Artificial Intelligence in digital marketing: is it a blessing or curse?
Artificial intelligence is probably one of the most influential technologies in the modern world. This technology is making an impact on every industry. The nature of jobs is rapidly changing due to artificial intelligence.
After the study, the Forrester predicts that there will be 300% growth in the investment in artificial intelligence in 2017. And, the technology giants, such as the Facebook, Apple Inc, Google, and others have already started emphasizing a lot on this technology.
Talking about the digital marketing, it has also revolutionized the world of marketing. Many small and big enterprises have been able to get the maximum return on investment via digital marketing campaigns. Because of its impressive potential and return on investment, 80% of the companies are planning to increase their marketing budget on digital marketing, as per the study. The rise in digital marketing has also brought a rise in an influencer marketing. An investment in both artificial intelligence (AI) and digital marketing is increasing.
And, the interesting thing is that artificial intelligence has been impacting digital marketing in various ways. Now, the question is whether AI in digital marketing is a blessing or curse for digital marketing. In the upcoming sections of this article, we will take a deeper look at how AI is impacting digital marketing, and whether it should be viewed as a blessing or curse.
Why is there a need for AI in digital marketing?
Artificial intelligence has started to be more implemented and more heavily relied on in every aspect of business, including digital marketing. There is a need for AI in digital marketing, simply to make tasks easier for the marketers. It helps to minimize the manual works and maximize the results. With a huge volume of data to be processed every single day, the use of AI can help in easily processing the huge volume of data to gather useful insights from them.
How is AI making a huge impact on digital marketing?
Like in every other field, AI has brought plenty of positive changes in the world of digital marketing along with various challenges. Here are some of the changes that can be seen due to the inclusion of AI in digital marketing.
- Smarter Search
The people do not need to go to the library or a shop to search for the products and information in today’s world. They are equipped with the internet, and that is what is needed. They can find anything on the internet in a matter of few clicks. The combination of advanced search engines and social media platforms are making the task of finding information a lot easier than ever before for the internet users.
According to the statistic, over 62,000 search queries are received by the Google alone. Moreover, the Google is improving its algorithm now and then to improve users’ experience. So, it is important for the companies to focus on the ways to improve search rank. In the case of the combination of AI and Digital marketing, marketers are finding it easier to analyze customer search patterns with the help of AI marketing and big data solutions.
Analyzing the search patterns will give marketers the best idea on which area they should emphasize a lot on their marketing campaigns. And, the virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa is also impacting the search engine optimization tactics.
- Natural language processing (NLP)
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is one of the most powerful features of AI. This feature allows the machines to process and understand human languages. This feature can even allow the machines to formulate responses. If the machines can understand feelings, opinions, sentiments, and so on, then it can become easier for the people to conclude AI.
With Natural Language Processing, it becomes easier for the corporations understand the needs of the customers on a global scale. The Swiftkey Keyboard by NLP startups is one of the best examples of this technology. This keyboard can predict responses of the people based on the style of typing.
- Segmentation
One of the most popular and common words that are consistently used in the world of marketing is “segmentation.” There are plenty of people with a variety of needs and interests, and the companies need to categorize them as segments to increase their sales and retain their customers successfully.
The segmentation of the customers is done by location, interests, browser, operating system, engagement with brands, and so on. The use of AI can assist the brand in customization and personalization. Digital marketers are now able to market the products to the various customer segments, considering their specific interests and preferences.
- Chatbots and messaging
There are numerous chatbots that can be seen on the website; however, the quality of chatbots is increasing with the time. The major messaging platforms, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp messenger, and so on are already using AI to improve their quality. And, the chatbots allow an instant reply to customer queries, helping the brand to build a better customer relationship.
The study shows that around 74% of the Americans spend more money on the brand due to a better customer relationship. The AI powered chatbots are built to support specific tasks, which help in solving various customer problems.
How is AI disrupting the world of digital marketing?
There are plenty of benefits that are brought by AI in the world of digital marketing, but there are many challenges that are faced by the digital marketers due to the entrance of AI. A few years back, the company used to focus on cold calling, manual customer service, and so on; however, the companies have now shifted to CRM analytical tools and strategic reports.
The fact is, the nature of work is changing and so are the nature of jobs. Many people are afraid that the entrance of AI may steal jobs from humans, but really it’s that AI will disrupt the nature of jobs instead. Now, the question is what digital marketers can do in the upcoming future.
A few years back, a corporation would hire a group of digital marketers to start a digital marketing campaign for them. Some of the major tasks for digital marketing were keyword analysis, website analysis, off page submissions, content marketing, and social media marketing. However, companies do not need to hire a team to perform a lot of digital marketing activities in the present day. Instead of hiring a team, they hire an experienced digital marketer who can carry out all these activities with the use of various automation tools with even more accuracy.
Human efforts are drastically reduced with the help of AI, and the marketers can focus on more important works, instead of emphasizing on the basic routine works, which can be easily carried out with the help of AI. The study shows that the telemarketing jobs are declining by 3% every year due to AI. The requirement for getting a job as a digital marketer is changed because of AI. The digital marketers must be updated with the trends of almost 3-5 years to develop an effective digital marketing strategy now. With so many AI tools to provide new insights to the marketers, the market has gotten more competitive now in comparison to the past. AI based marketing tools can assist the digital marketers in developing an effective marketing strategy, but the thing is that these tools can be easily available to all digital marketers, which forces the digital marketers to increase their skills and constantly be aware of new tools and services in an effort to stay on top of their game.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is just in its beginning stages and it has already made a huge impact on every industry. Just imagine how it would impact the industries when it becomes mature and more advanced. The truth is that the artificial intelligence will thrive quickly no matter whether we like it or not and really, the only thing we can do is continue to adapt to the change that will be brought by artificial intelligence.
For now, the digital marketers should keep on learning the new digital marketing skills, and they should keep themselves updated with the recent updates on artificial intelligence to be competitive in the world of digital marketing. In the end, the use of artificial intelligence will make jobs easier for digital marketers despite the possible negative sides, so it can be said that AI is a blessing for digital marketing–one that people should embrace.