How can AI take your marketing to the next level?

16.03.2023 - Code Milk Insights

In recent months, it has felt like AI has been everywhere.

Jokes, essays and poems generated by OpenAI’s sophisticated chatbot, Chat GPT-3 made headlines. Instagram feeds were overrun with uncanny AI-edited selfies resembling renaissance portraits and fantasy illustrations from Prisma Lab’s Lensa AI and MyHeritage’s AI Time Machine. Surreal memes produced by AI image generators like Open AI’s Dall-E 2 were splashed over newsfeeds.

These powerful AI systems, fed with massive amounts of data from the internet, generate unique images or pieces of writing based on the user's prompts. In minutes or even a matter of seconds, the program creates a unique piece of writing or image that a human might have had to spend hours, weeks or even months creating. The explosion of interest in artificial intelligence highlighted just how important a role AI is set to play in the future. With sophisticated systems that can process huge amounts of information almost instantly, it's clear that AI is going to revolutionise how we live and work.

But many useful applications are not far off in the distant future. They’re with us now.

AI is already being incorporated into search engines, chat bots, browser extensions. Digital marketers already have access to a range of powerful tools to assist them in creating and running successful marketing campaigns. Used correctly, AI can help marketers unlock amazing new possibilities for their businesses. This means, from now on, the most successful marketing campaigns will be the ones that harness both human and artificial intelligence.

What is AI?

AI, or artificial intelligence, is a broad term that refers to a technology that can do an activity normally requiring, or associated with, human intelligence. Instead of simple automation, AI programs are built to imitate human learning and problem solving.

AI is a wide and incredibly fast-growing field. There are different approaches to building this technology. These include traditional symbolic AI programs which can process and recognise patterns, as well as neural networks which are modelled more closely on the human brain. Some of these large neural networks have impressive scope for machine learning. The more data they are fed, the more sophisticated these programs become. One such example is the chatbot Chat GPT-3, a large language model trained on massive amounts of information from the internet. Researchers are developing new and combined approaches to AI all the time. The area is developing fast. But, one thing is sure. The applications are almost limitless.

AI can assist humans with manual tasks to free up your time to focus on the more creative, interpersonal work and decision-making that a computer cannot tackle.

What are the benefits of using AI in marketing?

It is important for marketers to keep abreast of technological developments. Marketers typically handle large amounts of data. Teams are also busy, and need to use their time and resources as efficiently as possible.

There are a lot of ways in which AI in particular can assist marketers in doing their job.

AI CAN HELP MARKETERS:

Predict customer spending patterns
Perform market research
Assist customers in real time with Chatbots
Learn customer preferences and offer recommendations
Make use of real-time predictive marketing
Profile and personalise campaigns in even more advanced ways
Gain better consumer insights
Maximise productivity
Enhance ROI

How does AI come into PPC?

There are also particular ways in which AI can be used in PPC, SEO and social media marketing. One of the most radical ways AI could imminently change the digital landscape is by changing how we search for information. Google’s engineers have access to vast amounts of data, and already use AI and machine learning in a number of ways, including delivering responsive search ads.

WITH AI-ASSISTED PPC CAMPAIGNS ON GOOGLE ADS, MARKETERS CAN:

Automate and optimise PPC campaigns
Enhance and speed up keyword research
Target ads ever more precisely and accurately
Manage your budget in real time

Google search as we know it is so familiar, it's hard to imagine progressing beyond it. But, ChatGPT has already begun to demonstrate how AI powered search can be even more powerful and intuitive. Instead of having to sift through a number of different results and pages, when you ask a question of ChatCPT, it synthesises the information and produces a unique response for you. In February 2023, The New York Times reported that the immense interest by ChatGPT3 led Google management to declare a “code red” for the search business. In response, Microsoft announced they would be revamping their search engine Bing with an AI chatbot generating content in response to user queries alongside results. At the same time, Google announced its plans to roll out its own AI tool. This step indicates that big tech is more than aware of how AI can reinvent or even replace internet search as we know it.

As the digital landscape transforms itself, marketers will have to keep abreast of changes to navigate an AI-powered online world.

How can AI help with SEO?

Google is a unique feature of the modern world. It is the one place that people from all over the world can find the information they need. If your business appears in a high position on the first page of relevant search results, customers will find you. If, however, your ranking for related searches is lower down— maybe at the bottom of the page or on the second page of Google—it is much less likely that people searching will navigate to your page.

SEO, or search engine optimisation, is the marketing practice of boosting your ranking in search engine results pages. By boosting your ranking, you drive organic traffic to your site. These days, AI-powered SEO tools can help automate many aspects of the SEO process.

YOU CAN USE AI TO GAIN INSIGHTS INTO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION INCLUDING:

Identifying the best keywords
Identifying content gaps and trending topics
Identifying link building opportunities
Optimising your website for search engines

AI algorithms can analyse search patterns and user behaviour to identify the most relevant keywords and phrases to target, with associated keyword volumes and difficulty to rank. This artificial intelligence can assist and inform a (human!) marketer, who can then devise an SEO strategy to boost their business’s rankings and drive growth.

How can AI help with social media campaigns?

Social media is a crucial part of modern marketing, and a powerful way for businesses to reach customers. Social media marketing is an important tool for developing brand awareness, customer service, and increasingly, direct sales.

The challenge for marketers is that managing social media accounts can take up a lot of time, energy and resources.

However, with more and more AI-powered social media marketing tools out there, the hard work that previously might have taken hours, can now be done in a fraction of this time.

MARKETERS CAN USE AI TOOLS TO:

Suggest or create basic post content
Monitor and analyse social media channels
Manage and optimise social media advertising campaigns

Key takeaways

AI is transforming the world of digital marketing and providing marketers with powerful tools to create and run ever more optimised campaigns with less time and effort. These AI tools are exactly that, tools. Far from replacing the marketer, they take away the laborious, manual tasks and empower marketers to use their own expertise and judgement to run more sophisticated campaigns.

MARKETERS CAN EASILY START BENEFITING FROM THE POWER OF AI THROUGH:

Transforming how we search
Insights that inform SEO strategies
Content creation, monitoring and automated advertising campaigns on social media

Whatever your business objectives, by embracing the power of AI, you can take your marketing to the next level.

Code Milk is a full-service B2B digital marketing agency. We can consider your businesses’ particular objectives and combine strategy and creativity to help you achieve digital success. Learn more about our services, or contact us.