Advancements in technology bring a lot of change to every facet of our lives – especially how we work. The adage of “work smarter, not harder” is particularly true for marketers. Marketing requires one individual to wear many hats and any marketing team is likely well-versed in all aspects of the business to operate at the highest capacity.
So, how do we get more out of our marketing while simultaneously reducing the workload of our marketing team? Artificial intelligence (AI) has officially entered the chat. Programs like ChatGPT and others make it possible for AI platforms to start doing some heavy lifting in terms of marketing. But is it worth it? Let’s explore that.
Upsides to using AI in marketing include:
Personalization – Tailored and personal messaging is already a key trend for marketing in 2023. If you’re not doing it, now is the time and AI can assist you with this. Using behavior analysis and predictive data, AI platforms can build custom content, messages, and recommendations based on data and insights chosen or inputted by your marketing team.
Reducing workload – Reducing your team’s workload may seem like you’re making them less productive, but it’s quite the opposite. Using AI to take over monotonous or time-consuming tasks frees your team up for more high-level thinking and the ability to improve current processes.
Better understanding of consumer behavior – With AI comes machine learning that allows us to track and make sense of consumer data. From this, we can glean buying patterns and be better able to track clients as they pass through the lead funnel – going from being a casual browser to paying customers. There are all sorts of ways your marketing can benefit from these insights from more targeted positioning to more powerful campaigns.
As with anything new, there are still issues to sort out with AI platforms. A few of the pitfalls that come along are:
Inauthentic interactions – Using AI chat platforms to communicate with customers can be a great option, but it’s easy for your customers to spot a robot. Chatting with AI to fix an issue can be a bit like working your way through a support phone line phone menu. This can frustrate clients who feel they’re better off talking to a real human.
Poor data insights – Even robots aren’t perfect, and their data analysis and algorithms can be wrong. It’s not a matter of if, but when. It’s the nature of technology, just like humans, to sometimes get things wrong. While not the best experience for your business or consumers, it can be improved in the future.
Range in quality – No two AI platforms are alike, and some are better than others. It’s no surprise that if you want higher-quality AI, you’re going to have to pay for it. This doesn’t always fit the budget of smaller businesses and marketing teams may need to cut corners and determine what is most beneficial to their business goals. From there they can research and demo platforms that give them the best bang for their buck.