Artificial intelligence is changing the world as we know it — and marketing is no exception. AI has the potential to revolutionize how brands can attract new customers and drastically improve user engagement. Despite some alarmist rumors, AI is unlikely to fully replace marketers in the near future — instead, it’s bound to become a powerful tool in every marketer’s arsenal.

Predictive Analytics

The most sophisticated levels of analytical insight are, at present, only available to corporations with large budgets, while smaller businesses are forced to focus primarily on reactive marketing. However, this is likely to change in the very near future. Experts predict that affordable AI software will soon enable small and medium businesses to analyze vast amounts of information about their target customers. This will allow them to predict customer behavior and thus make data-driven decisions with great accuracy.

Marketers will be better equipped to forecast trends and anticipate customer behavior, thus creating new opportunities for segmentation, personalized marketing strategies and tailored messaging. For instance, businesses will be able to move beyond current methods of segmentation into more granular micro-segments. This will allow marketers to target their messaging and recommendations precisely to customers’ needs.

Behavioral Targeting

Another key aspect of automated analytics is that they represent a move from using demographic data and statistical information to analyzing real-time customer behavior. Marketers will likely focus more strongly on user history and predicted intent rather than demographic segments when they target their campaigns. For example, a company may use past customer interactions to determine that they’re looking for affordable camping equipment rather than relying solely on demographic data to make assumptions.

Personalization

The dramatic improvement in predictive analytics will undoubtedly lead to more opportunities to personalize marketing approaches. For instance, marketers may use AI software to generate tailored shopping recommendations based on browsing history and previous brand interactions. This is a win-win situation for both customers, who will only be exposed to product recommendations that they’re extremely likely to appreciate, and marketers, who can expect better engagement and increased conversions.

Automated Digital Content Creation

While predictive analytics may offer a ton of insights, automated digital content creation will likely be crucial in implementing them. Artificial intelligence’s key advantage in this area is that it can create content at a speed that’s impossible for human writers. Even more importantly, AI’s writing capability is predicted to improve dramatically in the next few years.

AI will be able to handle working with varying contexts, tones of voice, moods and cultural expressions, enabling marketers to easily create highly personalized content. Thus, marketers will be empowered to create digital content on a large scale while fine-tuning it to strongly resonate with customers. This can be implemented in a range of avenues, from creating tailor-made product descriptions in real-time to fully customizing homepages based on customer profiles.

Artificial Intelligence and Social Media

AI is likely to change the social media marketing landscape as well. Experts predict that it will greatly enhance social media listening by providing large-scale monitoring of various platforms for customer comments and complaints. This way, AI will be able to develop social media posts and effectively tailor the messaging. Furthermore, artificial intelligence will further improve ad targeting by optimizing ad placements, bid strategies and content creation.

Customer Support

Customers are used to navigating huge amounts of irrelevant information on a daily basis. They are constantly looking for new ways to cut through the noise, so personalization is becoming ever more important in marketing. AI-powered chatbots are some of the easiest and most effective ways to tailor messaging according to each customer’s unique needs and preferences.

While current-day bots can already respond to commonly asked questions and offer product recommendations, experts predict their conversational capabilities will become far more sophisticated. Soon, chatbots can have full-length conversations with customers and expertly guide them through the sales funnel. This means that customers may soon have access to 24/7 first-class customer support, so they’ll be more likely to complete their purchases and develop brand loyalty.

One thing’s for sure — AI marketing is here to stay. Marketers will be able to take advantage of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence tools to improve data analysis, personalize messaging and ultimately bring together the right brands and the right customers.