life cycle of the item, sales history, time of year, etc.
Making a mistake at the time of pricing can mean a big loss of profits and directly affect the performance of a business over time.
Fortunately, there are tools that help you set prices automatically by comparing these various factors with each other to dynamically determine what the best price of each.
Speech Recognition
If you’ve ever used virtual assistants like Siri and Cortana or tools like the Skype voice recognition translator, you already know that this technology is as real as it is incredible.
These systems can capture exactly what you say and act on it, either by translating the message quickly to another language or by responding to the request you made on your Smartphone.
Language recognition
In addition to speech recognition, there is also the recognition of language, which goes even further.
It is a technology that understands not only what you say but also what exactly you want to know.
If even humans sometimes encounter challenges in understanding what others mean, it’s pretty impressive that a machine can figure this out, can it?
3 Uses of Artificial Intelligence We Can Expect in the Future
There is still a lot of room for improvement in artificial intelligence, so much so that some of the world’s top companies, such as Google and Facebook, are doing tireless research on the subject.
This makes our expectations for the future even greater. Thinking about it, look at just 3 uses of AI that we can see in the next few years in marketing:
Autonomous vehicles
Ever heard of Google’s stand-alone car, which has been tested on the streets of San Francisco, where the company is based in the United States?
Know that this is not even the only product being tested. Amazon is also testing drone deliveries, and other companies are interested in similar solutions.
The fact is that the search for more efficient and safe forms of transport will be a constant in the coming years. But what does this have to do with marketing? All!
Remember that the more efficient and secure a company’s work is, the better its reputation is to the public.
In other words, everything a brand accomplishes can be reversed in marketing.
Increasingly intelligent machines
Many of the technologies and solutions that we mention here are based on two concepts:
- Machine learning: A system can learn by itself, without all its actions being programmed by someone in advance;
- Artificial neural networks: The system acquires knowledge through experience, just as humans get better over time in a certain task.
With the daily evolution of these two concepts, in the coming years, we can expect even more impressive solutions and more “human” machines.
More frequent use of AI in consumer interactions
Virtual assistants, chatbots and even applications that manage communities are indications of the direction that artificial intelligence is following.
The trend is that the use of AI is even more frequent in direct contact with the consumer, and in much more advanced ways than the current ones.
Why pay attention to the use of artificial intelligence
It may seem that some of the concepts presented here are still far from the reality of your company, but you certainly already use others of these, right?
Who has never heard of marketing automation, the importance of doing SEO for people and not for Google robots, how fast do you have to meet quality?
All this is already being done with the help of artificial intelligence, and the trend is that it will increase even more in the next few years.
You could tell that artificial intelligence and marketing are all about it, are not they? With new technologies emerging and becoming more accessible every day, we can create better solutions and increase profits wisely. Neither of us wants to let this chance pass, do not you agree?