Marketing trends come and go, but when something truly innovative comes around, it doesn't just pass as a fad; it incorporates itself into the industry for good. For the past few years, that thing appears to be the use of artificial intelligence, specifically machine learning, in marketing. When used correctly, machine learning can take your marketing to the next level and exponentially improve your customer experience.

Many companies are just starting to take an interest in AI, as it trickles down from being used only by the tech giants who can afford it, like Google, and into every company's grasp. However, because AI is such a vast and complex field, it can be difficult for a marketing professional to decipher exactly what components of AI are catered specifically to the marketing industry, and which ones are left for other purposes. This blog post outlines the four main ways that AI applies to the world of marketing, and will help you inform yourself on what you need to know to get your company started on the trend.

Highly targeted ads

The most important way that AI is entering the field of marketing is with its ability to target customers with impressive accuracy. In this case study, AI technology helped Delta Faucet increased page views per user of their online content by 49% using natural language processing algorithms. The algorithms predicted which content would be the most popular and then determined who the content should be targeted to. The use of machine learning was the foundation of a game-changing marketing campaign for Delta that focused on intense personalization of ads to bring in more new users to their website and keep them there.

This kind of targeted content success is typical with AI, because it automates the process of segmenting your content and your customers to make sure that the right content gets created in the first place, and that it gets targeted to the right people at the right time on the right channel. The amount of manpower it would take to do this kind of targeting is an unrealistic load for most marketing teams to undertake-but with AI, it suddenly becomes possible.

Recommender systems

True or False: When a friend recommends a book to you that you fall in love with, or a restaurant that you enjoy, it endears you to the friend and makes you feel comforted and understood.

If you answered true, then you understand the genius method behind the growing use of recommender systems by companies like Netflix, and Audible.

Recommender systems use machine learning to analyze a customer's past preferences so that they can predict future preferences on entertainment, products, or services. By Netflix allowing you to set up different profiles (When they ask, "Who's watching?") they are able to personalize these recommender systems to your specific viewing preferences, leaving out your spouse or child's viewing history that would skew the data.

Recommender systems allow a company to essentially read a customer's mind by figuring out what they like and what they are most likely to do. By having a system recommend things to you, they are improving  your customer experience and increasing your loyalty to their brand.

Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment analysis is the machine learning technique that determines whether a piece of writing is positive, negative or neutral. By doing this, bots can sift through customer feedback in order to categorize feedback into positive or negative, and can even judge the "mood" of an email so as to help the company properly respond to it.

Sentiment analysis is also used to read comments on social media in order to determine a company's online reputation. A bot that is measuring sentiment analysis will be able to inform your company if people are complaining about your brand or praising it, allowing you to target detractors and solve their problems, or to find your promoters to turn them into brand ambassadors.

The ability for a machine to read emotion has endless possibilities for your marketing efforts and to help you improve your customer's all around experience with your company.

Chatbots

One of the most popular ways that brands are taking advantage of artificial intelligence is the use of chatbots. Chatbots get "smart" by integrating with social media, allowing them to read your basic info, as well as your mood and past activity. In this way, chatbots take advantage of the three AI techniques listed above: targeting, recommending, and analyzing sentiment; in order to communicate with the customer in a highly personalized and coherent way. Chatbots are a great tool for keeping customers on your page, improving wait times for customer service inquiries, and keeping your customer experience fresh and fun.

Artificial intelligence is offering marketing departments the opportunity to personalize and automate their marketing like never before. By tailoring your marketing to the individual customer experience, you can set yourself apart from the competition and win loyal customers for life.

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